Society of St. Vincent de Paul

2796 5th Ave. S.
Fargo, ND
(701) 364-9404

Store Hours:
Monday - Friday
10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Saturday
10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Store proceeds go to the Fargo/Moorhead parish SVdP conferences to continue their ministry with our neighbors in need. 

One of the oldest and most successful charitable organizations in the world, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a Catholic orgaization of nearly one million men and women throughout the world who volunteer to seek out and provide person-to-person aid to the poor and needy in 149 countries on five continents.
 
The Society was founded in 1833 in Paris by Fredieric Ozanam. As a university student, Ozanam and his companions were moved by the plight of the poor and were challenged to put their Catholic faith in to action. They adopted St. Vincent de Paul as the Society’s patron because he cared for the poor, forgotten and downtrodden of Paris. The international office is headquartered in Paris.

The Society’s personalized involvement makes the work of the orgaization unique. This aid may take the form of intervention, consultation, or direct dollar or in-kind services. An essential precept of the Society’s work is to provide help while conscientiously maintaining the confidentiality and dignity of those who are served.

Blessed Frederic Ozanam’s Feast Day September 9
 

You are the servant of the poor...They are your masters, and the more difficult they will be, the more unjust and insulting, the more love you must give them. It is our love alone that the poor will forgive you the bread you will give them,”  St. Vincent
 
Saint Vincent de Paul who founded the Daughters of Charity was born in 1581 in a small, poor village in France to a peasant family. He was ordained to the priesthood at the age of 23.
 
Vincent struggled with his faith. The resolution he ultimately embraced would be surrendering his life’s ambition of living out his priesthood in comfortable wealth. He made a pledge to God to serve the poor, relinquishing his quest for power and prestige.

From here, Vincent’s ministry would grow.  “Before we can save the souls of the Poor”, Vincent said, “we must give them a life worthy of the name”. This meant food, shelter and nursing the sick. In 1617, he founded the Ladies of Charity from a group of ladies within his parish. He organized these wealthy women of Paris to collect funds for missionary projects, found hospitals, and gather relief funds for the victim of war and to ransom 200 galley slaves from North Africa. It was not unsual during those years to find him elbow-deep in dishwater, washing bandges for the sick, or ladling out soup for the poor. Vincent de Paul who died in1660 was declared Patron Saint of all works of charity by Pope Leo XIII and was canonized June 16, 1731.

St. Vincent de Paul’s Feast Day September 27