You defend that Church

a deep look into part of Scene 2 in Julius Caesar

Shakespeare is Catholic, and as a Catholic playwright living thru the largest societal upheaval of Catholic England, when the English government attempted to control, confiscate, and nationalize the universal church, and destroy any who would dare say the head of the Church is in Rome and does not wear the English crown. Those who opposed the State were condemned to death as traitors and given martyrdom as their reward.

Last week, we looked at a section of the writings of Shakespeare’s cousin, Saint Robert Southwell, where Southwell reminds English Catholics of what they were doing - defending that holy Church who is the bride of Christ. Defending the Church started by Christ and his apostles, defending the Church that built Europe and civilized England, defending the Church that brought the gospel from a provincial, tribal religion to a universal gathering of peoples from every tribe and tongue across the far reaches of all the world. 

We are painstakingly working our way through Julius Caesar because in this play Shakespeare addresses the issues central to the fall of the Church in England. Applying Church methods of interpreting sacred scriptures to Shakespeare’s writings, we find each one of Shakespeare’s works tackles different aspects of the Protestant rebellion in England. And in Julius Caesar, we are dealing with the fall of the Church under King Henry VIII, who was once given the title, “defender of the faith.”

When Shakespeare makes clear Julius Caesar is a Christian allegory in Scene 1, specifically one that deals with key aspects of the split in Christendom like religious holidays and use of images, he quickly introduces in Scene 2 the conversation between conspirators. This clues us into how the conspirators justify what they do, and English-speaking Catholics recognize these themes as they continue to this day.

So let’s take a close look at the conversation between Cassius and Brutus.

Brutus: What means this shouting? I do fear the people
Choose Caesar for their king.

Cassius: Ay, do you fear it?
Then must I think you would not have it so.

Brutus: I would not, Cassius, yet I love him well.

In 16th century England, the King wanted a divorce. But the Church would not grant one to the King. And so he started a church that would, the Church of England. Only, he didn’t simply start a new church, like any dictator or genius usurper, he attempted to nationalize the universal Church. Why start one on your own, when you can take another one instead? With supreme irony, he divorced his bride and attempted to steal Christ’s bride for himself.

And so, Henry took what was not his and claimed his right to do so. Any who protested this usurpation of the Church Jesus loved were punished unto death, hence Saint Robert Southwell’s reminder to the faithful, “You defend that Church!”

Now, the claim of the English royals and nobles was that any Englishman should prioritize the State above the Catholic church. And so, what was best for Englishmen was to be Anglican. They needed one common State church to be unified as a country.

They feared that for Catholics, Christ was king universal, and so their loyalties would be divided between Church and State, and ultimately, the Catholic church would reign supreme in the lives of Englishman rather than their country, as the Church was guardian of their eternal destiny while Henry was simply a king of an earthly kingdom. They feared the people would choose the Church above country. It’s a shallow argument, but effective, much like the snake’s whispers in paradise.

The reality is, because English Catholics love the Church they are able to love their country even better. They have a divine standard which is a higher standard than England’s civil laws. And when the country fails to live according to divine ways, it’s only the Catholics that would could stand up to the State and remind the State to live according to a higher power. As England’s Church and State are one, the State compels the Church to do its will, it’s very earthly will. But for English Catholics, when the State bids obedience to devilish ways, we have a duty to remind the State of divine ways. The love for God allows English Catholics to stand up to tyrants.

Henry became a tyrant, he didn’t want to answer to anybody, he didn’t want to obey anything but his own flesh. And when the Church would not yield the importance of honoring marriage even when a king wanted them to acquiesce, the king began plotting how to overthrow the Church, discard his bride, mar Christ’s bride, and keep his people in strict obedience to him, including his every horny whim. Henry feared the people choose the Church, and “yet he loves the church well.”

This is what was very ironic about the fall of the Church in England. In other parts of Europe, the Church fell under teachers who had serious gripes against the Church like the priest Martin Luther or the lawyer Jean Calvin. In the case of England, the king was viewed as a lover of the church. He was even given the title “defender of the faith” by a Pope. He simply wanted to be master of his own fate, he wanted to be able to divorce his bride. And steal Christ’s. That’s all he needed. And that’s the argument Cassius makes.

Cassius: Men at some time are masters of their fates.
The fault (dear Brutus) is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that “Caesar”?
Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
Write them together, yours is as fair a name.
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well.
Weigh them, it is as heavy. Conjure with ‘em,
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Caesar.
Now in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed,
That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed!
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!

And so, Henry started a church that would let him divorce multiple brides, and he ran a country that would let him kill other wives. “Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived,” this was their fate. And any who disagreed with the king, lost their heads or were tortured to death on the rack, the English instrument of death for Catholics.

The results are not surprising. A man who would defy God’s law for his own will, unwilling to heed the council of the Church in the teaching of the divine way, it’s no surprise that chaos and suffering would ensue. The blood of the English martyrs was shed as even further testimony to the unjust ways of English royals like horny Henry.

Ultimately, Brutus, our stand in for Henry VIII, is swayed by Cassius’s arguments and concludes,

Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this.
Brutus had rather be a villager
Than to repute himself a son of Rome
Under these hard conditions as this time
Is like to lay upon us.

Once Brutus leaves, Cassius confesses to the audience,

If I were Brutus now, and he were Cassius,
He should not humor me.

Shakespeare is a genius at guiding the audience to see the ways of villains and devils in influencing others. And Cassius’s influence leads to Brutus’s confession, that he would rather be anything but part of Rome. Henry VIII would rather have his own country church than be a part of the Church Jesus founded in the first century. Henry would rather have his own symbolic representations of the last supper than the real body and blood of our Lord and Savior. Henry would rather be an Anglican than a son of Rome. And Henry would rather have the wealth of the monasteries and parishes of England where late the sweet birds sang than any of the heavenly treasures that await even the humblest of gatekeepers of the tiniest doors of heaven.

There are so many more insights and themes woven into Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, in this second scene or in all of his other plays, but these are written today as a hint to see the allegory in Shakespeare’s writings. And begin to unravel the centuries of false history perpetuated by those in power to keep their unjust gains.

As Americans, we give thanks for not only the separation of powers, but specifically the separation of Church and State. But let us remember, English men and women also had that separation of Church and State for over a thousand years before they lost it under one tyrant. They have yet to fully regain it. Let this be a lesson, rights lost are nearly impossible to regain.

But what is impossible for man is possible for God.

Next week, we will focus a little more on the crucial 3rd Act, and touch on the person of Mark Antony, the man designated to serve as priest in the cult of Caesar.

Till then, let us all hear Shakespeare.