St. EVE-Lin War

Editor's note: If I, a former Episcopalian New Englander, have consented to annunciate Evelyn Waugh like a low rent Kennedy clan member, then you know that EVE lin-war is hot stuff. So listen to EVE-lin war's wisdom and do try to understand him. It will do you a world of good.

Shortly after publishing his novel Helena, in which he retold the story of the emporer Constantine's mother and her quest for the true cross, Evelyn Waugh recieved a congratulary note from a friend, the poet John Betjeman. Betjeman complimented Waugh on the book but wrote that "Helena doesn't seem like a saint." Waugh, who had tried for years to entice the devoutly Anglican Betjeman into the Catholic Church, replied with a brief catechesis on the Catholic understanding of saints:

Saints are simply souls in heaven. Some people have been so sensationally holy in life that we know they went straight to heaven and so put them in the [liturgical] calendar. We all have to become saints before we get to heaven....And each indivual has his own peculiar form of sanctity which he must achieve or perish. It is no good saying, "I wish I were like Joan of Arc or St. John of the Cross." I can only be St. Evelyn Waugh - after God knows what experiences in purgatory.

I liked Helena's sanctity because it is in contrast to all that moderns think of as sanctity. She wasn't thrown to the lions, she wasn't a contemplative, she wasn't poor and hungry, she didn't look like an El Greco. She just discovered what it was God had chosen for her to do and did it.

- George Weigel, The Truth of Catholicism

2 more related things but they do require you to use your brain to connect the dots:

*Bishop Hotstuff Please listen to Bishop Hotstuff closely as it will do you another world of good.

*A charming story regarding EVE lin-war from Irish Elk (scroll down to What's Important At The End of The Day) via the prig.

* Stefan Beck, the former Bad Boy of TNC, with the moderns' latest conceptions of sanctity.

Mrs. P

Comments

[Steve the LLamabutcher]

Thanks for that---I went and listened to all 4 and forwarded them to my Mom.