“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.” It is around this famous maxim that the history and meaning of the Dehonian Cross articulate. More than just an institutional symbol, this logo, born from the creativity of youth, sums up by itself the essence of Father Dehon’s spirituality: contemplating the pierced Heart of Christ to discover an inexhaustible love, capable of transforming suffering into a space of welcome, justice, and mercy.
History
In 1979 the German province organized a Youth Day in St. Sebastian college in Stegen on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the school. In preparation for the meeting, a competition was launched to propose a logo, the aim of which was to interpret the expression contained in the book The Little Prince byAntoine de Saint-Exupéry: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly”. The judges of the competition were art professors at Stegen college, Alfred Erhard and Benedikt Schaufelberger. The winner was the student Martin Hättich of Sankt Märgen in the Black Forest. The “Cross with a heart ” logo was further developed by Professor Alfred Erhard and in the following years became the current logo of many Dehonian provinces.
The meaning
At first glance, the cross with an open heart in the middle appears symmetrical. At a second glance the irregularity of the four arms of the cross emerges. The heart-shaped opening is also asymmetrical. The effect on the observer is not static, but dynamic: As if the heart pulses in the middle of the cross.
The gaze on the cross is oriented towards the center, the heart. In this way two priorities of Christian life are expressed:
- The logo is an appeal in favor of the biblical interpretation that sees in the heart the seat of knowledge: a strong reminder not to neglect the ways of the heart, in order to achieve an integral understanding of the knowledge: “Follow the advice your own heart gives you, no one can be truer to you than that; since a person’s soul often gives a clearer warning than seven watchmen perched on a watchtower.” (Sir 37:13-14)
- The second priority goes directly to the heart of the spirituality of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: “There is no greater love than this: to give one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13). Looking at the cross we immediately see the heart. We see Christ’s suffering and recognize his love. The logo is realistic; yes, suffering, pain, and the cross are realities in our life and in the life of Jesus. But we proclaim a faith that is not simply fixed on pain, suffering and the cross. In the midst of suffering I am not drowned by the darkness of the abyss, but I discover the ever greater love of God and his Son,“who loved me and gave himself up for me” (Gal 2:20).
- Father Dehon expressed all this in these terms:“Jesus Christ is truly, in his mysteries and in his passion, the Book written
internally and externally. And what are the letters that we see traced in this Book? Only these: Love. The scourges , the thorns, the nails, have written them with bloody characters on his divine flesh; but let us not be content to read and admire this divine writing from the outside; we penetrate to the heart, and we will see a much greater wonder: it is the inexhaustible and inexhaustible love that considers anything that suffers and gives itself without growing tired (Oeuvres Spirituelles II, 305)
In this logo the heart at the center of the cross is not simply drawn, but is built from a” free space “. We are invited to fill this empty space with our lives. We are called to be attentive to the experience of a loving Father whom Jesus calls ‘Abba’, attentive to any experience of love that sustains suffering.
We must be close to people, especially in situations of suffering, violence and injustice, so that charity, mercy and justice can also find space in their lives and in society.
