The Preface to Gertrud von le Fort's The Song at the Scaffold: A Novel
The outbreak of the French Revolution led to wholly unexpected manifestations of hatred for the Christian faith. During the space of a few months, veritable throngs of priests and religious were led to the guillotine and executed. Among the victims were sixteen Carmelites belonging to a convent in Compiègne which had enjoyed special favors under the old regime. The present story is based upon their history and legend. It has been written in the form of a letter purporting to come from an observer of events in Paris to a noblewoman living in exile. The correspondents are familiar with the philosophical tendencies which flourished prior to the Revolution, and these are commented upon by the writer. While it will be easy for readers to follow the progress of the narrative, some introductory remarks of a general character may not be taken amiss.
First, a word concerning the Carmel. Everyone had heard of this community, to which Saints as well-known as Teresa of Avila and Thérèse of Lisieux have belonged. The sisters who elect to live according to the difficult Carmelite rule devote their lives to contemplative prayer and in particular to acts of expiation of evil done by other persons living in the world. Indeed the Carmelites have often been known to think of their community as a kind of "spiritual lightning rod" down which what would otherwise be wrathful flames of retribution pass harmlessly. Cloistered from the world and publicly engaged in no active tasks, these sisters are likely to be treated with malicious contempt in ages weak in faith.
And such was the period immediately preceding the French Revolution. Fraulein Gertrud von le Fort, the keenness of whose intuitive insight into religious psychology was appreciated by such a master as Ernst Troeltsch, presents in Sister Marie de l'Incarnation a woman possessing virtues which the time in which she lived almost completely lacked—nobility of soul, in which were fused both ability to govern and tactful knowledge of how to govern; and profound, clear, unshrinking faith, to which God was always the most self-evident of beings. To observe the outline of this Sister's character as it is here traced by an imagined contemporary is to share in one of the greatest pleasures art can afford—contemplation of the human in genuinely heroic form.
Nevertheless there is a sense in which such contemplation cannot suffice for the modern mind. Our current study of psychology, which in a way is also the recovery of knowledge which rationalistic psychologists mistakenly crowded out of their formulae, is persistently aware of the universal mysteries hinted at in our own and others' subconscious minds.
The artist's gaze here scans deeps and heights. Nevertheless she does not content herself with unintelligible jottings—the shorthand of one who has strayed into the land of vision without the gift of sight. Everything is limpid, everything composed. This again is quite as it should be. The narrator etches by the steady light of his own illumination. He sees two worlds in conflict:—the human, which the philosophers had overestimated and which had again been broken, as in Greek myth, by its own aspirations; and the Divine, wherein man is always clay in the Potter's hands, sometimes breathtakingly lustrous. Quod semper, quod ubique. This is the story of the French Revolution. It is also a vision of our own age, in which the spear of heedless, irreverent adventure has once more splintered against the wall.
G.N.S.
The Song at the Scaffold: A Novel
by Gertrud von le Fort
• Also available in Electronic Book Format
"The point of departure for my creation was not primarily the destiny of the sixteen Carmelites of Compiègne but the figure of the young Blanche. . . . Born in the profound horror of a time darkened by the signs of destiny, this figure arose before me in some way as the embodiment of the mortal agony of an era going totally to its ruin." — Gertrud von le Fort
Set during the French Revolution, this classic novella is based on the true story of the Carmelite nuns of Compiègne, who offered their lives for the preservation of the Church in France.
The story unfolds around the fictional character of Blanche de la Force, an excessively fearful aristocrat who enters the Carmelite convent in order to flee the dangers of the world. As the Reign of Terror begins, Blanche is no safer in the convent than in the streets of Paris, and some of the sisters begin to doubt her ability to endure persecution and possibly martyrdom.
The fates of Blanche and the other Carmelites take several unexpected turns, leaving the reader with an inspiring witness not only of martyrdom but of God's power being glorified in human weakness.
"One of the great Christian classics of all time." — Michael O'Brien, Author, Father Elijah
"A poignant reminder that, for the Christian, fearlessness lies on the far side of Gethsemane and the Cross." — George Weigel, Author, Witness to Hope
Gertrud von le Fort, a convert to Catholicism, attended the universities of Heidelberg, Berlin and Marburg. She was a prolific writer whose poetry and novels, which have been translated into many languages, won her acclaim throughout Europe. She also wrote The Eternal Woman, published by Ignatius Press.
The mystery of life propels the forward motion. I seek Your peace across the ocean. I may live, I may die but I won't know until I try.
Posted by: Marlene Cross | Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 07:19 AM