(Blessed) Fulton Sheen and Chesterton

 

Archbishop Fulton Sheen has been in the news lately. The Vatican has announced he will be beatified September 24 in St. Louis. 

"Blessed" Sheen was a fan of Chesterton, and the two even met.

I was reminded of something Dale Ahlquist wrote a couple of years ago:

In addition to being a radio and television personality, Sheen was a popular author. He wrote over 30 books that were bestsellers. But his first book is less well-known. It was his doctoral thesis. He had the bright idea that it would be more attractive to a publisher if it had an introduction by a famous writer. Like G.K. Chesterton. Sheen recalled the encounter:

My first meeting was when I asked him to write the preface to my book God and Intelligence. Chesterton said, “I know nothing about Philosophy.” I retorted that he had written an excellent philosophy himself entitled Orthodoxy. Scratching his bushy head, he said, “I will write it! We both belong to the great mystical corporation called the Catholic Church in which we stand responsible for one another’s opinions. You know what I must believe, and I know what you must believe.”

The last meeting was in 1936, when Monsignor Sheen traveled from Catholic University to Beaconsfield, England, to attend Chesterton’s funeral.

One day a woman called me up because she wanted to tell me about the time she met Bishop Sheen. She had been a librarian at a university and Sheen was visiting. He was at the height of his popularity. He was being escorted through the library by university officials and one of them introduced her to the bishop by saying that she had read all of Sheen’s books. The bishop smiled and asked her: “But who’s your favorite author?”

She didn’t hesitate: “G.K. Chesterton.”

Sheen smiled even bigger. “Mine, too!”

Sheen said that the writer who influenced him the most was G.K. Chesterton. It is obvious to anyone who reads Sheen. In fact, many of those great Sheen lines are actually lines from GKC, such as: “We don’t need a Church that moves with the world, we need a Church that moves the world.”

But talk about moving with the world … 

Maybe someday we will be able to celebrate Blessed Gilbert Chesterton too!  

Not Merely Islam: C.S. Lewis Assesses the Religion of Mohammed

Hmm. On light of the current conflict ... 

Not Merely Islam: C.S. Lewis Assesses the Religion of Mohammed

Getting Dramatic

 

At the beginning of each year I set reading goals. Among the goals for this year is to read a couple of plays. 

Being in the mood for some theatrical works, I stopped by the library and picked up a couple of plays I'd wanted to read because of their reputations as "plays one should read".

The first play was The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. I had just read his The Picture of Dorian Gray, so it was a natural choice.

The play was light, amusing, and witty. I enjoyed it in part because I dd not have high expectations of it being something profound.

Then I read Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill. I knew it would be a much more serious play. Indeed, it was. I found it dark and sad. 

After finishing it I thought I needed something a bit lighter and brighter.

Chesterton.

I dug out my copy of Volume XI of the Collected Works, the volume that contains Chesterton's plays and writings about George Bernard Shaw.

I had already read Magic, The Judgement of Dr. Johnson, and The Surprise. I looked at the other play titles, and one jumped out: The Turkey and the Turk. It drew my attention in part because of the current war with Iraq.

I quickly discovered it was a short play, and his version of a mummer's play. Being a professional Santa, I found the inclusion of Father Christmas as a character appealing.

Okay, it's not a "serious" work - certainly not in the sense of O'Neill's drama. But he does deal with some more serious issues. Yes, there is the conflict between Christians, represented by St George and Father Christmas, and militant Muslims, represented by the Turk. But there seemed to be some mutual respect between these antagonists. The Germanic Doctor with his penchant for replacing body parts with mechanical devices seems to be the real point of mockery and satire. Hey, maybe he's the "turkey".

I found the Doctor a prophetic character: I see the same impulse active today as science and the culture seek to replace the real and the natural with the artificial and mechanical. IVF, pills to enhance male "performance" in older men. AI. and more. 

Ah, Chesterton the prophet!

