In a letter from Manchester on August 13th, 1926, which I found
in Robert Speaight's collection of Belloc's letters (London: Hollis &
Carter, 1958), Belloc wrote to Laura, Lady Lovat, that he had just been to a
party with many friends. His hostess, presumably Lady Lovat, was very kind and
sent him a "parcel which contained a 1912 bottle of Haut Brion," which,
as Belloc said, "astounded" him. I am not sure whether it was the Haut
Brion itself that astounded him or the fact that Lady Lovat knew that he
would like it, probably both. He was so inspired that he intended to complete
his long poem on Wine that had been delayed for already four years. Belloc mused
that "it will be a long time before I get Friendship and the Faith again under
the same roof." Needless to say, these two belong together under the same roof,
which is, more or less, the whole message of revelation.
Lady Lovet's daughter Rose died in August of 1940 at the age of
fourteen. I do not know the exact circumstances of her death. As we know,
Belloc's American wife, Elodie, died in 1914. He lost one son during World War I
and another in World War II. He was privy to such sadness. Belloc wrote to Lady
Lovat that he had been continually thinking of her daughter. He added:
I have always believed that thinking continually of those in beatitude is a sign of communion with them. Of course, that may be a superstition, but it seems to me there must be something in it, for I have noticed that the degree in which the mind recalls those who are no longer on earth is connected with some sort of communion. I do not understand these things but I cannot help but feeling a connection between actual persons and recurrent recollection. If it were not so why should one person be remembered more than another...?
This is the Communion of the Saints, isn't it?
Belloc presumes to extend words of consolation, as only he can,
to Lady Lovat. He wants to stress two things that, he writes, are results of his
own experience. "The first thing is," he tells her, "that strong human ties
escape the general rule of mortality." Belloc, of course, is most conscience of
what he called in The Path to Rome, "the mortality of immortal men." Here
he is telling us, apparently contrary to all evidence, that something escapes
the "general rule of mortality". He realizes that this teaching goes against our
culture and our senses. He does not pretend to explain it. "How that escape is
accomplished, I have no idea. Most things pass, but certain forms of human
affection do not pass; they seem to be of another stuff from the common fabric
of life." In the face of doubt, including his own, he trusts his experience.
Notice how "scientific", if you will, that Belloc is here. He
does not have an a priori theory that prevents him from affirming his
experience. He does not pretend to know how the experience comes about. On the
other hand, he does not say that "since 'science' or philosophy tells us that
there is no everlasting life, my experience of communion, even though I am aware
of it, must be utter nonsense." What he knows, he admits; what he does not know,
he also acknowledges.
The second thing that Belloc told Lady Lovat was that "human
beings can rely permanently on doctrine." Here we see in Belloc a theme that we
so often find in Chesterton, that the mind is a faculty of dogma, that its
purpose is to state what is true. Since Belloc is here talking to a mother, his
friend, about the death of her young daughter, it seems surprising that he is
talking to her, of all things, about doctrine. We might we willing to accept
vaguely that there is some affection that remains, but our mind should tell us
that nothing remains.
Belloc admits to Lady Lovat that "doctrine is much drier than
emotion and it is difficult to understand its full value today for the world has
come today to depend wholly on emotion for its creed and its values." It seems
remarkable that Belloc already saw in 1940, a creed that has become commonplace
at the end of the Century. Remember that the doctrine at issue here is simply
that of the Communion of Saints, the logical result of which would be that there
is no reason why some communion between those of great mutual affection is not
possible in theory. Belloc understands that this doctrine confirms his
experience, which is what he is trying to explain to Lady Lovat.
Doctrine is, Belloc affirms, his "meat and drink." Then, almost
in contradiction of what he has just said about his experience of communion, he
explains the basic meaning of a doctrine that directly depends on faith: "I mean
by doctrine that core of Catholic truth which is not to be referred to
experience and not confirmed by experience -- the doctrine of immortality is of
this kind. The less vividly it is imagined, the more firmly it can be grasped."
That is, if we try to imagine immortality, we will begin to confuse the
principle at issue with our own imaginings, which may be quite far off base.
Thus we can end up confused and doubtful not because of the doctrine but because
of the imperfection of our imaginings.
Having said all of this, however, Belloc's conclusion to his
letter to Lady Lovat is remarkable: "I am afraid that insisting on that truth
(of immortality) is of very little value to anyone, because people can only live
upon their feelings and doctrine itself is not alive."
So we must notice how good Belloc's advice to Lady Lovat, in
her grief, really was. He told her of his own experience of communion, which he
acknowledged to be a feeling or an emotion, but something real and to be
reflected on none the less. He next suggested that there is a rather dry
doctrine that might confirm this experience of communion if thought about, but
that it was tough going for most people, though he thought it fitting to mention
to Lady Lovat.
"I have always believed that thinking continually of those in
beatitude is a sign of communion with them."
"The first thing is that strong human ties escape the general
rules of mortality."
"Human beings can rely permanently on doctrine."
The doctrine on which we rely permanently confirms our thinking
continually of our communion with those in beatitude. The persistent thinking of
those in beatitude escapes the general rules of mortality. Faith and friendship
are to be found under the same roof with immortality and the Communion of
Saints, with, indeed, as Belloc would say in astonishment to Lady Lovat, "a 1912
bottle of Haut Brion.
From Generally Speaking, February, 1997.
'Schall on Belloc', James V. Schall, S. J.
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