In dark days we all need saints and heroes to inspire us. There is no doubt that we live in very dark days, and there is equally no doubt that Anthony Esolen is a great inspiration. It is not for any of us to canonize him, claiming that he is a saint, but anyone who knows the trials and tribulations that he has been through in the past year and the way that he has responded to the witch hunt that was unleashed upon him will have no hesitation in hailing him as a hero.
For those who might not know anything about Anthony Esolen, a little background information will be needed. As a literary scholar he is rightly lauded internationally for his masterful translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy, published by Modern Library. Robert Royal, of the Washington-based Faith and Reason Institute, declared that “if there is any justice in the world of books, [Esolen’s translation] will be the standard Dante… for some time to come.” Many would consider that the translation of Dante’s monumental literary edifice to widespread critical acclaim would be enough of a feather in anyone’s cap to warrant a life thereafter of resting on one’s laurels. Not so for Dr. Esolen, who has also translated the Roman epic On the Nature of Things by Lucretius and the Crusader tale Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso.
As if this were not enough, Dr. Esolen writes his own poetry as well as numerous books, the latest of which, Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture (Regnery 2017), was praised by Charles Chaput, Archbishop of Philadelphia, as “an astonishing combination of energy, humor, insight, and exceptional erudition, topped off by a vivid personal style and a special gift for tweaking the nose of secularist nonsense-peddlers.” Archbishop Chaput added that “reading Anthony Esolen is a bit like a ride on your favorite roller coaster.”
And all of the above is what Dr. Esolen does in his spare time. As a day job he is Professor of English Renaissance and Classical Literature at Providence College, or rather this was his day job from 1990 until the end of this school year. As of Fall 2017 he will join the faculty of Thomas More College of Liberal Arts as a fellow and writer-in-residence. The change of job is a matter of choice but it brings to a conclusion a period of persecution and intimidation at Providence College of this internationally esteemed scholar at the hands of radical relativist students who refuse to tolerate any position but their own. Such students, aided and abetted by some relativists on the faculty, will not tolerate freedom of expression in the academy, nor the existence of any believing Catholic if he has the temerity to publish anything informed by his Catholicism. Most shameful of all is the cowardly collusion of the President of the College, Fr. Brian Shanley, a Dominican friar, to the totalitarian demands of the radical relativists. It was the shameful betrayal by President Shanley of the Catholic faculty members at Providence College, kowtowing no doubt to the threat of violence by radical students, which finally caused Dr. Esolen to seek for fresher and healthier pastures. “The turning point came when the president refused to meet with a small group of Catholic professors,” Dr. Esolen said, “and persuaded the Dominican provincial not to meet with us either.”
What makes Dr. Esolen a hero is not that he has been persecuted by the enemies of the Church with the collusion of those members of the Church who choose the cowardly path of least resistance to the Cross of Christ; it is the manner in which he has responded to the persecution. In an essay he wrote in the very heat of the fray, when students were marching on the president’s office baying for his blood, he asked the all-important question: What will you do when the persecution comes? Some, he wrote, will be cowards; some traitors; some will even become persecutors themselves; but a few, a happy few, will become soldiers for Christ. This, when the persecution comes, wrote Dr. Esolen, is what all good Christians must become. And this is how he describes the soldier of Christ, the miles Christi:
He knows that war is hell, but that he and the Church have not sought the war. The war and the demons who lead it have sought the Church, to adulterate her or to kill her. The Soldier would prefer peace: he would prefer that his country might return to at least a worldly sanity, and grant the Church the liberty that she is owed and that redounds to the great benefit of the state itself…. The Soldier does not make light of the desperate situation. His name is not Pollyanna. But he remembers the words of Jesus: “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.” He brings both men and women into the Church without that being his principal aim, because it is sweeter to spend one day in the field with the Soldier than a thousand in the halls of the wealthy, the powerful, the timid, the faithless, and the mad.
What makes Anthony Esolen a hero is that he is himself a soldier of Christ. It is not that he’s suffered persecution; it’s what he did when the persecution came.
We can’t help being reminded of Thomas More, that other great layman who also knew what to do when the persecution came. Thomas More’s brother-in-arms among the clergy was Bishop John Fisher. Sadly Bishop Fisher was almost Thomas More’s only brother-in-arms among the clerical hierarchy, much as Archbishop Chaput, is one of those few, those happy few—and oh those all too few!—who have served as Dr. Esolen’s brothers-in-arms in his time of trial.
In the midst of all this we can’t help but see the hand of Providence (the real Providence, not the travesty of a college bearing its name) in the fact that Dr. Esolen is joining Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, a courageous soldier of Christ joining forces with a courageous college that is serving as a training ground for future generations of Christian soldiers. May they prosper!
