Doctor in Law - more

Dehon and his study of law

From 1859 to 1864 Leo Dehon studied law in Paris. In the descriptions of this period Dehon reminds us over and over again that he perceived it as a kind of passage imposed by his father on his way to the priesthood. "

My preferences were situated elsewhere. Impatiently I expected to get it over with." (NHV II/62v); "My interests lay elsewhere. I was finishing law school in order to satisfy my father and obtain his permission to go to Rome." (NHV II/20r); "All too clear to me was that the study of law was for me but a passing phase. My interests lay elsewhere." (NHV I/39v)

However these five years are everything but a great sacrifice: long journeys during several months, a new quality of cultural formation, the experience of the powerful upcoming Parisian Catholicism. Leo Dehon enjoyed the opportunities of student life. Even his studies offered numerous positive aspects: "The law studies may have small inconveniences, on the whole they are however very favorable for the development of the spirit." (NHV I/40r) Typical of Dehon is the following conception of law: "The law is a branch of morality, it is based on philosophy... The method, which one follows [in law] promotes reason, discernment and judgment." (NHV I/40v)

In an essay on the social dimension of Fr. Dehon's life and projects, Robert Prélot affirms that the law studies allowed him to "acquire and perfect that clarity and precision in his thinking, which will distinguish him later on in his speeches and writings." (Prélot, L'oeuvre sociale du chanoine Dehon, p. 27)

On November 22, 1862 Dehon takes the lawyer's oath and begins to work for several hours a day in the lawyer's office of Maître Maza. At the same time he prepares his doctorate examen (July 1863) and his doctoral thesis (sur le cautionnement/en anglais), which he defended in March 1864. But he fails --according to Dehon because the son of an author criticized in the thesis was a member of the examen's commission. Leo doesn't say anything about this failure to his parents, and one month later, on April 2, 1864, he successfully defends his doctoral thesis.

"... on April 2, everything was finished. I was a doctor. It was an important step in my life. I had promised my father I would go this far. I could now hope that he would allow me to pursue my vocation." (NHV II/66r)