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FRÉDÉRIC OZANAM A lay saint for our time Born in Milano on the 23rd of April 1813, deceased in Marseilles on the 8th of September 1853, Antoine Frédéric Ozanam has been, according to Lacordaire, one of the outstanding figures of Catholicism in the XIXth century. After secondary school in Lyon, during which he overcomes a religious crisis, he goes to Paris for his university studies. Defence of the truth and social commitment will constitute the two poles of his short but generous life. In 1833, he founds, together with a few friends, the Society of Saint-Vincent de Paul, which has flourished in the five continents. He is also at the origin of the famous "Conferences of Notre-Dame", in Paris. Full professor of Commercial Law, at the Lyon Faculty, then professor of Foreign Litterature at the Sorbonne, he dedicates himself to the study of the Civilization in the Vth century, of the Germans before Christianity, of the Christian civilization among the Franks, of the Franciscan poets in Italy in the XIIIth Century, of Dante and the Catholic Philosophy at the XIIIth century. In 1848, he participates in the launching of the newspaper "L'Ere Nouvelle" (The New Era) in which he endeavours to "transmit the spirit of Christianity in Republican institutions". In the same year he runs for a deputy mandate at the National Constituant Assembly. His advanced programme proceeds from a prophetic intuition which lets him foresee the widening gulf between strong and weak, rich and poor. His thought has largely impregnated social catholicism. It is present in the encyclical "Rerum novarum" of Pope Leo XIII (1891). His health having prematurely compelled him to give up his teaching, considered by him as an apostolate, he dedicates his ultimate strength to his scientific research and to the Society of Saint-Vincent de Paul, before departing at the age of 40, in an attitude of total abandonment to God. Son, husband, father and friend, gifted with rare sensitiveness, he has deeply impressed all those who knew him. Witness of Charity in all aspects of his personal, family, professional and civic life, his cause of beatification has been introduced in the Paris diocese on the 15th of March, 1925. It has been concluded on the 25th of June 1996, with the signature of the Pontifical Decree recognizing the miracle obtained through his intercession. Pope John-Paul II has proclaimed him "blessed", on the 22nd of August 1997, in Notre-Dame de Paris. Frédéric Ozanam is truly a lay saint for our time. Source: International General Council of the SSVP Please, click here to go to the top of the page 1813 Born in Milano (Italy), on the 23rd of April from Jean-Antoine François Ozanam, doctor of medicine, and Marie Nantas, daughter of a trader. 1815 Final return to Lyons (France), from where the couple
came. 1822 Frédéric joins the Royal College of Lyons where Monsieur Legeay and, particularly, Father Noirot will enrich him at both moral and spiritual levels. 1829 He passes the baccaulaureat of arts. 1829-1830 He achieves a probation period at a solicitor’s office to please his father who directs him towards law studies. 1831 Frédéric
registers at the Law Faculty of Paris. 1833 On the 23rd of April, Ozanam’s 20th birthday, is held in Paris, under the moral leadership of Emmanuel Bailly the constitutive meeting of the first " Conference of Charity ". 1836 Frédéric takes his law doctorate and goes back to Lyons where he goes to the bar. 1839 He concludes his literary studies and presents his doctorate on " Dante and the Catholic philosophy in the XIIIth century ". 1840 Frédéric Ozanam is honoured with the highest States University degree in arts (" agregation de lettres ", just created by Victor Cousin, Minister of Public Instruction). 1841 His
parents having departed, he accepts a position as assistant lecturer
of professor Claude Fauriel, for the course of foreign literature,
at the Sorbonne. 1846 After
two years as full professor at the Sorbonne, at the peak of his brilliant
career, Ozanam begins to suffer from the illness which will be fatal
to him. 1852 Quite weakened, he is, quite regretfully, compelled to give up his teaching. 1853 After a several months’ stay in Pisa, Italy, where he writes his spiritual will, on his 40th birthday, the 23rd of April, he visits his dear friends, the Bevilacqua brothers, in Antignano, along the Mediterranean coast. His health having considerably deteriorated, he boards on the steamer " Industrie " at Livorno harbour, the 31st of August, he disembarks in a critical state in Marseilles where he dies on the 8th of September, feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary to whom he showed a special devotion during his life time. Source:
International General Council of the SSVP Please, click here to go to the top of the page |
| Blessed
Frederic Ozanam |
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To
beatify someone does not mean to erect a statue of the person. On
the contrary, according to the Latin etymology (beatificare = beatum
facere), it means "to make happy". |
We
can never forget that the 19th century, in which Ozanam lived and
worked, was the preparation for our 20th century which has now ended.
