Alice Marie von Hildebrand,

GCSG The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great ( la, Ordo Sancti Gregorii Magni; it, Ordine di San Gregorio Magno) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope. The order is one of ...

(née Jourdain; 11 March 1923 – 14 January 2022) was a Belgian-born American Catholic philosopher, theologian, author, and professor. She taught philosophy at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also adm ...

for 37 years. She was also the second wife of

Dietrich von Hildebrand Dietrich Richard Alfred von Hildebrand (12 October 1889 – 26 January 1977) was a German Roman Catholic philosopher and religious writer. Hildebrand was called "the twentieth-century Doctor of the Church" by Pope Pius XII. He was a leadi ...

Early life

Von Hildebrand was born Alice Marie Jourdain to Henri and Marthe (van der Horst) Jourdain in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium, on 11 March 1923. Her

first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tong ...

was French. She left her home country in 1940, shortly after it was invaded by Germany, and relocated to the United States as a refugee. She initially attended

Manhattanville College Manhattanville College is a private university in Purchase, New York. Founded in 1841 at 412 Houston Street in lower Manhattan, it was initially known as Academy of the Sacred Heart, then after 1847 as Manhattanville College of the Sacred Hea ...

, before studying philosophy at

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

, where she obtained a doctorate in 1949.

Career

Von Hildebrand struggled to find employment in academia. She was rejected by Catholic colleges, who informed her that they did not employ women to teach philosophy. She eventually started teaching at

– a constituent college of the

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the public university system of New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven senior colleges, seven community colleges and seven pr ...

– in 1947. She utilized her maiden name due to the hostility endured by her husband. She only received

academic tenure Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigency or program disco ...

after 14 years of teaching. Despite being advised by the college president (and fellow Catholic) George N. Shuster that she would be more content teaching at a Catholic institution, she was of the opinion that it was essential for a Catholic to be present at a secular educational institution. She ultimately remained at Hunter College for 37 years. She attributed the conversion of many of her students to Catholicism with her teaching of objective truth. Von Hildebrand retired early in 1984, having grown weary of being issued a teaching schedule that concluded at 10 pm. She was subsequently conferred the Presidential Award for excellence in teaching by the college. Von Hildebrand made more than 80 appearances on

EWTN The Eternal Word Television Network, more commonly known by its initials EWTN, is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic-themed programming. It is not only the largest Catholic television network in ...

television programming. She launched the Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project in 2004 with some of her husband's former students. Her works include ''The Soul of a Lion: The Life of Dietrich von Hildebrand'' (2000), a biography of her husband, and her autobiography, ''Memoirs of a Happy Failure'' (2014), which recounts her escape from

Nazi Europe German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

and her teaching career at Hunter College.

Views

Von Hildebrand criticized what she considered to be the advance of

relativism Relativism is a family of philosophical views which deny claims to objectivity within a particular domain and assert that valuations in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assessed. There ...

and modernism in the Catholic Church, particularly within its institutions of

Catholic higher education Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical univ ...

and its

Catholic school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syst ...

s. She was also an outspoken critic of feminism.

Personal life

Von Hildebrand married Catholic philosopher and theologian

in 1959, two years after his first wife died. They first met at Fordham University, where she was a student and he was a professor. She later worked as his secretary and collaborated with him on authoring books, such as ''The Art of Living''. They did not have children together, and remained married until his death in 1977. Von Hildebrand was created a Dame of Grand Cross of the

Order of Saint Gregory the Great The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great ( la, Ordo Sancti Gregorii Magni; it, Ordine di San Gregorio Magno) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope. The order is one o ...

, a papal order of knighthood, in October 2013. She died on 14 January 2022 at her home in New Rochelle, New York. She was 98, and suffered a brief illness prior to her death.

Bibliography

* ''Greek Culture, the Adventure of the Human Spirit'', editor (G. Braziller, 1966) * ''Introduction to a Philosophy of Religion'' (Franciscan Herald Press, 1970) * ''By Love Refined: Letters to a Young Bride'' (Sophia Institute Press, 1989) * ''Women and the Priesthood'' (Franciscan University Press, 1994) * ''By Grief Refined: Letters to a Widow'' (Franciscan University Press, 1994) * ''Memoiren und Aufsätze gegen den Nationalsozialismus, 1933–1938'', with Dietrich von Hildebrand and Rudolf Ebneth, ( Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag, 1994) * ''Soul of a Lion: Dietrich Von Hildebrand; A Biography'' (Ignatius Press, 2000) * ''The Privilege of Being a Woman'' (Veritas Press, 2002) * ''Man and Woman: A Divine Invention'' (Ignatius Press, 2010) * ''Memoirs of a Happy Failure'', with John Henry Crosby (Saint Benedict Press, 2014)

References

External links

* https://www.alicevonhildebrand.org Alice von Hildebrand website, managed by th
Hildebrand Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hildebrand, Alice von 1923 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Belgian Roman Catholic theologians 20th-century Belgian women writers 21st-century Belgian women writers Belgian traditionalist Catholics Belgian emigrants to the United States Belgian women writers Catholic philosophers Conservatism in the United States German untitled nobility Fordham University alumni

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

Hunter College faculty Philosophers of religion Roman Catholic writers Women religious writers Writers from Brussels Dames Grand Cross of the Order of St Gregory the Great