 So Gilbert Keith Chesterton, now you can understand why you went by GK no offense Gilbert Keith wrote a whole lot of literature a whole lot of literature like Thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of essays I'm Jordan Burke and I'm Kristen Pryola and this is Saints and Sages where we talk about the wisdom of the Saints and how it's relevant for you Real quick before we start the show We got a few things to promote if you are a smarty pants or if you want to be a smarty pants like today's sage Just saying one of the things you can do to become smarty pants is particularly in theology prayer spirituality All those great things Avila dash Institute org so if you're like man, I really like GK Chesterton I would really like to be on his level of intelligence. 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If you don't I don't know what to tell you but we're no longer friends So it's worth it worth a buy Sophia Institute or spiritual direction comm forward slash Slash shop and then the last thing and I'll stop babbling. I'll let you babble now How's that sound? Well, I just wanted to say one more thing about this present paradise Oh, it's very fitting for our show because it's all about St. Elizabeth of the Trinity and her life and teachings and Beautifully wrote by Claire. So I just wanted to say that's fitting for the show because we're all about the Saints Okay Anyways Jordan, so yeah, there's also a silent retreat which we'd love to invite you to on February 20th 2021 be there if you're ages 18 to 35 at the shrine of the most blessed sacrament. I feel like an infomercial It's totally fine. But seriously, we'd love to have you all It's a silent retreat based on spiritual warfare and discernment of spirits And if you just need some time to get away from everything whether it's school or I don't know Just life in general come on to the shrine and join us for an incredible event That's gonna change your life because you're gonna encounter Jesus not only in the sacraments But also through some a couple talks day and Stephanie will be there We'll be there We'd love to meet you and on a lot of young adults across the world. So yeah join us. It's gonna be a great Holy Spirit filled experience now all of that out of the way all that rambling bambling rumbling grumbling out of the way We're gonna move forward. I was maybe a little with our Second official sage a sage a sage We are saints and sages and the second sage as I said before is GK Chesterton It would help if I could say his name I would like to preface as well because we're talking about someone from England that this sage in particular is really well known I have no idea how I actually ended up doing that. I was not playing that at all But anyway, so yeah, like I just want to say this also We haven't done a sage in a while and sages are just wise people who have not been declared saints But who have practiced Catholicism really holy wise people or who have contributed deeply to faith Spirituality and understanding. Yes. So GK Chesterton has written like orthodoxy all these other things. He's contributed to Our understanding of the faith. So it's not necessarily that these people are ever gonna become saints. It's not what we're claiming at all It's just declared they might be saints. Yeah, sure. It's just a hey This was a person that's worth looking into Who was a solid we try to keep them all Catholic because this is a Catholic show And so here we are now GK Chesterton's life is so expansive and just like what we did with CS Lewis We're gonna take and we'll go back to CS Lewis at some point We're gonna take portions of the light portions of their works and relay that So you have a broader understanding of who this person was For this show, we're gonna be talking specifically about the innocence of Father Brown However, we do want to give you a background into GK if you are unfamiliar with who he is So Gilbert Keith Chesterton Now you can understand why you went by GK. No offense Gilbert Keith wrote a whole lot of literature Yeah, whole lot of literature like thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of essays 4,000 new news over 4,000 newspaper articles Basically like writing pretty much every single day for a total of 11 years So that's how many articles we wrote on top of the narratives and books and all of the things that he wrote But he grew up at Church of England in fact born in London, England in on May 29th 1874 And he went to school to become educated in college But then he dropped out he was like I'm going to art school And so he went to the Slade school and literature and studied literature at University College London He got married to Francis and in 1922 He actually left Canterbury to go to Rome and he was intrigued by the Catholic faith and so he asserted he said this He dared to go down okay Wait the only church that dared to go down with me into the depths of myself Talking about the Catholic Church and so he converted to Catholicism and a lot of people were shocked a lot of Protestants We're like what and they were really frightened But he knew he said this in fact another quote much too frightened of that tremendous reality on the altar Was originally why he was hesitant, but then he he did convert through