A priest has been appointed to look into the possible canonisation of G. K. Chesterton, the writer known for the Father Brown stories. The move has reopened the debate over his alleged anti-Semitism.
The Bishop of Northampton, the Right Rev Peter Doyle, has appointed Canon John Udris to carry out a fact-finding exercise to consider the possibility of opening a “cause” for Chesterton.
The writer, who died in 1936, lived in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, which is part of the Northampton diocese. Like Cardinal Newman, he was a convert from Anglicanism. He smoked cigars and was an accomplished journalist.
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If I recall correctly, GKC advocated that Jews wear a distinctive dress so that they could be easily identified. He also supported the usual canard of his period that they were rootless cosmopolitans, unable to pledge true loyalty to whatever nation they belonged. It is always stressed in the Catholic Church that canonisation does not imply perfection, but shows the presence of extraordinary grace in the life of the subject. In the past antisemitism has not ruled out canonisation (see, for example, Maximilian Kolbe; or from 1600 years ago, John Chrysostom) but in today’s climate I would submit that it is inopportune and possibly inappropriate to advance GKC in this way – much as I would like to have a married man canonised after the endless trail of founders of religious orders.
I do hope he is not made a saint, poor man, otherwise dug up, dismembered, bones broken up, labelled, boxed up and sent to the four corners of the earth to be gawped at by people to whom he had never been introduced. At some point his remains could even end up being sold on or traded.
Cardinal Newman avoided this fate as when they dug him up, he was found to have done a deft disappearing act, leaving only a tuft of reddish hair.
Let the poor man rest in peace. It is not just the wicked for whom it seems there is no rest.
Pageantmaster, I’ll meet you this coming Friday evening at Notre Dame de France in Leicester Square. You can join me in venerating the relics of St Maximilian Kolbe which will be there for one evening only. He died, as you know, at Auschwitz, giving up his life for another.
Definitely a star attraction in St Max, Fr Tee. We had that Saint Theresa here a few years back on her UK tour, well, bits of her foot and thigh anyway. Not sure where her other bits got to, gadding about somewhere or other I expect.
There may be rest for the saints in heaven, but there is precious little peace for them down here.
Not a lot of people know that.
“If I recall correctly, GKC advocated that Jews wear a distinctive dress so that they could be easily identified.”
I did not know that. If it is true, it can only diminish my regard for someone whose books I have enjoyed. I will still enjoy the books, but will inevitably admire the man less.
Does anyone keep track of where all the bits have got to so they can be collected together on the day when the dead shall rise? Going to be an awful lot of scampering about needed when the day is announced.
I did enjoy the Father Brown stories enormously.
He obviously can’t be a saint. The story is quite clear that he smoked cigars. I’ll bet he didn’t recycle either.
David Keller – on the other hand, for those of us who are, or who have been, spherically challenged (I speak as a dieter) he is definitely an encouragement for us to believe that bulk and sanctity can go together.
I was actually thinking that the cigar smoking was to be considered a factor in favor of canonization.
A canonized Chesterton will be an increasingly unread Chesterton, and frankly, we need to read more of him.
Oh dear, I like cigars. Bang go my chances, not that I want to be dug up and carted about.
#12–I’m pushing for not being buried in the first place–at least for as long as is possible.
#13 Then perhaps we should go easy on the cigars.
That a potential saint was not free of some of the characteristic errors of his age or class or both is not surprising. (I fear I have a few of my own errors of which I remain invincibly ignorant.) Yet we may resolutely affirm that if saints are persons through whom “the Light shines through” not only in stained glass depictions, then GK has as much chance as any of us.
He is a staggeringly good author, IMHO.
Pageantmaster–Now you’ve depressed me. I think I need to go home and have a Cohiba and some Scotch. BTW I will also recycle something to try to even things out a bit, just in case.
#16 Well, whisky is the water of life and nicotine a preservative, so that seems a pretty good plan David Keller. The saints need to be preserved after all.
And if we ever get to be saints, like Chesterton, then the probability is that we will be compulsorily recycled anyway.
#9 About GKC’s spherical rotundity:
If God is a sphere whose centerpoint is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere
… then I grow more Godlike every day.
Simple Google searches on GKC and St. Maximilian Kolbe, regarding anti-semitism led to a plethora of interesting articles. It’s absurd to call Kolbe anti-semitic, given that he hid and fed many Jews before going to Auschwitz. With GKC, it’s more complicated, and quite interesting.
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Does anyone keep track of where all the bits have got to so they can be collected together on the day when the dead shall rise?
[/blockquote]
Yes.
But, then, you knew that, didn’t you?
Well spotted Formerly Marion R.