[2] From a young age, Bailly was active in the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, becoming a member of its Central Council in 1855.

[1] Although he had ambitions to train at St-Cyr to become an army officer,[3] he joined the Assumptionists in 1860 and followed in his father's footsteps as a printer.

[4] During the Dreyfus Affair, La Croix came under criticism for its vehement opposition to the revision of the trial.

The publication was accused of leading campaigns against Republicans, Jews, Protestants, and Freemasons.

This led to the dissolution of the French branch of the Assumptionist congregation in January 1900 by the anti-Catholic government of Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau.