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d. Religion in the novel The Name of the Rose

Reading Umberto Eco, it is not difficult to appreciate his approach to religion as he manifested it in his maiden novel. Though an unbeliever, Eco treats religion with a mixture or balance of reverential admiration and provocative challenge.

d.1 Appreciation for Religious Tradition

By re-creating a monastic ambience set in the medieval period, Eco upholds the enduring validity and attraction of religious tradition. Writers who espouse a modernistic view would tend to shy away from Eco’s approach; instead they will try to destroy the present’s link with the past, the old, and the hackneyed. Eco does exactly the opposite. He connects the reader with a distant past that nevertheless served as catalyst of a better future for humanity.

It is necessary to understand tradition, especially religious tradition, whether Christian or other. This sets Eco apart from his contemporaries in arts and culture who insist on a radical break or on deconstruction of what has gone before. (cf. Cromwell and Marcus, 2016).

One does not have to be a believer in order to appreciate and understand religious traditions. In an interview, Eco explained his cultural fascination for religion even after drifting away from the sphere of belief: “I do believe in religion. Human beings are religious animals, and such a characteristic feature of human behavior cannot be ignored or dismissed.” (Zanganeh, 2008). Perhaps this has something to do also with his Italian genes!

Eco clearly appreciates the agencies through which culture trickled down to our time. The choice of the Middle Ages as temporal setting of a novel may astound many with grim thoughts of remoteness and darkness, if not decadence and corruption usually associated with that period.

Eco however sees things differently. The time when the church reached the summit of glory and power was also the epoch that produced abundant fruits that benefitted future civilizations. Far from denigrating religion in general, Eco proclaims his confidence in the possibilities a culture steeped in religion offers. “To me, they were not the Dark Ages. They were a luminous time, the fertile soil out of which would spring the Renaissance.” (Zanganeh, 2008).

d.2 Challenge towards Introspection

It is easy to find pop culture materials that exploit the people’s hermeneutics of suspicion towards religious institutions. Books and films teem with topics about conspiracies and controversies that originate from churches or faith groups. There is a tendency towards historical revisionism regarding religious figures or events like church councils, the Crusades, or the true nature of Christ.

Eco avoids writing in this coarse and crass fashion. True, he does not exalt the religious institution for the unsullied truth or purity of its faith. But he does not destroy the institution either. By presenting the very human reality of human foibles encroaching on divine sanctuary, Eco challenges the reader, whether religious or not, to look into himself or herself and make a personal reflection.

“What model reader did I want as I was writing? An accomplice, to be sure, one who would play my game. I wanted to become completely medieval and live in the Middle Ages as if that were my own period (and vice versa). But at the same time, with all my might, I wanted to create a type of reader who, once the initiation was past, would become my prey – or rather, the prey of the text – and would think he wanted nothing but what the text was offering him. A text is meant to be an experience of transformation for its reader.” (Eco, The Name of the Rose, 2003, 563).

The frailty of a religious institution mirrors the weakness of every person. It is not a monk alone that confronts temptations every day.  Adso’s lust and Abo’s greed are the temptations of every one, whether believer or unbeliever, practicing or nominal adherent. By showing that monks and friars are weak human beings, Eco brings home the point that the capital sins are very much alive and we are all capable of falling into them. Instead of judging the religious intentions of those in the monastery, the novelist presents the struggles of its inhabitants as fulcrum for self-analysis.

The perspicacious author is postmodern in the sense that though he is welcoming of traces of religion, he does not necessarily have to pledge allegiance to it.  Rather he invites the readers to think and to strive to discover the elusive truth on his own. This is also an implied challenge to people who subscribe to a religious community since the security and comfort of structured faith does not necessarily entail the attainment of perfection. Even the most splendid abbey will one day be razed to the ground and all its treasures, knowledge, and piety reduced to ashes and smoke.

As for the church, Eco does not condemn it nor ridicule it even for the inconsistencies he finds in it. But he boldly exposes what he sees as contradictions between its teachings and the lives of the people who must live those tenets. He tacitly gives the church a warning not to categorically trust its own closely-held certitudes. While the fires were ravaging the buildings of the monastery, William taught Adso a vital lesson:

“I saw for the first time the portrait of the Antichrist, who does not come from the tribe of Judas, as his heralds have it, or from a far country. The Antichrist can be born from piety itself, from excessive love of God or of the truth, as the heretic is born from the saint and the possessed from the seer. Fear prophets, Adso, and those prepared to die for the truth, for as a rule they make many other die with them, often before them, at times instead of them… Perhaps the mission of those who love mankind is to make people laught at the truth, to make truth laugh, because the only truth lies in learning to free ourselves from insane passion for the truth.” (Eco, The Name of the Rose, 2003, 526).

