A THUMBNAIL SKETCH OF OUR FOUNDER: VINCENT PALLOTTI

Vincent Pallotti was born in the year 1795 in Rome, Italy. The years that Vincent grew up were filled with political turmoil. Rome was occupied by the French under Napoleon. Churches were suppressed; streets were filled with the jobless, the poor and the starving. As Vincent matured, he became aware of the poor and desired to alleviate their suffering. He chose to do that by becoming a diocesan priest.

His first assignment was to be a professor at a seminary. He taught his students that everyone is called to love and that everyone is called to be an apostle.

Vincent strived to five his life as an apostle of the Eternal Father. Vincent's idea of being an apostle meant visiting the sick and dying; giving retreats; administering the sacraments; visiting prisoners--especially those facing execution; raising funds for the missions; creating food stamps during the cholera epidemic; creating homes for orphans; setting up night schools. An apostle, for Vincent, is a person who does his or her best (even if it is simply praying) for the love of Christ. Besides all of this, Vincent wanted to inspire the laity to take part in the mission of the Church.

On January 20, 1963, Pope John XXIII declared Vincent Pallotti a saint of the Catholic Church. He was saluted for his holiness, his devotion to the priesthood, and above all, for his farsighted vision of the laity in the Church. During Vincent's life, he had insisted that lay people, clergy and religious are called to be apostles and to carry out the mission of Christ. He was definitely a person who was ahead of his time. His vision is eloquently expressed today in the "Document on the Laity" issued by Vatican II.

It isn't too surprising that this particular document was written by a Pallottine father.

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