It's difficult to make good, fictional priests attractive or even
believable. The characters who seem to engage us most are the
"problem priests," cf. Graham Greene, Brian Moore. That this is so
may have as much to do with the quality of the writing as with the
construction of the character. At any rate, Monsarrat's novel
arrives with raves from English reviewers with regard to his
creation of Father Salvatore, or Dun Salv, as his devoted
parishioners call him. The story is set during the siege of the
British possession of Malta from June, 1940 until August, 1942.
Father Salvatore, the kappillan (Maltese for priest) is the
descendant of an ancient Maltese family. His mother, the Baroness
Celeste Santo-Nobile reigns in aristocratic splendor despite the
perils surrounding them. His brother, Benedict, lives in
sophisticated style in Paris where he now entertains the Germans.
Lewis, his brother-in-law, is an Italian sympathizer whose
allegiance will land him in prison before the war is over. But Fr.
Salvatore chooses to remain "a priest without preferment" and to
this end he quotes St. Jerome: "Avoid, as you would the plague, a
priest who is also a man of business." When his church is bombed he
establishes his congregation in the catacombs which now serve as a
24 hour air-raid shelter. During the course of the war Fr.
Salvatore is removed by his superiors because of the conduct of his
"flock" in the primitive conditions of the caves and because his
own role has grown too "exalted." At first he rebels against the
discipline but finally accepts the chastisement and spends the
following 30 years in seclusion at a nearby monastery. To his
people he remains a hero. The structure of Monsarrat's novel is
masterly - many subplots being carefully interwoven. But what
really holds the reader's attention and admiration is the story of
Malta itself which has been conquered many times in its long
history. The problems and character of Father Salvatore, however,
are not sufficiently complex to truly absorb us. (Kirkus Reviews)
'One of the most memorable characters of post-war fiction' Daily
Express A classic novel set in the siege of Malta 1940-1942 from
the bestselling author of The Cruel Sea Father Salvatore was a
simple, lumbering priest, a Kappillan serving the poor Valetta,
when war came out of the blue skies to pound the island to dust.
Now amid the catacombs discovered by a chance bomb, he cared for
the flood of homeless, starving, frightened people who sought
shelter from the death that fell unceasingly from the sky. His
story, and the story of Malta, is told in superbly graphic pictures
of six days during the siege. Each of those days brought forth from
the Kappillan a message of inspiration to keep them going - the
legendary tales of six mighty events of Malta's history which shone
through the centuries and gathered them together in a fervent
belief in their survival.
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