HI, I’m Ellie and I live in Beaconsfield. I go to St Teresa’s Church and I run the IGNITE Youth Group.

I was in Paris last week, on a church pilgrimage, and I came across a saint who is pretty cool.

We visited his church, which was impressive – all done up in gold inside (although not as amazing as some of the churches in Paris).  Inside it was peaceful and so quiet – EXCEPT. Just before we went I got the most powerful attack of hiccups I’ve ever had!  I was walking round the church, and every few seconds I let one slip and disturbed the people praying.  As my hiccups got louder,  elderly parishioners  helpfully offered me mints and chewing gum  but nothing worked.

At the top of the church is the altar with the tomb of the saint. By this time the “hics” were really bad and really loud. I was just praying for the embarrassing hiccups to stop and as I got to the altar with the saint’s tomb –they did!  I don’t think it quite counts as a miracle but it made me stop and really take time to look properly at this Saint’s life.

I’d heard of Saint Vincent De Paul through things at church but “He was just this guy, you know”. Actually, he was quite revolutionary in his day. He lived in France in the sixteenth century (1581-1660). He served as parish priest on the estate of a rich, aristocratic family. He could have had a really comfortable life, but at a time when the Church was really wealthy and spending lots of money on making beautiful churches he turned his attention to the poor. He searched for abandoned children, the elderly and the downtrodden.  He built homes and provided care for them.  He tried hard to help the galley slaves who were forced to row in the French fleet.  These were the people who were really at the bottom of the heap, but Vincent saw them as needing love and protection.

 He founded an organisation and a order of nuns whose mission is to care for those who have nothing. The Sisters of  Charity really stand out as they still wear these giant winged wimples (a bit like butterfly wings), but even more important is that St Vincent still stands out as a person who did not just talk about helping,  but really did.  And he had a very practical approach. One of the things he said was “Don’t overburden yourself with rules of devotion, but persist in doing well…what you are doing”.

The Society of St Vincent de Paul, founded in 1833 is still carrying on his work today, looking after the poor and homeless in many different countries.

Ellie, November 2008

You can read more about the work of the youth branch of the Society of St Vincent de Paul by clicking on the link to the right