December 28

Louise of Savoy, William Corby, and the Endangered Species Act

Author

David Barnhart
December 28, 2025

2020, own photo.

Today is the birthday, in 1461, of Louise of Savoy, who abdicated her position in the French royal family to become a nun in the Poor Clares. 

Today marks the death, in 1897, of William Corby, a Catholic priest who served as a chaplain to the Irish Brigade during the Civil War, and later served as president of Notre Dame University. He was present at the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg, and ministered to the injured and dying. 

Today in 1973, the Endangered Species Act was signed into law by Republican President Richard Nixon. This was the first such conservation act that included plants in its endangered species protections, and it created two classes of protected creatures: “threatened,” and “endangered.” A list of protected species and their recovery plans can be found here. 

Reflection: 

I do not quote him because he was a saint, but because he is a reminder that even a liar and a crook can speak the truth. Richard Nixon once asked in his State of the Union Speech:

“Shall we surrender to our surroundings or shall we make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our air, to our land and to our water?”

It is hard to imagine, now, that the protection of the Earth and its creatures was not always a partisan issue. The long, downward spiral of anti-environmental policies started by Ronald Reagan has found its full expression in the current fascist regime.

Creation care is an implicit part of the Creation stories in Genesis 1-3. The first humans are gardeners, and their stewardship of all of creation is part of God’s first statement to humanity. In the story of the Flood, God uses Noah’s family to preserve the biological diversity of the Earth (Genesis 6). Later in the Hebrew Bible, the prophets connect greed and economic oppression of the poor with the despoiling of the land. 

Isaiah proclaims: 

Doom to those who acquire house after house,
who annex field to field until there is no more space left
and only you live alone in the land.

I heard the Lord of heavenly forces say this:

Many houses will become total ruins,
large, fine houses, with no one living in them.
Ten acres of vineyard
will produce just one bath,
and a homer of seed
will produce only an ephah.

Christians also need to learn from indigenous religions and cultures about creation care. As Casey Camp-Horinek of the Ponca Nation of Oklahoma has said, “We have to realize that we are not protecting nature. We ARE Nature protecting itself.” 

Prayer: God, although we are numerous and have altered the climate, help our leaders to realize that WE are a threatened species if we do not take care of our endangered species. Amen.