MORELLO, L. The Social Writings of Fr. Dehon Dehoniana 1980/3, 146-154

Per la citazione: DEH1980-16-EN

The Social Writings of Fr. Dehon

Luigi Morello, scj

PRELIMINARY NOTE 1 Since my introduction to the “Social Works’’ of Fr. Dehon is not readily accessible to all who may be interested in the subject, I have thought it opportune to republish it in “Dehoniana” in the form of three short articles. Divided in such a way it should make easier reading. However, the content has not been changed. In fact, as I considered the essay worth publishing in its present form, its rewriting, apart from involving too much work, would have offered little advantage.

2 As almost always happens, the early biographies of Fr. Leon Dehon and the early histories of the Congregation he founded were written in haste, without a sufficiently critical attitude to things, situations, events and persons. This is even more the case in regard to his writings and activities in the social sphere. The first serious and well-documented attempt to present this aspect of Fr. Dehon’s life and work was made in 1936 by Robert Prélot1. Since then, nothing of great value has appeared, so that this work, though covering too wide a canvas, is still the best documented treatment of the subject. 3 If the scope of Prélot’s work was too wide, much more so were the usual biographies and occasional studies, these latter all based either on the biographies or on Prélot. The present organization of the Dehon Archives and

1 ROBERT PRÉLOT, L’Oeuvre sociale du chanoine Dehon, , Editions Spes, 1936. Abridged version in Italian: Il sacerdote e il mondo moderno nella vita di P. Dehon, Modena, Edizioni Paoline, 1953. Prélot, a of cathedral and director of the Social Secretariat of that city, wrote this book as his doctoral thesis in Social Sciences at the Catholic Institute. He presented and defended his thesis on 22 May 1935, under the title: La pensée et l’action sociale de M. le chanoine Dehon.

© Copyright riservato Centro Studi Dehoniani Roma – Sacerdoti Sacro Cuore di Gesù. Consentita la riproduzione integrale in fotocopia e libera circolazione senza fine di lucro. È vietato il plagio e la copiatura integrale o parziale di testi e disegni a firma degli autori – a qualunque fine – senza citare la fonte (Repubblica italiana, legge 18/08/2000 nº 248). Dehoniana the attached Centre of Studies will enable future writers to pass what I have called the phase of haste, first impressions and oral history. 4 Naturally facts, dates and the written word do not change, but the understanding of them does, when one goes beyond first impressions. This is not because ideas or intuitions necessarily become realities, as idealists claim. Rather it could be said that most of what crosses the mind is just an outline of reality. 5 Some attempts are being made to delve deeper into the facts of Fr. Dehon s life and work, and the import of his religious and social writings. But it will be a well-nigh impossible tasks as long as documents and sources are fragmentary and scattered. 6 In 1974, when I began research into this field of his activities, many writings, including most of his articles, were difficult to trace. By now, however, they have been collected and appear in the first volume of his opera omnia. Information regarding his contributions to Catholic reviews and papers of the period was vague and incomplete; some translations of his writings were quite unknown2. The important essay Richesse, mediocrité ou pauvreté, on the meaning of riches in the Christian and social life, could not be found for many years. In fact, it was thought that the citation in Prélot’s book was from an essay of Tartelin, written in collaboration with Fr. Dehon. After fruitless searches in various French libraries, it was finally traced to the library of the Antonianum at and discovered to be one of his own writings, published together with the Rectifications of Tartelin3. These two essays were written for the Commission des Actes du Congrès de Nîmes as a reply to the petty accusations contained in two pamphlets published by Fr. Prosper de Martigné4. 7 Such unexpected neglect of the founder’s writings can be explained in a general way by the political and socio-cultural conditions of the first decade

2 Two translations of Fr. Dehon’s works, missing from older bibliographical lists, have recently been found: 1. Croatian translation of La renovation sociale chrétienne: Socijalna obnova u krsćanskon duhu. Socijalne konferencije D.ra L. Dehona, U Zagrebu, 1910, (Social Renewal in the Christian Spirit. Social Conferences of Dr. L. Dehon, translated from the French by the theologians of Serajevo, Zagreb, 1910); 2. Hungarian translation of Le plan de la Franc-Maçonnerie, ou la clef de l’histoire depuis 40 ans: A szabadkömuvesség munkaja.... Budapest, Stephaneum Nyomda R.T., 1909. 3 This is a booklet of 55 pages containing two essays. One by Fr. TARTELIN, Rectifications à propos des quelques réflexions sur les actes du Congrès de Nîmes par le R.P. Prosper De Martigné, the other by Fr. Dehon, Richesse, médiocrité ou pauvreté, Publie par les soins de la Commission des Actes du Congres de Nîmes, 1899. 4 PROSPER DE MARTIGNÉ, Quelques reflexions sur le programme du futur Congrès de Nîmes, Le Mans, Oeuvre -François d’Assise, 1897; and Quelques réfexions sur les actes du Congrès de Nîmes, 1898.

