On the occasion of the centenary of Father Dehon's birth, the General Curia published the “Extraits du Journal du Père Dehon” in Rome in 1943. To mark the centenary of his death, the Spanish edition titled “Extractos del diario del Padre Dehon” has now been released, prepared by Father Juan José Arnaiz Ecker, SCJ.
On the occasion of Christmas 2025, the religious of the ESP Province residing in Spain (a reminder of the precariousness of postal communications at this moment in our history) received a volume of the Spanish translation of the work Extraits du Journal du Père Dehon, originally published by our General Curia in Rome in 1943. The reason for the original composition was the centenary of the birth of our founder. The reason for this new Spanish edition is the centenary of Dehon’s death.
As is well known, this is a selection of extracts from Notes sur l’Histoire de ma vie (NHV) and Notes Quotidiennes (NQT) according to the scheme designed, at the time, by the compiler. The final result was (and is) to offer us a spiritual portrait of Fr. Dehon, transmitted through his own words, without any commentary, with the aim of showing future religious the role of Léon Dehon as a master of spiritual life within his context and his personal journey, including his way of expressing himself.
This new edition, in addition to providing access in the Castilian language, adds several elements of critical apparatus (identification of each of Dehon’s texts according to the normative edition of DehonDocs; short biographies of the persons cited, where possible; translation of the numerous biblical citations in Latin, etc.).
Thus, since the Extraits du Journal du Père Dehon reproduce, in a systematic order, the essentials of NHV and NQT, as well as other important materials for knowing the life of the Father Founder and the early years of his congregation, this new publication intends to offer the reader the pleasure of this direct immersion into the world, language, joys, and sorrows of a person as beloved as Dehon—yet someone who is always in need of listeners to continue walking the path of love for God and neighbor taught to us by the Lord Jesus, the man with the New Heart.
