Frederic Ozanam was eighteen when he left Lyons for Paris. He made the long journey by boat and carriage, and was exhausted when he eventually arrived at the house of Madame Marcel where his parents had made arrangements for him to lodge. He was glad to get to bed.<\/p>\n
Next morning he headed for the Sorbonne, asking directions as he went along. He was so absorbed in his surroundings that he overshot the College. When he made his way back, his first stop was in the chapel. Kneeling in front of the Blessed Sacrament, he gave thanks for his safe arrival and asked a blessing on his studies.<\/p>\n
Frederic had enrolled in the School of Law and was also going to take courses in literature, history, and philosophy. The Sorbonne, probably the most renowned university in the world at the time of Ozanam, was deemed a very liberal place of study. However Ozanam soon became aware that there was little tolerance for the Catholic faith. The university professors in general made open or disguised attacks on Catholic teaching all the time.<\/p>\n
Frederic found his lodgings [or \u2018pension\u2019<\/em>] very unsatisfactory. He wrote to his parents to get permission to look for another place to live: \u2018I am distant from the school of law \u2026 and from my Lyons comrades \u2026 my hostess has the air of a crafty gossip; \u2026 and this is my great reason, the company here is not<\/em> good\u2019<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span>.<\/em> He was still awaiting their reply when he paid a visit to his fellow Lyonnais, Andre Marie Ampere, the founder of electrodynamics. When M. Ampere enquired about Frederic\u2019s lodgings and discovered that he was unhappy there, he showed him his son\u2019s now vacant room and offered it to him at the same cost as Madame Marcel\u2019s. Frederic speaks of his great admiration for the strong faith of this man of science whom he describes as a devout Catholic with rocklike faith. <\/strong>He had already moved to M. Ampere\u2019s home when he wrote to his father, December 7th 1831: \u2018Today I am much better, since I have been settled for two days at M. Ampere\u2019s \u2026 an excellent man with whom I find myself installed<\/em>.”<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\n As well as getting to know M. Ampere, Frederic met many other men of letters who were strong in their practice and defence of the Catholic faith. Among the most noteworthy were M. Chateaubriand, L\u2019Abbe Marduel, M. Montalambert, L\u2019Abbe de Lamennais, Lacordaire and Gerbet. There were gatherings for young people on Sunday evenings<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> at the home of M. Montalambert, who \u2018does the honours with a marvellous grace\u2019<\/em><\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. Ozanam found these evenings very inspiring, breathing, as he said \u2018a perfume of Catholicism and brotherhood\u2019<\/em>.<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> These meetings played their part in challenging Ozanam to lead the Catholic students to profess their faith openly and to win the mind of intellectual France for God. Accepting this challenge, Frederic began his defence of the Catholic faith in the Sorbonne. He wanted \u2018to show the student youth that it is possible to be Catholic and have common sense, to love religion and liberty, and finally to draw [Catholic youth] out of indifference to religion and get it used to grave and serious discussions\u2019. Many of the professors in the Sorbonne, holding that man\u2019s destiny could be found in man himself, were sacrificing scholarship to prejudice against Catholicism. Chief among them was Theodore Simon Jouffrey<\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. Jouffrey was putting forward the idea that there was no such thing as the supernatural, saying that miracles were mere figments of the imagination. Ozanam challenged him, presenting his refutation in writing, requesting that his memorandum of objections to Jouffrey\u2019s teachings be read in public. Instead of reading Ozanam\u2019s objections, Jouffrey just gave his own version of Ozanam\u2019s objections. Ozanam submitted a second memorandum, which was again ignored. This prompted him to call a meeting of his fellow students. From the beginning of his time in the Sorbonne, Ozanam was on the lookout for students of like mind with himself with the intention of defending the faith he held so dearly. In a letter to Ernest Falconnet, he speaks of \u2018how much I have desired to surround myself with young men feeling, thinking as myself<\/em><\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span>, and later he says: \u2018I aspired to the formation of a meeting of friends working together for the building up of knowledge under the banner of Catholic thought <\/em>\u2026.\u2019<\/span>8<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Fourteen of his fellow students came to the meeting, among them Paul Lamanche, Auguste Le Taillandier, Felix Clave, Henri Pessoneau and Francois Lallier. This was the beginning of student movement in defence of the faith, the beginning of The Conference of History<\/strong>. Ozanam, with his clear and penetrating mind and his strong conviction about the true destiny of man, provided the leadership. The members of the group signed a new protest, a \u2018public profession of faith\u2019. On receiving this, Jouffrey read Ozanam\u2019s memo and declared that he had not intended to attack the Catholic faith. By 1832, the Catholic students were well organised. Ozanam wrote to Falconnet: \u2018Every time a rationalist professor raises his voice against revelation, Catholic voices are raised in response\u2019<\/em><\/span>9<\/sup><\/a><\/span>.<\/strong> [Before his death Joufrey returned to the faith.]\n Aware of the need for spiritual nourishment for the young people of Paris, Frederic and his friends arranged for speakers to address them. The first of these was Gerbet, who lectured on the philosophy of history. Ozanam saw this as \u2018a light in the university\u2019s theological darkness\u2019<\/span>10<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. Later on Frederic and his friends negotiated with the Archbishop to have Lenten talks in Notre Dame, Lacordaire being among the most famous of the speakers. [These Lenten talks continue in Notre Dame to the present day].<\/p>\n The group of students associating with each other to discuss matters of importance placed themselves under the direction of Emmanuel Bailly. In 1835, Ozanam wrote to him acknowledging his influence on him: \u2019four years of your kindness have gotten me used to looking on you as a father\u2019<\/em><\/span>11<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. These feelings about Bailly were shared by many who came in contact with him. Ozanam says that \u2018so many mothers who know you bless you, because you have preserved the religion of their sons\u2019.<\/p>\n When the Conference of History was opened up to everyone, there were voices that were hostile to Christianity. One of the St. Simonians<\/span>12<\/sup><\/a><\/span> issued a challenge to Ozanam and his friends when he asserted: \u2018Christianity did wonders in the past, but it is now dead. You who boast of being Catholic, what do you do?<\/em>\u2019<\/span>13<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\n Ozanam knew the St. Simonians had a point. He knew that action was needed. He said: \u2018Until now, Christianity had been for me a sphere of ideas, a sphere of worship, but not sufficiently a sphere of morality, of intentions, of actions \u2026 religious ideas can have no value if they have not a practical and positive<\/em> value\u2019<\/span>14<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. He accepted the challenge of bringing the students together in an organised way to bring help to those who were poor. Again it was under Emmanuel Bailly\u2019s fatherly protection that he and some of his friends joined together to form a new organisation, the Conference of Charity, intent on putting their faith into action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"