Vincent DePaul organized The Ladies of Charity in 1617 in the parish of Chatillon-les Dombes outside of Paris. One Sunday, a parishioner informed him that a family in his parish were all seriously ill and were without help. He pleaded their case in his sermon and the people responded with great generosity but without a plan beyond the moment. Vincent realized then that the poor suffer more from a lack of organization than a lack of charity from others. In a few days he had set up a structure and rule for this parish work and had enlisted a cohort of lay persons to provide this service on an ongoing basis.
Louise de Marillac (1591-1660) was the president of her parish unit of the Ladies of Charity in Paris. These parish groups spread rapidly around Paris and across France and beyond.
The Ladies of Charity at St. John’s University Annual Evening of Hope honors an individual who sustains a commitment to providing opportunities for women and children in need.
The Spes Unica Award was established in 2014 to recognize a person who exemplifies the spirit of St. Louise de Marillac by radically improving the lives of others through service. St. Louise de Marillac was the spiritual moderator of St. Vincent dePaul’s lay women’s society, the Ladies of Charity. In 1633 she co-founded the religious order the Daughters of Charity with St. Vincent to address more completely the grinding poverty of 17th-century France. The newly formed Daughters of Charity set up soup kitchens, organized community hospitals, established schools and homes for orphaned children, offered job training, taught the young to read and write, and improved prison conditions. St. Louise died in 1660 and inscribed on the cross at her grave is the Latin phrase ”spes unica,” which means “one hope” or “only hope.” These words reflect St. Louise’s belief that service to humanity through systematic planning, sustainable programming and extensive collaboration is the “one hope” to effectively alleviate the burdens of people living in poverty. Four centuries later, that vision is reflected today.
GLOBE – Global Loan Opportunities for Budding Entrepreneurs is a student-managed microloan program in the Peter J. Tobin College of Business and is led by Lady of Charity, Dr. Linda Sama. The mission of GLOBE is to help those living in poverty help themselves by boosting the earning capacity of local entrepreneurs which serves the needs of their local communities. With assistance from their Vincentian partners on the ground, the Daughters of Charity, GLOBE’s loans have helped the lives of families in six countries: Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Vietnam and most recently the Philippines. The Ladies offer support by donating funds to be used as loans, helping with fundraising efforts, and holding three seats on the steering committee. Many of these loans went to struggling farmers in Libon, Albay, Philippines with repayment terms that allowed them to enjoy yields from their labor before having to pay back the loan Another set of loans helped a number of women in a small village near Concepcion, Iloilo , Philippines– a former fishing village where Super Typhoon Yolanda destroyed the community’s ability to sustain its livelihood through fishing (bottom left). These women opened up sari sari (convenience) stores as part of a cooperative that have allowed the entire community to rebuild. Income from their businesses was used to not only pay back loans and send their children to school, but was further distributed to others in the community to start their own businesses. The women held borrower meetings (bottom right) with the newly initiated to help all pay back the loans. This trickledown effect resulted in GLOBE having reached fivefold the number of women originally given a loan! These stories are repeated in communities throughout the GLOBE sphere of operations.
Based at a University, we recognize that education is the key to ending poverty. We promote projects that support education to underserved populations. In 2009 we began a partnership with the School Sisters of Notre Dame Educational Center in Woodhaven, Queens. This center provides comprehensive educational programs for women over age 18 to learn English as a second language and to prepare them for the High School Equivalency Exam. Our Ladies offer educational testing and evaluation and provide enrichment lectures for the faculty, board members and students.
In 1857, Catherine Harkins, new to St. Louis, decided to start a group there to address the needs of the many poor persons. The number of associations grew throughout the US and they decided to form a national organization to offer consistent formation to all associations and to strengthen the bonds of Charity. The Ladies of Charity, USA was formed in 1960 to unite all the associations in the US with headquarters in St. Louis, MO. In September of 2010, LCUSA celebrated their 50th anniversary. Today there are approximately 6,000 Ladies of Charity in 70 Associations in twenty-one states and the District of Columbia. As the first university organization, St. John’s Ladies of Charities was established in 2009 and accepted 34 members drawn from the administration, faculty, graduate students and staff.
