Maurin, Peter 
- Time Period
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5/9/1877
 - 5/15/1949
- Description
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Peter Maurin was a French peasant that immigrated to Canada to escape the French draft, and then eventually settled in the United States doing whatever work he could find. He began to embrace poverty as a gift from God and would study the writings of great Catholic thinkers. He developed a philosophy of Christian personalism, stressing the value and dignity of each person and he dreamed of a social order that would transform society. In 1932, he met Dorothy Day, a Catholic convert and journalist, through a suggestion of a Catholic editor. At first, Dorothy Day simply tolerated the talkative, untidy peasant, but she began to embrace his ideals and vision. Together, they founded the Catholic Worker Movement, which included farming communes, hospitality houses, and the Catholic Worker (1933) newspaper. His acclaimed "easy essays" in the newspaper referred to the homeless as "ambassadors of God," worthy of food and shelter.
- Interactive Timeline(s)
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Catholic Religious Events and People in American History
- Browse Related Timeline Entries
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Catholic Religious Events and People in American History
- Religious Groups
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Catholicism (Western Liturgical Family): Other ARDA Links
- Events
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Catholic Worker Movement
- Movements
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Catholic Worker Movement
- Photographs
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Peter Maurin portrait- courtesy of The Marquette University Archives
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Peter Maurin portrait- Internet Archive - from Catholic Radicalism by Peter Maurin
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Peter Maurin reading- courtesy of The Marquette University Archives
- Book/Journal Source(s)
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Glazier, Michael, and Thomas Shelley, 1997. The Encyclopedia of American Catholic History. Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press..
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McBrien, Richard, 1995. The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism. New York: HarperCollins.
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Reid, Daniel, Robert Linder, Bruce Shelley, and Harry Stout, 1990. Dictionary of Christianity in America. Downers Grove, IL.
- Web Page Contributor
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Benjamin T. Gurrentz
Affliated with: Pennsylvania State University, Ph.D. in Sociology
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