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Francisco Cabrera, Modern Latin Epic Poet

Born March 18, 1916 to a prosperous merchant family of Puebla, Mexico, Francisco Cabrera was educated in local elementary schools at a Jesuit seminary, and Notre Dame University. Returning to Mexico, he worked for Folgers Coffee until his retirement. From 1990 through 2006, he has written a cycle of heroic poems on Mexican history and culture of which it may truly be said, In orbe novo profecto advenit vatum Columbus, in caelis occidentalibus stella nova. Who, then, is Francisco Cabrera?

Background

The artistic heritage of Puebla, described in his book El Coleccionismo en Puebla and his poem Angelopolis, was a powerful early influence on the poet. In the 17th century Bishop Palafox, builder of Puebla's cathedral, made it a treasure house and springboard for the arts in painting, sculpture, ceramics and architecture. The distinctive tradition of talavera pottery became a hallmark of Puebla. Palafox also assembled a library of 43,000 books covering all the letters and sciences, sacred and secular works, classical literature, and cartography (note1), called "the finest library in America." With successive bishops as patrons and with the coming of prosperity in the following century, public enthusiasm for the arts led to the private patronage of artists, the pursuit of art collections, and the opening of private galleries.

It was in this artistic climate that the author's great-grandfather, Don Francisco Cabrera Ferrando, developed his passion for art to the ultimate degree, collecting enough paintings and sculpture to open the Museo Cabrera Ferrando. In additions, writes the poet, Ferrando was an enthusiastic painter of landscapes, especially the river seaport of Tlacotalpan, his native town. This range of artistic appreciation was communicated to his son, Francisco Cabrera Bello, who cherished Ferrando's memory, "remembering him as an affable man, tenacious in his work, charitable and meticulous." Bello retained a keen appreciation of painting and sculpture and made a strong impression on his grandson. Although

the museum was closed upon the death of its founder and the collection dispersed, its memory and the pieces retained by the family played a major part in forming the artistic tastes

of the author, who writes,

The frequent references in the home to my great-grandfather's collection and the pieces from the collection which remained with us left in my child's soul (remember

that I left the family for the seminary at 15 years of age) a deep influence of the plastic arts. Incapable as I was of appreciating esthetic values, the pieces seemed to

weave themselves into the family texture as part of the sentimental remembrances that we call tradition.

Education

In a harsh stroke of fortune, Cabrera's mother died five months afte the author was born, and from that time the author was brought up by his grandparents, Francisco Cabrera Bello and his wife Maria, and lived in their house in Puebla until his departure for seminary in 1931 at age fifteen. Five years later his father, Francisco Cabrera Marchena, married his former wife's younger sister Maria. The young Francisco was sent to public elementary school in Puebla from 1922 to 1928, then for the next two years to Instituto Spina, a Jesuit high school. In 1931 the family, desirous of giving the boy a Latin education and faced with the lack of Latin instruction in Mexico resulting from the reforms of education by the national socialist regime, decided to send him to the Jesuit seminary a Ysleta, Texas. It was in Texas that for eight years he received a thorough grounding in the traditional "trivia"(it.) of Latin and Greek, earning a Master of Arts in Classical Humanities in 1938. In addition, he was exposed to the ecclesiastical life and presented with the possibility of a vocation to the priesthood. The record of those years can be found in The Riddle of Self, a 98-page English monograph which, he states, l"I wrote painstakingly in Colombia during my Folger's years as a development of intimate notes written in the seminary and shortly afterwards."

His study of the Roman poets in particular had a life-changing effect on Cabrera. In Ovid, Horace, and Virgil he discovered models of poetic beauty, elelvated themes, and a philosophy new to him.

Ovid's flippancy, far from engaging, was nonetheless touching in a physical way, much as a passing caress. . . More incisive and longer lasting was the

bittersweet charm of Horace. Though a lesser poet, his verse stood for the embodiment of reasoned epicureanism, with an accent on moderation which

procures happiness, the golden mean (equanimity) being his aim and motivation. His relish of temperance (aside from short lyrical flights into the realm of passion) is

often, if momentarily, ruffled by the haunting thought of life's fugacity. Better, perhaps, than any other poet, Horace attests to the Lucretian sting that lies at the core

of pleasure. His finest metaphors, his most powerful poetic vein, spring from death or its image, an arresting anxiety, a heaviness of heart, a dejected mein, a brooding

frame of mind. ..