2 Dehoniana of the 20th century, which gave rise to the last overt attempt at aristocratic and authoritarian restoration in Europe. 8 The First World War, with its material and spiritual devastation and the moral uncertainties which followed it, buried, together with so many victims, the by then mature democratic and liberal conscience of Europe. Another World War and more than 50 years of bitter experiences and servitude were necessary to regain the awareness and conditions of thought that characterized the last decades of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th. Scholars engaged in historical or any other scientific research must bear well in mind this abyss in European culture which has swallowed up two generations. One generation was suffocated when it was ready for democracy and liberty, the other generation was born and knew chiefly aristocratic, bourgeois and financial parasitism as well as the authoritarian State. 9 But besides these general reasons for the neglect of his writings, a more particular one can be found in a marked characteristic of his lifestyle. Leon Dehon was very detached and modest in regard to everything he did and accomplished. He did not need success to offset frustrations. Rather he lived the gospel so deeply and with such satisfaction and genuine conviction, that he was quite content in himself, without feeling the need of applause. Thus he was more concerned about others than himself, about their success than his own. He was a man of mature interior life, reached by the unswerving and uncompromising practice of the gospel teachings, without however belittling himself or his achievements, but attributing the value in everything to God. 10 This interior attitude is one of the most convincing aspects of his maturity and gives credit to his writings and actions. Indeed, his precise thought and ability to understand problems and situations were not the only reason why his active participation was sought at various congresses and why social study conventions and Catholic reviews looked for his collaboration. His own publishing activity, linked with the foundation of the review Le Règne du Coeur de Jésus dans les âmes et dans les sociétés5, began modestly and soberly, but with very serious intentions. Leon Harmel showed great interest and confidence in him and was largely responsible for his active participation in social congresses; he also obtained the cooperation of Dehon in formulating his most difficult and pioneering social ideas and putting into practice his most forward-looking enterprises. Leon Harmel had Fr. Dehon at his side in the organization and running of the first Social Study Weeks for seminarians and , the first Workers Organizations, the first Christian democratic congresses, as well as the attemps to up-date the form and activity

5 Le Règne du Coeur de Jésus dans les âmes et dans les sociétés, Revue Mensuelle inaugurée pour l’année centenaire 1889, par les Prêtres du Sacré-Cœur avec la collaboration de plusieurs ecclésiastiques et publicistes catholiques, Paris, chez H. & L. Casterman, First Number, January, 1889.

3 Dehoniana of the Third Order. He entrusted him with running the Social Study Weeks for seminarians at Val-des-Bois and always invited him as principal speaker at the congresses at which he presided. 11 It was not only a question of mutual confidence, but above all Dehon’s ability to stay at his post, leaving the momentary limelight to others in order to work at achieving something much more important and profitable than just temporary self-assertion. Indeed, in the small details of his daily life it is possible to see the presence of something greater, deeper and more serious which is always in the hand of God. 12 Like all the best writers of the brief but fertile period of social thought and achievement which marked the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th, Leon Dehon went in search of solutions to social problems. An attempt to understand better his social writings, so rooted in the substance of the social, political and cultural problems which beleaguered Europe at the time, would call for many preliminary considerations: historical tangles, developments in socio-cultural thought, complicated political processes. Such matters, beyond the scope of a short article, can be gone into more accurately and advantageously by individual readers. I prefer to express some thoughts gathered from reading and reflecting upon his social writings. 13 Nothing in the social writings of Fr. Dehon is irrelevant. But in the space of ten or twelve pages it would be impossible to treat their full content, much more so to trace the foundations, origins and development of his social thought. To make such an analysis without ending up with a sketchy summary of no value, it would be necessary to go into the more important data of the social sciences, such as cultural anthropology, social psychology and sociology itself. Any attempt to be simultaneously complete and synthetic leads to a summary which will do little to increase our knowledge of reality. Reality is never synthetic, much less the knowledge of socio- cultural realities and processes. For this purpose, a book would be needed, not a mere introduction. Nevertheless a knowledge of social sciences is needed to understand Fr. Dehon’s social writings, even though these introductory comments cannot hope to give it. 14 In any case, the writings, events and facts of every period, past and present, must be read and interpreted with the greatest caution and care, so as to avoid finishing in legend and in the infinite subspecies of the legendary vision of things, events and men. It is difficult to read anything, either of the past or present, that is not composed of legendary material, intended to extol or belittle. 15 Though aware of this danger and disliking this tendency in those who write about men and historical facts, I am not sure of being free of a similar attitude to legend and of preconceived ideas. In any case, one cannot read or hear a man without creating an image of him. It is difficult for us to say how

