ST. ELIZABETH ANN SETON
[Elizabeth Seton and her first companions looked to St. Vincent de Paul as their inspiration. The first group of American Sisters of Charity completed their retreat and professed their first vows on the feast of St. Vincent, then celebrated July 19, 1813. In Elizabeth’s reflections for this day, she wrote:]

O my God, exceedingly dear to us through thy grace is that blessed feast of our father which must seal for a whole year the resolutions of our retreat. . . . O second father, O St. Vincent, most precious to every heart here, take among us thy blessed day and permit us thy latest daughters and the least of all, … permit us to be thine also forever.

Never was I more at liberty or in a happier state of mind to answer and make every communication to the dear ones of my heart. …The nearer a soul is truly united to God the more its sensibilities are increased to every being of his creation, much more to those whom it is bound to love by the tenderest and most endearing ties. (Written 9/20/1809, six weeks after the community began in Emmitsburg, MD)

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL
I belong neither here nor there, but wherever God wants me to be.

The sufferings of our Lord gave fecundity to his words, and your crosses will also give it to the holy seed you plant in hearts.

BLESSED FREDERIC OZANAM (Feast: Sept. 9)
I rejoice in the fact that I was born in an epoch in which I will perhaps find many ways to do good, and I feel a new enthusiasm for the task.

Knowledge of those in need is not gained by poring over books or in discussions with politicians, but by visiting the homes where those in need live, sitting by the bedside of the dying, feeling the cold they feel, and learning from their lips the causes of their woes.