Leo Dupont
Venerable Leo Dupont | |
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Born | 24 January 1797 Martinique |
Died | 18 March 1876 (aged 79) Tours, France |
Early life
Leon Papin Dupont was born 24 January 1797 on the family sugar plantation in Martinique. His father was Nicholas Dupont, a wealthy and slave-owning French planter, his mother was a creole from Martinique, Marie-Louise Gaigneron de Marolles. His father died when Leo was six years old. Leon was schooled in Martinique and then for two years at a boarding school in the United States while the French Revolution went on. He was then sent to France to further his education at the College of Pontlevoy, near the Chateau of Chissay, which belonged to his maternal uncle, the Comte Gaigneron de Marolles. He was religious from an early age, but along with his one brother Theobald he studied law in Paris.[2] He had inherited a considerable fortune from his father.
During this period, Dupont met a number of religious figures including Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat, foundress of the Society of the Sacred Heart. Upon finishing his law degree, not having seen his mother for six years, he returned to Martinique,[3] where he received an appointment as a councilor of the court. His younger brother Theobald died of a fever in 1823 when Leo was about twenty-four years old.
In 1827, Leo Dupont married Caroline d'Andiffredi and, in 1832, they had a daughter, Henrietta. Caroline died about a year after Henrietta was born. After the death of his wife, Dupont and his mother moved to France and, in 1834, settled in Tours, where the physician Pierre Bretonneau was a neighbor. He also made the acquaintance of William Palmer. Dupont established a law practice and became administrator of the Cathedral property.[4]
Religious focus
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In July 1837, Dupont, his mother, and daughter visited his maternal uncle at the castle of Chissay-en-Touraine, where while gazing at a picture of Teresa of Ávila, he reportedly experienced a spiritual enlightenment. Dupont joined the recently formed Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, contributing large sums of money to it. Through his involvement with the society, he became involved in teaching night classes to tradesmen.[4]
In 1839, he wrote, Faith Revived and Piety Reanimated Through the Eucharist.[5] Often while visiting the estate of his uncle, M. de Beauchamp, he would stop by the nearby Solesmes Abbey, where he became a close friend of Dom Prosper Guéranger. After making pilgrimages to a couple of Marian shrines in Normandy, in 1842 he published a guidebook on Marian shrines.
In 1847, he made a pilgrimage to
In 1849, he helped establish nightly
When Dupont came to Tours, the cult of Martin of Tours had almost completely fallen into disuse. Two roads covered the location of St Martin's tomb, purposely constructed to obliterate the memory of St. Martin. Martin of Tours was, for Leo Dupont, the model of charity, and he desired to restore devotion to the Bishop of Tours, and begin the process for the eventual rebuilding of his basilica that had been destroyed by the Revolutionaries. Around 1848, following the suggestions of Mr. Dupont, the Cathedral of Tours began to restore the festivities surrounding the Feast of St. Martin on 11 November.[7] He helped rebuild the Basilica of Saint Martin, Tours (which traces back to 472).[8]
Dupont also promoted the use of the Saint Benedict Medal. He was never without several on his person, which he would give to those he might meet. He purchased them by the thousands and distributed them widely.[4]
Dupont's mother lived with him most of his life in Tours and she died in 1860. After her death, from 1860 to 1870, he spent most of his time praying before the image of Veil of Veronica.[citation needed]
Holy Face devotions
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Apart from his charitable activities, Dupont is perhaps best known for spreading devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus. He is sometimes referred to as the Apostle of the Holy Face.
Dupont made frequent donations to the
Based on this, Dupont started to burn a vigil lamp continuously before a picture of the Holy Face of Jesus based on the painted image on the Veil of Veronica.[9] Dupont used that image because the existence of a clear image on the Shroud of Turin was not known to anyone at that time for the somewhat faded image of the face on the Shroud can not easily be seen with the naked eye and was only observed in May 1898 via the negative plate of Secondo Pia's first photograph.
In 1851, Dupont formed the "Archconfraternity of the Holy Face" in Tours.
Death and veneration
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By the end of his life, Dupont had donated most of his fortune to a number of charities, from the Carmelites to various orphanages, Society of Saint Vincent de Paul and the Little Sisters of the Poor.
Leo Dupont died in 1876, aged 79. Upon his death, his house on Rue St. Etienne was purchased by the Archdiocese of Tours and turned into the Oratory of the Holy Face. Archbishop Colet approved of an order of priests called the Priests of the Holy Face to administer to the chapel. The order was canonically erected in 1876 and Father Peter Javier, a friend of Dupont, was appointed as its director.
Father Javier wrote a biography of Dupont and one of Sister Marie of St Peter and the Holy Face Devotion. These books were widely distributed and started the spread of the Holy Face Devotion. Years later they influenced
Dupont's spiritual writings were approved by theologians on 3 February 1937.
Legacy
The devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus that Dupont promoted continued to flourish after his death. In the 1930s, an Italian nun, Sister
1950 saw the foundation of the Benedictine Congregation of the Sisters of Reparation of the Holy Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ, whose aim is an "unceasing effort to stand beside the endless crosses on which the Son of God continues to be crucified."[14]
Dupont's efforts in spreading the "Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus" are chronicled in the book The Holy Man of Tours by Dorothy Scallan.[15]
References
- ^ Cruz 2003, p. 200.
- ^ "The Life of Leon Papin-Dupont", (ed. Edw. H. Thompson), Library of Religious Biography, Vol. VIII, Chap. I, Burns and Oates, London, 1882
- ISBN 0-8369-0906-2, p. 79
- ^ a b c Pierre Désiré Janvier, "The Life Of Leon Papin-Dupont: The Holy Man Of Tours", John Murphy & Co., 1882
- ^ Cruz 2003, p. 195.
- ISBN 1-56548-329-4, p. 20
- ^ "St Martin of Tours", salemcatholic.org. Accessed 9 August 2023.
- ^ "Historique". Basilique Saint-Martin (in French). Retrieved 9 August 2023.
- ISBN 1-4021-6108-5, p. 506
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: Reparation, newadvent.org. Accessed 9 August 2023.
- ISBN 0879737018page 57
- ^ a b Index ac status causarum beatificationis servorum dei et canonizationis beatorum (in Latin). Typis polyglottis vaticanis. January 1953. p. 132.
- ^ History of Holy Face of Jesus, theholyface.com. Accessed 9 August 2023.
- ^ Vatican website: Letter of Pope John Paul II, vatican.va. Accessed 9 August 2023.
- ^ The Holy Man of Tours, amazon.com. Accessed 9 August 2023.
Sources
- Scallan, Dorothy (1990). The Holy Man of Tours. Tan Books and Publishers. ISBN 0-89555-390-2.
- Cruz, Joan Carroll (2003). Saintly Men of Modern Times. Our Sunday Visitor. ISBN 1-931709-77-7.
- Janvier, Pierre Désiré (2008). The Life of Leon Papin-Dupont: the Holy Man of Tours. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4365-4333-0.