Vincent de Paul
French priest, founder and saint (1581-1660)
Saint Vincent de Paul (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660) was a Roman Catholic priest who helped found many charitable organizations, including the Daughters of Charity and the Lazarists.
Quotes
edit- The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it.
- As quoted in A Year with the Saints (1891) by Anonymous, p. 47
- You will find out that Charity is a heavy burden to carry, heavier than the kettle of soup and the full basket. But you will keep your gentleness and your smile. It is not enough to give soup and bread. This the rich can do. You are the servant of the poor, always smiling and good-humored. They are your masters, terribly sensitive and exacting master you will see and the uglier and the dirtier they will be, the more unjust and insulting, the more love you must give them. It is only for your love alone that the poor will forgive you the bread you give to them.
- As quoted in Homelessness in America : A Forced March to Nowhere (1982), p. 121
- However great the work that God may achieve by an individual, he must not indulge in self-satisfaction. He ought rather to be all the more humbled, seeing himself merely as a tool which God has made use of.
- As quoted in Reflection for November 5 in Saint Companions for Each Day (1986) by A. J. M. Mousolfe & J. K. Mousolfe, p. 417
