This is the fifth and final post on Robert Hugh Benson’s novel, Lord of the World.
You
can find Part 1 here.
Part
2 here.
Part
3 here.
Part 4 here.
Book
3, Chapter V
Oliver
has been searching for his wife ever since she left and now fears she has
become a Catholic or is in the process of euthanasia. He is interrupted by a phone call that the
government has discovered there is a new pope and Felsenburgh has come and
called for a council in which Oliver needs to attend. At the council Oliver hears from Felsenburgh’s
secretary what has come about.
Intelligence has learned through the betrayal of Cardinal Dolgorovski
that a new Pope has been elected and has been directing the church from
Nazareth, and that a secret meeting of the leading Catholics is being convened
on the coming Sunday. The President
proposes that each nation in the world send volors over to annihilate all the
heads of the Church and so permanently eliminate all possible succession to the
papacy. The bill is passed. On Saturday Oliver boards the English volor and
travels toward Palestine to be part of the bombing mission.
Book
3, Chapter VI
The Catholic hierarchy are gathered and crowded at the house in Nazareth, and it is Pentecost morning. All are gathered except Cardinal Dolgorovski, and his absence is noticed. Cardinal Corkran recounts a series of events that explain that Cardinal Dolgorovski has betrayed them, and so it is evident that the government knows their whereabouts. Pope Silvester says it does not matter. He has had a vision from God of the coming events, and has everyone else prepare for Mass in two hours. An hour later the papal attendant priest walks toward the chapel and notices the country folk rushing to escape. He can feel the stillness of eternity upon him. At the chapel he falls asleep only to wake in the middle of Mass. As Mass concludes, there is a clamor outside. He goes out to look and it is evident now that the volors are coming to destroy them. Returning inside he joins the gathered religious in singing the hymn O salutaris hostia. The gathered take the monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament and process it outside singing the hymn Pange Lingua. And as the volors approach with their impending arsenal the material world dissolves into the end of times.
###
I must have read that section III of the last chapter three or four times. I'm still not sure I got the ending right. Is it Christ who is be referred to as the personal pronoun in the repeated "He was coming"? Or is it Felsenburgh? If it is Christ, then my reading above is correct and it's the apocalypse on which the novel ends, and the victory is the victory of Christ. If it is Felsenburgh that is coming, then the novel ends with the destruction of the church and victory for the atheists.
I assume the victory is with Christ, or the novel wouldn't make sense. But it is ambiguous, is it not? Is it me?
###
I
have to admit I spent three hours trying to translate all the Latin in that
section III. Finally I realized they
were parts of well-known hymns. Here you
can read about and get the translation of Osalutaris hostia. And here you can read about and get the
translation of Pange lingua gloriosicorporis mysterium. My translation was close in some cases but stilted in others. I wound up taking each part of the Latin
lyric and providing the English translation.
Let me give this to you. It may
help in your reading.
Latin translations of those spoken in Book 3, Chapter VI, Section III
(1) p. 333 [from “O Salutaris Hostia”]
O Salutaris Hostia // Qui coeli pandis ostium. . .
O
Saving Victim // He opens the door of heaven
(2)
p. 333 [from “O Salutaris Hostia”]
... Uni Trinoque Domino ....
To
the One and Triune Lord.
(3)
p 334 [from “O Salutaris Hostia”]
.. Qui vitam sine termino // Nobis donet in patria ...._
He
who life without end // Brings us to our home
(4)
p. 334
Pange Lingua
Sing
Tongue
(5)
p. 334 [from Pange Lingua]
.. In suprema nocte coena,_
On
the night of the last supper
(6)
p. 335 [from Pange Lingua]
Recumbens cum fratribus
Observata lège plena
Cibis in legalibus
Cibum turbae duodenae
Se dat suis manibus ....
Reclining
with His brethren,
once
the Law had been fully observed
with
the prescribed foods,
as
food to the gathered Twelve
He
gives Himself with His hands.
(7)
p. 335 [from Pange Lingua]
Verbum caro, panem verum // Verbo carnem efficit
In
the Word was the true bread // the Word made flesh
(8)
p335 [from Pange Lingua]
Et si census deficit // Ad formandum cor sincerum // Sola fides sufficit ....
