FEATURE
Praying for Tolkien Matt Showering reports on the great writer’s devotion to the Blessed Sacrament
O
n Saturday 2 September, a Traditional Low Mass was held at the Oxford Oratory to mark the anniversary of the death, in 1973, of world-renowned Catholic writer and philologist JRR Tolkien. The Mass was offered, however, not for the repose of Tolkien's soul – but rather praying for his Cause for Beatification to be opened. Many Catholics might be surprised to learn that anyone would consider the author of The Lord of the Rings a serious candidate for sainthood, or indeed that he was a Catholic – which is a very sad indictment of the levels of knowledge and understanding prevalent among the faithful today. For within his most famous work alone are to be found deep and profound meditations on temptation, vocation, redemption and grace; unmistakable echoes of Our Lord's Farewell Discourses, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension; and the most distinctly Marian language that it would be possible to use to describe fictional characters. The Mass itself was fittingly celebrated in Tolkien’s old parish church (dedicated to St Aloysius) with his granddaughter among the congregation. The Provost of the Oratory, Fr Daniel Seward, spoke in his short homily of Tolkien’s devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, describing it as “the great romance of his life – though I'm not sure what Mrs Tolkien would've made of this!” Years earlier, Tolkien biographer Humphrey Carpenter vividly described the scene on saints’ days when the author, “not an early riser by nature”, would wake early without fail to attend Mass before beginning his busy day of academic and family duties. A look at the sheer volume of his published work, which even now continues to hit our bookshelves anew, serves only to make such devotion seem all the more heroic. To say nothing of the fact that I personally have found such overwhelming spiritual quality in his earlier works of mythology that my inclination upon finishing a chapter is to bless myself!
WINTER 2017
Tolkien’s grave at Wolvercote: within his most famous work alone are to be found deep and profound meditations on temptation, vocation, redemption and grace After Mass (and lunch at Tolkien's later watering hole, the Lamb & Flag), a group of us went to Wolvercote Cemetery to pray the Rosary for Tolkien’s beatification, the repose of the souls of his family members (including his eldest son, Fr John Tolkien, buried nearby), for an end to abortion and the conversion of England – together with the Beatification Prayer composed by the online group campaigning for his Cause to be opened. Also buried nearby is the writer Stratford Caldecott, for whom Tolkien’s works were instrumental in his conversion to Catholicism. For more information about the prenascent Cause, please email the priest leading the campaign, Don Daniele Pietro Ercoli SDB, at daniele.ercoli@ astori.it – you can also follow it online by looking up ‘Cause of Canonization of
JRR Tolkien’ on Facebook. Here follows the Beatification Prayer. “O Blessed Trinity, we thank You for having graced the Church with John Ronald Reuel Tolkien and for allowing the poetry of Your Creation, the mystery of the Passion of Your Son, and the symphony of the Holy Spirit, to shine through him and his subcreative imagination. Trusting fully in Your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, he has given us a living image of Jesus the Wisdom of God Incarnate, and has shown us that holiness is the necessary measure of ordinary Christian life and is the way of achieving eternal communion with You. Grant us, by his intercession, and according to Your will, the graces we implore… hoping that he will soon be numbered among Your saints. Amen.”
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