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”…..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.
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