Peter Maurin (; May 9, 1877 – May 15, 1949) was a French
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
social activist
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range ...
, theologian, and De La Salle Brother who founded the
Catholic Worker Movement in 1933 with
Dorothy Day
Dorothy Day (November 8, 1897 – November 29, 1980) was an American journalist, social activist and anarchist who, after a bohemian youth, became a Catholic without abandoning her social and anarchist activism. She was perhaps the best-known ...
.
Maurin expressed his philosophy through short pieces of verse that became known as ''Easy Essays''. Influenced by the contemporary work of
G. K. Chesterton and
Vincent McNabb
Vincent McNabb, O.P. (8 July 1868 – 17 June 1943) was an Irish Catholic scholar and Dominican priest based in London, active in evangelisation and apologetics.
Early life
McNabb was born in Portaferry, County Down, Ireland, the ...
, he was one of the foremost promoters of the
back-to-the-land movement
A back-to-the-land movement is any of various agrarian movements across different historical periods. The common thread is a call for people to take up smallholding and to grow food from the land with an emphasis on a greater degree of self-suffic ...
and of Catholic
distributism
Distributism is an economic theory asserting that the world's productive assets should be widely owned rather than concentrated.
Developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, distributism was based upon Catholic social teaching prin ...
in the United States. He was also influenced by
Peter Kropotkin
Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activist ...
, an
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessar ...
.
Biography
He was born Pierre Joseph Orestide Maurin
into a poor farming family in the village of
Oultet in the
Languedoc
The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France.
Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...
region of southern France, where he was one of 24 children. After spending time in
the De La Salle Brothers, Maurin served in the
Sillon movement of
Marc Sangnier until he became discouraged by the Sillonist shift from
personalist
Personalism is an intellectual stance that emphasizes the importance of human persons. Personalism exists in many different versions, and this makes it somewhat difficult to define as a philosophical and theological movement. Friedrich Schleierm ...
action towards political action. He briefly moved to
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
to try his hand at homesteading, but was discouraged both by the death of his partner in a hunting accident and by the harsh conditions and rugged individualism that characterized his years of residence in the region.
He then traveled throughout the American east for a few years, and eventually settled in New York.
For a ten-year period, Maurin was not a practicing Catholic "because I was not living as a Catholic should."
In the mid-1920s, Maurin was working as a French tutor in the New York suburbs. It was at this time Maurin experienced a religious conversion, inspired by the life of
Francis of Assisi
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianit ...
. He ceased charging for his lessons and asked only that students give any sum they thought appropriate. This was likely prompted by reading about St. Francis, who viewed labor as a gift to the greater community, not a mode of self-promotion. During this portion of his life, he began composing the poetry that would later be called his ''Easy Essays''.
Dorothy Day and ''The Catholic Worker''
"Peter Maurin first met Dorothy Day in December 1932." She had just returned from Washington, D.C., where she had covered the Hunger March for ''
Commonweal
Commonweal or common weal may refer to:
* Common good, what is shared and beneficial for members of a given community
* Common Weal, a Scottish think tank and advocacy group
* ''Commonweal'' (magazine), an American lay-Catholic-oriented magazin ...
'' and
''America'' magazines. At the
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is a large minor Catholic basilica and national shrine in the United States in Washington, D.C., located at 400 Michigan Avenue Northeast, adjacent to Catholic University. ...
on December 8, 1932, the feast of the
Immaculate Conception
The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception.
It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...
, Day had prayed for inspiration for her future work. She came back to her New York apartment to find Maurin awaiting her in the kitchen. "He had read some of her articles and had been told by George Schuster, editor of
Commonweal
Commonweal or common weal may refer to:
* Common good, what is shared and beneficial for members of a given community
* Common Weal, a Scottish think tank and advocacy group
* ''Commonweal'' (magazine), an American lay-Catholic-oriented magazin ...
, to look her up and exchange ideas with her." The French models and literature Maurin brought to Day's attention are of particular interest.
