Before leaving for Italy in July 1852, Frédéric and Amélie visited the Church of the Carmelites in Paris. They sat...
Anecdotes
Anecdotes of the Vincentian Family: The Travels of Frederic
The first time Frederic Ozanam ever traveled on his own, from Lyon to Paris, was November 2, 1831; he was about to...
Anecdotes of the Vincentian Family: Six Sacraments and a Trap
Pope John Paul I, at the general audience held on Wednesday, September 13, 1978, greeted a group of newlyweds and told...
Anecdotes of the Vincentian Family: Ozanam and Law: A Depressing Justice
Ozanam studied Law by his father. He did not like law studies but, to please his father, he received his doctorate. What he really liked were Letters. Federic practiced Law in Lyon for a short period of time. He wrote in one of his letters: In this profession, your...
Anecdotes of the Vincentian Family: A Kind Teacher, but also Fair and Severe
Yet with all his kindness, his students had not found Frederic Ozanam an easy-going master. On the contrary, he was, as a Professor, exceptionally severe. As an examiner he gave no quarter. He so mistrusted his natural tendency to indulgence that conscientiousness...
Anecdotes of the Vincentian Family: Ozanam and Money from Protestants
Frederic Ozanam was a staunch defender of the faith and the Catholic Church; but if some Protestants made him intermediary in the service of the poor, he was their grateful servant. Once, a young Protestant pastor, having gathered an amount of money among his...
Anecdotes of the Vincentian Family: Ozanam, Edified by the Piety of the Great
After some adventures, soon after Frédéric arrived to Paris at age 18, he ended staying at André Marie Ampère’s home, a famous scientist, who lived on Rue Fosses-Saint Victor, 19. Frédéric stayed in the room of the son, Jean Jacques Ampère, who at the time was...
Anecdotes of the Vincentian Family: Almsgiving that Humiliates or Honors
Frédéric thought that aid, almsgiving, is humiliating when only material needs are met, “causing shame, and doing what anyone does even with animals.” He says it’s humiliating because it can not be reciprocated, they are favors that the other has not...
Anecdotes of the Vincentian Family: Ozanam at University, and Money
Frederic, while pursuing his studies of Law and Letters at the University of Paris, was almost always short of money. In several letters to his parents (not all, but many) he gives them account of his impoverished economy. He could have to buy a new pair of trousers...
Anecdotes of the Vincentian Family: Ozanam the polyglot
Frederic did not need modern audiovisual media (now apparently essential) to learn languages. He, at age 17, already knew Latin, Greek, began studying Sanskrit and Hebrew — to be able to translate from the original sources —, and studied German and Italian. By the...
Anecdotes of the Vincentian Family: The Bread of the Eucharist and the Bread of the Poor
It was noticed by some of his friends that, after the general Communion at Notre Dame on Holy Thursday, Ozanam, instead of going straight home to his breakfast, disappeared in another direction. They watched him and found that he went first to the baker’s and...
Anecdotes of the Vincentian Family: A Male-Only Society in its Beginnings
In times of Frédéric Ozanam, women were virtually absent from the university. That is why, having emerged the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul in the vicinity of the Parisian university, in its early days women did not participate in it. The first female Society of...
