 After being for some time assistant pastor in his native city, he took part, in 1822, in the foundation of the "Association Royale de Saint-Joseph", and later of the "Oeuvre de Saint-Henri".These two institutions were destined to give to workingmen free instruction and professional training.To reach this end more effectively, he founded, in 1827, a boarding-school where, besides manual training, poor boys could receive intellectual, religious, and moral education.