Conclusion

The fascination with the dynamics of religion continues to be expressed in the many texts of pop culture like film, songs, television programs and novels. In the mystery novel, the thrill for solving life’s mysteries is connatural with facing up to the ultimate mystery that only an opening to religion or spirituality can fully attain.  Text and life are reconciled by a penchant for moral order, the joy of surprise, and the resolution of life’s endless puzzles.

Umberto Eco has responded to the deep human craving to seek out the traditions that nurture the spirit. In his most famous literary creation, The Name of the Rose, he lays before the reader a monastic world that resonates with the vicissitudes of the present day. The religious themes that can be carefully gleaned in the novel are rich sources of reflection on our own spiritual quests.

By piercing the religious ambience with a compelling and complex story, Eco shows the value of appreciating the heritage of the past, though it may be imperfect. He takes the opportunity to provoke people to reflect and not simply rely on inherited convictions.

In the end though, the novelist only wanted to share the delight he felt with his novel to his readers. Complex and serious as it is, Eco’s novel is meant to primarily promote a diversion, a relaxation, a journey into a world that amuses and educates at the same time. In this, Eco is a believer in the power of pop culture. He writes:

“I wanted the reader to enjoy himself, at least as much as I was enjoying myself. This is a very important point, which seems to conflict with the more thoughtful ideas we believe we have about the novel.” (Eco, Postscript, 1989, 565).

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5. “The Name of the Rose” and the Postmodern Attitude to Religion

a. Postmodernity and Postmodernism

One of the distinctive characteristics of pop culture is that it is a vehicle of a cultural phenomenon called postmodernism.  But what exactly does postmodernity or postmodernism mean? Words like these are used in many critical studies of contemporary trends in architecture, pedagogy, arts and philosophy, and others. Just what the terms mean, however, is a big puzzle for people who are confused about its the proper usage.

Eco himself wrote: "I have the impression that it is applied today to anything the users of the term happen to like." (Eco, Post Script, 1989, 569). The theologian Tyron Inbody crafts a rather funny simile of postmodernism as the " ‘intellectual Velcro dragged across culture’ which ‘can be used to characterize almost anything one approves or disapproves’."  (Adams, 1997).

Daniel Adams provides an easy guide to understand and also to distinguish the two concepts. Postmodernity is the cultural condition or state of being of people in the late twentieth century. Postmodernism refers to a cultural movement or diversity of movements within that culture. Postmodernity is the situation while postmodernism is the reflection and response to that given situation.

b. Important Aspects

There are two important aspects, among others, of postmodernity. First, it is a distinctly Western experience. It is a reaction to the definition of modernity and modernism that came from the West where these concepts took root. However, though Western in origin, postmodernity travels the breadth of the entire world, given the rapid global dissemination of ideas and technology.

The second aspect is the concept of the “unsecularization” of the world. The modern world focused on the material and empirical, to the detriment of the spiritual. Secularism pushed religion away from the center of consciousness, only to be relished in private. But the postmodern age sees the resurgence of religious and spiritual values. Traditional religions are making a comeback. But so too new expressions of spirituality are making headway.

“Thus, alongside the oft-stated conviction that our society’s brash ephemerality and greed are utterly meaningless, inimical not simply to religious belief but also to conventional ideas of an interior quality of life, there have begun to be voiced less usual but nonetheless compelling opinions: expressions of an apparently irrational hope in the possibility of a different future, which may be informed by reference to conventional religion on the one hand (King) or, alternatively, by cryptic allusion to a numinous and nonhuman force that is loosely called ‘spirit’.” (Barry, 2004, 169).

This phenomenon of the return of religion or religions has been viewed differently by observes. Some welcomed it as a positive development. Still others received it with caution, unsure of what the outcome will be.

