Monday got off much like most days, with a workout at the campus gym from about 6:30 to 8:00 with Curtis and Roland. After that exercise, which left Bryce feeling stimulated and ready for the day, he returned to the apartment, and to breakfast with Damon. As usual on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bryce then departed for his class in the French literature of the Classical period, while Damon spent another hour preparing for his class in US History. By this time, they had completed the colonial period and were considering the American Revolution, and Damon was grateful to Roland Lyle for the prepping he received on the Rhode Island Regiment, as he was able to show off in class on that topic.
Meanwhile, Dr. Anjot was still discussing Molière and his various contributions to the French theater. He was reaching the end of that topic, however, as in this class he mentioned that Jean Baptiste Poquelin, known as Molière, collapsed while acting in le Malade imaginaire. He suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis, and had a coughing fit and haemorrhaged while playing the title role. He managed to complete the performance, but died shortly thereafter. Now that, Bryce thought, was dedication to his art. The actor and playwright was a favorite of King Louis XIV, and his play was produced to music by the royal composer Marc Antoine Charpentier. Bryce remembered seeing the tomb of Molière in the Père LaChaise Cemetery in Paris last summer, but his remains were obviously moved there later, as Molière died in 1673, while the cemetery did not exist until the time of the French Revolution, over a century later.
The next class would be a general analysis of Molière, and then on Friday there would be a major test. Hence, the French study group on this Thursday would be especially intense. Friday was also the last day before the brief fall break. Because of Thanksgiving coming in late November, the fall semester had two breaks, but both were relatively short. The first fall break would begin with the last class on that Friday and last until the first class on Wednesday, October 6, while the Thanksgiving break would begin with the last class on Tuesday, November 23, and last until the first class on Monday, November 29.
In like manner, Dr. Drake was bringing her consideration of John Dryden to a close. Dryden (1631-1700) was the dominant literary figure of his generation, becoming Poet Laureate in 1668 and historiographer royal in 1670. Although Bryce chose to take his Religio laici of 1682 as the subject of his term paper, Mike Sandoval commented that he might have chosen The Hind and the Panther of 1687, which celebrates Dryden’s conversion to Catholicism. With a wry grin, Bryce answered that he was trying to act counter to expectation in order to prevent everyone from seeing him as a fanatic.
When Dryden published his Britannia rediviva celebrating the birth of James Francis Edward Stuart on 10 June 1688 to King James II and Queen Mary of Modena, he also signed his death warrant as far as the future was concerned. Before the year was out, the opponents of the Catholic King had called in his son-in-law, the Dutchman William of Orange, and staged the so-called Glorious Revolution. James was in exile in France, and the Protestants were in the ascendant. Dryden refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new monarchs, and was deprived of all his offices. He spent the last portion of his life dependent on his income from translations of classical works into English, thus making these works more available to the reading public. His translation of the works of Virgil in 1697 brought in £1,400, equal to the annual income of some of the leading families of the realm.
Dr. Drake concluded her lecture with some of the comments of later authors on Dryden, including encomiums from Pope, Johnson, Scott, and Byron, and concluding with the words of T.S. Eliot, “… we cannot fully enjoy or rightly estimate a hundred years of English poetry unless we fully enjoy Dryden.”
Unlike Dr. Anjot, Dr. Drake scheduled her test for Wednesday, which Bryce appreciated, as having both on the same day would be a great burden, especially as he would also have a test in his English history class later on Friday. Most students seemed to appreciate this more because they wanted to leave campus early on Friday, the last day of classes before the break. It occurred to Bryce once again how ironic it was that so many people seemed to want as little as possible for their dollar when it came to education, unlike just about any other thing they spent money on.
Bryce hoped for additional information in his secret quest to document the ancestry of his partner, but the mail on this Monday was disappointingly full of nothing but announcements from various campus offices and clubs, and ads intended to entice students into overextending their financial resources with credit cards.
After lunch with Damon and Caroline, during which Caroline was treated to an extended account of Bryce’s karate expertise, much to his embarrassment, Bryce spent the hour before his English history class in the library, completing work on the rough draft of his paper on Dryden’s Religio laici. The work consists of two parts, one of which is a defense of Christianity against the rising tide of Deism, the other a specific defense of the Church of England. In his argument with Deism, Dryden denies that basic rules of morality are available through reason alone. If this were true, he says, then all societies would have discovered them, yet we see societies ancient and modern which disagree on the most elementary of social rules. He also argues for the need for atonement, or in favor of the doctrine of original sin, pointing out the many sins against basic humanity common to mankind throughout history. Salvation can only come, he says, through divine intervention. Dryden in effect accuses the Deists of the sin of pride, or arrogance, when he writes:
Thus Man by his own strength to Heaven would soar,
And would not be obliged to God for more.