One Nuke To Rule Them?

 

Many reviews said that the Ring in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was suggested by the atom bomb. What could be more plausible? Here is a book published when everyone was preoccupied by that sinister invention; here in the centre of the book is a weapon which it seems madness to throw away yet fatal to use. Yet in fact, the chronology of the book’s composition makes the theory impossible.

C.S. Lewis (‘Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism’)

A Father Gabriel Mystery

 

Whenever one reads a mystery with a priest sleuth, it's natural to think of Chesterton's Father Brown. Of course, not all such sleuths measure up to Father Brown and the moral and ethical framework Chesterton created.  

Father Gabriel does measure up. Fiorella De Maria has created a priest detective who investigates and solves crimes but is concerned even more with his fellow characters and their salvation. 

Missing, Presumed Lost is the fifth book (and the fifth one I've read) in the six-book series. I'm assuming - hoping - she will write more.  

The plot involves finding the buried skeletal remains of a young girl who disappeared 30 years before. Was it murder? Who buried her? Who knew what happened? 

Father Gabriel, whose Benedictine monastery is located in the village where the girl had lived and where her remains were found, is drawn into the mystery. At the same time, the death of a child haunts him because, before he became a priest, he was married, but then his wife and daughter were murdered, a case that was never solved.

De Fiorella has written a number of books besides the Father Gabriel mysteries. She is a skilled writer, and this book is another fine example of her work.

I think Chesterton would have approved. 

A definite thumbs up! 

Late, But I Have a Good Reason!

 

I try to post every Thursday - my assigned day. But my old computer - 16 years old - died.

My new computer arrived yesterday afternoon, but I'm still trying to restore my old sites. And I have to take the old one and this one in to have all my documents and photos transferred to the new one.

So ... I will write, but it might not be for a couple of days.

"Around every corner is another gift waiting to surprise us, and it will surprise us if we can achieve control over our natural tendencies to make comparisons [to things that are better rather than things that are worse], to take things for granted [rather than imagining how much worse things would be if they weren't there and so feeling grateful], and to feel entitled!" - G. K. Chesterton

Zimmy Clerihew

Robert Zimmerman
adopted a persona as part of his musical career plan.
Given his singing voice
he might have thought it was his only choice.

I just saw part of the Bob Dylan bio movie, No Direction Home, and felt inspired.

Bruce Wayne Clerihew

 

Back in 2021 I submitted a number of clerihews to Gilbert. One of them finally showed up in the current issue! Patience is a virtue.

Bruce Wayne
will calmly eat soy, beans, and grain,
but serve him a veggie hamburger patty,
and he'll suddenly go batty.

I wonder if some of these other unpublished one I submitted then will make it into print some day? Here are three of them:

Dr. Bruce Banner
stopped to iron out some issues at Stark manor.
But when Pepper came on the scene,
he suddenly turned green.

With Adrian Monk

every case is a slam dunk.
He does, however, grow visibly grim

if after each one they don't disinfect the rim.  

Lord Peter Wimsey

was never deterred by evidence flimsy,

but his confidence suffered years of strain

when faced with the mystery of Harriet Vane.

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil

 

Tom Bombadil was one of my favorite characters in The Lord of the Rings. I was sorry when he got left out of the movies, though I understand why they chose to do so given the length of the movies.

So I was happy when I stumbled across The Adventures of Tom Bombadil by J. R. R. Tolkien. The book was originally published in 1962. The edition I have, however, is the one edited later by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond.

The book is a collection of poems by Tolkien, only two of which are directly about Tom, and one of which seems to be about him. Tolkien had written the two poems before he wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Many of the other poems date before those works as well. Some were even included in those works. 

As is typical of Tolkien, for the book he revised the poems. Part of his tinkering was to make them fit in better with the world of the Middle Earth.

