“You have accustomed us to look upon you as the rallying point, the advisor and friend of young Christian youth. Your past favors have given us the right to count on future ones. Those you have done for me encouraged me to hope for the same for my friends.”
Frédéric Ozanam to Emmanuel Bailly,
3 November 1834[1]

The founders of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul are described as “six young college students and an older gentleman.” That older gentleman was Emmanuel Bailly, also known as Joseph-Emmanuel Bailly.[2] Today, Emmanuel Bailly is not well-known, even within the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. However, he deserves to be remembered for the significant contributions he made to the founding of the Society and to the restoration of Catholicism in post-revolutionary France.

Compared to the average age of today’s members of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, Monsieur Bailly would not be considered an “older gentleman.” At the time of the founding, he was thirty-nine years old, had been married for about three years, and had two infant children. Because of his stature and demeanor, he was regarded as older than his years and was given the nickname of “Père Bailly” by his young associates.[3]

The contributions of Bailly to the founding of the Society were largely ignored until recently because of an unfortunate dispute after the death of Frédéric Ozanam as to which of these fine men deserved to be recognized as the founder. Recent scholarship has reasserted the collaborative nature of the founding.[4] The Society continues to recognize Ozanam as the principal founder but acknowledges the valuable contributions of all the founding members.[5]

Frédéric Ozanam gifted the Society with a bold vision, youthful enthusiasm, and an ability to attract like-minded young men to the cause. However, the Society would have not taken root without Bailly, who provided the new organization with his experience, his reputation in the community, and his access to financial resources. Recognizing the contributions of Bailly can provide insight for today’s “older Vincentians” who should embrace their role as mentors to a new generation. The collaborative nature of the founding gives value to the diverse contributions and talents of each member.

Portrait of Emmanuel Bailly (1794–1861). First President of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. Courtesy St. Vincent de Paul Image Archive Online.

1. Formed by a Vincentian Heritage

It is not surprising that Emmanuel Bailly would imbue the young founders of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul with the spirituality and traditions of its patron and namesake. The family of his father, André, had a deep devotion to Saint Vincent de Paul. André Bailly was a loyal friend of the Lazarists, also known as the Congregation of the Mission, the society of priests founded by Saint Vincent de Paul. The name originates from the name of the congregation’s original priory, Saint-Lazare.

André’s brother, Nicholas Bailly, was a Lazarist priest who was killed during the French Revolution. He was the last superior of the major seminary at Amiens before the Revolution. Father Nicholas was captured while saying Mass and, while still vested, was thrown into prison. At age twenty-nine, this young priest died in prison in Amiens on 16 November 1793. The Bailly family was honored to have been entrusted with a collection of Saint Vincent’s original letters and documents to hide during the Revolution.

André Bailly and his wife, Reine Fauquenois, had nine known children, all of them boys. Emmanuel Bailly was the seventh child, born in Bryas, in Pas-de-Calais on 9 March 1794. André changed occupations many times to keep up with the financial needs of a growing family during the turmoil created by the Revolution. He started as a farmer on family land and took positions as a postmaster and as a trader before finally settling on the vocation of schoolmaster.

Engraving of Dominique Hanon, C.M. Hanon served as Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission from 1807 to 1816. Courtesy St. Vincent de Paul Image Archive Online.

Emmanuel attended the Vincentian seminary in Amiens, as had his older brother, Ferdinand Bailly. Father Dominique Hanon was the new superior at the seminary of Amiens; he would later become superior general of the Lazarists. Hanon took an interest in the education of the Bailly brothers, which was not surprising as he was the successor of their martyred uncle. Ferdinand was unable to be ordained a Vincentian priest until several of the order’s political matters were resolved with the Vatican and the French government. In the interim, he began to teach at the seminary at age twenty-one and was later ordained on 6 April 1811. During this time, Ferdinand most likely had his brother Emmanuel as a student and would remain a significant influence in his life for many years.

Emmanuel Bailly studied philosophy at the seminary at Amiens and later was educated by the Jesuits at Acheul. He began a novitiate with the Lazarists, but when his brother went to Paris to take vows, Emmanuel left the seminary and settled in Paris. At age twenty-five, he chose a vocation of service to the Church as a layperson, equipped with a good education and steeped in the spirituality and tradition of Saint Vincent de Paul.

2. Lay Vocation Mentoring Young Catholic Men

For a brief time beginning in 1819, Emmanuel taught philosophy at several small institutions. He also had a vision of creating a living environment for university students that was supportive of faith and intellectual inquiry. This was an aspiration in which he was influenced by the methods he had observed being practiced by the Jesuits at Acheul. In November 1819, he rented a house at 7 rue Cassette, where he took in seven university students who, like him, were Catholics from northern France.

The next spring, Emmanuel was admitted to the ranks of the Congregation of the Blessed Virgin, frequently referred to as “the Congregation.” Members of the Congregation participated in several divisions, including the Society of Good Studies and the Society of Good Works. At its founding in 1801, this sodality of laymen brought together about one hundred young Catholics who sought to combine intellectual studies and spirituality with good works. On 1 April 1820, Bailly became the organization’s 776th member.[6]

11, Place de l’Estrapade, Paris. The site of a Bailly pension and where Ozanam once lived. Courtesy of Ralph Middlecamp via St. Vincent de Paul Image Archive Online.

