From as far back as I can remember, I have loved St Peter.  He was a big, burly fisherman with foot in mouth disease who loved Jesus at first imperfectly and then so wholeheartedly that he died for Him.  Peter was totally human and he is the rock on which my church is built - the stuff of legend.

My fascination with Peter grew through reading and movies: The Big Fisherman, The Shoes of the Fisherman (this was more about a Pope in the mould of Peter than Peter himself).  Both books and movies were epic; they fuelled imagination already coloured by Biblical accounts.  How could I resist one more narrative linked to Peter, linked to my faith and one that promised a really good read?  I bought the book by John O’Neill, settled into a comfortable chair and blocked all distractions.

The book is really well written in clear and readable prose, and adheres to the best journalistic principles of providing, upfront, the ‘Who, What, Why, When, Where and How’.  The pace is easy – neither fast nor slow.  One does not have to move back to go forward and it is totally factual (annotated as well); there is no room for doubt about veracity.  If there is one problem that I had it is that there is too much repetition – identical statements and phrases – sometimes even in consecutive paragraphs, much like a favourite family elder repeating stories, forgetting that they have been told before.  Once is forgivable, more is not. A proofing oversight?

It is historical in that it traces back to 1939 but could only be told now because Pope Francis provides the end note.  It also gives an inside view to the functioning of the Vatican – both happy and appalling: humanity at its very best and clericalism at its very worst.  Strangely – or, perhaps typically – it is the individual personality that typifies both. There are those who spent their lives in exemplary faith and those who arrogated power to themselves in the worst possible way.  And, at the same time, it is the story of the foundation and amazing growth of our faith, built upon the ‘Rock’.

Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) who have published the book, have also provided an online interview with the author.  His concluding remark is worth attention:

“…it (the book) gives you the ability to see physical relics from the first and second centuries. With the wave of secularism that is overwhelming the world, people want to treat people like Peter as though they never existed, as though it’s all a fairy tale or Santa Claus story. Just go look under the Vatican. It’s not a Santa Claus story. They really did exist. Peter really was killed in Rome, and there were a lot of really brave people who prayed to him, who sacrificed their lives to transmit this great faith down to us in the 21st century.”

Find the interview here: https://www.osv.com/TheChurch/Article/TabId/563/ArtMID/13751/ArticleID/24487/Finding-%E2%80%98The-Fisherman%E2%80%99s-Tomb%E2%80%99.aspx