J.R.R. Tolkien—From a Letter to His Son, Michael

By James T. Majewski ( bio - articles - email ) | Jan 12, 2022 | In Catholic Culture Audiobooks (Podcast)

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“The only cure for sagging or fainting faith is Communion.”

As many know, J.R.R. Tolkien—the English writer, poet, philologist and academic best known for being the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings—was Catholic. After the untimely deaths of both of his parents, Tolkien was raised under the guardianship of a priest. Later in life, Tolkien’s friendship with C.S. Lewis would be instrumental in Lewis’ conversion from atheism to Christianity.

The collection of The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien was originally published in 1981 by his son, Christopher, and biographer, Humphrey Carpenter. It contains 354 letters written between 1914 and 1973, the year of J.R.R. Tolkien’s death. This episode features part of a letter written by Tolkien to his second son, Michael, in 1963, when Tolkien was 71 years old.

It is a remarkable letter of fatherly encouragement, and one that reads as though it could have been written today.

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