“’Zygmunt Bauman asserts that"postmodernity can be seen as restoring to the world what modernity, presumptuously, had taken away; as a re-enchantment of the world that modernity tried to dis-enchant.’ In other words, modernity brought with it the secular; postmodernity is restoring the sacred. Gabriel Moran, on the other hand, expresses caution in posing the question, ‘Is the postmodern world a return to the premodern world?’ For him the return of the old gods along with the rise of the New Age is a step backward rather than forward. No matter which position we take, it is obvious that religion lies at the very heart of the postmodern condition.” (Adams, 1997).

c. Implications

What does postmodernism entail then for religion, especially for the institutional one?  Postmodernity, while it provides room for religious sentiments, still carries with it modernity’s basic stance of distrust toward corporate expressions of faith, for organized religion. In many Western countries, it suffices to observe the growing direction “where the most important religious trend is neither swelling unbelief nor rising fundamentalism, but the emergence of a generalized ‘religiousness’ detached from the claims of any specific faith tradition.” (Douthat, 2009).

Pop culture is disposed towards a distance if not a disdain for most institutions, among them, religious establishments. Some elements of pop culture like the novels of Dan Brown, owed its success to the fact that the stories mirror the present generation’s tendency to “claim oneself as ‘spiritual, but not religious.’ In general, everyone seems to like Jesus, but many hate and distrust His Church.” (Oropesa, 2006).

Religious institutions must therefore contend with the fact that now it has to share the spotlight with other religious or spiritual trends. It is no longer the time to boast of dominant religion versus minority faith. There is a cogent force calling for respect of all faiths and tolerance of each other’s beliefs. There is even an invitation to look into the experience of the “nones” – those who are open to religious experience while not attached to a particular religious tradition. They are also called “seekers.” And the church no longer has monopoly on faith. (cf. Tippet, 2017).

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4. Religious Questions in the Novel

a. God and Faith

Where is God in all that happens in the abbey? He is rarely invoked. In the novel, God is distant. There is no experience of the loving, forgiving, and merciful God familiar to modern-day Christianity. (cf. Vassallo, n.d.).

Though the story transpires within hallowed grounds, there is no sense of a flourishing spirituality in that place. It is normal to expect that a medieval setting full of monks, theological debates and calls to prayer would at least touch on the presence of God or his concern for the affairs of his creatures. The novel disappoints in this aspect.

Nominally, God is the master of the monastery, but he does not reside there. It is true that the monastery is an emblem of grace and spiritual benefits for the monks and for the people in the nearby surroundings. Even political authorities and the papal court find the place a neutral and conducive location to discuss and resolve the most complex of conflicts. As mentioned above, each day is itself anchored on and divided according to the moments of mandatory prayers in the choir. But what becomes clear is that the monastery is the place where personal interests and political ideologies are merely couched in the veneer of religion.

The God of the novel is thus a faraway being, helplessly sharing power with the many masters found in the complex politics of both church and state. It is a good motif to introduce the Franciscans who will remind readers of the venerated St. Francis, whose only image of God was that of a loving and caring Father, not a faceless, emotionless deity imposing heavy duties and exacting inflexible conditions.

The novel supports the idea that God is ever on the lookout, observing his people, reading their intentions and interpreting their actions. But he does this precisely to bring down his wrath on those who mindlessly digress from his commands. The words of the monks are indicative of their concept of God and of their spiritual condition and connection with him.

 “More space is allotted to sin and to the antichrist, less to mercy and to salvation. Fear dominates and hope is absent. Severity and rigor triumphs as the only way to preserve the faith, while joy is the symptom of evil.” (Molto spazio è dato al peccato e all’Anticristo, poco alla misericordia e alla salvezza. Domina la paura ed è assente la speranza. Trionfano la severità e il rigore come unico modo per custodire la fede, mentre la gioia è sintomo di male – translation mine. (Vassallo, n.d., p. 5.).

To illustrate, the following were the words of Ubertino of Casale in his first reunion with William:

“The days of the Antichrist are finally at hand, and I am afraid, William!... His lieutenants are already here, dispatches as Christ dispatched the apostles into the world! They are trampling on the City of God, seducing through deceit, hypocrisy, violence. It will be then that God will have to send His servants, Elijah and Enoch, whom He maintained alive in the earthly paradise so that one day they may confound the Antichrist, and they will come to prophesy clad in sackcloth, and they will  preach penance by word and by example….” (Eco, The Name of the Rose, 2003, 67).