For four months after their first meeting, Maurin "indoctrinated" her, sharing ideas, synopses of books and articles, and analyzing all facets of daily life through the lens of his intellectual system. He suggested she start a newspaper, since she was a trained journalist, to "bring the best of Catholic thought to the man in the street in the language of the man in the street". Maurin initially proposed the name ''Catholic Radical'' for the paper that was distributed as the ''
Catholic Worker
''Catholic Worker'' is a newspaper published seven times a year by the flagship Catholic Worker community in New York City. The newspaper was started by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin to make people aware of church teaching on social justice.
...
'' beginning May 1, 1933, during the depths of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
.
His ideas served as the inspiration for the creation of "houses of hospitality" for the poor, for the agrarian endeavors of the Catholic Worker farms, and the regular "roundtable discussions for the clarification of thought" that began taking place shortly after the publication of the first issue of ''
The Catholic Worker
''Catholic Worker'' is a newspaper published seven times a year by the flagship Catholic Worker community in New York City. The newspaper was started by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin to make people aware of church teaching on social justice.
His ...
'' which is considered a
Christian Anarchist
Christian anarchism is a Christian movement in political theology that claims anarchism is inherent in Christianity and the Gospels. It is grounded in the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately ans ...
publication.
Maurin at times saw the paper as not quite radical enough, as it had an emphasis on political and union activity. Shortly after the paper's first print run in early May, 1933, he left New York for the boys' camp at Mt. Tremper, where he worked in exchange for living quarters. "
e paper, declaring its solidarity with labor and its intention of fighting social injustice, was not, by Maurin's standards, a
personalist
Personalism is an intellectual stance that emphasizes the importance of human persons. Personalism exists in many different versions, and this makes it somewhat difficult to define as a philosophical and theological movement. Friedrich Schleierm ...
newspaper." Maurin believed the
Catholic Worker
''Catholic Worker'' is a newspaper published seven times a year by the flagship Catholic Worker community in New York City. The newspaper was started by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin to make people aware of church teaching on social justice.
...
should stress life in small agricultural communities. As he liked to say, “there is no unemployment on the land.”
Maurin lived in
Easton, Pennsylvania
Easton is a city in, and the county seat of, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River, a river that joins the Delaware Ri ...
, where he worked on the first Catholic Worker-owned farming
commune, Maryfarm. He also took part in the Catholic Worker picketing of the Mexican and German consulates during the 1930s.
Maurin traveled extensively, lecturing at parishes, colleges, and meetings across the country, often in coordination with the speaking tours of Dorothy Day. He addressed venues as varied as Harvard students and small parishes, the
Knights of Columbus
The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney on March 29, 1882. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. It is led by Patrick E. Kelly, the order's 14th Supreme Knight. ...
and gatherings of bishops and priests.
Later years
In 1944, Maurin began to lose his memory. His condition deteriorated until he died at the Catholic Worker's Maryfarm near
Newburgh, New York, on May 15, 1949, "the Feast of
St. Dymphna, patroness of mental health, the anniversary also of
St. John Baptiste de la Salle and of the
Papal encyclicals
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from the Late Latin (originally from ...
''
Rerum novarum
''Rerum novarum'' (from its incipit, with the direct translation of the Latin meaning "of revolutionary change"), or ''Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor'', is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891. It is an open letter, pass ...
'' and ''
Quadragesimo anno.'' ...Many remarked the strange convergence of anniversaries." At the wake, many people were seen to touch their rosaries to his hands surreptitiously, indicating their belief in his sanctity. The
Staten Island
Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...
Catholic Worker farm was named after Maurin following his death; the
Peter Maurin Farm currently operates in
Marlboro
Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (now separate from Altria) outside the US. The largest Mar ...
, New York.
Intellectual system
Maurin's vision to transform the
social order
The term social order can be used in two senses: In the first sense, it refers to a particular system of social structures and institutions. Examples are the ancient, the feudal, and the capitalist social order. In the second sense, social order ...
consisted of three main ideas:
#Establishing urban
houses of hospitality to care for the destitute.
#Establishing rural farming communities to teach city dwellers
agrarianism and encourage a movement
back-to-the-land
A back-to-the-land movement is any of various agrarian movements across different historical periods. The common thread is a call for people to take up smallholding and to grow food from the land with an emphasis on a greater degree of self-suffic ...