A decade later, many aspects of the Congregation would influence the structure of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. Bailly participated in the division in which members visited hospitals. After several years, he provided leadership as the division’s president. Bailly’s boarding house, or “pension,” attracted a growing number of young men—so much so that in 1821, he needed to add a second house. He contacted an old friend and seminary classmate, George Marino Leveque, about opening the second house at 17 rue Saint-Dominique d’Enfer. The two houses operated jointly, with Leveque being responsible for the administration and Bailly the studies and meetings. In addition to enlisting the residents in the discussions, they encouraged other students to participate and operated a reading room at 4 Rue Saint-Dominique. There, for a fee, students could come and read the news of the day. The boarding houses of Bailly outgrew their locations after several years. In 1825, he acquired from the Society of Good Studies the large facility at 11 Place de l’Estrapade that not only had lodging quarters but also a dining facility and meeting rooms. After the fall of Charles X, the Congregation was suppressed and forced to disband.

Bailly went on to found a new, smaller organization, the Conference of History. This initiative allowed him to become acquainted with some of the most brilliant young people of his day: Jean-Baptiste-Henri Lacordaire, François Lenormant, Emmanuel Alzon, Dom Prosper Gueranger, and Charles Baudelaire.

On Saturday mornings, the founders of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul participated in the Conference of History debates that Bailly organized in the auditorium of his building. It also would become the location of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul meetings starting in November 1833, as membership grew and after Bailly combined his newspaper with L’Univers and moved the office to 2 Place de la Sorbonne.

This is a description of the facility:

The Bailly boarding house was an immense building with a severe look, containing an amphitheater, located on the corner of la rue des Fossés-Saint- Jaques and la rue de l’Estrapade; a large garden stretched in the direction of the church Saint Geneviève, where you could find the town hall of the 5th arrondissement. The large spaces of the Bonnes Études occupied all of the ground floors of 11 and of 13, as well as the first floor of 13: there was a large amphitheater with 500 seats, a library, a newspaper office, meeting rooms and even a fitness room. One other important part was appointed to the lodging of the directors, professors, and domestic staff. The boarding house tenants never exceeded about 30 in number: they stayed, individually or in pairs, in fifteen to twenty rooms of only basic comfort.[7]

3. Marriage and Family

Madame Marie-Apolline-Sidonie Vyrayet de Surcy; Emmanuel Bailly’s wife. Courtesy of Ralph Middlecamp via St. Vincent de Paul Image Archive Online.

As a layperson with a vocation as a teacher and as a journalist, this did not leave Bailly much time to consider starting a family, nor was it in his nature to socialize in environments that were conducive to finding a partner. Bailly was in his late thirties when he married Marie-Apolline-Sidonie Vyrayet de Surcy on 20 July 1830. The marriage was proposed by a friend of her brother, a Lazarist priest who also knew Emmanuel’s brother, Ferdinand. After several months of negotiation, a formal contract was arranged that included—at her father’s request to preserve the family name—adding her surname to his. Therefore, he has frequently been referred to as Joseph Emmanuel Bailly de Surcy.

The de Surcy family had minor noble roots and was financially secure. The marriage was not one founded in mutual love; nonetheless, the couple grew in affection for each other. Sidonie had received a good education at a local convent. She was described as having unusual energy and as being a devout, charitable Christian who had received excellent domestic and business knowledge from her family.[8] In good times and in bad, she would be a true partner for Emmanuel.

Bailly was married only days before the July Revolution of 1830. The regime that followed suppressed organizations such as the Congregation and the Society of Good Studies. The discussions and forums offered at the Pension Bailly also were suspended until 1831. During this period, Emmanuel and his wife found refuge with her parents in Berteaucourt (Somme), nine miles southeast of Amiens in northern France. Their first daughter, Marie- Adrienne, was born there on 4 September 1831. By November 1831, Bailly returned to Paris with his family to begin a new newspaper and to reestablish his Pension Bailly, where he tried to create a new version of the suppressed Society of Good Studies.

A few months later, a cholera epidemic hit that area of Paris, and Marie-Adrienne was stricken. In April, the family moved back to the home of Madame Bailly’s parents. Marie recovered after several months. They chose to keep the family in Berteaucourt until after the birth of their son, Vincent de Paul, on 2 December 1832. Much of that time, Emmanuel most likely stayed in Paris because he needed to manage his business interests.

4. Publishing—Vocation and Mission

Under the reign of a new king, Louis-Philippe, the political environment stabilized. Catholicism was tolerated in the new regime but was not considered favorably, especially in Paris. Dedicated to protecting the reputation of the Catholic Church, Bailly continued to operate his boarding house for Catholic students from the provinces and encouraged gatherings for discussion. It was only a few months after reestablishing the boarding house and moving his family back to Paris that Bailly restarted the Conferences of History. These weekly sessions provided a venue for young people to have formal debates on the issues of the day, including the place of faith and religion in current culture.

For the next twelve years, Emmanuel Bailly operated several businesses. His wife took on a significant role in the day-to-day operation of Pension Bailly. Emmanuel certainly was involved, but it was during this time that he confirmed his career change from professor to publisher. Now, his attention was centered on operating a series of newspapers wrestling with the issues of the day and dedicated to the defense of Catholicism.

