Jacques Maritain (1882-1973)

Today in 1973 marks the death of Jacques Maritain. Born in Toulouse, France, Maritain was reared a Protestant and converted to Catholicism in 1906 along with his wife Raissa. He held professorships in France, Canada, and the United States. He took a leave from his teaching career to serve as France’s ambassador to the Vatican from 1945 to 1948. His American professorships included two stints at Princeton. He wrote more than fifty books. Many credit Maritain with being the most important modern interpreter of the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. He was a profound thinker and a devout Catholic.

Writer Tim Unsworth recalls coming upon Maritain one morning in the 1950’s, in a small church on the tip of Long Island. It was the time when Catholics carried missals to Mass and frantically thumbed pages and flipped ribbons, seeking to stay abreast of the celebrant. Unsworth was one such Catholic. Maritain, on the other hand, sat quietly, his arm over the pew, absorbing the graces of the Mass. After Mass, Unsworth asked Maritain why he didn’t use a missal. “Oh,” he said, “I have most of that memorized. I just look at Him and He looks at me.”

(From John Deedy, Book of Catholic Anecdotes)