The Wholly Irreverent Maggie Smith

 

Reverend Mother : I shall ask Monsignor O'Hara and Lt. Souther to find a safer, and more suitable situation for you.

Deloris : Oh, no. Come on. Don't send me away. Really. I mean, I'm just startin' to get the hang of this. I mean, look. I'm not gonna endanger anyone or anything else. I swear! What about forgiveness? Isn't that what you preach? There's gotta be something around here I can do that's not gonna chip my nails or annoy anybody.

• Reverend Mother : You're right, Mary Clarence. To err is human, to forgive divine. You may stay. But I shall restrict your activities to a single task.

  Deloris : What's that?

  Reverend Mother : Singing. You will join the choir.

  Deloris : Choir? No!

  Reverend Mother : You will sleep and you will sing. That will be your task until you leave.

  Deloris : No! The choir? I mean, have you heard them?

  Reverend Mother : The choir, Mary Clarence.

You, dear regular readers, will know that I find a way to squeeze religion and/or spirituality out of just about any situation or story. In an increasingly secular society, at least at first blush, I am constantly struck by how enchanted our world is.

I'll concede that I stretch things at times and that may apply to this blog about the great and now late Maggie Smith. If there was an Oscar for scene-stealing roles Dame Maggie would have received a full mantle's worth, although she was the lead  in the powerful The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. 

The religion aspect? She was a nun, a Mother Superior no less, in Sister Act, a ridiculously improbable and fun film. Whoopie Goldberg is a lounge singer put in the witness protection program in a convent where the stern Smith as the Boss Nun tries and fails to keep her in line. 

That's all I've got for Maggie Smith as a religious person, but I really did enjoy her when she came on screen. Her imperious question "what is a weekend" as the Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downtown Abbey is a classic.