Diary of a Country Priest

By Georges Bernanos

Book Overview

Awarded the Grand Prix for Literature by the Acad mie Fran aise and adapted into a classic film by Robert Bresson, Diary of a Country Priest has long been recognized as a literary masterpiece. In this acclaimed new translation by Bernanos scholar Michael R. Tobin, the full, unabridged work is made available to English-language readers for the first time.

Set in rural France, the novel recounts the joys and travails of a young parish priest, tormented by illness and afflicted by awkwardness, as he deals with a colorful cast of local characters and endures deep interior suffering. Accessible to Catholic and non-Catholic readers alike, it is a tour de force of spiritual storytelling, destined to be a classic for generations to come.

"This novel, so immense in significance and beauty, is a portrait of a suffering soul, a simple priest who carries within his own body the sins of others, and in his heart an incomplete love for himself. As the events of the story unfold, we come to know this highly sensitive soul, so dedicated, so yearning to help others. Yet even as his worsening health is combined with a dark night of the soul, grace moves in him, and through him, for the salvation of others. This fine new translation offers us afresh a major Christian classic, which prevails as one of the great works of human literature."
-- Michael D. O'Brien, Author, Island of the World

"Tobin's graceful translation of Bernanos' magnificent novel illustrates an uncommon path to holiness."
-- Ron Hansen, Author, Mariette in Ecstasy

"The best Spiritual Book of the 20th Century."
-- USA Today

"A book of utmost sensitivity, compassion, and deep encompassing art."
-- New York Times Book Review

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 162164748X
• ISBN13: 9781621647485
• Release Date: March 2025
• Publisher: Ignatius Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Amazing!

This is a great book for all!!

overlooked classic

I tried to read this book several times since I first heard of it through watching the films of Robert Bresson twenty years ago. Only now have I been able to read it, and I think it is one of those books that you have to be "ready for" before you can appreciate it. It is not easy to read and it is certainly not congenial to contemporary laissez-faire attitudes toward religion, spirituality, sin and redemption. That said, it is one of the most powerful things one can read if one can hear it. And upon reading it a second time, one marvels at how fully thought out it is. The entire book is foreshadowed in the first chapter. It really is a marvelous bit of writing. If you're the sort of person who underlines quotable passages in books, bring an extra highlighter because there's a lot to quote from in this book.

An intense touching portait of a country priest's struggles.

Bernanos' classic is perhaps the most touching novel I've ever read. Its the story of a country priest whose parish is not very interested in religious matters. He deals with this, his personal problems, and Bernanos' descriptions of his struggles are profoundly emotional. I read this book a long time ago, but to this day I remember the impact it had on me. Such feeling and compassion I have never felt for any other fictional character (save Lord Jim). This work is truly a masterpeice. Reading it will change you, forever....

Concede yourself the reading of this gem!

I am not religious, yet this book is a permanent source of inspiration for me. I believe this comes from the beauty of the life it describes, rather than of doctrines. This is perhaps the most relevant book I ever read, and also one of the best in whatever sense.

Maybe the most influential book I ever read

Along with Dorothy Day's The Long Loneliness, Diary is one of the books that helped convince me to become a Catholic. The priest's dying words--"Grace is everywhere"--sum up for me the Faith and what I want from and in my life.