Places of Frederic Ozanam 28 - Saint-Étienne
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Places of Frederic Ozanam 28 – Saint-Étienne
Part of a Series on Vincentian Heritage Places
Saint-Étienne
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Ozanam was saddened by scenes of the modern industrial world that brutalized both men and nature: “I visited Saint-Etienne where I saw industry in all the apparel of its most laborious works, and carried away a sad impression, considering to what horrible toil millions of men apply themselves to put bread between their teeth, and procure opulent well-being for a small number of the fortunate; and how the intelligence must be brutalized and the heart hardened in the midst of those machines and the immense deployment of material force.”
Source: Antoine Frédéric Ozanam by Raymond L. Sickinger, University of Notre Dame Press
General view of Saint-Étienne (Photo: Archives départementales de la Loire https://archives.loire.fr/)
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Red = Vincent de Paul, Blue = Frederic Ozanam
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It is interesting that it is after seeing this situation that he begins to famously write about the “social question”, the divide between those who have and those who don’t. His introduction to what becomes a central theme of Catholic Social Teaching comes out of direct observation of the situation of workers in the new French industrial systems.