Frederick Rolfe was a destitute failed Catholic priest; Hugh Benson was a well off Anglican priest. Rolfe was great writer, but had trouble getting published; Benson had no problem getting published, but was mediocre. This unlikely pair struck up a friendship after Benson read and loved Rolfe's novel Hadrian the Seventh. They developed a regular correspondence and eventually met in person, going on a walking tour together in August 1905 (Woolf 51).
Soon into their friendship, the pair decided to write a book together about Thomas Aquinas. It quickly became apparent that their writing habits and styles were not compatible. Still, the work persisted until Benson's agent and spiritual superiors "suggested" that collaboration with Rolfe was unacceptable and would harm his reputation. Benson capitulated and told Rolfe he could be credited in the preface as a "contributor" instead. Rolfe was understandably furious and the two had an explosive falling out, never finishing the book (Woolf 53-54). Shortly afterwards, Rolfe left for Venice and never came back to England, despite pleas from his remaining friends. Rolfe became extremely destitute and died in Venice from exposure and malnutrition.
It appears that Benson always longed for reconciliation, but Rolfe was extremely proud and refused, instead sending Benson insulting postcards and letters for the rest of his life (Woolf 54-55). Evidently, Rolfe wanted to make sure Benson would never forget him. And Benson didn't-- a few days before Rolfe's death, Benson had said, "The man's a genius, and I love him. If he'll only apologize I'll ask him to come and live with me: he's quite destitute now, but he is welcome to everything I've got" (Weeks 11).
Both men satirized the other in their work. Rolfe wrote Benson into his work The Desire and Pursuit of the Whole as the pompous priest Reverend Bobugo Bonsen. Benson, on the other hand, wrote Rolfe into his final novel Initiation as the fiance of his self-insert main character. In Initiation, Enid (Rolfe) and Sir Nevill Fanning (Benson) meet in Rome, fall in love over deep discussions in the hills, and get engaged, but when they return to England Enid reveals her true character to be cruel, mean, nasty, and not as intellectual as Nevill first thought (Woolf 56-58). Ouch!
How Benson would have reacted to being portrayed as the bumbling Bobugo Bonsen and how Rolfe would have reacted to being made into a hateful fiance is something that we can only guess. Rolfe and Benson both died before the other's book was published. The Desire and Pursuit of the Whole was not published until 1934, when Benson was long dead. Initiation was published in 1914, a year after Rolfe died in Venice (Woolf 60). Rolfe died in October 1913, and Benson died a year after that in October 1914 (Weeks 11).
They never reconciled.
Sources:
Donald Weeks, editor. Saint Thomas, The Tragara Press, 1979.
Woolf, Cecil and Brocard Sewell, editors. Corvo, 1860-1960: A Collection of Essays by Various Hands to Commemorate the Centenary of the Birth of Fr. Rolfe, Baron Corvo, Saint Albert's Press, 1961.
