“I’m not much of a reader, Father. I learn best by example. Words don’t seem to.…”
Again the Father lifted his hand for silence, his serenity quickened by inspiration. “My son, the Lord has directed you to us. If you profit by example, by all odds the most convincing example of a life lived by pure faith is lived right within these walls by the late Brother Johannis.”
Even Steward, the grammarian, would have had trouble parsing that sentence, Hansen thought, as the Father continued. “Brother Johannis lost his belief in God, but the power of his faith is such that I am proposing him for canonization while he still lives, and my proposal has been taken so seriously that the devil’s advocate is arriving within the fortnight from Rome to adjudge his claim to sainthood. Brother Johannis lives
