Dear friend,
Welcome back.
Four stories this month: The Room in Turin, The Oak at Kildare, The Hermitage in Mount Lebanon, and The Small Room at La Strada. I’ve been living inside them all July, and I have things I want to tell you about each one.
Before I get to the stories, one observation about the month as a whole. When I was planning July’s pairings back in June, I couldn’t see how the four issues fit together, or whether they did. Rereading them now, I think they were all doing something like the same thing - asking how the Lord finishes what He begins in us when the finishing isn’t visible to us. Frassati dying at twenty-four before he’d done anything the world could name. Benedict walking away from Subiaco convinced his first attempt had failed. Charbel spending twenty-three years in silence with no visible fruit until his body was found incorrupt. Ignatius dying without the papal blessing he’d asked for, the Society continuing anyway. I didn’t design that overlap. It found itself. I think this is what happens when you write four stories in a row - the writer’s preoccupations show up whether he means them to or not.
Now, the stories….
What follows is the back-room work: notes on what I cut from each of July’s stories, what surprised me while writing them, the historical sources behind each, and one theological argument that emerged when I wasn’t looking. It runs about 2,500 words. Paid subscribers can read on. The Friday stories will always be free - this is the conversation around them, for those who want to sit in the back room. Those who subscribe here help to support my work - and my family. If you’d like to join us, you can upgrade below.