In his virtual lecture at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 7, “Walking With the Saints: My Writing Life,” Ellsberg will reflect on his life and work as a “saint-watcher,” how this came to shape his own vocation and spiritual discipline, and what he hopes it might achieve.

— an announcement from Fairfield University

From St. Francis to Dorothy Day, Robert Ellsberg’s many books on “saints, prophets, and witnesses” for our time — as well as his acclaimed daily “Blessed Among Us” column for Give Us This Day — have helped expand the conception of holiness and the meaning of saints.

Robert Ellsberg is the long-time editor-in-chief and publisher of Orbis Books. He holds a master’s degree in theology from Harvard Divinity School.

In the late 1970s he worked with Dorothy Day in New York City, serving as managing editor of the Catholic Worker newspaper. Since then he has edited Day’s selected writings, letters, and diaries, and now serves on the commission preparing her cause for canonization.

Ellsberg is the author of seven books on saints, including All Saints, Blessed Among All Women, The Saints’ Guide to Happiness, Blessed Among Us (based on his daily reflections for Give Us This Day), and most recently A Living Gospel: Reading God’s Story in Holy Lives.

In addition, he has edited the writings of Pope Francis, Flannery O’Connor, Gandhi, Thich Nhat Hanh, Charles de Foucauld, and many others.

If You’re Attending Online …

Presented by the Center for Catholic Studies at Fairfield University, the 14th Annual Commonweal Lecture will be livestreamed as a free webinar at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 7, and is open to the public. Register to attend at Fairfield.Edu/cs.