A Time for Saints: Reflections on Dorothy Day, an Apostle to America
A reflection by Archbishop Gomez given at the University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne, Indiana on May 14, 2015.
Servant of God Dorothy Day
Born: November 8, 1897
Death: November 29, 1980
Cause for Canonization Opened: March 2000
Declared Servant of God: March 2000
Servant of God Dorothy Day, born in Brooklyn in 1897, grew up in both the San Francisco Bay area and Chicago. Her family was living in Oakland when the San Francisco earthquake struck in 1906 and the “Christian solidarity” she saw in the wake of it left an impression on her. Though not taken to Church, Dorothy read Scripture like novels and at 12 she demanded to be baptized at the Episocopal Church of Our Savior in Chicago. After high school, she attended the University of Illinois, dropping out after two years to move to New York with her family and pursue writing, landing at a socialist newspaper The Call. Referred to as her “bohemian years,” Dorothy wrote for radical news outlets, protested the government in rallies and riots, wrote an autobiographical book about her failed love affair and illegal abortion. Hollywood producers bought the rights to her novel, she bought a seaside cottage on Staten Island where she lived with her common-law husband Forster Batterham. In 1926, during their relationship, Day gave birth to her daughter Tamar Teresa, which was the beginning of her journey towards Catholicism. After the baptism of both her and her daughter, Day and Batterham split. Day struggled as a Catholic, lamenting the absence of the Church in social movements such as the 1932 Hunger March, after which she met Peter Maurin, who introduced her to the Church’s social teaching and his vision for a “new society.” In 1933, the two of them launched the Catholic Worker newspaper, which encouraged members to embrace a lifestyle of voluntary poverty and care for the poor and homeless. This was the work of her life — promoting non-violence through her writing, protesting and working for civil rights and social justice — encouraging people to practice the Works of Mercy. Passing in 1980, Dorothy left behind her daughter and a legacy of mercy, and most recently a Staten Island ferry named for her.
Read about her journey from atheism to Catholicism and her relentless care for the poor and the underserved here.
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“We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.”
— Servant of God Dorothy Day
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American Saints
This November, LA Catholics invite you to journey with us through the lives of Americans who are on the path to sainthood.
