Part of a Series on Vincentian Heritage Places

Rome

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Frederic and Amelie Ozanam honeymooned in Italy, visiting Naples, Sicily, and Rome. “The highlight of their first marital adventure was the pilgrimage to Rome, where they had a special audience with the current pope, Gregory XVI.” The pope received them warmly. Frédéric wrote to his cousin Henri Pessonneaux: “Yesterday we had the honor of being received by the Pope. His Holiness deigned to admit us to an audience devoid of all protocol; it was not the rather awesome majesty of the tiara, but the simplicity and sweetness of a father. During the fifteen-minute conversation he spoke to me of France with singularly moving kindness, and of my studies with all the learning and presence of mind of a scholar speaking in his special field. I received his blessing for myself, my family, and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul which he knows and loves.”

The honeymoon had also offered the opportunity for the couple “to kneel at the tomb of the holy apostles and pray together before the simple stone which covers the remains of St. Peter,” and it provided Frédéric with more essential knowledge for his work: “What the trip to Sicily was for the understanding of antiquity, the stay in Rome was even more for the understanding of Christianity.”

Source: Antoine Frédéric Ozanam by Raymond L. Sickinger, University of Notre Dame Press

St. Peter’s Square, Rome, by Ippolito Caffi (painted at the time of Ozanam)

Frédéric and Amélie Ozanam, Depaul Image Archive courtesy of Ralph Middlecamp

All Vincentian Places in this Series

Red = Vincent de Paul, Blue = Frederic Ozanam

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