September is often called the “Vincentian month,” and with good reason. On September 27, the universal Church celebrates Saint Vincent de Paul, whose vision of following Christ, Evangelizer of the Poor, has inspired generations of Christians and given rise to an extraordinarily diverse spiritual family. Yet Saint Vincent’s solemn celebration is not the only important date that fills the month.

Throughout September, the Vincentian Family remembers martyrs who remained faithful in times of persecution, laypeople who united holiness with social commitment, religious women and men who served those abandoned by society, missionaries who carried the Gospel across cultural boundaries, and founders whose response to the needs of their time brought new branches of the Vincentian charism into being.

Some of these commemorations are included in the liturgical calendars of particular congregations or countries rather than in the universal calendar of the Church. Others are not liturgical feasts at all, but anniversaries that invite a congregation or association to give thanks for its foundation. Together, however, they form a remarkable journey through Vincentian history.

Celebrating these dates should be more than an exercise in recalling the past. They can become occasions for prayer, formation, encounter, and renewed commitment. Communities might share the story of a saint or blessed, celebrate the Eucharist, organize a service activity, learn about another branch of the Family, or pray for its members and ministries. In this way, September can help us recognize that the Vincentian charism has never belonged to one nation, culture, vocation, or form of life. It is a living gift entrusted to the whole Church.

September 1 — Blessed Isabel Cristina Mrad Campos, SSVP

Blessed Isabel Cristina Mrad Campos offers the Vincentian Family a strikingly contemporary witness to holiness. Born in Barbacena, Brazil, on July 29, 1962, she grew up in a Catholic family deeply involved in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. From her parents and the Vincentian environment surrounding her, she learned to unite prayer with practical concern for people experiencing poverty, especially children, older adults, and those who were sick.

Isabel Cristina hoped to study medicine and become a pediatrician. In 1982, she moved to Juiz de Fora to prepare for university entrance examinations. On September 1 of that year, a man who had been working in her apartment attempted to sexually assault her. She resisted and was killed at the age of twenty.

The Church recognized her as a martyr because she gave her life while defending her dignity and fidelity to the Christian understanding of chastity. She was beatified on December 10, 2022, in Barbacena.

For the Vincentian Family, Blessed Isabel Cristina is especially significant because she was a young lay Vincentian. Her holiness developed through ordinary family life, study, friendship, prayer, and service. She reminds young people that sanctity is possible in everyday life and that charity requires courage, integrity, and respect for the inviolable dignity of every person.

September 2 — Blessed Louis-Joseph François, C.M., and Fellow Martyrs

On September 2, the Vincentian Family remembers Blessed Louis-Joseph François and other martyrs of the Congregation of the Mission who suffered during the French Revolution.

The Civil Constitution of the Clergy attempted to reorganize the Catholic Church in France under state authority. Priests were required to take an oath that many considered incompatible with fidelity to the Church. Those who refused were dismissed, persecuted, imprisoned, exiled, or killed.

Louis-Joseph François was born in Busigny in 1751 and entered the Congregation of the Mission while still young. He became a priest, educator, seminary superior, and vigorous defender of the Church’s freedom. He was serving as superior of the former Collège des Bons-Enfants, known as Saint-Firmin, when revolutionary violence reached its height.

During the massacres of September 2–3, 1792, nearly two hundred bishops, priests, religious, and lay Catholics were killed in Paris. Among the Vincentians recognized as blessed were Louis-Joseph François, Jean-Henri Gruyer, Jean-Charles Caron, and Nicolas Colin. Another Vincentian martyr of the Revolution, Pierre-René Rogue, was killed later, in 1796.

These martyrs remind us that Vincentian service cannot be separated from fidelity to Christ. Their witness was not expressed through hatred of their persecutors but through steadfastness of conscience. They invite us to pray for Christians who suffer persecution today and for all those who defend religious freedom, human dignity, and the rights of conscience without resorting to violence.

September 4 — Blessed Giuseppe Toniolo, SSVP

Blessed Giuseppe Toniolo was an Italian husband, father, economist, university professor, and member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. He was born in Treviso in 1845 and became one of the most influential Catholic social thinkers of his generation.