The way the edition I have is laid out is the first part of the book is the original 1962 book. In the second part of the book, Scull and Hammond provide the original/earlier versions of the poems, some of the variations of them over the years, definitions of some of the more obscure words Tolkien used, and commentary. The poem that seems to be about Tom but does not give his full name is in an appendix. It was not included in the 1962 edition. 

"The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" and "Bombadil Goes Boating" are the first two poems in the book. They are delightful. There are other amusing poems in the collection, including ones from LOTR - "The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late" (sung by Frodo and the inn at Bree) and "Olipahunt" (recited by Sam). 

A happy read - and one of the books on my list of books to read this year.

Saint Tolkien

As I had noted previously, there is a page on substack devoted to "Saint Tolkien". It explores various aspects of Tolkien's life and writings. But it also promotes him as a "saint".

The latest installment begins: 

The legacy of J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) as one of the founders of modern fantasy literature is well-known. “The Lord of the Rings,” says noted Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey, “is the best-loved work of fiction of the twentieth century.” The fame of his works became even more noticeable with the trilogy of films based on The Lord of the Rings produced by Peter Jackson, bringing Tolkien’s world to a new generation. Since Tolkien’s death in 1973, there have also been several publications of his works, including his Letters, which have made many aware that he was not only a prolific fantasy writer, but a devout Catholic as well. The assertion of this profile, however, is that Tolkien was not only a devout Catholic, but a saint.

The author, Kaleb Hammond, seems convince Tolkien is a saint, and optimistic that some day the Church might recognize him as such.

After reading a number of installments, I think Hammond has done an admirable job of examining the very devout Tolkien's faith. He and Holly Ordway in her fine Tolkien's Faith: A Spiritual Biography point to the the importance of faith in his life and works.

Now one could argue that Tolkien did seem to lead a virtuous life, and may well be in Heaven or on his way there, hence he would be a saint. But as for formal recognition by the Church as a saint, I am not convinced. Neither am I with Chesterton.

But I am not a Church official. Nor am I privy to the workings of the Holy Spirit. 

As for Hammond, I enjoy his research and observations, and I urge him to continue. 

It would be wonderful indeed if some day the Church adds a St. Tolkien - and a St. Chesterton - to the declared celestial rolls.

A Child of the Snows

 

We have been struck by a snow storm that has closed all the local schools. With that in mind, and because we are just out of the Christmas season, a Chesterton poem:

A Child of the Snows

There is heard a hymn when the panes are dim,
And never before or again,
When the nights are strong with a darkness long,
And the dark is alive with rain.

Never we know but in sleet and in snow,
The place where the great fires are,
That the midst of the earth is a raging mirth
And the heart of the earth a star.

And at night we win to the ancient inn
Where the child in the frost is furled,
We follow the feet where all souls meet
At the inn at the end of the world.

The gods lie dead where the leaves lie red,
For the flame of the sun is flown,
The gods lie cold where the leaves lie gold,
And a Child comes forth alone.

Read in 2025, Goals for 2026

Every year, I set reading goals, and then keep a tally of books read.

Some of those goals include reading works by Chesterton, Tolkien, Lewis, etc, and books about him and them.

The tally for 2025 (76 works) included a number of such works:

The Poet and the Lunatics by G. K. Chesterton
The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton
The Surprise by G. K. Chesterton
The Judgement of Dr. Johnson by G. K. Chesterton 

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien’s Faith: A Spiritual Biography by Holly Ordway

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
Have His Carcase by Dorothy Sayers

And related:

Descent Into Hell by Charles Williams
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
Catherine of Siena by Sigrid Undset
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens

The goals for 2026 include:

A book by G. K. Chesterton I have not yet read
A book about G. K. Chesterton
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil by J. R. R. Tolkien
A book by C. S. Lewis, possibly a reread.
A book by Charles Dickens I have not yet read (Our Mutual Friend?)

I'm sure there will be more read. 

Onward!

Happy New Year!

 

The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective. - G. K. Chesterton