September 27 is the feast day of St. Vincent dePaul, the patron Saint of many charitable works. The Society is an international Catholic organization of laypersons who seek, in a spirit of justice and charity, and through person-to-person involvement, to help those in need.
The Society was founded in 1833 by Frederic Oznam, a student at the Sorbonne in Paris, along with several student friends, to help the poor and suffering in the area surrounding the Sorbonne. Frederic had personally witnessed the poverty and misery of the poor through his volunteer work for the sisters of charity.
The Vincentians organized themselves into small working groups, called Conferences, at the parish level and the organization gradually spread throughout Europe and to the United States, in the 1840's.
In 2009, the Society of St. Vincent dePaul faces new and greater challenges every day. We take the Corporal Works of Mercy to "feed the hungry, clothe the naked and shelter the homeless" very seriously. You too can be a part of this great mission. Shelter and home heating concerns have reached crisis proportions with our less fortunate neighbors. The poor box is our main source of income. The Society operates solely through the generous contributions of our parishioners at St. Francis Xavier.
We are in need of toiletries and paper goods as well as non-perishable food items. Anyone who wishes to share "hands on" in this invaluable work, is welcome to attend our bi-monthly meetings held on the 2nd and 4th Monday nights at 7:30 PM in the St. Vincent dePaul Food Pantry. Thank you for your generosity.
May God's graces in abundance be upon all our generous benefactors.
The St. Vincent de Paul Society has begun making plans for the Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinner Baskets. We need the following items to complete the dinner baskets: cranberry sauce, bread stuffing mix, butternut or acorn squash and celery. If you can provide any of these items, please leave them in the baskets at the entrances to St. Francis Church or Sacred Heart Chapel or drop them off at the Food Pantry between 10 and noon on Tuesdays and Fridays. For further information, call them at 508.775.3073.