His first effort at newspaper publishing was Le Correspondant, which he began in 1829. In 1831, he replaced it with Revue Européenne and then launched the Tribune Catholique on 15 January 1832. He started that paper to offer a moderate alternative to the liberal religious paper L’Avenir, which had been published by Father Lammenais until it was suppressed by the Vatican.

Engraving of Jacques-Paul Migne alongside copies of L’Univers. Courtesy of the author.

In November 1833, Emmanuel Bailly decided to merge his newspaper, the Tribune Catholique, with a new startup paper, L’Univers Religieux. Father Jacques-Paul Migne had written a compelling prospectus for L’Univers in October 1833. He obtained more than 800 subscriptions, while Bailly’s paper printed just over one hundred copies and he gave many of those away.

Bailly and Migne both wrote for the merged paper. Frédéric Ozanam and several of his friends also were commissioned occasionally to write articles. In 1835, Father Migne was publicly accused of plagiarizing his contributions from other newspapers. He also was convicted of bribing a French postal official. To save the paper’s reputation, he sold out his interest out to Bailly for 5,000 francs in 1836.[9]

The funds for the buyout mostly came from Emmanuel’s brother Ferdinand. Emmanuel not only wrote and edited the newspapers, but also he owned the printing presses at 2 Place de la Sorbonne. The manager of the newspaper and printing works was Henri Vrayet de Surcy, Bailly’s brother-in-law, who may also have contributed financially to the buyout. Emmanuel continued as publisher until 1839, when Montalembert rescued the financially troubled paper. In 1844, Bailly’s role at L’Univers would be assumed by Louis Veuillot.

5. The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul

Bailly made the office of his newspaper, Tribune Catholique, a place where students could gather to read a wide selection of newspapers and update themselves on current events. This hospitality created an environment that promoted lively discussion, in which Bailly avidly participated. It was, therefore, quite natural that Frédéric Ozanam and his five friends should come to him in April 1833 to submit their plans for undertaking charitable work. Bailly was familiar with these students because they were regular participants in the debates that occurred as part of the Conferences of History held at his boarding house.

The first meeting of the Society took place in Bailly’s newspaper office on 23 April 1833. It was Bailly who provided the format for the meeting, which included a reading and reflection on the Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis and ended with a hymn to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Emmanuel Bailly agreed to assume the office of president at this meeting, and the group committed to assisting the impoverished of the area.

Bailly would arrange for Jules Devaux and Felix Clave to visit Sister Rosalie Rendu, a Daughter of Charity working in the Mouffetard area, to be instructed in the practice of visiting the poor in their homes. Bailly’s wife had worked with Sister Rosalie and may have been a Lady of Charity. While some current historians dispute this connection, others believe Sister Rosalie encouraged the young men to take up this work, which was sometimes physically demanding.[10]

Engraved portrait of Frédéric Ozanam (1813–1853).
Courtesy of St. Vincent de Paul Image Archive Online.

While Frédéric Ozanam’s place as principal founder has been affirmed, the role Bailly played in the Society’s establishment should also be recognized because he provided a meeting place, provided community connections and gave the group legitimacy. He also furnished stable leadership, offered guidance for avoiding civil and church repression of the group and drew on past experience in similar organizations. He proposed creating the Rule to allow for orderly expansion and shared his knowledge of the spirituality of Saint Vincent de Paul.

Frédéric Ozanam was the founding member with the bold vision who saw the potential for the organization. He respected Bailly’s role as the Society’s first president, however, and trusted his experience. When Ozanam thought the original conference should split into two groups to grow and be more effective, he wrote to Bailly on 20 November 1834, “But do you not think that our charitable society itself in order to survive ought to make changes?… I am very rash to propose my young man’s ideas to you who have a long experience in charity and who are so radically acquainted with our needs and those of the poor.”

Frédéric was right to acknowledge that Bailly’s experience was needed to guide the new group as it expanded. Because of our affection and admiration for a young Frédéric Ozanam, it would be easy to ignore the fact that he, like young people today, could frequently be impatient, naïve, and impractical. On 2 November 1834, Ozanam wrote a friend, Henri Pessonneaux, before he proposed the idea of expansion to Bailly: “Success is possible only by continual development and that not to go forward is to fall back. I then favor innovations, subdivisions of conferences, movement, and everything it pleases the benevolent brain of M. Bailly to produce.… I will accept whatever he wants me to do.… On my side, I will pressure him as much as I can and intend to write him incessantly to that end.”

Ozanam’s letter gives us insight into his youthful impatience. After two years, the group had grown to more than 100 members and was faced with the need to reorganize. In December 1834, the issue was passionately debated. Bailly maintained order and appointed two committees that proposed an agreeable solution in February 1835. The compromise was to meet in two separate rooms at Bailly’s facility and gather together for socializing afterward. That compromise helped move the Society forward, and soon more conferences were formed in the city.

The expansion required the creation of uniform guidelines and in the spring of 1835, Bailly proposed adoption of a Rule. He provided Ozanam and François Lallier with a basic outline, based on his knowledge of the Rules that Saint Vincent de Paul had provided for his followers.

