The rosary and the founder of the St. Vincent de Paul Society
Monday, May 27, 2019
*Victor Martell
Blessed Frederic Ozanam founded the Society of St. Vincent of Paul in May of 1833. Only 20 years old, this lay person of the 19th century, a Christian in a secularized world, was a genuine prophet of his time in the Church he said he “loves with great love and submission.” Frederic completed high school in Lyon and college in Paris. During his adolescence he had major problems of the spiritual order, but he entrusted himself to the spiritual direction of Abbot Noirot, a great philosopher, who helped him to overcome them. He writes: “I promised God to devote my life to the service of the truth which fills me with peace.”
On Nov. 5, 1831, the 18-year-old intellectual arrived in Paris from Lyon to continue his studies at the Sorbonne. He was discouraged, or rather appalled, by what he saw in the capital.
“One day, sad and overwhelmed by problems,” Ozanam recalled, “I entered the Church of St. Stephen to overcome them and boost my morale. The church was silent and nearly empty. Kneeling humbly before the altar was a man immersed in the prayer of the rosary. Approaching him, I could recognize Ampüre. After contemplating him a few moments I retired, deeply moved and closer to God.”
André-Marie Ampüre, mathematical and physical scientist, world famous discoverer of electromagnetism, strengthened his soul in prayer. With this admirable example, the young student learned how to struggle against the attacks of the passions. Surprised by this show of faith, Ozanam reaffirmed and deepened his own faith and became a man who filled the world with his love.
Ozanam used to say that the rosary of Ampüre had moved and convinced him more than a thousand sermons. After this incident he befriended Ampüre, who opened his home to him. There he found support for his faith amid a violently anti-Catholic Paris. And he also came into contact with Emmanuel Bailly, who as a youngster had considering become a Vincentian, the order founded by St. Vincent de Paul, whom he knew well.
In 1833, Ozanam and a group of seven friends founded the Society of St. Vincent of Paul, whom they chose as their patron. Bailly, then 39, was the oldest of the seven. Frederic was 20; only one other member of the group was younger.
At first, they had no experience of service, of how to deal with those who lived in poverty. They needed a guide. She came to them via Bailly, president of the nascent Conference as well as a kind of spiritual adviser and example of prudence. When they decide to go to meet the poor, Bailly sends them to a woman, a 40-year-old Daughter of Charity, Sister Rosalie Rendu, "Apostle of the Moufettard district," and servant of the disenfranchised in the Parisian district of Saint-Médard. She accompanied them as they started visiting the poor in their homes, which they had decided would be the purpose of the Society.
Ozanam died very young, but his social approach and evangelical witness remain alive a century and a half later. His life can be summed up in three words: prayer, work and dedication, three permanent principles in the concept of Christianity that Ozanam knew how to live and transmit.
Juan Paul II beatified him Aug. 22, 1997 in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.
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