Dorothy Day
Born: November 8, 1897
Died: November 29, 1980
Dorothy Day taught me that justice begins on our knees. I have never known anyone, not even in monasteries, who was more of a praying person than Dorothy Day. When I think of her, I think of her first of all on her knees praying before the Blessed Sacrament. I think of those long lists of names she kept of people, living and dead, to pray for. I think of her at Mass, I think of her praying the rosary, I think of her going off for Confession each Saturday evening.
If you find the life of Dorothy Day inspiring, if you want to understand what gave her direction and courage and strength to persevere, her deep attentiveness to others, consider her spiritual and sacramental life.
“We feed the hungry, yes,” she said. “We try to shelter the homeless and give them clothes, but there is strong faith at work; we pray. If an outsider who comes to visit us doesn’t pay attention to our prayings and what that means, then he’ll miss the whole point.”
More about Dorothy Day:
What I learned about justice from Dorothy Day
“At the heart of what Dorothy did were the works of mercy,” says Jim Forest.
The trouble with St. Dorothy
Dorothy Day will be the patron saint not only of homeless people and those who try to care for them but also of people who lose their tempers.
When Dorothy Day comes to stay
What one woman learned from a holy houseguest.
All in a Day’s work: The legacy of Dorothy Day
Dorothy Day was more than the patron saint of peace and justice; she was a saint who recognized the church’s shortcomings and loved it anyway.
The living legacy of Dorothy Day
Jim Forest on Dorothy Day’s pre-Catholic Worker life.
The gifts of Saint Dorothy Day: An interview with Robert Ellsberg
Dorothy didn't just serve the poor, but asked why we have a society that creates so many poor people and set herself in opposition to the structures that result in so much injustice.
Saint Dorothy Day, pray for us
We need the example of this woman who tried to live the gospel in the modern world.
Work hard, pray hard: On Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton
The friendship of two spiritual giants reveals two remarkably different paths to the peace of Christ.
Jim Forest on the complexities of Dorothy Day
The editors interview Jim Forest, biographer and friend of Dorothy Day, and a former Catholic Worker himself, about Dorothy Day’s abortion, conversion to Catholicism, and what she might think about women’s ordination.
Day by Day: The letters and journals of Dorothy Day
Thirty years after her death, Dorothy Day’s letters and diaries reveal an ordinary but committed woman trying to put love where there was none.
Image: Bob Fitch photography archive, © Stanford University Libraries
