Please help -- which classics focus somewhat or heavily on Catholicism?

I'm only thinking of two at the moment, but I'm sure there must be more. Right now I'm thinking of Abbe Mouret's Transgression and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Please suggest others. I'd like to create a project based around this. Only classic fiction literature though please.

Books by Graham Greene -- supposedly most of his novels do, but I have only read one -- The Power and the Glory and it would fit your criteria.

Brideshead Re-visited by Evelyn Waugh

I suggest The Scarlet Letter. There is a lot of imagery that focuses on the Protestant/Catholic conflict in the early 19th century known as the Oxford Movement. Plus, it discusses themes of guilt and confession in a Puritanical/Protestant community.

Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh are both often cited as Catholic writers, as is Muriel Spark. Greene and Spark are interested in the idea of human and sin, this is probably what makes them Catholic writers, rather than writers who happen to be Catholic.

There is The Monk by Matthew Lewis, which obviously deals with a monk, but as an over-the-top gothic novel, it constitutes more of an attack on Catholicism.

sigrid undset's medieval novels are heavily catholic in their subject matter and storyline. her most famous works are in the kristin lavransdatter trilogy, but her master of hestviken books also have catholic bearings.

How about I Promessi Sposi by Alessandro Manzoni? The only English translation I know of--it's the one I've read a couple of times, is in the Harvard Classics. Somewhere I read that it was almost required reading in the Vatican during the Pius XII years, but I can't verify that.

Here's the most obvious answer on the post. Confessions by Augustine, Bishop of Hippo.

Don't forget Dante's Divine Comedy.

A fascinating one from a non-Western Catholic is Shusaku Endo's Silence. It deals with the Catholic missionary movement in Japan in the 16th century. A different approach to Catholic theology than most Western authors, save Graham Greene.

try Francois Mauriac books.

Anything and everything by Flannery O'Connor. Her entire body of work is a study of the Catholic notion of grace and where you find it.

The Heart Of The Matter by Graham Greene is the best 'Catholic' novel I have ever read.

The story of a man's self-damnation by resentment and mistrust of God, even while recognizing all the while the loving attempts of God to reach him has shown me more of the Christian God than any book of apologetics.

Pity I am an agnostic!

I don't know if Walker Percy has been considered a classic yet, but he was a Catholic struggling with existential issues. He wrote fiction and nonfiction.

I haven't read this but it might interest you:

Literary Giants, Literary Catholics

The Canterbury Tales and Piers Plowman spring to mind.

How about C.S. Lewis -- The Screwtape Letters, for example? I only read that one when turned 35 , and I loved it. (How did I miss it at a Catholic high school?! :7)

Lewis wrote several other books explicitly about religion, as well as the Narnia books, but I've not read them all yet. Anyway, his voice is very clear and so is his language -- not a lot of mystical hand-waving, which is why it (and Merton) appeal to me.

Does Death Comes to The Archbishop count as a classic? It is all about both good and bad catholic priest missionaries in the American Southwest and Mexico.

#1,6

We have just started reading Kristin Lavransdatter as a group read in the LT group 'Group Reads - Literature'.

The group's website:
http://www.librarything.com/groups/groupreadsliterature

I was amazed at how much Catholicism I could find in Pilgrim's Progress. Also, from an American perspective, consider works by Flannery O'Connor.

And don't forget this one: Dogma: A Screenplay

>23 Sandydog1: The Buddy Christ! :D
I second (or Third) Lewis.

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell has a strong theme contrasting England with France and therefore the Church of England with the Catholic church. Most of the contrasts are metaphorical though so you need some good footnotes!

C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity and A Grief Observed.

There is also French author and playwright Paul Claudel with The Tidings Brought to Mary

Villette by Charlotte Bronte; the main character, who is English, moves to a predominately Catholic country and has several attempts made on her to convert.

Also The Italian by Ann Radcliffe.

The Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos.

I see someone else has already mentioned The Heart of the Matter so I guess 20th century counts? In that case, my nomination is another Graham Greene book (who is always good for comments on Catholicism), The End of the Affair. It's also a lovely book.

St Augustine's Confessions and City of God

There are many classics that are anti-Catholic or anti-clerical. Even Catholic Ireland produced James Joyce, Edna O'Brien et al. Poust was raised Catholic (and had a Jewish mother) but he never much took his Catholicism seriously except to show up the antisemitic attitudes of the Catholic (and other) elements of the French nobility, especially with regard to the notorious Dreyfus Affair.

But, perhaps this thread is about pro-Catholic classics. An example of this: Apologia Pro Vita Sua by Cardinal Newman and his An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. I've read most of Graham Greene and E. Waugh and thoroughly enjoyed most of them.

The OP asks for fiction only, so I don't think St. Augustine or Newman fit.

Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo certainly qualifies. And most books from that era by French authors will certainly touch on the topic.

#34

Oh, as a student of Bertrand Russell's orbiting teapot, a follower of the Flying Spaghetti Monster cult and a casual reader of the Bishop of Hippo, I would say that Confessions definitely has some fictional components.

(creeps away, 'hoping not to divert this thread, and understanding fully, that this is better pusued over at the "Religious Pro & Con" Group...)

Hey, we got around to mentioning the obvious (St. Augustine, Dante, Chaucer), but no mention of St. Francis???

The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi

He soothed the arguments of beastly clerics by song, and wrote a contract with a wolf to prevent its further dining on Italian villagers. His contemporaries used to fly around towns during mass (at least during sermons). This is truly classic Catholic literature.

'Speaking of flying, this is a stretch, but there is a lot of New Testament content and perhaps some Russian Orthodox content in The Master and Margarita. It's not RC, but it does have some Catholic themes sprinkled in with Stalinist socialism, Stalinist xenophobia, and a few other Stalinisms.

The Agony and The Ecstasy by Irving Stone is focused in Renaissance Italy and deals extensively with Michelangelo's interactions with the Popes.

Oy! I forgot The Brothers Karamazov!

#39 Of course!

And of course, more Russian-Catholic as opposed to Roman-Catholic.

Maybe not so well known but The Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos would be interesting to explore. A catholic priest who tries to help different members of his parish - a sad, wet and sometimes funny tale.

And the short stories of Flannery O'Connor.

I am so glad we are such literary sophisticates, that we would never lower ourselves and mention The Da Vinci Code.

Doh!

A rather good Catholic novel, although not a classic, is Mr. Ives' Christmas by Oscar Hijuelos.

#42

Well, it is fiction. But a classic?

#44: Well, it is fiction. But a classic?

You nailed it: Clearly fiction, clearly not a classic.

Gargantua and Pantagruel. It is about Catholics and was written by a Monk/Physician.

Just about to read it. Know of any online critiques? I'm sure I can google for some but maybe you know of some good ones.

I think the Wikipedia article ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargantua_and_Pantagruel ) is pretty decent as an intro to the work.

I'm reading the Modern Library (Jacques LeClerc) translation right now.

Whfft-whfft-whffft...

That's the sound of all the satire, references, puns, etc., going way over my head. The Wiki article is good.

But does anyone know any analysis/summary available by chapter (or at least, by book)?