THE SOUL OF A PRIEST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2805, 18 December 1907, Page 89

THE SOUL OF A PRIEST.

By the Dtjke of Litta.

London : J. Fisher Unwin.

Whatever else the Duke of Litta may or may not be, he can scarcely be a Roman Catholic, or this unsparing analysis of the soul of a priest would have been barred to him. The book is divided into two phases or parts — a- crop of illusions, and through the fiery furnace ; and opens with the very infancy of Renato Rinaldi, only son and heir of the Marchese Rinaldi, a Milanese nobleman of ancient family and sufficient wealth. The child's earliest impressions were curious, unsettled, ~ and full of » vague sadness, fojt his father and mother, after no more than eighteen months of married life, had .decided on a " friendly" separation. The Marchese, who had up io the. age of 30 or so led a fairly rapid and thoroughly sensual life, after marriage has the misfortune to fall genuinely in love with his beautiful wife. Therefore, when the mistake in -the delivery of a letter — a mistake, perhaps, not wholly accidental on the part of a maid — rudely opened his eyes, the shock was all the more bitter. By the terms of separation, the baby was left under the care of his mother until he was five years old, at which age he passed into the exclusive guardianship of his father. But, young as he was when he left his handsome, careless mother, the little Renato received" a cloud of strange and confusing impressions — of his visits to the big -handsome gentleman whom he was instructed to call papa, who gave him toys and sweetmeats, and. after kissing him and asking in a perfunctory manner as to the child's health and morals, left him with his governess to the tender mercies of the family butler; of the strange procession of intimate men visitors in his mother's hou6e, intimates who with toys and sweets and friendly attentions made their temporary bid for the good graces of the beautiful and intelligent child ; of the curious attitude, compounded of pity and insolence alike, which marked the bearing of the servants. Later on, when he leaves an atmosphere unconsciously alien and repugnant to him, and finds his home with his father, Renato comes under the influence of Professor Segni, his tutor. From thence onwards, through the years in -which the strong individuality of the child is directed by Professor Segni into an ardent and unquenchable desire for knowledge, yet shadowed with strong hereditary tendencies bequeathed by two utterly immoral parents, we have theme of many interesting chapters. How the young man, surrounded by beautiful illusions, enters the priesthood; how in the bitter years of unfruitful harvest which sees those illusions cut down by the ruthless scythe of truth and left to wither in the merciless sun of reality he passes through the soul's ordeal is told with honest conviction and more than a little force and ability. And since this is the true gist of the book — the very raison d'etre of its existence, — one may without hesitation indicate the conclusion, for this dees not in any degree invalidate the power and interest of the processes by which it is reached. From what has already been said, it will seem natural enough that Renato Rinaldi, unable to believe in the tenets of his Church, abandons the priesthood, and after passing through a veritable fiery furnace of persecution and misrepresentation, finds himself at last leaving his country and setting his face towards the rising sun of a new country, and an unfettered faith.