The arguments for revealing this can be easily obtained within Ulises and once discovered one can easily accept the proposal.

In Bloom’s first appearance in Ulises (Episode 4) He does something very un-Jewish, he buys a pig’s kidney. He is dressed in black because, later in the morning, he will attend Paddy Dignam’s Catholic funeral.

In episode 5, he enters St. Andrew’s Catholic Church. While he is there, Bloom notices that there is no music playing. He begins to think of ‘Old Glynn’, who played the organ at another Catholic church: the Jesuit church on Gardiner Street. He later goes to pick up a letter from a secret admirer. He considers that he could meet her ‘on a Sunday after the Rosary’. This indicates that Bloom goes to mass and then prays the Rosary.

In episode 6, Bloom rides in a hearse to Glasnevin Cemetery. On the way he thinks about his father and how his father asked him to take care of the dog Athos. Bloom instinctively internalizes the Christian prayer: ‘Thy will be done.’

In Episode 8, we see Bloom supporting the Christian Brothers’ benefit dinner for St. Kevin’s Juvie in Glencree.

In episode 11, Bloom thinks of an imaginary date, “A respectable girl meets after mass”, again indicating that Bloom regularly attends Catholic mass.

And in episode 12, Bloom unhesitatingly delivers the very Christian message that love is the answer to humanity’s problems and she does it, in a pub, no less.

In episode 14, we read that Bloom attended high school as a young student. The High School was, and still is, a leading educational institution under the patronage of the Protestant Church of Ireland.

In episode 15, Bloom buys what is again a very un-Jewish meal, ‘a pig’s crubeen and a sheep’s trotter’. His mother, Ellen, particularly in her language, is revealed to us as an Irish Catholic mother.

In episode 16, when Bloom and Stephen drive to Bloom’s house, they talk about music and we’re told that Bloom “infinitely preferred the holy music of the Catholic church.”

In Episode 17 we find out that Bloom was baptized three times in the Christian faith. And very revealingly, we also discover that Bloom’s father converted to Christianity, of the Protestant persuasion, before they were married. That is, Bloom’s father was a practicing Christian even before Bloom was born.

And for good measure we also discover that Bloom himself converted to Catholicism before he married his wife Molly.

We also read in episode 17 that he bought a grave in the Glasnevin Catholic Cemetery. And more, on his shelf he has the book, The hidden life of Christ.

In a nutshell: James Joyce Ulises tells us loud and clear that Leopold Bloom is a sincerely practicing Catholic Christian. Participation is simple – each guide to Ulisesevery commentary on Ulysses and every analysis of Ulises you should emphasize this.