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Intercession
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January 20, 2024
REVIEW OF KEVIN HAAR’S INTERCESSION
I picked up this book after one of those Catholic vs. Non-Catholic critical discussions about Catholic devotions to the saints and to Mary the mother of Jesus. My attempts to explain intercessory prayer and the meaning of “intercession” prompted my interest in this book. “Intercession” covers a wide range of interactions between persons and their reasons for seeking outside help: among them: mediation, intervention, interposition, arbitration, advocacy, entreaty, plea, invocation, solicitation, reconciliation, appeasement; examples of which we find in this story.
An isolated Irish Island on a preternaturally cold, dark and stormy night is the setting for the first of the two protagonists. The island’s innkeeper Niall anxiously attends his wife as she undergoes a painful and difficult labor, their latest attempt to start a family. The local doctor failed to respond to summons and instead one of the local convent’s nuns, with limited medical experience, is sent to be midwife, although she places her hopes in her convent and their intercessory prayers for a miracle. When Niall’s wife dies at the baby’s arrival, and the baby’s life is endangered, an unexpected visitor—another intercessor-- appears and saves the baby despite murmurs from the company that she is a witch. Niall expels the nun, who had been a good friend of his wife, and denounces the faith she represents.
The next scene involves an Irish rebel, wanted by the British for the murder of his brother, which he witnessed but did not commit, who sought refuge at the island’s monastery and has been living under an assumed name—Brother Declan-- as a monk, summoned to the office of his abbot, who has discovered his secret and his true identity and reveals his intention to expose him.
The baby, named Aiofe, appears nearly twelve years later, with no religious upbringing, despite having found friendship with the nun who attended her birth. Meanwhile the townspeople believe Aiofe is cursed due to the circumstances of her birth, and Aiofe has committed herself to prove otherwise.
The two protagonists continue as their attempts to control their destinies are faced with intercessions, sometimes good, sometimes not. Brother Declan’s accuser is found dead on the stairs of the monastery and he resumes his duties, unsure of who else may know his secret. Aiofe goes on a quest of sorts to find the mysterious woman who saved her life in hope that she may save her reputation. Aiofe reminds me of Mark Twain’s Joan of Arc in her personality, and in her supernatural encounters with various saints and other intercessors.
Inevitably the two protagonists will meet in a climactic situation, in a well-wrought narrative beautifully described in an unexpected conclusion and resolution. I would definitely like to read more from this gifted author.
I picked up this book after one of those Catholic vs. Non-Catholic critical discussions about Catholic devotions to the saints and to Mary the mother of Jesus. My attempts to explain intercessory prayer and the meaning of “intercession” prompted my interest in this book. “Intercession” covers a wide range of interactions between persons and their reasons for seeking outside help: among them: mediation, intervention, interposition, arbitration, advocacy, entreaty, plea, invocation, solicitation, reconciliation, appeasement; examples of which we find in this story.
An isolated Irish Island on a preternaturally cold, dark and stormy night is the setting for the first of the two protagonists. The island’s innkeeper Niall anxiously attends his wife as she undergoes a painful and difficult labor, their latest attempt to start a family. The local doctor failed to respond to summons and instead one of the local convent’s nuns, with limited medical experience, is sent to be midwife, although she places her hopes in her convent and their intercessory prayers for a miracle. When Niall’s wife dies at the baby’s arrival, and the baby’s life is endangered, an unexpected visitor—another intercessor-- appears and saves the baby despite murmurs from the company that she is a witch. Niall expels the nun, who had been a good friend of his wife, and denounces the faith she represents.
The next scene involves an Irish rebel, wanted by the British for the murder of his brother, which he witnessed but did not commit, who sought refuge at the island’s monastery and has been living under an assumed name—Brother Declan-- as a monk, summoned to the office of his abbot, who has discovered his secret and his true identity and reveals his intention to expose him.
The baby, named Aiofe, appears nearly twelve years later, with no religious upbringing, despite having found friendship with the nun who attended her birth. Meanwhile the townspeople believe Aiofe is cursed due to the circumstances of her birth, and Aiofe has committed herself to prove otherwise.
The two protagonists continue as their attempts to control their destinies are faced with intercessions, sometimes good, sometimes not. Brother Declan’s accuser is found dead on the stairs of the monastery and he resumes his duties, unsure of who else may know his secret. Aiofe goes on a quest of sorts to find the mysterious woman who saved her life in hope that she may save her reputation. Aiofe reminds me of Mark Twain’s Joan of Arc in her personality, and in her supernatural encounters with various saints and other intercessors.
Inevitably the two protagonists will meet in a climactic situation, in a well-wrought narrative beautifully described in an unexpected conclusion and resolution. I would definitely like to read more from this gifted author.
Displaying 1 of 1 review