U.S. Activist Moved Toward Sainthood

Dorothy Day, an American social activist who devoted her life to serving the poor and was a founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, may become a saint.

The Vatican has authorized the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York to open the cause for her beatification and canonization, Cardinal John J. O’Connor announced this week.

Day, who died Nov. 29, 1980, in New York at 83, might have been unsettled by the turn of events. “Don’t trivialize me by trying to make me a saint,” O’Connor quoted her as saying.

“Her personal humility was such that she never considered herself to be holier than any other Catholic,” he said. She insisted that social justice is the work not just of saints, but of everyone.

From its beginnings in New York, Day’s movement spread widely. In Los Angeles, the Catholic Worker group has been active in feeding and caring for the poor and homeless.