A FRENCH SOCIAL REFORMER

New Zealand Tablet, 10 February 1916, Page 45

A FRENCH SOCIAL REFORMER

When Ozanam, the founder of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, felt the necessity of regenerating French society, he saw clearly the importance of practical works, and a favorite saying of his was, ' Let us do something.' His object in founding the Society of St. Vincent de Paul was, he said, to ' ensure my faith' by works of charity, (writes a Paris correspondent). M. Leon Harmel, whose death, which has taken place at Nice, was animated ; by the same spirit as Ozanam. He was a practical worker whose efforts tended in the same direction as Ozanam's—wards the establishment of a. Christian democracy. In. fact, his aim was to make a Christian family of all the toilers whom he gathered around him at Val des Bois. Mrs. V. M. Crawford and others have done much to make English-speaking Catholics familiar with the nature and the results of the work carried on there. Mr. Harmel was called ' Le Bon Pere,' and he lived up to that character. In the Val des Bois community his rule was paternal. No one was ever harshly treated and there was a complete absence of hustle. Everything was conducted on Christian lines. There was a partnership not only in the fruit of the work, but in the virtues which were cultivated whilst it was being done. The guiding principles were those of the Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on Labor. Times were stormy in France when M. Harmel undertook to carry out his social programme. This is not the moment to review them. Suffice it to say that he received no sympathy from the State and the difficulties he encountered were not few. But his labors were successful. He entered on them with the purest Christian motives and God blessed them. He was a 'Franciscan Tertiary. One of his sons joined the Franciscans and a daughter became a Poor Clare. Leon Harmel was a man of prayer, and every day he appealed to the Sacred Heart of our Lord, not only for his own sanctification, but also for that of his family and his workers. * One of his greatest joys was to visit Rome with worker pilgrims, and the cordial receptions he met with from Leo XIII were deeply treasured in his memory.

He lived a long life doing good. At his death he had reached the age of eighty-seven. In his closing years he obtained the favor of being permitted to keep the Blessed Sacrament in his private chapel, and there he spent hours daily.