A parsimonious hedonist, Horace makes a cold assessment of life's balance sheet. The satisfactions he found valid for his philosophy are sense gratification and

intellectual solace: "When shall I see thee, country home, that I/ from classic book or idle hour asleep/ may for life's worry drink oblivion deep . . . " The formula that

would appear to sum up his philosophy of life is "ne quid nimis", nothing in excess.

But Cabrera's greatest artistic moel was to be Virgil. The author of the Aeneid

was held as the chief exponent of the pagan world who not only cherished parallel ideals but actually anticipated the Christian truths and prefigured the advent of

Christ as a reformer. . . Small wonder if, as we know, Dante himself looked up to Virgil as an Adventist prophet and took him as his guide to the gates of heaven.

The age of unbelief in which he flourished brings out more admirably the feeling of devout reverence which Virgil entertained toward fate, a providential factor that

rules the Universe. "Fatum" a "spoken word" somehow related to St. John's "In principio erat Verbum".

Besides his reverential attitude toward divine providence there lies in Virgil's mind a well of compassion. Quite often, after sampling the "Aeneid", we went on

repeating such edifying sentences as "Non ignara malis, miseris succurrere disco."(it.) (My own acquaintance with misfortune has taught me to help others who are

in distress.) But it was his sense of moral values in assessing human suffering that fired my fancy into a special entry on the classics. "Sunt lacrymae rerum et

mentem mortalia tangent."(it.) (Tears haunt the world, man's fortunes touch my heart.) "This line" I wrote with a naïve but heartfelt sympathy, "seems to have been

borrowed from the Gospel, a fitting pronouncement for Jesus to utter."

In addition to literary culture, Cabrera was also developing the beginnings of an individualistic esthetic philosophy. Years after leaving the seminary he looked back on a moment in

the classroom:

When, in reading Virgil in school, I noted to the teacher that the poet's landscape description gave me greated pleasure than the landscape itself in all its richness, I

remember receiving a rebuttal, for reality, my learned instructor asserted, can never be inferior to fiction. This reasoning was not enough to persuade me of a truth

founded upon mistaken premises that wrongly give the character of unreality to the inner world, of which artistic creation is the fruit. That which is supposed to be

fiction is precisely the reality, object of the spirit, which apprehends forms individual, shifting and fluctuating from one realm to another but sensible in intuitive ideas and

invented sensations. The sensory distraction of the external world may flatter the emotions, but it is the dead letter for the superior part of man,

nor can it be transmuted into intelligible form as means of understanding and transcendent emotions.

Early Writings : 1936-1937

Cabrera's earliest literary piece, written in Latin in 1936 and entitled "De Pueris Mexicanis ab Impendentibus Tutandis Malis et Doctrina Excolendis: Contio" (Of Sheltering Mexican Youth from Impending Evils and Fostering Them with Doctrine: An Address) is an oration against the attempt by the Mexican government to completely revise the educational system on a socialist and communist model. Cabrera decries the fact that the socialists regard the children of Mexico as the property, not of their parents or of God, but of the state. Seventy years later, the author recalled standing before his fellow seminarians at lunch hour and declaiming at the top of his voice:

Proh Deum bonum! Quid magis tuis dispar legibus?Quid iuvenibus foedius? Quid nobis omnibus Patriaeque labanti nefarious?

(Oh, good God! What more foreign to our laws? What fouler for our youth? What more wicked for us all and our collapsing country?)

Despite his passionate intensity, the response of his fellows was not memorable.

