Anecdotes

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...

The service of the poor occupies such a prominent position in Ozanam's life that it becomes of interest to know how he performed it. It was essentially a service of love. His manner towards the poor was considerate and deferential as towards his equals. He invariably...

From the Conferences of History (a weekly meeting of young students at Mr. Bailly's), a group of six young people, under the protection of Emmanuel Bailly*, decides to take action to help the poor. At the end of one of their first meetings, the question of naming the...

One New Year's Eve, Frederic Ozanam was telling his wife Amélie about a poor family who had known better days, but were now reduced to such shifts that they had been compelled to pledge a handsome chest of drawers, the last remnant that remained to them of former...