Carlton Joseph Huntley Hayes

“ He confessed that his object was “to prove the contrary thesis to Gibbon's,” and, although any historian who begins with the desire to prove a thesis is quite sure to go more or less wrong, Ozanam no doubt administered a healthful antidote to the prevalent notion, particularly amongst English-speaking peoples, that the Catholic church had done far more to enslave than to elevate the human mind. His knowledge of medieval literature and his appreciative sympathy with medieval life admirably qualified him for his work, and his scholarly attainments are still highly esteemed. ”

“ L'univers. In conjunction with other young men he founded in May 1833 the celebrated charitable society of St Vincent de Paul, which numbered before his death upwards of two thousand members. He received the degree of doctor of law in 1836, and in 1838 that of doctor of letters with a thesis on Dante, which was the beginning of one of his best-known books. A year later he was appointed to a professorship of commercial law at Lyons, and in 1840 assistant professor of foreign literature at the Sorbonne. ”

“ He married in June 1841, and visited Italy on his wedding tour. At Fauriel's death in 1844 he succeeded to the full professorship of foreign literature. The short remainder of his life was extremely busy with his professorial duties, his extensive literary occupations, and the work, which he still continued, of district-visiting as a member of the society of St Vincent de Paul. ”