The Portal of the Mystery of Hope

The poetry of Charles Péguy (1873- 1914) emerges from a world deeply embedded in supernatural realities and the hidden activities of grace. Nevertheless, it lacks any trace of the "other-worldliness" that frequently characterizes religious poetry. For, though he enters unabashedly into the mysteries of providence and the longings of God's own heart, he proceeds by means of the most ordinary experiences of human life, yielding insights that are all the more striking for having been drawn from familiar images. Speaking thus with the "voice of the people," his universal appeal has made him one of France's best-loved poets; as a true "adventurer of the spirit," Péguy has also caused a gentle but unmistakable shift in twentieth-century Catholic thought, leaving a legacy that continues in such writers as Bernanos, Marcel, Guardini, de Lubac, and Balthasar. In The Portal of the Mystery of Hope, Péguy offers a comprehensive theology ordered around the often-neglected second theological virtue, incarnated in his image of the "little girl Hope." Her playful confidence and unshakeable joy — even within the dark mystery of human suffering — are described in the simple language and light humor that characterize Péguy's unconventional style, and are carried in the prayerful rhythm of the ancient litanies. This first ever critical edition of Péguy's poetry to appear in English contains a preface, biographical chronology, bibliography, and a host of notes that situate the poem in the context of Péguy's life.