Is Chesterton next?

Here is Dr. William Oddie, in The Catholic Herald:

On Saturday October 9, a week this Saturday, we will all be celebrating, for the first time, the feast of the Blessed John Henry Newman of the Oratory. It is a very momentous time, this; it was all brought home to me by a very simple thing last Sunday at Mass at the Oxford Oratory: as I came from the altar after receiving Holy Communion, there at the back of Church I saw for the first time the Oratory’s new Newman shrine, with votive candles burning and people kneeling before it; it all seemed so established, so natural, and yet before the beatification this month it would have been almost unthinkable.

And on October 9, we will keep his feast. On the same day, I shall be speaking at a conference organised by a group called Chesterton in the Chilterns on Chesterton and Newman. The date was chosen for this conference (for details go to the Chesterton Society website) before the announcement of the date of Newman’s feast day: but the happy coincidence leads me to suggest that it might now be time seriously to start thinking about an unavoidable question: after John Henry Newman, who next? My answer is that it can only be Gilbert Keith Chesterton. 

Read the entire column. If you need more background on Chesterton (Ignatius Insight author page) before you weigh in with a "Yea!" or "Nay!" to Oddie's idea, consider reading one or more of the following books:

Comments

[joe]

"The obvious objection to this is that Chesterton was nothing like our idea of how a saint should look or behave..."

And I thought saints were supposed to be standouts, not just great spokesmen. No one has ever written they thought Chesterton or Lewis was amazingly holy, which is what saints are supposed to be. They were amazingly gifted, another matter entirely. Maisie Ward became discouraged when she decided Chesterton "may have been drinking too much" at the end of his life, for example.

I love GKC, but a saint? I mean, should every Catholic spokesperson who is well-loved be sainted? Woodward's book on saints is fantastic, and a corrective here.

[Randy]

Should every Catholic spokesperson who is well-loved be sainted?

If they continue to be well-loved for many decades after their death then maybe so. If they seem to have more insight into today's world than people who are actually living today. Then why not?

One reason is we need to be sure he is in heaven, not in hell and not in purgatory. Does the fact that his words are being used so powerfully prove he is in heaven? I am not sure. Miracles would help.

[Will Peaden]

The idea of Saint Gilbert has been round the block more than once. I believe the Chesterton society approached the then Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Hume on the matter and he aptly responded "Where are the miracles?".

I must say that I am in two minds about Saint Gilbert (quite apart from the awesomeness of a Gilbert Statue). On the one hand it is hard enough to encourage non-Catholics/believers to read Chesterton as it is (at least in my experience), and it is certain no one but Catholics would read him if his books appeared with the author as St G K Chesterton. On the other hand I think Chesterton was a saintly man, who had many issues of health and such like which he bore with what might be termed heroic virtue. As well as his almost miraculous conversion, which most of his close friends (Belloc, Baring) thought would be impossible for Chesterton.

But in any case, if we are going to celebrate English Catholics converts as confessors of the faith then surely Old Ronnie is a contender?

BTW, Bill's book is fantastic, a must read for all Chestertonians or otherwise.

[David K. Monroe]

I doubt Chesterton would think himself worthy, but that hardly counts against him.

I trust all due diligence will be exercised in the matter before it is resolved.

[Gabriel Austin]

Why not refer to William Oddie's own book on Chesterton which highlights the religious aspect of GKC's early writings?