As for Thomas More, after whom the college is named, he and John Fisher are saints. They are in heaven. We hesitate to call Dr. Esolen a saint but at least he knows what it takes to become one. As for those who have betrayed him, those who have chosen treachery over brotherhood, we hesitate to pass judgment on where their cowardice might lead. We can say, however, that we’d rather be in Dr. Esolen’s shoes than theirs when facing the judgment seat of Christ.
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The featured image is courtesy of Anthony Esolen’s Facebook page.
Very inspiring story. Really encouraging to hear about Mr. Esolen’s courageous stand against the wickedness.
Until recently Church on earth used to be referred to as Church Militant, now–by great majority–it is denoted as “Pilgrims on Earth.” One may wonder what place they pilgrimaging to.
I have a Hungarian friend, a sociology professor, who told me that in Hungary he is considered way on the left, but in American academic circles he is placed rather on the right. An indication that anything further left would have a smell of burning sulfur.
One must sadly notice that there are not too many Catholic Universities left.
I have been a fan of Ciardi’s translation for many years.
Having discovered Prof. Esolen’s translation, I can but agree: his should be the standard.
Translated by an expert who is also a poet and Catholic, his version sings in a way the Ciardi’s did not.
No, it is not for us to canonize a man, but let us acknowledge the excellence of his work and be thankful for such a gift.
I am not a Roman Catholic (deliberately so), but I do know anything written by, or about Anthony Esolen by those who appreciate him, is well worth reading.
Thank you.
I’m sure the displaced Christians of the Middle East cry themselves to sleep each night when they think of his suffering. Seriously, Esolen lost his job and has got another lined up. This happens to people all the time; it is unpleasant, but not really that big a deal, as many of us know from personal experience. It does not make him a martyr. THERE ARE REAL MARTYRS BEING MADE TODAY.
Thank you so much for your comment Howard. I have Christian cousins in Syria and had the exact same thought as you when I read this article….
Howard, Jennifer – He lost his job at the hands of fellow Catholics for being, well, too Catholic. That is the shame. There is no martyr-o- meter that I am aware of where we must be sure to only include suffering for the sake of truth only when the martyr-o-meter reaches a certain level.
The suffering of others does not offset the suffering of one. It merely reminds us that there is a whole world of. suffering. As Mr. Pearce has reminded us, it is not that we suffer but it is the way that we suffer that is holy and noble. Is pain to be measured? And if it is measured and evaluated, the suffering endured by one is not lessened by the suffering of another. Only God is capable of knowing the true measure of suffering. And he treasures the hearts of all those who embrace their pain for love of him wherever and whenever it is inflicted.
Sorry, but the title is not, “Anthony Esolen: A Guy Who Suffered Minor Inconvenience Due the Scandalous Behavior of Other Catholics”. Don’t compare him with Thomas More, a REAL martyr, and then expect others to overlook the enormous differences.
Okay, I’m inspired to read this translation. I will defend Dorothy Sayers’ translation as the best though, until otherwise persuaded. 🙂 Ciardi is also very good.
I had the privilege of studying with a martyr, Father Ragheed Ganni (google him), at the Angelicum in Rome which is also run by the Dominicans. Father Regheed knew he was going to be martyred but refused to leave his flock. Likewise, Saint Thomas More and his family suffered terribly by staying in his position. He refused to take the Benedict option.
I love Esolen’s writings and he should have been given more “emotion support” from a Catholic College but he was not fired. I don’t blame him for leaving but I have a hard time looking at the injustice he received as a form of martyrdom.
Esolen stated, “That is not to say that Providence College is lost…But saving the school is no longer my battle.”
The Dominican friars I studied with in Rome are now being assigned to Providence College and they know the Church is always in need of reform. These young friars are saving lost souls. Thankfully they are willing to spend the rest of their lives taking back lost ground on the front lines of the battlefield even if it doesn’t make the headlines.
He cannot be the Thomas More of our time. Thomas More remained silent on the worldly affairs until it was certain he would be executed. Dr. Esolen engages in the worst, most debase culture warring I have seen. Now that he has joined forces with Phil Lawler, the well known Papal dissenter and quasi-Americanist, he has finally succumbed to being a Cranmer, not a More. He is a puppet to the ideological WASPs that rule American politics and he is more than willing to lay the Church upon their sword and gain their worldly glory for himself.
There is a “white ” martyrdom which consists in losing the niceties of life and the normal expectations that a genuine scholar might expect of a college to which by his very presence, he brought immense prestige. It is not a martyrdom of blood to be sure. But at the root of the word martyr is the notion of giving witness to the faith. He surely qualifies on that ground as a witness if only by an unjustified loss of respect.
To recognize this form of martyrdom does not and should not detract in any way from that form of martyrdom that all recognize because ipso facto, it creates a saint. God bless.