The Man Behind the Last Two Popes

Romano Guardini is both a fascinating and somewhat mysterious figure. He is among the most important and influential theologians of the twentieth century and during his life, his writings gained international acclaim and had a significant impact on the Second Vatican Council. He is also connected rather significantly to many of our recent popes.

While pursuing a doctorate in theology that he ultimately never finished, Pope Francis chose to study the writings of Romano Guardini. Pope Benedict XVI considered Guardini a theological mentor of his and quoted him multiple times in his farewell address as Pope to the Cardinals in Rome. His books Spirit of the Liturgy and the three-part Jesus of Nazareth series were inspired by Guardini. Pope John Paul II wrote his habilitation thesis on Max Scheler, a good friend of Guardini who inspired him in his pursuit of what it means to have a Christian worldview. Pope Paul VI offered to make Guardini a cardinal, an offer which he ultimately declined. When Pope John XVIII called the Second Vatican Council, Guardini was asked to be on the committee for the liturgy. Guardini also had a significant impact on Monsignor Luigi Giussani, the founder of Communion and Liberation.

His ideas have strongly impacted important Catholic theologians such as Hans Urs von Balthasar and Karl Rahner. He was a prolific writer, authoring nearly 70 books and 100 articles. The New Catholic Encyclopedia stated that, “In German-speaking lands there is no one who deserves more to be called a precursor of Vatican Council II” than Guardini. He was one of the main leaders of the liturgical movement prior to the Second Vatican Council. Yet despite his tremendous impact and influence, he is no longer prominent and is currently not that well-known of a figure. So who is Romano Guardini?

Romano Michele Antoni Maria Guardini was born on February 17, 1885 in Verona, Italy where he lived for just over a year before his parents moved to Mainz, Germany. He would spend the rest of his life in Germany, occasionally staying in Italy at Lake Como and Isola Vicentina to which his mother moved following the death of his father. His time at Lake Como would turn out to be a very influential period for the development of his attitude towards modernity. Guardini spoke Italian at home and German during school, and although he would live the rest of his life in Germany, he continued to be shaped by his Italian influence.

He was a bright student and did very well in school. Along with Italian and German, he learned Latin, Greek, French, and English and developed a love of literature, reading classical and contemporary writers such as Dante, Shakespeare, and Rainer Maria Rilke. He had a naturally melancholic temperament which led him to a more secluded life and a smaller social circle. During his time in high school, he was invited to join a small reading group by Wilheim and Josephine Schleussner that was created for Mainz’s brightest Catholic students to discuss important authors and topics that ranged from history and the arts to religion. This group helped him thrive intellectually and inspired him to eventually start similar groups as a priest.

In 1903 he started studies at the University of T?bingen where he would soon undergo a life crisis. He failed in his studies of chemistry which caused him to move to the University of Munich the following year to study economics. He did not do much better in this subject either, and his naturally melancholic personality, along with his lack of success in school, caused him to suffer from depression and question his faith. His love of literature and the cultural scene in Munich helped sustain him during these times. In 1905 while discussing Christianity with his best friend, Karl Neundörfer, he had a conversion which would change the trajectory of his life and which he would later compare to that of St. Augustine’s from the Confessions. A hallmark of Guardini’s theology of revelation is the idea of religious experience and his conviction that “Christian belief rests upon an experience…an interpersonal encounter between God and ourselves.” Soon after this conversion, Guardini felt that he was called to the priesthood and switched to studying theology.

After studying at the University of Freiburg and of T?bingen, Guardini entered Mainz’s diocesan seminary where he was ordained a priest in 1910. He did pastoral work for two years before returning to school to complete his doctoral work in theology on the thought of St. Bonaventure, and seven years later he completed his second doctoral dissertation on the same subject, which was required in order to teach at a German university. Arguably the most important encounter during this time was with the Catholic youth association at Quickborn where he would eventually become the spiritual leader. He would later describe Quickborn as “more important for my pastoral ministry than almost anything else.” It was here that Guardini was able to experiment with his ideas in a concrete way among young people. He led the youth in developing their spiritual lives and was able to see firsthand the fruits of what he believed was important for building an authentic Catholic community.

Guardini was soon offered the chair of Philosophy of Religion and Catholic Worldview at the University of Berlin in 1923, where he became an immensely popular lecturer and professor. Seven years later, as the German National Socialism movement grew and Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich assumed power, he was relieved of his position at the university and forbidden to give public lectures. This caused Guardini to maintain a much more private life. However, some of his most important books were written during this period. In 1945, after the war had ended, he was offered a position as a professor of Philosophy of Religion and Christian Worldview at the University of T?bingen where he stayed for two years before moving to the University of Munich for the same position. Guardini remained there for the rest of his teaching career, continuing to lecture and write. He was named a papal monsignor in 1952 and was later approached by Pope Paul VI to become a cardinal, which he declined. He died in 1968, and his influence during his time, and on the Church today, cannot be understated. In December of 2017 the Archdiocese of Munich officially opened the cause for his canonization.

As a helpful introduction to Guardini, I would recommend starting with either his writings on the modern world or his spiritual writings. Letters from Lake Como and The End of the Modern World are both excellent reflections on the state of the modern world. The Spirit of the Liturgy and Meditations Before Mass are both spiritual classics of his. Given his significant influence on the life of the Church, now may be a pertinent time to dive into this great theologian's mind.