An edifying and meticulous exploration of two saints.
A historical work examines the intersecting lives of two Roman Catholic saints: St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi.
St. Clare was born in Assisi in the closing years of the 12th century to a noble family distantly related on the maternal side to Constance, the wife of Henry VI, the Holy Roman emperor. From an early age, she was incorruptibly devoted to God and steadfastly prayed and fasted as expressions of her spiritual fervor. Her parents fecklessly tried to compel her to marry, but she resisted, sold off her inheritance, and used the money to rebuild the Church of Saint Damian, a project to which St. Francis was committed. In a show of remarkably painstaking research, Brady chronicles the turbulent journeys of the two saints. They were joined by their relentless religious ardor and an insistence on a life of poverty, a condition St. Francis could be “pitiless” enforcing—and a stricture that put St. Clare at loggerheads with Pope Gregory IX. In addition, the author brings to vivid life the religious and political tumult of the time—which included the Crusades—and astutely articulates the various lines of theological division. Furthermore, the book is lucidly written, a scrupulously thorough account enlivened by what Brady calls “novelistic details,” the minutiae, however imagined, that immerse readers in the drama. But the author’s tendency to interpret the miraculous elements of her subjects’ lives in narrowly scientific terms seems not only gratuitous, but also distorting. For example, she theorizes that St. Francis’ temptations by demons were likely the result of severe undernourishment: “Throughout his religious life, Francis would blame tribulations and temptations on the Devil and other evil denizens of Hell who knew how to taunt and vex him when he was most vulnerable, but his own mistreatment of himself and the ravages of semi-starvation were certainly responsible for much suffering.” This is more speculation than empirical science and doesn’t help illuminate the nature of the spiritual or existential crisis St. Francis endured; in fact, it obscures it. Nevertheless, despite the blandness of this obeisance to scientific explanations, the work as a whole is as captivating as it is rigorous.
An edifying and meticulous exploration of two saints.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73754-981-9
Page Count: 390
Publisher: Lodwin Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Great fun.
The second installment of childhood recollections (after Opposite the Cross Keys, 1988) by mystery writer S.T. Haymon, who here evokes a sheltered 12-year-old's further encounters with life's earthier side.
Haymon's 1920's, upper-middle-class childhood revolved typically around school, home, loyal servants, and a pair of doting, well-educated parents—until age 12, when her father died and her mother decided to move to London. Refusing to accompany her, the precocious, comically self-confident Sylvia tried to limit this series of upheavals by insisting on remaining in Norfolk in the care of a favorite teacher—except that at the last minute her headmistress (already a sworn enemy) switched houses, arranging for two maiden schoolteachers to put Sylvia up in their house instead. Sylvia knew that the Misses Gosse and Locke were eccentric. What she didn't know was that the skinny, aggressive history teacher and the teary, puppy-like math professor were lesbians. Nor did she notice as Miss Locke's increasingly desperate infatuation with her began to lead the entire household toward destruction. Amusing characters abound—the gardener, Sylvia's only ally, whose faith in the value of a virgin's tips on the horse races led him to pay her for advice; the dour housekeeper who sang opera and downed bottles of gin; the art teacher's model who bewildered Sylvia with talk of "randy old dykes"; and the spiritual channel who informed her that her daddy was watching everything she did from heaven. Haymon's depiction of herself as an unusually clever, frequently petulant, and thoroughly practical young girl obsessed with filling her stomach while all sorts of passionate fireworks exploded around her evokes an era when secrets still existed and scandals were bursting to happen—and makes for slyly humorous, very British entertainment.
Great fun.Pub Date: Dec. 14, 1990
ISBN: 312-04986-2
Page Count: -
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
A small gem of medical philosophy.
In his second book on medical ethics, philosopher Gorovitz (Syracuse Univ.) reports on his seven weeks in 1985 as "Authorized Snoop and Irritant-at-Large" at Boston's renowned Beth Israel Hospital.
As in Doctor's Dilemmas (1982), here Gorovitz tackles some tough topics: abortion, "do-not-resuscitate" orders, transplantations, and other issues circling around the question of "where to draw the line." His judicious investigations will not please hard-liners on either side. For instance, while supporting most fetal-tissue research, he opposes interspecies transplants; he restages the abortion debate on high moral ground, exploring prevailing community standards and such vexing questions as what happens when an aborted fetus survives the operation, in the process forging a middle path between abortion-on-demand and no-abortions-ever. Hospital advertisements, medical expenses, surrogate motherhood, and doctor-patient relations are among other issues explored with characteristic care. This all may sound dry, but in fact it's captivating, thanks to Gorovitz's decision to confront issues as they naturally arise in the course of day-to-day hospital operations. This grounds his difficult, sometimes abstruse themes in real-life, flesh-and-blood struggles, giving his conclusions added authority.
A small gem of medical philosophy.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1990
ISBN: 19-504428-2
Page Count: -
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
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