Toniolo believed that economics could never be separated from ethics. Economic systems, labor relations, political institutions, and markets had to be judged according to their effect on the human person, the family, workers, and the common good. He defended workers’ associations, labor protections, Sunday rest, limitations on the exploitation of women and children, and the participation of Catholics in public and social life.

He married Maria Schiratti on September 4, 1878, and their family life became an essential dimension of his vocation. His commemoration on this date in the Vincentian calendar highlights the holiness of Christian marriage and the capacity of laypeople to transform society through professional, academic, family, and civic responsibilities.

Toniolo died on October 7, 1918, which is observed as his liturgical memorial in other calendars. He was beatified in 2012. His inclusion among the figures remembered by the Vincentian Family emphasizes the close relationship between direct service and the work of changing unjust structures. Charity responds to immediate suffering, while justice asks why that suffering exists and how society can prevent it.

September 8 — Founding Anniversary of the Sisters of the Association of Lay Missionary Action (ALMA), 1963

The Sisters of the Association of Lay Missionary Action—widely known as the ALMA Sisters or ALMA Puteri—were founded in Indonesia by Father Paul Janssen, C.M. Their story is closely connected with the Bhakti Luhur Foundation, established to serve children and adults with disabilities, particularly those who were poor, abandoned, or living in places beyond the reach of established services.

The ALMA vocation combines consecration, lay missionary action, pastoral service, and daily life shared with people with disabilities. Its members seek to “reach the unreachable,” often serving in remote areas and accompanying individuals within their homes and communities.

One particularly powerful element of ALMA spirituality is the commitment to live closely with the people they serve. This is not charity practiced from a distance. It is a shared life in which people with disabilities are recognized as persons of immeasurable value, bearers of gifts, and members of the same human and Christian family.

The anniversary invites the wider Vincentian Family to examine whether its ministries truly reach those who remain unseen, isolated, or excluded from ordinary social and ecclesial life.

September 8 — Anniversary Associated with ALMA Putera, the ALMA Brothers

The male branch of the ALMA movement, known as ALMA Putera or the ALMA Brothers, shares the mission inspired by Father Paul Janssen, C.M. Its members serve people with disabilities, neglected children, older adults, families in poverty, and Catholic communities in remote regions of Indonesia and Timor-Leste.

The Vincentian Family calendar currently lists September 8, 1963, for ALMA Putera. However, historical accounts published within Indonesia also identify May 17, 1964, as the formal beginning of the male branch. This difference may reflect successive stages in the development of the broader ALMA association and the later organization of its distinct male branch.

Whatever date is used in the community’s official observance, its history belongs within the September celebration of the Vincentian Family. The ALMA Brothers demonstrate how the charism can take root in a specifically Indonesian setting and respond creatively to local pastoral and social needs.

September 8 — Founding Anniversary of the Sisters of Charity of Nanjing, 1984

The current Vincentian Family calendar also records September 8, 1984, as the foundation date of the Sisters of Charity of Nanjing.

Publicly available historical information about the community is limited. Nevertheless, its inclusion recalls the long and often difficult history of the Vincentian charism in China. Chinese communities of women religious have continued ministries of prayer, catechesis, care for the sick, education, and service despite profound political and social upheaval.

Remembering this anniversary is also an invitation to pray for the Church in China and for the religious women whose faithful service is frequently carried out quietly and with little international visibility.

September 9 — Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, SSVP

Blessed Antoine-Frédéric Ozanam is one of the most important lay figures in the history of the Vincentian Family. Born in Milan on April 23, 1813, and raised in Lyon, he later went to Paris to study law. As a university student, he took part in intellectual discussions in which Catholic students were challenged to demonstrate what the Church was doing for people who were poor.

Ozanam and his companions understood that arguments alone were insufficient. In 1833, they created the first Conference of Charity, whose members visited families living in poverty and offered personal assistance. Under the guidance of Blessed Rosalie Rendu, D.C., they learned to enter the homes of people in need with humility and respect. The group soon adopted Saint Vincent de Paul as its patron and became the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

Ozanam was not only a founder. He was also a husband, father, professor, journalist, and advocate of social justice. He reflected deeply on democracy, workers’ rights, poverty, and the social responsibilities of Christians. He believed that charity must draw people into genuine relationships and that social reform must defend the dignity of the poor rather than treat them as objects of political theory.

