Father Bernard had not always been a priest.Once, a long time ago, before he wore the cassock, before the weight of secrets pressed heavily on his shoulders, and he sat in rooms filled with men who made their fortunes in blood, he had been a boy who believed that the world could be something better than it was.He had believed, with the unshaken faith of a child, that life did not have to be ruled by violence, by greed, by power struggles that left nothing but graves and grief in their wake.But that had been a different lifetime, a different world.He had grown up in the southern regions of Italy, in a small town called Tremezzo where the days were quiet and slow, where the mornings were filled with the ringing of church bells. There, the scent of burning incense drifted through the streets every Sunday. Faith had not just been a belief there—it had been a way of life, a force that demanded devotion, discipline, and sacrifice.His mother, a woman of unwavering faith, had always tol
Last Updated : 2025-09-06 Read more