Maria and the Bellasis Family 23

I have had another instalment from Edward Bellasis about Cardinal Newman’s hymns. 

Dear Miss Bowring,

Thank you for your kind words about my last letter. I’m pleased that I am giving you the sorts of details you require. I expect you know that Father John has written nearly 200 poems, many of which were made into hymns. He started writing as a child, but his most proficient period was when he was on the trip with his friends to the Mediterranean, which I mentioned in my last letter. He told his mother that his goal was to write at least one poem every day of the trip, and in the end he produced 90 or so. 

I feel that by enclosing for your use a copy of our Oratory Hymn book, you will have the words and music for much of what he wrote, and if you want specific background for any, you can contact me again. 

However his greatest work is no doubt his massive work - the Dream of Gerontius. He said that writing it was an accident as it just started out with him putting words to a dream he had. Like many great poems, the inspiration for it came to Father John quite mysteriously, as if by the whispering of the Muse. “It came into my head to write it, I really can’t tell how. “

Getting it printed was an accident too as a magazine asked if he had anything new for him, and as he had nothing else, he gave it to them. However, it has been shown to be very much appreciated. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it to you. And of course many of his hymns are taken directly from the poem. It is the story of a dying old man’s trip from life to death and then on to meet with angels, and then into purgatory en route to paradise. 

The public’s response to Gerontius far exceeded Father John’s expectations.  It was praised at great length in all the papers from The Times downwards. People who professed horror at the doctrine of Purgatory, read about the soul’s joumey to its purification with interest, even wonder. Some felt the devils yelling ‘ha ha’ and jeering at chastity were perhaps a little bit vulgar. Father John  had no illusions as to his poetry, which he always regarded as a relaxation, to be composed while shaving, or lunching, or slightly seasick, on the ocean. 

The principle actors in the drama are Gerontius and his guardian angel; their dialogue is interwoven with the prayers of the faithful at his bedside, the taunting of demons, and the songs of angelic choirs above. The poetry is at once dramatic and lyrical. The poem is divided into seven sections. In the first, Gerontius lies in bed, preparing for death, with priest and friends praying for him.  Before giving up his ghost, Gerontius affirms his faith by reciting the creed: “Firmly I believe and truly / God is three, and God is One”  After Gerontius dies, the priest prays for the departed soul: “Go forth upon thy journey, Christian soul!” . In the second section, Gerontius describes the strange sensation of death: “This silence pours a solitariness / Into the very essence of my soul; / and the deep rest, so soothing and so sweet, / Hath something too of sternness and of pain”. 

Eventually, Gerontius realises he is being carried by an angel: “Another marvel: some one has me fast / Within his ample palm”. Gerontius listens to the angel rejoice that his charge has been rescued from hell: “My work is done, / My task is o’er, / And so I come, / Taking it home, / For the crown is won, / Alleluia, / For evermore.

In the third section, Gerontius addresses his angel, and they begin a dialogue. The angel explains that he is carrying him to “the Just and Holy Judge”. They discuss the nature of time in eternity, and how the flow of events is “measured by the living thought alone” and each mind is “standard of his own chronology”. Gerontius wonders why he is not afraid of his coming judgement, for he remembers being terrified at the thought of it on earth; the Angel explains, “It is because / Then thou didst fear, that now that dost not fear”. 

In the fourth section, their discourse is interrupted by the screeching of the demons that wait outside heaven’s court, raging with envy at the souls who will be blessed for eternity: “Low-born clods / Of brute earth, / They aspire / To become gods”. Despite their virulent hatred, they are powerless to harm Gerontius, who is now immune to all temptation. 

When their discourse resumes, Gerontius wonders why it is that he cannot see anything, but that he still feels like he has retained his other senses; the Angel explains that he has in fact lost them all. Not until the Beatific Vision will Gerontius regain his sight. However, the angel does confirm that at the moment of his particular judgement, if it be granted that he is to sit among the elect, sight will come to him as in a “lightning-flash”, and he will see God for “One moment”; but “that sight of the Most Fair / Will gladden thee, but it will pierce thee too” . 

In the fifth section, Gerontius and the Angel enter the court of heaven, and as they ascend, their discourse alternates with the five choirs of angelicals who “hymn their songs to tell the story of the fall and redemption of mankind. The Angel explains to Gerontius that when he sees God, he will be filled with two conflicting desires: “To slink away, and hide  thee from His sight” and “to dwell / Within the beauty of His countenance”. 

Gerontius is then prepared for Purgatory: “Take me away, and in the lowest deep / There let me be”. In the seventh and last section, the Angel releases his “charge, a precious soul” to the “golden prison” of Purgatory . After the souls in Purgatory sing a paraphrased version of Psalm 90, the Angel sings the final song: “Farewell, but not forever! brother dear, / Be brave and patient on thy bed of sorrow; / Swiftly shall pass thy night of trial here, / And I will come and wake thee on the morrow”

Again, I fear I have run out of time. Father John has hardly written any poetry at all for the last 20 years or so, and what he has is mostly about the Virgin or St. Philip Neri, the  patron of The Oratory.

With regard

Edward Bellisis

I was thrilled with receiving the hymn book complete with organ accompaniment and was just about to start deciding which ones we should learn when I got a message from my sister Edith .

“Please come with me to help Lewin and Kattie. Their son, Edward, who you know is only 15, is desperately ill, and not expected to survive.”

So I had to put my plans for music to one side.  Mother Francis said they would all pray for Edward, and that I should do all I could for the family and not to worry about my commitments here for the time being.