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| Gormenghast, Thomas O'Hogarty |
Official (presumably a bishop) that gives permission for the Short Guide to Catholic Church History; holds title of Lictor Magnificus [St. Fidgeta & Other Parodies, 51].
Gormenghast is the fictional setting for Mervyn Peake's phantasmagoric trilogy that chronicles the adventures of Titus Groan. Unfortunately the series was never completed as Peake died before completing the third book. Bowen assumes the Peake reference was included mainly for euphony, "though it may be a mild gesture toward an in-joke, as I'm not sure how well the Gormenghast books were known in the middle 1960s."
Also, "Lictors held a rather interesting office in the Roman Republic, which you can look up if so inclined. On official occasions, they accompanied officials like consuls, aediles, and tribunes in varied numbers according to the dignity of the office, and their function was mainly to serve as a public display of that dignity. Perhaps there may be a mild jab at ecclesiastical spear-carriers as part of a bishop's retinue, but again I think the baroque splendor in the combination of name and title was constructed primarily to appeal to John's well-developed sense of the absurd. That's the main thing going on here."
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gormenghast
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lictor
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