Originally published at crisis magazine

What I deplore is that the new Mass is replacing the Latin Mass, that the old liturgy is being recklessly scrapped, and denied to most of the People of God.
—Dietrich von Hildebrand

However we greet his writings and thought, there is no denying Dietrich von Hildebrand’s historical status as a long-standing hero among Catholic opponents of Nazism. A philosopher who once speculated that each nation has its own unique guardian angel, Hildebrand nonetheless detested nationalism as a diabolical parody of patriotism; as the reader is no doubt aware, this parody had manifested itself with special virulence in Germany in the wake of World War I. Especially loathsome to Hildebrand was the collectivist tendency to steamroll individuality and personality for the sake of a grand, abstract, and artificial German nationhood.   

On the more affirmative side, Hildebrand’s ideas may be related to his life. Biographers agree that it is no mere coincidence that Hildebrand’s father was a famous and successful sculptor, as the beauty and wonder of art were motivating values in Dietrich’s thought. Working out of the milieu of phenomenology, Hildebrand developed his own theory of Christian personalism, which promotes a revived appreciation for the heart and lived experience in the world.   

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