Rupert's Religious Rights

(Prince Rupert, The Last Cavalier. We have encountered that type of title before.)

A Midsummer Tempest., ix.

When Rupert is Shelgrave's prisoner, the latter wants him to receive the Puritan minister and:

"'...would give me no chaplain for myself -'" (p. 73)

When he was a prisoner in Linz, Rupert refused to see Jesuits.

I would see the Puritan and the Jesuits to disagree with them but would expect an interesting discussion only with the latter. Meanwhile, I would meditate without needing a chaplain (see here) although a visit from a Zen monk or lay minister would be welcome.

In Lancaster, some member of our meditation group is a chaplain to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary. In theory, each new patient is visited at least once by a chaplain. Thus -

Chaplain: Hello, I am a (fill in the blank) chaplain.

Patient (1): No, thank you.

Patient (2): I am a Catholic and need to see a priest for confession and communion.

The (Zen etc) chaplain refers Patient (2) to the Church of England chaplain who dispatches the Catholic chaplain. If it works properly, then everyone helps everyone else, the patients' needs are addressed and no one is inappropriately proselytized, a vast improvement on the days of the likes of Shelgrave.