A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (51 page)

100.25
sacraments
: religious ceremonies or acts regarded as outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace; in Catholicism there are seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, extreme unction, ordination, and matrimony.

100.26–9
promised … torment: hell
: see Matt. 25: 31–46 and 96.6–8 n.

100.32
Now let us try for a moment to realise
…: in his
Spiritual Exercises
(1548), Loyola recommends that the First Week ‘Fifth Exercise’, ‘a meditation on Hell’, begin with ‘a composition of place, which is here to see with the eyes of the imagination the length, breadth and depth of hell’ (
The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola
, trans. W. H. Longridge, rev. edn. (London: Robert Scott, 1930), 66). Father Arnall follows Loyola’s recommendation.

101.4
four thousand miles thick
: because hell was imagined to be within the earth, and the diameter of the earth is approximately 8,000 miles. (See
Hell
in
T
176.)

101.5
saint Anselm
: St Anselm of Canterbury (
c
. 1033–1109), Benedictine monk, archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 until his death, philosophical theologian; author of
On the Grammarian
,
On Truth
,
On Free Will
, and
The Sin of the Devil
.

101.5–6
book on similitudes
:
De Similitudinibus
, not by Anselm, though in his spirit.

101.6–7
worm that gnaws it
: cf. Pinamonti: ‘If a blessed saint, as St Anselm says, in his book of Similitudes, will be strong enough … to move the whole earth: a damned soul will be so weak, as not to be able even to remove from the eye a worm that is gnawing it’ (
Hell
in
T
176.)

101.9–10
at the command of God … not its light
: see Dan. 3: 49–50 (Douay) and
Hell
in
T
176.

101.12
neverending storm of darkness
: after Jude 4 and 13 of ‘ungodly men [who turn] the grace of our God into lasciviousness’, ‘to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever’ (see
Hell
in
T
176).

101.15
the plagues … Pharaohs was smitten
: when the Pharaoh of Egypt not only refused to grant Moses’s request to release the children of Israel but increased their hardship, God instructed Moses to call down various plagues: of frogs, lice, flies, boils, blains, hail, locusts, and finally darkness: ‘And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days … And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the Lord’ (Exod. 10: 22–4) (
Hell
in
T
176).

101.20–2
All the filth of the world … purged the world
: adaptation of Pinamonti, whose source may be in part Aquinas (
Summa Theologiae
, Part III, Query 97, Article 1, ‘Whether in Hell the Damned are Tormented by the Sole Punishment of Fire’), who admits that there may be other punishments than fire, as long as this brings no alleviation of pain (trans. Fr. Laurence Shapcote, rev. Daniel J. Sullivan, 2 vols., 2nd edn. (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 1990), ii. 1066) (
Hell
in
T
176–7). For Aquinas, see 107.30–1 n.

101.24–6
bodies of the damned … whole world
: adaptation of Pinamonti, who cites St Bonaventure (1221–74), Franciscan monk, Professor of Theology at Paris, minister-general of the Franciscans (1257), cardinal (1273) (
Hell
in
T
177).

101.39–102.16
torment of fire … it rages for ever
: Pinamonti, after Aquinas
(
Summa Theologiae
, Part III, Query 97, Articles 5 and 6 (trans. Shapcote, ii. 1068–71) (
Hell
in
T
177).

102.19–22
the devil himself … piece of wax
: Pinamonti, perhaps from St Caesarius of Arles (470–542) (
G
) (
Hell
in
T
177).

103.21–4
parricide … a serpent
: a Pinamonti example (
Hell
in
T
179); the punishment for parricide (murder of grandfather, father,
or
son) in Roman law was to be sewn into a leather sack with a live dog, a viper, a cock, and an ape and to be cast into the sea (
G
).

104.1–4
Saint Catherine of Siena … red coals
: Catherine of Siena (1347–80), whom Pinamonti cites (
Hell
in
T
179).

104.17
Time is … no more!
: see 95.28–9 n.

104.31
rebellion of the intellect
: Lucifer’s sin; see 99.10 n.

104.34–5
temple of the Holy Ghost
: the body; 1 Cor. 6: 19: ‘What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?’

104.37–8
last day of terrible reckoning
: the Last (or ‘general’) Judgement; see 95.19 n.

105.3–4
Depart from me … his angels!
: Matt. 25: 41 (see 96.6–8 and 202.9 nn.);
T
says
Hell
uses it twice (in unexcerpted passages) (
T
179).

105.11–12
plunging headlong through space
: in the manner of Lucifer being thrown out of heaven in, especially, Milton’s
Paradise Lost
, i. 44–7: ‘Him the Almighty Power | Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky | With hideous ruin and combustion, down | To bottomless perdition.’

105.29
blue funk
: ‘cowering fear; a state of panic; extreme nervousness’ (
SOED
).

105.37
Malahide
: fishing village on coast north of Dublin.

106.5–6
O Mary … gulf of death!
: from ‘The Litany of Our Lady’ (see 29.25 n.).

106.9–10
What did it profit … lost his soul?
: see 92.35–6 n.

106.33
Father, I …
: after the opening words of one who confesses: ‘Bless me, father, for I have sinned.’

107.8–10
I am cast away … twentythird verse
: the citation of chapter and verse is correct (Douay; 31:22 in KJV); in
Hell
in
T
179.

107.16–17
what our holy founder … composition of place
: see 46.34 and 100.32 nn.; Loyola stresses the effectiveness in meditation of seeing ‘with the eyes of imagination’ the ‘corporeal place’ or ‘visible object’ which is to be contemplated (
Spiritual Exercises
, First Week, ‘First Exercise’, ‘The First Prelude’, trans. Longridge, 53).

