“Ozanam: that type of Christian, as ancient as his religion, as modern as his time.“
Father Henri Lacordaire O.P. about his friend Blessed Frédéric Ozanam (1813-1853)
This November evening is cold and dark, and so is my cup of coffee. Here we go, at a kitchen table that I found in the streets right when moving into this single-room apartment of mine almost two years ago. A kitchen table in an apartment in that district of the city where antifa groups think that by harassing Christian gatherings they are doing a great service to society and the future of the human race, graffitis claiming that this area still belongs to the working class try to chase away the greedy ghosts of gentrification, without success, and the drug addicts and drunkards gather just a few meters from our doorstep.
Well, in fact, no matter where exactly you find yourself stuck and forlorn in the suffocating and disheartening web and matrix of this great Babylonian harlot, the homeless and the hopeless are always waiting for you just down the road. And each and every winter confronts you with the question what you shall do about it. And all the while, oneself feels kind of homeless and even hopeless at times.
Right now, at my kitchen table, I try my best to not give in to my fatigue after another day of work. I feel that unless I follow through, here and now, with my resolve to attempt to write two rather short articles on this both ancient and modern Catholic saint from 19th century France, the founder of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, I likewise might not succeed therein on another day.
One could compile together so much more than just these two skinny homages to the life and legacy of this man. But rather often, insufficient, raw, and meager sketches of a few pencil strokes are more than enough, at least for those who truly listen and truly glance at every dot with the penetrating eye of spiritual vision. A Catholic brother is always understood by his brothers and sisters.
And even if a saintly man is portrayed in a manner way too scanty to correspond to the eternal weight of his testimony, the same still might be just of the right proportion to fit his outstanding virtue of humility.
“Paris disgusts me…“
At the age of 18, in the year 1831, young Frédéric begins to study law in Paris where he encounters the ugly and challenging reality of a modern metropolis in the midst of the social and political upheavals of the mid 19th century. Reflecting on his new life situation in the big city, he notes:
“Paris disgusts me because there is no life, no faith, no love; it is like a huge corpse to which I, young and alive, am chained, whose coldness chills me and whose putrefaction is killing me.“
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Amin A. de Tarrazi: Frédéric Ozanam. A Lay Saint for Our Times, in: Vincentiana Vol. 41 No. 3 (1997), p. 2
“Learning and Catholicism, these are my sole consolations!“
Paris as a rotting “city of death“, and the Catholic faith as harbor and comfort to keep one‘s soul alive…
In later years, Blessed Frédéric Ozanam would teach lessons and write books dealing with the impact of Christianity and the Church on the development of Western civilization – a civilization he saw beginning to crumble. In his view, Catholicism was the one social force making for a truly humane, life-affirming, healthy and just culture and society.
The astonishing thing is that while the 18-year-old Frédéric was deeply shocked and repulsed by the vileness of Paris, the adult man, who had just gotten engaged to his future wife Amélie, voluntarily chose Paris to be the place of residence for himself and his family. He had to decide, together with Amélie, between a well-paid and secure job as a university professor in Lyon, southern France, close to their respective families and friends, and an ill-paid position at the Sorbonne in Paris. The couple, in unison, chose poverty.
From the Conference of History to the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul with the help of Blessed Rosalie Rendu: evangelizing sceptic academics and visiting the poor
Some time before “learning and Catholicism“ became his sole consolations as a young student, Blessed Frédéric, in his teenage years, once went through a period of doubts concerning the truth of the Catholic faith and religion. But a priest, Abbé Noirot, accompanied him, assisting in overcoming them.
“In the midst of an age of skepticism, God gave me the grace to be born in the true faith.“
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 28
“But I changed very much for the better when I entered the fifth class. (…) It was then that I made my first Communion. O glad and blessed day! May my right hand wither and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I ever forget thee!“
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 6
“After constantly listening to unbelievers and to expressions of unbelief, I commenced to ask myself why I believed. I began to entertain doubt.“
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 28
“I knew the doubts of the present century, but all my life convinced me that there is no rest for the spirit and the heart except in the faith of the Church and under its authority.“
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Amin A. de Tarrazi: Frédéric Ozanam. A Lay Saint for Our Times, in: Vincentiana Vol. 41 No. 3 (1997), p. 1
During his university years in Paris, Blessed Frédéric gathered some companions together who shared his interest in history, philosophy, and religion as well as his Catholic convictions. The Conference of History was born – a meet-up for open discussion, open also to non-Catholics and their questions.
Among the many sceptics of the academic milieu of Paris, Blessed Frédéric became a defender of the Catholic faith, and the hard work of apologetics for the truth of the Catholic religion remained one of his main missions until his death.
“It seemed to me that my days were well filled if, in spite of my scant merit, I was able to keep gathered around my rostrum many young people, and to build up for my listeners the principles of Christian learning, and make them respect all that they despised: the Church, the papacy, monks. I should have liked to gather these same thoughts into books more durable than my lessons, and all my wishes would have been more than satisfied if a few errant souls found in these teachings a reason to abjure their prejudices, to clear up their doubts and to return with God‘s help to Catholic truth.“
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Amin A. de Tarrazi: Frédéric Ozanam. A Lay Saint for Our Times, in: Vincentiana Vol. 41 No. 3 (1997), p. 9
The other big pillar of his lay apostolate came to him one evening during another round of discussion with non-Catholics at the Conference of History: A sceptic challenged him and his Catholic friends, asking them what the Church was doing for the poor these days. Maybe Christians have done good in the past – but where is your charity now?
