Dear friend,
Welcome back.
Four stories to cover from October so far: The Cell at Lisieux, The Apartments in the Vatican, The Cell at San José, and The Chapel at Bayamo. Lisieux in 1893. The Vatican in 1959. Ávila in 1577. Rural Cuba in 1854. This Lamplight covers the first four Fridays of October. Because October had five Fridays this year, the fifth story - Anselm with Simon and Jude at Lyon in 1098 - will be discussed in the next Lamplight, alongside the November issues. That story deserves its own space; a three-saint issue is a first for the project and I’d rather give it proper room than squeeze it into the end of this one.
What follows is the back-room work: the historical settings and the saints behind them, the theological arguments the stories were making, and the through-line I’ve come to see running across the whole month. It runs about 3,100 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. If you’d like to join us, you can upgrade below.