St Vincent Pallotti was born in Rome in 1795. Even from a very early age people called him a ‘Little Saint’. He became a Doctor of Theology and confessor to the Pope and spiritual director of the Roman Seminary, The Irish College and the College for the Spread of the Faith. His two great loves were The Missions and the Apostolate of the Laity.

In 1835 he founded the Society of the Catholic Apostolate, a group which included lay people as well as clergy, and insisted that every baptized person is called to be an Apostle. Almost a century later Pope Pius XI commented that the Society had come close to the ideal and reality of modern Catholic Action.

St Vincent died in 1850 aged just 55 years. A century later he was declared Blessed by Pope Pius XII and on January 22^nd 1963 he was declared Saint by Pope John 23^rd, with January 22^nd being designated his feast day.