Laughing Across the Aisle

A church is a very serious place and it is quite impossible for any Christian to imagine a Catholic priest laughing inside it particularly while praying to his Lord who looks helpless on the Cross. But there is at least one such priest whom I encountered when I was an adolescent. He is Don Camillo, the protagonist of a series of stories in Italian by Giovanni Guareschi. The Communist Mayor of the town, Peppone, plays an equally important role in the stories. Both these characters together make us laugh, think, reflect on life and its multifarious dimensions like ideology, faith, and personal rivalry.

I would like to present these two characters here on the occasion of World Laughter Day [May 4] which my blogger-friends Manali and Sukaina have decided to celebrate with a blog-hop. Ladies and gentlemen, allow a devout Catholic priest and a Communist-atheist Mayor to jostle your funny bone on this occasion.

Don Camillo is a simple ordinary man in a priest’s cassock. He has his ego too just like me and you or almost anyone. One day while delivering his usual fervent homily to his flock of parishioners, he noticed a man who had created a scandal the other day in a case involving some girls. He grew indignant. But not wishing to offend his Lord, he pulled a cloth from somewhere and threw it on the Crucified Lord and then flung the choicest expletives at the offender.

Don Camillo has an intimate friendship with his Lord. He discusses everything with Him. One evening when the priest was going back to his presbytery, he was hit on the back with a stick by an unidentified man. Don Camillo went to his Lord in the church and asked, “What should I do?”

“Anoint your back with a little oil beaten up in water and hold your tongue,” the Lord tells him and reminds him that Christians are supposed to forgive offenders.

“Very true, Lord,” Don Camillo agrees instantly and then adds, “But this time we’re discussing blows, not offences.”

A brief discussion follows on whether an injury to the body is more painful than one aimed at the spirit and whether a blow administered on the back of a priest isn’t also an injury done to the Lord himself. The Lord finally tells Don Camillo that He doesn’t need lessons from a priest of His and counsels him to leave politics outside the church.

Two months pass and then comes the politician Peppone to make his confession. One of the sins he confesses is the “hiding” he gave to Don Camillo two months ago. Don Camillo absolves him of his sins and tells him to kneel down and recite certain prayers as penance. While Peppone is reciting the prayers on his knees, Don Camillo confronts his Lord.

“You must forgive me,” Don Camillo tells the Crucified Lord, “I’m going to beat him up for You.”

The Lord tells him not to do anything of the sort. “All things considered, he is not a bad soul.”

“Lord, you can never trust a Red!” Don Camillo protests. “They live by lies.”

The Lord tells his priest that it is his heart that is venomous and reminds him that his hands were meant to give blessing, not beating.

“Ok,” Don Camillo says, “my hands were made for blessing, but not my feet!”

The Lord nods a reluctant consent and reminds the priest, “but only one!”

The kick lands like a thunderbolt and Peppone receives it without so much as blinking an eye. Then he gets to his feet and sighs with relief.

“I’ve been waiting for that for the last ten minutes. I feel better now.”

“So do I!” Don Camillo responds. And the narrator adds: “The Lord said nothing at all, but it was easy to see that He too was pleased.”

Every story of these two characters is replete with such humour and human-ness. We are all flawed creatures. Even our God may not be as perfect as we expect Him to be. Humour can become an effective redeeming factor in our interactions in spite of our differing ideologies and faiths.

Don Camillo and Peppone stand on opposite ends of the political and religious spectrum. But their shared humanity or human-ness transcends dogma. Their humour isn’t just comic relief or farce meant to make us laugh; it is a coping mechanism, a way to disarm hostility, and sometimes even a subtle form of diplomacy.

These two apparently rival characters show us that enemies can respect and even love each other. That conflict doesn’t always need to be solved with aggression; sometimes a joke can do the job. They teach us that belief systems may differ, but the core values of kindness, loyalty, and justice can align.

The first of Don Camillo stories were written in the late 1940s. They were a hit in Italy in those days, especially because they reflected the tensions of postwar Italy in a sublimating manner. Laughter is the best medicine, these stories proved, particularly when the air is full of strife and stress. Maybe, we can add some humour to our own lives on this World Laughter Day and mellow some of its bitterness, if not make it sweeter.

PS. This post is a part of ‘The Chuckle Chronicles Blog Hop’ hosted by Manali Desai and Sukaina Majeed under #EveryConversationMatters