In memoriam …

… The relaxed and authentic Catholicism of Evelyn Waugh's carpenter son Septimus. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Septimus knew what he was doing, quietly replacing the dominant image with a different one, a more “monastic” interpretation. A subversive wit was one of the weapons in his own armoury, if a man of such a stable temperament could be said to have weapons at all. He was no respecter of persons, especially if he suspected them of cant or riding roughshod over the interests of others. He enjoyed doing commissions for churches especially because they were public and sacred spaces where his sculpture could take its place without drawing attention to itself only as an admired object.