Quam Oblationem : the Act of Sacrifice in the Poetry of Saint Robert Southwell
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This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Tit~e ~7, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48~03 O'DONNELL, MARY, Ph.D. Ouam Oblationem: The Act of Sacrifice in the Poetry of Saint Robert Southwell. (1994). Directed by Dr. Jean R. Buchert. 373 pp. The poetry of Saint Robert Southwell, priest, Jesuit, and martyr, has never been examined in the light of his most important role. Nineteenth-century scholars saw him as a martyr, and regarded his poetry as an expression of his suffering and desire for death. Twentieth-centu_~ scholars have viewed him principally as a Jesuit, and have studied his poetry as influenced by the Spiritual Exercises, which played an import~~t role in his spiritual life. However, the Exercises have been overemphasized, inasmuch as they are not a recipe for poetry, nor were they Southwell's principal form of prayer. For Southwell was, primarily, a priest. His first duty was to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, and to make the Mass available to Engl~sh recusants. The laws passed during Elizabeth's reign made his martyrdom inevitable, but he was a martyr because he was a priest. As ~ Jesuit, he belonged to a specific order of priests; but he was, first of all, a priest. Yet the liturgy of the Church year, the readings and prayers of the Mass, and Catholic doctrines regarding the Eucharistic Sacrifice have been almost completely ignored in studying his poetry. The purpose of this study is to rectify this oversight, and to examine Southwell's writings as scholars have examined George Herbert's. The first chapter will review doctrines of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. In the next chapter, Southwell's poetry on the Nativity will be seen to use these doctrines to depict the sacrificial nature of the Incarnation; Southwell uses sacrificial teachings of Auguatine, Gregory the Great, and Trent, portraying Christ's sacrifice as his total surrender to God. The study will also examine how Southwell's poetry uses the calendar of the Church year, and the texts of the Mass, so as to make the Mass accessible to recusants for whom no priest was available. Finally, the study will examine Southwell's portrayal of martyrdom as the ideal sacrifice, as it emulates Christ's sacrifice made present in the Mass, and will consider apostasy as the denial of Christ and the Eucharistic sacrifice. @copyright 1994 by Mary O'Donnell APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of the Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Committee Members Date of Acceptance by ~ommittee Date of Final Oral Examination iii This dissertation would not have been possible without the assist~~ce of many people, all of whom are gratefully acknowledged. A special thanks to my committee chair, Dr. Jean Buchert, for her long-suffering patience and encouragement as an advisor, professor and friend throughout my graduate career. In addition, thanks to Dr. Murray A-~dt, Dr. Denise Baker, and Dr. Shirley Whitaker, for their guidance and enthusiasm in serving on my committee. I cannot fail to recognize the late Father Stephen J. Laut, S.J., whose extraordinary example as a teacher first led me to studies in the Renaissance, and Monsignor Thomas M. Wells, Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., who gave me my first love for the Eucharist. I am particularly grateful to the reference staff at Jackson Library, UNC-G, and particularly to Gaylor Callahan, for her tireless help in locating the numerous texts necessary for this dissertation. Also, thanks to Father David Power, o. s. P. for assistance with questions on the Council of Trent, to Father Jerald P. Fogarty, S.J., UVA- Charlottesville, Father James Deverow, S.J., of Charlotte, Father James O'Brien, S.J., Wheeling Jesuit College, and Father Rory Connolly, Archdiocese of Washington, for guidance in finding theological texts and iv sources o~ the recusants. Finally, thanks to Father Conrad Kimbrough, Diocese of Charlotte, and to Bill Taylor of Greensboro, for the loan of works on th.l! liturgy. I also appreciate all those who helped wich difficulties in languages: Professor Robert Newton, Dr. Andreas Lixl-Purcell, and Sigrid Walker, of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Professor Kurt R. Jankowsky of Georgetown University, for assistance with texts and sc:urces in German, and Gene Rogers for helping with Latin translations. In addition, I am obligated to Dr. Stephen Beale, Marque.tte University, for assistance with textual difficulties, to Susan Quinn and her family, for their generous loan of a computer. And last, but not least, a special thanks to my family .for their constant generosity and support. With grateful appreciation for their magnanimity and encouragement, this dissertation is dedicated to my parents, Neil and Clare O'Donnell, "so wise and good, gentle and loveable." v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page APPROVAL PAGE . iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. iv CHAPTER I . THE NEED FOR THE STUDY • 1 Introduction • • . • . • • . 1 Southwell's Debt to Church Liturgy . 4 Review of Scholarship . • . • . 9 Definitions and Limitations . 27 II. EUCHARISTIC PRESENCE AND LITURGICAL SACRIFICE: THE ROOTS OF SOUTHWELL'S CONCEPT OF SACRIFICE 48 The Early Church Through the High Middle Ages .•. 48 The Reformers and the Eucharist. • . 59 Early Catholic Apologists. 64 The Eucharist and the Council of Trent . 67 Counter-Reformation Sacrifice. • . 73 III. SACIFICE IN SOUTHWELL'S INCARNATION AND NATIVITY POETRY. • . 94 Introduction . 94 1. "New heaven, new warre". 97 2. "The burning Babe" .•.. • • 114 3. "A childe my Choyce" .. 125 4. "New Prince, new pompe" .• . • 127 s. "At home in Heaven" • • 134 Conclusion . 152 IV. THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS IN SOUTHWELL'S POETRY .. 162 1. The Eucharist and "Mental Attendance at Mass" • . • . • . 162 A. "Christs bloody sweat". 163 B. "Sir-~es heave loade" .......... 176 2. The Mass and the Liturgical Calendar . 186 A. "The Nativi tie of Christ" . 186 vi B. "His circumcision" .... 203 c. "The Epiphanie" . 209 D. "The flight into Egypt" . 217 E. "The Presentation" .. 223 F. Other Pieces . 228 v. THE CHRISTIAN'S RESPONSE TO CHRIST'S SACRIFICE. 250 1. The Real Presence and Sacrifice. 253 A. "A holy Hymme• • . • . 253 B. "Of the Blessed Sacrament of the Aulter• • . • . 256 2. Martyrdom as Sacrifice . • . 267. A. "I dye without desert• • • • . • 268 B. "Decease release: pum morior orior" .. 275 c. "Marie Magdalene compla~t at Christa death• .•. 280 D. "Life is but losse" ..... 287 E. "From Fortunes reach" •.. • . • . 289 3. "Saint Pe~ers Complaint": Apostasy and the Rejection of the Eucharistic Sacrifice . 291 Conclusion . 3~8 VI. CONCLUSION • . • 338 BIBLIOGRAPHY .. 350 vii All citations of Southwell's poetry are from The Poems of Robert Southwell. S J , Eds. James H. McDonald and Nancy Pollard Brown, 1967. Reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press. 1 CHAPTER I THE NEED FOR THE STUDY Introduction St. Robert Southwell was born at Horsham St. Faith, Norfolk, at about the end of 1561. In 1576, he left England to attend the seminary at Douai, and later, the English College at Rome. He was admitted into the Society of Jesus as a novice in 1578, and was ordained a priest in about 1584 or 1585. In May 1586, he left Italy with Henry Garnet for missionary work in England. For the next six years, he was an active and important leader of the English Mission, working chiefly in London, where he operated a secret printing press and attended to pastoral duties. In June 1592, he was arrested by the notorious priest-hunter Richard Topcliffe. Following a month of torture, he was transferred to the Tower at the request of his father, Sir Richard Southwell. In February of 1595, he was executed for being a priest; he was canonized a saint in 1970.