George Deshon

George Deshon (New London, Connecticut, U.S.A., 30 January 1823 – New York City, 30 December 1903) was an American Paulist Father.

Life

Deshon was born in New London, Connecticut, a descendant of Plymouth Colony elder William Brewster. He was raised a Congregationalist and received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point at the age of sixteen. His classmate and roommate was General U. S. Grant, with whom he remained friends. Some time after Grant's death, the New York Freeman asked Deshon to compose some reminiscences of their time together as cadets.

Deshon graduated in 1843 second in his class, and he afterwards taught geography, history and ethics at the Academy. While there he became friends with William Rosecrans, who was also teaching there. Rosecrans' conversion to Catholicism in 1845 influenced Deshon's own decision.

Deshon was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in July 1851 and served with the Ordinance Department in Baltimore, Maryland, but resigned his commission in October. He was received into the Catholic Church in 1852, and soon after became a novice in the Redemptorist Order. He was ordained priest in 1855 and became associated with Isaac Hecker, Clarence Walworth, Augustine Hewit, and Francis A. Baker, all regularly employed in missionary work. With them he obtained in 1858 a dispensation from his vows as a Redemptorist, and assisted in the formation of a new Society of Apostolic Life called the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle; the first house and church of the society were built in New York in 1859.

He remained in this house during the rest of this life, being novice-master for several years, and afterwards assistant superior and in charge generally of the temporal interests of the community, which owed much to his business ability. He also superintended throughout the building of the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, in which his skill and knowledge as an engineer, acquired at West Point, were of service. The cornerstone was laid in 1876; around 1882, Deshon took over the project from architect Jeremiah O'Rourke. "The exterior was so forbidding that the Paulists called it Fort Deshon."

Deshon spent a considerable part of his time on the missions. A volume of his parochial sermons was issued in 1901. He published in 1860 a book entitled Guide for Catholic Young Women – Especially Those Who Earn Their Own Living, which is still in print today.

Deshon was elected superior general of the Paulist Institute in 1897. At that time houses had been founded in San Francisco, and at Winchester, Tennessee.

The last important act of his life was the founding of the Paulist house in Chicago, for which he arranged with Archbishop Quigley in the fall of 1903. Deshon died suddenly of heart failure about midnight 30 December 1903.

See also

• Institutes of consecrated life

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

George Deshon — Priest of the Congregation (or Institute) of St. Paul the Apostle, b. at New London, Conn., U.S.A., 30 January, 1823; d. in New York, 30 December, 1903. He was a graduate (1843) of the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he was a classmate and roommate of General U.S. Grant. His standing in class was high (second) and he afterwards taught mathematics and ethics at the Academy. Deshon was promoted to the rank of captain, but resigned his commission, was received into the Church in 1851, and soon after became a novice in the Redemptorist Order. He was ordained priest in 1855 and became associated with Fathers Hecker, Walworth, Hewit, and Baker, all regularly employed in missionary work. With them he obtained in 1858 a dispensation from his vows as a Redemptorist, and assisted in the formation of the new Paulist Institute, the first house and church of which were built in New York in 1859. He remained in this house during the rest of this life, being novice-master for several years, and afterwards assistant superior and in charge generally of the temporal interests of the community, which owed much to his business ability. He also superintended throughout the building of the church of St. Paul the Apostle, in which his skill and knowledge as an engineer, acquired at West Point, were of great service.

Father Deshon spent a considerable part of his time on the missions, in which he was specially eminent in the practical instructions, though his sermons were also most effective. A volume of his parochial sermons was issued in 1901. He published in 1860 a book entitled "Guide for Catholic Young Women", which acquired an abiding popularity. Father Deshon was elected superior general of the Paulist Institute in 1897. At that time houses had been founded in San Francisco, and at Winchester, Tennessee. The last important act of his life was the founding of the Paulist house in Chicago, for which he arranged with Archbishop Quigley in the fall of 1903. Though his life-work was so largely practical, he was noted for his interior spirituality, his favourite saints being the hermits and cenobites of the desert, and his spare time was always devoted to recollection and spiritual reading, in which he had evidently been occupied on the last night of his life, before retiring. He died suddenly of heart failure about midnight, having been just able to ring for assistance, and to receive the last rites of the Church.

SEARLE, The Very Rev. George Deshon, C.S.P., in The Catholic World (1904), LXXXVIII, 569-73. See also contemporary files, The Catholic News (New York).

Bibliography

• Searle, The Very Rev. George Deshon, C.S.P., in The Catholic World (1904), LXXXVIII, 569-73.

See also contemporary files, The Catholic News (New York).

Attribution

External links

• George Deshon at Find a Grave
• Service profile
• Works by George Deshon at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)