They are homemakers, business women, teachers, and professional women who are dedicated to helping the poor and disenfranchised.

They are mentors and teachers who encourage and motivate young people to develop their skills and realize their potential.

They are advocates for the disadvantaged and poor.  They help to empower the poor to help themselves.

They try, while meeting the temporal needs of those who are poor, to help them build self-esteem and attain personal dignity.

They are visionary leaders who work to meet the needs of the poor in their community.

They are women who are imitators of Christ and who see the face of Christ in each and everyone they meet.

The Spirit and Principal Virtues of the Ladies of Charity.
"The confraternity of the Ladies of Charity sprang from God in order to honor our Lord Jesus Christ as the source and model of all charity." - St. Vincent de Paul

Thus the purpose of an association is to have its members imitate the Divine Savior in serving the poor, particularly the sick poor, and in bringing them corporal and spiritual nourishment.

According to St. Vincent, the spirit of an association consists of those virtues which the Ladies of Charity should practice in the corporal and spiritual service of the poor as representing our Lord Jesus Christ.  These virtues are humility, simplicity and charity.

St. Vincent recognized that the corporal care of the poor often precedes the spiritual.  Ordinarily the demands of the body are more manifest than those of the soul.  The poor feel more forcibly the gnawing pains of hunger, or the burning heat of fever, than the privation of knowledge or of sanctifying grace.  Once the material needs have been satisfied, it is easier to work for the spiritual needs.