Simple Men is now Ad Aeternum

Why this change came about and what you can expect from the next phase of this project.

As you probably know (since I’ve been repeating it ad nauseam on all my socials), today marks the day that Simple Men becomes something much, much better:

Ad Aeternum.

The decision to change the name and brand of this project comes after a long discernment process in which I realized that now that this is my full-time mission, I need to treat it with the seriousness that it deserves.

Simple Men was too much like a “personal blog” where I posted reflections and opinions, and that was limiting its growth and its potential for impact.

Simply put, Simple Men was an unstructured blog about masculinity with a Christian undertone, whereas Ad Aeternum is a serious Catholic media company dedicated to restoring masculinity, virtue, and Christian morality in the modern world.

This article will be brief but important, as I’ll explain the reasons behind this change and what it means for you as a reader.

I am immensely grateful to all of you for your continued support throughout the years, and you guys are an incredibly important part of why I decided to change things up to give you the quality that you deserve in terms of content, editorial strategy and design. So, you deserve to know exactly what's changing and what you can expect moving forward.

Why the Name and Brand Had to Change

When I started this project back in 2021, my vision for it was completely different from what it is now (secular back then vs. faith based now), so it’s only right to structure the project in a way that resembles that new vision.

I was a completely different man in 2021, and I’ve matured alongside this project (and in no small part because of it), and as I am looking to dedicate my life to this mission and settle down with the woman I’m about to marry this year, it became clear that Simple Men needed to evolve into something more serious, more stable and with greater potential for impact.

I don’t see this change as an abandonment of Simple Men but as the natural fulfillment of a project that had to mature and grow up.

The fundamental things you loved about it will still be there: I will still write all the articles (except the sporadic guest posts, of course), I’ll still write in my usual tone, and I’ll keep posting with the same frequency, but now the articles will be better, more challenging intellectually, and the branding will reflect my commitment to the Catholic faith and to promoting Christian virtue and morality among men.

Why “Ad Aeternum”

The new name is Ad Aeternum, which translates to “towards eternity”. Before settling on this name, I thought long and hard and considered tens of options, and nothing seemed to convince me.

So I put it to prayer. I prayed a rosary and asked the Holy Spirit to illuminate me and to help me decide on a fitting name. Almost instantly, the name “Ad Aeternum” was placed on my heart. I shared it with the designer who helped me with the rebrand, and he was just as excited as I was for the new name, so we chose to believe it had been the Holy Spirit’s choice, and made it the official new name of Simple Men.

This name works perfectly because eternity is the only proper horizon for masculine formation. We’re not here to gain worldly success, wealth, or anything else. If we do, that’s great. But our focus should always be on eternity, on bearing good, lasting fruit while we’re here, on rejoining our Creator and arriving at the loving arms of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

On a more practical note, this new name is strong enough that it can resist trends, outrage cycles, short-term thinking, and be used in multiple different branches of this project. It’s a name that communicates something much more ambitious and more professional than Simple Men, and allows this to become a project focused not on “content” but on serious formation on virtue.

What This Means for You As a Reader

As a reader, here’s what you need to know:

• The core values, the faith-focus, the writing style and the frequency are not changing.

• The depth, structure, presentation, and seriousness with which I approach the articles is changing for the better:
  — More rigorous essays
  — Clearer editorial direction
  — Higher production quality
  — More coherent, unique design to the website, socials, and articles

• We’re moving from simplemen.substack.com to adaeternum.com. This change might take a few hours or even days to become effective, but make sure to remember that you’ll find our website in the new domain.

• The articles to your email will come from the new domain, with the new name.

• Our social media profiles will change too:
  — On X: @adaeternummedia

  — On Instagram: @adaeternumblog
  — On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@adaeternumyt

• This new branding and name also allows us to expand to other platforms. We’re now focusing on growing our YouTube channel through long video essays, short form content, and more. Subscribe here if you’re a YouTube user!

• The articles will now be organized in 4 different categories, based on archetypal/temperamental theory (and on my book, Knight, Monk, King, Prophet).
  This structure will help you navigate content based on where you most need formation, whether that's practical skills, theological depth, leadership wisdom, or cultural discernment:

  — Knight: Practical, disciplined, action-oriented. Skills, habits, leadership, fortitude, work, sacrifice.
  — Monk: Theological, philosophical, contemplative. Church Fathers, St. Thomas Aquinas, virtue ethics, prayer, interior life.
  — King: Authority, order, governance, responsibility. Leadership, duty, family, vocation, decision-making.
  — Prophet: Cultural critique and moral clarity. Speaking truth, naming disorder, cultural analysis.

• Finally, for our Spanish-speaking readers or those learning Spanish, I'm translating all articles into Spanish and growing a dedicated Spanish publication. You can follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our Spanish publication here:

You don’t need to do anything on your end to receive the new articles. Just keep an eye out for them and let me know what you think of the whole change.

I have incredible ideas for the future of this project that I hope to be rolling out progressively as the year goes by. There’s a lot of things to be done now that our branding provides a solid foundation for growth. My intention is for this project to become more than just a “digital” project, and for it to move towards impacting the real, physical world as well. The digital will remain, but it won’t be just a digital project. But more on that later.

An Invitation and a Word of Appreciation

Finally, I’d just like to once again thank you for your incredible support during the years. I hope the new direction of this project is something that excites you as much as it excites me. The best way to show my gratitude to you is by writing better articles and I hope I’ll be able to do that in this new phase.

I invite you to keep walking with the project, and to look forward to all the remarkable things that are to come. I understand that not everyone will want to stay, as these changes usually mean that some choose to walk in a different direction. That’s okay, and it’s something that I’m ready to accept.

If you choose to stay however, know that you have my deepest gratitude, and that I’ll do my best to repay your trust and support with amazing articles and with a project that you can feel part of.

If this new direction is something that excites you and if you want to get access to the best articles, the full archive, and twice the amount of content, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Paid subscribers are what make this project financially viable, especially now that I’ll be investing more and more into growing Ad Aeternum.

You can upgrade in the button below:

Today is the day this project becomes all that it’s supposed to be, and it marks the beginning of a commitment on my part to growing Ad Aeternum to be a project that glorifies God above all things, that inspires you to aim for eternity, and that hopefully leads many men —myself included— towards the light of Christ, every single day.

As St. Stanislaus Kostka declared: “Ad Maiora Natus Sum” (“I was born for greater things”).

Inspired by his witness, we adopt this call as our collective mission:

Ad Maiora Nati Sumus: “We are born for greater things.”

In Christ.

Juan