(circa 1581-1660)

Patron of volunteers, charities, and hospital workers

As a boy in France, Vincent de Paul started his lifetime of good works, often sharing his food with the poor. He became a priest and was captured by pirates, but later released after he converted them. He returned to Paris and walked the streets of Paris each night rescuing infants and children whom were left to die. He opened hospitals and homes for orphans and old people. In 1833, the St. Vincent de Paul Society was founded as a worldwide organization to give moral and material aid to the poor.