It’s the birthday of French novelist George Bernanos (1888-1948), who explored in his writing the struggle between good and evil and is best known for his novel, The Diary of a Country Priest (1937). Bernanos was a devout Roman Catholic but also a strong individualist who spoke vehemently against the Church when he felt it went against the teachings of Jesus.

Bernanos was born in Paris and brought up in a conservative middle-class Catholic home. Pre-WWI, Bernanos belonged to the very conservative Action Francaise movement; during the war he was wounded and decorated, and after the war, he broke with Action Francaise and became increasingly concerned with the plight of the poor and the marginalized. Speaking of poor: he married in 1917 and eventually fathered six children, so there’s that.

Bernanos worked as an insurance salesman but felt the pull to write. In 1926 he published his first novel, The Star of Satan, and several more followed, including a detective novel, The Crime (1935). He continued to be conflicted, loving the teachings of Christ and his Church and despising institutional hypocrisy where he found it. He also eschewed literary salons and pretty much, in the words of Chuck Norris, walked alone.

(Your word for the day: eschewed. Ten life points to anyone who works it into a conversation in a natural and meaningful way.)

In 1933, Bernanos was in a motorcycle accident and from then on was partially crippled. In 1934, he moved his family to Majorca. Though Bernanos originally supported Franco, once he witnessed the horrors Franco perpetrated in the name of Catholic nationalism, he *changed his mind* (something intelligent and thoughtful people sometimes do—just saying) and in 1938 published a “searing, powerfully rendered account” of what he witnessed, which elicited a now-famous letter from Simone Weil expressing her support and appreciation for his honesty and work. (To review: it’s okay to change your mind based on the evidence before you. Perfectly okay. That’s the takeaway here.)

The Diary of a Country Priest is about a humble priest trying his best to minister to his little flock, all the while constantly and painfully aware of his own shortcomings, his own doubts, his own sins, but also recording his simple faith in God. The novel, a beautifully rendered exploration of true grace and redemption, is considered one of the great French novels of the 20th century and in 1951 was made into an award-winning movie by Robert Bresson starring a young Claude Laydu; his performance in this film is supposed to be one of the greatest in all of cinema. (Fun fact: Laydu was himself a practicing Catholic.)

One of the last things Bernanos wrote was the screenplay Dialogues of the Carmelites, which tells the true story of 16 nuns executed by guillotine during the French Revolution. It was later made into an opera by Francis Poulenc and is considered one of the great operas of the 20th century. (Super fun fact, but only if you’re me: I saw the American debut of this opera at Oberlin in the late 1980s. It was chilling and powerful.)

Have a lovely Wednesday full of grace and stay scrupulously honest to the data.