Today is my D-Day.
Or maybe that should be my G. K. Day.
G(ilbert) K(eith) Chesterton, a prolific English writer who converted to Catholicism, was born on May 29, 1874 in Kensington, London, England.
When the greatest writers of the 20th century (eg. John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Eugene O'Neill, T.S. Eliot, Jack Kerouac, Virginia Wolf, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis) were asked who they thought was the greatest writer of the 20th century, the overwhelming percentage of them said Chesterton. He wrote 80 books, several hundred poems, 200 short stories, 4000 essays and several plays. He wrote for the Daily News, the Illustrated London News and his own paper, G. K.'s Weekly. In addition, he contributed articles for the Encyclopedia Britannica, including one on Charles Dickens and contributed to the one on Humor.
There were very few things Chesterton didn't know about or couldn't do well. He was an expert in theology, philosophy, spirituality, Christian apologetics, ontology, poetry, playwrighting, public lecturing, debating, history, economics, ethics, biography, journalism, literary, art and social criticism, fiction writing, fantasy and detective fiction.
Aside from his Christian apologetics and Christian Personalist ethics, Chesterton's greatest contribution to Christendom is his development of Distributivism, a mid-way point between unbridled capitalism and stifling communism. He developed his opinions with the help of another orthodox Catholic, Hilaire Belloc. Chesterton is often associated with his close friend. George Bernard Shaw coined the word "Chesterbelloc" referring to their partnership.
Chesterton was neither a liberal nor a conservative. Relying instead upon Christ as a model for his social, economic and political opinions writing:
"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected."
As a young man, Chesterton was fascinated by the occult and experimented with ouija boards and tarot cards. As he grew older, he came to a better understanding, and eventually, appreciation of Catholicism. He ultimately converted to the Church in 1922 at the age of 48.
There are few Catholic authors who can be said to have greatly contributed to the murder mystery genre but Chesterton is one of them. His Father Brown series is considered a classic of the genre. The 52 short story series is based upon the exploits of Father Brown, a fictional character based the on Fr. John O'Connor (1870–1952), a parish priest in Bradford who was involved in Chesterton's conversion to Catholicism. The real Father Brown described his friendship with Chesterton in his 1937 book, Father Brown on Chesterton.
Chesterton was a huge man who stood 6'4" and weighed 290 lb which gave rise to two famous anecdotes. During World War I, a woman in London asked why he was not "out at the Front." Chesterton replied, "If you go round to the side, you will see that I am." On another occasion he remarked to his friend George Bernard Shaw who had always been on the skinny side: "To look at you, anyone would think a famine had struck England". Shaw replied, "To look at you, anyone would think you have caused it."
Chesterton often engaged in public debate with George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Bertrand Russell and Clarence Darrow who argued against Christianity and Western culture in general.
Near the end of his life he was invested as Papal Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory with Star. G. K. Chesterton died on June 14, 1936, at the age of 62, in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England. The Chesterton Society has proposed that he be beatified.
I've yet to find any evidence that Chesterton was a Franciscan tertiary but he was fascinated by St. Francis of Assisi even writing an eponymously entitled book on him. To read this book, click here.
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