MRS. CHESTERTON - SILENT WIFE

Most of us of my generation who grew up Catholic, read the works of Gilbert Keith (known as G.K.) Chesterton.  Today many know his work only through the Father Brown mystery series on PBS. He is at present being considered for canonization and I personally feel it should be alongside his wife.

The Chestertons were happily married for 35 years.  Frances brought G.K. to Christianity, and  twenty years later, he brought Frances to Catholicism. Theirs was a happy marriage of ideas, debate, friendly banter, faith, and love.

A friend recently sent me the interesting biography of his wife Frances by Nancy Carpenter Brown (The Woman Who Was Chesterton). Due to a lack of material on Mrs Chesteton, Ms Brown had to do a lot of digging and much of what she found was in G.K.’s own writing.

Frances Blogg never intended to live a life that would bring her any attention; the promise that she exacted from G.K. that he not speak of her in his autobiography, made clear that she had no desire to be known, hence so little information on her.

But she had such a great influence on G.K.  that one could not fully appreciate his  life and career without knowing his wife.

 Like her husband, Frances was a writer, a poet and playwright. Her works long lay in obscurity, except for a few Christmas lyrics. Her plays for children were in demand when she wrote them and  there is a demand for them again today. Her poems and plays reveal a woman of deep thought, a spiritual woman, a woman longing for Christ, and especially drawn to Him at the Nativity, when He was a small baby. 

To read these works is to understand better G.K. Chesterton’s wife and spiritual companion.  A recent publication with her works is How Far Is It To Bethlehem: The Plays and Poetry of Frances Chesterton, compiled and edited by Nancy C. Brown.

The saying behind every great man is a woman, certainly holds true for the Chestertons! I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to know GK better and the woman behind him.