The grotesque Salvatore shares his spiritual anxieties about the devil in his chance encounter with Adso:

“Penitenziagite! Watch out for the draco who cometh in futurum to gnaw your anima! Death is super nos! Pray the Santo Pater come to liberar nos a malo and all our sin! Ha ha, you like this negromanzia de Domini Nostri Jesu Christi! Et anco jois m’es dols e plazer m’es dolors… Cave el diabolo! Semper lying in wait for me in some angulum to snap at my heals...” (Eco, The Name of the Rose, 2003,  51).

The case of Adso, the narrator, who was a young aspiring monk, is interesting. Eco inserts within this historical mystery an amorous affair that the youth casually experiences with a total stranger, a beautiful woman, one night in the kitchen. While clearly devoted to his calling, the monk unites with the woman without qualms of conscience, without resistance of the will. The forbidden physical encounter was re-lived by Adso using the biblical imageries and philosophical rants on intimacy and love that he surely learned by studying the Scripture and arts in the monastery.

“O sidus clarum pellaru,” I cried to her, “o porta clausa, forts hortorum, cella custos unguentorum, cella pigmentaria! Inadvertently I found myself against her body, feeling its warmth and the sharp perfume of unguents never known before. I remembered, “Sons, when mad love comes, man in powerless!” and I understand that, whether what I felt was a snare of the Enemy or a gift of heaven, I was now powerless against the impulse that moved me…”  (Eco, The Name of the Rose, 2003, 263).

After falling into this sin, he reveals his tryst to William to receive his absolution in the sacrament of confession. However thoughts of the woman continue to bother him even long after he believed he thought he repented. Thus the ocnfession seems to be just a cosmetic salve to relieve the guilt but not to offer the chance for genuine conversion.

“But I would not be writing the truth, or, rather, I would be attempting to draw a veil over the truth to attenuate its force and clarity. Because the truth is, that I “saw” the girl, I saw her in the brances of the bare tree that stirred lightly when a  benumbed sparrow flew to seek refuge there; I saw her in the eyes of the heifers that came out a of the barn, and I heard her in the bleating of the sheep that crossed my erratic path. It was as if all creation spoke to me of her, and I desired to see hear again…” (Eco, The Name of the Rose, 2003, 297).

Adso summarizes the situation of the monastery, and the stance of God in the midst of the horrifying events when he says to William: “Then we are living in a place abandoned by God.” (Eco, The Name of the Rose, 2003, 166).

b. Spirit of Poverty

The medieval church was a wealthy and privileged institution. The agencies of the church sit complacently on accumulated treasures. These took the form of money, gold and silver vessels, livestock, and tracks of land.

Reading The Name of the Rose, one imagines the splendor of material blessings and the comfort of economic stability enjoyed by the monastery. On approaching the abbey, Wiliam remarked to Ados: “ a rich abbey… the abbot likes a great display on public occasions.” (Eco, The Name of the Rose, 2003, 24).     The library, which was the source of the abbey’s fame, “has more books than any other Christian library.” (Eco, The Name of the Rose, 2003, 39). The abbot admits that though the abbey is considerably small, it has “one hundred fifty servants for sixty monks.” (Eco, The Name of the Rose, 2003, 37).

The abbot takes pride in only two things; his fear of heretics (proof of his orthodoxy and fidelity) and the wealth of the monastery (symbol of his power). William and Adso catch a glimpse of some of the holy place’s fortunes.

“The vases, the chalices, each piece revealed its precious materials: amid the yellow of the gold, the immaculate white of the ivory and the transparency of the crystal, I saw gleaming gems of every color and dimension, and I recognized jacinth, topaz ruby, sapphire, emerald, chrysolite, onyx, carbuncle, and jasper and agate… the altar frontal and three other panels that flanked it were entirely of gold, and eventaully the whole altar seemed of gold, from whatever direction I looked at it.” (Eco, The Name of the Rose, 2003, 152).

If such was the material conditon of humble monks, how much more can we imagine the situation of priests, bishops and the pope himself during that period?  Adso recalls the teachings of his masters in Melk about the political and religious vicissitudes of Italy, “the the peninsula, where the power of the clergy was more evident than in any other country, and where more than in any other country the clergy made a display of power.” (Eco, The Name of the Rose, 2003, 54).

With the wealth come self-absorption and corruption of the church leaders, who take advantage of the trust of their rich devotees and their poor unquestioning subjects. It is a blessing to the medieval church that the “fraticello” (little brother) of Assisi came to rivet attention to “Lady Poverty,” and to the very example of Christ the Nazarene carpenter.