107.22–7
Sin … spiritual
: after Pinamonti (
Hell
in
T
180). In Catholic doctrine, sin comprises two kinds or degrees, each with its particular punishment: the first is the sinful action itself and is punished by
poena sensus
(Latin: ‘pain of the senses’, e.g. fire); the second, the more grievous turning from God and His grace, is punished by
poena damni
(Latin: ‘pain of loss’, the pain derived from the knowledge that one is eternally cut off from the grace of God).

107.30–1
Saint Thomas … the angelic doctor
: St Thomas Aquinas (1224/5–74), Dominican priest, teacher, and philosopher theologian; his teachings
were at first condemned (and he was not canonized until 1323) but six centuries later were made the basic texts for study in Catholic seminaries; sought to bring together Aristotelian philosophy and Catholic doctrine; author of the
Summa contra Gentiles
and the
Summa Theologiae
(left unfinished at his death); he was called ‘the Angelic Doctor not only because of his legendary chastity but also because of his interest in those immaterial beings’ called ‘angels’ (Ralph McInerny (ed.),
Thomas Aquinas: Selected Writings
(London: Penguin, 1998), 368). For ‘dominican’ see 130.14 n.

107.31–9
worst … for ever
: Arnall borrows from Pinamonti who cites Aquinas (
Hell
in
T
180); from
Summa Theologiae
, Part III, Query 98 ‘Of the Will and Intellect of the Damned’, esp. Article 8: ‘Whether the Damned Will ever Think of God’ (trans. Shapcote, ii. 1077).

108.2–3
The soul tends … her existence
: from Aquinas,
Summa Theologiae
, Part II, Query 1, Article 8: ‘Whether Other Creatures Concur in that Last End’ (trans. Shapcote, i. 615) (in
Hell
in
T
180).

108.18
pœna damni, the pain of loss
: Latin, as translated; see 107.22–7 n.

108.20
pain of conscience
: the next ‘consideration’ (
Hell
in
T
180) (see 98.33–5 n.).

108.23–4
the worm … triple sting
: Pinamonti cites Innocent III (b. 1161, pope 1198–1216) on the triple wound of conscience: ‘in his book of the Contempt of the World: “The Memory will afflict, late repentance will trouble, and want of time will torment”’ (
Hell
in
T
181).

109.5–8
saint Augustine … God Himself
: (354-430), Doctor of the Catholic Church, Bishop of Hippo Regius (now Annaba, Algeria); Pinamonti adapts for his own ends Augustine,
City of God
(413–27) XXI.ix, ‘The nature of eternal punishment’ (
Hell
in
T
180;
G
).

109.13–14
sacraments and graces and indulgences
: on ‘sacraments’ see 100.25 n; on ‘grace’, see 87.20–3 n. ‘Indulgence’: ‘the remission of punishment in purgatory, still due for sins even after sacramental absolution … now ordinarily confined to the pope’ (
OERD
).

109.37
pain of extension
: the inalleviable extent of the remorse of the damned; cf.
Hell
in
T
182.

110.36–8
blood of the innocent Lamb of God … insists upon
: the justice required by Christ sitting at the Last Judgement; after
Hell
in
T
183.

111.1
eternity of hell
: the last of the seven ‘considerations’; see 98.33–5 n.

The image of hell elaborated here originates in Pinamonti: ‘Let us … imagine … a mountain of this small sand [as in an hourglass], so high as would reach from earth to heaven’ (
Hell
in
T
183).

111.38–9
holy saint … vision of hell
: remains a mystery.

112.6
beatific vision
: the sight of God, only of course possible for the blessed in heaven.

112.29–30
hideous malice of mortal sin
: ‘Mortal sin’ is thought to be a malicious killing of the soul which deprives it of divine grace. (Pinamonti sprinkles his text with ‘malices’ (
Hell
in
T passim
).)

112.31
venial sin
: sins which are not ‘mortal sins’: they corrupt the soul but not irreparably, but they are still sins. Arnall is trying to stress that just
because they are not ‘mortal sins’ does not mean that they are not to be taken seriously.

112.39–113.2
A sin … glory
: see 99.7 n.

113.6
hanging for three hours on the cross
: according to Matt. 27: 45 and Luke 23: 44.

113.9
spit upon that face
: as did the Roman soldiers, Matt. 27: 30 and Mark 15: 19.

113.12
awful winepress of sorrow
: cf. Isa. 63: 3 and Rev. 19: 15.

113.13
wound in His tender side
: see 100.14–20 and n. and John 19: 33–4.

113.13–14
thorn piercing His head
: see 100.14–20 and n. and Matt. 27: 29, Mark 15: 17, John 19: 2.

113.24
act of contrition
: prayer intended to draw the penitent’s mind to Christ’s suffering and his heart to sorrow for his sins. The prayer that follows (114.3–26) is a traditional ‘Act of Contrition’.

113.25
He is there in the tabernacle
: see 61.11 n.

114.3–26
O my God! … amend my life
: see 113.24 n. As
G
points out, one phrase is missing: ‘Who art so deserving’ should read ‘Who
for thy infinite goodness
art so deserving’; contrition should arise from an awareness of God’s infinite goodness.

114.30
viscid
: from the Latin
viscum
: ‘birdlime’; ‘having a glutinous or gluey character; sticky, adhesive, ropy’ (
SOED
).

115.4
plenipotentiary
: ‘a person invested with full or discretionary powers, especially in regard to a particular transaction’ (
SOED
), so ‘spiritual plenipotentiary’: one who would have the power to deal with sin (a priest); but in one sense the evasiveness through obscure language is exactly the point.