Much of what Monsieur Bailly did for the group, he contributed quietly in the background, and the young men were probably unaware of the pitfalls averted because of his experience and knowledge of local politics. Only small groups were allowed to meet after the suppression of the July Revolution of 1830. A working understanding with local Prefect of Police Henri Gisquet allowed Bailly to have outsiders participate in events at his boarding house. Bailly was undoubtedly concerned that as the new Conference of Charity grew it might be considered a threat to civil order and be suppressed by local police.[11] Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables provides insight into the fear local police had of meetings of radical young students. The novel highlights fictional students planning the June Rebellion of 1832, the summer before the founding of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.

Bailly understood that local Church leaders would also have concern about the Society. There was some latitude for small groups to meet as long as they were associated with parishes, but many clerics were wary of Bailly’s work with these young students. They were aware that the delicate compromises reached with the government were always at risk of being dissolved. To gain support of the local clergy, Bailly invited Father Faudet, new pastor of the nearby church of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont, to attend a meeting on 27 June 1835. A report of the group’s activity, prepared by Colas Gustave La Noue, was presented. Father Faudet was impressed with the group and their work and assured Bailly that if he were attacked, Faudet would defend him.[12]

Groups of free-thinking young Catholics in France were also under scrutiny from the Vatican. Pope Gregory XVI’s encyclical Mirari Vos (On Liberalism and Religious Indifference) was written on 15 August 1832. It condemned popular liberal beliefs, especially those of Father Hugues-Félicité Robert de Lamennais, who was widely admired by young Parisian Catholics. The papal document states, “We are concerned you should recall that certain societies and assemblages seem to draw up a battle line together with the followers of every false religion and cult. They feign piety for religion; but they are driven by a passion for promoting novelties and sedition everywhere.”

Frédéric Ozanam and his friends found it difficult to distance themselves from the increasingly rebellious works of Father Lamennais. In a letter to Charles Hommais on 7 May 1834, Ozanam wrote, “There is no noise around us except about the new work of the Abbe de Lamennais.…The intimate disciples of the great writer …who know or follow him, break with him on this day, so that he knows he is alone. May God have mercy on him and forgive those who, by disgusting insults, have gradually sprouted this superior genius into a path of anger and error!” Only a month later, Pope Gregory XVI singled out Lamennais with another encyclical, Singulari Nos, subtitled “On the Errors of Lamennais.” Bailly launched his second newspaper, La Tribune Catholique, to offer a moderate alternative to the liberal religious paper L’Avenir, which had been published by Father Lamennais.

The visitation of the poor in their homes became the principal activity of the young Society. By the summer of 1836, the early members were working with 300 families but had also established a significant special work—a boarding house for ten children who were being trained as printing apprentices in Bailly’s shop. The conference rented a building on rue Grès and hired a married couple to manage the house. This sort of operation required the oversight of Bailly, who was aided by several of the student members. Even Madame Bailly became involved.[13] This special work was difficult to maintain, however, and eventually disappeared.

The expansion of the Society was initially driven by students who ventured out into communities to pursue their careers and who wanted to establish the Society in those locations. Ozanam, with a large contingent of the early members, returned to Lyons and struggled to form the Society there. To accommodate the challenges they encountered, the Lyons Conference suggested to the Council General in Paris that certain changes should be made to the Rule and common practice.

Bailly saw the bigger picture and explained to Ozanam the challenges that the conferences in Paris encountered. Ozanam shared this with fellow conference member Amand Chaurand in a letter written on 19 November 1838:

I have spoken several times to M. Bailly. He told me of all the tribulations which the Society had suffered from some ecclesiastics who sought to seize it, and especially from a political party which wished to exploit it, or to disorganize it for its own benefit, this for the conference of St. Germain de Prés was the unfortunate result of a Legitimist enterprise, which has so cruelly compromised our existence, and which still threatens our tranquility. He added that the Company so far retains faithfully a dual religious and secular character, which alone can ensure its usefulness and multiply its efforts.[14]

Ozanam then offered this advice to the Lyons Conference members:

Concerning the communication I have given him of your last letter, he thinks it will be advisable to make the parish priest of Saint-Pierre understand the spirit which animates us and which alone distinguishes us from other associations: we must not be a charity bureau, nor a confraternity. But above all, guard against extreme parties, never to lose patience, long-suffering benevolence in interpretations, perseverance in reconciling divergent opinions, avoiding all that can grieve the hearts and stiffen the wills. These are the lessons which M. Bailly never ceases to give to those who surround him, and of whom he gives the first example. It is this force which seems to be inertia at first sight but which alone sustains and saves the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.[15]

Frédéric Ozanam’s reference to the “inertia” of Emmanuel Bailly is a complaint younger members frequently have of the older generation. In this case, Ozanam acknowledged Bailly’s prudent caution. The obligations of family and career can compete for a member’s time. That is not always understood by younger members who are motivated to act. On another occasion, Ozanam encouraged his friend François Lallier to “prod sometimes the excessive tranquility of the president general.”[16] Sometimes, older Vincentians really do need prodding, or they risk losing the enthusiasm of the young.

