DIDON, HENRI. - Dominican, preacher, b. at Touvet (Isère) on 17 March 1840; d. at Toulouse on 15 March 1900. From 1865 in Paris, he carried on his vigorous, effective and wholly conciliatory activity in various cities (London, Liège, Marseille, Paris).
But here his preaching of the years 1879-80, on divorce and on the reconciliation of Catholicism with the modern world and its progress, together with applause also aroused very strong disapproval on account of his overly broad views and some intemperance of language, for which he had to withdraw to Corbara in Corsica. In Oct. 1881 he returned to Paris, but since he was not permitted to preach, he occupied himself with drafting the Vie de Jésus-Christ (2 vols., Paris 1890), where, if the exegesis is at times insufficient, the geographical, social and religious setting within which the life of the Redeemer unfolded is reproduced with vigor and vast information, the fruit of an extensive and attentive journey in Palestine. From 1890 he was director of Arcueil (Paris), where he sought to put into practice, in the matter of education, a discipline of broader scope and a greater adaptation to the times.
He also wrote: L'enseignement supérieur et les universités catholiques (Paris 1875); Indissolubilité et divorce (ibid. 1880); La Foi en la divinité de Jésus-Christ (ibid. 1894); L'éducation présente (ibid. 1898). Also useful for knowledge of D. are the 4 vols. of Lettres (ibid. 1901-30).