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Father Leon John Dehon, SCJ

          When Leo Dehon was a sophomore in high school he experienced a powerful, yet unexplainable attraction to the priesthood.  While attending midnight Mass on Christmas Eve he felt an intense urge to give himself completely to God as a priest and to bring others closer to God.  Although this feeling was still vague, none of the turmoil and confusion of his high school years did anything to dispel it.  Upon graduation he intended to enroll in a seminary.  But Leo’s road to ordination would not be so direct and free of obstacles.

Leo’s family, in the person of his father, had other ambitions for the youngest son.  The Dehons were prosperous landowners whose extensive holdings included rich farmland, prized livestock, and thoroughbred race horses.  The elder Dehon envisioned a career for his son in business, law or politics (various family members held public office in local government for several generations).  Despite Leo’s dream of priesthood, his father insisted that he pursue a professional education that would prepare him to assume a proper role in society.

          In 1859, Leo went to Paris, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in science and then enrolled at the university to study law.  Legal studies came easily to him so he made the most of his free time, experiencing many of the vast cultural and artistic opportunities that the city offered.  He also was active in his local parish where he attended daily Mass, gave religious instructions to the neighborhood children and, as a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, made home visits to the poor and elderly.  One of the parish priests served as his regular confessor and spiritual director.  As a result, when Leo emerged after five exciting years of living in the big city, his dream of being a priest was still very much alive.

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