At the Quest’s End

There is no beauty in him, nor comeliness: and we have seen him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of him: despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and his look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not (Is. 53:2-3).

The poor Christ, hidden and unknown, shorn of all status, though He was in the form of God (Phil. 2:6), has placed himself at the service of all and will not suffer death until his quest is accomplished.  His honor and glory is obtained through a victory of the divine order and of a magnitude that human minds cannot fathom.  The knighthood of Christ has since been realized in precious few, only in those who are able to resolve the dignity of fatherhood, kingship and justice with suffering, revilement and honorable death.  The quest of a knight of Christ ends in victory or defeat at the Place of the Skull.

The code of chivalry was more or less imposed by the Church on military men, who at one moment conformed out of necessity and then in the next brought all the excess of their passionate natures to bear on the ideal.   Thus they transformed the code of fair play and honor into an art of sophisticated manners, the posturing of social status and a mockery of respect for women.  St. Francis saw through the romanticism and rejected status and chose to be the knight errant of penance and peace.  Few were those, who, like St. Louis, King of France, wielded the sword and put it exclusively to the service of righteousness and the protection of the weak.

A Subtle Dragon

When I posted last I was poking around a little on Anthony Esolen’s page in the Touchstone archives and found an excellent article on the Quest called “The Lovely Dragon of Choice: The Freedom Not to Be Free.” I think I will make it the topic for discussion at tomorrow night’s men’s discussion group meeting in Griswold.

I recommend a careful reading of the piece. It is worth reading twice.

What I took away from it is the way in which the “Dragon of Choice” has insinuated itself, not only into the hearts of those who consciously purvey the culture of death, but also into the hearts of those who wish to be the champions of life. In fact, life itself is a quest full of adventure, something that is dissolved by calculation and cleverness. Esolen pegs “Modern Man,” and by that I mean not the “other guys” but all of us:

Modern man is afraid of the quest, and is not particularly fond of hunger and cliffs, either. He will not see that the very point of an adventure is that you cannot plan it. And to be in quest of the Holy Grail—that is, the mystery of Christ made manifest in our world under the humble appearances of bread and wine—is to be prepared for the appearance, sudden and awful, even on a bare rock and when one’s stomach knots with hunger, of the ineffable God.

Templar Update

The universally acknowledge (i.e. in the universe of Hertfordshire) expert on all things Templar has condescended to tell us what the Vatican’s new release of a Templar prayer means:

Modern day Templar Ben Acheson told the Herald: “This seems to be an attempt at apologising. Saying sorry by releasing a poem is rather cryptic and dramatic, but the Templars and the Vatican like to conduct business that way when it comes to matters grave and ancient.”

Ben, old man, What is so cryptic about a prayer to Our Lady by the monks who actually pronounced their vows to “God and St. Mary?  Perhaps you have access to the ancient manuscripts?  No one else seems to have a copy of the prayer.

Even the warden of the Illuminati Conspiracy Archive from whence comes the link cannot verify the story of the supposed Templar/Vatican conspiracy codified in the prayer:

TM:I have no definite opinion on the Acheson claims. The local Hertfordshire “press,” however, have been “reporting” on this for quite some time, and never seem to seriously question the validity of the Achesons. This, it seems, is outright exploitation of the public’s credulity in the wake of the Da Vinci Code phenomenon.

I know I am such a stick in the mud.  I can’t help it.  I just think it would be much more fun if these Templar poseurs would do more of the reanactment stuff and less of the esoteric skullduggery.

The Five Alls

I was just reading from Chivalry by Léon Gautier. The work is about a century old, and is a basic tome on the subject of Chivalry. Contemporary historians attack the work, in spite of the scholarly reputation of the author, because, they say, it relies too heavily upon medieval literary sources and does not provide a complete and accurate historical analysis.

On the other hand, the work is thoroughly Catholic, and whatever may be its limitations, it certainly is not the product of skepticism. While it may be a bit idealistic, in this case I don’t think it can hurt. Chivalry has always been an ideal, difficult to achieve, a Holy Grail always just beyond our grasp.

In any case, it is well to note that the Ten Commandments of the Medieval Knight is a codification of the Chivalrous ideal that was compiled by Gautier in this wonderful book. The work is out of print, but you might find it in an Amazon.com search.

The title of this post, as the photograph illustrates, is the Five Alls. I read about it in Gautier’s book. For some reason, pubs in England are often named the Five Alls Inn or the Five Alls Pub, etc. I have not been able to find the origin of the usage, but the signs on these pubs indicate the meaning. The soldier says, “I fight for all,” and the bishop, “I pray for all. The King (centrally located) says, “I rule for all,” while the lawyer (God help us) says, “I plead for all.” The last of the poor souls, John Bull (the proverbial Englishman) says, “I pay for all.”

Of Grail Seekers and White Coats

Grail Code has an excellent post on why the Holy Grail brings out the nuts. It is the first in a series of posts. I am sure it will be worth following.