Vital Lehodey

Vital Lehodey OCR (born December 17, 1857 in Hambye, Département Manche , † May 6, 1948 in Bricquebec ) was a French Trappist , abbot and mystic .

life and work

Alcime-Jude Lehodey attended the seminary in Coutances and was ordained a priest in 1880. From 1881 he was chaplain in Tessy-sur-Vire and Granville . In 1890 he entered the Bricquebec monastery and took the religious name Vital (after Vitalis von Savigny ). From 1892 he was prior , from 1893 superior of his monastery, and finally abbot from 1895 to 1929. As such, he made a special contribution to looking after the Chinese and Japanese monasteries, Consolation , Phare and Tenshien , which were under his control .

From his personal, mystical encounter with the Child Jesus (from 1895) books grew that have been translated into several languages ​​(including Japanese) and published up to the present day.

Works

• Les Voies de l'Oraison mental , Paris, Gabalda, 1906; Lecoffre, 10th edition, 1934.
  • (English) The ways of mental prayer , Dublin, Gill, 1912, most recently 1982.
  • (Italian) Le vie dell'orazione mental , Turin, Marietti, 1932.
  • (Dutch) De because of van het inwendig gebed , Westmalle, Abtei, 1934.
• Directoire spirituel à l'usage des cisterciens réformés ou de la Stricte Observance , Bricquebec 1910, 1931.
• Le saint abandon , Paris, Gabalda, 1919 (numerous editions); last ed. by Michel Niaussat, introduction by René Bompain, biographical note by Bruno Brard, Perpignan, Artège, 2014.
  • (Spanish) El santo abandono , Barcelona, ​​Casals, 1926.
  • (Dutch) De heilige overgave , Westmalle, Abbey, 1932.
  • (English) Holy abandonment , Dublin, Gill, 1934.
  • (Italian) Il santo abbandono , Florence, Fiorentina, 1945.

literature

• Irénée Vallery-Radot, La mission de Dom Vital Lehodey , Paris, Cerf, 1956 (also in English, Dutch and Japanese).
• Marie-Bruno Brard, Dom Vital Lehodey. Abbé de Notre-Dame de Bricquebec. 1857–1948, Paris, Gabalda, 1973.
• Michel Niaussat, Frère Vital ou Le triomphe de la grace. Suivi de Autobiographie originale de dom Vital Lehodey , Paris, Desclée de Brouwer, 2007.

Web links

• Literature by and about Vital Lehodey in the SUDOC catalog (Association of French University Libraries)
• Information on Vital Lehodey in the database of the Bibliothèque nationale de France .
• Page Lehodey in the Encyclopaedia Cisterciensia
• Short biography, in French, with picture
• Short biography by Michel Niaussat, French, with picture