In a similar fashion to the last century, this century is moved by
new ideas and technological, economic, social and spiritual change. Please, click here to go to the top of the page
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A Man like us Frederic Ozanam has sometimes been pictured as a holy man who was quite remote from the world - so given to God, to piety, to holy works, that he could seem unfamiliar with ordinary human passion. This image of him must be discarded once and for all. For when we become acquainted with Frederic's writings and with his marvellous and numerous correspondence, and when we read the witnesses of his daily life, we discover a fascinating soul, a generous heart which was never satisfied and always on the alert, beating at the same rhythm as that of his next of kin, his friends and his brothers and sisters in adversity. A Man of flesh and blood Frederic
was not different from other human beings. A Religious Sensibility Man
does not live on bread alone; above all, he needs spiritual food.
Frederic was provided with this thanks to his parents and teachers.
However, during his adolescence, like many young people, he was assailed
with doubts about the truths of faith and the Christian meaning of
life. It was sometimes hard to imagine a possible harmony between
Divine Revelation and the modern world that was already turning away
from God and thirsty for technical progress. |
A Lucid Mind Frederic
was lucid about himself and his faults. This moved him, on the one hand,
to ask forgiveness of those who were wounded by his changes in mood;
on the other, to maintain an attitude of humility which was only to
be intensified over the years with the failing of his health and the
trials towards the end of his life. This created in him a genuine spiritual
poverty, even to the point of his achieving surrender to the divine
will. Please, click here to go to the top of the page |
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Antoine
Frederic Ozanam was born on April 23rd 1813, in Milan, Italy. |
In
1807, he left the capital and settled his wife and children in Lyon.
He then went off to travel all over Italy as a salesperson. In 1809
he called his family to Milan where they settled. On December 27th
1810, after a year of strenuous work, he qualified as candidate for
Doctor of Medicine. He was to become "the good Doctor Ozanam". Please, click here to go to the top of the page |
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Frederic
retained a powerful memory of his mother. Her deeply Christian faith,
that has been tempered by so many trials, helped her share with her
husband a life of unremitting work that was invigorated by daily prayer
and the practice of the Gospel virtues. The religious life of the
Ozanam family blossomed in the setting of the Lyon parish of Saint
Peter and Saint Saturnine. It was on his mother's lap that Frederic,
like the other children, learned of the grandeur and gentleness of
God and gained a taste for prayer and the practical virtues. At night,
the whole household would gather around Jean Antoine and Marie for
evening prayer, which was followed by a devotional reading. Steadfast in Times of Trial Yet
this happiness was not the whole story: there was another side to
the Ozanam family. The repeated bereavements must have taken their
toll. Of the fourteen children born to Jean and Marie, eleven died;
ten of these were girls and almost of them died very young or were
stillborn. Only the eldest survived. She was the guardian angel of
the little ones, a friend and companion to her mother, and the apple
of her father's eye. Being a good musician himself, he had Elisa take
music lessons as well as classes in drawing and English. And then
on November 29th 1820, Elisa, a gentle young girl, was carried off
by death at the age of 19. |
"I
feel like giving thanks to God for having being born in a social position
which was on the borderline between financial difficulty and being
comfortably off. Such a position accustoms one to hardship without
leaving one totally ignorant of enjoyment. In that position one cannot
go to sleep at night satisfied in one's desires but one is not preoccupied
either by the constant call of need". (Letter to François Lallier,
November 5th 1836).
