29. Dezember 2024 in English
Will the author of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" be canonized? There would be enough reasons to start the process. With an official prayer for private use. By Stefan Maria Bolli
Mols (kath.net/ smb)
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien lived from 1892 to 1973 and was a philologist and writer. His books "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" set fundamental standards for fantasy literature. After his death, his son Christopher published many more stories, including "The Silmarillion", a core piece of Tolkien's work. "The Hobbit" is the second best-selling children's book in the world and "The Lord of the Rings" is also one of the best-selling and most translated books in world literature.
Tolkien and Catholicism
Tolkien was also a staunch Catholic. He attended Holy Mass daily and had a special devotion to the Eucharist and to the Virgin Mary. He said of "The Lord of the Rings" to the Jesuit Robert Murray in 1953: "The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out practically all references to anything like 'religion,' ..." (Letter 142). His eldest son John became a priest.
Regarding the Eucharist, Tolkien wrote to his children several times. A letter from 1963 is particularly noteworthy: "The only cure for sagging or fainting faith is Communion. Though always itself, perfect and complete and inviolate, the Blessed Sacrament does not operate completely and once for all in any of us. Like the act of Faith it must be continuous and grow by exercise." (Letter 250).
In Letter 43 in 1941, he also wrote to his son Michael about marriage and the relationship between the sexes and about his own inability in life: "Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament. . . . There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth, and more than that: Death: by the divine paradox, that which ends life, and demands the surrender of all, and yet by the taste—or foretaste—of which alone can what you seek in your earthly relationships (love, faithfulness, joy) be maintained, or take on that complexion of reality, of eternal endurance, which every man’s heart desires." Pope Francis used this quote in his Christmas address on December 25, 2023.
Tolkien also particularly venerated Saint Mary. He translated the Ave Maria, the Loreto Litany, the Sub tuum praesidium into his own language Quenya and wrote poems about Mary. The elf Galadriel was also originally conceived based on Mary, but was later revised.
Canonization request
After various activities involving Father Daniele Ercoli from Turin, the Peruvian and Brazilian Tolkien societies, Ercoli wrote to the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, Archbishop Bernard Longley, in 2015 and asked him to start a canonization process. He responded with interest but not yet a decision on July 16, 2015 and asked for international efforts and prayers for beatification.
In September 2018, a canonization conference of these initiating groups took place in Oxford, unfortunately without any major results. Archbishop Longley last wrote to the newly formed Peruvian Catholic Tolkien Society on October 2, 2024, to express his delight at the effort. He referred the matter to Father Julian Booth, the archdiocese's commissioner for canonizations. It is unclear, however, whether an official process has been initiated.
Prayer for Canonization (private use)
Original (English):
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 sub-creative 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.
Latin:
O Sanctíssima Trínitas, tíbi grátias ágimus quod Sánctam Ecclésiam Ioánne Ronáldo Réuel Tólkien ornavísti, itémque permisísti creatiónis túæ poésin, Passiónis Fílii túi mystérium ac Spíritus Sáncti symphóniam per ípsum eiúsque imaginatiónem subcreatívam lucére. Omníno fídens infiníta túa misericórdia átque matérna Maríæ intercessióne, ípse imáginem vívam Iésu, Sapiéntiæ Déi Incarnátæ, nóbis perhíbuit, demonstravítque sanctitátem ésse cum necessáriam ordináriæ vítæ Christiánæ mensúram tum víam ad ætérnam communiónem técum adipiscéndam in Eucharístia quotidiána —qua cǽlus térræ coniúngitur. Da nóbis, humíliter quǽsumus, per éius intercessiónem et secúndum voluntátem túam, quas depóscimus grátias [ . . . ], sperántes éum mox ápud sánctos víros túos numerátum íri. Amen.
German:
O Allerheiligste Dreifaltigkeit, wir danken Dir, dass Du die Kirche mit John Ronald Reuel Tolkien beehrt hast und dass du die Poesie deiner Schöpfung, das Geheimnis der Passion deines Sohnes und die Symphonie des Heiligen Geistes durch ihn und seine subkreative Vorstellungskraft erstrahlen lässt. Im vollen Vertrauen auf Deine unendliche Barmherzigkeit und auf die mütterliche Fürsprache Mariens hat er uns ein lebendiges Bild von Jesus, der Weisheit des menschgewordenen Gottes, geschenkt und uns gezeigt, dass Heiligkeit das notwendige Maß des gewöhnlichen christlichen Lebens ist und der Weg, um die ewige Gemeinschaft mit Dir in der täglichen Eucharistie zu erlangen – wenn der Himmel Erde vermählt. Gewähre uns durch seine Fürsprache und nach Deinem Willen die Gnaden, die wir erflehen [ ...], in der Hoffnung, dass er bald zu Deinen Heiligen gezählt wird. Amen.
Quellen:
https://aleteia.org/2022/09/06/could-j-r-r-tolkien-ever-be-canonized-a-saint
https://aleteia.org/2018/07/14/will-tolkien-and-chesterton-be-declared-saints
https://file770.com/tolkien-an-unexpected-sainthood/
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