As Bryce found, most critics agree that Dryden’s defense of the Church of England is less convincing, less ably argued, than his general defense of Christianity. Perhaps Dryden was already on his path to Rome, manifest five years later in The Hind and the Panther. Bryce found the most convincing part to be his defense of avoidance of extremes and his rejection of fanaticism. It was in researching this topic that Bryce discovered that the word ‘fanatic’ derived from a word for the followers of an orgiastic rite in pagan religious practice, and the word ‘fan’ was simply a short form of fanatic.
Bryce completed his work on John Dryden except for writing up some of his latest researches, which he would do that evening. He would have the rough draft of this term paper ready to be turned in to Dr. Drake on Wednesday.
In his English history class, Dr. Dickinson was lecturing on the reign of King John. Dr. Dickinson again indulged himself by citing 1066 and All That to the effect that John “had begun badly as a Bad Prince, having attempted to answer the Irish Question by pulling the beards of the aged Irish chiefs, which was a Bad Thing and the wrong answer.” John (1166-1216), as the youngest of the five sons of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, was never expected to inherit the kingdom, and so was called John Lackland. However, the early deaths of his brothers William and Henry, and then the death of King Richard without children, opened an opportunity for John, which he seized. His brother Geoffrey, who came between Richard and John in the birth order, died during the reign of King Henry, leaving a posthumous son named Arthur (1187-1203), who was designated heir to the throne by his uncle, King Richard, in 1190 as Richard prepared to embark on the Third Crusade, and again in 1196. When King Richard died in 1199, John as the adult male member of the family seized the throne. The rules of succession were not as clearly defined in those days as they later became, but under modern rules Arthur would clearly have been recognized as the next King of England. This led to three years of struggle and conflict until 1202, when Arthur was captured and immured in the castle of Falaise in Normandy, where, tradition says, he was ordered emasculated by King John, but his jailer, Hubert de Burgh, refused to carry out the sentence. Arthur was then transferred to Rouen in 1203, and disappeared from the historical record. Stories common later even state that John killed the boy with his own hand.
King Philip Augustus of France used the death of Arthur, among other things, as a pretext for war with John, resulting in the loss of almost all the Plantagenet possessions in France, including Normandy, Anjou, Maine, and Poitou. After this, John was called John Softsword. Philip did not get Aquitaine, as that was never in John’s name, but rather in the name of his mother, Eleanor. It was partly the necessity placed on many members of the aristocracy to choose between their lands in England and those in France which led to the later rebellion and Magna Carta, but that was Wednesday’s topic. As Bryce also knew, it contributed to the northern French invasion of southern France known as the Albigensian Crusade. Nonetheless, it was clear that John was governed by ambition, a form of pride. As Shakespeare put in the mouth of Mark Anthony:
The noble Brutus hath told you
That Caesar was ambitious.
If so, ’t were a grievous sin,
And grievously hath Caesar paid.
John’s history also illustrates the Proverb: Pride cometh before the fall.
Dr. Dickinson also planned an exam on Friday, which many students rued, but it was clearly laid out in the course syllabus. They simply had not paid attention until it was right upon them.
During the hour between 3:00 and 4:00, Bryce worked on his paper on Richard Lionheart. He utilized the fact that Richard designated Prince Arthur as his heir even before marrying Berengaria of Navarre as an added consideration supporting the contention that Richard was gay and never expected to have heirs of his own. He wanted to submit this draft to Dr. Dickinson on Friday as well, while the paper on Racine in Dr. Anjot’s class would have to wait until later, as his researches were not as advanced on that topic. He did, however, have a rough draft of his paper on Bernini’s sculptures for Dr. Padgett and that on the Borgias for Dr. Belzi.
At four, Bryce was at the Newman Center, again exchanging barbs with Patricia Murphy.
“Here I am, Patricia, as part of your penance for your multitude of sins this past summer,” Bryce joked.
“You just leave my sins alone, and focus on your own, Bryce Winslow,” Patricia replied.
“But Patricia, I have no sins,” Bryce teased.
