On this date of August 22, 2018, the Church and the international Vincentian community celebrate the 21st anniversary of the beatification ceremony of our beloved co-founder Antoine Frederic Ozanam, which took place in Paris, in the framework of the 12th World Youth Day (WYD/1997), solemnity presided over by Saint John Paul II. Thousands of Vincentians attended the event, and thousands of others were able to accompany them through the media.

Blessed Frederic Ozanam, apostle of charity, husband and exemplary father, a great figure of the Catholic laity of the nineteenth century, was an intellectual and fervent Catholic, dedicating all his life and faith to the service of the truth and the most disadvantaged. Deeply committed to justice and human dignity, he is considered a precursor to the Social Doctrine of the Church. “As a family, he revealed himself to be an exceptional son, brother, husband and father”, as the prayer for his canonization reminds us. Together with his friends, he offered to the world the creation of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, in 1833.

As reported by the 16th President General, brother Renato Lima de Oliveira, in the current mandate the Council General International is making every effort to accelerate the procedures for the canonization of Federico Ozanam. The Council General invites all the Councils and Conferences of the entire world to pray on this August 22 a Holy Mass in every place where the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is present, for the canonization of Ozanam. “To reach the grace of a new miracle, we need to be faithful devotees of Ozanam, trust in his intercession and include him in our daily prayers,” recommends the President General.

Source: https://www.ssvpglobal.org/