50,800 Religious will celebrate

In France. where St. Vincent and St. Louise lived and died, celebrations are being organised on a national scale. A medal to commemorate the tercentenary has been made at the French Mint in bronze and silver. One of these medals has been presented to the Pope and another to General de Gaulle. A lilm of the life of St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac has been made.
Relics of the two saints are to be taken to Notre Dame Cathedral for veneration on March 15 (feast of St. Louise). 16 and 17. They will also be taken to the Church of St. Laurent which was the parish church of the two saints for many years.
ALGERIA
Algeria is to he lent the reliquary containing the heart of St. Vincent de Paul (now in the Mother House of the Sisters of Charity in the Rue du Bac. Paris) for celebrations there next year. It was in Algeria that St. Vincent served as a slave for two years. The sons of St. Vincent now have a flourishing province there.
In Great Britain, where the first house of the Vincentians was opened in 1853 (Sheffield). celebrations to mark the tercentenary will include a Solemn High Mass in Westminster Cathedral on July 23 at which Cardinal Godfrey will preside and preach. The superior General of the Order, Fr. William Slattery, C.M., will sing the Mass. The Mother General of the community. Mother Francine Lepicard. will also be present
Westminster was where the Sisters of Charity opened their first house in 1859. Centenary celebrations are thus taking place there at the same time as the Order's tercentenary celebrations. The same applies to Scotland. where the Vincentian Fathers opened their first house in 1859. to be followed a year later by the Sisters, at Lanark. The Sisters' first house in Ireland was opened at Drogheda in 185$. It was 30 years later that St. Vincent tie Paul-that astonishing " Minister of Charity who had begun life as a simple shepherd boy-was proclaimed by Pope Leo XIII as " the patron of all works of charity existing in the Catholic world."
His zealous collaborator, St. Louise de Marillac, may, it is hoped, receive a similar title to mark the tercentenary: petitions from all over the world are going to Rome. begging His Holiness to proclaim St. Louise " patron of social and health service workers " -a fitting title for one who literally exhausted her strength in the service of the poor, young and old.