Part of a Series on Vincentian Heritage Places

Quartier du Jardin des Plantes

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Many young men were attracted to Paris because of its esteemed universities. Yet living in Paris was not easy for many, including Frédéric. When he first arrived he resided in a pension near the Jardin des Plantes, a neighborhood that was relatively inexpensive but also distant from the university. Frédéric felt isolated and alone. He wrote to his mother that Paris was “a capital of selfishness, and a whirlwind of passions and human errors.” Moreover, the company he found at the first location was far from the best. In his opinion there were women of questionable behavior boarding there. His cousin Ernest Falconnet received word from him that “Paris displeases me, because there is no life, no faith, no love; it is like a vast corpse, to which I am tied— all young and living— of which the coldness freezes me, and of which the corruption kills me. It is truly … [a] moral desert.”

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

View of the Jardin des Plantes and Menagerie in 1842

The Amphitheater near Rue Cuvier in the northwest corner, was constructed in 1787-88. It was built as a venue for lectures on natural science and the discoveries in the gardens.

The “Serre Mexicaine” greenhouse built (1834–36) by Charles Rohault de Fleury

All Vincentian Places in this Series

Red = Vincent de Paul, Blue = Frederic Ozanam, Teal = Elizabeth Seton, Yellow = Louise de Marillac

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