Being a Swede in “exile,” the other day I visited the Swedish embassy to renew my passport.

I paid a rather significant amount of money to do so and they took my picture, one that, predictably, makes me look like a cross between Charles Manson and Breivik, the Norwegian murderer.

Beforehand, I had a cup of coffee with the nice lady that handle Press and Culture. And we spoke about August Strindberg.

This year marks the centenary of the death of Strindberg, Sweden’s most important author and playwright. The celebrations have been rather low key. When the goal is to project an image abroad of how progressive and modern Sweden is, the state does not hesitate to spend money. In contrast, not much effort has been made to honor its (arguably) most significant contribution to world culture. One reason may be because my fellow countrymen don’t know how to classify him. True, as a young man he proclaimed himself a nihilist, atheist, and socialist, endearing him to those similarly inclined. But we Catholics should take a closer look at Strindberg and his work, because his most radical act was to embrace, as a mature man, the Cross.

In fact, it is only a simple cross that marks his grave. Upon it is inscribed in Latin, “O Crux Ave Spes Unica” (“O Cross, be greeted, our only hope”).

Strindberg never formally joined the Church, but his writing in “Inferno” or “Ensam” (to name but two examples) is clearly Catholic, in that Faith is presented as the only hope for the tortured soul.

The love for the Catholic Church that he expresses in his writing is, of course, a bit of a stumbling block for his secularist admirers, ill at ease with a man of Faith. Nothing suggests that Strindberg was a particularly nice man; making enemies seemed like a favorite pastime. But when you try to define the man, as many pundits are doing this commemorative year, “You can’t ride around”—as Randolph Scott used to say in those wonderful westerns by Boetticher—the Cross on his grave.

O Crux Ave Spes Unica.

As a closing statement, it’s hard to beat.