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St Evelyn Waugh

St Evelyn Waugh

Evelyn Waugh in a letter to John Betjeman:

 

Saints are simply souls in heaven. Some people have been so sensationally holy in life that we know they went straight to heaven and so put them in the calendar. We all have to become saints before we get to heaven. That is what purgatory is for. And each individual has his own peculiar form of sanctity which he must achieve or perish. It is no good my saying: “I wish I were like Joan of Arc or St. John of the Cross.” I can only be St. Evelyn Waugh-after God knows what experiences in purgatory.

  I liked Helena�s sanctity because it is in contrast to all that moderns think of as sanctity. She wasn�t thrown to the lions, she wasn�t a contemplative, she wasn�t poor and hungry, she didn�t look like an El Greco. She just discovered what it was God had chosen for her to do and did it. And she snubbed Aldous Huxley with his perennial fog, by going straight to the essential physical historical fact of the redemption.

from an article by George Weigel in First Things

 

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1 comment
  • Melanie,
    What a brilliantly inspired post.  It’s so helpful to have her thoughts placed right in front of us.
    Thanks

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