Our History

The Ladies of Charity began in France in 1617 as a group of Catholic women organized by Vincent de Paul, a parish priest who was approached by a parishioner about a local family in dire need. The entire family was ill and none could care for the others. Vincent spoke of the family's need in a sermon. Such a spontaneous and abundant outpouring of charity from the women of the parish resulted that the family was overwhelmed with food and visitors. Vincent said, "This poor family will have too many provisions at one time and some will be spoiled and wasted. In a short time, the family will be reduced to their former state of need. Would it not be possible to induce our good women to give themselves to God by serving the poor permanently?"

A few days later, he called a meeting of the women of the area and suggested that they band together to carry out this good work. They agreed to form an association in which each would take her turn in serving the poor physically and spiritually. Thus was the founding of the Ladies of Charity. The Ladies flourished and their movement spread to other towns. To maintain a spirit of unity among them, Father Vincent asked his spiritual protégé, Louise de Marillac, to visit each to see that they were appropriately organized. Vincent and Louise were both later canonized and both were adopted as patron saints of the Ladies of Charity, whose mission had then spread throughout the world.

The first American Lady of Charity was a 23 year-old wife and mother, Catherine Harkins. Born in Ireland, she came to America with her parents and moved to St. Louis when she married, settling in St. Vincent de Paul Parish. Encouraged by her pastor, she formed the first Ladies of Charity association in the United States in December 1857. In 1972 the Ladies of Charity of the United States joined associations around the world and formed the Association of International Charities (AIC). The seed sown by St. Vincent in 1617 has become a huge tree that extends its branches in 43 countries with a worldwide membership of 420,000.

Here in Chattanooga, Ladies of Charity (LOCC) formed in 1963, with members from all the Catholic parishes in the city. LOCC first operated a soup kitchen at the corner of Lindsey and Vine Streets, where we served approximately 400,000 peanut butter sandwiches and thousands of gallons of soup to the needy. In 1979, we purchased a building at 1800 Main Street in East Chattanooga as a headquarters and to house a Resale Store. Then, early in 2008 we were able to move into an much larger building at 2008 Rossville Boulevard, where we now have our Ministry Headquarters and the Greater Good Thrift Store.