Dan England and the Noonday Devil

by Myles Connolly

  Art and Scholasticism (1920, French; 1923, English) by Jacques Maritain is a robust and seminal work of Thomistic philosophy that addresses many questions of aesthetics.

  Là-Bas (French, 1891; English, 1924) by Joris-Karl Huysmans—Down There or The Damned in English—fictionalizes the author’s own dabbling in the occult. Huysmans converted to Catholicism in 1892 and wrote three more books in the series chronicling his “character’s” journey before entering a Benedictine monastery in 1900.49

  Modern Criminal Investigation (1935) by Harry Söderman and John J. O’Connell even into the 1960s was “one of the most widely used textbooks for law enforcement officials.”50

  The Living Flame of Love (1618, Spanish; 1912, English) by St. John of the Cross is a poem whose stanzas “sing of an elevated union within the intimate depths of the spirit”51 and is a classic of mystical theology.

  Especially when taken together, these titles show Connolly to have been an excellent judge of literary quality, even across genres as diverse as sports humor and musical biography.

  58: “Freud rubbing elbows with Ignatius”

  Connolly’s point here is to provide extreme contrasts through the pairing of vastly different yet worthwhile writers.

  Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) founded psychoanalysis, a means for doctor and patient to speak to each other to solve problems of the mind. St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556) wrote rules for spiritual discernment so the soul in daily, intimate prayer with God could gain certainty of God’s will and confidence in the spiritual life with the occasional guidance of a spiritual director.

  François Rabelais (1494–1553) was a Franciscan and then Benedictine priest who earned a reputation as a humanist. He wrote Gargantua and Pantagruel, “a chaos wherein are found learning, eloquence, coarse humor, and extravagances…His vocabulary is rich and picturesque, but licentious and filthy.”52 St. Thomas More (1478–1535), a brilliant statesman, maintained his loyalty to the Pope in the teeth of King Henry VIII’s claims to supremacy and was thus martyred. More wrote Utopia, “a means by which he could call attention to some of the abuses of his day without being taken to task by the king for his freedom.”53 Connolly praises More in Mr. Blue as a model of lay fatherhood.54

  Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867) was a pessimistic poet who gained infamy for his book The Flowers of Evil, six poems from which were banned in France for their obscenity. Francis Thompson (1859–1907) wrote devotional poetry and, after overcoming an opium addiction, lived an ascetical life. His “Hound of Heaven” is still offered in the Roman Catholic breviary as a paradigm of spiritual writing. Connolly lauds Thompson in Mr. Blue for his poem “The Kingdom of God.”55

  Karl Marx (1818–1883) called for a socialist state and famously wrote that religion “is the opium of the people. To abolish religion as the illusory happiness of the people is to demand their real happiness.”56 Belloc advocated Distributism, arguing that “the old Pagan Servile State slowly approached a Distributive State under the influence of the Catholic Church…[and that] it is a plain piece of historical fact.”57

  O. Henry is the penname of William Sydney Porter (1862–1910), one of the most prolific and popular American short story writers, famous for his comic irony and surprise endings. Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) was born in India of British parents and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 for his many works, including The Jungle Book (1894). Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (1881–1975) had a prodigious output of more than ninety books, his most famous being literary or dramatic farces. He invented the now-ubiquitous butler character Jeeves.

  58–59: “These books on the table”

  The Scientific Memoirs of Thomas Henry Huxley (1903) is a posthumous four-volume set of the biologist’s writings. Huxley gained fame for aggressively advancing Darwin’s theories and coining the term “agnosticism,” a belief that he would further develop in his works.

  The Last Night of Don Juan: A Dramatic Poem (1921, French; 1929, English) by Edmond Rostand focuses on the spiritual battle that ensues over Don Juan’s soul during his final hour. Rostand is most recognized as the author of the play Cyrano de Bergerac.

  Kottō, Being Japanese Curios, with Sundry Cobwebs (1902) by Lafcadio Hearn is one of the many volumes of Japanese folk tales, legends, and myths that Hearn, a Westerner, translated while a professor in Tokyo. He is generally credited with bringing Japanese literature to the West through periodicals—he was an active journalist—and his books.

