Portal of the Mystery of Hope

Charles Peguy (1873-1914) was a renowned Catholic poet who ran the Socialist bookshop in Paris, edited the Cahiers de la Quinzaine and wrote numerous poems including the extraordinary 'Le Mystere de la Charite de Jeanne d'Arc'. He died in the battle of the Marne.

• Preface; Note; Appreciations; Translator's Preface; The Portal of the Mystery of Hope; Notes and Variations; Chronology; Bibliography

"'Peguy's deeply moving work reminds us that theology is not an intellectual option of the religious life, but a poetic drama, a working out in a pattern of words, symbols and images of the infinite complexity of God's care for His creation through every aspect of our existence, but above all in the life of the child, in its innocence and its unaffected joy.' David Jasper, University of Glasgow; 'Only a man of terrifying genius could have written this poem which is, first and last, a poem of consolation.' Noel Dermot O'Donoghue; 'A crisp translation of one of the greatest, and unjustly neglected, religious poems of the twentieth century. Peguy came to understand the value of Hope through suffering. Reading his inspired words makes that great spiritual power more concrete and richer for us.' Robert Royal, Ethics and Public Policy Center"