From Union Square to Rome - New Edition

Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker, has been called “the church’s least likely yet most plausible saint.” From Union Square to Rome, first published in 1938, offers the first account of her dramatic conversion to Roman Catholicism, a story later expanded upon in her classic memoir, The Long Loneliness.

In this concise and passionate work, Day’s purpose was to give an account to her comrades in the radical movement of how she came to embrace Christ and the Catholic Church. She reveals how God was present in all the steps of her journey: in intimations of the sacred, in her experiences in the struggle for social justice, in times of loneliness and confusion, in her experience of love, her joy in the birth of her daughter, and even in the painful price she ultimately paid for her faith.

Pope Francis in his address to Congress in 2015 held up Day, whose cause for canonization is in process, among “four great Americans” who speak to the needs of our day. And now in a new Foreword to this edition, he holds up her story for all people, and especially for Catholics: “Her whole life was devoted to social justice and human rights, particularly for the poor, the exploited workers, and the socially marginalized. It exemplified what St. James said in his Letter: ‘Show me your faith without works and I by my works will show you my faith.’”

Also in this edition, a selection of photographs that illustrate her text.

From Union Square to Rome is essential reading book for those just learning about the woman Pope Francis named as one of four great Americans.

Photo: Courtesy of Marquette University Archives
 

Cover design: Regina Gelfer