Lehodey, Vital

LEHODEY, VITAL. - Trappist ascetico-mystical theologian, in the world Alcime, b. at Hamlye (France) on 17 Dec. 1857, d. at Bricquebec on 6 May 1948. A priest on 18 Dec. 1880, on 28 July 1890 he entered the Trappist monastery of Bricquebec (France) with the name Vital, and was elected its abbot on 8 July 1895, resigning on 20 July 1929 for reasons of health.

Entrusted with the revision of the Directoire Spirituel of his Order (Bricquebec 1905; Italian trans. Rome 1920), he insisted therein on the primacy of charity and of contemplation, without for all that minimizing the importance of ascesis.

His name remains above all linked to two works: Les voies de l'oraison mentale (Paris 1908; Italian trans. Turin 1922), where he teaches, in a simple and clear style, a doctrine drawn from the sources of a solid theology and from the spirituality of the great Cistercian masters and others, on prayer in all its degrees, thus bringing this most delicate subject within everyone's reach and contributing greatly to the rehabilitation of mysticism.

Also famous is his Le saint abandon (Paris 1919; Italian trans. Florence 1945), where with profound doctrine he teaches the nature, the foundation, the object and the fruits of abandonment; it is a sure guide that shows how such a disposition of soul is entirely based on interior renunciation and on the most generous love.

Domenico Nogues