Board Members of the Magnificat Foundation
ROMANUS CESSARIO, O.P, Chairman of the Magnificat Foundation
A member of the Order of Preachers, Father Cessario currently holds the Adam Cardinal Maida Chair of Theology at Ave Maria University, Ave Maria, Florida. He has published in the areas of dogmatic and moral theology as well as on the history of Thomism. Father is an Ordinary socius of the Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
HIS IMPERIAL AND ROYAL HIGHNESS ARCHDUKE RUDOLF OF AUSTRIA, born in 1950, is a father of eight and lives in Switzerland. He made his career in finance: creating a Swiss company called Triple A Gestion S.A.; active in consulting and asset management, he acted as managing director and president of the board for 29 years. Archduke Rudolf of Austria is also president or board member of several universities and charitable institutions.
VINCENT MONTAGNE is the president of Média-Participations, a leading European publishing and media company, and chairman of the French Publishers Association. He is a married layman and father of a large family.
FOLEF VAN NISPEN TOT SEVENAER studied law at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He is the founder and director of Home Academy Publishers. He is also active as a board member of several Dutch philanthropic foundations.
JOHN CORCORAN is the founder of the global life sciences consultancy Trinity Partners and a member of numerous boards including the Catholic Leadership Institute, iCatholic Media, the Concussion Legacy Foundation, the New England Historical Genealogical Society, and Pope Saint John XXIII National Seminary. He is married and the father of four daughters.
PATRICK BAUGIER DE CHEVESTRE is the founder of Metrowine Distribution, one of the largest Bordeaux wine distributors in the US and a member of numerous boards including Lumen Institute. He is a knight of Malta (NYC) and a board advisor of Bishop Caggiano of the diocese of Bridgeport. He has been married to Hombeline for 34 years, father of four grown children, and lives in Greenwich, CT.
MATTHEW K. KELSEY is a partner with Alston & Bird’s Financial Restructuring & Reorganization Group and a member of numerous boards including the Cardinal Kung Academy. He has been married to Nona Kelse and father of eight children.
About Us
I cannot tell you, after creating the Magnificat magazine, how many people have said to me “Magnificat has changed my life.” Yet, we did nothing other than to make available the beauty of the Liturgy of the Hours and the treasures of Catholic Tradition.
Encouraged by many friends and subscribers of all ages who asked us to organize a religious charity separate from the publication to permit more of the faithful to participate in the good works inspired by Magnificat, we formed the Magnificat Foundation under the patronage of His Eminence Seán Cardinal O’Malley, o.f.m. Cap. Its purpose is to promote, or to see promoted, what I would call the “Magnificat way of life.”
What is this “Magnificat way of life”? It is a life modeled on Mary’s Magnificat: on her unreserved and joyful “yes” to God’s amazing invitation to bring Jesus into one’s life and into the world. It is reflected in the way Mary’s Magnificat has been carried out through time and space, through prayer, art, and joy by so many Christian people. Simply put, the “Magnificat way of life” is a daily Christian life, dedicated to participating in and sharing God’s Truth, Beauty, and Goodness in all its forms.
Here are some of the endeavors of the Magnificat Foundation to make the “Magnificat way of life” a vivid reality:
- Throughout the country, sold-out Magnificat Days gather thousands of Catholics for an unparalleled experience of prayer, faith, and beauty, followed live by millions on EWTN and Catholic TV.
- On a regular schedule, the Foundation sponsors Magnificat Lectures in order to relate the relevance of Catholic doctrine to the pressing issues of social, economic, and political life. These lectures draw world-renowned speakers to the Catholic Center at New York University and other venues.
- The Magnificat Foundation makes it possible for those in need and who cannot otherwise afford them to obtain quality Catholic prayer resources, thereby benefitting deserving young people, seminarians, retired clergy and members of religious orders, prisoners, members of the military on active duty, women in distress, hospital patients, and many others.
- During the year, the Magnificat Foundation organizes public veneration of the relics of the Little Flower, Saint Thérèse, and of her parents, Canonize Saints Louis and Zélie Martin, to promote the sanctity of couples and families, by special entrustment from the Sanctuary of Lisieux.
For the Magnificat Foundation to reach as many people as possible with its message of love, faith and divine inspiration, we need your help. The various projects sponsored by the Magnificat Foundation – the Magnificat Days, the Magnificat Lectures – can be maintained only with financial support. Your gift to the Magnificat Foundation’s tax-deductible fund is therefore very important.
Thank you for your generosity, and may God bless you!
Pierre-Marie Dumont
Founding Publisher of Magnificat
