Brother Petroc's Return - Paperback

by Dominican Nuns of Summit (Editor), S. M. C. (Author)

When Brother Petroc is unexpectedly awoken from his 16th century tomb, he must face a 20th century world. While his Cornwall monastery remains intact-in the charge of a community of English Benedictines-there is much about the life there that is more than a little strange to him. The prayers, the duties, even the habits seem the same, but surrounded by newfangled technologies and modern sensibilities, he must grapple with the immense changes that four hundred years have wrought.

With its intricate eye for detail Brother Petroc's Return is a charming and subtle exploration of the ways that faith is molded over time by the people who tend and keep it, even as those people are in turn molded by the selfsame faith. With clear-eyed medieval simplicity, Brother Petroc is an excellent mirror in which to view our modern faith, with its defects and excesses alongside its wonderfully rich developments and the ultimately timeless realities of Faith, Hope and Charity.

Author Biography

Sister Mary Catherine Anderson, O.P. was born Kathleen Agnes Cicely Anderson on January 21st, 1888 in Falmouth, Cornwall, England. Born to an Anglican clergyman, Kathleen converted with her family to the Catholic Church when still a little girl. She was educated by the Stone Dominican Sisters at their convent of St. Marychurch and entered the congregation on May 2nd, 1908 at St. Dominic's Convent, Stone, receiving the religious name of Sister Mary Catherine. Sister made her profession on November 25th 1909 and afterwards trained as a primary school teacher at the Sacred Heart Training College in St. Charles's Square, London. By 1936, when Sister was assigned to St. Marychurch, she had begun to write-mainly historical novels of the revolts in Devon and Cornwall. It is during this time that Sister wrote her most popular book, Brother Petroc's Return, which received great acclaim in both England and in America. Following this came many other titles including two biographies-Steward of Souls and A Treasure of Joy and Gladness-as well as lives of St. Margaret of Hungary and of St. Hyacinth. After her retirement she was appointed prioress to the community in Kelvedon, Essex and then assigned to the convent in Brewood where she continued to write. She died at Stone on April 14th, 1972 in the 85th year of her life and the 63rd year of religious profession.