Fr. Leo John Dehon, founder of the Priests of the Sacred Heart (Dehonians) was born on March 14, 1843. Tomorrow is the 180th anniversary of his birth. In the Centennial Year of the Priests of the Sacred Heart in the United States, it seems fitting to share a passage from the founder’s journal written during his 1910 visit to North America. The primary reason for the journey was the Eucharistic Congress in Montréal, but Fr. Dehon made good use of his voyage across the ocean seeing much of both Canada and the United States. An excerpt from the diary gives some of his impressions of the United States:
“In every city you will find restaurants for busy people where they can eat a ‘quick lunch,’ a pre-prepared meal. They eat standing up on high stools at a counter. They gulp down ‘today’s special’ and then go back to work. The popular refreshment is ‘soda,’ carbonated water on ice cream or with fruit syrup. ‘Whisky’ is also popular…
“Like the Old World, America has its aristocracy. Europe has marquis, counts and dukes; America has kings. Vanderbilt is the king of railroads; Clark is the king of leather; Carnegie is the king of steel; and there are hundreds of others. We have our millionaires, America has its billionaires [remember, this is 1910!]. America intends to surpass us in everything; little Europe grows old and America is full of youthful vigor.”
Fr.. Dehon went on to write about his experience of Catholicism in Canada and the United States: “Catholicism has made tremendous progress in North America. In noting this fact, it should be recognized that Catholicism has not been hurt by science and progress, neither of which is in short supply in the United States.”
Fr. Dehon was in North America from August 19 to October 6, 1910; Dehonian ministry officially began in the United States on Palm Sunday, 1923.
