Father Jorge Dintilhac, SS.CC.
FatherJorge Dintilhac, SS.CC., founded our institution in 1917. To undertake such a major educational endeavor, he relied on the support of various individuals and institutions, who joined him in celebrating the supreme decree of March 24 of that year, signed by President José Pardo y Barreda and Minister of Education Wenceslao Valera, which established the Catholic University: the country’s first private university.
Born Luis Eugenio in Provins, France, on November 13, 1878, he was associated from childhood with the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, where he was ordained a priest (in the Peruvian capital) and to which he belonged until his death on April 13, 1947, in Lima.
Speaking fluent and well-pronounced Spanish, FatherDintilhac arrivedin Peru from Valparaíso. After continuing his theological studies at the National University ofSan Marcos, he began to bring his idea of establishing a Catholic center for higher education to fruition. Father Dintilhac was the first rector of the Catholic University, which he led for thirty years (with a few brief interruptions). During his tenure, the institution’s name—Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú—was established, and the vision that defines the PUCP today was laid out in his inaugural address.
The best witnesses—his disciples—have always spoken of Father Dintilhac in terms of praise and justice. Adriana Flores de Saco highlights his “humility, serenity, poise, and dignity.” Ernesto Alayza Grundy says that “he was naturally shy, but firm and determined to achieve the goals he set for himself.” Alberto Wagner de Reyna notes that “he was not ‘the rector,’ but simply Father Jorge, the undisputed embodiment of the faculty.” José Agustín de la Puente Candamo recalls that Father Dintilhac “was a just man, a good man, a minister of God who, in his capacity as a professor at the Colegio de la Recoleta, felt it was his apostolic calling to found a Catholic university that would bear witness to the Church’s presence in intellectual life and serve as a center for the Christian formation of youth.”
