Called the “20th century doctor of the Church” by Pope Pius XII, the philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand was also an outspoken critic of Adolph Hitler, leading to von Hildebrand’s being targeted for assassination.
Hunted throughout Europe, von Hildebrand arrived in New York City in 1940, where he taught at Jesuit-run Fordham University until 1960. After retirement, he kept up with Fordham through the late Dr. William Marra (who taught me at Fordham around 1979!)
The Early Life of von Hildebrand
In his own words, Dietrich Von Hildebrand was born into magnificent beauty!
I was born in Florence on October 12, 1889, the son of the famous German sculptor Adolf von Hildebrand, and his wife, Irene Schaueffelen. My parents lived in a beautiful house… situated on the outskirts of the marvelous town of Florence. I grew up in these glorious surroundings, sheltered in the superabundant love of my mother, and of my five sisters” (Dietrich von Hildebrand -CatholicAuthors.com).
The 20th Century Doctor of the Church
In 1929, one year before Pope Pius XI’s encyclical on Christian Marriage, Casti Connubii, Von Hildebrand published “Marriage“:
there is no greater mystery in the natural order of things than the fact that this closest of all unions procreates a human being with an immortal soul (although the soul, in each case, is a direct creation of God), and that this act brings a new being into existence destined to love God and to adore Him, a new being made after His image (p. 26).
He alone can understand the horror of the sin of promiscuity who has grasped the grandeur and sublimity of bodily union as the full realization of conjugal love, and who realizes that besides the primary end of procreation, the primary meaning of bodily union lies in the fulfillment of conjugal love (pp. 30, 31).
Jesus has invested marriage with a dignity which represents something quite new….He transformed marriage – already sacred in itself – into something sanctifying (p.53).
Just two years before Pope Paul VI’s Humane Vitae (i.e., his encyclical on the regulation of birth), von Hildebrand published Man and Woman: Love and the Meaning of Intimacy:
Although we hear that sex is overemphasized today, this is not correct. Rather, we live in a time in which sexuality is no longer understood in its true nature. People today are generally as blind to its true meaning as are persons who completely lack sensuality…. Today’s blatant sexuality conceals a pathetic sensual emptiness (p. 3).
As long as conception and birth are seen exclusively as mere physiological processes, we cannot understand the impact and seriousness of the making of a new human being (p. 61).
Every active intervention on the part of the spouses, which eliminates the possibility of conception through the conjugal act, is incompatible with the holy mystery of the superabundant relation in the incredible gift offered by God (pp. 68 – 69).
Theology of the Body
As I wrote in an Amazon review two decades ago:
One hundred and twenty-nine of Pope John Paul II’s general audiences (9/5/79 to 11/28/84) have become known to us as his Theology of the Body [url added]. In spreading the good news about the late Holy Father’s teachings, Christopher West explains: ‘The Holy Father presents a vision of Marriage and sexuality never before articulated.’ Clarification may be in order. It takes nothing away from the Theology of the Body to look at some of its influences.
[Let us not forget that] In 1929, German philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand published ‘Marriage’.
Conclusion
As a very young man, the Church’s reported esteem for marriage seemed like nothing more than lip service. In fairness to my younger self, how could it have seemed otherwise? In Catholic high school, I recall being taught the supposed need to develop my own sexual ethics and the reason why the reaffirmed prohibition of contraceptives was not infallible. Why would anyone think that
As I noted way back in 2007, “Just last month, Pope Benedict XVI welcomed the establishment of the ‘Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project’ in Steubenville, Ohio (Zenit New Agency, 10/25/07).”
A recent conference announcement by that same project brought my beloved esteem for both Dietrich von Hildebrand and Saint Pope John Paul II back to the forefront:
A beautiful vision of love is presented in the writings of two great philosophers of the human person: Dietrich von Hildebrand and Karol Wojtyła (Saint Pope John Paul II)….scholars will illuminate this vision of love and its profound implications for marriage, as well as inspire us to live it more fully—and to teach it more effectively—within our families.
