Tuesday, November 8, 2022

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***

It is the 8th of November 2022. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

On this day in 1997, Cardinal John O’Connor made the somewhat surprising decision to begin the canonization process for Dorothy Day- a one-time anarchist and Catholic activist. Their life intersected much of the turbulent 20th century and landed her on the FBI watch list on the orders of J. Edgar Hoover. That day in 1997 was the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dorothy Day, born on the 8th of November in 1897. Let’s look at her story, filled with seeming contradictions and an emotional conviction for the poor that might recall St. Francis of Assisi.

Dorothy was born the 3rd of 4 children to John and Grace Day in Brooklyn. John was a sportswriter hired by a newspaper in San Francisco and moved the family to the coast just in time to experience the great earthquake of 1906. The devastation was seared into Dorothy’s mind, and her family suffered as well; John lost his job when the paper’s press was destroyed in the earthquake.

The Days moved to Illinois, where young Dorothy would begin reading the works of Upton Sinclair, Peter Kropotkin, and other socially charged authors questioning the aftermath of the gilded age. She attended the University of Illinois at Urbana in 1914 but, by 1916, moved to Greenwich Village in New York, where she would work as a reporter for various socialist newspapers. Her family was anti-religious, but Dorothy remembers always being fascinated with spirituality and the Bible, especially the Psalms. While in New York, she met playwright Eugene O’Neill who turned her on to poetry. Of Francis Thompson- you might remember him as the author of the poem “the Hound of Heaven”- a down-and-out man who nonetheless found solace in his faith.

Dorothy would be involved in the suffragette movement and be arrested for protesting in Washington, D.C. (ironically, she would never vote nor pay federal taxes). These were turbulent years for Day- she would experience failed relationships, a suicide attempt, and an abortion. In 1922 she moved back to Chicago, where she roomed with three women who would go to Mass every Sunday- she became interested in their devotion, and when she had her first and only child, Tamar, she had the baby girl baptized. This was 1926 and marked the end of her relationship with her common-law husband, who wanted nothing to do with Dorothy’s budding faith.

In 1927 Dorothy was baptized and joined the Catholic Church. In 1932 she was introduced to Peter Maurin, a former French monk who emigrated to Canada from France and then moved to New York. He was an itinerant preacher and advocate for the poor. By May of the following year, the two had begun the Catholic Worker- a paper that blended activism and faith. By the end of that year, the paper, which cost a penny a piece (and still does), would have a circulation of 100,000.

The Catholic Worker would also open Houses of Hospitality- free lodging for those who, for whatever reason, would not be accepted by other shelters amid the Great Depression. By 1936 there would be dozens of these houses (and by the time of Dorothy’s death, there would be hundreds- today, there are 1000’s).

In 1952 she published her memoir The Long Loneliness, a kind of apology for her work with the Communists and her journey towards the church. She would continue working with the poor and on campaigns against antisemitism, war, and nuclear weapons for workers. Her last movement was with Cesar Chavez in 1973. She died in 1980 of a heart attack.

While she is being considered for canonization, she was praised by Pope Benedict in 2013 and Pope Francis in 2015. A character is full of some real and some seeming contradictions. She was a Christian “devoted to the least of these.” Born on this day in 1897, Dorothy Day died at 83.

The Last Word for today comes from the lectionary for today from Psalm 98:

Sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things;

his right hand and his holy arm
 have worked salvation for him.

The Lord has made his salvation known
 and revealed his righteousness to the nations.

He has remembered his love
 and his faithfulness to Israel;

all the ends of the earth have seen
 the salvation of our God.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 8th of November 2022, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man on the FBI watchlist, but he won’t tell me why- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who advises you if you don’t watch sports. Don’t start. It’s a life of pain and suffering. I’m Dan van Voorhis

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.