Not so for Cabrera's "Ode" (to Horace) and "Horatii Flacci Tumulo" (In Horace's Tomb) a pair of Latin poems he wrote in 1937 to honor the 2,000th anniversary of Horace's birth and sent to the Mexican classicist Dr. Federico Escobedo. Escobedo promptly published them in the classical review Abside, accompanied by his own translation into Spanish, and added high praise:

. . . we hold them to be literary jewels of the first water; and moreover, a hopeful augury of other new ones which surely will follow them, for with them their young author

will cement, once and for all the reputation of being an excellent Latin poet which he has deservedly gained with these first efforts."

A glance at the opening stanza of Cabrera's "Ode" shows not only the "well-seasoned, mature" flow of verse that impressed Escobedo but also his flawless use of Horace's Ode IV, 2 as a model:

Flacce, te quisque studet aemulari,                                             (Horace, any who try to rival you

induens alas ope Daedalea,                                                         putting on wings with Daedalus's aid,

assequi cursus aquilae fugaces                                                   are insane, trying to equal the swift flight

nititur amens! of the eagle!)

Compare Horace's opening stanza, Ode IV, 2:

Pindarum quisquis studet aemulari                                                (Whoever tries to rival Pindar,

Iulle, ceratis ope Daedalea                                                             Jullus, is striving with Daedalus's aid

nititur pennis vitreo daturus                                                             on waxen wings and will give his name

nomina ponto. to the glassy sea.

Cabrera's Ode flows on for eleven more effortless stanzas, clear proof that the twenty-year-old poet, while disclaiming the possibility of equaling Horace, at the same time shows that he can appear beside him without disgrace.

The fulfillment of the promise so clearly seen by Dr. Escobedo was, however, to be delayed for six decades. The year 1938, in which Cabrera was awarded his M.A. in Classical Humanities, brought the first of several life-changing events.

Farewell to the Jesuits

The author's departure from the seminary in 1939 had been a long time in coming. Since taking the vows of a novice in 1931, he had lived under the Jesuit Rules of Order, which give superiors complete control over the physical and spiritual life of seminarians. Trained by the priests in the exploration and discussion of philosophers like Lucretius and Marcus Aurelius, Cabrera had developed a keen mind and a respect for logic, as well as a native integrity. When in the process of learning to think for himself he discovered philosophical and ethical contradictions and shallowness in the minds of his fellow seminarians and his superiors, he could not respect them. Nor, if he continued in the monastic life, could he respect himself:

The Gospels, the lives of holy men, the books on mysticism, the daily practice of austerity, the self-inflicted penance, all contributed to the making of a morbid,

masochism-oriented disposition.

Obedience. . . entailed both a personality frustration and a process suicidal to human self-respect. The system itself, not just its practice, became suspect.

[Questioning my vocation] was human nature struggling to make a valid stance of its inalienable essence and rights. ..

And so, after eight years of monastic life, Francisco Cabrera left the seminary and the Society of Jesus and returned to Mexico. He spent part of the following years adjusting to the world outside the seminary and ensuring that his M.A. degree was recognized by the Mexican education system. In 1941 he decided to continue his studies in classics at Notre Dame University in the U.S.

Notre Dame

In pursuit of his doctorate in Classical Humanities at Notre Dame, Cabrera attracted the notice of fellow Latin scholars, one of whom was Professor Werner Jaeger of Harvard University, who wrote him as follows:

I enjoyed my lecture trip to Marquette University and meeting a number of interesting people. . . You are one of them and my memory of you is a most individual one as

it fits a remarkable individuality such as yours. To make the acquaintance of a true humanist is always reassuring in times like these.

In addition, two of his Latin poems, "Ad Amicum" and "To the Virgin of the Dome" were published in classical journals in 1943. "Ad Amicum" takes up again the sapphic meter of "Ode" and reflects the clouds of the world war:

Non maris semper tumidae procellae                                                (Swelling storms will not always

litus infest quatiunt tumult,                                                                  shake the seashore with tumult,

nec redundantes gravis imber usque                                                  nor shall heavy rain pour down

manat in agros. on overflowing fields.)

