Cardinal Joseph Bernardin

Joseph Louis Bernardin served as Archbishop of Cincinnati and President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C. He became a cardinal in 1983 and was Archbishop of Chicago from 1982 until his death in 1996. Widely recognized as both a church and civic leader, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom shortly before he died.

Alphonse P. Spilly, C.PP.S., served as special assistant to Cardinal Bernardin from 1984 to 1996. He assisted with The Gift of Peace and edited the two-volume Selected Works of Joseph Cardinal Bernardin. He is director of the Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Center for Theology and Ministry at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Jeremy Langford edited The Gift of Peace and two biographical photobooks of the Cardinal by John H. White, This Man Bernardin and The Final Journey of Joseph Cardinal Bernardin. He is editor-in-chief of Sheed & Ward Book Publishing.