  Inside Football (1919) by Major Frank W. Cavanaugh is considered “one of the first books to cover in depth all phases of football at that time.”58 Connolly was likely aware of Cavanaugh’s coaching at Boston College, Connolly’s alma mater. We learn later in the novel that Dan loves college football.

  Basic Verities: Prose and Poetry (1943) by Charles Péguy is a posthumous collection of the Catholic convert’s work. One scholar describes the impetus behind Péguy’s writing as “a call to break through the rigidity of modernity’s rational indifference: the call of heroes and saints that from time immemorial has led not to inactive silence, but to action, to sacrifice, and to literature.”59

  A History of the Protestant Reformation in England & Ireland (1824) by William Cobbett is remarkable in that the author was Protestant himself yet argued that the Reformation had done irreparable harm. Chesterton wrote the biography William Cobbett in 1925.

  New York Murders (1944), edited by Ted Collins, and Detroit Murders (1948), edited by Alvin C. Hamer, are volumes one and eight respectively of the then-popular Regional Murder Series, “books focusing on the bizarre crimes of a particular area.”60 The nine-volume series represented a host of authors: “sixty-six crime writers and journalists contributed.”61

  The Flying Inn (1914) by Chesterton is a satirical romp on all kinds of rigorism, from vegetarianism to progressivism. At its heart, though, the novel “was intended as a protest against the lobbying of the Temperance Movement for stricter licensing laws.”62

  The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colors, and Their Applications to the Arts (1839, French; 1854, English) by the chemist Michel Eugène Chevreul revolutionized color theory: “Chevreul, working empirically with materials, was able to present a wide range of practical observations on just how complex the relative nature of color is.”63 His work is often cited as highly influential on the Impressionist school of painting.

  No book in Connolly’s time bears the exact title “The Autobiography of the Little Flower.” The closest match is The Little Flower of Jesus; Being the Autobiography (1900), which goes by The Story of a Soul today and presents the writings of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. A 1901 book review—more than two decades before the Little Flower was canonized—proclaims, “There is a grace, a beauty, a poetic touch, a constant gaiety and prettiness in everything she says.”64 Connolly includes her in Mr. Blue, as well.65

  59: “A history of Boston College;”

  This item appeared in Connolly’s first edition with a comma after it, which gives the mistaken impression that the history book is The Flying Inn. We have corrected the comma to a semicolon in this edition.

  59: “Pieter Brueghel…Giotto”

  Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525–1569) was the most accomplished painter of the Flemish Renaissance. The narrator’s description of his work is apt.

  Giotto di Bondone (1266–1337) was a Florentine painter widely considered to have ushered in the Renaissance through his unrivalled skill. His frescoes remain among the premier works of art in the world. Again, the narrator’s description of his style is appropriate.

  59: “Gauguin’s…Fra Angelico”

  Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) was a post-Impressionist painter and musician whose sometimes-rocky friendship with Vincent Van Gogh still fascinates scholars. Seeing art and the sciences as pathways to truth, Gauguin often wrote to friends about his theories; one scholar summarizes his thought as “the relationship between intelligent artistic distortions and the revelation of essential realities through the c
reation of musical harmonies that have the power to enlarge the mind by provoking associative thought.”66

  Guido di Pietro (1395–1455), popularly known as Fra Angelico (the “angelic friar”), was a monk and painter who was revered in Italy for centuries before he was “restored to the canon of greatness”67 among artists proper. His frescoes in the San Marco convent in Florence are considered masterpieces, especially his “Annunciation.”

  As above, the narrator’s descriptions of the art are suitable.

  59: “Chants Gregorian”

  The official liturgical music of the Roman Rite for a millennium or more, “the name Gregorian chant points to Gregory the Great (590–604), to whom a pretty constant tradition ascribes a certain final arrangement of the Roman chant.”68 It is worth noting that the documents of Vatican II, while allowing for other kinds of sacred music, teach continuity regarding chant: “The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.”69

  59: “‘In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree’…‘Sweet Adeline’”

  “In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree” is a sentimental romance and was a number one hit in 1905. It has been a popular cover song ever since; Louis Armstrong’s version, for instance, features his trademark New Orleans jazz sound.

