12 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (2020–) — former Notre Dame Law professor and Seventh Circuit judge — the most junior of the three Trump-appointed justices — whose originalist jurisprudence has shaped the Court's conservative supermajority.
Archbishop of Los Angeles (2011–) — President of the USCCB (2019–2022) — Mexican-born — the most prominent Hispanic Catholic bishop in the United States — who has been the Catholic institutional voice on immigration.
American historian at Brigham Young University who specializes in early modern European religious culture — and whose World Gone by: A Family History focuses on Catholic religious life in 17th century Flanders — bringing popular religious culture to life with scholarly rigor.
Italian founder of the Franciscan Order who embraced radical poverty, preached to birds, and received the stigmata — the first person in Christian history recorded as receiving the wounds of Christ in his own flesh — and who is the most beloved saint in Catholic history.
Anglican clergyman who converted to Catholicism in 1845 — the most celebrated religious conversion of the Victorian era — and who wrote the Apologia Pro Vita Sua and The Idea of a University, arguing that the university's purpose is liberal education rather than vocational training.
Italian Franciscan friar (1603–1663) who is the most extensively documented case of levitation in the Catholic tradition — reportedly witnessed flying by dozens of credible witnesses including Protestant nobility — and who became one of the most important cases in parapsychological discussions of physical phenomena.
Medieval Catholic religious figure — referenced in the context of mystical religious experience within Jonathan Bi's discussions of religion and parapsychology.
Pope (2013–) — Jorge Mario Bergoglio — first Jesuit Pope, first Pope from the Americas, first Pope from the Southern Hemisphere — who has emphasized mercy, care for the poor and migrants, and environmental stewardship while making few substantive doctrinal changes.
Pope (1978–2005) — Karol Józef Wojtyła — Polish cardinal from Kraków — the first non-Italian pope in 455 years — who survived an assassination attempt, galvanized Polish Solidarity, contributed to the Soviet collapse, and produced the most extensive papal theological writing in history.
American columnist at The New York Times — the leading Catholic conservative intellectual voice in mainstream American media — author of Bad Religion, The Decadent Society, and The Deep Places — who converted to Catholicism at 17.
Spanish Carmelite mystic and Doctor of the Church who wrote The Interior Castle and The Way of Perfection — founding 17 Carmelite convents — whose experiences of levitation, locutions, and mystical union are the most thoroughly self-analyzed in the Christian tradition.
American novelist and essayist — author of The Moviegoer, The Last Gentleman, and Love in the Ruins — who converted to Catholicism after contracting tuberculosis in medical school — the most philosophically sophisticated American Catholic novelist.