While the new series broadcast on Prime Video, “The Rings of Power”, from the Lord of the Rings universe, could be one of the hits of the year, the question of the beatification – even canonization – of his author, JRR Tolkien returns to the heart of the discussions.
Eight years after the film events of the trilogy of Lord of the Ringswhich featured the works of English author JRR Tolkien, a new series broadcast on Prime Video, The Rings of Power, has made a historic start on the platform and is in turn enjoying great success with American and European audiences. The opportunity to (re)discover the exemplary life led by British author JRR Tolkien. A convinced practicing Christian, it could be that one day his cause for holiness will be opened.
Born in 1892, graduated from Oxford, JRR Tolkien fought in the First World War as a lieutenant. He then witnessed many carnage, including the terrible Battle of the Somme, which later inspired some of the great battles of The Lord of the Rings. Traumatized, he was demobilized for health reasons and began to write works of fiction, The Hobbit and the first two volumes of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, in 1925, then the third volume, The king’s return, completed in 1955. At Oxford, the writer belonged to a small group of professors called “The inklings”, a word which in English means “little ideas”, thus referring to the ideas of spiritual and literary wisdom which interested them. The dozen members of this club, which also included his Anglican colleague CS Lewis, meet to discuss history, literature, imagination, mythology, language – all these areas they were trying to deal with in their courses and in their books.
The writer leads a very pious life, he goes to Mass every day, with a particular devotion to the Eucharist. When his son Michael is experiencing personal difficulties, Tolkien thus urges him to turn to the Eucharist, in a very beautiful letter. “From the darkness of my life, so frustrated, I offer you the one great thing on earth to love: the Blessed Sacrament… There you will find romance, glory, honor, fidelity, and the true path of all your loves on earth.
After his death in 1971, many specialists in literature and religion will recognize the real influence of the author’s loyalty to Christianity on his own fiction, and his desire to turn to divine truth.
Canonization cause status
Faced with this pious life and the profound message, in the 2000s, an Italian priest, Father Daniele Pietro Ercoli, contacted the Archbishop of Birmingham, England, to talk to him about a possible opening of a cause for canonization. by JRR Tolkien. The answer of the English archbishop is then unequivocal. “I am happy to encourage you to seek to inform people more widely about JRR Tolkien’s Catholic faith and the influence it had on his writing and on his life…I suggest that you be free to compose a prayer to distribute for private and personal use and, if a cause is ever opened, then we can draft a suitable prayer. »
On September 2, 2017, to mark the anniversary of Tolkien’s death, a mass was said in Oxford, in Tolkien’s former parish church (dedicated to St. Aloysius) in the presence of his granddaughter. The Mass is offered “not for the repose of Tolkien’s soul – but to pray that his cause for beatification may be opened”. The following year, in September 2018, a “canonization conference” was then organized in Oxford in the hope of reviving interest in the cause. Since then, there has been no progress towards the opening of an official case. One thing is certain, interest in the works of Tolkien is back in the news with the new series, and may well reignite interest in the Christian author.
