Blessed Frédéric Ozanam

Life story

Antoine-Frédéric Ozanam was born on 23 April 1813 in Milan, then part of the Kingdom of Italy, to a French family. The family later lived in Lyon, where he studied. He went to Paris to study law and literature at a time when debates about religion and society were lively among students. He was known among his friends for his warmth and his intellectual curiosity, and he wrote extensively on medieval literature and philosophy as well as on questions of faith and society.

In May 1833, aged twenty, he and a group of friends founded the Conference of Charity, under the guidance of Professor Emmanuel Bailly. Members visited poor families in Paris, bringing firewood, food and attention. The group took Saint Vincent de Paul as patron and later spread to many countries as the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.

Alongside charitable work Ozanam followed an academic path. He earned doctorates in law and in letters, studied Dante and medieval culture deeply, and from 1840 taught foreign literature at the Sorbonne, becoming full professor in 1844. He married Amélie Soulacroix in 1841 and had a daughter. His students at the Sorbonne appreciated his lectures, which combined careful scholarship with a clear sense of how culture and society shape one another.

His health failed because of tuberculosis. He died on 8 September 1853 in Marseille, aged forty. John Paul II beatified him on 22 August 1997 at Notre-Dame de Paris. His feast is on 9 September.

Works and witness

• Co-founded the Conference of Charity, forerunner of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, in May 1833
• Visited and assisted poor families in Paris
• Professor of foreign literature at the Sorbonne, full professor from 1844
• Studied Dante and medieval culture
• Beatified on 22 August 1997

Saints from the same country

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Louis IX of France, Saint Joan of Arc, Saint Francis de Sales

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
• Society of Saint Vincent de Paul – history of the founders

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.