So this is hopefully going to be a short series of essays looking at faith as it is portrayed in different archetypal ways by the main characters in the 2017 Irish film, “Pilgrimage.” If you haven’t seen it, go check it out. It’s fairly bloody, but emotionally and theologically rich. And it has Tom Holland in it, so that’s a plus.
If you haven’t seen the film, the premise is roughly as follows (Spoilers): a group of Irish monks in the 13th century are visited by a French Cistercian monk, who charges them with orders from the Pope to bring the monastery’s relic (a stone which was used to kill St. Matthias) to Rome. Along the way, they must deal with (eventually treacherous) Normans, Celtic brigands, and the gradual erosion of the Cistercian’s character. For this first entry, I want to discuss Tom Holland’s character, Brother Diarmuid, a young novice who serves as the film’s primary protagonist/point of view character.
In Matthew 5:8, Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” This “purity of heart” has a few different complimentary meanings. In the first place, it means an absence of evil intent or tendency. But in the broader context of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, “purity of heart” and “perfection” often have to do with a kind of consistent integrity. The idea is that the believer is encouraged to form intention and action into a unified whole. Rather than being double-minded, doing one thing while saying or thinking another, Christ desires that the heart, mind and hands are unified in thinking and doing good. There is precedent for this in the Jewish Scriptures as well. Compare, for instance, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your strength” (Deut. 6:5).
More than most characters in the film, Brother Diarmuid embodies this kind of integrity. Early in the film, Diarmuid asks his mentor, Brother Ciaran, if there has ever been peace in the Irish lands, before the coming of the Normans. Though Ciaran says no, it’s clear that he is not dismissive of Diarmuid’s question. Diarmuid truly embraces the spirit of monastic life, not to be a sacred accomplice to war or violence, but to “live at peace with everyone, so much as it depends on you” (Romans 12:18). He does not desire that the Church gain political power, but that the isles might live in peace and harmony. His desire reminds one of the words of St. Seraphim of Sarov, “Acquire the spirit of peace, and thousands around you will be saved.”
When the elder monk, Brother Ciaran, is captured by brigands along with the relic, Geraldus (the Cistercian) opines that they only have time to save the relic or Ciaran, but not both. Geraldus insists that Diarmuid save the relic, but Diarmuid instead goes directly to cut Ciaran free from the post where he is tied up. While this is certainly an act of love towards his mentor, Diarmuid’s choice also reveals an understanding of holiness. The relic is meaningful not as an abstract container of divine power, but because it serves as a reminder of the witness and holiness of St. Matthias, of his faith in the gospel to the end. Likewise, holiness in this moment is not saving a cultic object (valuable though it may be), but living the holiness of the gospel (preserving life even at the cost of valuable, holy things). Diarmuid’s priorities are to preserve life and to keep his community together against those who would seek to tear it apart for power or fortune.
Holiness is also grounded in humility. When the monks reclaim the relic towards the end of the film, Diarmuid agrees to carry it now that they’ve lost the reliquary to the brigands. Before placing the rock in his bag, he kneels and prays. There is a practical dimension to this, as the relic has been said to strike down people and that “only the pure in heart may carry it”, but I get the sense that Diarmuid’s piety is genuine here as well. There’s no words, but I imagine him asking to be made worthy to carry the stone. Diarmuid does not rush to claim ownership, to possess the relic as others in the narrative do. Rather, he accepts the responsibility of bearing it “with fear and trembling” and asks for God’s help to handle it responsibly while it is in his possession.
This humility pays off at the end of the film. Geraldus has whipped up the Mute, a presumed former Crusader traveling with them, into a blood frenzy. The Mute goes to do battle with the monks’ enemies, perhaps seeking to atone for his sins. As the monks row away from the shore, the Mute sacrifices his life to save them, and one of the monks, Brother Cathal, has been shot by an arrow. Geraldus seems unfazed by this, and begins to wax poetic about how the relic’s return to Rome will signify a new age of conquest and holy war against the “heretics and infidels”. Brother Diarmuid realizes that the relic cannot be allowed to fall into the hands of the Roman church authorities. Whether its power will serve them or not, the sense of self-righteous xenophobia displayed by Geraldus and his kin will only be heightened when they possess a legitimizing apostolic relic. The relic has protected the Irish monks during times of attack, but they have never sought to conquer nations. Only to continue to love and serve God and their community.
Diarmuid reaches for the rock. Geraldus warns him, “The relic belongs to God.” Diarmuid responds, “I’m giving it back to Him,” and after a struggle the rock is thrown into the sea, causing Geraldus to go in after it and likely drown. Diarmuid, though not intending to harm Geraldus, understands that the power represented by the relic will corrupt the purity of his church’s faith. Rather than being an asset to the witness of the gospel, it will serve as a symbol of pride and disdain for those seen as “lesser than.” And no relic, no matter how sacred, is worth that cost. Diarmuid knows this, because he is deeply in touch with what it means to be a man of faith. He is a novice in the monastic order, and knows little of scholastic theology. But he shows love for his kinsmen, and a deep intuition of what God desires of humanity. Whenever he acts, he refrains from violence where possible. Where situations force him to use violence, he uses it only to protect, and there as little as possible.* In all things, his intention and his action flow into each other, and all for the purposes of love and for peace. He is one of “the pure in heart” and at the end of the film, the final shot reveals a quasi-celestial light shining through the Irish cloud layer on Diarmuid’s boat. It seems that in the film’s language, he has indeed, “seen God.”
*Note: We will talk more about monasticism and absolute nonviolence later, in my essay on Brother Ciaran. For now, it suffices to say that Diarmuid eschews violence whenever possible, and only acts in self-defense with non-lethal force in the instances he does fight.
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