After his marriage to Amélie Soulacroix, in the church of Saint-Nizier,
in Lyon, on June 23rd 1841, Frederic showed the same filial devotion
towards his father and mother-in-law: a respect mingled with deep
affection. Please, click here to go to the top of the page |
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One day Frederic Ozanam declared: "It has been said that Paris is the head of the kingdom and that Lyon is its heart". What was true for France was equally true in Frederic's life. If professional obligations divided his life between the capital and the seat of the Primate of the Gauls, Frederic's thoughts were frequently most often in Paris, which could not be ignored as the indisputable cultural centre, whereas his heart remained in Lyon. Lyon: Spiritual Centre, Seat of Rebellion There
is plentiful evidence of Frederic's attachment to Lyon, the city where
he spent his childhood, adolescence and some of the best years of
his youth and where he got married. As he wrote in 1832, "childhood
habits, family affections and the bonds of friendship" linked
him to this city. Mentions of these abound in his correspondence,
for example, in a letter addressed to Dominique Meynis from Paris
in 1843: "You know that I have remained very attached to Lyon
in the depths of my heart… Since I have been called to my perilous
duties in Paris, every year I have gone to place them under the patronage
of Our Lady of Fourviére, to whom I was dedicated from early childhood."
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Soon
after a revolution which had dismantled it, the Church in Lyon found
its footing again, thanks in particular to Cardinal Joseph Fesch,
Napoleon's uncle. The Church's works of mercy and institutions grew
in number. The most influential and universal of these was the Propagation
of the Faith, founded in 1820 by Pauline Jaricot, the daughter of
a Lyon clothing merchant. She became the symbol and foundation stone
of the rebirth of the French Catholic missions. Frederic, who was
one of the driving forces behind this movement, always considered
it as typically part of his home city. In 1845, when he was the Paris
correspondent for the Lyon Council of the Propagation, he wrote:
"Just as neither Saint Ireneus nor Our Lady of Fourvière can be taken
from us, we cannot be robbed of the Propagation of the Faith either."
This picture of a fervent Lyon must not eclipse the existence during
the same period of powerful anti-clerical movements in this city of
silk manufacturers and silk workers: in 1820, ten Masonic lodges were
rebuilt. As always, Frederic was very sensitive to the very noticeable
alliance between middle class egoism and lack of belief. On January
15th 1831, he expressed the aversion he felt for the new class in
power: "They live an industrialized and materialistic life, each
is concerned with his own personal comfort and well being… Material
order, a modicum of freedom, bread and money, that's all they are
interested in." Please, click here to go to the top of the page |
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On
November 5th 1831, Frederic Ozanam discovered the capital. Right away
the capital disappointed him. The sight and even the visits of its
monuments did not impress him. He quickly became conscious that beyond
its beauties and its lights "Old Lutetia" flaunted its "horrors, its
shacks, its corruption" Ostentatious luxury rubbed shoulders with
appalling poverty, the same poverty that Victor Hugo was to depict
a few years later in "Les Miserables". |
Happily, it was the Latin Quarter in which Frederic lived, with its 5,000 students. Many came from Lyon and in the heart of this colony of natives of Lyon, with André Marie Ampère, who opened up his home to him, Frederic found his joy of living again and was able to preserve his Christian faith.
At the time Paris was considered to be "one of the capitals of disbelief":
an important number of the propertied and ruling upper and middle
class as well as the majority of academics were supporters of Voltaire.
This fostered an atmosphere that Frederic could only escape by keeping
the company of dedicated Christians like Emmanuel Bailly and André-Marie
Ampère, or by the company of liberal Catholic intellectuals. Frederic
admired their combination of faith, eloquence, courage and freedom
of mind and expression. They were: Felicity de Lamennais, Henry Lacordaire,
Charles de Montalembert and Lamartine. Please, click here to go to the top of the page |
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Frederic was all heart: throughout his entire life, his whole being came alive when in contact with others, whether they were friends, parents or students. In his letters, he expressed countless times his need for others: "I number myself among those who need to feel they are surrounded with love and support, and God has never allowed me to lack in either of these." And again, when he was 18 years old, in a letter to Auguste Materne: "Oh, my friend! May the law of love be our law, and then, trampling all vainglory underfoot, our heart will no longer burn for anything else but for God, for men and for true happiness." A network of Friendships In
Frederic's life, love and friendship were inseparable. It is rare,
in the history of Christianity and of the saints to find a sensibility
like this. It was constantly tuned into the joys and sorrows of those
he loved. No doubt this is a reflection of the Franciscan side of
him which was very evident throughout his existence. Family Love Frederic manifested an extraordinary affection for his father and his mother. Their deaths distressed him, and he expressed this in very moving terms. The day after his father's death, in 1837, he confided to Ernest Falconnet : "What solitude on earth from now on! What emptiness all around us! It is like being lost in the crowd without someone to look out for me, and without any hands stretched out to protect one. I've lived 24 years under his shadowed protection and now I suddenly find myself without the shelter from the storm. The family oracle has become quiet, our guardian angel has become invisible. Perhaps it is possible to encounter greater affliction than this, but never such comparable grief!" |
The
death of his mother, in 1839, further increased his suffering. He
wrote to Edouard Reverdy: "Oh my friend, we are orphans! What
tears and sobbing! Seemingly our age ought to render my elder brother
(Alphonse) and I more confident and courageous, but we lived our family
life so intensely, we were so comfortable under our mother's wing,
that in spirit we had never really left the nest where we were born..."
