Everyone is called according to God's purpose. Beryl, at eighteen, had been called to be a nun. With her every sense, she knew this as intimately as the breath that was within her. She obeyed so diligently because it came natural. God had placed her in a convent to serve Him. He was her master--the only one she wanted to please. Every life has a way of testing even the surest decisions.
With the uprooting from her cloistered convent, Beryl found herself unexpectedly in places and situations that she was not prepared to handle. Along with the details of care giving, she became acutely aware of Padre Vittorio. He was so handsome, but so taboo. How could she be experiencing such fleshly needs when she had promised herself to the perfect husband--her God? Would God actually allow the two of them to be together, or would Padre Vittorio even consider leaving the priesthood to make her his wife?
After leaving her chosen profession for love, Beryl found life did not take on a miraculous turn, but rather one that was filled with intense love and pain, not unlike the suffering of a servant. Plagued with terminal illness, Vittorio had to choose which path he was meant to follow--could he surrender to the love of a woman and make her his wife or was he meant to remain a priest?
Theirs is a love story that tests the boundaries of faith. For Beryl and Padre Vittorio, the commandments they follow are to love one another, but was it what God commanded?
THE SCENT OF GOD is a captivating and enchanting love story. The powerful love that one has for their faith is transferred to the love of another human being through thick and thin. The commitment that it takes to be together regardless of the odds is spellbinding, and the memoirs of an extraordinary woman are inspirational to read in this excellent book. A must read for anyone who has doubted that in order to serve God one must love in its purest form whatever the call.
The heartrending story of the forbidden love between a nun
and a priest-by a writer who illuminates the details of
everyday life, from the quiet rhythms of the cloister to
the exuberant sensuality of the Amalfi Coast When her
family moves to Puerto Rico in the early 1950s, thirteen-
year-old Beryl Bissell enters a milieu heady with sexuality
and passion. Uncomfortable in her developing body and
yearning for unconditional love, she becomes convinced that
only God can satisfy her longing. On the day following her
eighteenth birthday, she enters a cloistered convent in New
Jersey, believing that God has called her to this way of
life.
At first, she is blissfully happy. Within the year,
however, she has become anorectic and prey to other
obsessive compulsions. Her vocation at risk, she overcomes
these disorders and perseveres for another ten years, until
she must return home to Puerto Rico to help care for her
ailing father.
Thrust once more into the sensual world of Puerto Rico, she
discovers that religious garb cannot protect her from her
budding sexuality. She is drawn to Padre Vittorio, a
handsome Italian priest, and undergoes a belated coming of
age. For the next three years, as she travels to and from
the island, she struggles to reconcile human desire with
spiritual longing. Unable to confide in either her mother
or abbess, she tries to find the inner freedom that would
allow her to love fully. The events that follow take the
reader on a dizzying journey into the heart of desire, both
spiritual and human.
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