The Dark Sacrament (2007)
The Dark Sacrament
“Despite having left the county of his birth some five decades ago, he has never lost the accent. He speaks softly, and one has to listen closely to catch his words. Yet his gentle demeanor masks an iron will and a fierce intelligence. There is also an air of another time about him; one suspects that the saints and Christian martyrs of antiquity looked and sounded a lot like Father Ignatius.
His call to the religious life came when he was still a child.
“I was enthralled by the whole solemnity a...nd pomp of the Mass,” he recollects. “While other boys were most likely bored by that Sunday ritual, I was enchanted. I remember asking my mother what a priest did besides offering Mass, and she said: ‘He dresses in black clothes and prays a lot.’ I think maybe she didn’t want me getting ideas in that direction.”
But the young Ignatius’s dream of becoming a priest did not diminish as he grew older. “I suppose when I got into my teens I became aware of what I’d be giving up, what the monastic life would involve, and that worried me.MoreLess
His call to the religious life came when he was still a child.
“I was enthralled by the whole solemnity a...nd pomp of the Mass,” he recollects. “While other boys were most likely bored by that Sunday ritual, I was enchanted. I remember asking my mother what a priest did besides offering Mass, and she said: ‘He dresses in black clothes and prays a lot.’ I think maybe she didn’t want me getting ideas in that direction.”
But the young Ignatius’s dream of becoming a priest did not diminish as he grew older. “I suppose when I got into my teens I became aware of what I’d be giving up, what the monastic life would involve, and that worried me.MoreLess
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