Lecture Explores Life of Fr. Vincent McNabb and the Catholic Land Movement

The lecture was part of Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy's Order and Influence Series

Image by Jerome Clarysse

Professor Nicholas Eastman, a lay Dominican, gave a lecture on March 23 about the life of Father Vincent McNabb and the Catholic Land Movement as part of the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy’s Order and Influence series.

Eastman began his talk by discussing the end of McNabb’s life, explaining that on the day he died, he summoned a friar to make arrangements for his funeral. He emphasized that he did not want a brass coffin but rather an ordinary wooden box like he slept on every day. McNabb spent 25 years preaching at Hyde Park Marble Arch, and is sometimes called “the Gandhi of Kentish Town.”

Nearly all of London was familiar with him, and every lecture began with him wearing the same uniform with his strong and eccentric personality. McNabb also gave intricate instructions for after his funeral to ensure he will be preaching even after death.

He was born in 1868 in County Down, Ireland, and his family moved to Newcastle when he was 14. McNabb then joined the Dominican order during a time of renewal for the church in England.

There were many historic events, such as Bede Jarrett’s opening of the Blackfriars Dominican priory in Oxford in 1921, and Pope Leo XIII’s release of Aeterni Patris in 1879 and Rerum Novarum in 1891. Eastman continued by explaining that McNabb entered the order in 1885, earned his lector in sacred theology at the University of Louvain in 1894, and completed his STM in Rome in 1916.

Eastman discussed the significance of Rerum Novarum, explaining that it marked the launch of modern Catholic Social teaching. It rejected socialism and communism, enshrined the natural right to property, and advocated for a return to family and land. Sometimes called the workers’ charter by those of the time, it was profoundly influential on McNabb. He would frequently cite it in his speeches to the people of London.

For McNabb, industrialization, urbanization, and capitalism were contrary to the Gospel. He believed family was above the state, and the right to private property was rooted in providing for the family, which included growing or raising food.

“All men have the right to some property,” McNabb said. The earthly life of Jesus is important for understanding how we should act or strive for in our lives. The small town of Nazareth was his home, where Jesus began his ministry, not an important city like Rome or Alexandria. This shows that there is some virtue in living and existing in a small rural community.

The message of God is best understood by those who live in such environments. For McNabb, only a small community offers the possibility of real family life, saying, “The desire for home and family is written on the human heart.”

Eastman explained how McNabb stressed the distinction between things and tokens. Things are made of the land, and they do not lead to infinite desires. In contrast, tokens are more abstract and lead to infinite desire. Eastman used the example of Jesus multiplying the fish and loaves. The people had their fill of food, and there were even leftovers, explaining how the story would not have been the same if Jesus had begun to multiply money, in which case the people would have been greedy and never satisfied.

Eastman explained the distinction between things and tokens that McNabb emphasized. McNabb called for the economics of poverty, effectively to consume as little real wealth as possible and to produce as much as possible of real worth; both of these, he argued, are cultivated by family living and working on the land.

He also argued that the gospel was against big farming and herding, as shown in the parable of the rich man and the possessed swine herd. Eastman then continued explaining how Luke 12:21 is a great example of this. The core of McNabb’s argument was “to save civilization, by urban exodus and return to agrarianism, and back to the land.”

McNabb believed the best way to preserve a moral civilization was by turning away from the modern urbanized world and returning to the more agrarian and rural lifestyle of their ancestors. Eastman explained that an example of this was in Ditchling, Sussex, which was like Nazareth to McNabb. In this place, many third-order Dominicans set up a little village and tried their best to live off the land in an ever-changing world.

McNabb would even serve as a spiritual advisor of sorts to their small group for a time. McNabb saw the movement’s failure before passing away in 1943. The world was in the midst of war, and the tides of urbanization and industrialization had become established as the future. Eastman continued, explaining that McNabb “was not stupid” and “he understood practically that the tide had not turned.”

He saw that he had not changed minds, but he still fought for the ideals of the Catholic Land Movement until the end of his days. Despite having papal and ecclesiastical support, the movement lacked sufficient material support and was too opposed to the societal trends of the time, and it ultimately failed.

Eastman concluded his talk by discussing the Catholic Land Movement in America today. He explained that, in some ways, there is now a resurgent interest in the movement in the U.S., with approval from Pope Leo XIV and Archbishop Grob. He explained that now more than ever, the relevance of choosing Nazareth or social chaos is more frank than ever.

He argued, however, that despite efforts and some support, “there are still many barriers, including a lack of material support from the hierarchy and laity.” This is alongside other barriers, such as insurance and legal barriers, and the cost of land. Eastman concluded by saying that the movement today faces “new challenges and old problems, however, now it may yet find success.”