4 Dehoniana much our thoughts and impressions concerning ourselves correspond to reality; much more difficult when our thoughts and impressions concern others. 16 It is customary today to summarize Catholic social thought in terms of Christian solidarity and the exaltation of the individual as found in the gospel. This too is the fruit of the synthesis mentality that has dominated western culture for two centuries. It is right as far as it goes, but is nonetheless useless both scientifically and historically, since it can be applied equally to Socialists, Catholics and Liberals. Over-generic ideas are of little use; only precise, well-defined ideas can lead to an understanding of reality. 17 The Catholic democratic movement of the late 19th century must be studied not from a theoretical viewpoint, but on the basis of achievement, which in fact will also indicate the underlying theory. If on the contrary we begin with theories, as is now usually the case, we will lose all contact with reality. Our starting point must therefore be objective reality. 18 Likewise the success of a social and political movement will depend on its starting from concrete reality and not simply from ideas. To this fact can be attributed the success of the Catholic social movement and the benefits which today most of the parties born of it are enjoying. It must be admitted, however, that these parties lack organizing ability and efficiency such as the early movement had. and this is their great problem. 19 Leon Dehon’s strong point is his ability to persuade and organize. In his life, writings and undertakings, he gradually develops and matures the more forward-looking social and political aspects of 19th century French Catholicism. Thus for example: faith, which is translated into concrete social reality; society, as a meeting of equally armed groups, in the same arena and in sight of all; gospel, which is only a way of life when lived without compromise or opportunism. 20 Leon Dehon was formulating projects even before his ; immediately after, he began to organize; he founded a Congregation; succeeded in bringing it to adulthood and making it autonomous; he promoted and organized the first “Ecclesiastical Congress of Social Studies”. 21 He earned the confidence of his bishop and confreres, of his friends Leon Harmel and the Marquis de La Tour du Pin, of Cardinal Rampolla and even of Leo XIII. 22 For all these reasons, which suggest starting from concrete reality, I will restrict myself to a description of the exact situation in which his publishing activity began and developed. In fact, his social, political and religious writings take on great significance precisely when he is engaged in translating his convictions into social reality. 23 His three most important moments as a scholar and writer in the social sphere were: the foundation of the monthly Le Règne du Coeur de Jésus dans

5 Dehoniana les âmes et dans les sociétés (1889); his role as president of the “Commission des études sociales” (1893-1895); the organization of the first “Ecclesiastical Congress of Social Studies” at St Quentin (1895).

THE FOUNDATION OF THE REVIEW “LE RÈGNE DU COEUR DE JÉSUS DANS LES ÂMES ET DANS LES SOCIÉTÉS” (JANUARY, 1889) 24 Fr. Dehon’s activity as a writer on social questions, like that of most social writers of the period, took the form of articles and occasional addresses during confesses At the universities of the day there were hardly any chairs of social and political sciences, and the few professors of these subjects generally had their writings published in one or other of innumerable reviews. 25 When, how and why did Fr. Dehon begin this activity? What led him to become so deeply involved not just in social activities, but in the study of social problems far beyond his daily sphere of action? 26 In 1888 just ten years after its foundation, the Congregation of Priests of the received its first approval front Rome. From then on a show of apostolic vitality was needed, not only in the diocese, but even outside Europe. This involved first of all becoming independent of the diocese. The local Church felt the loss of a valuable spiritual contribution and quite understandably human interests and jealousies came to the fore. These painful experiences are well documented and much has already been written about them, though in a completely superficial way. At any rate they lie beyond the scope of these pages6. 27 Our purpose is to explain Leon Dehon’s entry into this field of activity. And first of all, there was the need or timeliness of extending the Congregation’s sphere of action beyond diocesan and regional boundaries.

