The first 10 years of our SVDP rule

This month of October, we will celebrate the first decade of the new Rule of the Conferences of Saint Vincent de Paul which, after three years of hard work on the part of the Vincentians from many places and cultures of the world, was approved in the Eternal City of Rome in October 2003.

This celebration coincides with the bicentenary of the birth of one of our cofounders, the Blessed Frederic Ozanam. The happy coincidence of both events makes especially important for the Vincentians this year 2013 in which the General Council has celebrated in Paris the birth of Frederic Ozanam.

The first decade of the Rule and its consequences for the life of the Society, has been hidden by that celebration. Let us not finish the year without referring to the new Rule and be glad about its existence; I hope to contribute to it with the following lines.

This third Rule of the Society throughout its then one hundred and seventy years of life, (1833/2003) has had an important and fast acceptance and coming into force throughout the more than one hundred and forty countries where the Conferences are established in the world. It has brought about important changes in the Society all over the world and fundamentally, it has reminded us the true raison d’être of our foundation and the justification today of our very existence…
To read the full article > The first ten years of our Rule (pdf, 132.03 Ko)

José Ramón Díaz-Torremocha
XIV President General (1999/2010)