The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1876-11-26

6cation of the members themselves:
One day, after taking part in q more tha
| usually fiery debate on some historical ques
| tiop, he left the con ference hall in compan.
with two friends, M. Lsll:er aud N. LaDache
| they walked on to the Hotel Corneille, wher
| the latter resided, discussing as they went whs
could be done to etir up the Catholic camp {
more strenuous efforts, and to the necessity o
utilizing these weekly meetings for some hghe
purpose They went to Lsllier's room and helt
| Q long consultation ss to what could be done
It was suggested that the leaders should con
trivo to meet at the house of one or other q
| them every week, 80 as to dscuse more ex
haustively the points it was essential to bring
ont against their adversaries, that they miRh
| thus arrive At the meeting armed sufficiently
and prepared all along the line by this mean!
also they would gradually bring back and
maintain the debates within the special sphere
they desired. Ozsnam mentioned casually, in
the course of the conversation, that in discus
sing the matter with friend the day before
it had occurred to them it might be possible tc
| organize q meeting where they would occupy
| themselves not with discussions, bnt with good
reproach of the ST. Simonisns. The suggestion
met with no Immediate response from his two
companions but il had in reality dropped uu-
awares the seed of the future Society of st
Vincent de Paul. Nothing particular was de-
cded that day, but the trio parted with the nm
derstanding that they were to convene the
heads of their party at an early date for the
purpose of arranging some preparatory discus
sions for the bistoricsl'd debates.
In the interval, none of them could Say why
or how this notion of an exclusively practical
meeting, which had been Incidentally thrown
ont by Or inam, grew in their minds, while, on
the other hand, the Importance of the proposed
preparation for the debates insensibly dimin-
isbed. They communicated the coincidence TO
each other, and of one accord went off to con-
suit Pere Bailly. He saw at q glance the value
OF the idea, and once more placed the office of
tho Tribune Catholigue at their disposal.
There, in the month of May, 1888. they held
their first meeting. They begged N. Ballly to
take the chair, which the dear old man of
course did, together with the title of president.
He had as yet only eight members to preside
over; the scheme seemed quite Utopsn to the
other party, who stood aloof and contented
themselves with wishing success to their more
sanguine and energetic companions.
T. 1t was settled at the very iist meeting that
their work should be the service of God in the
persons of the poor, whom they were to visit at
their own dwellings, and assist by every means
in their power.
"If you intend the work to be really efics-
oous," said II. Bailly, "if you are in earnest
you must not let IL be o nero doing out of
aims, bringing each your pittance Of money or
food you must make it medium of moral as
sistanoe, you must give them the aims of good
advice" q amDsone de Ia directioa).
portion of the very greatest misery of the
poor often proceeds from their not knowing
how to help themselves out of difficulty once
they have got into it; they fall into distress
their own fault or other peoples, and they are
too ignorant to see their way out of it. The
law frequently has a remedy ready for them,
but they don't know this and there is 10 one to
tell them. Their one idea when they fall into
distress 10 to hold out their hand for our aims
q system which generally proves az Intellectual
40 it is demoralizng. ID. Baiify suggested to
his young friends that they should try to remedy
this lsmentable state of things by placing their
education, their intelligence, their special
knowledge of law or science, and their general
knowledge Of life, at the disposal of the poor
that instead of only taking some little material
relief, they should strive to win their conf.
dence, learn all about their affairs and ther
see how they could best help them to help
lawyers" he said, ''some to be doctors, etc., go
and help the poor, each in your special line, let
your studies be of use to others as well as to
yourselves; 1t is good aud easy way of COM
mencing your apostolste as Christians in the
world"
OzAnam was sitting at NJ. Bailly's right hand,
and one OF those present recalls vivdly the
expression of his countenance as, with his
black eyes alight, and his irregular expressive
features quivering, he listened to the Presi-
dents words and then burst out into ioyons
assent. The idea of the auHone de la direction
wss sll the more welcome from the fact
to give. They were somewhat perplexed at
first from not knowing any poor people to
visit This difficulty was, however, easily
compassed ID. Bailly advised them TO go off to
that beautiful grand sonl SPlr Rosalie, and
ask her to help them. She received the young
apostles of charity like the mother that she
was, was overjoyed at the idea of the moral
help they proposed, gave them much valuable
advice as to the way of dealing with her be-
loved poor, aud a list of needy aud deserving
families to visit. The Society was of course
too poor to have bons (tiokets for food aud fuel)
in its own name, 50 SBlr Rosalie sold them
some of hers. Tne members placed themselves
under the protection of St. Vincent de Panl,
whose name they adopted, and this done, they
were fairly afloat. Zach member had poor
family to look afcer; ttey met every week to
report tte'r experiences, discuss the wants OF
their prott9es and the means of relieving them !;
the meeting began and ended with a prayer
and collection was made to pay for the bonS
The proceeds of the collec ion were, as may be
imagined, exceedingly small but by and by
the members were mystited by finding four
FIVE franc pieces amongst the sous and rare
little silver coins that were dropped into the
leather bag. Who was the c, m ,us in Disguise
who contributed this magnificent sunni n.
Bailly, after enjoying their curiosity for a
while, disclosed the secret He was in the
habit of asking Ozsnam and one OF two of the
others to review books for the Tribune Catho