We, the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent De Paul, are a Society of Apostolic Life in Community founded IN 1633 by St. Vincent de Paul and St Louise de Marillac in France within the Catholic Church. Currently, over 14 thousand Daughters of Charity are serving in 93 countries.
During the Vincentian Family celebration of the 400th anniversary at the Vatican in 2017, Pope Francis in his speech proposed three simple things that are of great importance to our Vincentian spirit:
- To worship: - According to Pope Francis, prayer is to stand before God and be with Him, to devote oneself to Him alone. This is the purest form of prayer: to make room for the Lord and his praise, and nothing else. It is the pure intimacy with the Lord, which gives peace and joy, and melts the sorrows of life. A Vincentian, in practicing this type prayer, becomes more merciful, more sympathetic, more available and exceeds his/her stiffness to become more open to others.
- To welcome: - The pope advised us Vincentians to be welcoming, available and accustomed to others, knowing that man is an imitation of God. He added that the welcoming Christian is a true person of the Church, because the Church is a Mother, and a Mother welcomes and accompanies her life around her. So we are invited to be like God and like mothers to those who are in need.
- To go: - His Holiness, Pope Francis, reminds us to inflame the hearts of people throughout the Earth by doing what Jesus, the Son of God did for us. Our vocation is as dynamic as Love. This vocation is relevant to everyone. He challenges us to ask questions like: “Do I meet others as the Lord wants?”
In line with our vocation, the congregation’s primary goal is to serve God in persons who live in poverty and the most disadvantaged within society. Inspired and guided by the gospel values, we, the Daughters of Charity, focus on values such as love, justice, solidarity, collaboration, commitment, equality and respect for human dignity and integrity. We seek to address the inequality in our world by giving preferential treatment to people who are poor and most disadvantaged.
The presence of the Daughters of Charity in Ethiopia goes back to November 1927, when three sisters arrived in Addis Ababa. The Work has expanded and there are now 14 local community houses directed by 61 sisters serving hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged people.
