Monday, March 3, 2008

Catholic novelist or Astrologer, same difference

Louis de Wohl, the famous Catholic novelist, was a Knight Commander of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. Not to be confused with the astrologer enlisted by the UK to fight Hitler, also of the same name. Novels like "Set All Afire" about Francis Xavier and "The Spear" were pretty important childhood inspiration for me.  But, then, so was staring at the stars and being swept away by their depth and profundity.  Maybe they are the same person.  

Markel, SJ

3 comments:

Fred said...

ah, so they are different people? Wikipedia and some other online sources have confused me.

Tuppence said...

The astrologer and the Catholic novelist are the same person.

What lesson should be derived from this?

(I'm asking here. Short of a split personality, I don't know what to make of it.)

Nathan O'Halloran, SJ said...

i guess you're right. that's amazing, i'm not sure what to make either. i found a great article online just by typing in "catholic novelist" and "astrologer." the man who writes about him seems to think as a friend that he was always a little out of it. Even his novels are more like children stories, sort of ethereal and not grounded in a whole lot of reality. his head was in the stars, so to speak. To go from an astrologer to a knight might not seem a big jump for someone living, possibly, in the 12th or 13th century. maybe de Wohl was also.