Brother Juniper

We live in an area of Ohio that is not highly populated with Catholics. And, although the parish in our town has the most members of any other parish in the diocese, there still aren't very many Catholics per capita. That has advantages and disadvantages. One of the greatest advantages is that I can, at almost any time, reserve "Catholic" books from the library and pick them up the next day.

Last week I reserved Brother Juniper by Diane Gibfried. I believe, based on the pristine condition of the book, that it has not been checked out since it was purchased in May 2006. The book cracked when I opened the front cover. Sad, but true. It's sad because it was a great book. Even if you're not a Catholic, it has a great message.

It is the story of Brother Juniper who is in the order with Father Francis of Assisi and his followers. They are famous for their great generosity. Brother Juniper is loved by the brothers because he is a simple soul and is known to be the most generous of all. He is so generous that one day he gave his robe to a woman whose children had no coat (the book shows a cartoon illustration of Brother Juniper's bare back side -- which Peach and I thought was funny in light of the reason he gave his robe away -- but fair warning, there are two cartoon illustrations of Brother Juniper's bare back side). One day, Brother Juniper is left alone at the church and you can imagine the rest of the story. But, please, reserve it from your library and find out for yourself.