<strong>Where would you go? </strong><br><br>A book to which I keep returning is <em>The Black Virgin</em> by the French philosopher and theologian Jean Hani. Since I read that work a couple of years ago, I have dreamed of one day travelling to our Lady’s shrine at Rocamadour in France, a holy place that was very close to Hani’s heart. There at Rocamadour, the blessed Virgin is enthroned as the embodiment of creation, who offered all in the world that was to be redeemed to the Eternal Logos at the Annunciation. She sits in the mountainside at that ancient shrine, enfolded in the earth itself, concurrently raising up the whole cosmos to God in nuptial longing. Of course, the result of her unique, spousal union with God was the person of Jesus Christ. His uncreated divinity descended from heaven, and His soul was made by God, but His body – all that makes Him incarnate – was assumed exclusively from the Blessed Mother. Thus, at Rocamadour, she holds Him on her lap – becoming herself the throne of the Incarnation – and she offers Him to us. Many say that the veil between our time and the <em>aevum</em> (to use the technical term) of the saints and angels is extremely thin at Rocamadour. Undoubtedly, it is a place enveloped in mystery.
<strong>Would you make any special stops?</strong>
I’d take a detour to Paray-le-Monial. Ever since the early visions of St Gertrude the Great in the 13th century, the tradition of the Sacred Heart of Jesus has been profoundly rooted in Holy Scripture: in the experience of St John, who held his head to the beating heart of our Lord at the Last Supper. Devotion to the Sacred Heart is intricately bound up with contemplation of Christ’s sacred humanity, which is a central theme of Western mysticism. When the apparitions of the Sacred Heart took place at Paray-le-Monial in the 17th century, the seer, St Margaret Mary Alacoque, was told that this special unveiling of His love for mankind had been reserved for the coming “age of coldness”. Within a century, with its chaotic and violent Revolution, France unleashed upon the world the frenzy of materialism, progressivism and utopianism, which has come to characterise most human societies. I think we are still very much trapped in the “age of coldness”. I’m certain that only a great spiritual renewal centred on God’s love can coax us out of it. That’s why devotion to the heart of Jesus Christ is so important.
<strong>Whom would you take? </strong>
My wife and children, and my whippet, Pico.
<strong>You can transplant your favourite pub, bar or restaurant onto the route. What is it?</strong>
My local pub is remarkably like George Orwell’s “The Moon Under Water”. It offers a large selection of locally brewed real ales and stouts which are served in dimple mugs, a few lagers, and no hot food. If you get hungry, you can order a pork pie. The tables are made from heavy, dark wood. In cold months, a fire roars under the mantelpiece. There are no speakers emitting ghastly pop music, but sometimes a local musician turns up to play tunes on his fiddle late into the evening. People talk to each other rather than gawp at their phones. And there’s always a cheery, buxom barmaid to greet you. I wish I could take that pub with me everywhere I go. You can see why policymakers and power-holders despise such places and want to tax them out of existence: my nearby pub does much to <em>root</em> the local townsfolk and countryfolk. It consequently remains a serious obstacle to any top-down pressure to reduce those people to alienated, atomised, deracinated, interchangeable units of production and consumption. That is, it hinders them from becoming fully modern. But really, in France, I’d be happy with whatever’s local. Years ago, in Albi, after visiting the spectacular and very distinctive cathedral there, I enjoyed a golden, chilled, frothy <em>bière</em> <em>de garde</em> from a large glass chalice with an excellent cassoulet. That was a lovely afternoon.
<strong>Camp under the stars or find a church hall to sleep in?</strong>
Under the stars. As a youngster, I enjoyed camping a lot. But as I’ve grown older, I increasingly appreciate some comforts. A few years ago, my wife, children and I went “glamping” for a week in the West Country. We stayed in a Mongolian-style yurt by the coast. It was a lot of fun; when I say “under the stars”, that’s more what I have in mind.
<strong>Which books would you take with you? </strong>
The Bible, Sergei Bulgakov’s <em>Spiritual Diary</em>, and the <em>Scivias</em> of St Hildegard von Bingen. I’d also take Roger Scruton’s <em>On Hunting</em>, which is almost a sacred text. And, of course, I’d have to pack Hani’s <em>The Black Virgin</em>, which I’d attempt to re-read before arriving at Rocamadour. It’s also very important always to have some fiction on the go, or the mind risks deteriorating into a hodgepodge of unanchored abstractions. Last year I discovered that the short stories in Ivan Turgenev’s <em>A Sportsman’s Notebook</em> are excellent travelling companions.
<strong>What spiritual text would you ponder as you walked?</strong>
Recently, I have been reading the two Books of Maccabees from the Bible. The people in those stories underwent horrendous sufferings to remain faithful to their covenant with the God of Israel. It has made me see with fresh eyes the tragedy of the West: we have given up our religious birthright in exchange for base materialism. Those texts would be very much at the forefront of my mind as I observed modern France, and reflected on what the Church’s eldest daughter has become. On the way home, as I saw the white cliffs of the Kentish coast, I’d likely call to mind the words of St Edmund Campion: “You condemn all your own ancestors, all our ancient bishops and kings, all that was once the glory of England – the island of saints, and the most devoted child of the See of Peter.”
<strong>What’s your go-to prayer?</strong>
The Rosary.
<strong>What’s the singalong to keep ever yone’s spirits up? </strong>
My children and I often sing old English folk songs together, especially on long car journeys. I expect “Hares on the Mountain”, “The Tailor and the Mouse”, “John Barleycorn”, “The Derby Ram” and some good old hunting songs like “John Peel” and “Tally Ho! My Fine Sportsman” would all be belted out. Hopefully we wouldn’t frighten the French too much.
<strong>You’re allowed one luxury – what is it? </strong>
High-quality, traditionally cured biltong.
<strong>What would you miss most about ordinary life?</strong>
The peaceful and generally undisturbed solitude of my study.
<em>Photo: Sebastian Morello (courtesy interviewee).</em>
<em>Sebastian Morello was trained in philosophy by Sir Roger Scruton and Andrew Pinsent. He is a lecturer, columnist and public speaker in the UK and throughout Europe. He is the author of </em>Mysticism, Magic, and Monasteries: Recovering the Sacred Mystery at the Heart of Reality<em> (<a href="https://osjustipress.com/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Os Justi Press</mark></a>) – reviewed in the March edition of the </em>CH<em> magazine and online below – and of </em><a href="https://angelicopress.com/products/the-world-as-god-s-icon"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">The World as God’s Icon</mark></a> <em>(Angelico Press)</em>.
<a href="https://thecatholicherald.com/sebastian-morellos-mysticism-magic-and-monasteries-offers-a-brilliant-counter-narrative-to-contemporary-inversions/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><strong><em>RELATED: ‘Mysticism, Magic and Monasteries’ offers a brilliant counter-narrative to contemporary inversions</em></strong></mark></a>
<strong><strong>This article appears in the June 2025 edition of the <em>Catholic Herald</em>. To subscribe to our thought-provoking magazine and have independent, high-calibre and counter-cultural Catholic journalism delivered to your door anywhere in the world click <a href="https://thecatholicherald.com/subscribe/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">HERE</mark></a></strong></strong>.