And
if sense is deficient // to form a sincere heart // Faith alone is enough…
(9)
p. 336 [from Pange Lingua]
TANTUM ERGO SACRAMENTUM
VENEREMUR CERNUI
ET ANTIQUUM DOCUMENTUM
NOVA CEDAT RITUI.
Therefore,
the great Sacrament
let
us reverence, prostrate:
and
let the old Covenant
give
way to a new rite.
(10)
p. 336 [from Pange Lingua]
PRAESTET FIDES SUPPLEMENTUM
SENSUUM DEFECTUI ....
May
faith supplement
the
defects of our senses ....
(11)
p. 337 [from Pange Lingua]
.... GENITORI GENITOQUE
LAUS ET JUBILATIO
SALUS HONOR VIRTUS QUOQUE
SIT ET BENEDICTIO
PROCEDENTI AB UTROQUE
COMPAR SIT LAUDATIO.
To
the Begetter and the Begotten
be
praise and jubilation,
greeting,
honour, strength also
and
blessing.
To
the One who proceeds from Both
be
equal praise
(12)
.337 [from Pange Lingua]
PROCEDENTI AB UTROQUE
COMPAR SIT LAUDATIO…
To
the One who proceeds from Both
be
equal praise
###
My
Reply to Irene and Kerstin who mentioned that “Sister” has
a tradition of a title for nurse in England and Germany:
To Irene and Kerstin on
Nursing, I didn't know that. So I now have done some research. It seems the
title "sister" for nurse came about from the middle ages on. Nurses
in hospitals were invariable religious sisters. Actually it may go back all the
way to apostolic times. Phoebe, who is identified as a "deaconess" in
Acts appears to have cared for the sick as part of her responsibilities. The
term apparently stuck in Britain, and I find Benson's use of it to be totally
intentional on his part, carrying the irony that I pointed out earlier.
My
Reply to Joseph on why this dystopian novel doesn’t have
the attention of other great dystopian novels:
Yes. Perhaps more than
just the ending. The religious subject matter itself probably precludes a good
number of people to not care about it. And then there are the Protestants who
recoil from anything Catholic. And then this attacks the secularists
themselves, so they would never buy into it. It's a novel that should be read.
I am going to give it five stars. Except for some minor criticism I pointed out
earlier, this novel should be a classic.
Kerstin
Comment:
Oh my gosh, Manny, this [translation
of Latin] was a herculean endeavor. I was a little disappointed my text didn't
offer the translations. Thank you!
I thought that the novel
ended with Mass and adoration was perfect.
My
Reply to Kerstin:
LOL. it was getting to be
Hurculean. It reminded me of my college days taking Spanish and needing to
translate a passage into English. I was never very good with foreign languages.
Yes, I loved the novel
ending with a Mass and process of the Blessed Sacrament chanting hymns. What a
great movie scene that would make!!
My only criticism of the
ending is that it doesn't seem definitely clear as to what happened. Was it
Christ that was coming with the apocalypse? Or was it Felsenburgh with the
destruction of the church? How do you all read that ending.
Joseph
Reply, agreeing with others that they see the ending as
Christ coming:
It also makes Mabel's
death more ambiguous, it's hard to tell if she dies before Christ's return or
if he comes back in time for her to repent fully which I thought was a really
nice touch.
My
Reply to Joseph:
Hmm, that's interesting.
Now that you mention it, Benson is very particular of the days of the week of
those last chapters. Let me see if I can construct a timeline.
###
My
Reply to Gerri who questioned the ending:
Hi Gerri. Let's see if can address some of your
questions.
"I didn't like the
ending as much as I liked the rest of the book. It was overwritten in my estimation
and that took away from my reading enjoyment."
In what way was it
overwritten? I thought ending with the
Mass and then followed by the religious in procession with the Blessed
Sacrament while chanting hymns was brilliant.
I could easily see that as a movie scene. My complaint with the ending was that it left
an ambiguity as to whether the Church was destroyed by the volors or Christ
comes with the end of times in an apocalypse.
I think by and large, the ending is supposed to be the latter, the end
of times. It’s the only way to interpret
the last sentence of the novel: “Then this world passed, and the glory of
it.”
I don’t know why Benson
did not make it clear. Perhaps he
thought it was clear. Like a good
symphony, a novel should end with a closed cadence. Beethoven is never hesitant to nail shut a
symphony. No ambiguity with him. ;)
“Another thing I
questioned is why Benson didn't wrap up the thread about Oliver.”
