The “American Republic” is the story of the origins of the United States and Europe

Raymond L. Bruckberger (1907-1998) was a restless French Dominican who in 1942, during the German occupation, was arrested by the Gestapo as a supporter of de Gaulle. He escaped from prison, joined the resistance and was sent to be a chaplain of the Foreign Legion in Africa. When in 1944 de Gaulle celebrated the liberation at Notre Dame, he was suspected of having had a role in the public humiliation of the Archbishop, Cardinal Soehard, who was not invited because he was not sufficiently hostile to Vichy. Thus Father Bruberger entered the intellectual elite and in close friendship with such figures as Sartre, Camus and director Besson (Luc’s father), with whom he collaborated on several films. was also a manager The Carmelites’ Dialoguestaken from the famous opera by Bernanos and translated by Alida Valli and Jeanne Moreau.

At this point, however, His monastery decided it was too much for a monk and sent him to the United States. And the rest of his stories do not interest us, but only the article he wrote on this occasion, which opened the American salons for him. It is located around American Republic (D’Ettoris Editori, p. 152, €16.90), just published in Italian with an introduction by Dario Caronetti and edited by Ferdinando Raffaele. The work, released in Paris in 1958 for Gallimard, was also a great success Since the time of Tocqueville, the European thinker has not been interested in the origins of the United States. He developed a thesis that no longer seems very new today and which sees in the United States a kind of Magna Europa. What is more: the civilization of Europe is weary and exhausted, its circle exhausted, and the same principles on which it was founded was born the United States, the land in which they found new momentum and vitality. it’s the truth? In light of 2022, without a doubt yes. But not even.

There is an American “example” in Clint Eastwood and his American sniper, reissue of the legend of John Wayne. But there’s also the “ideal” of the Disney dad, which was a radical difference (a very apt term) from what the multinational company of the same name and pappa-all-entertainment offers to kids today. After all, the unique “ideal” of the “Land of Opportunity” is only one: money. This is the “American Dream,” wherever you turn it. The pilgrims’ fathers were Calvinists. For Calvinist fanatics, we see predestination in material success.

For money, the colonists decided to separate from England. And the way they started stayed American style To this day: Disguised as Indians, they went overnight to throw cans of English tea into the water in Boston Harbor. Disguised as Indians: so the British were to take it on the aborigines. heroic day Boston party It is still celebrated with glee. True, yes, the Founding Fathers were all Christians, believers, and practitioners. But also Freemasons believe and practice. And their chiefs swear by the Bible, even today.

We trust in God. Which god? Well, when it comes to swearing, George Washington He found himself embarrassed that every confession of US children had its own version of the Bible. The first chief beheaded the bull by swearing an oath on the gospel of his abode (a book always open to the prologue to the Gospel of John). I don’t know if the version is still the only version famous believers like Obama swear by, for one thing. However, we recall that the Bishop of Arras paid for his studies at Robespierre, which Stalin studied at the seminary, and that Hitler, an Austrian, was a Catholic. The United States was born and raised without the papacy – rather against the papacy: Only during the Reagan era did the Holy See have an American ambassador. On the other hand, Europe was born and raised under the influence of the Church, at least until 1517. The influence which, in Europe, yes, was wiped out. But she was not born there.

Renault Camilleri, 11 June 2022