During his life, Vincent a Paulo showed lots of charitable works.
The Foundation of a congregation
He founded the Congregation of missions, also known as the “Lazarists”. Together with Louise de Marillac, he founded the Congregation of the sisters by Vincent a Paulo in 1633. Vincent became the model of evangelization, of preaching and of help to the poorest. In the 19th century, he was specifically popular with the social Catholics, as well laymen as priests.
A charity association
The Saint-Vincent a Paulo association, founded in Paris by Fréderic Ozanam in 1833, was a charity association for laymen who wanted society to become Christian again by apostleship and they also wanted to bring the Church again in a new blossom.
Propagation and associations
In Belgium the association was propagated among others by the Jesuit Jean-Baptiste Boone (1794-1871), who was headmaster of the Saint-Michaels school in Brussels (nowadays known as the Saint-Johns school). In 1841 a first association was founded in “Luik”, Brussels followed the example and V. Scheppers founded an association in 1851 “in Mechelen”
Source: SCHEPPERS, OUR SCHOOL by An Hermans, printed in 2002