I know I have written a lot on Chesterton the last few days, but the debate presently going on about him is interesting: it provides us with an opportunity to explore the idea of virtue, what it means, how we live it and the part it plays in our sanctification. For one thing we might actually realize that virtue is not as rarefied as we may think it is and how it is actually meant to be a part of our basic human experience. In God's plan we were meant to be naturally virtuous, sin was to be an alien thing, sadly that was undone by the Fall, but our lives here on earth are meant to be a reversing of the unnatural dynamic and God gives us grace to help us in that process.
Anyway, a quick post to bring another article to your attention. Dale Ahlquist, that great Chestertonian, has written a response to Steven Drummel's piece on Chesterton's lack of temperance. It is a spirited defence of the man, well argued and informative. It is worth reading. I hope the priest conducting the preliminary investigations include this one in his file and takes note of what Ahlquist has to say.
Some interesting points of information in it. I didn't realise that St Pius X liked snuff, and I doubt Blessed Pier Giorgio was impressed when some Vatican official airbrushed his pipe out of the beatification picture. I heard somewhere that the Ven. Pius XII stopped a Cause when he heard the candidate liked to smoke - anyone hear that? If true that is ironic given that it is said that Pius like a cigarette himself. Other saints with habits: St John Paul II liked the odd cigar and he had a very sweet tooth which he liked to satisfy with very sweet Polish desserts. St John Kemble, the English martyr, was puffing his pipe when news of his execution arrived, he decided to have another pipe before preparing for his end. And in case you haven't heard St Therese of Lisieux asked for an eclair as she was dying and ate it and enjoyed it! Chesterton would approve.
