a testimony - more
The war in Saint Quentin is for Fr. Dehon also a revival of former friendships and relations, the occasion to visit people he hadn't met for many years. Thus he writes in his journal of the war:
"In the affliction one turns back to the old friends and the old relationships… One needs, in difficult times, to encourage one another, to give full scope to one's sorrows, to express one's hopes" (AD Inv.-Nr. 0067600).
Marc Ferrand, an inhabitant of Quentin Saint, publishes a book, his journal after World War I which is entitled "The city died - Saint Quentin 1914-1917". We don't know anything about this man, but in a page of his journal he describes the visit of a priest. With greatest probability he's speaking about Fr. Dehon:
"My good friend Abbé B...introduced me to Abbé D.N… With pleasure I see him again. It has been quite a long time since I had met him,maybe 35 years. In recent times he has had a powerful influence on the youth of my generation. Creator of works [oeuvres], founder of [religious] orders, he is one of these cold impassioned, made to dominate figures. A noble spirit, bearing of a seigneur, with a flexible diplomacy mixing flattery with authority. An austere and tempting figure.
You also should have seen him in his office, draping his thin legs in a loose cassock, ensuring his glasses with a gesture of two fingers, laughing with a cold falsetto and without joy. I find him always the same and far from becoming old.
For several times he journeyed around the world and he likes to tell of his voyages. A penetrating observer, clear intelligence, he knew well how to interpret things and people. The stiffness of his intellect did not harm the flexibilities of his psychology. He's a vigorous spirit and a powerful director of men " (Marc Ferrand, La ville mourut. Saint Quentin 1914-1917, Paris 1923, p. 119)
Of course these lines reflect in a somehow shallow way the impression Dehon made on Ferrand as well as the author's ideals of how leading figures should be. Thus we should read it with great care. But as we stated before, details and general impression corresponds to several other testimonies we know about Dehon.