Blessed Frédéric and his companions turned the Conference of History into the Conference of Charity: That very night, he and a friend brought firewood to a poor woman, and soon thereafter their mentor Emmanuel Bailly, a former professor, got them in touch with a Sister of the Vincentian Daughters of Charity: Blessed Rosalie Rendu.
Blessed Rosalie was already serving the poor people of Paris in the spirit of Saint Vincent de Paul. She was experienced in this field of action and sent the young men – Blessed Frédéric was twenty by now – who were eager to do “practical works of charity“, as they said, in pairs of two to the living quarters of poor families for distributing clothes, fuel, and food. Due to her influence and mentoring and Frédéric‘s own devotion to Saint Vincent de Paul, the Conference of Charity finally became the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. The idea of these lay conferences quickly spread all over Europe…
“But be kind and love, for love is your first gift to the poor. They will appreciate your kindness and your love more than all else you bring them.“
Blessed Rosalie Rendu, 1833
“Sons of St. Vincent de Paul, let us learn of him to forget ourselves, to devote ourselves to the service of God and the good of men.“
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 14
When the honeymoon of Frédéric and Amélie took them to Italy, to Rome, and to an audience with Pope Gregory XVI some years later, the Societies of Saint Vincent de Paul already were a movement that had not escaped the attention of the Holy Father.
“He spoke to me of France … of my studies. I received his blessing for me, for my family, for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul with which he was acquainted and which he loved.“
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Rev Ronald Ramson C.M.: Hosanna! Blessed Frédéric Ozanam: Family and friends, WestBow Press 2013 (e-book), p. 47
“A new Europe will arise…“ – the vision of a Catholic revival
Blessed Frédéric never abandoned the poor. Even later as a renowned professor of literature at the famous Sorbonne University, his alma mater, he sticked with the works of charity he had begun as a young student in the disgusting city of Paris – the city that had challenged him to converse, as an ambassador of Christ and His peace, with all classes, high rank, low rank, for the sake of rekindling the fire of truth and of love without which civilization turns into a “huge corpse“:
“The world has grown cold.
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam
It is for us to rekindle the vital fire that has been extinguished.“
“When my eyes turn toward society … the prodigious variety of events excites in me the most different sentiments … joy … bitterness … happiness … desolation … (…) I rejoice at being born at an epoch when perhaps I shall have to do much good and I feel a new ardor for work.“
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 17
“Aren‘t we like the Christians of the early times, thrown in the middle of a corrupt civilization and a crumbling society?“
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 21
“Society today seems to me to be not unlike the wayfarer described in the parable of the Good Samaritan. For, while journeying along the road mapped out for it by Christ, it has been set upon by thieves of evil human thought. Bad men have despoiled the wayfarer of all his goods, of the treasures of faith and love … The priests and the Levites have passed him by. But this time, being real priests and true Levites, they have approached the suffering, wretched creature and attempted to cure him. But in his delirium he has not recognized them and has driven them away. Then we weak Samaritans, outsiders as we are, have dared to approach this great sick patient. Perhaps he will be less affrighted by us? Let us try to measure the extent of his wounds in order to pour oil into them. Let us make words of peace and consolation ring in his ears. Then, when his eyes are opened, we will hand him over to the tender care of those whom God has chosen to be the guardians and doctors of souls.“
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 11
“How much I have desired to surround myself with young men feeling, thinking as myself; now I know that there are many such – but they are scattered abroad as the gold on the dunghill, and difficult is the task of him who would unite the defenders around one flag.“
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 17
“This redoubtable crisis will probably be decisive, and on the ruins of the old and broken nations a new Europe will arise. Then Catholicism will be understood; then Europe will be given the task to carry Christianity to the Orient. This will be a magnificent era; we shall not see it.“
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 18
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, pray for us!
Post scriptum: Messages from mid 19th century France
“France has corrupted the universe, one day it will be punished. The faith will die out in France: three quarters of France will not practice religion anymore, or almost no more, the other part will practice it without really practicing it. Then, after (that), nations will convert, the faith will be rekindled everywhere. A great country in the north of Europe, now Protestant, will be converted; by the support of this country all the other nations of the world will be converted.“
Secret of Our Lady of La Salette, 1846, revealed to Maximin Giraud, written down for the Holy Father, Pope Pius IX, in 1851
“It is necessary for man to understand that he is powerless to stay the torrent of public evils and to heal the cruel diseases that endanger the life of society, and that the most efficacious means for bringing about their real cure, is a sincere return to the religious practices of our forefathers, and above all an abundant Participation in the treasures of the merits of the Passion of Jesus Christ.“
Very Reverend J.B. Etienne, spiritual director of Sister Apolline of the Daughters of Charity, who received in an apparition of Jesus Christ in the year 1846 the Red Scapular from Him, approved by the Holy Father, Pope Pius IX