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In nomine patris
Father Georgio barely made it out of seminary. Lousy grades. His hopes of one day becoming a cardinal were dashed. Crushed.
As he had zero connections in the Church hierarchy, his hopes of connecting with a good church anywhere near the Vatican were crushed as well.
He ended up running a small church, ok, it was actually a dilapidated garage which, with the help of his dear friend Leonardo, he cleaned up, brought in the necessary religious and sacred items, found an old altar plus tables, benches and chairs where he could and was all set to celebrate mass.
He could only dream of one day getting enough money to eventually fix the leaky roof, never mind dreaming of getting if only only a reasonably big chapel for his terribly devout parishioners. They were of the best, at times dropping a few coins in the collection box. And sometimes sometimes sometimes, thank you Lord, an anonymous and generous donor dropped a somewhat fat envelope in the box as well.
Despite his impossible dreams of a mitre, he enjoyed his parish and his environment.
As a ritual before closing up for the day, it was his habit to take the content of the collection box to the rear where he had a sort of sacristy. He served hinself a glass of white mass wine, then counted the money, keeping the envelope for last. Counting the bills, his mind and soul (as well as his conscience) told him that it was safe to put a few hundred euros in his pocket before putting the rest in his safety box.
Locking everything properly behind him, he then left his garage-cum-church and took his usual walk home a few kilometers away, taking time to stop by the liquor store to purchase a couple of bottles of a rare pleasure. Allegrini Amarone della Valpolicella before resuming his walk home to his beloved Leonardo.
Yes, gorgeous Leonardo, his lover of two years now. They shared his rather spacious third floor loft, a loft with an elegant terrace and a superb view on the Tiber. Not on his meagre salary of course. But Leonardo was an up-and-coming artist in the gay community.
The special wine for the upcoming festive evening as a number of guests would join them to celebrate Leorardo's birthday
As he had zero connections in the Church hierarchy, his hopes of connecting with a good church anywhere near the Vatican were crushed as well.
He ended up running a small church, ok, it was actually a dilapidated garage which, with the help of his dear friend Leonardo, he cleaned up, brought in the necessary religious and sacred items, found an old altar plus tables, benches and chairs where he could and was all set to celebrate mass.
He could only dream of one day getting enough money to eventually fix the leaky roof, never mind dreaming of getting if only only a reasonably big chapel for his terribly devout parishioners. They were of the best, at times dropping a few coins in the collection box. And sometimes sometimes sometimes, thank you Lord, an anonymous and generous donor dropped a somewhat fat envelope in the box as well.
Despite his impossible dreams of a mitre, he enjoyed his parish and his environment.
As a ritual before closing up for the day, it was his habit to take the content of the collection box to the rear where he had a sort of sacristy. He served hinself a glass of white mass wine, then counted the money, keeping the envelope for last. Counting the bills, his mind and soul (as well as his conscience) told him that it was safe to put a few hundred euros in his pocket before putting the rest in his safety box.
Locking everything properly behind him, he then left his garage-cum-church and took his usual walk home a few kilometers away, taking time to stop by the liquor store to purchase a couple of bottles of a rare pleasure. Allegrini Amarone della Valpolicella before resuming his walk home to his beloved Leonardo.
Yes, gorgeous Leonardo, his lover of two years now. They shared his rather spacious third floor loft, a loft with an elegant terrace and a superb view on the Tiber. Not on his meagre salary of course. But Leonardo was an up-and-coming artist in the gay community.
The special wine for the upcoming festive evening as a number of guests would join them to celebrate Leorardo's birthday
Published 22nd Dec 2021
Author's Note
Written for the Appearance versus Reality competition
All writing remains the property of the author. Don't use it for any purpose without their permission.
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31st Dec 2021 1:30am
31st Dec 2021 1:43am
A good deal of it true as well. I read a story, way back, about a priest in Rome whose church was a garage. More recently, a priest and his friend were arrested because they swindled funds with which they paid for evenings of gang-bangs or whatever with people of same mind on the internet.