As the Society grew, Bailly steadily provided advice through his circular letters on the issues that came to the attention of the Council General in Paris. A deeply held belief of the founders contributing to the ability to grow and spread was that “no work of charity is foreign to the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.” To this day, this phrase is found in the Rule of the Society.[17] In his circular of 1 March 1842, Bailly encouraged a deep trust of the Holy Spirit: “Everyone is differently acted upon by Divine grace; everyone has his own way of doing good. Let us not impede the various manifestations of the Holy Ghost. Again our Conferences are found in various places and to do good, real good must be done according to the spirit, tendencies, and necessities of those places.”

Emmanuel Bailly pictured at desk. Photo owned by the international office of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, Paris. Courtesy of Ralph Middlecamp via St. Vincent de Paul Image Archive Online.

Bailly proceeded to summarize this reliance on the value of subsidiarity, still embraced in the Society’s Rule: “We are all brothers; among us there are no masters to command the rest; we merely owe each other friendly and brotherly advice … Nothing is so injurious to the unity and progress of a Society as a tendency to fear every manifestation, whatever it may be, to suspect from the first, or even reject, every idea that does not originate with ourselves, to subject to a rigorous and impossible uniformity the free and spontaneous action of our Brothers.”[18]

Bailly frequently and strongly insisted that members must do home visits: “I cannot conclude this letter without this most earnest request: never neglect visiting the poor in their homes. The visiting of the poor in their dismal homes is the distinctive character of the Conferences of St. Vincent de Paul.”[19]

Warning conferences to avoid politics, Bailly wrote, “By being exclusively a Society of good works, outside or above all political parties, will the Society of St. Vincent de Paul live and continue to make good progress.”[20] He would repeat this advice regularly, using it as the concluding instruction in his final letter to the Society.

As Bailly’s personal and business lives became increasingly complicated, they diminished his ability to provide the leadership the growing organization needed. Still, Bailly would remain a mentor to the Society until his resignation in 1844. He regularly wrote and published the circulars advising members to maintain the practice of home visits, to avoid partisan politics, to avoid unnecessary publicity, to maintain the lay character of the organization, and, most importantly, to preserve the spirituality of the Society.

In his final circular, Bailly cautioned the Society not to lose its primitive spirit: “The Society of St. Vincent de Paul was begun by young men and for young men; accordingly a peculiar virtue seems attached to their action among us, while at the same time a great portion of the favor with which the public views our Society comes from its being known to consist principally of young men. But, in order that it should continue recruiting among the youth in the schools and other walks of life, the young men must be in evidence among us; they must appear in the first rank.”[21]

Emmanuel Bailly with Frédéric Ozanam and companions. Oil on board, artist unknown. Courtesy of St. Vincent de Paul Image Archive Online.

6. The Legacy of Bailly’s Talented Children

The Bailly children were remarkable reflections of Emmanuel and Sidonie’s lives of faith and of the unique home environment they provided. The Baillys had six children:

• Marie-Adrienne (1831–1854) intended to become a Carmelite nun but died at twenty-two while working in Poland as a governess.
• Vincent de Paul (1832–1912) was an Assumptionist priest and the founder of La Croix.
• Bernard (1835–1920) was the founder of Aid Society for Fishermen and the editor of Cosmos.
• Marie (1837–1906) was superior of the Daughters of Saint Sidonie (1840–1866).
• Benjamin (Father Emmanuel) (1842–1917) was an Assumptionist priest and superior general.

The Baillys’ eldest and youngest sons became priests in the newly formed Augustinians of the Assumption, founded by Emmanuel Alzon. Emmanuel Bailly didn’t live long enough to see either of his sons ordained. It may be expected that his sons would have joined the Congregation of the Mission, but the relationship between that order and the Baillys turned bitter while the sons were young men. Emmanuel Alzon, founder of the Assumptionists, was a friend of Emmanuel Bailly and a regular guest in his home.

Bailly’s oldest son, Vincent de Paul, was a member of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul as a young man. He had an early career as a telegraph operator and for a time was the personal telegrapher of Emperor Napoleon III. Vincent de Paul was entrusted with many important missions—private and diplomatic. To improve his international correspondence, he began to study foreign languages and law. A promising career seemed to lie ahead, but he developed other ambitions. In October 1860, he entered the Congregation of the Assumption; his younger brother Emmanuel joined him seven months later, shortly after the death of their father.

Father Vincent de Paul Bailly was one of the earliest members of the Assumptionist order. Like his father, he became a journalist dedicated to the defense of the Catholic faith. He was founder and publisher of La Croix and also founded the Bonne Presse, which printed numerous smaller publications. His aggressive stance would embroil him in the Dreyfus Affair in the 1880s. His opinions were stridently anti-Semitic and contributed to the eventual banning of the order from France for several years.

The youngest son, Benjamin, took his father’s name when he was ordained and was known as Father Emmanuel Bailly. He became the third superior general of the Assumptionists and presided over the order’s reestablishment in France and significant expansion throughout the world, which involved travel to China and the United States.

The Baillys’ middle son, Bernard, attended the French Naval Academy. After resigning from the service, he founded a fisherman’s aid society that operated much like the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul and worked with the poor in fishing villages. Following the family’s journalistic tradition, he was editor of Le Cosmos for many years, a magazine reviewing scientific developments of the day. He was the only child of Bailly to marry and have children.