He died in Marseille on September 8, 1853. Because that date is the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, his liturgical memorial was assigned to September 9. He was beatified by Saint John Paul II in Paris in 1997.

Ozanam challenges Vincentians to combine personal encounter, serious reflection, public engagement, family life, and friendship. He reminds us that service to the poor is not a secondary activity of Christian life but a privileged place of encounter with Christ.

September 9 — Blessed Maria Euthymia Üffing

Blessed Maria Euthymia Üffing was born Emma Üffing on April 8, 1914, in Halverde, Germany. She entered the Sisters of Charity of Münster, also known as the Clemens Sisters, a congregation rooted in the Vincentian tradition.

Her health had been fragile since childhood, but this did not prevent her from embracing a demanding life of service. Trained in nursing, she cared for patients during the Second World War, including prisoners of war and foreign laborers. In a context dominated by nationalism and dehumanization, she treated every patient with kindness and equal dignity, regardless of nationality or status.

Later, she was assigned to laundry work. Although hidden and physically exhausting, she accepted this responsibility without bitterness. Her holiness was revealed not through public achievements but through patience, prayer, gentleness, and faithful attention to ordinary duties.

Sister Euthymia died of cancer on September 9, 1955, at the age of forty-one and was beatified by Saint John Paul II in 2001.

Her life teaches that no service is insignificant when performed with love. She also offers a necessary reminder that care for people who are sick, displaced, imprisoned, or regarded as enemies is a powerful expression of the Gospel.

September 11 — Saint John Gabriel Perboyre, C.M.

Saint John Gabriel Perboyre was born in 1802 in Le Puech, France. He entered the Congregation of the Mission and was ordained a priest in 1826. His brother Louis had hoped to become a missionary in China but died before reaching his destination. John Gabriel eventually received permission to follow the same missionary call.

After arriving in China, he learned the language, adopted local dress, traveled under difficult conditions, and ministered to scattered Christian communities. In 1839, during a period of persecution, he was betrayed, arrested, and subjected to repeated interrogations and torture.

John Gabriel’s final sufferings bore a striking resemblance to the Passion of Christ. He was condemned and executed by strangulation on a cross at Wuchang on September 11, 1840. He was beatified in 1889 and canonized by Saint John Paul II in 1996, becoming the first canonized saint of China’s modern missionary era.

His feast invites the Vincentian Family to pray for missionaries, for Christians living under persecution, and for the respectful encounter between cultures. His life also reminds us that mission is not conquest or self-promotion. It requires humility, patient learning, closeness to the people, and a willingness to give one’s life in love.

September 11 — Founding Anniversary of the Sisters of Our Lady of Reconciliation, 1921

The Sisters of Our Lady of Reconciliation were founded in Paris in 1921 by Father Charles-François Rollin. Their origins are connected with the wider spiritual tradition of Our Lady of Sion and with the desire to promote reconciliation and bear witness to God’s faithful love.

The anniversary of this community introduces an important word into the Vincentian month: reconciliation. Service to those who are poor cannot be separated from the healing of relationships, the overcoming of prejudice, and the patient construction of peace.

In a world still wounded by religious hostility, racism, antisemitism, polarization, and conflict, this foundation anniversary invites Vincentians to become artisans of encounter. Reconciliation does not mean ignoring injustice. It means confronting truth while refusing hatred and working so that wounded relationships may be transformed.

September 14 — Founding Anniversary of the Missionary Sisters of the Poor in Christ, 1978

The Missionary Sisters of the Poor in Christ were founded on September 14, 1978, in the Diocese of Catarman in the Philippines by Sister Lourdes Gómez López, a former Daughter of Charity.

The date coincides with the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, placing the mystery of Christ’s self-giving love at the heart of the congregation’s identity. The institute was established for service to people who were poor and had limited access to education and other basic opportunities.

Its foundation illustrates one of the ways the Vincentian charism continues to expand. A person formed in one branch of the Family may respond to a new call, a particular local need, or a population that remains insufficiently served. From that discernment, a new community can emerge while preserving a recognizable Vincentian concern for Christ in the poor.

