The Catholic Library World Editorial Committee has selected Mark DeStephano as the recipient of the John Brubaker Memorial Award for 2025. Established in 1978, the Brubaker Award recognizes an outstanding peer-reviewed article of literary merit published in Catholic Library World. DeStephano’s article “Crisis in Spain 1931-1940: The Sign Magazine and Passionist Representations of the Spanish Civil War” appeared in the August 2025 issue. Since 1995, Mark DeStephano has been Professor and Chairman of the Department of Modern & Classical Languages and Director of the Asian Studies Program at Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City, New Jersey.
DeStephano’s excellent work of historical scholarship rescues an American Catholic magazine from relative obscurity. Founded and edited by the Congregation of the Passion, The Sign was published from 1921 to 1982. As the 1930s wore on, the magazine’s staff became increasingly concerned by the infiltration of Soviet communism into Spain, especially when three young Passionists fell victim to political violence in 1934. When the Spanish Civil War began in 1936, The Sign covered military battles, the political situation, and attacks on the Catholic Church. Although American Catholics were generally supportive of Franco, they worried that he might form a fascist alliance with Mussolini. Mark DeStephano shows how religious publications like The Sign help us to gain “a deeper understanding of the attitudes of American Catholics towards their fellow Catholics in Europe, as well as towards the many ideological forces that opposed their faith and their way of life” (18).