That’s another reason to
consider the end of times ending to the novel.
All earthly life would be over, and Oliver will face his judgement along
side Felsenburgh.
“Did I miss it or did
anybody continue earlier discussions about the physical similarity between Fr.
Fleming/Pope Silvester and Felsenburgh? Christ/Anti-Christ as the final battle
might indicate?”
No you did not miss
that. It was never brought back up. I was going to ask people’s opinions on
that. We can do that now. I came to the conclusion it was a
Christ/Anti-Christ parallel too. I don’t
feel I know enough about the Book of Daniel and Revelation to have an educated
thought on that.
###
My Goodreads Review:
A more precise rating is four and a half stars since it is not a perfect work, but I erred on the higher side because I thought this a beautifully written and prophetic novel of ideas. As you can read from its description, it’s a dystopian novel of a future where secular humanism has come to dominate the world and seeks the final eradication of religion, especially Christianity. The one religion that remains is Roman Catholicism, but any Christian denomination would have sufficed. The author is a Roman Catholic priest, so he is writing from what he knows. The novel was written in 1907 and is set a hundred years into its future, which would make it now. In that future, secular humanism has come to dominate society and seeks the eradication of all religion, especially Christianity since it proposes a metaphysical world of a transcendent God who’s values go beyond the human ego. The totalitarianism of Orwell has come and gone, but the secular stranglehold of Benson’s dystopian vision is very much with us. And what does Benson see as the source of the secularist’s power? Humanitarianism, as seen through the ego and not of Christ, and cold logic at the expense of human values. The Lord of the world has been replaced by a lord over human beings, all of which will bring the narrative to an apocalyptic ending.
Not
only is this a novel of ideas but one of extraordinary lyricism. Robert Hugh Benson is a gifted writer. There are scenes delineated in the best
tradition of fine Victorian prose. Here
is an example of a moment when Fr. Percy Franklin, the novel’s central figure,
enters a chapel to pray.
It was drawing on towards
sunset, and the huge dark place was lighted here and there by patches of ruddy
London light that lay on the gorgeous marble and gildings finished at last by a
wealthy convert. In front of him rose up the choir, with a line of white
surpliced and furred canons on either side, and the vast baldachino in the
midst, beneath which burned the six lights as they had burned day by day for
more than a century; behind that again lay the high line of the apse-choir with
the dim, window-pierced vault above where Christ reigned in majesty. He let his
eyes wander round for a few moments before beginning his deliberate prayer,
drinking in the glory of the place, listening to the thunderous chorus, the
peal of the organ, and the thin mellow voice of the priest. There on the left
shone the refracted glow of the lamps that burned before the Lord in the
Sacrament, on the right a dozen candles winked here and there at the foot of
the gaunt images, high overhead hung the gigantic cross with that lean,
emaciated Poor Man Who called all who looked on Him to the embraces of a God.
Such
a simple moment, and yet Benson makes it come alive. And here also is the dramatic entrance into
the novel of its chief antithesis, the newly elected secular President of the
world, dubbed Lord of the World, Julian Felsenburgh. Here he enters on some sort of hovering craft
over a cheering crowd.
High on the central deck
there stood a chair, draped, too, in white, with some insignia visible above
its back; and in the chair sat the figure of a man, motionless and lonely. He
made no sign as he came; his dark dress showed vividedly against the whiteness;
his head was raised, and he turned it gently now and again from side to side.
It came nearer still, in
the profound stillness; the head turned, and for an instant the face was plainly
visible in the soft, radiant light.
It was a pale face,
strongly marked, as of a young man, with arched, black eyebrows, thin lips, and
white hair.
Then the face turned once
more, the steersman shifted his head, and the beautiful shape, wheeling a little,
passed the corner, and moved up towards the palace.
There was an hysterical
yelp somewhere, a cry, and again the tempestuous groan broke out.
There
are many such startling scenes that this novel would make a superb movie. Why hasn’t this been made into a movie? The final climatic scene where the religious
have just finished Mass and are in procession with the Blessed Sacrament
chanting Latin hymns while the onslaught of the destroying bombers make their
way is brilliant. This is a novel that
should have a much wider audience, and should be required reading across
universities if universities had the incentive to be balanced. But they are not. So it behooves you to read the novel for
yourself.
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