Leon Dehon

Léon Dehon was a French Catholic priest and the founder of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, also known as the Dehonians. He was born in La Capelle in 1843 to a wealthy family. He studied law at the Sorbonne and then felt called to the priesthood. He was ordained in 1868 in Rome, where he obtained doctorates in philosophy, theology, and canon law. He returned to France and became a parish priest in Saint-Quentin, where he devoted himself to the social and spiritual needs of the workers. He also founded a newspaper, a library, a school, and a trade union. He was inspired by the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and wanted to establish a religious order that would spread this devotion and work for the renewal of the Church and society. He founded the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1878, but faced many difficulties and oppositions from the local bishop and the Vatican. He had to dissolve his order in 1883 and reestablish it in 1884 under a new name and with a revised constitution. He led his congregation until his death in 1925, expanding it to several countries in Europe, Africa, and America. He wrote many books and articles on spirituality, theology, social justice, and ecumenism. He was a pioneer of the Catholic social doctrine and a promoter of the worker-priest movement. He was also involved in the ecumenical dialogue with other Christian denominations and religions. He died in Brussels in 1925 after a heart attack. He was declared venerable by Pope John Paul II in 1997. His cause for beatification is still pending due to some controversies over his alleged anti-Semitic writings.