Dorothy Day and Marquette and Me
By Aaron Hovind
November 8 is a very special day! On that day 121 years ago, a writer, admirer of Jesuits, and inspiring soul (and so much more) was born: Dorothy Day. And, just 22 years ago, another writer, admirer of Jesuits, and inspiring soul was born: me! One embodies the spirit of Marquette, and the other gets to blog about why that is.
Dorothy Day: The Radical
Disclaimer: Dorothy Day’s life is extensive and wild and detailed. This section only provides a glimpse into her past. Check out here to read more.
Dorothy Day was born on November 8, 1897, in Brooklyn, New York. At age sixteen, her love for reading and consciousness for social awareness won her a scholarship to the University of Illinois. Inspired by personal experiences with injustice, a desire to learn more about social activism, and her faith, she decided to become a journalist.
Her childhood may have been somewhat traditional, but it was in her college years and the years that followed that she proved to be anything but. Her love for writing and spotlighting social injustices caused her to leave school and move back to New York, where she engaged in antiwar and women’s suffrage protests and wrote for a socialist newspaper. Amid these radical activities, Day began to develop an affinity for Catholicism, especially its work toward peace and its help for the poor. When she gave birth to a child (unmarried), she baptized her into the Catholic Church.
Her love for Catholicism and activism grew when she was asked to write about hunger strikes in Washington D.C., for the Commonweal, a Catholic magazine that is still published today. From there, she realized she knew she needed to take a greater role in promoting social work through her faith. The result was The Catholic Worker, a publication dedicated to promoting service work and explaining the church’s outlook on charity and peace. Although The Catholic Worker became very popular, its staff were fiercely criticized (and occasionally imprisoned) for the paper’s outspoken opposition to World War II, nuclear warfare, the Vietnam War, Cold War policies, and racial injustices.
Day’s greatest legacy is that she spread unconditional love to everyone and everywhere, even if that meant against going against the current political or social climate. She fought for what she believed in through an unconventional but loving manner — making her the frequent subject of headlines when she was arrested for peacefully protesting. Day passed in November of 1980.
Connection With Marquette
After Day’s passing, Marquette University was fortunate to be contacted by her family and received a collection of her personal documents, letters, diary entries, and copies of The Catholic Worker. Years later, these documents have only become more and more valuable. Despite Day’s early criticisms of the church, involvement with socialism and antiwar efforts, bearing a child outside of marriage, and many other non-traditional characteristics, she is seen as a trailblazer for modern Catholicism. Many believe her contributions to social justice and her message of spreading unconditional love make her a worthy candidate for sainthood. This is where Marquette steps in.
The push for Day’s canonization is under way, and groups supporting her “cause” (i.e., documenting her worthiness for canonization) have asked Marquette for help in the process. Many of the donated documents and works of Day need to be scanned into a digital format and sent to these groups to help Dorothy Day’s cause. I was lucky enough to sit down with Joanna R. Boyd-Wilhite, a grad student and employee of the Department of Special Collections who currently works with the documents firsthand.
Joanna is in charge of preparing, scanning, and uploading Day’s documents to Marquette’s online archives. The goals are twofold: first, to send these digitized papers to groups pushing for Day’s canonization and, second, to make them available for the public in Marquette’s digital collections. Although the process may sound cut and dry, Joanna explained that not only does she have to sort and organize the documents, but that there are in fact multiple series of Day’s records. For example, one single series of Day’s personal letters is broken down into 22 boxes, each with four to ten folders in them, and inside those are anywhere from 50 to 70 letters to or from Day.
Joanna says she needs a lot of patience when it comes to working with the documents, but also is excited just to be a part of the process. As someone who converted to Catholicism later in her life, she identifies with Day and is more than happy to help cement her legacy as a saint. Joanna believes that Day’s message to show love to everyone and anyone is what Christianity is truly about and that, despite her faults, Day makes a perfect contemporary example for the way we should treat others and live our lives.
If you are also inspired by Dorothy Day and her work, learn more about her Marquette connection by visiting Raynor Memorial Libraries’ Dorothy Day/Catholic Worker collection.