However once firmly established, the group Francis founded also succumbed to the temptations of power and wealth, and gradually came to assimilate the danger it set out to remove. In time, groups of reformers would emerge, urging a return to Francis’ original vision. But some of the reformers would fall into the charge of heresy due to their impetuousness and ignorance of church diplomacy.

The novel presents the debate between the pope’s delegates and the Franciscans advocating a more radical poverty. That the pope will be threatened by a few poor men, is indication enough of how the established religion remained attached to its glory and honor. The riches and privileges of the monastery and of the church shine even more starkly when compared to the squalor and misery of the poor.

c. Shepherds of the Flock

Monastic life symbolizes the desire for greater holiness and fidelity to the teachings and example of the Lord Jesus Christ. By voluntarily surrendering the will to live poverty, chastity and obedience, the monks assume the role of spiritual guides for the people who come to them for direction and guidance.

The monks William and Adso encountered however, were all flawed men and far from exemplary. The monks have questionable motives, checkered past and dark secrets, often falling into the lures of pride and lust. Abo, their leader was a mediocre man more concerned about power and wealth than pastorally guiding his community. Adso remembers how in a conversation with him, Abo “raised one hand and allowed the daylight to illuminate a splendid ring he wore on his fourth finger, the emblem of his power. The ring sparkled with all the brilliance of its stones.” (Eco, The Name of the Rose, 2003, 478).

This is true as well of the hierarchical figures in the story. Pope John XXII is called a “wicked usurper, simoniac, and heresiarch who in Avignon brought shame on the holy name of the apostle.” (Eco, The Name of the Rose, 2003, 12). Other figures including the Franciscan head Michael of Cesena and the Inquisitor Bernardo Gui either exhibit egoism, scheming, corruption or violence, in varying degrees. Given the material splendor of the medieval church, the quality of leadership and pastorship of the church leaves much to be desired. Blinded by power, many of the faithful are marginalized by scandal and neglect.

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3. Religious Motifs in the Novel

Umberto Eco’s literary masterpiece is of course a historical mystery and not a religious manuscript. Therefore in the course of this study, the researcher has discovered that the materials dealing with the strictly religious import of the work are scant and shallow. At times, essays that mention the religious aspect of the novel provide only hints on how to proceed to a deepening of an inquiry in this area. (cf. Vassallo, n.d.). More numerous are the studies of the novel within the ambit of literary criticism and analysis or philosophical inquiry.

However, since Eco was a passionate scholar of the medieval period, in which the church was a dominant and imposing institution, he could not resist the temptation to embellish his first fictional writing, set within holy ground, with some religious sense. The Middle Ages was a historical epoch rife with discussions about God and the proliferation of religious foundations for both men and women. At this time too there flourished controversies concerning the church and its internal relations with its dissident followers, as well as the church’s external relations with monarchical authorities of the day and the diplomatic machinations that needed to be employed when dealing with them.

The Middle Ages saw the high point of the existence of the church as a spiritual institution incongruously patterned after the imperial model. These salient features of the medieval church found their way into the imagination of Eco. The following are some of the conspicuous religious motifs that even a superficial reading of the novel will reveal.

a. Characters

In this historical “whodunnit,” the main characters are either monks or religious men. Monks refer to men who live in common within enclosed walls or defined territory separate from the outside world. There they pursue a life of prayer, work and sacrifice. Monasteries were founded as a way of satiating the desire of men for holiness after the days when martyrdom was no longer the prize of becoming Christian due to the end of the age of persecution. (cf. Sartori, 1988,  106).

Some of the monks become priests while others remain unordained and are referred to as brothers. While the priests are charged with duties of administration and sacramental celebration, the brothers are focused on the practical needs of the monastery, like manual labor in the kitchen, garden, farm or barn. 

There are many groups or orders of monks, among them is the Benedictine Order to which, in the novel, Abo and his community belong. Called Benedictines because of their founder St. Benedict of Nursia, these monks are prominent in their commitment to practice ora et labor (prayer and work). Study and research are essential part of the work they do. Adso the narrator was also a young novice for the Benedictine monastic life. (cf. Religious Orders, n.d.).

William of Baskerville represents the religious or spiritual men. Their lives are organized around a particular charism or gift that they feel God is calling them to publicly profess. While they may or may not live in isolated environments as the monks do, the religious orders or communities still form an “authentic structure within the church” (un’autentica strutture dentro la chiesa, translation mine). (Sartori, 1988, 106). Religious orders, like the monastic ones, must gain the official recognition and approval of the church for their valid existence.

