I first came to know of Caryll Houselander as a seminarian in the 1970’s. I had heard from fellow seminarians that her classic work, 
The Reed of God
, was a must read. For some reason I never managed to find the time or interest to open the book. But the opinion is was held in was so high that I gave a copy of it to my father-in-law who had a very strong devotion to Our Lady.
Caryll Houselander was many things, an author, a mystic, and ordinary person trying to live out her faith, but she was not a scholar or particularly learned. Her popularity was high in the English speaking world of the 1940s and 50s. Born in Bath England in 1901, she eventually became a well known Catholic writer when her first book, This War Is the Passion
, published in 1941, launched her literary career. Her unique vision was that of the suffering Christ and she articulated this in a way easily accessible to the readers of the time. This vision was infused by her mystical experiences which had begun after her ninth birthday and were often of the suffering Christ.
Houselander was not the pious sort of person that we often associate with people of faith, she smoked and drank and was know to have had a “sharp” tongue. She fell in love with a famous British spy named Sydney Reilly who became the model for Ian Fleming’s James Bond character. They never married and he left her for another woman. Ronald Knox, one of Britain’s most well known Catholics and thinkers of the time said that “she seemed to see everything for the first time, and the driest of doctrinal considerations shone out like a restored picture when she had finished with it. And her writing was always natural; she seemed to find no difficulty in getting the right word; no, not merely the right word, the telling word, that left you gasping."
She called herself a “rocking horse Catholic” as opposed to a cradle Catholic.
She had 15 books published by Sheed and Ward and numerous essays and poems. Margot King, who is currently working on a biography of Houselander calls her “a mystic and a visionary in the tradition of Julian of Norwich, Catherine of Siena, or Teresa of Avila.”
30 years after first hearing about this book I cracked it open and began to read it. My devotion to Our Lady is not the strongest and it plays a relatively small part in my spirituality. But this book has given me not only an entire new way of looking at Mary, but has shown how her role as a model of faith is so important, and one to emulated. The writing is fresh and there is nothing archaic or dull as one might expect. It flows easily and quickly but should be savored and meditated upon. First published in 1944 by Sheed and Ward the book remains a timeless classic and meditation on Mary as our model and mother in faith.
Joe Coffman
The Reed of God, was a must read. For some reason I never managed to find the time or interest to open the book. But the opinion is was held in was so high that I gave a copy of it to my father-in-law who had a very strong devotion to Our Lady.Caryll Houselander was many things, an author, a mystic, and ordinary person trying to live out her faith, but she was not a scholar or particularly learned. Her popularity was high in the English speaking world of the 1940s and 50s. Born in Bath England in 1901, she eventually became a well known Catholic writer when her first book, This War Is the Passion
, published in 1941, launched her literary career. Her unique vision was that of the suffering Christ and she articulated this in a way easily accessible to the readers of the time. This vision was infused by her mystical experiences which had begun after her ninth birthday and were often of the suffering Christ. Houselander was not the pious sort of person that we often associate with people of faith, she smoked and drank and was know to have had a “sharp” tongue. She fell in love with a famous British spy named Sydney Reilly who became the model for Ian Fleming’s James Bond character. They never married and he left her for another woman. Ronald Knox, one of Britain’s most well known Catholics and thinkers of the time said that “she seemed to see everything for the first time, and the driest of doctrinal considerations shone out like a restored picture when she had finished with it. And her writing was always natural; she seemed to find no difficulty in getting the right word; no, not merely the right word, the telling word, that left you gasping."
She called herself a “rocking horse Catholic” as opposed to a cradle Catholic.
She had 15 books published by Sheed and Ward and numerous essays and poems. Margot King, who is currently working on a biography of Houselander calls her “a mystic and a visionary in the tradition of Julian of Norwich, Catherine of Siena, or Teresa of Avila.”
30 years after first hearing about this book I cracked it open and began to read it. My devotion to Our Lady is not the strongest and it plays a relatively small part in my spirituality. But this book has given me not only an entire new way of looking at Mary, but has shown how her role as a model of faith is so important, and one to emulated. The writing is fresh and there is nothing archaic or dull as one might expect. It flows easily and quickly but should be savored and meditated upon. First published in 1944 by Sheed and Ward the book remains a timeless classic and meditation on Mary as our model and mother in faith.
Joe Coffman
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