John O'Malley, sj, a preeminent Catholic Historian specializing in Rennaissance Church history, Church Councils, and especially Vatican II died yesterday at the age of 95 years. Ecclesiologist Massimo Faggioli writes of him this way, [[In a unique way, O’Malley helped rescue Vatican II from oblivion but also from subtle forms of abrogation and delegitimization. He saw, before many of us, that there was a real need—if not an emergency—to make a new and different argument about Vatican II in the Catholic Church, where the memory of the conciliar event was often kept alive by those with a veterans’ mentality. This mentality was well-meant but also incapable of reaching newer generations or the peripheries of the post-Vatican II ecclesial establishment.]]
My own education in Vatican I and Vatican II is dependent on O'Malley's work in big ways, including Vatican II, Did Anything Happen?; What Happened at Vatican II; After Vatican II (with James L Heft); Vatican I; Tradition and Transition, Historical Perspectives on Vatican II; and several volumes on Trent or more general Church history. I always found him readable, funny, insightful, and balanced (whenever balance was called for!) I take this moment to celebrate a life lived for the sake of the Church and lived very well!! AMDG, indeed!!!
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