Peter Maurin

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Peter Maurin (May 9, 1877 - May 15, 1949 born in Oultet, France) was a Catholic activist who co-founded the Catholic Worker Movement with Dorothy Day in 1933.

Maurin was born into a poor farming family in southern France, where he was eldest to 21 siblings. After spending time with the Christian Brothers, he briefly moved to western Canada to try his hand at homesteading, but was discouraged by the death of his partner. He then traveled throughout the American east for a few years, and eventually settled in New York, where he spent the rest of his life.

In the mid-1920's, Maurin was working as a French tutor in the New York Suburbs. It was at that time Maurin ceased to charge for his lessons, and asked only that students gave any sum they thought appropriate. Though it is unknown for certain, this was likely prompted by reading about the philosophies of St. Francis of Assisi who viewed labor as a gift to the greater community, not a lever of self promotion.

After the first distribution of the paper on May 1, 1933, Maurin began to see the paper as not quite radical enough. Maurin believed the Catholic Worker should stress life in small agricultural communities, especially as “there is no unemployment on the land.” Likewise convinced that protest would not bring true change, he withdrew from New York to Easton, Pennsylvania, where he worked on the Catholic Worker owned Mary Farm.

Following a seeming stroke in 1944, Maurin began to lose his memory, and his condition deteriorated until his death in 1949. A Staten Island Catholic Worker farm was named after Maurin following his death, which currently operates in Marlborough, New York.

[edit] See also

[edit] Bibliography

  • Aronica, Michele Teresa, R.S.M. Beyond Charismatic Leadership. New Jersey: Transaction, Inc., 1987
  • Day, Dorothy. “Maurin, Aristide Peter.” New Catholic Encyclopedia. 2nd ed. 2003.
  • Peter Maurin Biography and Photos
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