“Then why are you here, you prideful boy,” she responded.
“Ah, you would know that, would you? Well, then, I’ll tell you in strictest confidence that Father and I are putting together the case for my canonization, so it will all be ready the moment I die,” Bryce claimed.
“If you keep up that kind of talk, that moment may come sooner than you expect,” she replied.
Fortunately, before the exchange became too ridiculous, Father Miller appeared to take Bryce off Patricia’s hands for an hour.
When they were settled, Father Miller asked with a smile, “Did I hear you tell Patricia that you were preparing for your canonization?”
Bryce blushed. “Just a joke, Father. But maybe connected to the topic I want to discuss today.”
“And what might that be?” the priest asked.
“Pride. Not, of course, in the positive sense, as in pride in one’s country, or pride in the sense of self-confidence, but rather pride in the negative sense, as in ego, as in arrogance, as in one of the seven deadly sins,” Bryce declared.
“Please explain,” the chaplain asked.
“I’ve been restless all week, maybe longer. I’m not entirely sure where that comes from, but it sometimes leads me to kind of burst out in extended diatribes about things which really are not all that important. Like last Monday, I went on forever about the evils of tattoos. I made it into a case for tattoos representing the decline of Western Civilization. On Tuesday, I asked God to help, and he kind of told me I was overreacting,” Bryce began.
“How did God tell you this?” Father Miller asked.
Bryce grinned. “Well, it was not a voice like thunder from a cloud. I haven’t quite gone that far. You may remember that we discussed this last year. Sometimes, when I kind of clear my mind of outside distractions, an answer to some question just comes to me. I really don’t think I’m forcing the issue, especially as sometimes the answer is not one I like. This time, the answer was that it was not my role to solve all the problems of the world, and to think so was the sin of pride.”
“Did you really think you could solve all the problems of the world?” Bryce was asked.
“Well, not really. I mean, put like that, I hope I would have enough sense to retreat and admit that this was excessive. But I was feeling responsible for all kinds of people and developments,” Bryce clarified.
“So, maybe the message you got was not so much an accusation as a warning,” Father Miller suggested.
“A warning?” Bryce asked.
The priest grinned. “Not, ‘you are guilty of pride’ but rather ‘you know pride is unreasonable, so steer clear of it.’”
“Um, maybe,” Bryce admitted. He seemed reluctant to give up this solution to his problems.
“What have you done since Tuesday along these lines?” Father asked.
“Well, I asked for advice. I wanted to try to make certain I was not creating some kind of imaginary world of my own, like a video game or something.” He grinned. “You’re not the only one I ask for advice.”
“So, tell me more about this. It seems related to what you told me before was your primary reason for seeking spiritual counseling.”
“I guess it is,” Bryce said. “Okay, here’s the source of my unease. Damon asked me whether I thought people without a religion were in some way incomplete. I don’t want to insult him or tick him off, so I’ve avoided answering him. Oh, and I might add, in this Damon was joined by Jason, the partner of Nate Hagen.”
“Was Nate the person you asked for advice?” Father Miller asked.
“No. Nate said he did not want to discuss it until he was more certain where he stood,” Bryce answered. “The person I asked is another student, actually my pledge at the fraternity, but someone who seems to have his head screwed on right. I asked him whether he thought having a religion was important. He said he was an Episcopalian, so the issue is not specifically a Catholic one. But he said he thought it was important that people have a religion in order to give society some kind of common ground, and those who reject society’s norms too extremely simply don’t fit. I’m summarizing, and I think I got something wrong there, but that’s the gist of it.”
“Two thing occur to me about this approach,” Father Miller said. “First, it is an entirely utilitarian one. This approach treats religion as something useful for society, that is, for secular purposes. That kind of diminishes religion, don’t you think? It entirely ignores the issue of whether there is any truth in religion.”
“That’s right!” Bryce exclaimed. “I was very grateful when Roland agreed that religion was important, but still I felt uneasy about that approach, and so have not followed up.”
“If you do discuss this matter with Damon, or with Nate’s Jason, you might want to start here, but to leave it here leaves out so much. As your spiritual advisor, it is my job to bring you back to God as often as possible. Where is God in this argument?” Father Miller pointed out.
“Well, isn’t that kind of begging the question? I mean, if I start with the assumption that there is a God, then I’ve already answered the question, haven’t I?” Bryce asked.
