Lord of the World

In this figure... was Robert Hugh Benson, Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson.

And if that name sounds familiar, you might be familiar with his book, The Lord of the World, which some say is one of the first post-apocalyptic fiction novels that we have.

But he was much more interesting than just a fiction writer.

And don't get me wrong, his fiction is very interesting.

I've never read that book

... and also The Lord of the World, um, one of Pope Francis' favorite books.

Um, he was a convert.

He was a son of the Archbishop of Canterbury around 1900, and he converted to Catholicism, uh, from an Anglican priest to a Catholic priest, became monsignor, and he wrote.

And so one of the things he wrote was, uh, Come Rack, Come Rope is the story of a young man in Elizabethan England who becomes a priest, eventually is martyred, uh, and his, his journey into that, that story.

So it's, you know, it's, I think it's a great book.

Um, The Lord of the World is his end time, uh, book, uh, the second coming of Christ, the end times.

Uh, again, written from a 1903 perspective, it's kind of interesting.

But this did bother me, and I started thinking around, because I said, you know, I think I've read something that could address this.

And I thought of Father Robert Hugh Benson, and you might all think, oh yes, of course, his novella, Lord of the World, which is something that I do recommend.

But I only discovered in recent months that there's a sequel.

I didn't know that.