.
#Setting up
roundtable discussions in community centres in order to clarify thought and initiate action.
Maurin saw similarities between his approach and what he viewed was that of the Irish monks who evangelized medieval Europe.
Intellectual inspirations
According to
Dorothy Day
Dorothy Day (November 8, 1897 – November 29, 1980) was an American journalist, social activist and anarchist who, after a bohemian youth, became a Catholic without abandoning her social and anarchist activism. She was perhaps the best-known ...
, some of the books he had her read were the works of "
Fr. Vincent McNabb and
Eric Gill
Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cra ...
,
Jacques Maritain,
Leon Bloy
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...
,
Charles Peguy
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...
of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
Don Sturzo of
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
,
(Romano) Guardini of
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, and
(Nicholas) Berdyaev of
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
." Another writer upon whom Maurin drew was
Emmanuel Mounier. Other titles included ''Catholicism and the Appeal to Reason'' by Leo Paul Ward, ''Humanity's Destiny'' by
Denifle
Henry Denifle, in German Heinrich Seuse Denifle (January 16, 1844 in Imst, Tyrol – June 10, 1905 in Munich), was an Austrian paleographer and historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an aut ...
, ''Christian Life and Worship'' by Gerald Ellard, ''The Spirit of Catholicism'' by
Karl Adam, and ''
The Servile State
''The Servile State'' is a 1912 book by Hilaire Belloc, primarily a history of capitalism in Europe, and a repudiation of the convergence of big business with the state. Belloc lays out two alternatives: distributism and collectivism.
Overview
...
'' by
Hilaire Belloc
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. H ...
.
The following books were recommended by Peter Maurin in reading lists appended to his essays.
#''Art in a Changing Civilization'',
Eric Gill
Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cra ...
#''Brotherhood Economics'',
Toyohiko Kagawa
was a Japanese Protestant Christian pacifist, Christian reformer, and labour activist. Kagawa wrote, spoke, and worked at length on ways to employ Christian principles in the ordering of society and in cooperatives. His vocation to help the ...
#''
Charles V Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infa ...
'',
D. B. Wyndham Lewis
#''Catholicism, Protestantism and Capitalism'',
Amintore Fanfani
#''The Church and the Land'',
Father Vincent McNabb, O.P.
#''Discourse on Usury'',
Thomas Wilson
#''Enquiries Into Religion and Culture'',
Christopher Dawson
Christopher Henry Dawson (12 October 188925 May 1970) was a British independent scholar, who wrote many books on cultural history and Christendom. Dawson has been called "the greatest English-speaking Catholic historian of the twentieth century ...
#''
Fields, Factories and Workshops
''Fields, Factories, and Workshops'' is an 1899 book by anarchist Peter Kropotkin that discusses the decentralization of industries, possibilities of agriculture, and uses of small industries. Before this book on economics, Kropotkin had been ...
'',
Peter Kropotkin
Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activist ...
#
Fire on the Earth,
Paul Hanly Furfey
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
* Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
*Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...
#
The Flight from the City,
Ralph Borsodi
Ralph Borsodi (December, 1888 – October 27, 1977) was an American agrarian theorist and practical experimenter interested in ways of living useful to the modern family desiring greater self-reliance (especially so during the Great Depression) ...
#
The Franciscan Message to the World,
Father Agostino Gemelli, F.M.
#
Freedom in the Modern World,
Jacques Maritain
#
The Future of Bolshevism,
Waldemar Gurian
Waldemar Gurian (February 13, 1902 – May 26, 1954) was a Russian-born German-American political scientist, author, and professor at the University of Notre Dame. He is regarded particularly as a theorist of totalitarianism. He wrote widely on p ...
#
A Guildsman's Interpretation of History,
Arthur Penty
Arthur Joseph Penty (17 March 1875 – 1937) was an English architect and writer on guild socialism and distributism. He was first a Fabian socialist, and follower of Victorian thinkers William Morris and John Ruskin. He is generally credited wit ...
