Oct. 5, 2022
On Sept. 28, DePaul presented Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., an author and activist known internationally for opposing the death penalty, with the university's highest honor, the Saint Vincent de Paul Award. Presented during a Vincentian Heritage Week luncheon, Prejean is the first recipient of the award since 2011 and only the 27th honoree since the university created it in 1965.
Read more about Prejean
in Newsline.
![Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., speaks with luncheon attendees.](/newsline/multimedia/PublishingImages/2022-23/sister_prejean_2022/20220928_prejean_jsc_011.jpg)
Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., speaks with attendees at the Saint Vincent de Paul Heritage Week Luncheon. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)
![Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., points to a display, accompanied by Georgianna Torres Reyes.](/newsline/multimedia/PublishingImages/2022-23/sister_prejean_2022/20220928_prejean_jsc_005.jpg)
Prejean, left, shows Georgianna Torres Reyes, the associate vice president for student engagement in the Division of Mission and Ministry, a display of the Sister Helen Prejean Papers. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)
![From left, Fr. Memo Campuzano, C.M., Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., and Rob Manuel, president of DePaul.](/newsline/multimedia/PublishingImages/2022-23/sister_prejean_2022/20220928_prejean_jsc_024.jpg)
From left, Fr. Memo Campuzano, C.M., vice president of Mission and Ministry; Prejean; and Robert L. Manuel, president of DePaul. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)
![Fr. Memo Campuzano, C.M., addresses the Saint Vincent de Paul Heritage Week Luncheon.](/newsline/multimedia/PublishingImages/2022-23/sister_prejean_2022/20220928_prejean_jsc_035.jpg)
Campuzano delivers remarks during the Saint Vincent de Paul Heritage Week Luncheon that honored Prejean. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)
![Georgianna Torres Reyes offers an invocation from behind a lectern.](/newsline/multimedia/PublishingImages/2022-23/sister_prejean_2022/20220928_prejean_jsc_065.jpg)
Torres Reyes offers an invocation during the program. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)
![Susanne Dumbleton addresses the luncheon audience.](/newsline/multimedia/PublishingImages/2022-23/sister_prejean_2022/20220928_prejean_jsc_089.jpg)
Susanne Dumbleton, professor and dean emeritus in the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, speaks about Prejean's work as an advocate for restorative justice and activist against the death penalty. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)
![DePaul President Rob Manuel presenting the Saint Vincent de Paul Award to Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J.](/newsline/multimedia/PublishingImages/2022-23/sister_prejean_2022/20220928_prejean_jsc_113.jpg)
"Sister Helen’s noble work to put an end to the death penalty is deeply connected to the foundation of DePaul’s Catholic, Vincentian mission, which recognizes the sacred dignity of every individual,” Manuel said. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)
![Jesse Cheng speaks to Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., both seated in chairs.](/newsline/multimedia/PublishingImages/2022-23/sister_prejean_2022/20220928_prejean_jsc_169.jpg)
Following the award presentation, Jesse Cheng, an associate professor in the College of Law, hosted a discussion with Prejean. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)
![An overhead view of the luncheon, showing people seated at tables](/newsline/multimedia/PublishingImages/2022-23/sister_prejean_2022/20220928_prejean_jsc_218.jpg)
Prejean began her anti-capital punishment work in 1982 after moving into the St. Thomas Housing Project in New Orleans. There she became spiritual advisor for a pair of inmates sentenced to death. Those experiences led to her writing "Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States." (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)
![Prejean addresses the audience, seated and holding a microphone, as Jesse Cheng listens behind her.](/newsline/multimedia/PublishingImages/2022-23/sister_prejean_2022/20220928_prejean_jsc_283.jpg)
In 2011, Prejean donated her personal archives to DePaul's Special Collections and Archives department. Included in the files are personal journals, notes from meetings, letters, speeches and other artifacts spanning 40 years of work opposing the death penalty. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)
![Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., chats with a student.](/newsline/multimedia/PublishingImages/2022-23/sister_prejean_2022/20220928_prejean_jsc_343.jpg)
Prejean signed copies of her books for luncheon attendees. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)
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