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Prayer to St. Vincent de Paul

Indulgenced by Leo XIII, 23 June 1885

'Heavenly patron of all charitable associations and father of all the unfortunate, who in thy lifetime didst not reject anyone who had recourse to thee' — and a petition that names nine kinds of need in a row.

The Prayer
English · Original
O glorious St. Vincent, heavenly patron of all charitable associations and father of all the unfortunate, who in thy lifetime didst not reject anyone who had recourse to thee; see now by how many evils we are oppressed, and come to our assistance.

Obtain from our Lord help for the poor, solace for the sick, consolation for the afflicted, protection for the abandoned, charity for the rich, conversion for sinners, zeal for priests, peace for the Church, tranquillity among nations, and salvation for all.

May all feel the effects of thy merciful intercession, so that, sustained by thee in the miseries of this life, we may be able to join thee above, where there will be no more strife, lamentation or sorrow, but joy, exultation, and beatitude for ever. Amen.
When the Prayer is Said

On 27 September; by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and the Daughters of Charity; when working among the poor.

History & Background

Vincent de Paul was captured by Barbary pirates as a young priest and spent two years a slave in Tunis; what he did with the rest of his life suggests he never forgot it. He founded the Congregation of the Mission for the country poor, and with St. Louise de Marillac the Daughters of Charity, whose cloister, he said, would be the streets of the city and whose grille the fear of God. He organised the foundling hospitals of Paris at a time when abandoned babies were sold on the steps of Notre-Dame.

The prayer is shaped like his work: after naming him, it simply lists the needy and asks for each in turn — help for the poor, solace for the sick, consolation for the afflicted, protection for the abandoned, charity for the rich, conversion for sinners, zeal for priests, peace for the Church, tranquillity among nations, and salvation for all. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, founded by Frédéric Ozanam in 1833, took his name for the same programme.

Leo XIII indulgenced the prayer in 1885. The text is the Raccolta's of 1910.

Indulgences Attached

One hundred days, once a day — Leo XIII, 23 June 1885 (Raccolta, 1910, no. 350).

Related Saints
St. Vincent de Paul
April 24, 1581, Pouy (now Saint-Vincent-de-Paul), Landes – September 27, 1660, Paris
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