#
The Great Commandment of the Gospel, His Excellency
A. G. Cicognani, Apostolic Delegate to the U. S.
#
Ireland and the Foundation of Europe,
Benedict Fitzpatrick
#
I Take My Stand, by
Twelve Southern Agrarians
#
The Land of the Free,
Herbert Agar
Herbert Sebastian Agar (29 September 1897 – 24 November 1980) was an American journalist and historian, and an editor of the ''Louisville Courier-Journal''.
Early life
Herbert Sebastian Agar was born September 29, 1897 in New Rochelle, New Yor ...
#
Lord of the World
''Lord of the World'' is a 1907 dystopian science fiction novel by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson that centres upon the reign of the Antichrist and the end of the world. It has been called prophetic by Dale Ahlquist, Joseph Pearce, Pope Benedi ...
,
Robert Hugh Benson
Robert Hugh Benson AFSC KC*SG KGCHS (18 November 1871 – 19 October 1914) was an English Catholic priest and writer. First an Anglican priest, he was received into the Catholic Church in 1903 and ordained therein the next year. He ...
#
The Making of Europe,
Christopher Dawson
Christopher Henry Dawson (12 October 188925 May 1970) was a British independent scholar, who wrote many books on cultural history and Christendom. Dawson has been called "the greatest English-speaking Catholic historian of the twentieth century ...
#
Man the Unknown,
Dr. Alexis Carrel
#
Nations Can Stay at Home,
B. O. Wilcox
#
Nazareth or Social Chaos,
Father Vincent McNabb, O.P.
#
Our Enemy, the State,
Albert Jay Nock
Albert Jay Nock (October 13, 1870 – August 19, 1945) was an American libertarian author, editor first of ''The Freeman'' and then ''The Nation'', educational theorist, Georgist, and social critic of the early and middle 20th century. He was an ...
#
Outline of Sanity,
G. K. Chesterton
#
A Philosophy of Work,
Étienne Borne
#
Post-Industrialism
In sociology, the post-industrial society is the stage of society's development when the service sector generates more wealth than the manufacturing sector of the economy.
The term was originated by Alain Touraine and is closely related to si ...
,
Arthur Penty
Arthur Joseph Penty (17 March 1875 – 1937) was an English architect and writer on guild socialism and distributism. He was first a Fabian socialist, and follower of Victorian thinkers William Morris and John Ruskin. He is generally credited wit ...
#
Progress and Religion,
Christopher Dawson
Christopher Henry Dawson (12 October 188925 May 1970) was a British independent scholar, who wrote many books on cultural history and Christendom. Dawson has been called "the greatest English-speaking Catholic historian of the twentieth century ...
#
Religion and the Modern State,
Christopher Dawson
Christopher Henry Dawson (12 October 188925 May 1970) was a British independent scholar, who wrote many books on cultural history and Christendom. Dawson has been called "the greatest English-speaking Catholic historian of the twentieth century ...
#
Religion and the Rise of Capitalism,
R. H. Tawney
Richard Henry Tawney (30 November 1880 – 16 January 1962) was an English economic historian, social critic, ethical socialist,Noel W. Thompson. ''Political economy and the Labour Party: the economics of democratic socialism, 1884-2005''. 2nd ...
#
La Revolution Personnaliste et Communautaire,
Emmanuel Mounier
#
Saint Francis of Assisi
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a Mysticism, mystic Italian Catholic Church, Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most vener ...
,
G. K. Chesterton
#
Social Principles of the Gospel,
Alphonse Lugan
#
Soviet Man Now,
Helen Iswolsky
#
Temporal Regime and Liberty,
Jacques Maritain
#
The Theory of the Leisure Class
''The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions'' (1899), by Thorstein Veblen, is a treatise of economics and sociology, and a critique of conspicuous consumption as a function of social class and of consumerism, which are ...
,
Thorstein Veblen
Thorstein Bunde Veblen (July 30, 1857 – August 3, 1929) was a Norwegian-American economist and sociologist who, during his lifetime, emerged as a well-known critic of capitalism.
In his best-known book, ''The Theory of the Leisure Class'' ...
