Blessed Frederic Ozanam

Born: Place of birth: Parents: Founded: Died: Beatified:

April 23, 1813 Milan, Italy Father-medical doctor. Society of St. Vincent de Paul September 8, 1853 August 22, 1997

Antoine Frederic Ozanam was born to Jean Antoine Ozanam, a medical
doctor and Marie Nantas. He was the fifth child in a family of 14 but as 
was the case in those days, only four of them survived; he, his eldest 
sister Elsie and brothers Alphones and Charles.

Frederic had his secondary education in Lyons, France and at 16, worked for 
two years in a lawyer's office before going on to Paris in 1831 to read law 
and study literature at the University of Sorbonne. 

During his university days, Frederic, with the help of one Monsieur Bailly and
several friends started a debating society and in one of these debating sessions
Frederic was challenged by a non-believer, "Yes, we know about your clergy and 
nuns working with the poor, but what are you and your Catholic friends in this
room doing about the poor." "Show us your works."

The idea of helping the less fortunate grew intense in Ozanam and after much 
thought and discussion, on 23rd April 1833, he and five fellow students 
and friends met in the office of M. Bailly to form a group to be known as the 
Conference of Charity.  

In addition to helping the poor and the less fortunate in Paris, Ozanam and his
group felt that by reaching out to the poor they themselves would come closer
to God and become better friends. 

They chose to call their group the Society of St Vincent de Paul, based on
the exemplary charitable life led by St. Vincent.

There were two motivating factors that helped to spread the Society among Catholic 
lay men and women, first in France and later across the continents.  The first was 
the desire to see Christ in the poor and the other was the need to visit the less 
fortunate in their homes on a person-to-person basis, before any help could be given.

Frederic's life was very active. He became lecturer of foreign literature
as well as law at the University of Lyon. He married Emelie Soulacroix in
June 1841.

Under the strain of considerable literary work (including many calls for
social justice), he continued lecturing and serving the poor through the
Society. His health finally gave out and he died on September 8, 1853 aged 40.

On August 22, 1997 His Holiness Pope John Paul II proclaimed Ozanam 'Blessed'
at the Cathedral Norte-Dame de Paris.