The Maritains and Rome

The Maritains and Rome

First Session: May 11 and 12, 2023

May 11, 2023: University of Notre Dame Rome Global Gateway

Via Ostilia, 15 Rome, Italy, 00184

May 12, 2023: Angelicum, Aula Minor

Largo Angelicum, 1 Rome, Italy 00184

Language: French and simultaneous translation into English

Study Days for the 50th Anniversary of the Death of Jacques Maritain

Baptized in Protestantism, raised in agnosticism, married to a young woman of the Jewish faith, Jacques Maritain grew up far from the vital center of the militant Church that is Rome. From the moment of his conversion, however, his gaze turned to the Eternal City, where he made his first trip in 1918. From the beginning of his Christian life, he was attentive to the teaching of the successors of Peter, even if some of his theses were discussed in Roman circles. A committed actor in the civil society of his time, he also held the position of ambassador to the Holy See from 1945 to 1948 and played a role on the cultural level by founding the Centre Saint-Louis de France.

On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Jacques Maritain’s death – a date that has been included in the list of national commemorations of the Institut de France – it seemed appropriate to take advantage of this rich bibliography and the contributions of new archival sources to broaden and deepen the perspectives already opened.

Two colloquia are organized in 2023 and 2024. The first, on May 11 and 12, 2023, will focus on the Roman period of the Maritain couple. The subject will be treated from a historical point of view – looking back at the Maritains’; actions in Rome, Jacques Maritain’s choices as ambassador, the links the couple forged in the Vatican and in Italy – but also from a philosophical point of view: what was the influence of the Roman period and of the Roman encounters on J. Maritain’s thought? How did the encounter with the Eternal City influence the philosopher’s aesthetic?

This opening on the more philosophical aspects of the Roman stay of the Maritains will make the link with the second colloquium. This second colloquium, planned for 2024, will focus on Maritain’s personalism and its reception: how has Maritain’s thought been received in different geographical areas? How does it allow us to face contemporary challenges?

Finally, there will be a reflection on Maritain’s ecclesiological thought, so valuable in the synodal context. The contributions of the two colloquia will be gathered in a publication to be published in 2025, the year that marks the 80th anniversary of the creation of the Centre Saint-Louis de France by J. Maritain.

Schedule May 11, 2023 at the University of Notre Dame Rome Global Gateway

5:30 pm : Opening address

5:45 pm – 6:30pm : Michel FOURCADE (Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier III) with Fr Augustin LAFFAY, OP (General Archivist of the Order of Preachers) : Jacques, Raissa and Rome

Discussion with the public

6:45pm : Reception

Schedule May 12, 2023 at Angelicum

Maritain as Ambassador: Morning

9am – 9:30 am : Welcome and opening remarks | Augustin LAFFAY, OP, General Archivist of the Order of Preachers

Moderation : Florian MICHEL (Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne)

9:30 am – 10am : Jean-Dominique DURAND (Université Lyon 3) : The Rome of the Maritains

10am – 10:30 am : Claude LORENTZ (Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire de Strasbourg) : The Jacques and Raïssa Maritain collection of the Bnu of Strasbourg and its Roman archives

10:30 am – 11am : Audrey VIROT (Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas) : The diplomatic activity of Maritain Discussion

11am – 11:30 am : break

11:30 am – 12am : Guillaume MOREAU (student at Université de Bretagne Occidentale) : The founding of the Centre Saint-Louis by Jacques Maritain

12pm – 12:30 pm : Martin DUMONT (Sorbonne Université – Paris IV) : Félix Darsy, a French Dominican ecclesiastical advisor to the French Embassy to the Holy See

12:30 pm – 1pm : Tangi CAVALIN (CEMS/IMM/EHESS) : Thomas Delos, OP : an intellectual committed to Jacques Maritain Discussion

Political and Philosophical Debates in Rome: Afternoon

Moderation : Laura PETTINAROLI

3pm – 3:30 pm : Nina VALBOUSQUET (Ecole française de Rome) : Maritain and the condemnation of antisemitism

3:30 pm – 4pm : Philippe CHENAUX (Pontificia Università Lateranense) : The roman notebooks

4pm – 4:30 pm : Felix RESCH (Collège des Bernardins, Paris) : The royalty of Christ

Discussion

Conclusion of the conference : Michel FOURCADE

Reception

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