William belongs to the Order of Friars Minor or Franciscans, so-called because the founding father is the universal favorite, the son of Assisi, Francis Bernardone. Far from just working in silence and separation from the outside world, St. Francis felt the need for a missionary life for his followers. He admonished them to go out all over Europe and to distant lands and propagate the faith.  Due to Francis’ professed love for “Lady Poverty,” the Franciscans are considered the image of religious poverty in the church. (cf. Eco, The Name of the Rose, 2003, 54).

In the Middle Ages, there were also many monasteries founded for women. These nuns too observed the Rule or the monastic discipline that prevailed in the communities of their male counterparts with some variations. Saintly women, all monastics, are sporadically mentioned in the novel. (cf. Eco, The Name of the Rose, 2003, 61).

b. Setting

The major events in the recollections of Adso happened within the walls of the monastery. Since the novel explored the theme of quest for knowledge and truth, it was fitting that the medieval abbey be designated as its location. Monasteries were respected enclaves of wisdom and learning around which communities or villages were later built. The monks saw themselves as custodians of knowledge for the church and for future ages.

The novel divides the events that William and Adso experienced within a period of seven days, each day divided by the horarium or prayer schedules of the Benedictine monks for their daily devotions. Eco accurately identifies the communal prayer sessions as follows: Matins or pre-dawn prayer, Lauds or morning prayer, Prime or mid-morning, Sext or noontime or midday prayer, None or mid-afternoon prayer, Vespers or evening prayer), and Compline or night prayer.  (cf. Eco, The Name of the Rose, 2003, 7). Today these prayers are collectively called “The Liturgy of the Hours” because they are intended to consecrate the various hours of the day to the praise and glory of God.

The monks keep a regimented but serene daily schedule, centered on prayer and punctuated by other useful preoccupations. In the novel, Eco mentions the particular tasks or responsibilities of monks within the community. Some work as glaziers, smiths, herbalists, librarians, cooks, cellarers, illustrators of manuscripts, scribes, and supervisors of the servants. The abbot oversees everything, being the superior of the whole house. The name abbot means father, from the root “abba.”

There is mention in the novel of the presence of servants or helpers. While the monks are all tasked with various assignments, a monastery usually enlists the help of outsiders to work with or for the monks. Each monastery is intended to be an independent and self-sufficient entity, not dependent on others for their survival. Thus a monastery ingeniously develops a trade to provide for the daily needs and sustenance. When that trade expands, the monastery is able to provide jobs for other people. This explains the mushrooming of villages outside the gates and around the vicinity of the novel’s monastery. The monastery is described as rich, and therefore, it was capable of employing outsiders.

c. Papal Politics

The historical background of the novel is the bitter rivalry between the emperor and the pope, which happened in the early years of the 14^th century.  The pope, identified as John XXII, was a zealot Frenchman who resides in Avignon and refuses to move back the seat of power to Rome. This pontiff excommunicates the victorious emperor Louis the Bavarian whom he dislikes. The emperor in turn declares the pope a heretic and opposes his authority.

As already mentioned above (summary), this pope also identifies enemies from within his own flock. He finds the spiritual Franciscans, who are causing an uproar on the matter of poverty, dangerous to his position, wealth, and authority. The emperor’s protection of the Franciscans puts them in an awkward position as pawns in the power struggle between church and the temporal masters. In the novel, the papal delegation comes to the monastery to meet with the Franciscans to discuss their differences.

d. Church Crisis

The issue of poverty may be an incidental part of the novel but its inclusion is of significant value to the church of the period. The church wields a lot of power – spiritual, political, and even economic. Behaving like a secular institution, the church is surrounded by riches and glory, capable of throwing its weight around because of its influence and control. The abbot personally describes the material treasures of his monastery. The pope in Avignon does not hesitate to launch a skirmish with the emperor.

In this context, some people appeal for an internal reform, a return to the understanding and practice of poverty as the Gospel teaches it. The Franciscans employ a theological basis for the poverty of Christ and the church. And while the Franciscans are presented as principal advocates of poverty, the novel alludes to other groups that embrace the same crusade for a simpler, holier life. But some of these groups’ leaders or members are unlettered folks who are inflamed by emotions and resort to violence to express their sentiments. They then become the target of the Inquisition for heresy.

