Illuminations Year 2, 3rd-8th Grade

It is the year 597 and Pope Gregory is sending a select number of his monks, led by Fr. Augustine, to re-evangelize England. Young Wolf, born in that land but raised in Rome, accompanies his father, Wolfstan, who goes as a guide and interpreter. Though the King of Kent's wife is a Christian, the missionaries from Rome do not know whether they will be welcomed, tolerated or martyred. In a story full of adventure, Wolf meets Fritha, a Saxon girl whose life and destiny are soon closely bound up with his own.

Young Simon, recently and tragically orphaned, becomes a scribe in the following of the exiled Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. The uncertainty of the tumultuous years leading to the infamous cathedral slaying is heightened by Simon's separation from his twin Edmund, who is in the service of King Henry II.

The year is A.D. 781. King Charles of the Franks is crossing the Alps with his family and court on a journey to meet with Pope Hadrian. One frosty night he speaks to his young son Carl: "When we come to Rome you will know that I am naming you my heir. One day you will rule over all my lands. . . ." But the King already had an heir, Pepin the Hunchback, mockingly called Gobbo. Was he to be dispossessed? Yet Carl sees that Charlemagne is determined to do what he feels is best to serve God and Europe.

In this story set during World War II, two survivors from a torpedoed American freighter have much to learn from each other when the Germans invade the small island of Curacao.