We had the grace of receiving, in our Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from September 22 to 28, 2025, the relics of Saint Vincent de Paul, a French priest who lived from 1581 to 1660 and was canonized on June 16, 1737, by Pope Clement XII in Rome.

On April 17, 1625, in Paris (France), Saint Vincent de Paul founded the Congregation of the Mission for the purpose of evangelizing the poor and forming priests committed to charity and justice. In 1617, he founded the Ladies of Charity, today known as the International Association of Charity (AIC), and in 1633, together with Saint Louise de Marillac, he founded the Daughters of Charity, the same congregation to which Saint Catherine Labouré belonged—the visionary who saw the Virgin of the Miraculous Medal in 1830.

Fathers Vandeir Barbosa, Edson Friedrichsen, and Túlio Medeiros, Sisters of the Daughters of Charity, and members of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SSVP) participated during the visit of the relics of Saint Vincent de Paul to Christ the Redeemer.

The pilgrimage of the relics throughout Brazil began in April 2024 and will continue until March 2028, with the purpose of spreading Vincentian spirituality across all the dioceses of the country. It is also part of the celebrations marking the 400th anniversary of the foundation of the Congregation of the Mission.

In total, there are three relics of Saint Vincent de Paul, the patron saint of the Church’s works of charity. At the center of the reliquary is a fragment of one of the saint’s ribs—therefore, a first-class relic. The other two are second-class relics: one is a fragment of the liturgical vestment worn by Saint Vincent, and the other is a letter he wrote in May 1630, addressed to Saint Louise de Marillac, cofounder of the Daughters of Charity along with him.

In addition to the relics, a replica of Saint Vincent de Paul’s body was created by a Mexican artist at the request of the priests of the Congregation of the Mission in Mexico. It was presented as a gift to the General Curia in Rome as a token of gratitude for the 400th anniversary of the birth of the Vincentian charism.

On September 27, the day on which we celebrate the liturgical feast of Saint Vincent de Paul, we had the honor and grace of celebrating the Eucharist with the relics at Christ the Redeemer, a monument especially meaningful to the Vincentian Family since its inspiration came from the Vincentian priest, Father Pedro Maria Boss.

“It all began in 1859, when the French Vincentian priest from the Church of the Immaculate Conception College dreamed of building a religious monument on top of Mount Corcovado, which rises 710 meters above sea level. He recorded this idea in the 1903 edition of the book The Imitation of Christ.” Father Boss carried out numerous missionary activities in Brazil, serving as chaplain of the Santa Casa Hospital in Rio de Janeiro, chaplain of the Immaculate Conception College, superior of the Caraça College, and provincial treasurer. He died in 1916 at the age of 82, having lived 60 years of Vincentian vocation, 57 of them in Brazil. He did not live to see his vision of the statue fulfilled.

The Holy Mass in honor of Saint Vincent de Paul at the monument of Christ the Redeemer was presided over by Father Vandeir Barbosa, Visitor of the Brazilian Province of the Congregation of the Mission, and concelebrated by Fathers Edson Friedrichsen, custodian of the relics in Brazil, and Túlio Medeiros, administrative director of Saint Vincent de Paul College.

Tourists and members of the Vincentian Family of Rio de Janeiro attended the celebration: the International Association of Charity, the Congregation of the Mission, the Daughters of Charity, the Vincentian Lay Missionaries, the Vincentian Marian Youth, and the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SSVP).

In his homily, Father Vandeir Barbosa spoke about the charism of Saint Vincent de Paul for the Church and the world, recalling the words of Saint John Paul II about the patron of charity: “Let us turn our minds and hearts toward Saint Vincent de Paul, a man of action and prayer, of organization and imagination, of leadership and humility, a man of yesterday and today. May that peasant from Landes, transformed by the grace of God into a genius of charity, help us all to once again put our hands to the plow, without looking back, dedicating ourselves to the one task that truly matters: proclaiming the Good News to the poor.”

The celebration was marked by deep faith, devotion, and emotion. May Saint Vincent de Paul, patron of charity, continually inspire us to love Jesus Christ in the person of those who are most vulnerable and excluded from society.

Professor Jair Cardoso Alves Neto
Member of the Vincentian Family and of the Vincentian Lay Missionaries.