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Father Leon John Dehon, SCJ

          His father, however, remained adamant, insisting that Leo pursue something other than the priesthood.  The elder Dehon arranged for Leo and his college roommate to go on a nine-month tour through Greece and the Middle East.  For two young men in their early 20s this proved to be the adventure of a lifetime.  They were shot at by bandits as they rode horseback through the Balkan mountains;  in Egypt all their clothes became infested with lice and had to be burned;  they sailed on a barge down the Nile River and they rode camels across the Sinai desert, camping out in tents under the stars.  But the trip also had a spiritual dimension.  They spent two weeks in the Holy Land, where Leo was able to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and relive the great moments in the life of the Man who changed the world.  And returning home by way of Rome he had an audience with the pope, who affirmed him in his vocation.  His dream was more alive than ever. 

        Finally, his father relented and the following October Leo entered the French Seminary in Rome.  He would always refer to this time of his life as his “golden years.”  He not only excelled in his theological studies but he also learned how to meditate, and this method of interior prayer (which he kept up all his life) brought him into personal contact with the living love of the Heart of Jesus.  He soon became convinced that this love should be the foundation of his life and that sharing this love with others could be the remedy for much of the disorder and misery of modern life.  At his ordination to the priesthood he had the additional joy of giving Communion to his father who had returned to the practice of the faith.  But Leo’s ordination was not simply the fulfillment of a personal dream.  Instead, it was the beginning of a mission of helping others to know the great love that God has for each of us.   

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