ePub His Humble Servant: Sister M. Pascalina Lehnert's Memoirs of Her Years of Service to Eugenio Pacelli; Pope Pius XII by M. Pascalina Lehnert; Susan Johnson in History

Review

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful. Scholarly and factual. Everyone who believes they know Pope ...By JaneScholarly and factual. Everyone who believes they know Pope Pius XII needs to read this.7 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Review on book about Pope Pius XIIBy Ronald DominguezThis review is a bit “conditional” because it depends a lot on where a reader is coming from. I am a Roman Catholic who knows very well the culture; beliefs and ethic of what life was like in the Roman Catholic Church back in the time of Pope Pius XII. As a result of this; I can read a book by Sister Lehnert and understand clearly and fully the culture and ethic she is talking about. For somebody like me; who understands this culture; the book is very informative; inspiring and enlightening.If a person is NOT aware of all of this; I guarantee that the book will appear very strange and not at all realistic. Some readers may be totally lost and miss many of the meanings of what is discussed.It is a lot like this: Let’s say you; as an individual; know a lot about cars. You may be able to read and write about all sorts of technical details and many complex workings and know immediately what it all means. It MAY and IS real and sensible but to somebody who does not know the workings and nature of cars and engines; they will be lost. The same is true with this book.In a way; the book is “unworldly” in the sense that much of what Sister talks about is of a deep spiritual meaning that is very foreign to modern day sensibilities. It “may” be very real but it is something so deep that most modern readers may get confused with it.For example; Sister reveals in the book that Pope Pius XII worked to massive excess. He slept only 4 hours a day; worked endlessly day and night with barely a break; ate almost nothing and rarely; if ever; did anything to “relax”. Modern understanding of this would make out that Pope Pius was either a workaholic to the max and was “sick”. But; understanding the spiritual nature of how Pope Pius viewed this; it was a very natural and sensible thing: For the Kingdom of God; it was highly desirable and for HIM necessary to concentrate his entire being on the work of God. He did this to the extreme peril of his health. When one understands the nature of the spirituality at work; it makes sense in a deep; theological sense. To one who is not aware of this understanding; it is sheer nuts.So; to truly understand the real meaning of the life at hand there one must be able to understand the “world” in which it was a part. THAT was the world of Pope Pius and Sister and others and it was very real; sensible and noble. To get anything from the book one needs to accept the premise it revolved around. Doing this; one can learn a lot about what Pope Pius XII was like. If somebody makes the mistake of viewing his life and activities according to modern interpretation they will be sadly misunderstanding the best points of his life.I found the book a “good read” in that it flows well; covers a lot and was translated from the original German decently.Sister covers a lot of important details (including the reasons why Pope Pius acted as he did during the war) and gives a good explanation of what happened and how the pope responded and why.One thing in the book DID get to be a bit irritating to me. Sister; in her enthusiastic desire to show that Pope Pius XII was deeply loved went to too many extremes in detailing many of the endless gatherings that Pope Pius presided over. While it is only natural that at such gatherings there will be enthusiast response to seeing or hearing a pope in person; her coverage of all this was excessive and a bit tiring to read and re-read over and over again. She made her point that he was enthusiastically received but she didn’t have to document endless examples like she did.Overall; the book was interesting and I enjoyed it. You do learn a lot about what the popes’ life was like. The ONLY really irritating thing to me was that she mentioned absolutely nothing about the years from the end of World War II to his death in 1958. These were important years with loads of important details and events that people would want to know about but were not covered at all. This was irritating to me and I don’t know why she did that. It is a major failing of the book.The book is an enthusiastic celebration and total admiration of Pope Pius XII from a trusted "insider". She reveals no faults or short comings which is a bit of a disappointment because to really understand even a great person; you need to see some of their faults. She details nothing like this and I think that leaves a bit of a too biased view. I'm not looking for dirt against Pope Pius but I would like to know some of his shortcomings that must have existed in his being. It would help to understand the total person but she revealed nothing. In spite of this; the book was very interesting.5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Very Faithful ServantBy Louise G.This is a personal account of the very devoted and yes faithful personal assistant confidant of Pius XII. Sister Pascalina was there and is a good witness to history. No doubt he was her hero and never waivered in her devotion.