This anniversary invites us to give thanks for the missionary vitality of the Church in the Philippines and to pray for those who serve in places marked by geographic isolation, economic poverty, and limited resources.

September 18 — Blessed Francesco Paleari, S.S.C.

Blessed Francesco Paleari was born in Pogliano Milanese, Italy, in 1863. He entered the religious family established by Saint Joseph Benedict Cottolengo and was ordained a priest on September 18, 1886. The Vincentian Family calendar remembers him on the anniversary of his priestly ordination, although his liturgical feast is also observed elsewhere on May 7, the anniversary of his death.

Father Paleari served in the Little House of Divine Providence in Turin, commonly known as the Cottolengo. There he dedicated himself to children, people who were sick, persons with disabilities, and others who had nowhere else to turn. He was also appreciated as a preacher, confessor, teacher, and spiritual guide.

His ministry was characterized by quiet availability. Rather than seeking spectacular accomplishments, he allowed himself to be used wherever Providence and the needs of others called him. He died in Turin in 1939 and was beatified in 2011.

His commemoration helps us value ministries that remain largely hidden: listening, teaching, accompanying, hearing confessions, caring for people with severe disabilities, and sustaining communities through daily fidelity.

September 19 — Founding Anniversary of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Saint Joseph, 1872

On September 19, 1872, Father José María Vilaseca, C.M., began the work that gave rise to the Congregation of the Missionaries of Saint Joseph, commonly known as the Josephites, in Mexico City.

Born in Spain in 1831, Father Vilaseca entered the Congregation of the Mission and was sent to Mexico. He became deeply committed to promoting devotion to Saint Joseph, forming clergy, educating young people, and strengthening missionary life.

The foundation began with the Clerical College of the Lord Saint Joseph, established to educate and prepare candidates for the priesthood. From this initiative developed a missionary congregation dedicated to evangelization and priestly formation.

The Josephites inherited important elements of Vincentian spirituality through their founder: missionary availability, concern for the formation of clergy, attention to the needs of the Church, and confidence in divine Providence. Their anniversary reminds us that the renewal of the Church requires well-formed, prayerful, and pastorally sensitive ministers who remain close to ordinary people.

September 22 — Founding Anniversary of the Congregation of the Josephine Sisters, 1872

Only three days after the beginning of the male Josephite foundation, the Congregation of the Josephine Sisters was founded in Mexico City by Father José María Vilaseca and Cesárea Ruiz de Esparza y Dávalos.

On September 22, 1872, Cesárea and four companions moved into a small house and opened a school. This simple beginning marked the birth of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary of Saint Joseph, later known as the Josephine Sisters.

The congregation developed a broad apostolate in education, catechesis, health care, parish ministry, missionary service, and human formation. Its spirituality emphasizes living in the presence of God, following the example of the Holy Family, and striving to do what is best in every circumstance.

The closely linked foundations of September 19 and September 22 reveal Father Vilaseca’s comprehensive vision. Evangelization required both the formation of priests and the active participation of consecrated women. The Josephine Sisters’ history also highlights the decisive contribution of Cesárea Ruiz de Esparza and of the women who transformed an inspiration into a stable community of service.

September 24 — Blessed Émilie Tavernier Gamelin, S.P.

Blessed Émilie Tavernier Gamelin was born in Montreal in 1800. Orphaned at an early age, she later married Jean-Baptiste Gamelin. Within a few years, she experienced the deaths of her husband and their three children.

Rather than allowing grief to close her heart, Émilie transformed her suffering into compassion for others. She welcomed older and destitute women, visited people who were sick, assisted families in poverty, supported prisoners and political detainees, and responded to the many social needs of nineteenth-century Montreal.

Her work eventually contributed to the foundation of the Sisters of Providence. Émilie herself entered the new community and became its first superior. She remained deeply committed to seeing the suffering Christ in every person in need.

She died of cholera in 1851 and was beatified by Saint John Paul II in 2001. Her feast is celebrated on September 24.

Blessed Émilie teaches us that suffering need not have the final word. With grace, personal sorrow can open into solidarity. Her life also shows how attentive listening to the needs of a city can generate organized, enduring, and creative forms of charity.