A daughter, Marie, became Superior of the Daughters of Chlotilde. Marie lived her later years in Belgium and died there.

The children of Emmanuel Bailly followed in their father’s footsteps and were significant participants in the renewal of nineteenth-century French Catholicism. This can be attributed to the faith and spirituality of their parents but also to living in a household that regularly hosted some of that period’s most influential French Catholic leaders.

7. The Enterprises of Bailly

From the day Emmanuel Bailly opened his first boarding house on rue Cassette in 1819, he would create ventures that were entrepreneurial and promoted and defended the Catholic faith. Unfortunately, he was not a very good businessman, but he was able to attract other interested investors.

Emmanuel’s brother Ferdinand was his first supporter, providing financing for his boarding houses and later his newspapers. The money probably was not Ferdinand’s to invest but rightfully was an asset of the Congregation of the Mission. Ferdinand believed in his brother’s projects, however, and probably thought the financial resources he found at his disposal were being put to good use. At this time, the leadership of the Congregation of the Mission was in disarray, but Ferdinand eventually found himself in conflict with the Congregation’s emerging leadership over these expenditures.

Another source of financial resources came from his marriage to Sidonie de Surcy. Her family was financially secure and undoubtedly helped support the family. Sidonie’s brother Henri would join Bailly and become the manager of the actual printshop portion of Bailly’s publishing enterprise.

Bailly’s finances were thrown into chaos when his brother’s contributions to his projects were called into question by the new superior of the Congregation of the Mission, Father Jean-Baptiste Nozo. This man had a long-standing dislike for Ferdinand Bailly. Ferdinand had been a contender for the position of superior general and held some views opposed to those of Nozo and his supporters.

Father Bailly was not without fault. There was a dispute concerning the legitimacy of his vows, an unwillingness to be accountable to the Congregation for questionable financial expenditures, and outright disobedience: “He [Nozo] accused Bailly of lacking respect for the superior general and of not fulfilling his responsibilities as superior (to say nothing of being visitor). Nozo then listed those points that he found particularly offensive: unauthorized loans, destruction of financial records, poor bookkeeping and inconsistent explanations for various financial transactions.”[22] These concerns led to Ferdinand Bailly’s dismissal in 1838.

The dismissal resulted in a complex set of lawsuits for damages. Emmanuel Bailly would be pulled into this convoluted case, as would Sister Rosalie Rendu. To defend the reputation of his Congregation after losing the lawsuits, Nozo printed 3,000 pamphlets and distributed them to every French diocese, to magistrates, and to many governmental departments, particularly in Paris and in Pas-de-Calais, where the Bailly family originated. In 1840, Emmanuel decided to sue Nozo for defamation of the Bailly family’s reputation. In his complaint against Nozo’s brief, he objected most strongly to the allegation that he obtained the money improperly from his brother Ferdinand to purchase a house and a business.

Sister Rosalie became involved in these cases several times.[23] She tried to help the Lazarists by persuading Archbishop Denis-Auguste Affre of Paris to use his influence to mediate the disputes. She asked the archbishop to persuade Emmanuel Bailly to drop his suit. Although she was a friend of Bailly, she disliked the scandalous publicity and was unsure of the veracity of some of Emmanuel’s claims. Her efforts were too late to be of any use in the defamation suit. She continued to intervene with the archbishop, however, on matters pertaining to the Congregation of the Mission, and her “meddling” was not appreciated by the leadership of the Lazarists.

Emmanuel won a substantial settlement in this lawsuit but foolishly used this settlement money in 1842 to acquire the Hôtel de Clermont-Tonnerre on rue de Fleurus in Paris. A mansion near the Luxembourg Gardens, the hotel had been the residence of the King of Naples, Emperor Napoleon’s brother-in-law. Hoping that revenues it would generate could support him in his retirement, Bailly purchased the mansion and rented out apartments. It was a poor investment.

Until 1839, Emmanuel continued as publisher of L’Univers. By 1838, without the financial backing of the Congregation of the Mission, the paper was in financial trouble and on the verge of bankruptcy—until Count Montalembert invested in it. In 1844, L’Univers came to be directed by the talented but strident Louis Veuillot. He became an antagonist to liberal Catholic writers such as Frédéric Ozanam and would eventually turn even on Count Montalembert, whose investments had saved the paper.

Emmanuel Bailly continued to make poor decisions. He supported the reintroduction of the Benedictines into Paris. He had a long friendship with Dom Prosper Gueranger, who reestablished the Benedictine monastery at Solesmes. In December 1843, the order’s treasurer made a poor decision to purchase a property and Bailly acted as guarantor on the real estate deal. Gueranger did not encourage Bailly in this effort, and it also was opposed by Archbishop Affre of Paris. When the effort failed, Bailly was responsible for almost one million francs of debt. This was a final cause of his ruin.

8. The Unfortunate Final Years

In 1844, Bailly retired as the Society’s president general. At this point, Bailly was fifty years old. He had lost ownership of the newspaper and still had six children at home between the ages of two and thirteen. The conflict with the Congregation of the Mission, his family obligations, and the state of his personal finances distracted Bailly from his leadership responsibilities and reflected poorly on the organization. After a difficult meeting on 25 February 1844, Jean Le Prevost wrote Bailly a frank letter encouraging him to resign. The members of the Council General then requested his resignation and Ozanam was asked to present the request. Bailly was hurt by this and wavered for many weeks.