6 An anguished but synthetic and truthful document illustrating this situation is Fr. Dehon’s letter to Bishop Duval of Soissons, dated 19 March 1897. In it Fr. Dehon modestly but with extreme clarity shows how the real situation is vastly different from the rumours and denigrations which have reached the bishop’s ears. Cf. Dehon Archives (Rome), autograph letter in B 24/6 or typewriting copy in the volume Copia degli scritti del Servo di Dio P. Leone Giovanni Dehon, consegnata alla S. Congregazione dei Riti, il 22 gennaio 1964, B 24. I must point out, however, that in my opinion the sufferings and trials patiently and humbly borne by Fr. Dehon, though deep and intimate, were not greater than nor different from those suffered by each one of God’s chosen souls, as is confirmed by the life and history of all those who have loved the Lord and so kept his word. Rather, we must always recognize that his trials and suffering, which bear the unequivocable mark of a work of God, in one way or other are the same as the sufferings accepted fully by every man of God. Furthermore, as far as concerns Fr. Dehon, they were minimal compared to the happiness he received from giving himself completely to God and to the unlimited good he gathered in the Lord’s harvest.

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28 In such circumstances, a founder naturally seeks every opportunity of achieving his end and obviously in a field suited to his apostolic gifts and inclinations, a field in which he has always been interested and in which he can expect help from old friends. His letters of the period reveal a constant desire to get something moving. What response did the actual conditions ask of priests matured in the love of the Lord? This is the innermost starting point. But what practical measures did the concrete conditions indicate? 29 In a letter of 8 June 1887 to Baron Alexis de Sarachaga7, who had founded at Paray-le-Monial in 1878 the “Musee du Règne de Jesus-Christ” and together with Fr. Drevon SJ edited the review Le Règne de Jesus-Christ, Fr. Dehon refers to an article of Fr. Julio Matovelle and mentions his desire to start a seminary in South America8. According to Fr. Julio Matovelle’s memoirs, Baron de Sarachaga referred him to Fr. Dehon regarding a proposal to amalgamate the two newly-founded congregations9. From October 1887

7 Cf. Letter of 8 June 1887 to Baron Alexis de Sarachaga. Photocopy kept in Dehon Archives (Rome, B 19, 3/3). Baron Alexis de Sarachaga y Lobanof de Rostof, born at Bilbao in 1841, died at Marseille on 4 May 1918. He was a direct descendant of a brother of St Teresa, see Regnabit, July 1921, vol. I, p. 79. His name is particularly linked with the many activities of an apostolic nature which began at Paray-le-Monial. His fervent enterprises, set in motion, directed and coordinated from Paray, had a very great social and religious influence, especially in , but also throughout Europe and beyond. This important historical aspect of the diffusion of devotion to the Sacred Heart has yet to be studied and analysed. Of particular historic interest could be his outstanding inclination towards forms of grandeur and religious exoticism and especially an extreme leaning towards Christian symbolism, an attitude not appreciated greatly at the end of the rationalist 19th century and in certain aspects incomprehensible in the present century. Cf. the articles of G. DE NOAILLAT, “La Societé du Règne social de Jésus-Christ”, in “Regnabit”, Revue Universelle du Sacre-Coeur, Rome, Paray-le-Monial, Paris, Bruxelles, 1921, I année, vol. I, pp. 77-81, 164-170, 259-264, 338- 343. Fr. Dehon himself, in a letter of 22 September 1891, seeks to complete Baron Sarachaga’a religious conception, pointing out the importance of everything that is daily and intimate in faith and in God’s economy, thus giving a degree of realism to rather rhetorical and artificial aspects and forms of religion. Cf. Dehon Archives (Rome), letter of 22 September 1891, B 19, 3/3). 8 It is not exactly an article but a long reply sent by Fr. Julio Matovelle (Senator of the Republic of Ecuador and founder in 1887 of the Congregation of Priest Oblates of the Heart of Jesus) to Baron Alexis de Sarachaga and published by the latter in the review Le Règne de Jesus-Christ. Cf. Le Règne du Coeur de Jésus dans les âmes et dans les sociétés, February 1889, pp. 60-68. where the letter and a very wise and appropriate comment are published. The comment is probably by Fr. Dehon, though we cannot be certain of this, since the article bears no signature but is simply signed “La Redaction”. For the life, thought, writings and activities of Fr. Julio Matovelle, see Wilfrido LOOR, Biografia del P. Julio Matovelle, Cuenca, Ecuador, 1971. 9 JULIO MARIA MATOVELLE, Memorias y documentos de las Congregaciones de Sacerdotes Oblatus y Religiosas Oblatas de los CC.SS. de Jesus y Maria, Quito (Ecuador), 1943, pp. 169- 170. The same thing is confirmed by Fr. Dehon in a letter to Baron Alexis de Sarachaga, dated

