MAURIN, ARISTIDE PETER

Cofounder of The Catholic Worker; b. Languedoc, southern France, May 9, 1877; d. New York City, May 15, 1949. Peter, the son of Jean Baptiste and Marie (Pages) Maurin, spent his early childhood working on the family farm. At the age of 14, he went to St. Privat's, a boarding school near Paris run by the Christian Brothers. On Oct. 1, 1893, he was received as a novice, and he took his first vows on Sept. 18, 1895. After interrupting his religious life when he was called to serve in the 142d Infantry regiment of Mende in 1898–99, Maurin left the Christian Brothers on Jan. 1, 1903. At the age of 32 he immigrated to western Canada to take up homesteading. When his partner was killed in a hunting accident, Maurin left the farm and took up unskilled jobs as a wandering worker. In 1925 he went to New York City. While studying history and giving French lessons at an art colony near Woodstock, N. Y., he began to write in a style named after his only book, the much reprinted Easy Essays (1936). His essays were characterized by phrased writing, succinct and easy to remember. In December 1932, he met Dorothy Day and urged her to start a paper devoted to carrying out his message. The first issue (2,500 copies) of The Catholic Worker was printed in May 1933. Maurin wrote every month for the paper, spoke at meetings around New York, and instructed members of the staff. Much of his life was devoted to traveling around the country lecturing to audiences in parks and universities. He was dedicated to making Catholics aware of their spiritual destiny, and he wanted people to do things for themselves, to take care of the poor and the needy, and to work on the land as an antidote for unemployment. He taught also the need for houses of hospitality and farming communes.

Bibliography: a. sheehan, Peter Maurin: Gay Believer (Garden City, N.Y. 1959). r. cole, "On Moral Leadership: Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in Tandem." America 178, no. 20 (1998) 5. p. g. coy, ed., A Revolution of the Heart: Essays on the 'Catholic Worker"' (Philadelphia 1988). d. day, Loaves and Fishes (London 1963). m. t. aronica, Beyond Charismatic Leadership: The New York Catholic Worker Movement (New Brunswick, N.J., 1987). m. piehl, Breaking Bread: The 'Catholic Worker' and the Origin of Catholic Radicalism in America (Philadelphia 1982).

[d. day]