Peter Maurin

1950s | Dorothy Day | Dorothy Day's Writings | Founders | Peter Maurin

Introduction (Two Agitators)
ByDorothy Day October 1, 1959November 2, 2023

In her introduction to the 56-page pamphlet “Two Agitators: Peter Maurin — Ammon Hennacy” (The Catholic Worker, New York, 1959) Dorothy Day sketches a portrait of Peter Maurin and Ammon Hennacy and provides some background on their place in the Catholic Worker Movement. She marks similarities and differences between the two men, noting that their humility expressed itself in very different ways. Both men believed in the power of ideas and lived in a way that communicated their ideas as powerfully as any of their words.

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1950s | Dorothy Day | Dorothy Day's Writings | Peter Maurin

Peter’s Program
ByDorothy Day May 1, 1955May 6, 2025

Summary: Outlines Peter Maurin’s program for social reordering. Calls for a Green Revolution, a return to the villages. Finds his whole message embodied in personalism, which begins with oneself. Blames the C.W.’s problems in its lack of ability to limit itself. (DDLW #176). The Catholic Worker, May 1955, 2.

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1950s | Dorothy Day | Dorothy Day's Writings | Peter Maurin

Personalist Peter Maurin
ByDorothy Day May 1, 1953August 19, 2025

Summary: Summarizes Peter Maurin’s worldview and discusses his new social order and how his life embodied his ideas. Reveals the sources of his thought such as Proudhon, Kropotkin, Guardini and Karl Adam. (DDLW #170) The Catholic Worker, May 1953, 1-2.

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1960s | Dorothy Day | Dorothy Day's Writings

Feast of St. Joseph
ByDorothy Day March 19, 1952April 4, 2023

Summary: An appeal asking for contributions for mounting bills. Describes their coffee and soup lines, and says there should be hospices in every parish, and “where in faith one sees Christ in the old, crippled, the mentally and physically destitute. (DDLW #927).

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1950s | Dorothy Day | Dorothy Day's Writings

The Long Loneliness
ByDorothy Day February 1, 1952April 4, 2023

Summary: Eight excerpts from The Long Loneliness around the themes of community and work as envisioned by Peter Maurin: the meaning of liturgy in revolutionary times; Peter Maurin’s vision of community in farming communes; a community of families as a lay form of religious life; mutual aid and giving to increase love; Peter’s emphasis on work over wages and ownership; importance of a philosophy of work based on being made in the image and likeness of God; self-sufficiency in food; the difficulty of restoring community on the land. (DDLW #628). The Catholic Worker, February 1952, 3.

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1950s | Dorothy Day | Dorothy Day's Writings

On Pilgrimage: (February 1951)
ByDorothy Day February 1, 1951January 27, 2023

Summary: Ruminates in mid-winter on happiness and beauty, and “the duty of delight.” Repeats Peter Maurin’s maxim, “We must make the kind of society where it is easier for people to be good.” (DDLW #910). The Catholic Worker, February 1951, pp.1,6

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1940s | Dorothy Day | Dorothy Day's Writings | Peter Maurin

The Story of Three Deaths: Peter Maurin, Lawrence Heaney, Willie Lurye
ByDorothy Day June 1, 1949April 6, 2023

Summary: A loving obituary for Peter Maurin giving the details of his death and burial. Speaks of his last five years of illness, the day he died, his wake and funeral. Emphasizes the ways “He was another St. Francis of modern times.” (DDLW #495). The Catholic Worker, June 1949, 1, 2.

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1940s | Dorothy Day | Dorothy Day's Writings

Without Poverty We Are Powerless
ByDorothy Day May 1, 1948February 8, 2023

Summary: Asserts the importance of voluntary poverty even if it means we are fools for Christ. Then gives a loving appreciation of Peter Maurin’s holy poverty, blending light-hearted stories and a graphic description of his dementia and silent suffering. Quotes from Fr. Faber on death in anticipation of Peter’s death within a year. (DDLW #468). The Catholic Worker, May 1948, 2, 7.

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1940s | Dorothy Day | Dorothy Day's Writings

Letter To Our Readers at the Beginning of Our Fifteenth Year
ByDorothy Day May 1, 1947August 25, 2025

Summary: Outlines P. Maurin’s program for social action as the instituting of Houses of Hospitality, Clarification of Thought and Farming Communes, and explains where the C.W. has gone with each program. Reveals Maurin’s sources of thought and the need to find lay apostolates. Traces personal sacrifices to Jesus’ command in the gospels and asserts that the state cannot take over this duty. (DDLW #155). The Catholic Worker, May 1947, 1-3.

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1940s | Dorothy Day | Dorothy Day's Writings

Peter the Materialist
ByDorothy Day September 1, 1945October 11, 2022

Summary: Another chapter from her unpublished biography of Peter Maurin. Describes St. Francis as the great personalist and goes on to explicate a philosophy of work. Sees it as a gift, a vocation that one should find what he/she does best and develop it. Encourages scholars to become workers and workers to become scholars in order that more understanding exit between the two. Defends Peter from the criticism of being a materialist and portrays him as an apostle to the world, not of the world. (DDLW #152). The Catholic Worker, September 1945, 6.

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1940s | Dorothy Day | Dorothy Day's Writings | Peter Maurin

Background for Peter Maurin
ByDorothy Day February 1, 1945March 28, 2023

Summary: A chapter from her unpublished book “Peter Maurin.” Comments on P. Maurin’s thoughts on capitalism and socialism and the idea that Papal Encyclicals try to make an “acquisitive society functional.” (DDLW #151). The Catholic Worker, February 1945, 3,7.

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1940s | Dorothy Day | Dorothy Day's Writings

Poverty and Pacifism
ByDorothy Day December 1, 1944October 9, 2025

Summary: Elaborates on the vision of voluntary poverty and what it implies for the kind of work we do, what we eat and drink, how we entertain ourselves. Recommends decentralized living and numerous books. Says “We need saints. God, give us saints.” (DDLW #223). The Catholic Worker, December 1944, 1, 7.

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1940s | Dorothy Day | Dorothy Day's Writings

Farming Commune
ByDorothy Day February 1, 1944October 27, 2025

Summary: Defines personalism as the realization that one “cannot find satisfaction in this life unless he reckons that there is only God and himself.” Discusses the difficulties of farming communes and the need to establish the communal aspects of Christianity. (The Catholic Worker, February 1944, 1,8. DDLW #149).

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1940s | Dorothy Day | Dorothy Day's Writings

Day After Day
ByDorothy Day February 1, 1943August 19, 2025

Summary: Discusses the two major subjects of her speaking engagements, Peter Maurin, whom she describes as founder and mind of the C.W., and personalism, which she describes as communitarian, and the philosophy of both P. Maurin and the C.W.. Describes some of the difficulties in living the CW vocation and running farming communes. Recommends reading the Desert Fathers and Aldous Huxley’s Grey Eminence to understand personalism and communitarianism. (DDLW #148). The Catholic Worker, February 1943, 1,4.

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1940s | Dorothy Day's Writings | Peter Maurin

Peter Maurin: Impressions By One of His Fellow Workers
ByDorothy Day May 1, 1940May 5, 2023

Summary: A sketch of Peter Maurin describing his philosophy, demeanor, and many sayings. Mentions that he lives what he preaches, practicing detachment from material goods. Notes that many Jews have come to the Catholic Worker during the recent wave of anti-Semitism in New York because they see Peter as an ally. (The Catholic Worker, May 1940, page 11)

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