BROTHER HORSE - REMIND YOU OF ANYONE?



Photo: BBC
Brother Horse "His look was turned towards God"


Some readers have been kind enough to comment on my first post about The Animals of St Gregory by Brian (Brendan) O'Malley. They have picked up on animal characteristics that either they or those close to them have observed but, in almost every case, the character alluded to is a human or animal trait whereas, what St Gregory and Brendan O'Malley have in mind are spiritual marks that may also be associated with an animal.

So, today I have selected Brother Horse for a little closer scrutiny and it would be interesting to see if you agree with my identification of  the living person who closely resembles O'Malley's assessment. Here is a precis of his character.

Brother Horse, above all else, is an animal who with every ounce of his body and soul has surrendered himself to God and become totally absorbed in God's love as a result.
He is, of course, beautifully proportioned 'with supple, rippling muscles and a high prancing action' (keep thinking spiritual, not temporal).

Through the medium of prayer and meditation he knows his innermost self well and is able to rein in any earthly tendencies towards sin by chastity and continence.
These gird him well and he is, as a result, able to enter any arena without fear. He responds to the 'hidden word' of his Master and is confident in his humility and charity so that he can cope calmly with the uproar that often surrounds him.

O'Malley writes: "The immediate fruit of the horse's prayer was tranquillity gained through constant attention to the presence of God. His pasture was prayer, the nourishment and inward refreshment of his soul. He gazed on lofty heights gained through travelling long in the valley of tears".

As Brother Horse draws ever closer to God so his white body becomes more luminous, brilliant with the light of righteousness and the burning fire of chastity. Truly, he is the very essence of goodness and authority.
Through prayer and mortification he is able to accomodate a series of hurdles and, at the same time, place all his energy into one concerted leap
 '..through being co-centred with Christ into Being itself'.

The book, The Animals of St Gregory by Brian O'Malley is beautifully illustrated with exceptional wood engravings by Simon Brett.

Click on the Lions Head for his website.

Oh, and the person whom I most closely associate Brother Horse with is, of course, The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI - but then you knew that already!

What sort of a Catholic animal are you?

Would Brother Camel fit your character?

St Gregory, in his writings, made reference as to how he alluded to the monks in his charge as various types of animal, each according to its imagined spiritual character.
So, he has Brother Rhinoceros, Brother Locust and so on. In all, Gregory the Great characterized some 72 different Christian animal types.

This must have been a foreunner to the management training programme so popular in the 70s and 80s (and, maybe now, for all I know). We were taught (as young, green marketeers) to identify those sitting around the conference table and to give them animal identities according to their character. So, the Lion was the blustering, bullying type and the snake was the office......you've got it! The idea was that, once one knew the characters you were dealing with, you could handle them accordingly and I am sure the same thought must have been in the mind of Abbot Gregory, as he then was.

Now this is where the story becomes a shade tortuous but, stick with me and, hopefully all will soon become clear. Back in 1989 when, we,  as a family, decided that we could not take any more mullarkey at Sunday Mass we declared UDI and set up our own chapel in a wing of the old schoolhouse where we lived in Pembrokeshire. There, only the traditional Latin Mass was celebrated by visiting priests. Our immediate neighbour was a 9th century church, now part of the Anglican Church of Wales and ministered to by a vicar by the name of Brendan O'Malley. Now it transpired that Brendan was an ex priest, in fact he was an ex Benedictine monk and had a marvellous academic and learned mind. I like to think that he peaked during his Catholic period and never since then has repeated his excellent works and writings but that might be a little unfair on him. Both then and today, Brendan and I have little in common as he has a most liberal Anglican approach to life. In fact, whilst he was vicar of this gem of a Pre Reformation church he ordered the oak pews ripped out and miles of carpeting laid, on top of which went a series of sofas and armchairs - more House of Fraser than House of God.....so you may see how we differ essentially.

Nevertheless, after he left the priesthood (but was still a Catholic) and with the images of the monastery fresh in his mind, one of his writings was published under the title of 'The Animals of St Gregory' under the name Brian O'Malley. A rewarding book to read and to use to identify the characteristics (less desirable ones) that manifest themselves within one's own character.
The characteristics outlined by Brendan O'Malley are interesting because, of course, they are a blend of both the good and the bad that are in all of us. So, Brother Lizard is a slow and apparently, untalented Brother, here is a passage from his chapter:-

"....he was not attractive to look at nor was he clever or quick-witted. Everything he did was accomplished with painstaking endeavour. He was the monastery cook and from his kitchen he poured out his love in the service of others. He had a happy heart and his attitude was transmitted in his work, so that the simple fare he served took on the element of a sacrament. Through his work his love was made visible. In his work, he found the reality of himself, something no one else could know....."

While Brother Ostrich was a shade less loveable:-

"...Brother Ostrich had a certain amount of time for God; he felt that it wasn't so much a matter of his belief in God as of the feeling that God believed in him. If he had worked as hard at prayer as he did on his image of sanctitiy, he would, in all probability, have been able to fly, but he could not fly in prayer, because of his need to impress all beholders. Grovelling in his heart in things below, Brother Ostrich could not maintain a life of sanctity. He could not, in truth, even rise from the ground, but walked along the broad spaces of his thought, silently uttering his own praises, such was the weight of his hypocrisy....."

The blurb on the cover informs us that: "The animals of St Gregory can be met in any High Street. You will find Brother Rhinoceros and Brother Locust in any bar. They are also to be found in the heart of each one of us"

Which poses the question, what sort of Catholic animal are you?


The Animals of St Gregory by Brian O'Malley
Published by: Paulinus Press   ISBN 0 907740 00 6

AND A VERY HAPPY AND HOLY EASTERTIDE TO YOU ALL!