Academic Achievements
New Rome Chair
On June 10, 2025, we held an event in Rome to launch the new Hildebrand Chair for Christian Personalism at the Pontifical Regina Apostolorum University. We congratulate our esteemed Associated Scholar, Dr. Elisa Grimi, on being appointed inaugural director of the Chair. This important academic initiative is designed to foster research and scholarship, including co-sponsored events. We look forward to collaborating with other pontifical universities in Rome and around the world on key scholarly projects, notably in 2027 to mark the 50th anniversary of Hildebrand’s passing, and developing new programs through the Chair open to students from any pontifical university.
Scholarly Impact Study
We are preparing a 20-year impact study evaluating our efforts. Initial data shows academic citations to Hildebrand have grown by 270%+ since the Hildebrand Project’s 2004 founding. (Data comparison is for the period 2004-2020.)
9th Annual Summer Residency
We welcomed 35 young scholars from around the world for an intensive week of intellectual, cultural, and spiritual formation at the breathtaking Kartause Maria Thron in Gaming, Austria, a restored 14th-century Carthusian monastery. Led by distinguished faculty who were direct students of Hildebrand and members of the circle of St. John Paul II, the event was an immersion in a living tradition. This year saw unprecedented growth, with applications doubling.
I will start doctoral studies in Oxford in October. I want to write on the role of the human heart in the act of faith in Dietrich von Hildebrand’s thought. Understanding that, we priests can start to preach more to the heart so youth can connect with the beautiful truth that the Faith is. I was asked to prepare myself for teaching future priests. Hearing the lectures and being able to talk with experts on Hildebrand helped me gain the tools to fulfill this beautiful mission.
Fr. Wolfgang Dichgans, LC
New Book Releases
Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert
A uniquely accessible and exciting book of insights into the music of the great composers, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert is Hildebrand at his finest: defending and celebrating beauty with reverent attention to reality. It is a book for all of those who believe that beauty still matters and has something to say.
Plato and Christian Personalism
D.T. Sheffler, a Hildebrand Project Associated Scholar, wrote this book after attending many Hildebrand Project events. In it, he draws heavily on Hildebrand to vanquish the misconception that Platonism and Christian Personalism are at odds, showing instead an enriching complementarity.
Popular Outreach
Word on Fire Course
The Hildebrand Project recently completed filming a seven-part course, “The Christian Philosophy of Dietrich von Hildebrand,” for the Word on Fire Institute. Taught by John F. Crosby, co-founder and distinguished scholar of the Hildebrand Project, the course is designed to introduce Hildebrand’s central ideas to the Institute’s broad audience of over 30,000 members. The course is expected to be released in Fall 2026.
Lily Podcast & Social Media
The Hildebrand Project significantly expanded its digital reach by continuing the production of the podcast, Lily: The Voice of Alice von Hildebrand, releasing 29 episodes this year to introduce her insights to a new audience. We have redoubled our social media presence, consistently publishing multiple short videos and reaching a broad audience.
Both Hildebrands Cited in a New Vatican Document
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s document defending monogamy, Una caro, released November 25, 2025, cites Dietrich and Alice von Hildebrand extensively in four substantial paragraphs, marking the first time either has been quoted by a Vatican Dicastery. While the Hildebrands have already had a profound impact on Catholic thought and culture, their inclusion in this document is a welcome sign of the growing reception of their legacy in the Church. (Read our full statement here.)
St. Thomas Aquinas states that… ‘it is evident that in marriage there is a union whereby one is called husband and the other wife; and this union is marriage….’ Closer to us, Dietrich von Hildebrand argues that marriage ‘is the deepest and most intimate union between human beings.’
Una caro, Paragraph 6