Christianity […] has never ceased to fight with equal force against the error of socialism and the passions of individual selfishness. Christianity encompasses any and all of the truth to be found in modern reformers, but none of their illusions.

Frédéric Ozanam (1813-1853)
Historian, writer, and founder of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul

“Frédéric Ozanam was a great man in so many ways and in so many different human domains. His life was so intense and so short that what he left behind was not just a historic work, but also an aura of holiness that is still perceptible to us today. Over and above his ardent charity and love for the poor, which was embodied in the founding of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, over and above his beautifully written history books, Frédéric Ozanam took on himself the daily action demanded by the problems particular to the growing social difficulties of his time; and he threw himself into that social action to bring to it what it was most lacking, namely Christian inspiration. (…) Better than the Socialists, who were warped by the school of inhuman materialism, Ozanam sensed the gravity of the injustices committed against the poor, against the little ones; he understood in his heart, in his reason, and in his Faith the particular gravity of this way (one out of many invented by human pride) of offending the Majesty of God: this offense which consists in despising the humble manger where Jesus was born. (…) The admirable balance of this man gives us the criteria and model of the social activist of all time.”

Gustave Corção (1896-1978)
Brazilian philosopher, journalist, and engineer