Corruption In The Catholic Church

Throughout most of his life, Robert Browning’s literary success was overshadowed by his wife’s career, in fact, many people referred to him as “Mrs. Browning’s husband”; however, after experimenting with being a playwright and writing personal prose similar to Percy Shelley, Browning found his niche in dramatic monologues. In most of his works, Browning’s use of syntax reflected the style in which humans think, meaning it was not smooth, but instead complex and twisted. Readers had to understand the speaker’s attitude and use of words before understanding what the story was about. Many enjoyed his unusual style of the time. Another group of readers enjoyed his reflections on religion, which mirrored the religious questioning of the Victorian Era caused by new scientific discoveries. None of Browning’s poems portray questioning religious convictions as well as “The Bishop Orders His Tomb At Saint Praxed’s Church”.

By using setting Browning juxtaposes the ideals of the church against the hypocrisy of church officials, a telling commentary on the corruption in the Catholic Church. This poem takes place in Saint Praxed’s Church, also known as Santa Prassede, during the Renaissance, a period in which the Catholic Church yielded much power and influence. The church is dedicated to a virgin martyr, Saint Praxedes, who rejected paganism and devoted her life to the church. Virginity has come to represent purity and sacredness in Christianity, so it is no surprise that Browning chose this church as his setting. The simpleness of the woman, Praxedes, stands out in great contrast to the church named after her. While she symbolizes piety the church is nothing but a pit of wealth. The speaker describes the church as having “Peach-blossom marble all, the rare, the ripe As fresh poured red wine of a mighty pulse” (lines 29-30).

Like many churches of the Renaissance, this place of worship is filled with expensive artifacts, paintings, statues, and decorations, which is unsupportive of the message of giving that the church conveys to their congregation. It is also important to note that St. Praxed’s Church is located in Rome, Italy which is the gateway for Catholicism. In fact, the Pope is considered to be the bishop of Rome and the Vatican is located within the city limits, although it is its own city-state. Browning most likely chose a church in Rome to represent that the corruption flowed through the heart of the Catholic Church. The hypocrisy of Church officials was not unique to small parishes with little power, instead, it was widespread and started at the top. The narrator of the story is a Renaissance bishop who from his deathbed is instructing his sons where he wants his tomb to be and what he wants it to look like. Priests and Bishops are supposed to take a vow of celibacy, but throughout the entire poem, this bishop brags of his long dead, beautiful mistress to make Gandolf, a fellow holy man who is already dead, jealous. It can only be presumed that these two men had a tiff over this woman. Mistresses must have been common for ordained men during the Renaissance because at one point in the narration the speaker promises his sons “. . . mistresses with great smooth marbly limbs” if they listen to his demands (line 75).

The final resting place the bishop demands is ornate with, “Some lump, ah God, of lapis lazuli, [a bright blue decorative stone] big as a Jew’s head cut off at the nape, blue as a vein o’er the Madonna’s breast,” (lines 42-44). He also wants paintings depicting “. . . pans and nymphs ye wot of, and perchance some tripods, thyrus, with a vase or so, the savior at his sermon on the mount, Saint Praxed in a glory, and one Pan ready to twitch the Nymph’s last garment off, and Moses with the Tables…” (lines 57-62). These scenes are larger than life and are not the usual images people think of to put on their tombstones; however, the bishop is obsessed with having a better tomb than Gandolf who is revealed to have tricked the bishop out of the prime spot for his final resting place. The fixation the bishop has on his tomb stems from his misguided rivalry with Gandolf caused by jealousy over the mistress and the claim to the south corner of the church for burial. The bishop even tells his sons, “For Gandolf shall not choose but see and burst” (line 48). Gandolf’s tomb is described as an unattractive “paltry onion-stone” (line 31) with quotes from Ulpian, a Roman expert in the law, whose “gaudy” (line 78) phrases could not measure up to the quote the bishop chose written by Tully. Unlike Gandolf’s tomb, the bishop chose a stunning basalt as the base for his tomb, then midway through the poem changed his mind and thought it best for his final resting place to be made out of jasper. The bishop demands, “one block, pure green as a pistachio-nut” (line 71).

It can be assumed that the speaker changes his mind because he wants his tomb to far outshine that of his rival’s. This proves that the Bishop is materialistic and very greedy. Furthermore, the bishop compares himself to God through his description of his tomb, which is more than a touch egotistical. On lines 47-48 the bishop says, “So, let the blue lump poise between my knees, like God the Father’s globe on both his hands…” In the 1960s when John Lennon said that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus there was a cry of outrage, yet it appears that church officials saw themselves as the Almighty as far back as the 1600s. Additionally, the bishop brags to his sons that he can communicate with Saint Praxed and promises them “horses… and brown Greek manuscripts” (line 74) if they build his tomb to his exact liking. The large amount of power these men held because of their positions led to the sale of indulgences, the exemption from court if they committed a crime, massive amounts of wealth, and mistresses. While Browning only touches upon the two latter ideas it is obvious that Browning is not criticizing God, but instead the imperfect men who are using their position to get farther ahead. In conclusion, Robert Browning used an established church for his setting in “The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed’s Church”, a church in which some of his readers might already be familiar with. If they have never heard of this particular church it is very reasonable to think that they recognize the grand atmosphere common in Catholic Renaissance Churches. He juxtaposes the grandeur of materialistic goods with the piety preached by the church in order to capture the hypocrisy of the church. The description of the bishop’s tomb also questions people’s need to feel more important than others. Browning points out the extremes that the Bishop will go to to feel more important than his rival, Gandolf. This poem demonstrates the absurdity of misguided rivalries and corruption created by human greed. Ultimately, Browning believes that the church is not evil because of God, rather it is corrupt because of human influence.