7 Dehoniana to August 1889 there followed a frequent exchange of correspondence on the subject between Fr. Dehon at St Quentin in France and Matovelle at Cuenca and Quito in Ecuador. 30 A note in his diary (19.2.1888) reveals Fr. Dehon’s great interest in the project: “J’ai adressé aujourd’hui a Rome ma demande pour obtenir une mission lointaine. Cette date sera sans doute le commencement d’une grande chose”. This project for expanding his little religious family is a recurring theme in his correspondence with Fr. Matovelle10. 31 However, the amalgamation did not eventuate and, for the moment, he did not succeed in getting a foreign mission. Nevertheless, out of these negotiations there grew something that would become one of Fr. Dehon’s greatest commitments from 1889 to 1904. After a year’s reflection, he decided that social action, outside the original scope of his foundation, could well be written into the constitutions. He had grasped the full meaning of the gospel term “Kingdom of God”, a meaning which perfectly summarizes his spirituality of interior liberation, that is to say of thoughts, feelings and convictions, based on the love of Christ. Thus was born the idea of a social review, beginning his publishing activity and of necessity putting him in contact with the entire Catholic social and democratic movement, as a scholar, writer, counsellor, first promoter and organizer of the Ecclesiastical Congresses of Social Studies, speaker, worker, keen supporter of the Catholic democratic movement: a true master of Catholic social methodology. 32 These events, circumstances, people and many other things made Fr. Dehon realize how his interior spiritual experience of the love of the Lord and Sacred Heart could be “transformed into concrete reality”. The first of these “transformations into social reality” was the foundation of the review Le Règne du Coeur de Jésus dans les âmes et dans les sociétés (January, 1889). 33 It should be remembered that a vaguely social tendency was present at the beginnings at Paray-le-Monial, when St Margaret Mary asked the king of France that the nation be consecrated to the Sacred Heart and its symbol

28 April 1888: “Monsieur le Baron, Vous avez eu la honte Van passe de me mettre en relations avec le chanoine Matovelle de l’Equateur. Je vous en suis bien reconnaissant. Je suis passe a Paray au mois de septembre pour vous remercier mais vous étiez alors en voyage en Belgique. Nous avons depuis correspondu a diverses reprises avec M. Matovelle et nous avons décidé la fusion de nos deux petites familles religieuses. Nous travaillerons de concert au règne de N.- S. Notre Congrégation a eu la grâce au 25 février dernier de recevoir du St. Siege sa première approbation. C’est un grand encouragement pour nous et une base solide pour nous mettre courageusement à l’œuvre. J’enverrai en octobre deux prêtres a l’Equateur et M. Matovelle m’enverra deux de ses étudiants. Cet échange consommera la fusion. Etc…” Autograph letter kept in Dehon Archives (Rome), B 19, 3/3. 10 Cf. L. MORELLO, “Dieci anni dopo la fondazione. Il momento di diventure adulti”, in Dehoniana 1978, n. 8, pp. 145-167.

8 Dehoniana placed on the national Hag. The idea of consecrating the nation to the Sacred Heart revived towards the end of the 19th century, especially through the efforts of Baron de Sarachaga at Paray. Nevertheless, it was an extremely limited, symbolic rather than real social idea. The widespread diffusion to this tendency is well summarized by Fr. Dehon in his regular column Chronique: “L’œuvre du règne social de Jésus-Hostie, fondée a Paray il y a six ans et déjà si prospère adopte notre beau nom dans sa première livraison de 1889, elle devient l’œuvre du Règne du Sacré-Cœur. Nous ne sommes que les imitateurs modestes de cette grande œuvre. Elle a déjà ses centres d’étude et de propagande à Paray, Nîmes, Tours et Choisy en France, à Bruges et Gand pour la Belgique, Grenade et Madrid pour l’Espagne, Turin pour l’Italie, Oporto pour le Portugal, Santiago au Chili, Fribourg en Suisse, Cuenca et Quito a l’Equateur. Ses organes se multiplient. C’est la Républica de Sagrado-Corazon de Jesús à Quito, le Regno sociale di Gesù à Turin. L’El Bien Bulletin de l’Académie et de la Cour du Roi-Jésus à Grenade”11. 34 We could add the influence of other, more direct circumstances, such as the second centenary of the apparitions at Paray-le-Monial or the significance of 1889. the centenary of the French Revolution12. 35 But all that is too reductive and extrinsic in respect to the “transformation into social reality” conceived by Fr. Dehon and applied by him to the precise socio-cultural realities, in a great effort, unsuccessful though consistent, in the last three years of the review, to save the Catholic democratic idea and movement13.

