Part of a Series on Vincentian Heritage Places

Basilique Notre-Dame de Buglose

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Approximately nine months before his death, Ozanam made a pilgrimage to Notre Dame de Buglose. He could not resist the temptation to visit the nearby birthplace of his beloved patron, Saint Vincent de Paul: “I owed a visit to the birthplace of this beloved patron, who preserved my youth from so many dangers, and who spread such unexpected blessings on our humble conferences…. We saw there the old oak under which Saint Vincent, the little shepherd, took refuge while tending his sheep. This beautiful tree is only attached to the ground by the bark of a trunk destroyed by the years. But its branches are magnificent…. I clearly saw the image of the foundations of Saint Vincent de Paul, which seem to be attached to the ground by nothing human, and which, however, triumph over the centuries and grow in revolutions.” He promised his friend Alexandre Dufieux to send him “a leaf from the blessed tree: it will dry in the book where you will place it, but charity will never dry up in your heart….” A few days later he informed his brother Charles: “The priest of Saint Vincent de Paul was waiting for us on the road with a servant with a ladder and a scythe; he had him cut, before our eyes, a branch of the venerable oak that I am going to send to the Council General… Little Marie was very delighted to see some sheep on the moor which had to be the great-great-grandchildren of those the Saint tended.” This excursion caused him much joy; he was briefly distracted from his waning health.

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

Basilica of Buglose, near the birthplace of St. Vincent

Ancient tree at the birthplace of Vincent de Paul

All Vincentian Places in this Series

Red = Vincent de Paul, Blue = Frederic Ozanam

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