Caryll Houselander: Divine Eccentric

By Maisie Ward Dubbed “that divine eccentric,” Caryll Houselander married prodigious artistic and literary talents with unstinting devotion to the poor, the sick, and the sinners in her midst. Ronald Knox said that she “seemed to see everything for the first time, and…seemed to find no difficulty in getting the right word; no, not merely the right word, the telling word, that left you gasping.” In her own words, “broken across psychologically” by neuroses and temptations, “not by nature patient, kind, gentle,” Houselander’s critical faculty made charity a constant challenge—despite her persistent efforts to “see Christ in everyone.” Nevertheless, her distinguishing characteristic was a deep, genuine love of God, finding expression in a mysticism which ultimately kept her sane and centered on Christ until her untimely death at the age of fifty-four. Our dust pays homage to God, until the endless morning of resurrection wakens our body, glorified. (Caryll Houselander) In this absorbing