"To the Virgin of the Dome" is a tribute to the image of Notre Dame's most famous landmark, the statue of the Virgin atop the golden dome. In Alcaic meter Cabrera once again voices his concern at the world consumed in war:

O Diva, summon cui sacra fornice                                                   (O Goddess, whose sacred likeness

auro renidens effigies nitet                                                                shines gleaming at the top of the dome

notisque Patronam salutat                                                                and hails the Father in this famous

aedibus obsequiosa pubes,                                                              building, a prayerful youth,

has, dedicati conscia liminis,                                                             aware of the sacred threshold,

tutere sedes, dum fera proterit                                                          offers these lines while cruel war crushes

Bellona gentes et labantem                                                               the nations and lays waste

funere depopulator orbem. the falling world with death.)

The only response "To the Virgin" received comes from a letter to Cabrera by P. Herbert, Director of Humanities at Notre Dame. It offers an interesting example of the tension between poet and critic.

I am proud of your poem, I am particularly proud of your courage in attempting the majestic Alcaic metre. It has frightened most Latin students for 2,000 years, for the

simple reason that it is possibly the most difficult of Horatian measures. Yet, you could have chosen none more suitable for your dignified theme. I think it will pass

review by the severest critic. May I make the following observations, however, not by way of criticism, but rather by way of suggestion in case of further work along

these lines?

Then, taking up three-quarters of the letter, Dr. Herbert makes seven criticism too minute to relate, all of them showing that he has gone over the poem counting the number of long and short vowels according to Horace's practice and on each point finds the poem lacking. He follows by referring to the "five or six pagan allusions" that might bring an objection from the "Board of Censorship." The closing paragraph is instructive:

However, I suggest you submit both the original and the translation to really competent hands. If such should either approve or improve upon either, you may have

something quite bullet-proof.

A suitable metaphor for art in the presence of academics. And whose would be the "really competent hands"? As the exasperated poet writes in the margin of the letter, these are "objections that have nothing to do with the meter!" The analytical/classical/critical viewpoint of Cabrera's work persists to this day, as he states in a letter written in 2002:

In talking with my Latin-sage friends, I realize that I will hardly satisfy their purist demands. For instance, "that such and such a word is not classic, that such a syllable

is preferred as long rather than brief, etc." Grammatical objections are often gratuitous, since versification is not as demanding as Cicero's or Caesar's language for

those who write prose.

But academic pursuits were about to end. As the author completed all course requirements for his Ph.,D. in Classical Huanities in 1943, he was called to return home because of a family emergency. At the same time a representative from Folgers Coffee visited the Notre Dame campus, interviewed him, and offered him employment in Latin America. It was an offer he could not refuse. So began his work for Folgers, which was to last forty-three years.

Folgers, Family, Italy

Folgers Coffee kept Cabrera busy traveling as a buyer throughout Latin America, most notably to Cali, Colombia, where he lived most of the time between 1945 and 1953, with trips to Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. The classics were relegated to small volumes which he took with him but seldom had time to read. However, "Virgil, Ovid, and Horace were on my footsteps as I wandered courting coffee growers."

In 1955 he married Carmen Ohrner Chapa, whom he had met while on vacation at Acapulco that same year, and settled down to run the Folgers office in Mexico City, buy a home, and raise his family. Four children were born to the couple: Carmen, Jr. in 1956, Esther in 1957, Francisco, Jr. in 1963, and Maria Theresa in 1964.

In 1962 Cabrera felt that it was time to experience for himself what his great-grandfather had experienced years before and to visit thes source of the classical literature that had nourished his mind. At the age of 46 the author was thoroughly prepared to see and to understand what he saw. Choosing the spring months, he toured Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples, and Pompeii, where he collected, not paintings and sculpture, but impressions and artistic truths. Five years later they bore fruit with the publication of Italia: Guia de Contemplativos.

Writings 1963-1988

As his commercial career and his family grew and he settled down in Mexico City, Cabrera entered into the vigorous artistic community of the capital, visiting galleries, meeting artists, and developing his hereditary interest in art into a lifetime passion. Over the next 25 years, in addition to a pair of books on his native city, La Vida en Puebla and Puebla y los Poblanos, he wrote eight books on art. Five of them present Mexican artists: Agustin Arrieta (1963), Armando Garcia Nunez (1969),