While Bailly resigned voluntarily, the “forced” nature of this resignation was not mentioned publicly. Quite the opposite, Ozanam publicly praised Bailly in a circular dated 11 June 1844 for his role as founder. Becoming a source of dispute after Ozanam died, the letter read in part: “It was he who supplied them with a place of meeting, who assisted them with his advice, encouraged them by his example: he taught them to draw near one another for mutual support, to recruit others, to help the poor.…”[24]

Supporters of the Bailly family, however, regarded the dismissal with disparagement:

It is true that Mr. Bailly had ruined himself in his printing business and had been declared bankrupt. Despite his virtue and his devotion he was not a businessman, let alone a printer and there is no industry more complex and difficult to manage, especially when the clientele is richer in ideas than capital … at that time not being able to honor its business was degrading in the eyes of the liberal bourgeoisie. This explains the resignation of Mr. Bailly, but does not justify the conduct of his old friends when we know the reasons for the failure of this new Job who lost everything to give you everything.[25]

Jules Gossin (1789–1855). The second president of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. Courtesy of Ralph Middlecamp via St. Vincent de Paul Image Archive Online.

Emmanuel stayed active with the Council General of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul at the insistence of his successor, Jules Gossin. The two men were close in age and had known each other as participants in the Society of Good Studies. In choosing Gossin, the Society recognized the need to continue to be led by a well-respected older member with organizational experience and a strong Catholic faith. Bailly kept in contact with several of the other founders and remained a member of the Council General until almost the end of his life in 1861.

However, the financial difficulties of Bailly were not over when he resigned as president general. A series of court actions, beginning on 22 August 1848 and ending in August 1849, led to an order to liquidate his assets. Bailly was forced to give up ownership of the property and management of the press at 2 Place de la Sorbonne. His brother-in-law, Henri, would take it over, renaming it after himself, H. Vrayet de Surcy Press.

Bailly’s family was affected greatly. His wife, Sidonie—insisting that they would borrow no more money—took charge of major financial decisions. He had to sell the Hôtel de Clermont-Tonnerre and moved into a modest apartment at 5 rue du Petit-Bourbon. They would be forced to move two more times to smaller quarters. Their financial difficulties would also negatively impact the education and career options of the Bailly children.

Bailly would manage to occupy himself with a few small jobs. The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul commissioned him to write a short biography of Saint Vincent de Paul. His old friend Father Migne found projects for him, including collaborating on a journal, Le Moniteur Catholique, recently established by the new bishop of Paris. Bailly took a position at the Library of Saint Genevieve as the interim conservator in September 1850. An entrepreneur to the end, he was reported to be making plans in 1850 to come to the United States to pursue new business interests. This would never happen.

Bailly lived almost eight years after Frédéric Ozanam died. These years were marked by a very public debate about who founded the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.[26] It began innocently enough with a posthumous testimonial to Ozanam by Father Lacordaire; in that address the priest attributed the founding to Ozanam. Louis Veuillot was not willing to let this stand and disputed this claim in multiple L’Univers articles which were then publicly disputed by friends of Ozanam.

This debate was considered very detrimental by the Council General. Bailly was present at the Council General meeting of 25 February 1856, as Council members tried to defuse the issue. He repudiated “in measured terms” all claims to be the founder and agreed that it was necessary not only to “drop the polemic” but also to publish nothing more on the question. Nevertheless, it was decided to publish a note in the Society’s “Bulletin” to affirm the collective founding of the organization.

It was a controversy that continued to haunt the Society even after the latter’s death, especially in Paris, where both Ozanam and Bailly were well-known. These two friends were noted for their humility, and we could expect that they would have preferred to avoid this controversy. Recently, we have come to a better understanding of the roles of both men. There is little argument against the claim that Frédéric Ozanam was the principal founder, or animator, of the organization as we know it today, but clearly Emmanuel Bailly presided with wisdom over the Society’s development during its first decade.

Emmanuel Bailly died in Paris on 12 April 1861. He was buried initially in the cemetery at Montparnasse. After his wife died, they were buried together in the Vyrayet de Surcy family tomb in Lès Thennes, which was near her family estate. The grave is to the right of the entrance to the cemetery which is behind the church of Saint-Vaast de Moreuil.

The tomb of Emmanuel Joseph Bailly de Surcy. Lès Thennes cemetery, Berteaucourt-lès-thennes, France. Public Domain.

9. Concluding Observations

Emmanuel Bailly lived at a time of great change in all the institutions of France. Systems of religion, education, commerce, and politics were all in a state of upheaval, and he was not afraid to take risks to make the world a better place. As a result, he was often in the shadow of famous people but was never quite famous himself. He was what author Malcolm Gladwell labels a “connector” in his book The Tipping Point.[27] Very often, Bailly’s contribution to a project was his ability to share information and bring people together. Emmanuel Bailly and Frédéric Ozanam shared an ability to form relationships that would last a lifetime. The friendship and trust these two men had for each other formed the intersection of generations that made the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul thrive in a difficult environment. It is easy to see how each used their talents and abilities to found the Society, but they also brought their friends along with them—friends that spanned two generations. The talents of that collection of friends were also critical to the growth of this “conference of charity.” They were willing to participate in this new endeavor because Bailly and Ozanam were “connectors.” In this respect, Bailly and Ozanam together have offered us a useful model for the relationships and collaborations needed for the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul to continue to thrive in the challenging times each successive generation faces.

