History / Comments:

Bros & sis!

Our beloved parish St. Vincent De Paul, is closely linked with the

construction of one of the greatest engineering feats of our time: The Panama canal:In this respect it was necessary to import labour from all over the world, the Afro-Caribbean the majority.

As they installed themselves in areas such as El Chorillo, San Miguel, Marañon, Guachapli, etcthe catholic afro communitywas at a loss as to where to worship the Lord at that time, they knew no spanish. However with the execution of those who resided in the canal area , such as La Boca, Paraiso, Red Tank etc, where there were catholic churches in english under the regency of north american priests, racism took its toll. the Afro-Carribeans were humiliated, forced to sit in the back of the churches.

As a consequence of this fact a massiveexodus of Afro-Carribean

faithfuls began toward the protestant churches which offered rights in english due to the fact that, in those days the official religion of the majority in Panama was the catholic religion , therefore that group had no problem in prder to build their churches. As the situation worsened , a group of devoted Afro-Caribbean catholics under the leadership of the Knights of St. John and its female chapter, advised by Rev. Fr. Thomas McDonald, CM, of St. Mary Parish in Balboa, former canal zone, wrote a letter dated June 18, 1921, to the then archbishop of Panama, Mons. -----On June 25, 1921, the comittee recieved a reply from His Excellency, Guillerm Rojas, Archbishop of Panama, granting his permission to build this temple in the vicinity surrounding The Nationl Institute  of Panama considering it as the most centric  and convenient location, under the leadership of Rev. Fr. Thomas McDonald C.M. This was a joyful moment for the community. The land was bought by Fr. McDonald from the sister of President Belisario Porras. The corner stone was laid on January 4, 1925, with the massive support of donors. The cost of construction, at that time, was aproximately $45,200. Unfortunately the marble alter, imported from Italy, which was called the "Penny Alter" was transferred to another parish. The name "Penny Alter" was given in honour of the children at  that time who donated their pennies towards its purchase. On Sunday Sept. 27, 1925, the temple opened its massive doors to the huge crowd of Afro-Carribean catholics and others, Joyful to see a dream come true.

That was the beginning of our parisn mission of St. Vincent De Paul. As of 1925 until Oct. 16, 1981, St. Vincent De Paul's parish was under the regency of the north american priests of the congregation of the mission in Philadelphia, U.S,A., when by means of public representation of the congregation of the mission in Philadelphia, U.S.A., when by means of public deed #8491, signedby Rev. Fr. Robert Branderbueger, CM.IN representation of the congregation of the mission and at time Archbishop of Panama, Mons. Marcus Gregorio McGrath, allproperties were transferred to the regency of Panama. The first Panamanian in the history this parish to occupy thr regency, since January 5, 2005, is none other than Rev. Fr. Justino Carrasguilla Venegas.(This information was supplied by Parroqui San Vincent De Paul.)