Our international organization is Association Internationale des Charités (AIC), headquartered in Louvain la Neuve – Belgium.
AIC –(English translation= International Association of Charities) is a network of 100,000 local volunteers, mainly women, who work in their local communities to combat poverty in 55 countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the United States. Local teams of volunteers organize projects in their own locality. AIC is registered as a NGO with consultative status to ECOSOC at the United Nations.
VISION
AIC strives to be a transforming presence of Christian inspiration in society, working mainly with women, through projects and development actions in which the beneficiaries are fully involved. It also collaborates at local and global levels, participating in networks and getting involved in public policy or civil society programmes, so that together we can build a fairer world.
MISSION
Following the example of St Vincent de Paul, and in accordance with the teachings of the Church, our mission is: To combat poverty and exclusion in all their forms, through transformative initiatives and projects. To work with our sisters and brothers living in poverty, encouraging each person to discover their own strengths, supporting education and promoting dignity for all. To speak out against injustice and put pressure on civil society structures and decision-makers, with the goal of eradicating the causes of poverty.
INTERNATIONAL STRUCTURE
AIC is an international network which fights against all forms of poverty and exclusion. This network has over 100,000 volunteers, mainly women, who willingly commit to improving the lives of the most disadvantaged people.
It has members in 55 countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the United States, with over 5100 local groups around the world. Each national association is its own legal entity, and is responsible for leading and coordinating its local groups, training its members, fundraising and advocacy in its own country.
GOVERNANCE
The structure of the international organization consists of:
Assembly of Delegates: formed by the presidents of the all national associations, it meets every three years to elect the Executive Board.
Executive Board: formed with 8 to 10 volunteers of different nations, it has the task of coordinating, leading and managing the AIC network, in accordance with the objectives set by the Assembly of Delegates.
International Secretariat: supports the Executive Board in carrying out its mission
For more information on AIC and what is happening internationally, click on
December 2019 brought us together in service with St. John’s University Vincentian Institute for Social Action as we prepared for our first Midnight Run. Midnight Run coordinates over 1,000 relief missions per year, in which volunteers distribute food, clothing, blankets and personal care items to the homeless poor on the streets of New York City.
The late-night relief efforts create a forum for trust, sharing, understanding and affection. That human exchange, rather than the exchange of goods, is the essence of the Midnight Run mission. One team of our Ladies prepared sandwiches and put other nutritious items like juice boxes, hard boiled eggs and string cheese, in to 70 food bags that were handed out to the homeless in NYC.
Our second team sorted personal items, underwear, socks, jeans and jackets for distribution. Once intransit in a St. John’s van, Ms. Lucy Pesce, of the SJU Mission Office, led the effort of distributing food bags and clothing to our brothers and sisters on the street. One of our Ladies commented, “The Midnight Run provided as much for me as it provided for the people I met. It was truly an amazing experience.”
On Friday May 4, 2018, The Ladies of Charity at St. John’s University were delighted to honor Sister Tesa Fitzgerald, CSJ as the 2018 Spes Unica award. Sister Tesa is Executive Director of Hour Children as well as a beloved friend and mentor to many of the Ladies at SJU. In her acceptance speech, she spoke of vocation, and listening to the call to action: attending meetings and well-wishing was not enough. As a life-long educator, Sr. Tesa’s work as a teacher evolved into acting as a foster parent and subsequently grew into her establishing Hour Children as a nonprofit organization to offer supportive services to other children of incarcerated mothers and the mothers themselves. She shared a short video about Hour Children and some of the women who have been touched by Hour Children’s services and love.
“We want to change our future!” stated the student speaker for level three of the five ESL Levels moving up or forward at the SSND Educational Center in Woodhaven Queens. Ninety women ages 21 and up have taken “the road less traveled,” stated the Executive Director, Sr. Cathy Feeney, SSND. It hard work to learn to read, write and speak English. Nearly 75 women gathered with faculty, board members and the Ladies of Charity. They celebrated not only learning English as a second language or High School Equivalency classes but of learning to build self confidence and the importance of a community of support. Congratulations to these wonderful women!
For more information about the good work that the SSND Educational Center does, please visit their website
