In the course of this year, 1999, we celebrated the centenary of the encyclical Annum Sacrum of 1899 with which Pope Leo XIII asked for the consecration of the human race to the Heart of Jesus. In this short article we do not intend to deal explicitly with the consecration or even with the "social realm" of the Heart of Jesus. We only wish to show how this event was interpreted by Fr. Dehon, who was a great apostle of the social realm of the Sacred Heart.
The first thing I did, therefore, was go through the pages of his "Diary" (NQ). I was very surprised not to find any mention of the fact that this encyclical, which dealt with devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and which asked that all Churches celebrate the consecration of the human race to the Sacred Heart, had even been published.
I then started to look in the book called "Etude" which, in two volumes, follows the story of devotion to the Sacred Heart step by step: in iconography, in the writings of the Fathers of the Church and in the spiritual life of the great religious families ("Etudes" I, in O.Sp. V, pp. 475-544). The second volume also contains some pages on the thoughts of St. John Eudes, and also a long explication on the "revelation of the Sacred Heart at Paray" (O.Sp. V, pp.563-613). In the pages following this Pius IX and Leo XIII were explicitly named, but there was no mention, not even here, of the encyclical Annum Sacrum and of the consecration of the human race to the Sacred Heart (cf. O.Sp. V, pp.615ff). I did find one mention of the consecration of the world to the Sacred Heart "in the year 1900", but it was only in a note written about a line on page 623.
It seems permissible to deduce that even though the two volumes of "Etude" were not published until 1922 (NQ XLIV, 63) Fr. Dehon must have proofread them before 1900; otherwise this "void" is inexplicable.
The Encyclical "Annum Sacrum" in the Magazine "Le Règne"(The Kingdom)
On the other hand, Fr. Dehon spoke repeatedly about the Annum Sacrum and the consecration of the human race in his monthly magazine "Le Règne". In the June 1899 issue, which went to the press in May, he anticipated the news on the basis of information given to him by the Bishop of Liegi. He did not publish the text in the July issue, not even a few extracts of it, but, in an article entitled "Notre Roi" (Our King), he referred to it with enthusiasm (cf. "Le Règne", July 1899, "Notre Roi, c'est Jesus-Christ, c'est le divine Rédempteur" (Our King, He is Jesus Christ, He is The Divine Redeemer), p. 313). And, after the actual announcement of Leo XIII's "magnificent encyclical", he presented an extract from the triumphant and pompous comment that appeared in the newspaper "L'Univers" (The Universe). This was his introduction: "Leo XIII thought that the moment had come to make up for the defection of governments by offering the universal homage of Catholics, and so he gave us the magnificent encyclical of May 25th.
"Now the great deed has been done. Catholics have understood the bearing that this has on their future. The newspaper L'Univers was right to write: This unheard of, grandiose, incomparable action, taken by Leo XIII on the 25th of May, will illuminate history forever and will dominate the earth. It will never cease to appear, immutable and solemn, on the background of the past, beyond the slumbering centuries...
"It will achieve immortality by its nature and, if God wills, by its consequences. The penultimate year of the 19th Century after Jesus Christ will, until the end of time, remain the year of the consecration of the human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. For one must be aware of the fact that... the salvation of the world is linked tightly, indissolubly, to the consecration of the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus" ("Le Règne", 1899, p.315).
The Consecration to the Heart of Jesus, "A Social Act" - In his October notebook Fr. Dehon considers this theme once again with his article entitled "La consécration au Sacré-Coeur et le Règne social du Christ" (The Consecration to the Sacred Heart and the Social Kingdom of Christ). He proclaimed: "Let us say it again: homage to the Sacred Heart, as called for by the Pope, was not simply an act of devotion. It was a great social act, a reparation for the Gallican heresy and the apostasy of nations. This great act must be seen as being united to all the efforts made by the Pontifices in this century to maintain or to reconstruct the social kingdom of Jesus Christ" ("Le Règne", 1899, p.507).
The Kingdom of God and The Social Responsibility of the Church
Therefore Fr. Dehon sees the consecration of the human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a luminous moment in the achievement of the "social kingdom" of the Heart of Jesus in history. Thus, the expression "social kingdom", in this case, indicates above all a religious "social and political" action, one in which also the civil authorities and the other important components of society take part. These actions, however, sometimes ended by leaving somewhat in the shade an explicit and coherent commitment to insure justice and charity among the social classes.
But among Fr. Dehon's writings there was no lack of other texts in which his commitment to justice also clearly emerges. Particularly significant are some "extracts" or "thoughts" collected in two "cahiers" (notebooks) still in manuscript, entitled "Pensées" (Thoughts).
We present below two or three of these "Thoughts" as examples. The first is entitled "The Social Role of the Church" while another is freely inspired by the biblical text "Custos, quid de nocte?".
The Social Role of the Church - In the stained glass windows of certain churches in Brittany the figure of a great miracle worker, St. Ivo, stands out. He is represented as standing between a poor man and a rich man, but with his head turned towards the poor man. This is how the role of Catholicism is represented: it takes its place between the rich man and the poor man to guarantee justice between them; but it has its head turned towards the poor man because it intends to unite charity with justice.
"The Kingdom of God", Fr. Dehon concludes, "is for the poor: Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours (Lk 6:20). We can enter only after them and if they speak in our behalf: I was hungry and you gave me food..." (Cahier Pensées I, p.7).
Custos, quid de nocte? - On another occasion Fr. Dehon took the basis for a reflection on the evils and the injustices which afflict society from this phrase from the Scriptures: "Custos, quid de nocte?" (Is 21:11). For him these words of the prophet Isaiah reinforce the conviction that there is a "centennial" in the Church who watches out for the dangers which threaten us. And we will have a future of peace and prosperity only if we listen to this voice.
"Leo XIII", he writes, "saw the Christian society in chaos: everywhere there was suffering, threats of socialism and of anarchy. He prayed, he consulted, he sought divine inspiration, and he gave us one of the most marvelous acts of his pontifical teaching: the Christian code of work, the remedy for all social ills, the sublime encyclical Rerum Novarum. If, as we hope, the Church regains the soul of the people and once again witnesses glorious centuries of peace and Christian life, it will be in great part due to Leo XIII" (Cahier Pensées I, p.18).