Emmanuel Bailly may have died in obscurity, but he lived a life that passionately promoted the renewal of Catholicism in France after the French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire. He was known by the most significant Catholic leaders of Paris as a loyal teacher, journalist, and organizer. He tried to establish institutions that would advance the position of the Catholic Church but did so with limited success. He was not a very good businessman. His vision was almost always more ambitious than his financial capacity to sustain the ventures he created.

The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul is the longest lasting of the organizations he helped establish. Unfortunately, his role in the founding would be clouded by disputes in his later years. Bailly was most successful as a mentor to young men who would affectionately give him the nickname of “father.” That was what he was to young men such as Frédéric Ozanam. More importantly, he was a beloved father to his own children, who would become significant leaders in the French Catholic community at the end of the nineteenth century. In his resignation message to the members of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, published in a circular on 11 June 1844, Bailly left us these words of inspiration: “Be of good courage gentlemen; united or separated, far or near, let us love each other, love and serve the poor. Much evil is being done; let us do a little good.”

Footnotes:

[1] Joseph I., Dirvan, C.M., Frédéric Ozanam: A Life in Letters (St. Louis: Society of Saint Vincent de Paul U.S. Council, 1986).

[2] During this period in France, pious Catholic families frequently gave their children a first name of a favorite family saint, but they were known informally by the second name.

[3] Principal source for material in the article is from Rev. Pierre Jarry. “Un artisan du renouveau catholique au XIXe siècle: Emmanuel Bailly, 1794–1861, ” (PhD diss., Thèses de la faculté de théologie d’Angers, 1971).

[4] Charles Mercier, La Société de Saint-Vincent de Paul, Une mémoire des origines en mouvement (Paris: Harmattan, 2006).

[5] The Rule of the International Confederation of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, Part I, 1.1 (St. Louis: Society of Saint Vincent de Paul U. S. Council, 2005).

[6] The history of the Congregation, its development, subdivisions, and suppressions, is complex and more information can be found in Jarry, “Un artisan,” 91–105.

[7] M. Vincent, Ozanam une jeunesse romantique (Paris: Mediaspaul, 1994), 246.

[8] Jarry, “Un artisan,” 274.

[9] Father Migne went on to be famous for his massive publishing projects, including the Latin and Greek Patristics. His interesting career is documented in the book God’s Plagiarist.

[10] Gérard Cholvy, Frédéric Ozanam : L’engagement d’un intellectuel catholique au XIXe siècle (Paris: Fayard, 2003), 243.

[11] E. Lacoste, P. Vincent de Paul Bailly Fondateur de La Croix (Paris: Bonne Presse, 1913), 10.

[12] Jarry, “Un artisan,” 399.

[13] Ibid., 414.

[14] Didier Ozanam, Lettres de Frédéric Ozanam Supplément et Tables (Paris, Société de Saint-Vincent de Paul, 2013), 79.

[15] Ibid.

[16] Frédéric Ozanam to François Lallier, 5 October 1837.

[17] The Rule of the International Confederation of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, Part I, 1.3.

[18] Ibid., Part I, 3.9.

[19] Emmanuel Bailly, Circular Letter, 14 July 1841.

[20] Emmanuel Bailly, Circular Letter, 1 December 1842.

[21] Emmanuel Bailly, Circular Letter, 1 March 1844.

[22] John E., Rybolt, C.M., The Vincentians: A General History of the Congregation of the Mission, vol. 3 (Hyde Park: New City Press, 2013).

[23] Louise, Sullivan, D.C., Sister Rosalie Rendu: A Daughter of Charity on Fire with Love for the Poor (Chicago: Vincentian Studies Institute, 2006), 309.

[24] Frédéric Ozanam and Léon Cornudet, Circular Letter, 11 June 1844.

[25] M. Guy, Vincent de Paul Bailly, fondateur de “La Croix” (Paris: La Colombe, 1955), 17.

[26] Gérard Cholvy, op. cit. A detailed account of the controversy is given on pages 296–309.

[27] Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point (New York: Little Brown, 2000).

Ralph Middlecamp serves as the Vice President General of the International Council of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SSVP).  He was the United States National Council President of the Society from 2017 to 2023.  Ralph Co-chairs the SSVP Commission for Revision of the Rule and Statutes and serves on the International Commission for Historical Investigation.

Ralph is a member of the St. Thomas Aquinas Conference in Madison, Wisconsin.  He served as the CEO of the SSVP District Council of Madison from 1987 until his retirement July 31, 2017.

Middlecamp received his B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1974. Having received his Eagle Scout award in 1965, Ralph remained active in Scouting for many years. For the past 18 years he has served on the board of directors of the Baraboo Range Protection Association, a Wisconsin land conservation organization.  He is a past chair and board member of Catholic Charities (Caritas) in the Dioceses of Madison and served for three years on the Diocese of Madison Catholic Campaign for Human Development committee.