The papacy struggles to accept the propositions of the Franciscans and continues to be wary of potential heretics and warmongers. After a swathing decree refusing their propositions the Franciscans do all in their power to be heard by the authorities again. This is the context of the meeting William was to mediate between the papal delegates and his own Franciscan confreres.

Described but not directly touched is the scandalous riches of the monastery in the midst of the poverty of the people around them. Some of the monastery’s neighbors are so poor that the women trade their bodies to some lascivious monks in exchange for food.

e. Inquisition

William worked for a time with the Inquisition but retired due to disagreements with its methods. In the novel the Inquisition is brought to life through the historical figure of Bernardo Gui, who comes across as fierce and remorseless. The Inquisition of course, has a bad reputation in contemporary history and it is believed that the church put to death numerous people after instilling in them fear, putting them up to hasty and baseless trials, and inflicting physical tortures.

Modern-day experts discovered in their study though, that there are actually two kinds of Inquisition, the one sponsored by the church and the other promoted by secular authorities, the latter being the more severe and merciless because it could actually carry out executions. It is now more correctly termed as the “Spanish Inquisition.” The Inquisition in the novel is not of Spanish extraction. (Cook, 2013).

Records of the church Inquisition for example, showed that between 1308 to 1323, “only 42 persons were turned over to secular authority (for punishment) while others were condemned to minor penances, often with extraordinary kindess, and 139 were absolved” (soltanto 42 rimessi al braccio secolare, mentre altri sono condannati a pene minori, spesso di straordinaria mitezza, e centotrentanove assolti, translation mine – translation mine. Introvigne, 1987).

The actual historical Dominican priest Bernardo has been vilified in the novel (and in the film version) although he was considered by his contemporaries as one of the best Dominicans of the medieval period. He did not spend his career chasing after witches because most of those charged with witchcraft fell under the jurisdiction of bishops and not of the Inquisition. Bernardo died in peace after having served as bishop of two dioceses. (Introvigne, 1987). Pope John Paul II asked pardon for all the harm the church Inquisition meted on people, innocent or otherwise. (Kauffman, 2007).

PRACTICAL TIPS ON FASTING ACCORDING TO ST. FRANCIS DE SALES

From the Introduction to the Devout Life III, ch. 23

If you are able to fast, you will do well to observe some days beyond what are ordered by the Church, for besides the ordinary effect of fasting in raising the mind, subduing the flesh, confirming goodness, and obtaining a heavenly reward, it is also a great matter to be able to control greediness, and to keep the sensual appetites and the whole body subject to the law of the Spirit; and although we may be able to do but little, the enemy nevertheless stands more in awe of those whom he knows can fast. The early Christians selected Wednesday, Friday and Saturday as days of abstinence. Do you follow therein according as your own devotion and your director’s discretion may appoint.


... I disapprove of long and immoderate fasting, especially for the young. I have learned by experience that when the colt grows weary it turns aside, and so when young people become delicate by excessive fasting, they readily take to self-indulgence.... A want of moderation in the use of fasting, discipline and austerity has made many a one useless in works of charity during the best years of his life...


Fasting and labor both exhaust and subdue the body. If your work is necessary or profitable to God’s Glory, I would rather see you bear the exhaustion of work than of fasting. Such is the mind of the Church, who dispenses those who are called to work for God or their neighbor even from her prescribed fasts. One man finds it hard to fast, another finds it as hard to attend the sick, to visit prisons, to hear confessions, preach, minister to the afflicted, pray, and the like. And the last hardship is better than the other; for while it subdues the flesh equally, it brings forth better fruit. And as a general rule it is better to preserve more bodily strength than is absolutely necessary, than to damage it more than is necessary. Bodily strength can always be lowered if needful, but we cannot restore it at will. It seems to me that we ought to have in great reverence that which our Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ said to His disciples, “Eat such things as are set before you.” To my mind there is more virtue in eating whatever is offered you just as it comes, whether you like it or not, than in always choosing what is worst; for although the latter course may seem more ascetic, the former involves greater submission of will, because by it you give up not merely your taste, but your choice; and it is no slight austerity to hold up one’s likings in one’s hand, and subject them to all manner of accidents.