#
Thomistic Doctrine of the Common Good, The,
Seraphine Michel
#
Things That Are Not Caesar's,
Jacques Maritain
#
Toward a Christian Sociology,
Arthur Penty
Arthur Joseph Penty (17 March 1875 – 1937) was an English architect and writer on guild socialism and distributism. He was first a Fabian socialist, and follower of Victorian thinkers William Morris and John Ruskin. He is generally credited wit ...
#
True Humanism,
Jacques Maritain
#
The Two Nations,
Christopher Hollis
#
The Unfinished Universe,
T. S. Gregory
#
The Valerian Persecution,
Father Patrick Healy
#
What Man Has Made of Man,
Mortimer Adler
Mortimer () is an English surname, and occasionally a given name.
Norman origins
The surname Mortimer has a Norman origin, deriving from the village of Mortemer, Seine-Maritime, Normandy. A Norman castle existed at Mortemer from an early point; ...
#
Work and Leisure,
Eric Gill
Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cra ...
Legacy
His contributions to the Catholic Worker Movement, while apparently often eclipsed in the collective memory of the movement by those of Dorothy Day, remain foundational, as evidenced by Day's insistence in ''
The Long Loneliness'' and elsewhere that she would never have begun the Catholic Worker without him. "Peter was a revelation to me," she said. "I do know this--that when people come into contact with Peter ... they change, they awaken, they begin to see, things become as new, they look at life in the light of the Gospels. They admit the truth he possesses and lives by, and though they themselves fail to go the whole way, their faces are turned at least towards the light."
Maurin was played by
Martin Sheen
Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...
in ''
Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story''.
In 2010 Mark and Louise Zwick suggested considering Peter Maurin for sainthood.
See also
*
Catholic social teaching
*
Christian anarchism
*
Christian pacifism
Christian pacifism is the theological and ethical position according to which pacifism and non-violence have both a scriptural and rational basis for Christians, and affirms that any form of violence is incompatible with the Christian faith. Chri ...
*
Distributism
Distributism is an economic theory asserting that the world's productive assets should be widely owned rather than concentrated.
Developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, distributism was based upon Catholic social teaching prin ...
*
Localism (politics)
Localism describes a range of political philosophies which prioritize the local. Generally, localism supports local production and consumption of goods, local control of government, and promotion of local history, local culture and local identi ...
*
Social justice
Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...
References
Further reading
* Atkins, Robert. "Dorothy Day's Social Catholicism: The Formative French Influences". ''International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church'', vol. 13, no. 2 (2013):96-110.
*
Ellis, Marc H. ''Peter Maurin: Prophet in the Twentieth Century''. New York: Paulist Press, 1981
* Day, Dorothy. "Maurin, Aristide Peter" in ''New Catholic Encyclopedia''. 2nd ed. 2003.
* Day, Dorothy and Francis J. Sicius, (eds.) ''Peter Maurin: Apostle to the World''. Marynoll: Orbis Books, 2004.
* Maurin, Peter. ''
Catholic Radicalism: Phrased Essays For The Green Revolution''. New York: Catholic Worker Books, 1949.
* Maurin, Peter. ''Easy Essays''. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1977.
* Maurin, Peter. ''The Green Revolution: Easy Essays on Catholic Radicalism''. Fresno, Calif.: Academy Guild Press. 1961.
*
*
External links
*
Peter Maurin biography and photosat Catholic Worker
Easy Essaysby Peter Maurin
Peter Maurin Papersat Marquette University
Maurin, Day, the Catholic Worker, and Anarcho-Distributism by Nicholas Evans 2018
Catholic Freedom: Why Confession To A Priest Is Not Necessary To Have Sins ForgivenA Brief History of Confession from a Cafeteria Catholic Anarchist perspective by Nicholas Evans
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maurin, Peter
1877 births
1949 deaths
20th-century Roman Catholics
Catholic socialists
Catholic Workers
Christian communists
French Christian pacifists
French Christian socialists
French Roman Catholics
Nonviolence advocates
Roman Catholic activists
Roman Catholic writers
Catholicism and far-left politics
Distributism