Our Lady & St. Wilfrid, Blyth and St. Cuthbert, Cowpen Roman Catholic Churches

How do we work?

The Society exists in about 140 countries with nearly one million members. In England and Wales, its 16,000 volunteers annually carry out around one million recorded visits. The essential work of the Society is person to person contact, and as this is a fundamental part of the Society's ethos, it does not make donations to any work in which members are not personally involved. However it recognises that material or financial assistance may help those in need overcome crises and develop longer-term solutions to their problems.

The Society operates in small groups, called "Conferences", based on local parishes or schools. They meet regularly to review their work as well as allocating future work in a spirit of prayer and mutual support. The work of a Conference is usually concentrated on local visiting. However, other activities may include "special works", which serve people in a wider area or give more specialised help in a certain aspect of the work, such as furniture stores, hostels, holiday schemes, children's summer camps and Drop-In Centres.

Internationally, groups in the developing world are "Twinned" with groups in more affluent countries, supporting each other with correspondence and mutual prayer. Financial support is also provided in the form of regular contributions, student sponsorship, specific projects and there is a "disaster fund" to help the local Society cope with disasters in their own country.

The SVP supports justice and peace by encouraging communities and individuals to improve their quality of life, but works to address the causes of need. It gathers and uses information about the effects of legislation on grass roots poverty, examines relevant draft legislation and responds to government on issues that adversely affect the poor, mainly by co-operating with other Christian and voluntary groups in the UK and within Europe. However, in dealing with such matters it avoids party politics.

Membership is open to men and women, young and old, of any denomination. The SVP only asks that members accept fully the Christian ethos of the Society, and are committed to express their love of God through personal service to their neighbour. The SVP respects religious liberty and values all people
 

Who do we help?

Where do we work?

Few towns in England and Wales are without an SVP group usually attached to the local parishes. An increasing number are starting in schools and colleges as part of the SVP's commitment to youth. One group operates inside a prison, run by the prisoners for the benefit of the more vulnerable among them.

Regular visiting and personal care, with relationships based on trust and friendship are what gives the SVP its unique character, distinguishing it from many other organisations. Such work is usually best organised locally, such as in a parish, whereas "Special Works" are more often based on larger towns or diocese.

A little bit about the man behind the Society - St. Vincent De Paul himself...

Life
De Paul was born on 24th April 1581(1581-04-24), Pouy, Gascony, France to a peasant family. He had three brothers and two sisters.

De Paul studied humanities in Dax, France with the Cordeliers and he graduated in theology at Toulouse. He was ordained in 1600, remaining in Toulouse until he went to Marseille for an inheritance. In 1605, on his way back from Marseille, he was taken captive by Turkish pirates, who brought him to Tunis and sold him into slavery. After converting his owner to Christianity, Vincent de Paul was freed in 1607.

After returning to France, De Paul went to Rome to continue studying until 1609, when he was sent back to France on a mission to Henry IV of France; he served as chaplain to Marguerite de Valois. For a while he was parish priest at Clichy, but in 1612 he began to serve the Gondi family. He was confessor and spiritual director to Mme de Gondi, and he began giving peasant missions on the estate with her aid.

In 1622 De Paul was appointed chaplain to the galleys, and in this capacity he gave missions for the galley-slaves.

De Paul founded the Congregation of the Mission, and with Louise de Marillac he founded the Daughters of Charity. He also fought against the Jansenist heresy.

Towards the end of his life, De Paul suffered from serious ill-health, and he died on 27 September 1660.

Veneration
In 1705, the Superior-General of the Lazarists requested that the process of his canonization might be instituted. On 13 August 1729, Vincent was declared Blessed by Pope Benedict XIII. He was canonized nearly eight years later by Pope Clement XII on 16 June 1737. In 1885, Pope Leo XIII gave him as patron to the sisters of Charity. He is also patron to the Brothers of Charity.

St. Vincent's body was exhumed in 1712, 53 years after his death. The written account of an eye witness states that "...(t)he eyes and nose alone showed some decay." However, when the body was exhumed again during the canonization in 1737 it was then discovered to have decomposed due to an underground flood. His bones have been encased in a waxen figure which is displayed in a glass reliquary in the chapel of the headquarters of the Vincentian fathers in Paris. His heart is still incorrupt, and is displayed in a reliquary in the chapel of the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity in Paris.

In 1737, his feast day was included in the Roman Calendar on 19 July, because his day of death was already used for the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian. It was originally to be celebrated with the rank of "Double", which was changed to the equivalent rank of "Third-Class Feast" in 1960.

In the Novus Ordo calendar, he is remembered with a memorial on 27 September, Cosmas and Damian having been moved to 26 September to make way for him, as he is now better known in the West.

St. Vincent de Paul