How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Too often in these moments of listening he [Father Arguedas] had felt his soul fill with a kind of rapture,
a feeling he could not name but was disquieted by—longing? Love? Early in his seminary training he had set his mind to giving up opera as other young men had set their minds to giving up women. He thought there must be a darkness in such passion, especially for a priest. Lacking any real or interesting sins to confess, he offered up the imagined sin of opera one Wednesday afternoon as his greatest sacrifice to Christ."Verdi or Wagner?" said the voice from the other side of the screen.
"Both," Father Arguedas said, but when he recovered himself from the surprise of the question he changed his answer. "Verdi."
"You are young," the voice replied. "Come back and tell me again in twenty years, if God allows that I am here."
(2.106-109)
Father Arguedas is in major luck here. Not only does the priest hearing his confession not think opera is a sin, he's actually a legit fan. It's one of the many moments in Bel Canto where we realize that spirituality and art are pretty darn compatible.
Quote #2
"Art is not sin. It's not always good. But it is not a sin." The voice paused for a minute and Father Arguedas slipped a finger into the black band of his collar, trying to move some of the thick warm air into his shirt. "Then again, some of the libretti…well, try to concentrate on the music. The music is the truth of opera." (2.111)
This Voice and The Voice have some things in common. This is yet another sign that spirituality and art are pretty compatible in Bel Canto. But they might have the occasional disagreement, according to the priest hearing Father Arguedas' confession. He's a little worried about those libretti (the lyrics of opera), and we can see why: they're often R-rated, with plenty of sex and violence. So art and religion don't do exactly the same kind of thing. But this is one of the few moments in Bel Canto when difference is emphasized over the similarities.
Quote #3
Father Arguedas took his small, perfunctory penance and said each prayer three times as an offering of joy. He did not have to give up his love. In fact, after that he changed his mind completely and decided that such beauty would have to be one with God. The music gave praise, he was sure of that, and if the words too often focused on the sins of man, well, did Jesus himself not explore this subject exactly? (2.112)
And what is that thing art and religion are usually both doing in Bel Canto? Pointing people to wonder at a beauty beyond themselves.
Quote #4
It was different in ways he [Father Arguedas] never could have imagined, as if the voice were something that could be seen. Certainly it could be felt, even where he stood in the very back of the room. It trembled inside the folds of his cassock, brushed against the skin of his cheeks. Never had he thought, never once, that such a woman existed, one who stood so close to God that God's own voice poured from her. How far she must have gone inside herself to call up that voice. It was as if the voice came from the center part of the earth and by the sheer effort and diligence of her will she had pulled it up through the dirt and rock and through the floorboards of the house, up into her feet, where it pulled through her, reaching, lifting, warmed by her, and then out of the white lily of her throat and straight to God in heaven. It was a miracle and he wept for the gift of bearing witness. (2.114)
Some people think the only miracle in an opera is that, eventually, it finally ends. But Father Arguedas sees how remarkable and unlikely it is to have a voice like Roxane's, and how much effort it takes to make art with it, and he thinks it transcends everyday life the same way a supernatural occurrence would. It's one of the many moments when something human is described as transcendent in Bel Canto. It may sound spooky, but that's just how these folks experience admiration.
Quote #5
"No last rites," General Alfredo said. "He isn't dying."
"I was only asking for the oil," the priest said respectfully. "I wasn't asking about the last rites." (3.45-46)
Spirituality makes Father Arguedas do some pretty gutsy things. Like stand up to terrorists. But maybe this makes sense. If you believe in something that transcends the everyday world, maybe you're not afraid of what other people fear.
Quote #6
Father Arguedas knelt beside him and began the prayer of last rites. Perhaps it was grander when one had the vestments and robes, when there was oil to work with, the beauty of candles, but a simple prayer felt in some ways closer to God. (3.47)
Complexity's not the only way to experience the transcendent, whether you're talking opera or a prayer. Where feeling the big feelings is concerned, simplicity can do just as good a job in this novel.
Quote #7
Father Arguedas had finished the formal prayer and now simply knelt beside the accompanist, his hands wrapped together, his head bowed, praying silently that the man would find solace and joy in God's eternal love now that he was dead.
When the priest opened his eyes he saw that he and the accompanist were no longer alone. Father Arguedas smiled gently at the assembled crowd. "Who can separate us from the love of Christ?" he said by way of explanation. (3.62-63)
Huh? This isn't exactly your typical what-just-happened-here explanation. But actually, it makes a ton of sense when we realize what Father Arguedas is quoting. It's a part of the Bible that says—you guessed it—that nothing can separate a believer from the love of Christ: not trouble, distress, danger, or even death (check out Romans 8:35-39 if you're curious). Father Arguedas is gently letting everyone know that he believes in something that transcends any trouble human beings can get themselves into, even kidnapping and death. Plus, it's the start of their sense of unity in the novel.
Quote #8
To think of those people, the people he prayed for, praying for him. To think that God heard his name from so many voices.
"They must pray for all of us here, the hostages and captors alike.""We do," Manuel said. "But the mass is offered in your name." (5.77-78)
It's often opera that rocks somebody's world in Bel Canto. But sometimes it's prayer, like in this moment when Father Arguedas realizes the people of his church are praying for him. Prayer and opera may seem pretty different, but they share something big in the book: they can both create a community among people who might otherwise be pretty different, even a community among terrorists and their captives.
Quote #9
She [Carmen] said a prayer to Saint Rose of Lima. She asked for courage. After so many prayers offered for the gift of silence, she now asked for sound. (5.206)
In Bel Canto, spirituality doesn't just include God. It also includes the saints, who in Roman Catholic tradition are a community living in heaven and listening to believers who talk to them—they can even help people who speak to them across time and space. Kind of like Doctor Who, but with more reliable transportation. The saints form an unlikely community across space and time through faith, in a parallel to the unlikely community formed by art and survival in the very specific place and time of this one house during this one terrorist takeover. (P.S. Wondering who's Saint Rose of Lima? See the "Allusions" section.)
Quote #10
Carmen closed her eyes and pretended to be tired. She prayed to Saint Rose of Lima. "Saint Rose, give me guidance. Saint Rose, give me clarity." She pressed her eyes closed and pleaded for the intercession of the only saint she knew personally, but a saint is very little help when it comes to smuggling a married man into an opera singer's bedroom. On this matter, Carmen was on her own. (8.160)
Carmen prays to Saint Rose of Lima a lot in the book—almost like Saint Rose is a kindly older sister. This is one of the few times Carmen doesn't seem to get an answer, and one of the few moments in the book when love and religion might seem to have different opinions about something. Mostly, Bel Canto imagines both love and religion as taking humanity to a transcendent experience, sort of like Luke finally learning to use the Force. But this is one moment when religion would recommend one thing, romantic love another. It's not a theme Bel Canto takes up often.