In Chesterton’s The Secret of Father Brown, a beloved nobleman who murdered his good-for-nothing… 1 answer below »

In Chesterton’s The Secret of Father Brown, a beloved nobleman

who murdered his good-for-nothing brother in a duel thirty years

ago returns to his hometown wracked by guilt. All the townspeople

want to forgive him immediately, and they mock the titular priest for

only being willing to give a measured forgiveness conditional on

penance and self-reflection. They lecture the priest on the virtues of

charity and compassion.

Later, it comes out that the beloved nobleman did not in fact kill his

good-for-nothing brother. The good-for-nothing brother killed the

beloved nobleman (and stole his identity). Now the townspeople

want to see him lynched or burned alive, and it is only the priest

who – consistently – offers a measured forgiveness conditional on

penance and self-reflection.

The priest tells them:

The priest tells them:

It seems to me that you only pardon the sins that you don’t really think sinful. You only forgive

criminals when they commit what you don’t regard as crimes, but rather as conventions. You

forgive a conventional duel just as you forgive a conventional divorce. You forgive because there

isn’t anything to be forgiven.

He further notes that this is why the townspeople can selfrighteously

consider themselves more compassionate and forgiving

than he is. Actual forgiveness, the kind the priest needs to cultivate

to forgive evildoers, is really really hard. The fake forgiveness the

townspeople use to forgive the people they like is really easy, so

they get to boast not only of their forgiving nature, but of how much

nicer they are than those mean old priests who find forgiveness

difficult and want penance along with it.

After some thought I agree with Chesterton’s point. There are a lot

of people who say “I forgive you” when they mean “No harm done”,

and a lot of people who say “That was unforgiveable” when they

mean “That was genuinely really bad”. Whether or not forgiveness is

right is a complicated topic I do not want to get in here. But since

forgiveness is generally considered a virtue, and one that many

want credit for having, I think it’s fair to say you only earn the right

to call yourself ‘forgiving’ if you forgive things that genuinely hurt

you.

 

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