Evelyn Waugh's Birthday

Evelyn Waugh was born on October 28, 1903, and he became a Catholic on September 29, 1930, much to the shock of his readers and friends.

He was quite a prolific writer--I've enjoyed the dark humor and satire of his novels: Decline and Fall, Vile Bodies, A Handful of Dust, etc--possibly best known for Brideshead Revisited because of the British TV mini-series and the recent movie adaptations.

After the Second Vatican Council and the introduction of the Novus Ordo, Waugh trenchantly protested against the changes in the celebration of the Mass, although he is not listed among those who signed a letter to Pope Paul VI, requesting an indult for the celebration of the Tridentine Rite in 1971:

Harold Acton, Vladimir Ashkenazy, John Bayler, Lennox Berkeley, Maurice Bowra, Agatha Christie, Kenneth Clark, Nevill Coghill, Cyril Connolly, Colin Davis, Hugh Delargy, +Robert Exeter, Miles Fitzalan-Howard, Constantine Fitzgibbon, William Glock, Magdalen Gofflin, Robert Graves, Graham Greene, Ian Greenless, Joseph Grimond, Harman Grisewood, Colin Hardie, Rupert Hart-Davis, Barbara Hepworth, Auberon Herbert, John Jolliffe, David Jones, Osbert Lancaster, F.R. Leavis, Cecil Day Lewis, Compton Mackenzie, George Malcolm, Max Mallowan, Alfred Marnau, Yehudi Menuhin, Nancy Mitford, Raymond Mortimer, Malcolm Muggeridge, Iris Murdoch, John Murray, Sean O'Faolain, E.J. Oliver, Oxford and Asquith, William Plomer, Kathleen Raine, William Rees-Mogg, Ralph Richardson, +John Ripon, Charles Russell, Rivers Scott, Joan Sutherland, Philip Toynbee, Martin Turnell, Bernard Wall, Patrick Wall, E.I Watkin, R.C. Zaehner.

Pope Paul granted the indult: you might notice Agatha Christie's name in bold in the list--it is commonly called the "Agatha Christie Indult" because the Pope recognized her name! You might also note that many musicians signed the letter, which referenced the influence of the Latin Mass on art and music--Joan Sutherland, La Stupenda, died 10/10/10. And certainly, not all who signed the letter were Catholic! Colin Hardie was the classicist, Fellow at Balliol, Oxford.

Evelyn Waugh's correspondence with Cardinal Heenan is compiled in A Bitter Trial