and you mentioned this There was a priest. Yeah who encouraged him Yep And I'll get into that a little bit more in a minute when we talk more about Father Brown But as many of you know or you may not know he was buddies with C.S. Lewis and he tried to convert C.S. Lewis And he actually had a huge influence on C.S. Lewis going from You know almost believing nothing to Christianity and he was also now you were just talking about this I didn't know this but he was a member of the inklings is that what it was he was not a member of the inklings But he was friends with a lot of them. Okay, so the inklings was Lewis Tolkien and a bunch of other folks Yeah, okay, but they all they all know each other basically unless I'm wrong So y'all fact-checked me, but I didn't see that he was one of them per se But he was friends with a lot of them so he pretty much wrote everything from poetry on politics to theology and Philosophy, I mean the man was tying pretty much every facet of our world together in his writings He was really really really prolific Yeah, you had something I didn't mean to cut you off. No, I don't even remember what I was gonna say So that works out perfectly. You want to get into? Well, you have some more notes here I think would be pertinent and talking about his writings in 1910 because this was around the time he wrote the Innocence of Brother Brown Yeah, well, it seemed that he was really articulate about everything It seemed like he wrote on every subject known to man at least a lot of critics have said that the man Just knew a lot about a lot of things and so kind of a jack-of-all-trades when it came to his writing but there were three primary sections which he focused on which was social criticism and you can see that a lot in all of his volumes of journalism but specifically gathered in the defendant 12 types and heretics and he expressed a lot of specific views strong views Which we'll get into and his second preoccupation was literary criticism So he had articles on that and books on that and then thirdly theology and religious argument So those are the primary topics that he focused on but really though I want to just say some of the the topics that he included because it's fascinating how someone could write about so many different subjects Mindless bad ism rampant materialism moral relativism censorship by the press and Usually opposed by sensor censorship of the press if I can even say that word The rise of the twin evils of big government and big business the decline of the family the loss of beauty in the arts The loss of wonder at the world and the loss of liberty in life Wow, wow is an understatement. The dude's brain was massive Just just to go into all those topics to willingly go into those topics and then be passionate about those topics Says a lot about who he was well I just love that he took intellect to a whole nother level and creativity for The numbers I mean vast amounts of people have enjoyed and learned from GK Chester 10 from a child When he was hanging out with kiddos and making them laugh and and striking up the conversation and making jokes Smoking a pipe smoking a pipe But with also with the elderly and everybody in between with the Elderly not necessarily 1900s, you know, there's no telling I didn't want to say this that he was six to and you can see pictures Six to about 300 pounds and he had a mustache, you know, he's smoking a pipe Yep, really interesting guy usually wear hat. So anyway, he died in June 14th, 1936 But Jordan's gonna go into kind of more of his specific writings that we wanted to focus in on the sense of father brown This is where I get to nerd out because I I love We're doing like the glasses thing I love mystery stories. I love detective stories when I was a police officer I was slated for detectives while I was attempting to get a detective slot took the class interview and interrogation all of this is very Interinter interesting and integrated into who I am. I'm fascinated by the stuff always have have been Sherlock Holmes I've read all of them. I don't know 12 13 14 times like I love them Yeah, I've read them over and over and over again endlessly fast someone get him a hat Yeah, hey, you know if you want some you had I'll probably wear on the show this is this though innocence of father brown is Like the Catholic version of Sherlock Holmes and we'll kind of get into the differences and the similarities But basically just as a rundown of the story itself Well, I should say stories the innocence of father Brown is a collection of short stories about this priest named father brown Written in 1911 now around that time Sherlock Holmes was very popular and there was a lot of other writers who were trying to kind of emulate that style and that Storytelling and they were just pulling flat left and right, but when GK wrote this it was quoted as the miracle book of 1911 Everybody loved it. I mean they just latched around on to it and once you listen to it like like audible is one of the most fun ways I think to to Partake in the story or if you read it it is really fun It's it's dark in times, but as any good mystery I think is you know murder and intrigue and those sorts of things But it is there's a there's a really interesting goodness through all of