Christendom mourns the passing of beloved professor and author Fr. James Schall, S.J., who passed away on Wednesday, April 17. Fr. Schall, a dear friend of Christendom College who concelebrated the opening Mass on Christendom’s Front Royal, Virginia, campus in 1979, died peacefully at the age of 91.
Fr. Schall was born in Pocahontas, Iowa, in 1928. After studying at the University of Santa Clara, he served in the U.S. Army for a time. Afterwards, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1948 and earned an MA in Philosophy from Gonzaga University in 1955. He received a Ph.D. in political theory from Georgetown University in 1960, and an MST from University of Santa Clara four years later.
Fr. Schall was a member of the Faculty of Institute of Social Sciences, Gregorian University, Rome, from 1964-77, and a member of the Government Department, University of San Francisco, from 1968-77. In 1979, he visited the new campus of Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, and concelebrated the first Mass on campus. That day, he formed a relationship with the young college that would last the rest of his life.
A longtime member of Georgetown’s government department, Fr. Schall also penned hundreds of essays along with books, including On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs: Teaching, Writing, Playing, Believing, Lecturing, Philosophizing, Singing, Dancing, Redeeming the Time, Human Dignity and Human Numbers, and A Student’s Guide to Liberal Learning.
Fr. Schall visited Christendom multiple times in the early to late 2000s to deliver lectures to the campus community. Although unable to attend, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the college in 2017 during its 40th anniversary academic convocation, at which time he said in a prepared statement, “Students who have spent time here, I think, are blessed. Because you chose to study here, you will have seen things that you could not easily find in other institutions.”
Recently, Fr. Schall had donated much of his personal library to Christendom, as a gift to future generations of students who will benefit from his vast collection of scholarly books.
Eternal rest grant onto him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.