Oswald von Nell-Breuning

Oswald von Nell-Breuning (8 March 1890 – 21 August 1991) was a German Jesuit, theologian, and sociologist. Born in Trier, into an aristocratic family, Nell-Breuning was ordained a Catholic priest in 1921 and joined the Jesuits. He was appointed Professor of Ethics at the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt in 1928. Nell-Breuning was instrumental in the drafting of Pope Pius XI's important encyclical on social justice, Quadragesimo anno (1931). This encyclical dealt with the 'Social Question' and developed the principle of subsidiarity. Nell-Breuning was not allowed to publish from 1936 until the end of Nazi Germany in 1945. After the war he lectured as an honorary professor at Goethe University and later established his own "Akademie der Arbeit" (Academy of Work). He exerted a strong influence on the social policy program of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, and had a close relationship with the German trade unions. He died in Frankfurt am Main in 1991.