When I say “Let us go over to the barbarians,” I am asking that we do as Pope [Pius IX], that we...
Frederic Ozanam
A Church that is Poor and for the Poor • A Weekly Reflection with Ozanam
Perhaps it is bad the alliance of Catholics with the defeated bourgeoisie; it would be better to lean on the people,...
My Three Angels • A Weekly Reflection with Ozanam
Three weeks after the birth of his daughter, Ozanam wrote this precious prayer, My Three Angels, to the Virgin Mary. It is worth reading and rereading it.
Simplicity and Cordiality • A Weekly Reflection with Ozanam
[The conferences] are blooming in Livorno and in Pisa, they begin to prosper in Florence, in Pontadera, they settle in Prato, and soon in Volterra and in Porto Ferraio. Very soon there will be seven families of Saint Vincent de Paul in this Tuscan country in which...
Vincentians in Public Life • A Weekly Reflection with Ozanam
At the same time, another thirty conferences formed in the most distant points of the country, celebrated the same solemnity. How can we not have any hope in that force of association, exerted mainly in the big cities, in all the faculties of Law, in all the centers...
On Being Simple • A Weekly Reflection with Ozanam
May God preserve us in the simplicity of our beginnings, and St. Vincent de Paul will recognize us as his disciples, if we maintain that character. Frederic Ozanam, to the General Council of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, July 10, 1953. Reflection: In 1853,...
Let’s Go to the Front Lines! • A Weekly Reflection with Ozanam
In those times we found ourselves invaded by a avalanche of heterodox doctrines and philosophies that were confronting us all around, and we felt the need to strengthen our faith in the midst of the assaults made upon it by the various false systems of knowledge. Some...
God Did Not Make the Poor • A Weekly Reflection with Ozanam
God did not make the poor. […] It is human liberty that makes the poor. […] We have put crushing taxes on salt, meat, and all necessaries of life. […] When it was a question of crushing out the last embers of the insurrection, there was no need of delays and...
Ozanam’s Last Wills • A Weekly Reflection with Ozanam
I commit my soul to Jesus Christ, my Saviour, frightened at my sins, but trusting in His infinite mercy. I die in the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church. I have known the difficulties of belief of the present age, but my whole life has convinced me that there is...
Not Only Giving Alms to the Poor • A Weekly Reflection with Ozanam
Almsgiving alone, alms that are not accompanied by words and love, is a humiliation for the one who receives it. Do we need to remember that man does not live by bread alone, that the Savior himself does not only ask to be clothed and fed in the person of the poor,...
The Character of Vincentian Leaders • A Weekly Reflection with Ozanam
In a Society that grows, and whose main purpose is to work for the renewal of faith and charity among men, in which all variety of ages, customs and human opinions must meet, the presidency needs many qualities, a special merit, and a man difficult to find if God does...
There is no “You” without “Me,” nor “I” without “You” • A Weekly Reflection with Ozanam
The “I” is truly importunate and hateful, that selfish solitude does not suit the needs of my character; I need the moral accompaniment of the family, the feeling of the “We.” You are good and charitable in allowing it, and I will take you for...
