Priests de la Resistance! by The Rev'd Fergus Butler-Gallie

The irrepressible Assistant Curate of Liverpool Parish Church, the Rev. Fergus Butler-Gallie (and you thought Hoare was odd!), who wrote that uproarious classic of liturgical literature, A Field Guide to the English Clergy (q.v. our separate vignette, which is shamelessly recommended), has done it again.

Priests de la Resistance! (which is, inevitably, sub-titled Loose Canons Who Fought Fascism...) is, perhaps surprisingly, every bit as entertaining as its predecessor, requiring as much of a sense of humour, but no more of a religious predisposition, than its precursor. Singling out fifteen men and women of the cloth from World War II, of singular bravery and eccentricity, distinguished as much for their character as their courage, the inimitable Rev'd. Fergus has spun a distinctively odd, highly entertaining, and ineffably British memorial to them, which joins the Field Guide as a minor classic of its kind.

From the ever tipsy Father Kir, immortalised through his Kir Royale, by way of such luminaries as The Forger-Priest of the Esquiline Hill, The Feisty Nicotine Nun, and the immortal Archbishop Damaskinos, who, facing the firing squad, calmly protested: "Please respect our traditions! In Greece, we hang our Archbishops!", the anecdotes in this priceless little tome are as funny as they are fascinating, depicting, as they do, the indefatigable courage, humour and leadership of these truly heroic souls.

As to the irrepressible Rev'd. Fergus himself, one can but hope for more. Endowed as he is with not merely an astonishing facility for the pen, but degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge, behold a polymath with a sense of humour!

"The Scarlet and the Black" film clip courtesy of ITC Entertainment


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