September 26 — Founding Anniversary of the Sisters of Charity–Exeter, 1869

The Sisters of Charity–Exeter were founded in England on September 26, 1869, by the Reverend Arthur Hawkins Ward and Elizabeth Lloyd. This Anglican religious community followed a rule inspired by Saint Vincent de Paul and dedicated itself to serving people in need.

Its inclusion in the extended Vincentian Family is a reminder that Vincent de Paul’s influence reaches beyond the boundaries of the Roman Catholic Church. His understanding of organized charity, community life, practical service, and reverence for Christ in the poor has also inspired Christians in other ecclesial traditions.

Remembering this foundation is therefore an ecumenical occasion. It invites members of the Vincentian Family to recognize the work of the Holy Spirit in other Christian communities and to seek opportunities for prayer, friendship, and shared service.

The poor should never become a territory of competition among Christians. Service can instead become a place where divisions are overcome and where believers discover one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.

September 27 — Saint Vincent de Paul, C.M.

September reaches its high point with the feast of Saint Vincent de Paul, celebrated throughout the universal Church on September 27.

Vincent was born in 1581 in Pouy, in southwestern France, and was ordained a priest in 1600. His early ambitions gradually gave way to a profound spiritual conversion. Encounters with people experiencing material and spiritual poverty transformed his understanding of priesthood and Christian discipleship.

Two events in 1617 proved decisive. At Folleville, Vincent preached a sermon that revealed the spiritual abandonment of the rural poor and led to a wider ministry of popular missions. At Châtillon-les-Dombes, he encountered a family overwhelmed by illness and poverty. The generous but disorganized response of the parish led him to establish the first Confraternity of Charity.

From these beginnings arose a network of works and communities. Vincent founded the Congregation of the Mission in 1625 to evangelize the rural poor and form the clergy. Together with Louise de Marillac, he founded the Daughters of Charity in 1633. He organized assistance for abandoned children, refugees, prisoners, galley convicts, people displaced by war, and communities devastated by famine. He also involved women and men from every social class in organized service.

Vincent’s greatness did not lie only in the number of works he established. He developed a spirituality in which contemplation and action, love of God and love of neighbor, evangelization and human service were inseparable. He taught his followers to see people who were poor not as burdens but as persons possessing God-given dignity and as privileged signs of Christ’s presence.

His feast must not become merely a celebration of a heroic founder. It should disturb and renew us. Where are the abandoned people of our own time? Which forms of poverty have become invisible? Are our institutions still close to those they were created to serve? Do we listen to people experiencing poverty and allow them to participate in decisions affecting their lives?

To celebrate Saint Vincent authentically is to ask again for the grace to follow Christ, Evangelizer of the Poor, with humility, simplicity, charity, creativity, and practical love.

September 27 — Founding Anniversary of the Vincentian Sisters of EerKoNie, 2006

The Vincentian Sisters of EerKoNie were founded on September 27, 2006, by Annie Detavenir, Ida Brackx, Denise Manhaene, and Magda Zoete. The choice of Saint Vincent de Paul’s feast for their foundation expresses their place within the Vincentian tradition.

Public information about this relatively recent branch remains limited, but its very existence testifies to the continuing fruitfulness of the charism. The Vincentian Family is not simply a collection of congregations established centuries ago. New forms of belonging, consecration, association, and service continue to emerge.

This anniversary, celebrated on Saint Vincent’s own feast, invites us to remain open to new expressions of the charism. Fidelity to Vincent does not mean mechanically repeating seventeenth-century works. It means responding to today’s forms of poverty with the same faith, freedom, practical intelligence, and love.

September 29 — Founding Anniversary of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Mallorca, 1798

The Vincentian Family calendar identifies September 29, 1798, as the foundation date of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Mallorca.

This congregation belongs to the rich history of communities of apostolic women that arose to meet local needs in education, health care, and assistance to people experiencing poverty. Its title openly expresses its relationship with Saint Vincent de Paul and the tradition of practical, organized charity associated with him.

