Chapter 3, Rome and Greece Summary

The influence of Rome, in respect to Catholicism, impacts Wilde through his good friend, David Hunter Blair. Blair converts in March 1875 and brings his enthusiasm to Oxford in April, urging Wilde and others to follow his lead. Wilde is reluctant to follow because of his father's attitude about Papists and the risk of being taken out of his father's will. Still, Wilde decorates his Oxford room with pictures of the Pope and Bishop Manning, a firm supporter of papal infallibility.

During the summer vacation of 1875, Wilde visits Rome with inflexible Protestant companions, possibly to keep him from the temptation to convert. He writes a poem that, with some revisions, is published in the Dublin University Magazine, March 1876. This delights his parents. For the rest of the summer, Wilde engages in secular pleasures and meets women who would...