The Blessed Frederic Ozanam Mosaic will be dedicated at the noon mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on January 26, 2020. The Mosaic will hang in the Basilica’s Vincentian Chapel. (Photo: Society of St. Vincent de Paul)
WASHINGTON, DC – On January 26, 2020, during the noon mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, the founder of the international service organization, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, will be honored with the blessing of a new mosaic in his likeness. Blessed Frederic Ozanam’s mosaic will hang in the St. Vincent de Paul chapel.
Blessed Frederic Ozanam was the principal founder of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Frederic was a husband, father, professor and servant of the poor. He founded the Society as a young student with a small group of his peers at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1833.
The year 2020 symbolizes the 175th Anniversary of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s founding in the United States. As part of the celebration, a mosaic will be installed in the Vincentian chapel at the National Basilica. The mosaic was created by Travisanutto Mosaics of Spilimbergo, Italy. It is comprised of nearly 4,000 individuals stones in Smalti and Gold. The mosaic is 30 inches high by 20 inches wide.
Society of St. Vincent de Paul
One of the largest charitable organizations in the world, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (www.svdpusa.org) is an international, nonprofit, Catholic lay organization of about 800,000 men and women who voluntarily join together to grow spiritually by offering person-to-person service to the needy and suffering in 150 countries on five continents. With the U.S. headquarters in St. Louis, Mo., membership in the United States totals nearly 100,000 in 4,500 communities.
SVdP offers a variety of programs and services, including home visits, housing assistance, disaster relief, education and mentoring, food pantries, dining halls, clothing, assistance with transportation, prescription medication, and rent and utility costs. The Society also works to provide care for the sick, the incarcerated and the elderly. Over the past year, SVdP provided over $1.2 billion in tangible and in-kind services to those in need, made more than 1.7 million personal visits (homes, hospitals, prisons and eldercare facilities) and helped more than 20.9 million people regardless of race, religion or national origin.
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For more information, please contact:
Michelle Boyer at (314) 576-3993 ext. 219 or (314) 775-9213 or email at mboyer@svdpusa.org.
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Blessed Frederic Ozanam
Society of St. Vincent de Paul Principal Founder
Blessed Frederic Ozanam was the principal founder of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in 1833. He founded the Society of St. Vincent de Paul as a 20-year old student with his peers at the Sorbonne in Paris. He and his fellow members learned the importance of helping the poor, sick and suffering from Sister Rosalie Rendu, a Daughter of Charity. His mission when forming the Society was, as he put it “to renew faith, among all people, in Christ and in the civilizing effect of the teachings of the Church through all time.”
He was a husband and father, professor and servant of the poor. Through his work with the Society, Ozanam was able to embody his passion for truth, democracy, justice and education. Blessed Frederic communicated and spent time with Pope Gregory XVI and Pope Pius IX. The lessons he shared with them eventually lead to the development of Catholic Social Teaching as we know it today.
Ozanam envisioned that the founding of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul would lead to the “establishment of a network of charity and social justice encircling the world.” The year 2020 marks the 175th anniversary of the Society’s founding in the United States in 1845. Currently more than 800,000 Vincentians world-wide, including nearly 100,000 in the United States, work to preserve the spirit of the St. Vincent de Paul and Blessed Frederic Ozanam as they provide aid to those most in need while growing in holiness themselves.
Over 70 years after his death on September 8, 1853, the process for his canonization to sainthood was initiated. Blessed Frederic Ozanam was beatified by Pope John Paul II on August 22, 1997. The effort for canonization is ongoing.
i wonder if all the miracles of recovery from difficult situations that the benefactors of St. Vincent de Paul Society receive should be seen as a miracle. Blessed Fredric Ozanam is, in my way of thinking, a Saint and the these daily works should be considered.