Seeking Faith and Learning in Youth

When Frédéric was about eleven, he entered the Collège Royal (secondary school) in Lyon to pursue a formal education. Precociously bright, he was actually younger than most of his classmates – the youngest of 130 pupils at one point. He threw himself into studies of literature, languages, and philosophy. Yet these adolescent years brought not only academic formation but spiritual growing pains. In the aftermath of the Enlightenment and Revolution, French intellectual life was pervaded by skepticism toward religion. Even in Lyon, young Frédéric encountered currents of doubt and rationalist critique. Around the age of fourteen, he went through a personal crisis of faith. As he later candidly admitted, “I asked myself why I believed. I doubted … and although I wanted to believe and resisted doubt, I read every book [claiming to prove] religion and not one of them satisfied me completely. I would believe for a month or two … then an objection would leap into my mind, and I would doubt again. Oh! How I suffered, for I wanted to be religious… My faith was not firm, and meanwhile I preferred to believe without reason than to doubt.”.

This heartfelt description – coming from a letter Ozanam wrote in 1851, recalling his teen years – reveals the turmoil of a young mind struggling to reconcile faith with reason. Frédéric wanted to believe, but he felt assailed by questions that his catechism answers didn’t fully resolve. Anyone who has experienced teenage skepticism or the intellectual dilemmas posed in a secular classroom can relate to his pain: he suffered because he feared losing the faith he cherished. Importantly, he did not hide these doubts or run from them; instead, he sought guidance and kept searching for truth.

Providentially, help came to Ozanam through a wise mentor: the Abbé Noirot, a Catholic priest and philosophy teacher at the college. Abbé (Abbot) Noirot recognized Frédéric’s gifted mind and also his sensitivity. Rather than condemn the boy’s questions, Noirot engaged them. He became, in effect, Frédéric’s spiritual and intellectual coach, teaching him how to think critically without abandoning faith. Under Noirot’s tutelage, the adolescent Ozanam learned to confront modern ideas and challenges head-on but to do so with a disciplined mind and a grounding in Christian philosophy. Years later, Ozanam gratefully wrote of Noirot’s powerful impact during that formative period: “I have known the extreme horror of these doubts that plague the heart… It was then that the teaching of a philosopher-priest saved me. He put my thoughts in order and in light; I thought now with an assured faith, and received a rare benefit; I promised God to devote my life to the service of the truth that gave me peace.”. Through patience and reason, Abbé Noirot helped Frédéric emerge from his storm of skepticism into a deeper, more reflective faith – a faith truly his own, tested by fire.

Portrait of Abbé Joseph-Mathias Noirot. Source: Revue du siècle littéraire et artistique de 1892.

This renewed faith did not dampen Ozanam’s intellectual zeal; on the contrary, it energized it. He became convinced that faith and reason are allies, not enemies. He now saw his studies as part of his Christian calling “to devote [his] life to the service of the truth”. Notably, it was at this young age that Frédéric first formed the aspiration to serve God as a defender of truth in the modern world – an aspiration that would later guide his career choices and apologetic writings.

After brilliantly completing his secondary studies, Frédéric consented to follow his father’s wishes and study law. However, he still had to wait one more year to go to university. In the meantime, he worked as an apprentice in a Lyon law firm. Law, however, was not Frédéric’s passion. He dutifully copied legal documents by day, but literature and history books were tucked under his arm. As he walked to work, he would be so engrossed reading that he sometimes bumped into passersby. He taught himself multiple languages (English, German, even a bit of Hebrew and Sanskrit) and read voraciously on all subjects. This self-education made him a remarkably well-rounded young intellectual. Still, he felt restless in the rote routine of legal training. His heart leaned toward the humanities – to the world of ideas, literature, and teaching – rather than to courtrooms and contracts. Law might provide a stable career, but Frédéric sensed he was not cut from that bolt of cloth and yearned for a higher vocation in line with his talents.

By the time he left Lyon for Paris at age 18 to continue his education, Ozanam was emerging as a young man who combined deep faith, intellectual curiosity, and moral courage. He had come through a trial of doubt with a stronger conviction and had proven he could hold his own in debate. Yet his path was only beginning. In the great capital city, his faith and ideals would meet new challenges – and an opportunity to blossom into a mission that would touch the world.

Reflection:
Faith and Reason

Frédéric Ozanam’s teenage struggle with doubt and his mentorship under Abbé Noirot have timeless relevance. Many young Catholics today, especially students, find themselves questioning their faith under the influence of secular philosophies or simply the multitude of worldviews encountered in school and online. Ozanam’s experience shows that doubt need not lead to despair or abandonment of faith; it can be a passage to a more mature belief.

What made the difference for Frédéric was having someone guide him – a teacher who respected both faith and reason. Today’s young believers can take two lessons here. First, do not be afraid of questions: Ozanam did not bury his doubts; he faced them and sought answers, trusting that truth would stand up to scrutiny. Second, seek wise mentors and solid resources: just as Noirot “saved” Ozanam by patiently illuminating the path, so too can a good priest, sister or lay Vincentian help a struggling young person find clarity.

Ozanam emerged with a faith that was intellectually alive, not blind or anti-intellectual. In an age when we hear that religion and reason are at odds, Ozanam’s story witnesses to their harmony. His promise to devote himself to “the service of the truth that gave me peace” could well be a motto for Catholic students today who want to engage the culture. Whether one is studying science, literature, or philosophy, Frédéric Ozanam’s example encourages young Catholics to love God with their mind and to never check their faith at the classroom door – but also to never check their critical thinking at the church door. Faith can welcome honest inquiry, and reason can be elevated by faith. This balance is crucial in our contemporary search for meaning. Ozanam, as a teenager in the 1820s, walked that fine line and found it led him not away from the Church, but more deeply into it.