The Power And The Glory

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The Power and the Glory Graham Green I read the book titled 'The Power and the Glory' written by Graham Green. The story plays in Mexico. It's about a catholic priest who is chased by the Mexican government. The past 30 years they were chasing priests, and this priest was almost the last of his kind. A price was put on his head, 700 pesos, which was a lot of money for the poor people of Mexico. He wanted to flee to England but because of the people who needed him he stayed. In the towns were he came he always had to say mass, baptise the children and here the confessions.

The priest had also a problem. He was an alcoholic. He always received brandy from the people. And he had a child, which is forbidden to priests.

After he missed the boot to England, because he was helping a dying person, he returned to his hometown.

But he couldn't stay there because the people were afraid to hide the priest from the lieutenant who was after him. After a razzia of the police he fled to a town in the opposite direction the police had taken. There he bought from his last money some brandy from an important man. The next day the police caught him, but they didn't know he was the priest the police was searching for. He had to spend a night in a cell and in the morning he could go.

The priest went over the border, where he was free. He came in a village where in the past 3 years no priest had been. So he had much work to do baptising the children, hearing the confessions and saying mass. Just at the moment the priest wanted to leave one of the villagers told him that there was a wounded man who wanted to see a priest. The priest knew it was trap to get him over the border but he couldn't deny his duty. The lieutenant indeed arrested him.

He couldn't escape from his fate anymore, execution. His last wish was to do his confessions to an ex-priest who was in the village, but the ex-priest didn't want to do it.

The priest got executed. But in the night after a stranger arrives, it's a priest...