Recognising What Truly Matters
Thinking from the Heart
Dietrich von Hildebrand and the Servant of God Fr. Luigi Giussani
The heart expresses the true self of the person more than the intellect and the will.
Dietrich von Hildebrand
That nature within us which longs for great things is the heart.
Servant of God Fr. Luigi Giussani
About the Evening
We live in a time rich with possibility yet often poor in criteria. Amid so many competing goods, how do we recognise what truly matters?
This evening brings the thought of Dietrich von Hildebrand into conversation with the educational witness of the Servant of God, Fr. Luigi Giussani. In their different ways, both men returned to the heart, not as passing sentiment but as the deep centre of the person, the place where we perceive the good, judge reality honestly, and grow in freedom and in love.
Hildebrand devoted some of his most searching work to the affective life, holding that the heart is in many respects more truly the self than the intellect or the will. Giussani built an entire educational tradition on the conviction that the heart is the nature within us that desires what is great and true. Read together, they offer an understanding of the human person able to speak to the challenges of the present.
The evening continues the Hildebrand Project’s growing presence in Europe, following the launch of the Hildebrand Chair for Christian Personalism in Rome in 2025. It is an invitation to think, in good company, about the things that are worth our lives.
Tua res agitur. This concerns you.
With

John Henry Crosby
President and founder of the Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project (USA)

Rocco Buttiglione
Philosopher and politician, former Minister of the Republic and Member of the European Parliament

Elisa Grimi
Hildebrand Chair for Christian Personalism, Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, Rome

Don Edoardo Canetta
Rector of the Sanctuary of San Giuseppe; Academic Secretary at the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana; Officer of the Order of the Star of Italy
Details
- Date
- Tuesday, 9 June 2026
- Time
- 7:00 PM (19:00)
- Language
- Italian and English
- Admission
- Free · Seating is limited
Presented in collaboration with the Hildebrand Chair for Christian Personalism · Esserci · Politicall · Labora · Tempi









