James Martin Gillis

Background

Gillis was born on November 12, 1876 in Boston, Massachussets, the son of James Gillis, a machinist, and Catherine Roche.

Education

Gillis attended Boston Latin School (1892-1895), then went on to schools specializing in preparation for the Roman Catholic priesthood: St. Charles College, Baltimore (1895-1896), and St. John's Seminary, Brighton, Massachussets (1896-1898).

Career

Toward the end of his theological course at St. John's Seminary, Gillis came into contact with the Paulist Fathers, a small congregation of secular priests who made the conversion of Americans their primary mission and the use of the modern media of mass communications their special technique. They also served in parishes and did other conventional pastoral work. Gillis decided to abandon his earlier plan to become a parish priest in Boston, and entered the Paulist community in 1900. A year later he was ordained to the priesthood and, after receiving a licentiate in theology at the Catholic University of America (1903), was assigned to the faculty of St. Paul's College, the Paulist major seminary, in Washington, D. C. In 1910 and for twelve years thereafter, he preached at retreats and parish missions throughout the United States. In 1922 Gillis was named editor of Catholic World, a monthly that had been established by Isaac Hecker, the founder of the Paulists. From the beginning of his editorship Gillis' vigorous writings were the outstanding feature of the magazine. He often criticized both ecclesiastical and political figures, and particularly Italian fascism, which was then viewed kindly by a number of prominent American prelates. Gillis' antifascism (which included opposition to Francisco Franco in Spain) did not lead him, as so often happened to others, into political liberalism. He was an old-fashioned patriot and die-hard isolationist, with particulary acerbic views about Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. The president's policies, he felt, would inevitably entangle the United States in European affairs and lead to involvement in another useless world war. Gillis was an impenitent conservative. His only suggested religious reform for Roman Catholicism was that it continue to do what it was already doing, but more zealously. His influence was magnified in 1928, when he began to write a weekly column for fifty diocesan papers throughout the United States. He wrote this column, "Sursum Corda, " for more than twenty years. He often appeared, from 1930 until his retirement in 1948, on "The Catholic Hour, " which was heard on the National Broadcasting Company. Between speaking assignments and editorial work, Gillis managed to write a great many articles for the Catholic press and to produce a number of popular books. Ill health forced him to retire from the editorship of Catholic World in 1948, but he remained a contributing editor until his death in New York City on March 14, 1957.

Achievements

• Gillis was a commentator, noted for his political opinions.

Works

More photos

• book

  • False Prophets

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • The Paulists,
  • This mysterious human nature.
  • The Catholic church and the home,
  • My last book

Personality

Gillis, short and stocky, was known for his striking memory.

Connections

Father:

James Gillis

Mother:

Catherine Roche

References

• James Gillis, Paulist;: A biography