"Who is the man?"

I have never seen The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and unless I borrow it from the library sometime, I probably never will. But that hasn't stopped me from memorizing the opening song of that movie, The Bells of Notre Dame. The music is powerful, the story is gripping, and some of the rhymes are extremely clever. But the real reason I want to share that song this morning is because I finally figured out the answer to Clopin's riddle.

I'm sorry that this was the best video I could find to share with you. I wanted a version that showed the video with the audio, but the only video-included versions I could find were painfully incomplete, and I wanted to give you the full story. Enjoy the lyrics.

By the way, "Kyrie Eleison" means "Lord, have mercy" in Greek. Don't ask me about the rest of it. I thought it was all Latin.

The "monster" was, of course, Judge Claude Frollo, who, as I understand it, is the villain of the film. That would make Quasimodo the man, right? That was what I thought until recently, but no, he couldn't have been "the man." He was only an infant at the time. No, "the man" was the Archdeacon. His timely and surprisingly semi-effective call to repentance saved Quasimodo's life. I don't know in Judge Frollo's heart was ultimately changed by the end of the movie, because again, I've never actually seen it, but I'm pretty sure the movie has a happy ending for Quasimodo at least, and the Archdeacon is mostly responsible.

What qualities did the Archdeacon possess that made him "the man?" He had strong convictions and he acted according to them, but then again, so did Frollo. Perhaps the biggest difference between the Archdeacon's convictions and Frollo's was that the Archdeacon's convictions included mercy and Frollo's didn't.

Judge Frollo was more interested in dealing out justice, and he probably wasn't actually all that just about it either. According to Clopin, he "saw corruption everywhere..." including places where there was no corruption, like in the deformed infant. Also, Frollo refused to see any corruption in himself. Otherwise, he might have tried to "purge [himself] of vice and sin," and become more forgiving and merciful - more like Jesus Christ.

The Archdeacon, on the other hand, recognized the innocence of the child and even gave Judge Frollo a second chance. I'm sure he hoped that raising the child would soften Frollo's heart, and though that seems to have failed, since Frollo was still a villain by the time Quasimodo was an adult, at least the Archdeacon had given him a chance.

There are a few lessons we can learn from this. One is that we shouldn't judge others too harshly, especially since we're not perfect ourselves. Another is that sometimes we need to undertake more self-reflection and find out what vices and sins still need to be purged from our hearts. None of us are perfect, and God knows how we need to improve. If we're humble enough to seek His guidance on how to improve ourselves, He'll show us our flaws and give us counsel on how to remove them. Self-reflection and self-improvement is sometimes a painfully difficult process, but it's necessary to our eternal progress. We have to acknowledge and strive to eradicate our faults in order to become better people and ultimately become more like God. In the meantime, we should try to be patient and understanding with the faults of others. Anyone can condemn others. It takes a real man to forgive.