Just Before He
THE GkE AT TRANSLATOR OF THE
BIBLE, MGR. RONALD KNOX, COMPLETED WHILE IN HIS LAST ILLNESS, THE TRANSLATION OF THE PHOTOSTAT EDITION OF THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ST. TERESA OF LISIEUX.
Fr. Etienne Robo studied the original, and saw that certain criticisms he made two years ago were confirmed.
Said Mgr. Knox on delivering his Romanes lecture last June: " It isn't a simple process to put oneself inside the skin of a young female French Saint ".
That he has succeeded is borne out by critics who have examined the last work Mgr. Knox did. It will be published in London early next year.
" CATHOLIC HERALD" REPORTER A SECOND edition of Fr. Etienne Robo's much discussed " Two Portraits of St. Teresa of Lisieux " is issued by Sands & Co. at 9/6 as news reaches us this week of the completion by the late Mgr. Knox, in July this year, of his own translation of the photostat edition of the Saint's Autobiography.
That Fr. Robo's book has done much to confirm devotion to the real, very human, St. Teresa (not a "little flower, but a rod of iron", in her determination to seek sanctity) is borne out by Bishop Cowderoy of Southwark, who in writing to Fr. Robo says: "St. Teresa should be grateful to you".
Fr. Robo has himself seen the photostat. edition of the Autobiography. and finds that it bears out what he had previously written. This edition appeared in June this year.
It is now shown that Pauline, the Saint's Sister and herself a nun at the Lisieux Carmel, omitted with every good intention passages in the Autobiography relating to Teresa's childhood, which did not accord with the idea of sanctity. As a child, the Saint had been spoiled. It is also clear that another sister, Celine, retouched the pictures of the Saint, softening some of the original harshness.
Pauline, too who appeared to have disliked the Prioress, inserted
Fr. ROBO'S ST. TERESA
(continued from Page I)
a passage purporting to show the Saint's "dislike" for the Superioress Robo then suggests that millions of people have shown had taste in allowing themselves to be captivated by the original " Story of a Soul." the presentation of which is sentimental.
But the fact is that Teresa is a great Saint, because:—
(I) in her "Story" — even the photographed one — she never once complains of the alleged cruelty of her Superior; (2) in her determination to become " a great saint," and humbly trusting in God, she conquered human weaknesses of her childhood, which Fr. Robo underlines, and which, due to Pauline's intervention, are not apparent in the original Autobiography.
(3) that Teresa was a neuropath, a victim of scruples. These were mastered by the practice of her Little Way," a now famous gospel of perfection which she has bequeathed to her followers.
BAD TASTE
Fr. Robo thus lifts the veil from the real, human, nervy Teresa, so unlike the sentindental picture we are accustomed to.
In regard to Pauline's interventions he says: "The handwriting of the rassages that had been erased and reconstituted 13 years later is such a perfect imitation of that of St. Teresa that we might think the whole manuscript is before us in its primitive state."
"One is inclined to wonder whether the proportion of Roman Catholics holding key positions in Broadcasting House may not be considerably larger than the proportion of Roman Catholics (some nine per cent.) in the population," she says.
BIG THREE
THREE at least of the eight
people mainly concerned with "serious" television programmes are Catholics, Mrs. Knight informs us—and she does not hesitate to give their names: Mr. C. McGivern, deputy director of television. Mr. S. J. de Lotbiniere, controller of television programme services, and Mr. M. Barry, head of television drama.
Fr. Agnellus Andrew, 0.F.M., pointed out on Tuesday that none of these three gentlemen is a member of the Catholic Radio Guild (to which Mrs. Knight devotes some attention), and that indeed MR. DE LOTBINIERE IS NOT A CATHOLIC AND NEVER HAS BEEN The Guild, says Mrs. Knight, "is devoted to the organisation of propaganda on the air." The Guild, says Fr. Agnellus, has nothing to do with the broadcasting of radio or television programmes.
It is a vocational Guild, similar to those which exist for the benefit of Catholics in other professions. Its purpose is to help to fulfil the spiritual and social needs of its members, who include commissionaires, secretaries and catering workers, besides those directly engaged in radio and television production. The Guild was founded on the initiative of some laymen; he himself is not its organiser but its spiritual director.