The Happiness of Father Happe (1938)

Hallack, Cecily

Published by P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 1938

About this Item

THE HAPPINESS OF FATHER HAPPE, Cecily Hallack, illustrations by Robin, hardcover, 1938. BOOK CONDITION: very good. The text block is in near fine condition, with no dog-ears, marks, or tears. Not a remainder nor library book. There is a bookplate of a prior owner affixed to the first free endpaper. The pages and especially the endpapers are age-toned. The blue cloth boards are in good condition (bumped and faded spine, slight edge wear). Cocked binding. 7 1/4 x 5, 167 pages, 12 ounces XX [From Luke Miller, a reader] "I am Happé" begins the first sermon of the eponymous hero of Cecily Hallack?s little book of 1938, and his rather staid hearers were consternated by what they considered his over-familiarity. I came across The Happiness of Fr Happé during the silent retreat before my ordination to the priesthood and was captivated. Fr Happé looks and sounds funny: "I am an old Savoyard. An old Franciscan, that's me." He is a seemingly unprepossessing scholar whose infelicities shock the proprieties of the little village below the monastery. That first sermon was loved by the children, but in the course of it he managed to tell the pious and respectable congregation that they were like donkeys which, while difficult to teach, will run from an oncoming storm in the hills. In his meetings with the characters of the village, be it the communist or the little children, the two elderly sisters or the young hikers, Fr Happé expounds deep wisdom simply and movingly. This little book is above all enjoyable: happy, but like the old Savoyard himself it has the ability swiftly to go deeper, and without fuss, to touch on profundities. Though written more than 80 years ago, the wisdom of Fr Happé remains contemporary. The book is made attractive by an economy of language and a deftness which manages to avoid sentimentality while being full of sentiment, piousness while being full of piety, and comedy while being full of humour. It is a work full of wisdom ministered with a simplicity which avoids being simplistic. This is an easy book to read, but difficult in its gritty realism about souls. XX [From the author?s obituary] Cecily Rosemary Hallack, the well-known authoress, died on Sunday, October 23 [1938], at the Mount Alverna Nursing Home, Guildford, after many months of acute suffering as the result of a serious operation for a tumour on the brain from which she never recovered. She became a Catholic at the age of twenty, and was received into the Church at Farm Street. Her conversion changed the whole future of her life. It may be said, without any exaggeration that henceforth she devoted herself, body and soul, to the spread of the Catholic faith in whatever way that lay open to her. Like many another ardent convert, she thought she had a vocation to the religious state, but chronic ill health prevented the realisation of this desire. During her twenty years as a writer she produced an amazing amount of work, not all of it of an even quality, as she herself was always the first to admit. Some of it was very good indeed, and is likely to take a permanent place in Catholic literature. Seller Inventory # 002447

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Happiness of Father Happe (1938)

Publisher: P.J. Kenedy & Sons

Publication Date: 1938

Binding: Hardcover

Illustrator: Robin

Condition: Very Good

Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket