{"id":183271,"date":"2024-09-25T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.fundacioncarf.org\/los-sacerdotes-que-marcaron-la-vida-de-tolkien\/"},"modified":"2024-10-10T13:36:56","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T11:36:56","slug":"los-sacerdotes-que-marcaron-la-vida-de-tolkien","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fundacioncarf.org\/en\/los-sacerdotes-que-marcaron-la-vida-de-tolkien\/","title":{"rendered":"JRR Tolkien: 3 priests who marked his life"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What influenced Tolkien when writing The Lord of the Rings?<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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J.R.R. Tolkien<\/a> J.R.R. Tolkien had three major influences. The first was the events of his own life, for example, the First World War. The second was the author's academic background; he was a linguist and the The Lord of the Rings<\/em>\u00a0was at first almost an excuse to overturn the languages Tolkien had invented.<\/p>\n

The third influence is the values and themes proper to Catholicism, and the priests who marked the author's life.<\/strong> of the saga of The Lord of the Rings<\/em>\u00a0y who contributed to its formation<\/strong>. J.R.R. Tolkien was a fervent Catholic and that inevitably had to be reflected in his work.<\/strong> He was a devout Catholic since his conversion and throughout his life. He later formed a Catholic family and the eldest of his children was also a Catholic. priest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tolkien's childhood and conversion<\/h2>\n

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in South Africa in 1892. His father, Arthur Tolkien, worked as a diamond merchant for the Bank of England. In 1895, Mabel Tolkien decided to go with her two sons on a visit to England. But in South Africa her father dies, leaving the family with no income.<\/p>\n

Ronald was only 4 years old so his mother had to care for the young Tolkien and his brother on her own. After her husband died, the family moved to Birmingham. Soon after, Tolkien's mother decided to convert to Catholicism and with her her children.<\/p>\n

It must be kept in mind what it meant to abandon the Anglican faith in England in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This act was seen not only as a religious betrayal, but also as a betrayal of one's country, pThe Tolkien family was socially ostracized.<\/strong> And to make life more difficult for the future author, when he is 12 years old, his mother dies. He and his brother become orphans.<\/p>\n

Father Francis Xavier Morgan will support them financially and spiritually from then on.<\/strong> Since these events, the life of J.R.R. Tolkien changes and religion and the figure of the priest become a fundamental part of their childhood.<\/strong>. Facts that inevitably forge their character.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Los<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Father Francis Xavier Morgan, Tolkien's tutor<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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This priest, who never wanted to lose his roots, and who always traveled to Spain whenever he could, came from a Spanish family with a significant background in the world of letters, the B\u00f6hl de Faber family. Francisco Javier Morgan Osborne was born in El Puerto de Santa Mar\u00eda (C\u00e1diz) in 1857. At the age of eleven<\/p>\n

At the age of eleven was sent to study at the Birmingham Oratory School under the direction of the famed Cardinal John Henry Cardinal Newman.<\/strong>. After completing his studies, he began his religious career and joined the community of the Oratory. ordered, in March 1883.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the rest of his life he was linked to this institution and its prestigious school, carrying out multiple tasks. During his early years he was personal assistant to the Cardinal himself, whom he represented in an audience with Pope Leo XIII.<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

. After Cardinal Newman's death in 1890, he took on a wide variety of tasks, from directing the prestigious Oratory choir to other bureaucratic activities. Above all, however, his vocation<\/a> was manifested in his deep personal involvement with the Oratory parish and its parishioners, among whom he carried out numerous acts of mercy and philanthropy.<\/p>\n

The figure of Father Morgan in Tolkien's life<\/h2>\n

Thus, among others, he took on the role of tutor to an orphan boy who was to become the famous philologist and writer J. R. R. R. Tolkien, although this task meant that for several years he could not return to Spain to visit his family.<\/p>\n

The financial means that Mabel Tolkien had left for the children's upbringing were very meager, but father Francis secretly supplemented them with money from his share of the family business in Puerto de Santa Maria.<\/p>\n

J.R.R. Tolkien, who referred to Father Morgan as his second father, obtained from him the financial resources that enabled him to study at King Edward's School and later at Oxford.<\/p>\n

Also owed his religious training, a fundamental trait in the work of this author, as well as his taste for languages and in particular for the Spanish language.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition, several experts say Tolkien used him as inspiration for some of his characters.<\/strong> and that, thanks to him, the cultural tradition of his ancestors, particularly Fern\u00e1n Caballero, reached the British author.<\/p>\n

Morgan died in Birmingham in 1935, saddened by the difficult political and social situation that Spain was suffering in those moments prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.<\/p>\n

Probably his most important legacy is that of having been a link between the Spanish Catholic and cultural tradition and such an outstanding figure as Cardinal Newman. <\/strong>and, in turn, of having transmitted all this to one of the most universal authors of the 20th century.<\/p>\n

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\"Los<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"Ten thousand difficulties do not make a doubt,\" said Newman, but overcoming them does make a saint.<\/p>\n

Cardinal Newman's influence on The Life of Tolkien<\/h2>\n

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Father Francis Xavier Morgan, was attached to St. Philip Neri Oratory in Birmingham founded by Cardinal John Henry Newman who was canonized in 2019. Today Newman is more relevant than ever,<\/strong> some of today's problems are similar to those of the Victorian England of his time: among others, the rational understanding of God, the need for the formation of the laity and the scrupulous search for moral truth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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. This was the understanding of Benedict XVI, who beatified him in 2010. Although he lived more than a century ago, Newman is a person who has much to say to the world today. His book on what a university is, for example, is a classic on education that continues to be discussed today. And it's not just an abstract discussion: Newman started a university in Dublin and a grammar school in England, and both endure to this day.<\/p>\n

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With a continuous work over 45 years,<\/strong> Newman brings about a great social change in the country. By the time of his death in 1890, it was already looking good for someone to become a Catholic. Conversion is a socially acceptable path thanks to Newman<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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