Family wealth and status demand much from Ugo Sacco. His father sends him to Italy’s finest schools before he enters the seminary where noble blood and a sharp mind make him stand out. Ugo believes the Church will someday make him Cardinal or Bishop. He believes that fate chose him to lead. He also believes that he will not fail. First of his peers, the church gives him his own parish in a remote village Fignola, Province Potenza. Farmers and artisans, the earthy Fignolans, warmly welcome the refined priest. Ugo soon resents his early success. In the village, he finds too much goat dung and too many ignorant people, and nothing of value for him. He serves Fignola for more than twenty years without making a single friend. Patronizing and a stuffed shirt, he ministers his duties with grudging formality. Ugo keeps Fignolans in their place. Ugo believes the Church owes him a better station among people of his class. He feels trapped, and begs to transfer. The bishop ignores his monthly, transfer pleas. Tall, fit, near fifty and graying, he cuts an imposing figure, but he boils with rancor. How could the church dismiss Ugo? In 1910, Ugo believes the Church has wasted its best priest, him.The story begins when the bishop sends a long overdue successor to the former assistant lost to a fever two years before. The replacement one day just walked into the square. Ugo had not even met the new padre, Matteo Colio. He came with no forewarning or introduction. Why, Ugo wondered, would the bishop abandon all manners and form? Worse, Padre Colio is a midget and his arrival makes a spectacle. Ugo regards this, the final insult. The village shrinks from his anger as he rages at those around him. Ugo derides Fignolan people for their ignorance. He mocks the padre as a half-priest, circus clown, and freak. In the tiny isolated village overcome with boredom, Ugo becomes a tragic amusement. Ugo deliberately limits Matteo’s role. The flock senses this and embraces Matteo to right Ugo’s bad form. Despite the poor beginning, the padre offers harmony and service. With a caring heart, Matteo shows skill in resolving sins and daily struggles. Sadly, the flock deserts Ugo and confesses only to Matteo. The strain between the priests increases. Ugo’s open scorn feeds on the contrast between him and Matteo. Unlike Ugo, Matteo comes from lowborn poverty. Ugo defines his life by his personal ambition. Matteo sees all life as a struggle, and defines his life by helping others manage that struggle. The padre offers the pastor friendship. In return, the pastor plots to remove the padre. Matteo’s unwelcome friendship and natural events, brings change, a threat to Ugo. Ugo resists. He hides from Fignola in his study, and avoids any friendship. Everyone worries for him. Though Ugo cared little for Fignola, its people cared for him. He was their pastor. Matteo persists, and clashes with Ugo. Despite his defiance, Ugo finds himself ensnared in Fignola, its rhythm of life and people with all their struggles. His defenses slowly fall, and Ugo finds his humanity. Rising above his arrogance, Ugo accepts Fignolans as equals. He learns that Matteo and the parish belong in his heart. Ugo finds a place and a purpose. He learns that he loves and belongs in the village that he once detested.This historical fiction, set in early 20th Century Italy, is a novel with coming of age and religious themes that warmly portrays the struggles, joys and sorrows of a poor but noble community living the daily drama as it contends with village life and the forces of nature.