The French Catholic priest Vincent de Paul was born in the village of Pouy near Dax in the Landes in 1581. In the 18th century he was declared a saint for the compassion and humility he showed during the course of an eventful life in which he was sold into slavery by Barbary pirates. He is known as the ‘Great Apostle of Charity’.
Visitors can see the modest farmhouse (called ‘Ranquines’) where he grew up; the village was renamed Saint Vincent de Paul in the 19th century.