The Sisters’ history is part of a wider movement in which Vincentian spirituality crossed national borders and was adapted to new cultural and ecclesial circumstances. On an island with dispersed communities and particular social needs, religious women played an indispensable role in caring for the sick, educating children, accompanying families, and sustaining Christian life.

Their anniversary honors generations of women whose service was often performed far from public attention. It also invites gratitude for the perseverance of smaller congregations whose presence has deeply shaped local churches and communities.

September 29 — Founding Anniversary of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, 1859

The Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth were founded in Newark, New Jersey, on September 29, 1859. Their history belongs to the Vincentian-Setonian tradition that began in the United States with Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.

Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley, a nephew of Mother Seton and the first bishop of Newark, sought religious sisters for his growing diocese. Sister Mary Xavier Mehegan and Sister Mary Catherine Nevin, members of the Sisters of Charity of New York, helped establish the new community. Mother Mary Xavier Mehegan became its first leader.

The Sisters served in education, health care, care for children, and many other ministries. They founded the Academy of Saint Elizabeth and later the College of Saint Elizabeth, contributing significantly to women’s education. Their works expanded beyond New Jersey and eventually included missions outside the United States.

This anniversary celebrates the creativity of the Setonian branches of the Vincentian Family. Rooted in a common heritage, these communities developed distinct identities in response to the needs of different dioceses and populations. Their history demonstrates that unity does not require uniformity: a shared charism can generate many complementary forms of service.

September 30 — Blessed Federico Albert

Blessed Federico Albert was born in Turin in 1820. He initially considered a military career but eventually discerned a vocation to the priesthood. After ordination, he served as a court chaplain and later as a parish priest in Lanzo Torinese.

His pastoral work brought him into close contact with people who were poor, young people without adequate education, abandoned girls, prisoners, and families facing hardship. He founded schools, an orphanage, and other charitable initiatives. To provide continuity for these works, he established the Vincentian Sisters of Mary Immaculate, also known as the Albertines.

Federico Albert understood charity as a response to the whole person. Material assistance, education, spiritual formation, and loving accompaniment belonged together. He declined honors and sought to remain close to the people entrusted to him.

He died on September 30, 1876, and was beatified exactly 108 years later, on September 30, 1984, by Saint John Paul II.

His feast fittingly closes the Vincentian month. His life shows how one parish priest, attentive to local suffering and willing to organize a response, can begin a work whose influence continues long after his death.

Celebrating a Living Heritage

The September calendar reveals the remarkable breadth of the Vincentian vocation. It includes laywomen and laymen, married people and parents, priests and brothers, religious sisters, missionaries, scholars, nurses, educators, founders, and martyrs. Their lives unfolded in Europe, Asia, North America, and South America, in situations ranging from universities and family homes to hospitals, missions, prisons, schools, and places of persecution.

Their stories are different, but several convictions unite them. Christ is encountered in people who are poor. Faith must become active love. Charity requires preparation, organization, courage, and perseverance. The dignity of the person must be defended even when doing so is costly. Prayer must lead to service, and service must continually return us to prayer.

We celebrate these saints and blesseds not because they were distant or flawless figures, but because grace transformed their particular lives. Their example can help us discern what God asks of us today. We celebrate founding anniversaries to give thanks for all those who said yes at the beginning of a community and for the generations who carried its mission forward. We also remember the countless unnamed people—members, collaborators, benefactors, volunteers, and people living in poverty—without whom these histories could never have been written.

Every branch is one expression of a gift much larger than itself. Together, these commemorations reveal how the seed planted through Vincent, Louise, and their first companions has continued to grow, cross borders, enter new cultures, and respond to new forms of suffering.

The best way to honor this heritage is not simply to admire it. It is to continue it: to pray more deeply, collaborate more generously, listen more carefully to people on the margins, examine the structures that produce poverty, and respond with the practical creativity that has always characterized the Vincentian charism.

The Vincentian Family is alive and constantly growing. New communities appear, historical research brings forgotten stories to light, and local branches may observe celebrations that are not yet included in international calendars. For that reason, despite our efforts, a feast, commemoration, or founding anniversary may have been overlooked, and some information may require correction or further clarification. If you notice a missing celebration or any error in this article, please let us know in the comments below so that we can verify the information and make the necessary correction.