“Reading these pages by Dorothy Day and following her religious journey becomes an adventure that heartens us and teaches us how to keep a true image of God alive in ourselves.”—Pope Francis

“A spiritual gem . . . essential reading for contemporary Catholics.”—James Martin, SJ

Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker, has been called “the church’s least likely yet most plausible saint.” From Union Square to Rome, first published in 1938, offers the first account of her dramatic conversion to Roman Catholicism, a story later expanded upon in her classic memoir, The Long Loneliness.

In this concise and passionate work, Day’s purpose was to give an account to her comrades in the radical movement of how she came to embrace Christ and the Catholic Church. She reveals how God was present in all the steps of her journey: in intimations of the sacred, in her experiences in the struggle for social struggle, in times of loneliness and confusion, in her experience of love, her joy in the birth of her daughter, and even in the painful price she ultimately paid for her faith.

Along with a new foreword by Pope Francis, this edition is also illustrated by a selection of photographs.

Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker, has been called "the church's least likely yet most plausible saint." In this early autobiographical work (originally published in 1938), Day offered the first account of her dramatic conversion, a story later expanded in her classic autobiography, The Long Loneliness. In this concise and passionate work her purpose was more specific: to give an account to her former comrades in the radical movement of the steps that led to her to embrace Christ and the Catholic Church.

From Union Square to Rome is essential reading book for those just learning about the woman Pope Francis named as one of four great Americans.

Photo: Courtesy of Marquette University Archives

Cover design: Regina Gelfer