  Appearing as sheet music in 1903, “Sweet Adeline”—a nostalgic romance—quickly became a standard among barbershop quartets.

  61: “Avaricious mouth”

  “Avaricious” means greedy or “grasping,” and when figurative—as Connolly uses it here—“eager to possess” (OED).

  61: “Eric Gill’s autobiography”

  Eric Gill (1882–1940) was a master stonecutter and Catholic convert associated with the group at Ditchling, England, in the early twentieth century, most notably with Hilary Pepler. Gill’s sculptures and prints are by turns magnificently reverent and strikingly erotic, and many of his typefaces are still in use today. His guarded Autobiography came out in 1940, and he designed the funeral monument for Chesterton’s resting place.

  Fiona McCarthy’s biography Eric Gill (1998) drew heavily on his diaries and revealed that the artist had engaged in incest and bestiality. The ensuing furor nearly got Gill’s works removed from churches. As McCarthy would later write, however, “the consequent reassessment of his life and art left his artistic reputation strengthened.”70

  Connolly quotes one of Hilary Pepler’s poems in Mr. Blue.71

  62: “Justus”

  This name appears three times in Scripture, two of which are surnames. The first is “Joseph, called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus,”72 whom God does not choose to take Judas’s place in the opening of the Acts of the Apostles. The second is a Gentile, “a certain man, named Titus Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house was adjoining to the synagogue.”73 Paul enters his house to preach to the Corinthians. The third is “Jesus, that is called Justus,” whom Paul includes among the only “helpers in the kingdom of God.”74

  63: “As the Apostle says”

  Dan is referring to St. Paul, specifically 1 Cor. 13: 1–3.

  65: “Luber, the Match King?”

  The story of Ivar Kreuger, dubbed the Match King for his international monopoly on safety matches, is still taught among economists today and was the inspiration for the 1932 film The Match King. Kreuger apparently committed suicide that same year. What Kreuger was doing is now known as a pyramid scheme and apparently did not involve skimping on match counts; that part is Connolly’s invention.

  66: “Here were men…friends”

  Instructive for our times is Connolly’s presentation of philia, the classical term for the love of friendship. Philia is distinct from eros, erotic love; storge, affection or familial love; and agape, willing the good of the other.75 As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has pointed out, philia is used in the New Testament “with added depth of meaning in Saint John’s Gospel in order to express the relationship between Jesus and his disciples.”76

  67: “Superabundantly real”

  “Superabundant” is a common term in Catholic theology. Aquinas, for instance, uses it to answer one of the key problems of atonement theory: “By suffering out of love and obedience, Christ gave more to God than was required to compensate for the offense of the whole human race… Christ’s Passion was not only a sufficient but a superabundant atonement for the sins of the human race.”77

  67: “Thoreau’s words”

  These lines are from the most famous section of Walden, “Where I Lived and What I Lived For.”78

  67: “Glowing candor…shining challenge”

  Connolly continues the theme of the Transfiguration in this paragraph. How the narrator sees Dan is akin to how the select apostles with Jesus that day were challenged to cooperate with His grace.

  Chapter 7

  68: “Long mission table”

  Connolly’s furniture choice has a double meaning. “Mission table” is a standard term for a simple, sturdy, wooden rectangular table suitable for meals for a number of guests. That “mission” or evangelization also happens at said table—or at least in the gathering of such disparate figures into one—is Connolly’s spiritual meaning.

  69: “‘Temperance is…’”

  The provenance of this quotation is obscure. Aquinas does say something similar in the Summa: “Justice and fortitude are more excellent virtues than temperance: while prudence and the theological virtues are more excellent still.”79 The highest of the theological virtues is charity.

  70: “Fulminous”

  “Relating to thunder and lightning” (OED). Dan means a sermon that rails with fire and brimstone, like a harrowing storm.

