Catholic Priest

Augustine of Hippo

Philosophy

354–430

"Don’t hold yourselves cheap, seeing that the creator of all things and of you estimates your value so high, so dear, that he pours out for you every day the most precious blood of his only-begotten Son."

"The sinners … did not even have the consolation of feeling they were in God’s good books. The educated people told them that they were displeasing to God and “they ought to know."

Henri Nouwen

Religion

1932–1996

"Henri Nouwen on Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son"

🇩🇪Ivan Illich

Religion

degrowth

1926–2002

"The search for truth presupposes the growth of philia. This philia must find an atmosphere in which it can grow, and this atmosphere cannot be taken for granted as an out-growth of civic virtue."

🇬🇧Saint Patrick

Religion

385–461

"The History of Saint Patrick" at IrishAbroad"

🇫🇷Francis de Sales

Religion

Counter-Reformation

1567–1622

"There are no galley-slaves in the royal vessel of divine love—every man works his oar voluntarily!"

John Ruysbroeck

Literature

1293–1381

"Then are we ravished out of self by purified Love, even to the Face of God, freed and emptied of every event and illusion. This is the contemplative life of highest price."

Smaragde Mbonyintege

Religion

b. 1947

"God is not found in a disorganised way. If someone has a church they should also follow the doctrine of that church."

🇺🇸Richard Rohr

Literature

b. 1943

"Group-think is a substitute for God-think. The belief is that God is found only by our group. The next step is to establish that identification with our group as the only way to serve God."

"There is much to weep about. But it is a sin to permit our tears to drown out our song of gratitude and joy in the gift of creation."

Michel Sabbah

b. 1933

"Nobody can tell us Christians how to dress, how to live or how to pray."

Edward Schillebeeckx

Religion

1914–2009

"It is evident that thought is also necessary for action. But the Church has for centuries ... focused on orthodoxy and left orthopraxis in the hands of nonmembers and nonbelievers."

Thomas Becket

Religion

1119–1171

"There has been no satisfaction, and I will not absolve them."

Hilary of Poitiers

Religion

"The Son of God is nailed to the cross; but on the cross God conquers human death. Christ, the Son of God, dies; but all flesh is made alive in Christ. The Son of God is in hell; but man is carried back to heaven."

🇩🇪Michael von Faulhaber

Politics

1869–1952

"Notwithstanding all the guidance of divine grace Israel did not know the time of her visitation. The great majority of the people rejected the Messiah with the cry: 'His blood be upon us and upon our children' ."

Basil of Caesarea

Religion

329–379

"... my dear friend Poverty, nurse of philosophy"

Nicholas of Cusa

Mathematics

Humanism

1401–1464

"I behold Thee, 0 Lord my God, in a kind of mental trance"

Gavin Douglas

Literature

1474–1522

"Arguably the best version of Virgil in English poetry."

🇭🇺Franz Liszt

Music

Romantic music

1811–1886

"Sorrowful and great is the artist's destiny."

Pope Eugene III

Religion

"Eugene III: Summons to A Crusade, Dec 1, 1154 at the Medieval Sourcebook"

🇫🇷Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Religion

1881–1955

"The Human Phenomenon Excerpts from the book"

🇵🇪Gustavo Gutiérrez

Religion

liberation theology

1928–2024

"Theology as critical reflection thus fulfills a liberating function for man and the Christian community, preserving them from fetishism and idolatry, as well as from a pernicious and belittling narcissism."

Nicole Oresme

Philosophy

1320–1382

"Since money belongs to the community … it would seem that the community may control it as it wills, and therefore may make as much profit from alteration as it likes, and treat money as its own property."

🇬🇷Gregory_Thaumaturgus

Religion

"I put a poor youth, if he be wise, before an aged prince devoid of wisdom."

🇫🇷François de La Rochefoucauld

Military

1521–1572

"But, yet acquired qualities should always have a certain agreement and a certain union with our own natural qualities, which they imperceptibly extend and increase."