A Missionary Congregation Arrives in the USA

In July, 1816, the United States was still a young country when the first members of the Congregation of the Mission of St. Vincent de Paul arrived in Baltimore. Known popularly as "Vincentians" from the baptismal name of Vincent de Paul, these first missionaries were continuing a two hundred year old tradition of preaching the Gospel to poor people and training good priests for the Church. Their work dated back to the birth of the Vincentian Community in Paris in 1625.

In response to the invitation of American missionary bishops in the territory of Upper Louisiana (soon to become the new state of Missouri), a band of European Vincentian priests, brothers and seminarians set out from Baltimore by wagon, flatboat and horseback to reach the heartland of America. In 1818 a small seminary college was established in a settlement of Catholics near the Mississippi River south of present day St. Louis, Missouri. For over 150 years under the patronage of Mary Immaculate, St. Mary of the Barrens Seminary in Perry County, Missouri trained overseas missionaries, classroom professors, mission preachers, chaplains, and parish priests to go across America as well as to Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

19th Century: Extending the Frontier

Within a decade of the foundation of the Vincentian Motherhouse in Perryville, Missouri, Vincentians had begun to establish new foundations across America. With their sisters in the Vincentian Family, the Daughters of Charity, these early missionaries responded to a variety of needs of the young Catholic Church in America. Working from a missionary center in Philadelphia, East Coast Vincentians founded diocesan seminaries for a native clergy, established parishes to care for the influx of poor European immigrant Catholics, and preached parish renewal missions in large cities and rural communities.

The opening of the frontier in the West drew Vincentian missionaries to Monterey and Los Angeles shortly after California was admitted into the Union. Up and down the Mississippi River Valley, small local seminaries, secondary schools, parishes, and mission stations were founded in New Orleans, St. Louis, and Chicago. A vanguard of American Vincentians were sent to serve a struggling Texas Church soon after the declaration of the Republic of Texas.

Despite ethnic and racial conflicts, financial crises and scarcity of personnel, the Vincentians USA continued to be committed to preach the Gospel to the poor, to help train future priests and to support each Other through shared community living.

20th Century: Expansion and Diversity

From the beginning of the twentieth century until the close of the Second Vatican Council, the Vincentians USA experienced with the Church in America a great expansion in membership and ministries. As the need grew for more diocesan priests to serve the Catholic population, local bishops entrusted their seminaries to the care of the Vincentians, especially in the Midwest and the West.

To meet the demand for access to a college education for the children of poor working-class Catholic families, the Vincentians founded colleges: Niagara University near Buffalo, St. John's University in Brooklyn, and DePaul University in Chicago. These latter two are today among the largest Catholic universities in the nation. All these Vincentian universities continue to foster leadership opportunities and advanced education for minorities and working-class students.

In the decades since the close of the Second Vatican Council, the Vincentians U.S.A. have sharpened their focus to respond to today's needs. Yesterday's immigrant European Catholics are today's successful affluent middle-class Catholics. However, economic changes in our society have produced a new class of working poor and unemployed as well as triggered a new wave of Catholic immigrants to be served. Seminaries which once were reserved for priesthood candidates now offer a variety of degree and non-degree programs to train a new generation of lay and religious Church ministers. The parish mission now serves as a key ingredient in the renewal of our local parishes and fosters the establishment of small basic Christian communities to support the Catholic faith of our people.

21st Century: Vincentian Vision 2000

As the world prepares to celebrate the Jubilee of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church is being called to a rebirth of missionary activity. The Second Vatican Council recalled the importance of the baptismal call of every Cathlic-Christian to share in the work of evangelization and renewal. The Vincentians U.S.A., in close collaboration with the Daughters of Charity, the Conferences of St. Vincent dePaul, the Ladies of Charity, as well as diocesan priests, deacons and religious, are being challenged to develop new models of "co-mission" and collaboration here at home as well as overseas.

Tomorrow's Vincentian will continue to work coast-to-coast across the United States from Apostolic Centers in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, San Antonio, St. Louis, New Orleans, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, and New Haven.

Faithful to the innovative spirit of St. Vincent de Paul, the Vincentian Vision 2000 will include:

• Special concern that the Good News be proclaimed in word and action to the poor, especially the most abandoned.
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• Commitment to foster collaboration and co-mission in dioceses for the training of diocesan priests, permanent deacons, and lay ministers.
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• Promotion of community living through mutual support, friendship, and prayer whether in one house or in living alone in close proximity to other members of the Vincentian Family.

Our Founder Inspires Us Even Today

Vincent de Paul, a son of a poor peasant farmer in the southwest of France, was a man who loved a challenge. Some years after his death he became recognized as "Le grand saint du grand siecle" (the great saint of the great [17th] century). In a time of great changes and decline in Europe, Vincent's vision of Church renewal had called for a new breed of men and women. Filled with missionary zeal these practical, effective and compassionate clergy, brothers, sisters and lay Catholics helped to transform their own society and Church and later brought hope and faith to new lands. The challenge that springs from changing times is most certainly with us in our nation as well as in our Church. It is no surprise then that Vincent de Paul's spirit is very much alive among us!

Congregation of the Mission of
St. Vincent de Paul

• 74 Countries on 5 Continents

• 40 Provinces

• 4,000 plus priests, brothers, seminarians

• Missionary foundations and projects in 23 states

• 500 plus American Vincentians

• 3 Catholic Universities

• 11 Seminary and Ministry Training Centers

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