Raissa and Jacques Maritain: In Pursuit of Truth, Beauty, and Community
By Anna Laughery
It can often seem difficult for Christians to cultivate lives centered on truth, beauty, and community. In a world filled with media that can pull us away from these ideals, it is necessary to find examples of Christians who spent their lives pursuing these values and to learn from their example. Jacques and Raissa Maritain, a Catholic married couple who are being considered for canonization, are perfect examples of how to pursue goodness in the midst of the world.
The Life of the Maritains
Raissa Maritain was born in 1883 in Russia to a pious, Jewish family. From a young age, Raissa was known to be academically gifted, and so to secure her ability to pursue education her family emigrated to France. While in France, the lure of the atheistic, humanist movements of the early 20th century lured her parents away from their Jewish roots and into a materialistic lifestyle, bringing young Raissa with them. Though her early Jewish faith influenced her greatly, she spent her teenage years as an atheist, drawing further away from God. At 16, she was given the chance to study the natural sciences at Sorbonne University in France, where she met her husband Jacques.
From the moment they met, Jacques and Raissa were inseparable. Along with becoming acquainted and falling in love, they spent their time pursuing the study of philosophy. Though Jacques grew up in a Protestant home, together they slipped still further away from the faith of their youth and into a nihilistic, materialistic, and bleak view of life. When Raissa was 19 and Jacques was 20, they resolved to commit suicide together if they could not find the answer to their greatest question, the why of life, within a year.
During this year of searching, they read a book titled La Femme Pauvre (The Woman Who Was Poor) by the Catholic author Leon Bloy that intrigued them and cracked open the door to faith. Bloy wrote,
“The only great tragedy in life is not to become a saint.”
This bold outlook on life attracted them. They went to meet Bloy and a lifelong friendship began––a friendship which led the Maritain’s to the Catholic Church. They were baptized together in 1906 with Bloy as their godfather.
After entering the Catholic Church, their lives were not free from trials––sickness, war, and loss plagued them throughout their lives. But their faith gave these trials meaning and purpose, and so it carried them through these difficulties. Raissa began her memoir, titled We Have Been Friends Together, with the seemingly despairing words, “There is no longer any future for me in this world.” Though these words imply she had given up, in the same paragraph she later wrote of her deepest conviction that sustained her in the face of such despair: “Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world.” It was through this perspective that Raissa and Jacques lived their marriage, creating an example for all who wish to live life in a community which does not find its end on this earth.
The Witness of their Marriage
Though Jacques and Raissa later chose to live as brother and sister (known as a Josephite marriage), and so had no children, their marriage was still one of incredible love and gift of self. Their relationship was built on romance, certainly, but it also had its foundation in a deep pursuit of wisdom, beauty, and truth. Raissa wrote in her memoir that, at the beginning of their relationship, “Together we had to think out the entire universe anew, the meaning of life, the fate of man, the justice and injustice of societies.” This passion for inquiry continued throughout their life together––giving them a purpose outside their own relationship towards which to direct their time, energy, and tremendous intellects.
Jacques pursued truth and beauty through philosophy by writing books and essays on the faith, especially regarding the writings of Thomas Aquinas. Though Raissa was philosophically proficient (she would often edit Jacques’ essays and books) she chose to share her pursuit of truth through the arts, writing poetry and books and telling stories to her friends and her young students.
Though they gave much of their energy to the search for truth, they centered their life around prayer. Raissa knew that even the most noble of pursuits, the pursuit of truth and beauty, could not be fruitful if it does not stem from prayer. Along with sustaining their intellectual lives, it was from this prayer life that both Jacques and Raissa received the grace to live an exemplary marriage.
In her memoir, Raissa recounts how they solved disagreements, saying that disagreements were “intolerable to us, but in order to be reconciled there was nothing for it but to try to understand each other and to solve the problem for its own sake.” In their marriage they put the other first, always seeking to understand and learn and so live a life of genuine gift of self.
Their marriage exemplifies the Christian ideal of marriage found in Ephesians 5:22-23, where Paul writes “Wives, be subject to your husbands…Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her.” Though this verse sometimes confuses people, the Maritains’ marriage shows how this verse can be lived beautifully. In her journal Raissa writes “My beloved Jacques! For more than twenty years I have seen him living with his heart always intent upon God. All my life is at his service, at the service of his work which is all for God.” As a couple, their mission was so united with the mission of God that Raissa could say she was at the service of her husband without seeming inferior to him. She was at the service of her husband because her husband was at the service of God. By living this way, Raissa and Jacques are seen as a living picture of the marriage that Paul describes, a witness which all married couples can look to.
Cultivating the Domestic Church
Though Jacques and Raissa never had children themselves, they did not let that stop them from creating a home in which all who entered were welcomed like family. In her journal, Raissa wrote “I want my neighbor to have a shelter in my heart as I myself want to find a shelter in the compassionate Heart of Jesus.” Through the cultivation of the domestic church in their home, she fulfilled this desire.
The Maritain house became a haven filled with engaging and provoking dialogue for many influential Catholics, creating a refuge in a France that was often hostile to Catholics. Some prominent figures who were often found in their home were theologian Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange (who later became the dissertation director of the future Pope John Paul II), poet Charles Peguy, author Leon Bloy, and Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur.
In around 1910, the couple, along with Raissa’s sister Vera, became oblates of the Benedictine order and, by doing so, formally pledged to offer their lives to Christ. They followed the way of life found in the Rule of St. Benedict and created in their home a domestic community of prayer. Their daily lives revolved around mass, liturgy of the hours and silent prayer, as well as forming a routine of prayer, work, and community.
An Unrealistic Example?
While examining the life of this married couple, it may seem like an impossible task to imitate their way of life. They didn’t have children or regular nine to five jobs to demand their time and energy. But still, there are many pieces of their lives that are worth emulating for anyone, both married couples and single people alike.
First, their cultivation of a home in which truth, goodness, and beauty were always pursued is an example imitable in little ways, such as displaying beautiful art, listening to worthy music, or reading great books. Second, their example of creating a home where all are welcome and where uplifting and challenging conversation is had is also an example worth considering. Lastly, their witness to a life of prayer is also inspiring––they didn’t fit prayer time into their busy days, but instead scheduled their days around prayer.
Through both the genuine gift of the self which is evident in their marriage and through the model of a domestic church which they present, all who want to live a life pursuing truth, beauty, and faithful community can find an example in the lives of Jacques and Raissa Maritain.
