Blessed Frederic Ozanam, founder of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, was an important figure in the Catholic social movement that gave rise to what today we call the social teaching of the Church.

In a talk given to representatives of the SSVP in Ontario, author Michael Ryan describes what happened:

By the latter part of the 19th century, the leaders of this Catholic social movement from various countries had begun to meet and to draw up a set of principles for common social action. Copies of these principles were taken to Pope Leo XIII, who had assumed the papacy in 1878. He used them as the basis for the first official document of Catholic social teaching, Rerum Novarum, published in 1891.

This is a remarkable story when you think about it. Catholic social teaching had its origin in the response of Christian charity that then developed into a movement for justice; it came from the bottom, among ordinary Catholics, not from the top; and it was primarily a lay initiative. Blessed Frederic Ozanam was an important figure in the early years of this movement.

.famvin Network: Resources on Catholic Social Teaching

VinFormation Media tagged “Catholic Social Teaching”

vincentians.com: Catholic Social Teaching category