The Irish standard., 1898-02-26
A BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE.
He Was Born in Sunny Italy of
American Parents.
HIS CATHoLlCITY QUESTIONED.
An Eastern Writer V0uches for
His Orthodoxy.

Marion Crawford the novelist, who is
just closing lecture tour through the
country under the management of the
irrepressible magnate of lecture bureaus,
Major Pond (who, the funny peri
winkle Podmore" of the Chap Book says,
should be known as Brigadier General
Pond, of the Lyceum Sharpshooters), is
a name frequently seen in print these
days and much is said as to his ortho-
doxy as a Catholic, says R. c. Cleaner
in the Catholic Columbian. Mr.. Craw-
ford answers for himself, however, In
the affirmative. Quite recently Prof.
Egan noticed Crawford's latest novel;
Corleone-very favorably and Crawford
writes to him to this effect: II need
not say what hurt me most was the ac-
cusation lodged against me In more than
one quarter, that had turned against
the Catholic church, than which nothing
could be more impossible for man
profoundly convinced as 1 am"
Not long since, after delivering lee
ture in an Ohio city, he was asked the
same question by a Catholic lady, who
had listened to his lecture and was
panied by some statements that were, to
say the least, mildly offensive to Cath
olic ears. His answer was: Eyes, am
a Catholic" She further questioned
him by asking: Are you Roman
Catholic?" He laughingly responded:
"Oh, yes! I belong to the One, Holy,
Catholic, Apostolic church," However,
in some of his lectures, he pains Catho-
lies by his way of treating the subjects
under discussion, and gentleman who
lately heard his lecture on Leo XIII
in the Vatican" said that any cultivated,
refined non-Catholic would have prob
ably treated the matter in a SIM
liar way. 1t Is to be said, however,
to Crawford's credit, that he has brought
out in his novels, in a striking way, the
doctrine of the church on the indis-
solubility of the marriage bond and the
seal Of the confessional; but Father Nc
Mahon, of New York. in recent lecture
in the city of Boston on Catholic In
tluence on Latter-Day Fiction" denies
even this much by saying: MANY
Catholic writer's have presumed to write
novels on the lines which they them
selves advanced. Many Of them have
exceeded the boundaries of their spheres.
Marion Crawford's works are severely
criticised for the false idea which a
Catholic has given to the world at large
about marriage, confession, and the
sacrament of orders, and the consequent
ridicule to which priests and people
would be justly held by those who did
not know the truth. Men should eschew
theology (the lecturer said), unless they
can show their valid credentials and ca
pability of teaching it,"
Mrs. Sherwood, the author of IAN
Epistle to Posterity,' has these words to
say in praise Of the distinguished novel
list:
Marion Crawford is a firm favorite
in the boudoirs. And it is an excellent
sign of the times that he is. No one
can wish for a purer hand, stronger
touch, I. more romantic uplift, or bet
ter friend to a young Woman's mind
than is this delightful writer, who gar
ners in the customs and the thoughts of
all people and the new and precious out
look Of foreign lands. His books are
full Of pictures. They arc like going
from room to room in an Italian palace.
These rooms of his, instead Of ending.
lead off to other rooms even more rich
lv furnished, each mo-. magnificent
than the first. Our host is truly 'en
prince, not stopping with his palaces,
but giving Us such queer little journeys
into Paul Patoff's land and that of the
'Cigaretmaker-the latter story one
of the most original novels ever written.
He never fails us"
Crawford, as public man, as a lee
tufef, as distinguished man or letters,
when he treats Of Catholic subjects,
should be more careful in some of his
expressions; he frequently says and
writes things that are, as a theologian
would put it, offensive to pious ears,
and he shows a lack of that Catholic in
stinct Of reverence, which, perhaps. only
age and wider experience can bring to
converts. In his lecture on THE Early
Italian Artists he finds fault with. the
clergy of those days because they COM
pelled the artists to paint nothing but
religious pictures. This seems to be
trifing with history. The church was
the only patron of art in those days. and
what more natural than that the clergy