THE NAME OF THE ROSE AND RELIGION 3

b. The Novel’s Summary

The narrator of the story is the elderly monk Adso of Melk now nearing the end of days in his German monastery (or abbey). He recounts the adventures of his youth spent as an apprentice to the English Franciscan Friar of great wisdom and erudition, William of Baskerville, a follower of Roger Bacon and William of Ockham and a man who at that time was beginning to use implements that seemed curiously modern and unheard of by many people, including Adso himself.

In 1327, the pair found themselves travelling towards a wealthy Benedictine monastery in Italy, where William received an appointment to mediate in a discussion between the Franciscan Spirituals and the delegates of the Avignon resident-pontiff Pope John XXII. The idealistic sons of St. Francis, protected by Emperor Louis the Bavarian, posed as a threat to the papacy’s claim to temporal and political authority all over Europe because of the Franciscans’ insistence in declaring and practicing the utter poverty of Christ and his disciples, and therefore by extension, in their day, the poverty that the church must as a whole, observe. If the Franciscan Spirituals were indeed pushing for valid proposition, then the pope’s luxurious and comfortable life, as well as his grand design to impose his divine mandate on political leaders would seem a contradiction to the Gospel. A weak papacy would in turn expose the pope to the possibility of manipulation by the imperial power.

Slated to stay in the monastery for seven days, William and Adso are welcomed by the anxious abbot (superior), Abo who reveals to William the puzzling death of a young monk believed to have fallen from the top of the Aedificium, the imposing building that houses the monastery’s main treasures. These treasures refer to the abbey’s incomparable collection of vast, rare, and classical manuscripts, including those deemed dangerous for ordinary readers. The abbot apprised of William’s skills in methodical investigation (William being a retired member of the Inquisition) asked for help in solving the young illustrator-monk’s death.

As if following an apocalyptic signal, six more deaths occur during the week, all cases enveloped in perplexing circumstances. These harrowing events put to the test the investigative acumen of William, trailed by his assistant Adso, to whom he explained his thoughts, plans, and discoveries. As William freely roamed the premises, talking to people and visiting places, a host of possible suspects emerge. Some of the people William discussed his concern soon after join the ranks of the murdered.

William and Adso took great pains to undertake nocturnal visits to the forbidden zone of the monastery – its famous library - that was built as a labyrinth to confuse anyone who wants to liberally take hold of the restricted books. William is convinced that the deaths all point to a secret in the library that a person or some persons want to secure very tightly.

During their brief sojourn in the monastery, and while delving into the mysterious deaths, William and Adso saw the coming of the Inquisitor Bernardo Gui, whose arrival sows fear in the hearts of some of the pious inhabitants. In fact, the notoriously successful interrogator is searching for priests or brothers who may have been linked to a condemned heretical figure, Fra Dolcino. Some followers of the heretic are said to be have fled and sought refuge in Benedictine (or Cluniac) monasteries like the one William and Adso visited. Indeed, the Inquisitor discovers some said links between particular monks and the banned association. Filled with satisfaction, he promptly hands the accused to civil guards to torture and execute.

The novel is by no means a total drab foray into the antiquated ways of the medieval world with its church processes, theological debates and philosophical discussions. It makes way too, for a sensual delight in an otherwise gloomy atmosphere of religious austerity and heart-pounding detective chase. In one of Adso’s nightly visits to the library, he ventured into a place where he met a woman with whom he had a tacit consensual carnal awakening. Couched in the ecstasy of scriptural rationalizations, Adso unquestioningly abandons even for just a moment his monastic discipline of continence. After the encounter, the disturbed Adso goes to confession to William to appease his conscience.

William and Adso amusingly find their nemesis in one of the monastery’s most unlikely suspects, and this by accident and not by design. The monk jealously protects an ancient copy of the lost manuscript of the Second Book of Poetics by Aristotle. In this book, the philosopher scribbled his thoughts on comedy and in particular on the characteristically human experience of mirth, that is laughter. While Aristotle taught that comedy and laughter were paths to knowledge and to truth, the monk decried the deforming and degrading effects of laughter. The monk maintained that the Lord Jesus himself never laughed as the Bible attests. The villain considers the book dangerous for human consumption and sets out to destroy it. In the process, he also annihilates himself.

Adso’s final image of the great monastery was that of a raging inferno. The monastery was razed to the ground by three days of unabated fires. The fire destroyed the precious library and its collections, fragments of which Adso stealthily brought home with him as mementoes. None of the splendid buildings within the abbey’s wall survived the fire. At Munich, William and Adso said goodbye to each other, never to meet again.