The Irish standard., 1905-01-14


lished in Paris, but they withdrew it.
They We're ashamed of it. What did
Sardou know of Dante? He could find
| no solitary line in Dante to warrant
his work, for Dante was mystic; one
could not make a drama Of Dante's
life. However, the tendency of the
stage today is not serious"
Father Brann did not say this ag-
sressively, or even acidulatedly, for
there is not the slightest flavor of
harshness in his makeup. He merely
mentioned the fact.
This is Il restless and busy age
he said, "and people go to the theatre
for a momentary distraction. They
| cannot concentrate their attention
upon the ultra-serious as in the olden
days. 1t is the same way with SER
| mons. In the old Puritan days SER
mons We're two hours long. If any
| body tried to preach two hours today!
Half an hour is enough
Father Brann smiled, and his sense
| of humOr was perceptible. GAS for the
; morality of the stage today" he said,
well, l think the plays of the eigh-
teenth century were, if anything,
worse than those of the nineteenth. 1t
is the lighter vein that predominates
today. Still, l think that censor
| would be Il good thing. He would keep
a great many Objectionable things
| from the stage. He might make a
few mistakes, but in the long run his
work would be valuable. Our church,
| however, is extremely broad. We very
seldom try to influence our congrega-
ton
I'm the case of the play that sets
| the town by the ears?' 1 asked.
Then he said. g,lardedly, 1--WE
might do it. AS rule we do not
speak of the stage from the pulpit. If,
as happens occasionally, a man or a
woman comes to the confessional to
admit having seen a play that has
| evoked immoral thoughts, or has
! tempted him or her in any way, we
naturally advise him or her to abstain
| from further episodes of that nature
! But very often we of the church
recommend the theatre when a man or
! wcnnn is nervous or melancholy. 1t
} is a fine remedy for nervous disord-
| ers.''
He laughed; so did 1. l thought that
while Il homeopathic dose of theatre
might effectively remove undue nerves,
an allopathic dose accentuated them
strangely. 1 did not explain my
mirth to the reverend father
1.-THE attitude of the Catholic church
| toward the DRAMA" he said, seriously
and you must read this seriously,
please-"is substantially identical
| with her position in regard to all art,
whether it be music, sculpture, paint
ing or general literature. She loves
| the true. the good, and the beautiful
She hates the false, the immoral, and
| the ugly. She denies emphatically that
any form of art can be beautiful
| which is based On the false, or the i'm
moral. therefore, she is opposed to the
theory that art may be beautiful when
| it inculcates, insinuates or indecently
portrays the immoral. She has always
| fostered the arts, of all kinds, and par
| ticularly the art of dramatic writing
| and representation. The tragedies and
| comedies of the classic Greek and
| Latin writer's are studied in all COL
| leges by both sexes. The modern
drama. in it's present form, is her
creature. Her liturgy is intensely
dramatic. The mass is tragedy. The
services of Holy Week are all dra-
matte; the feasts of Easter and Of
Christmas have been the occasion of
Easter and Christmas dramas. The
liturgy of Holy Week gives us the
Passion Play The 'miracle,' the
mystery and the morality plays
like Everyman.' recently given in this
i city by Ben Greet-antedate the mod
ern secular drama and are the off.
spring of the Christian muses.
Father Brann paused, and was
much interested. He knew what he
was talking about, and-so many
don't! This was vastly superior to
the screech of the self-advertising ac-
tor.
"Just thinll!'' he went on, "the
Jcsuits, who are the leading educa-
tional order in the church, have writ
ten over 1000 plays. In short the
church stands where every honest
mind stands. on the platform of a
clean theatre. and clean popular
amusement. She esteems and holds
dear those who amuse. instruct and
enlighten the people by clever compo-
sition. good taste, and chastity Of
speech and of action
"But," 1 piped. eff you don't go per-
sonally to the theatre-how can you
know?"
eve read all the good plays" he
answered simply. ''those that make
literature. Corneille, Racine, Schiller
we know them all. Why, appeared
myself once in lie Bourgeoise Gentil-
homme' at college,"
And then Father Brann did look like