blessed frederic ozanam

JMJ
AMDG

1813-1853
Once upon a time, Frederic Ozanam was a normal guy. He was a college student. A Catholic college student. Although he'd struggled with his faith as a teenager, he'd come to accept it and believe in it, but still, it took him by surprise one day when at a debate club, a club member said, "Let us be frank, Mr. Ozanam; let us also be very particular. What do you do besides talk to prove the faith you claim is in you?"

And that hit home for twenty year old Frederic. He and some friends started visiting the Paris slums, and eventually he was a founder of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. 

Frederic Ozanam, in case you hadn't
figured that out.

He was an everyman-sort-of-saint--there are no great miracles attributed to Frederic in his lifetime, no years spent living alone in the desert wilds, no stigmata, no levitation or speaking in tongues. 

But the thing is, he knew how to love.

He loved the poor; he loved the disadvantaged. He loved the people of Paris--he talked the bishop into bringing in a priest skilled in preaching to lead a Lenten mission at Notre Dame; he was a literature professor, and he loved his students.

He loved his wife---Frederic Ozanam married Amelie Soulacroix on June 23, 1841, and from then on, on the twenty third of every month, he gave Amelie a bouquet of flowers. After two miscarriages, they were blessed with a daughter, Marie, and so Frederic loved her with everything he had, the way he loved everyone God gave him.

Frederic Ozanam died of tuberculosis when he was forty years old, but he gave that time to God and the people around him came to know God and His mercy through Frederic. God called Frederic to be a missionary of mercy.

He's calling you to do the same.

Blessed Frederic Ozanam, pray for us!

**note-- i'm really bad at being merciful, so to whomever's reading this: pray for me?