Overview of the St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP)
The St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP) is an international organization, which has Catholic Church groups called conferences. It was founded by the Blessed Fredric Ozanan who with fellow students in Paris in 1833 realised that there were many poor people in need who they could help
Named after St Vincent de Paul who was a 16th century Catholic Priest who helped the poor and organised wealthy women to help the poor. This congregation became known as the Daughters' of St Vincent de Paul in Paris.
By the time of Frederic Ozanam's death in 1853 the society numbered 2000 members. Today there are around 1000 conferences in the England and Wales Society which number around 10,000 members. Internationally there are 800,000 members in 140 countries.
Structure of the Society
The Society has a National Office in London. Beneath this are the Central Councils in each of the Catholic Dioceses. Each of these has District Councils covering city areas. Beneath these are the Church conferences.
The National Office has a Chief Executive and there are several teams that can be called on for advice. Finance is handled by the Finance Office in Bradford