11 L. DEHON, “Chronique: L’oeuvre du règne social du Sacré-Coeur”, in Le Règne du Coeur de Jésus dans les âmes et dans les sociétés, cit. March 1889, pp. 136-1 37. 12 Cf. “Notre programme”, in Le règne du Coeur de Jésus dans les âmes et dans les sociétés, cit. 1st number, January 1889, pp. 1-13. This editorial, signed “La Rédaction”, concludes with the words: “N’est-il pas bon en ce moment, au deuxième centenaire de la révélation du Sacré- Cœur relative à son règne social, au centenaire de la grande perturbation de l’ordre social chrétien, qu’une Revue prenne a cœur de travailler au règne du Sacré-Cœur dans les amés et dans la société? Le Souverain Pontife Léon XIII, dans sa magnifique encyclique Exeunte jam anno, nous invite pour perpétuer et accroitre les fruits de cette année jubilaire dont il rend grâces au Sacré-Cœur, a nous trouver plus que jamais vers Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ, de qui seul peut venir le salut. Il nous engage à puiser plus abondamment dans les exemples et les enseignements du Christ le véritable esprit de la vie chrétienne; nous croyons répondre a son désir en entreprenant cette publication qui a pour but dc concourir, selon ses faibles forces, à restaurer la vie chrétienne par le Sacré-Cœur dans les âmes et dans les sociétés” (p. 13). Cf. also the letter sent for the occasion by Fr. Dehon to La Croix and published in La semaine religieuse du diocèse de Soissons et Laon, 2 février 1889, pp. 75-76. 13 On his effort to save the Catholic democratic idea and movement, see L. DEHON, Oeuvres sociales, vol. I, Napoli-Andria, Edizioni Dehoniane, 1978, pp. 501-504, 524-526, 545-548, 598-602, 629-631. This appears even more clearly in the column Chronique during the last three years (1901-1903). This column was always prepared by him for his review Le règne du Coeur de Jésus.

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36 It was not a discovery nor the product of intuition, but simply the result of his daily authentic gospel experience. Indeed when the experience of the love of the Lord is genuine and free of compromise, values, decisions, convictions will necessarily be “transformed into concrete reality”. Inner experience and concrete life go together. As the Lord says, he who loves me, understands and keeps my word, he who does not love me, neither understands nor keeps it (cf. Jn 14,23-24). 37 When Dehon became convinced that social commitment and action were in keeping with the original scope of his Congregation, he began publication, in January 1889, of the monthly Le Règne du Coeur de Jésus dans les âmes et dans les sociétés. 38 The early articles present a general conception of life and society, stressing the need of living according to the principles contained in the gospel and unmasking the current hypocrisies and prejudices. Quite right, but not sufficient to understand the real processes which determine men’s social and political behaviour. Such general principles, though basic, are easily undermined and rendered ineffective by the ideologies and wiles of dominant groups. 39 Possibly a kind of Ignatian view of society pervades the early articles, the eternal conflict between good and evil. This is too schematic and intellectual a vision of society, reducing events to a struggle between two elites, good and bad, for the running of society. Thus one forgets that true society is people, the people near us: one forgets the commonest realities; one forgets that true history is not written by “secretaries of power”, but is lived by the people. Above all one undervaluates the culture of the largest part of society, which is the most authentic society. 40 As the idea of democratic participation takes on consistency in Dehon’s vision of society, the good-evil conflict gives way to an increasing understanding of pluralistic values. In fact his honest research and deep involvement in the problems, injustices and sufferings of people soon lead him to a much more realistic vision of events, closer to life and daily experience14. 41 After the bishop of Soissons had appointed him director of the diocesan “Commission des études sociales” in 1893, Fr. Dehon directed his attention to larger problems and his analysis became more exact. Thus his own idea of

14 Cf. L. DEHON, Oeuvres sociales, cit. vol. I, passim. Especially the essay “L’association du capital et du travail”, pp. 113-148, an important forerunning essay on sharing the benefits of production.

10 Dehoniana society and his conviction of the need to act took on a more specific form. This will be discussed in the next issue of Dehoniana. (Translated by John Emanuel)

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