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| Victor Hugo in 1853 (Public Domain) |
Victor Hugo's mother was a Catholic Royalist who dominated his youth. As a result, Hugo himself originally showed allegiance to Church and King. Wikipedia reports that his views slowly shifted over to those of Republicanism and Freethought. Hugo then began sharply criticizing Catholicism
(Monasticism, as it
existed in Spain and still exists in Tibet, is a wasting
disease of civilization… the thought of so much
suffering and degradation must cause you to shudder
at the sight of a veil or cassock, those two shrouds of
human invention.) while openly heralding a Rationalist Deism similar to Voltaire's (Toleration is the
best religion.)
Enter the Bishop of Digne ("born" Charles-Francois-Beinvenu Myriel), who seems to span the best of both these worldviews. Melissa
Howard writes that Myriel had been passionate, even sometimes violent, during his own youth. His
later compassion "was less an instinct of nature than the result of a strong
conviction." Shortly after moving to the Bishop's roomy palace at Digne, Myriel decided to offer it to the next-door hospital. He then
moved into the former hospital's relatively cramped quarters.
Myriel also reserved only one-fifteenth of his Bishop's allotment for personal expenses – the rest he gave "to the poor and invalid." As
he did with Jean Valjean, Myriel "always placed himself in sympathy with the most abject members of his parish and walked with them for as long as necessary." Hugo states that "Love one another" was Myriel's "whole doctrine."
Wikipedia explains that "although Hugo believed Catholic dogma to be outdated and dying, he never directly attacked the actual doctrines of the Church."
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo
http://atheisme.free.fr/Quotes/Hugo.htm
http://suite101.com/article/bishop-of-digne-from-les-miserables-a110149
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