The Henson Journals

[224]

Wednesday, April 10th, 1929

[symbol]

Carcassonne

We had some talk last night about the new agreement with the Vatican which Mussolini has succeeded in making. I maintained that the advantage was on the side of Mussolini: but young Steele (if that be his name) who is in the Foreign Office, & already exhibits something of the mysterious omniscience of that Department, took the other view. He thought that the Roman Church would gain greatly in the East, where the new zeal of the Italians in championing Roman interests would stimulate the older zeal of the French, which had been slackening. There may be something in this. But the stability of the Fascist régime is by no means assured, and, if Mussolini collapses, will the Vatican escape a share of the catastrophe? Nor can I think that the payment of £10,000,000 in hard cash to the Successor of S. Peter will commend his spiritual claims to the Italian proletariat.

[225]

Carcassonne

[struck through] Bright sun, but an unpleasant wind with doors banging inside the Hotel, and clouds of mingled & filthy dust covering everything outside it. I wrote to Jimmie after breakfast. Then we walked down to Carcassonne, and found our way to the Societé Generale, where I changed £30 into French notes. We visited 3 churches, all of the 13th century. A small chapel of the same date at the end of the bridge over the Aube, was filled with votive tablets to the B.V.M. The spectacle of the women, every one in a wooden box, engaged in washing clothes in the river was interesting by reason of its unlikeness to anything in England. We encountered a number of Ananite (or other Asiatic) troops returning from exercise. They had rather a beaten–dog appearance. The French army seems a queer mélange of nationalities. Black, brown, yellow, & white races are all represented. We lunched in the hotel, and afterwards went into the City. We visited first the great Church of S. Nazaire, which is on many counts notable. The medieval glass [end] [226] [symbol] [Carcassonne] of the windows of the Apse, the monument of the bishop, and the curious carving of the siege of Carcassonne by Simon de Montfort are excellent: and the general effect of the church is very stately. Then we traversed the walls with the official guide. They are amazing. The successive fortifications are plainly recognisable – Roman, Visigothic, 12th Century, S. Louis & Philip le Bel, finally the new work of Viollet–le–duc. From the towers noble views are to be gained of the country & the distant hills. In the Castle is a museum with many medieval fragments, and a Roman mosaic pavement in situ. I bought a book by Viollet–le–duc, giving an account of the history of Carcassonne, & a description of the fortifications, but it was execrably translated into English, &, indeed, was barely intelligible – It certainly was not worth the 20 10 francs it cost.

Moved by some curious impulse, Ella informed the incredulous but scandalized guide in S. Nazaire, as he expatiated on the bishop's tomb &c, that in England I was a bishop. The secular aspect which I presented, the presence of ladies in my company, & my apparent abstinence from the normal acts of Catholick devotion [227] [symbol] [Carcassonne] made the information as disturbing as it was unbelievable. The good man eyed me with mingled curiosity & suspicion!

After tea in the Hotel, I wrote to Dick. S. Anthony of Padua would appear to be a popular saint. There were more candles burning before his statue in S. Vincent's Church than before any other. A card with a form of intercession was fastened to the candle–stand. It addressed the saint in a long series of his distinctive powers. I had the curiosity to glance through it, and I learned with surprise that S. Anthony can save from concupiscence, banish demons, recover lost property, & do so many other things that there would seem to be little left for his fellow–saints to undertake. A statue of the Curé d'Ars was over one of the altars in S. Nazaire; and a tricolour flag was suspended under the statue of S. Joan of Arc, in one of the Churches in Carcassonne. It would be curious if just when the Church of England breaks with the State, the Church of Rome should succeed in re–establishing relations with France & Italy.

---