Robert Andrew Graham, SJ (March 11, 1912,
Sacramento, California
)
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, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
– February 11, 1997,
Los Gatos, California) was an American
Jesuit priest and
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
historian of the
Catholic Church
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 ...
. He was a vigorous defender of
Pope Pius XII over accusations that he had failed to do what he could to defend the
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
and others persecuted by the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
.
The son of
Charlie Graham
Charles Henry Graham (April 24, 1878 – August 29, 1948), known as "Uncle Charlie", was an American baseball catcher, manager and team owner. Listed at , 190 lb., Graham batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Santa Clara, California. ...
, a former professional
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
player for the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...
and part owner of the
San Francisco Seals, Graham joined the California province of the Jesuits as a young man. He was ordained priest in 1941 and was soon sent to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to work on the Jesuit weekly,
''America'', where he remained for two decades. In 1952, he gained a doctorate in political science and international law from the
Graduate Institute of International Studies
Graduate may refer to:
Education
* The subject of a graduation, i.e. someone awarded an academic degree
** Alumnus, a former student who has either attended or graduated from an institution
* High school graduate, someone who has completed hi ...
in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
during a sabbatical.
In 1959, his book, ''Vatican Diplomacy: A Study of Church and State on the International Plane'', was published. This treatise on pontifical ecclesiastical diplomacy published by Princeton University Press would endure to become a discipline classic thus qualifying Rev. Graham as one of the Church's experts on the subject of Holy See diplomacy. This classic treatise continues to be used by English-language scholars specializing in the field of pontifical ecclesiastical diplomacy and diplomatic history even today. Following the publication of his book Rev. Graham travelled the world interviewing witnesses on the Vatican's diplomatic response to Nazism during the Second World War at a time when the Vatican archives remained closed.
To counter growing attacks, in 1965 the Vatican began publication of some of its wartime documents in a series of books edited by a Jesuit team, ''
''. Graham joined them in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
in 1966 from the third volume (eleven would eventually be published by the project's completion in 1981. With Vatican permission, Graham also supplied researchers on request with other documents not included in the published collection. In 1968, Graham published a book, ''The Pope and Poland in World War II'', a summary of Volume III of the Actes, which deals with the Church in Poland.
Graham often published the findings of his research for ''
La Civiltà Cattolica
''La Civiltà Cattolica'' (Italian for ''Catholic Civilization'') is a periodical published by the Jesuits in Rome, Italy. It has been published continuously since 1850 and is among the oldest of Catholic Italian periodicals. All of the journal' ...
'', the Jesuit-run, Catholic journal in Italy. In 1996, Graham published English translations of some of his ''La Civilta Cattolica'' articles in his book, ''The Vatican and Communism During World War: What Really Happened''.
Graham often wrote a column for ''Columbia'', the official magazine of 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. ...
.
Graham's research was not limited to the Vatican archives. When a family friend had mentioned that one of their neighbors in New York spent part of the Second World War as an escaped British
prisoner-of-war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...
living in the Vatican, he dropped what he was doing to fly to the US to meet with William C. Simpson. Simpson who had become part of
Hugh O'Flaherty
Hugh O'Flaherty (28 February 1898 – 30 October 1963), was an Irish Catholic priest and senior official of the Roman Curia, and a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism. During World War II, O'Flaherty was responsible for savi ...
's network, later wrote a book on the subject titled ''A Vatican Life Line'' in 1996.
Graham criticised what he called "irresponsible muddying of the well-springs of history" by some writers on the Vatican during the Second World War. He felt that had Pius XII spoken out more forcefully against Nazi persecution, "Hitler would have gone on a rampage of revenge - not only against Jews but against German bishops as well." Graham regarded the refutation of accusations against Pius XII as vital. "While his detractors can no longer injure him, their slanders and insinuations continue to plague the Church, for when a Pope is defamed, the Church suffers."
In matters regarding Pius XII, he worked with
Raimondo Spiazzi
Raimondo Spiazzi OP (18 January 1918 – 14 October 2002) was an Italian Catholic theologian, advisor to Pius XII, and Mariologist with over 2,500 publications.
Early Biography
Spiazzi was born in Moneglia, province of Genoa.
Formatio ...
. He revanched himself with ever new details, documents, or letters, which he continued to discover long after his 80th birthday. The ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' quoted him ''"I am 79, I thought I ought to unload this stuff, before I pop off"''
[''New York Times'', February 17, 1997, p. 31] Graham remained in Rome until illness struck in 1996, when he returned to his native California. He died in 1997, aged 84, leaving behind a large body of published and unpublished work.
Publications
*Alvarez, David and Graham, Robert A. ''Nothing Sacred: Nazi Espionage Against the Vatican, 1939-1945'', Routledge, 1997.
*Graham, Robert A, ''The Vatican and Communism during World War II, What Really Happened'', Ignatius Press, 1996.
*Graham. Robert A. ''The Pope in Poland in World War Two'', Veritas, 1968
*Graham, Robert A., ''Vatican Diplomacy: A Study of Church & State on the International Plane'', Princeton University Press, 1959.
References
External links
Robert Graham, S.J.Catholic Answers: How Pius XII Protected Jews
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Robert A.
1912 births
1997 deaths
20th-century American Jesuits
20th-century American Roman Catholic theologians
Historians of the Catholic Church
People from Sacramento, California
People from Los Gatos, California
University of Geneva alumni
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies alumni
20th-century American historians
20th-century American male writers
American male non-fiction writers
Catholics from California
Expatriates in Switzerland
Historians from California