St. John's - more

In an article of the ‘Semaine Religieuse de Soissons’ on August 11, 1877 we read:
"Saint Quentin. Institute St. Jean. The boarding school directed in this city by M. Lecompte is to undergo considerable enlargement under the name of ‘Institute Saint Jean’. From now on instruction is to be given by a group of priests under the patronage of our Bishop. The gentlemen acquired their instruction experience in several years of teaching. The award of the prizes of the pension Lecompte took place last Saturday. The large audience was delighted.... M. Abbé Dehon spoke about Christian education and the president welcomed the new institution." (Semaine Religieuse de Soissons, 11.08.1877)

The bishop of Soissons, Mgr. Thibaudier, had keen interest in the establishment of a college in his diocese.

Because of his formation, his interests and pastoral activities in the diocese of Soissons, Leo Dehon was well suited for running such a college. His desire to found a congregation, too, met with the interests of the bishop and his project. Thus Dehon writes in his Notes sur l’Histoire de Ma Vie about the crucial interview with his bishop on June 8, 1877:

"I spoke openly to the one who had the authority to tell me the will of God, Mgr. Thibaudier. There was a very practical way, I suggested it to him: Mgr. desired a college in Saint Quentin, I said to him: ‘Perhaps this is the way to start a congregation of reparation; she will be founded under the form of a college." (NHV XII/164)

Some years later however, in his souvenirs of 1912, addressed to the congregation, he presents the initiative, which interconnected the foundation congregation and college so closely, in a quite different way. Here it is the bishop himself who made the proposal, not Dehon:

"I spoke of this to Bishop Thibaudier, who, after due consideration, made the following proposal: ‘You want to form a congregation of priests; I would like to have a college at St. Quentin. You could begin your congregation in the form of a college." (Souvenirs, 14.3.1912, III).

Whatever the interview with the Bishop was like, on July 14, 1877 Leo Dehon purchased "the Maison Lecompt, on the Rue Richelieu.... The same day, one of the Sister-Servants inherited a million francs, the interest from which put Father Dehon on firm ground. Later however he found himself in quite serious financial difficulties when the sister was cheated out of her inheritance." (Dorresteijn, Leo John Dehon, p. 70)