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The diocese organised its charities in 1922 on three nineteenth-century foundations; the county's Vincentians organised themselves in 1904 and made 6,772 home visits in 2024. Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend prints its own history (ccfwsb.org) as a course: the precursors — a home for the aged (Sacred Heart Home, 1876), the St. Vincent de Paul Society in the diocese from 1879, and an orphanage (St. Vincent Villa, 1886) — then the organisation: Bishop Herman Alerding established the Associated Catholic Charities in 1922; the South Bend office opened in 1947; the 1957 reorganisation took the present name; the centennial was kept on 21 April 2022. The St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Joseph County (svdpsb.org) carries its own founding: 1904, by thirty members of St. Patrick's Parish, South Bend; today fifteen county parishes hold conferences, and the society's 2024 work stands in the diocesan weekly's figures: 6,772 home visits (Today's Catholic, August 2025). The Lakeville limb prints at its exact strength: Sacred Heart parish, Lakeville, is one of the county's parishes, but whether it holds a Vincentian conference was not verified — residue, settler the society's conference list read entire.
Principal sources: Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend, history page (ccfwsb.org); the St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Joseph County (svdpsb.org); Today's Catholic, August 2025.