Martin D'Arcy

Martin Cyril D'Arcy SJ (15 June 1888 – 20 November 1976) was a Roman Catholic priest, philosopher of love, and a correspondent, friend, and adviser of a range of literary and artistic figures including Evelyn Waugh,[2] Dorothy L. Sayers, W. H. Auden, Eric Gill and Sir Edwin Lutyens. He has been described as "perhaps England's foremost Catholic public intellectual from the 1930s until his death".[3]

The Reverend

Martin D'Arcy

SJ
Born(1888-06-15)15 June 1888[1]
Died20 November 1976(1976-11-20) (aged 88)[1]
OccupationPriest (Roman Catholic, Jesuit)
NationalityBritish
EducationStonyhurst College
Alma materCampion Hall, Oxford
Period20th century
GenrePhilosophy
Notable worksThe Mind and Heart of Love (1945)
RelativesConyers D'Arcy SJ (brother)

Background and education

Born at Bath, Somerset,[4] the youngest of four sons of Northern Circuit barrister Martin Valentine D'Arcy and Madoline Mary (née Keegan),[5][6] D'Arcy was educated at Stonyhurst, at Oxford (M.A.),[7] and at the Gregorian University in Rome.[8][4] He entered the Society of Jesus in 1907 and was ordained priest in 1921. He was Provincial of the English Province of the Society of Jesus from 1945 to 1950.

Career and legacy

He spent much of his working life at the English Jesuit house in Oxford, Campion Hall, but also spent periods in residence at American universities, including Georgetown University, Gonzaga University, Cornell, and at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Among the converts he received into the chuch was the German-Jewish Baroness Vera von der Heydt.[9]

His major work is The Mind and Heart of Love, published by T. S. Eliot at Faber and Faber in 1945,[10] which explores theological relation of eros love and agape love.

The permanent collection of Loyola University Museum of Art is named in his memory the Martin D'Arcy Collection.

References
  1. Boston College
  2. Ker, Ian. "Waugh the Catholic". The Tablet.
  3. Richard Harp, "A Conjuror at the Xmas Party", TLS, Dec. 11, 2009.
  4. "Rev. Martin D'Arcy A Jesuit Philosopher, Dies in London at 88", The New York Times, November 22, 1976
  5. "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30998. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  6. "From the Archives: the D'Arcy Papers | Jesuits in Britain". www.jesuit.org.uk. Archived from the original on 26 July 2017.
  7. Current Biography Yearbook 1960, ed. Charles Moritz, H. W. Wilson Co., 1961, p. 107
  8. "Martin Cyril d'Arcy".
  9. Skinner, John (22 November 1996). "Obituary. Vera von der Heydt". The Independent. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  10. M. C. D'Arcy, The Mind And Heart Of Love: Lion And Unicorn, A Study In Eros And Agape, Faber and Faber, 1945.

Sources
  • Henry Sire, Fr Martin D'Arcy: Philosopher of Christian Love (Gracewing, 1997).
  • William S. Abell (Ed.) Laughter and the Love of Friends: Reminiscences of the Distinguished English Priest and Philosopher Martin Cyril D'Arcy, S.J. (Christian Classics, Inc., 1991)


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