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Our new video describes how St. Vincent’s spiritual vision evolved over the years, as he was influenced by his collaborators and by persons he encountered who were living in different forms of poverty. Based on the essay “Vincent de Paul in Châtillon: The birth of a new spiritual vision” by Jaime Corera, C.M.

Earlier this month the Ladies of Charity USA held their annual National Assembly. One of the highlights this year was the video, “Ladies of Charity: Acting Against Poverty With a Vincentian Heart” produced by Dr. Joan Ball from St. John’s University.

John Gabriel Perboyre, C.M., served as a missionary in China, where he became a martyr. He was canonized in 1996 by Pope John Paul II. His feast day is September 11. A presentation on St. John Gabriel Perboyre can be found here.

Nearly 40 years ago, on September 14, 1975, Elizabeth Ann Seton became the United States of America’s first native-born Saint. Today we celebrate by featuring a collection of resources about Mother Seton.

Today, in honor of the feast of Blessed Frederic Ozanam, we offer this two-minute video inspired by one of his quotes.

The inspiring video, “Michael Thio On The Legacy of Frederic Ozanam“, runs a little over an hour. Yes, that’s on the long side for an online video. But haven’t we all spent hours on real time-wasters? (Sitting in front of the television, for example.) One day this week, why not set aside an hour to get a longer-lasting benefit. Watch as Michael Thio, International President of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, delivers a very moving presentation challenging Vincentians to embrace the spirit of their founder Frederic Ozanam, while at the same time encouraging SSVP leaders to run the organization in a goal-oriented, business-like way. “Do not be afraid to take risks,” Pope Francis once advised him.

Click here for a list of formation resources on Blessed Frederic Ozanam. There are links to PowerPoint presentations, videos, an educational game, and a timeline. There is also a series of video recordings of an excellent panel discussion on Ozanam held at Niagara University. Famvin creates and gathers these resources as part of our mission to “form those who serve” persons living in poverty. This is the purpose of Famvin’s “VinFormation” section. If you have a resource that you’d like to share, please contact us! We’re always in search of useful material for online learning for Vincentians. A document or image you recommend may become a seed for our creating a new media resource to support learning.

These favorite prayers by St. Vincent were shared by the Congregation of the Mission, Western Province. Why not make them part of your daily routine, such as praying as soon as you wake up in the morning, or even bookmarking them on your smartphone to have with you throughout the day?

We are living in an era of information abundance. But finding the right information (and making sense of it) requires more and more time, attention, and focus. So many great resources– so little time to digest them. That’s why I’m happy to share this three-minute gem from our video archives, a short film from the Daughters of Charity that may be unknown to some of you: The Eucharist – The Heart of a Daughter of Charity. Enjoy!

It was in Châtillon-les-Dombes, a small village near Maçon, in France, that St. Vincent created in 1617 the first “Confraternities,” later called “Charities.” So was born the first nucleus, the first Charity, from which stemmed the AIC and a great number of Vincentian groups that followed. See the new YouTube video– AIC: The Journey, 1617 to Today narrated by Fr. John Freund, C.M.