it and the main character this father brown has this beautiful way of Solving these crimes and not for the sake of solving the crimes It's almost like he just knows what happens and he's more concerned about the soul of the person who committed the crime And the actual then anything else and you may be thinking well, that sounds kind of crazy. It is kind of crazy and it's awesome It's totally worth listening to So here's where it gets interesting though as a background father brown is based on a lifelong friend of GK Chesterton is based on a real person The the priests that we're talking about his father John O'Connor who actually helped which we mentioned earlier During his conversion who helped GK Chesterton convert So essentially the story goes GK told went to him and said he wanted to write about quote some sword social questions of vice and crime And just adding to the repertoire of all his other writings, right? Why not? And father O'Connor said I think you're going in the wrong direction Let me tell you some stories and so he begins to talk to him about things not breaking the seal of confession at all but like hey, this is a way that this crime was committed that was described to me and GK was just shocked and there's another story that I'm probably gonna butcher you later on but they were at a college and and These two students were they were all kind of talking with these students and the students were essentially blown away by the intelligence of of Chesterton of John O'Connor father O'Connor And but they made a comment something about like oh, he's just this lowly like he doesn't really know and whatever they said was was kind of demeaning to the about the priest and it was written that GK almost laughed out loud because he's like you have no clue What you're talking about like this this guy knows more about real life than and then you guys do you're educated kids, right? so he writes these short stories and I love so there's there's twists and turns and all of them as any good detective mystery is However, how do I explain this? Father Brown not only I'm having trouble putting it into words He's not just brilliant. He's kind So like with Sherlock Holmes. It's a really focused on Sherlock Holmes intellect And and almost this otherworldly like how does he know these things like oh, I noticed the paint splotch on your left hand And that tells me that you're a writer and you do this isn't this and you know Half of your face is shaven not correctly, which means that there was a shadow and Yeah, you must have shaved at 3 a.m Yeah, exactly Whereas Father Brown is like there's this connect to the soul through every one of these stories And so he has an intellect and he's able to tell like oh, I could see where the hammer fell that murdered this guy I can see the piece of cloth hanging from there But there's so many twists that GK and her twines and into these stories that it keeps you going forward the other thing that I really love about these stories is that Hold on. I'm have to refer to my notes. Sorry. This can be edited out. Oh This is no edit alone. Yeah, no His primary goal wasn't to he wasn't a cop. His goal wasn't to arrest the murderers His goal was to make them confess or if it was a thief flambo and Valentine are the Valentine I believe was the detective forgive me if I'm mixing them up and flambo was like the the the world-renowned thief and you know In one of the stories flambo, I believe it was was stealing some silverware And his goal his entire goal was not hey where you're gonna go to jail It's you should confess you should confess your sins. So it's like this really interesting. There's no malice There's no judgment. It's just like, you know, it's right. This is what's right You need to confess your sins and spoiler alert if you haven't read the series. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna steal this from you. I have not read the series Gordon. Well spoiler alert the main bad guy Be ends up converting essentially through these series of short stories and Becomes essentially father Brown's right-hand man, and it's just this fascinating Journey because each story is different and has sometimes a different set of players But they all connect somehow but they all connect somehow with father Brown and like maybe Flambo isn't one of them and maybe he's in maybe he's not in the second But he's in the third and fourth right so there's this intertwined this world that exists outside of all these stories It's just it's just so fascinating and then I Had something else I was gonna say man I'm really struggling maybe two shows in a row is way in a little better than I expected But yeah, anyway, I'm ranting and raving at this point. I really it's just hyper entertaining All of these and you can listen to it as well Yeah, which is fascinating and what's even more fascinating is I just think just kind of talking about GK Chesterton's ability to Draw in a number of different types of people is he really did evangelize culture through imagination Yeah, really was his creativity his craftsmanship with words that he had this ability to draw People to wonder about God and he he wanted people to know about the Catholic faith And so he wrote about he didn't write explicitly this is Catholicism