Newsnote: Vincentian Purchase of the Week Daughter of Charity, WW II Heroine

Published on February 4, 1946 by the “French Press and Information Service, New York.”

Text to accompany the photo:
“Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Religious Foundation
Founded in the 17th century by the French Priest, Vincent de Paul, the religious order which bears his name is a congregation of sisters of charity, easily recognizable by their white coifs, who are seen at work wherever distress strikes. The Mother Superior of the Sisters of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul at Stains who was awarded the Medaille de la Resistance for having hidden an American para-trooper, ten young men who were escaping deportation to Germany, as as many Jews. The heroic sister of charity also saved thirty FFI who were being pursued by the Germans during the last battles of the liberation of France.”

The French Press and Information Service in New York seems to have been the American information office for the French government in exile during World War II. The identity of the sister in the photograph (shown wearing her medal) remains to be determined.

This photo was recently added to the Vincentiana collection at DePaul University’s Archives and Special Collection Department.