This
transformation was such that Frederic does not appear as an "ascetic"
saint, but as a Christian in whom conjugal love and fatherhood brought
forth new reserves of affection and care for others. When he spoke
of his wife and daughter, it was in terms which are very real to us.
Here he is, for example, describing the difficult birth of his daughter,
Marie: "My dear friend, one day you will experience the same emotion
after several hours of terrible pains you hear the last cry of the
mother and the first cry of the newborn child, then suddenly you see
a tiny creature appear, that immortal creature of whom one becomes
the guardian. At that moment something terrible and yet supremely
sweet occurs in the depths of the soul, not in the metaphorical sense
but in a real, physical sense. One feels as if the hand of God is
remodelling one inwardly and shaping a new heart within..." Please, click here to go to the top of the page |
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Frederic Ozanam's Charisma According to the Bible, a prophet is one inspired by God who speaks out with powerful, disturbing words in times of difficulty, distress or upheaval. These words are capable of giving hope, while, at the same time, making people think. A clear consciousness of his vocation In
this sense, one can readily consider that Frederic was a Christian
prophet. As he asserted in a letter to Ernest Falconnet, in 1834:
"Religious ideas can have no value whatever if they are not practical
and positive. Religion is meant for acting more than thinking".
As a young man, Frederic always felt that he had a specific mission
which impelled him to be more of an extrovert and get involved with
the world and those who lived in it. He felt an obligation to make
available to them the light and strength that God had bestowed upon
him despite his unworthiness. He was 18 years old when he admitted
to his friend Fortoul: "When my eyes look upon society, the incredible
variety of events arouse all sorts of feelings within me… and these
reflections fill me with a sort of excitement. I tell myself that
the spectacle that we are watching is great, and that it is wonderful
to witness such a momentous era. How serious and important is the
mission of a young man in society today. I rejoice in the fact that
I was born in an epoch in which I will perhaps find many ways to do
good, and I feel a new enthusiasm for the task." A robust and radiant faith Having
rediscovered his own faith, Frederic dreamed of a true renewal in
Catholicism: "which would be filled with youth and strength, rising
up suddenly over the world, to give this century a new lease of life
and lead it towards civilization and happiness". After the 1830
revolution and the accession of the Bourgeois King, this dream seemed
unfounded, even utopian. Yet in Frederic this vision originated in
a clarity of mind whose secret and strength lay in a renewed Christian
faith. |
If
he was a liberal Catholic - a Catholic who was convinced of the natural
union between the Gospel, the Church and Liberty - Frederic Ozanam
was also an ultramontane Roman Catholic. Like many others, he saw
in Rome the beating heart and the living centre of an authentic Christianity.
In 1846, a young liberal Pope, Pius IX, became Supreme Pontiff; he
was determined that the papacy be the ultimate remedy for a humanity
which was on the road to ruin. A Courageous Commitment Frederic's
clear-sightedness, nourished by faith, was equalled only by his
courage. His contemporaries did not expect to find such courage
in a man whose health was fragile and who was professionally secure.
It was courageous, on his part, in a Church which was then very
clerical, to consider that he had a specific mission as a lay person.
