Amélie Soulacroix

Who was Amélie Soulacroix?

Marie-Josephine-Amélie Soulacroix, was a French philanthropist and charity worker. Daughter of a rector of the Académie of Lyons, on June 23, 1841, she married the lawyer, littérateur and philanthropist Antoine Frédéric Ozanam in the church of Saint-Nizier in Lyons. The marriage was a very happy one and there was one child, Marie, born in 1845.

Ozanam's naturally weak constitution fell a prey to consumption, which he tried to cure by visiting Italy, where he had been born, but on the sea voyage back to France his condition worsened and he died at Marseilles on September 8, 1853. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in the cathedral church Notre Dame de Paris in 1997.

Only 32 at the time of her husband's death, Amélie never remarried and was long to outlive him. She died after a short illness at the family home at Ecully, a town to the west of Lyons. on September 26, 1894 and her funeral took place at the parish church there.

In the intervening years she was to emerge as a strong figure in her own right, actively supporting many good causes, including the missionary work of Cardinal Charles Lavigerie and the Oeuvre du Bon-Pasteur.