DEHARBE, *Joseph* – Jesuit, born in Strasbourg in Alsace on 1 April 1800, died at Maria Laach on 8 November 1871. Professor at Brig and at the seminary in Lucerne, with occasional preaching, he soon became convinced of the pressing need for a catechism better suited to the needs of the time, simpler and more popular. Therefore, closely following the best models and especially the texts of St Peter Canisius, though arranging the material differently, he published anonymously his *Katholischer Katechismus* (Regensburg 1847), presented in four different versions for children, pupils of various school orders, and adults.
The work immediately met with universal approval; that same year and in the years following it was adopted as the official text in many dioceses of Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, and the United States of America. This multiplied the editions, with or without the author’s name, and the translations; both underwent continual adaptations and revisions right up to our own day. The merits of the work are, alongside theological exactitude, the brevity and precision of expression, clarity, and order.
Later, D. completed his catechetical work with the *Erklärung der katholischen Katechismus* (4 vols.; to which he wished to add a fifth: *Religionsgeschichte*, a succinct history of the Church, which at the same time becomes a clear demonstration of its divine origin [Regensburg 1857–61]); this he then abridged in the *Kürzeres Handbuch für Religionsunterricht* (2 vols., ibid. 1865–68). Among the many Italian translations of his works, noteworthy is that of the *Erklärung* under the title: *Spiegazione del catechismo grande*, illustrated with examples and arranged according to the order of the Catechism of Pius X, edited by G. Perardi (6 vols., Rome 1908–1909).
Among his other ascetical works it is well to recall: *Examen ad usum clericorum* (Regensburg 1849) and *Die Vollkommene Liebe Gottes* (ibid. 1856).