“Yes and no. As I said, you might want to start with the premise that religion has a social utility, but agreeing to the existence of God is not the same in many people’s mind as agreeing to an organized religion. Moreover, if you don’t end up with God, it’s a pretty useless argument, isn’t it?” the priest asked.
“Yeah, I guess,” Bryce considered. “Yeah, sure. If we leave God out of the equation, then it might just as well be something else which serves as the social glue Roland talked about. It could be humanism, or communism, or libertarianism, or any other ideology if you could imagine an entire society buying any one of them.”
“So, I suggest that whatever approach you take, your answer has got to be grounded in the search for truth,” Father advised.
“That brings up another part of my restlessness. How do I know that what I think is true, really is?” Bryce posed.
“That’s why you’re here. If I understood you correctly when you asked me to be your spiritual advisor, it was to make sure you were in touch with reality, and not some fantasy construct of your own, right?”
“Right,” Bryce agreed.
“So, we have to examine our experiences, and compare them to those of others, contemporary and historical. Unless you can believe in mass hallucination over time, that ought to give us some kind of clue as to what is really out there, not just what you or I imagine,” Father Miller assured him.
“Okay. I like that approach. It fits into my historical orientation,” Bryce agreed. “What’s the other thing?”
“Other thing?” Father asked.
“You said a while ago that two things occurred to you about the approach to religion I described,” Bryce elucidated.
“Oh, yes. You, or your friend Roland, said something like those who don’t accept the norms of society simply don’t fit. How does this fit into your position as a gay member of society?” Father questioned.
“Oh! Oh, I see. That approach could easily be taken too far, and end up in some kind of totalitarian-imposed group mentality, ignoring individual rights, and preventing any kind of social change,” Bryce mulled it over.
“Yes, it could. It was never really possible before, but in the modern world, with mass communications and means of propaganda, it is possible to create an artificial consensus. We see it in Nazi Germany above all else, but also in Communist regimes as well. When someone disagrees, he has to be sent to a ‘re-education camp’ to straighten him out. In your case, perhaps the term ‘straighten him out’ has special significance. You need to think about these things before accepting them,” the priest warned.
“I’m sure Roland did not mean anything like that. For one thing, he’s gay, too. But I see what you’re saying. When we talk about the social consensus which religion provides, we need to be careful to specify limits,” Bryce considered. “In fact, I would not be comfortable with a consensus dictated by some fundamentalist form of Christianity. Nor, come to think of it, one set by the current power structure in the Vatican, either.”
“I think you are beginning to appreciate just how complex the issue is which you brought to the table,” Father Miller said. “Wanting to find an answer is not pride, as you hinted, but thinking you already have the answer may very well be. We have just about exhausted our hour together, Bryce, but I want you to think about two things as you contemplate these matters over the next two weeks. One, God loves you, and wants you to be happy, but not on just any terms. On the terms which are in your own best long-range interests. We know what those terms are in large part through revelation. Read the Gospels as an aid along these lines. Second, as part of God’s love, he gave as human reason to help us figure out these things as well. Put the two together. As St. Thomas told us, if they seem to be in conflict, that’s not God’s fault, but ours. We’ve made a mistake somewhere. Go back and find it.
“In addition to thinking about these two things, there is something I want you to do, or rather, to continue to do.”
“What’s that?” Bryce asked.
“Just what you did in this instance. Take some time to let God talk to you. You know, prayer is conversation with God. It should not be all one way. Not all you telling God what to do or how to do it. Instead, you need to listen as well. There are, of course, the public prayers of the Church as a community. The most obvious example is the Mass. But the kind of prayer you described, going off to yourself and talking to God, is also important. Jesus tells us to go into the closet and pray in private, and God who hears in private will answer us.” The priest smiled. “I have had people think Jesus meant that little space where you hang your suit, but the word simply means a private place. You need both kinds of prayer. You need the quiet times, just being personal with God, but that alone can lead to precisely the problem you seek to avoid by coming to see me. It is so easy to convince yourself that whatever you want is God speaking to you. That’s why you also need the public prayer, the connections to the larger community, to provide guidelines, to recognize borders between you and God.
“You’re on the right track, Bryce. Keep it up,” Father concluded.
“Thank you, Father,” Bryce said. “That’s given me a lot to think about. More than I can encompass in two weeks, I’m sure.”
“Keep working at it. And don’t lose sight of God,” the priest said.
Bryce laughed. “I think I said something like that to Nate.”
“Then take your own advice.”