But he wrote narratives like Father Brown innocence of Father Brown to display the Catholic Church and teach about the Catholic Church Which I think is so beautiful. Oh, it's a break. He like morphs everything into one You reminded me what I was gonna say about how he's able to write Every one of these short stories so in Sherlock Holmes It's very much about Sherlock Holmes and Watson and then there's some players in there But for Father Brown every person in his stories come really truly comes to life You can see the way that he writes in the way that you're trying to you're describing where it's like Oh, like this person has a story They have a when you read about the person in the short story who may not be integral to the story itself They come alive and one of the fascinating to another thing you said another great point was you you said He's not directly saying this is Catholicism, but he's still talking about the faith the very first short story and the innocence of Father Brown When everything is completed and he's talking to the thief and he says this is you know I suspect to you these different ways he said but the final thing that gave me a way is you tacked you attacked reason or something along those lines This very this very factual like no good Catholic priests attacks reason there's something along You know, I'm probably doing that but it was just this this brilliant example of An example of a truth without saying it's a truth This it's creating this world and the story around This particular thing to bring it to life and have it hammered into your mind. So yeah, it's it's absolutely phenomenal And I'm excited to get into more of his writings I mean like I mentioned or earlier orthodoxy is a very popular one, but you want to talk about a Deep dive that would probably take several weeks to prepare for There are so many different routes we could take with GK Chesterton because his writings are so expansive and his just uncanny ability to bring intellects to wit and humor and Just enjoyment on all things literary. It's fascinating to me His ability to write on such a range of subject matter But yeah, I think this is an important thing for us to take away from this is possibly just Recognizing not only the joy that GK Chesterton had for all people and just in life And he could take something super simple like a piece of chalk and write about it And it was fascinating for many to read And I think that just encourages us as Christians that life is simple you make it complex It can be simply enjoyed with our creator and we can bring about You know so much joy in life by just loving people in the moment and seeing for seeing things for what they are Accepting this is our reality and just being filled with that charity and that hope that GK Chesterton had he defended So much truth Just within his writings in his daily life within the Catholic Church and With in modern day culture in in the culture of his time And so I really just love the fact that this man although not declared a saint had so much to contribute To our Catholic faith. Yeah, and it's a great example, too That you can do the same thing if you're a creative person whether it's writing whether it's art I mean our faith can be If you are a person Yeah, you can be creative Yeah, because our creator created us and he gave us the ability to see things with his perspective Which is a creative lens and so yeah, you can definitely reflect on that on Lord Like how do you want to use me and where do you want me to? Share your joy and be charitable and compassionate towards others in the state of life that I am in and be creative Yep, and it's important and if you have yeah, yeah, no, I couldn't have said it better myself Yeah, if you have time you can read the innocence of Father Brown and highly recommend the only in your mind to imagination The only if you're a parent listening the only Thing I would note is that there are I think there's one or two instances of particular words being used in the book That and it's like I said one or two that were popular in that time that are certainly not popular now Let's just put it that way. Okay, so just a parental discretion warning there It's like Mark Twain I mean, we all are kind of familiar with some of that but it's one or two and in this instance that being said We are gonna come back to the GK chest and yes, let's talk about him again Yeah, as Kristen explained his life is just too large to take in one episode in one setting So we will certainly come back and if you have any recommendations that you'd like us to dive into in particular Please let us know we have an email address. Sometimes we'll get emails What is the email just saints pod at my avala.com? So if you have one of those email thingies you can send us an email thingy and we will read it And we'll probably talk about it on there. So it'd be nice. Yeah Go read GK Chesterton and and definitely Experience more of your childlike wonder. Yes, his imaginative lens With that being said we can't ask him to pray for us. We could I don't know if that's canon. I don't know Josh said it earlier He said even though he might not be declared a saint. He could possibly be a saint. So what's the harm? Y'all fact check us. All right, you want to do it