  70: “Murphy’s inebriety or Mamie’s indiscretions”

  The names here are stock, like “Dick and Jane” or “Harry and Sally.”

  71: “The great Schoolman”

  Schoolman is another word for a Scholastic theologian, of which Aquinas is considered the premier.80

  71: “‘The Body of Our Lord’”

  Connolly was likely using the Selected Writings of Aquinas published in 1939 for this quotation, which contains the given translation of “Sermon on the Body of the Lord.”81 A newer translation can be found in a rare Book of Hours edited by the great apologist Ronald Knox.82 Recent scholars, however, have discovered that the sermon is not Aquinas’s; it may have been Pope Clement V’s.83

  Connolly’s main point in citing this at length is to show a facet of Dan’s spiritual understanding at this stage of his journey. Dan sees the inebriation of alcohol—not drunkenness, but the reasonable pleasure of alcohol—as a foretaste or foreshadowing of the divine inebriation we experience in heaven with Christ and the communion of Saints. In Dan’s favor, Saints like Catherine of Siena and John Vianney, the latter of whom Connolly quotes several times in Mr. Blue, have emphasized this same heavenly intoxication found, for instance, in Psalm 35:9.

  71: “Orvieto…Pope Urban IV”

  As mentioned in “The Body of Our Lord” note above, the circumstances surrounding the delivery of this sermon, which Connolly paraphrased from the brief introductory note preceding the sermon in the 1939 Selected Writings of Aquinas,84 cannot be true as given, since scholars have since determined that Aquinas did not, in fact, give this sermon.

  Nonetheless, the events surrounding the sermon remain clear. Upon verifying the authenticity of a Eucharistic Miracle that occurred in 1263, Pope Urban IV asked Aquinas to write a series of liturgical prayers and hymns (an office and a Mass) in honor of Christ’s True Presence in the Eucharist. The results were universally regarded as magnificent, and the Pope formally instituted the feast of Corpus Christi in 1264. Many of Aquinas’s compositions are standards in Catholic practice today, such as the “Tantum ergo.”85

  71: “Hierarchs”

  “One who has rule or authority in holy things…a chief prelate” (OED).

  72: “Hobgoblins”
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  This is a reference to one of the most-quoted lines of Thoreau’s friend Ralph Waldo Emerson: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”86

  72: “Materialistic”

  Dan uses “materialism” here as that conception of reality in which there is only matter, no spirit, and that everything can be explained “from the conditions and activity of matter.”87

  72: “Casuistry”

  “The application of general principles of morality to definite and concrete cases of human activity.”88 Casuistry has more than once helped counter an overemphasis in the Church, such as when rigorists have argued that the most difficult path must always be the holiest path. On the other hand—and as Dan mentions here—casuistry taken too far can lead to a dilution of teaching, as if theory and practice are somehow opposed.

  73: “Jesuits…Pascal”

  Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) wrote a series of “Provincial Letters” denouncing what he saw as negligently lenient morality among the Jesuits and in the nature of casuistry itself. That the letters were satirical literary masterpieces only heightened the scandal.89

  Dan’s point is sarcastic: what he terms modern “medicine” would hopefully shock the casuists of Pascal’s time.

  73: “The consummation of the world”

  Matt. 28:20 reads, “Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.”

  73: “Huxley…Pierre Du Nouy”

  Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895) was mentioned in chapter 6; he was an aggressive Darwinist and invented the term “agnosticism.”

  Pierre Lecomte du Noüy (1883–1947) was a biophysicist whose work on surface tension is still cited and used today. His book Human Destiny (1947) argued that a strictly materialist view of the world was scientifically impossible; he was, to use Dan’s words, “grop[ing] for light.”

  73: “With Tertullian”

  Dan refers to the oft-misquoted saying in Church Father Tertullian’s De carne Christi: “Certum est, quia impossibile,” or, “It is certain because it is impossible.” Apologists have been quick to point out that his argument is not against reason proper: “The point of what Tertullian did say was that since the resurrection was an impossible event, it must (as faith maintains) have been a miraculous event.”90