This courage led him to denounce the sloth of a clergy that the
1801 Concordat had tended to render less sensitive to the misfortunes
of others in this world. He did not hesitate to challenge the clergy
through the person of his elder brother, Father Alphonse: "You
are not carrying out your true mission. If a larger number of Christians
and especially clergymen had looked after the workers in the last
ten years we would be more certain of the future"; and again: "The
priests must give up their little bourgeois parishes: their flocks
are an elite in the midst of a vast population that they do not
know..." Please, click here to go to the top of the page
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The poor: The face of Christ In
Frederic Ozanam's eyes, faith without charity had no meaning. That
is why his advice turned quickly into an entreaty when he spoke to
his young friends: "The earth has become a chilly place. It is
up to us Catholics to rekindle the flame of human warmth going out.
It is up to us to recommence the great work of regeneration even if
it means another era of martyrs...." |
Charity: The Daughter of Faith Frederic was always ready to defend and glorify the Catholic Faith. This is why, with a group of students who shared his faith with him, in 1833 he went to see the Archbishop of Paris, Mgr. de Quélen, to suggest that the archbishop organize, for the general public and the young in particular, a series of powerful and convincing lectures in the Cathedral of Notre Dame. After two years of negotiation, Father Henry Lacordaire immediately made the "Conferences de Notre Dame" famous with his matchless eloquence.
For
his part, Emmanuel Bailly gathered together in the Place Estrapade
a literary circle or "Conference of History" open to young people
of all convictions. Ozanam took part in it; he drew recognition because
of his qualities and because he did not hesitate to stand up against
opposing beliefs. He bore, with difficulty, the criticism that the
Conference of History was merely a talking shop exchanging empty words
that led nowhere. This inspired him to start the "Conference of
Charity" which would show unbelievers that the Christian faith
is naturally active, and also a means of sanctification for its members. Please, click here to go to the top of the page |
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The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul |
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On
April 23rd 1833, Frederic's birthday, the first meeting took place
at 18 rue du Petit-Bourbon Saint-Sulpice, in the office of the "La
Tribune Catholique" newspaper of which Emmanuel Bailly was the chief
editor. He had gathered around him six students aged between 19 and
23: François Lallier, Frederic Ozanam, Jules Devaux, Felix Clave,
Auguste le Taillandier, Paul Lamanche.
Its
first president was Emmanuel Bailly, but its most symbolic figure
was Frederic Ozanam, owing to his influence and activity. He always
refused, however, to be considered as "the" founder of a society which,
according to him "it should neither be a political party, nor
a school, nor a brotherhood… but profoundly Catholic at the same time
as being secular."
Always
concerned not to make his presence felt, Frederic became a member
of the General Council of the Society and in 1844, with Cornudet,
Vice-President General. However, he was never to become General President,
except temporarily after the uprisings of June 1848, during which
the President Adolphe Baudon was wounded. |
Tirelessly devoted to his cause, Frederic, in addition to visiting the poor, also included in his activities assisting people of different nationalities who passed through the town, giving religious instruction to children and evangelising the military. This did not prevent him from following very closely the general running of the Society, sending progress reports destined for the General Assemblies, suggesting that an Annual Report be drafted in Paris by the General Secretary, and giving judicious advice such as the following: "Don't make yourself visible, but let others see you", for he loathed ostentation, he detested secrecy.
Back
in Paris, after his wedding in 1841, Frederic continued to give generously
of his time to the Society, sharing with his wife Amélie his ardent
love for the destitute. When he went abroad or travelled to the provinces
for health or professional reasons, he made a point of going to the
meetings of the local Conferences. Please, click here to go to the top of the page . |
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A Thirst for culture Frederic
Ozanam was a scholar in the full sense of the Word. His thirst for
knowledge was however inseparable from his wish that it serve Christian
Truth, and still better, that it demonstrates the natural union between
Faith and Science. |
On
the death of his master and friend in 1844, Frederic succeeded him
and occupied the Chair, which was quite in keeping with his deepest
desires. He wrote to Jean-Jacques Ampère, in 1840, that the "secret
undertaking" closest to his heart was the in-depth comparative
study of the Italian and German civilizations, with the perspective
of a comparative "noble study": "Rome and the Barbarians", "The Priesthood
and the Empire", "Dante and the Nibelungen", "Tomás de Aquino and
Albertt", "Galileu and Leibniz".
Like Fauriel, Frederic Ozanam was in search of a universal truth.
His interests were as wide-ranging as the Oriental sources of Dante's
thought and the sources of Avicenne and Averroes' thought. | |
