Cestus

One of the hidden mysteries of ancient Christendom is the legend of a fierce gladiator who gave up the power of the sword for the power of the cross. My novel Cestus tells the story of the slave who was sold to the owner of a gladiator school, became the most feared fighter in all of Rome, and through a love affair with the niece of the prophet Zebediah became a most unlikely disciple of Jesus of Nazareth. You can purchase a paperback copy or kindle version of Cestus on Amazon.com.

The Genesis of CESTUS

While attending Mass at a small bayou side church in Louisiana I heard the priest deliver a homily about a fierce warrior who fell in love with abeautiful woman. According to the priest, the woman was killed during a battle and rather than leave her behind, the warrior fashioned a rough casket and carried her to the safety of the mountains. There, wishing to gaze upon her beauty one final time before burying her, he tore open the casket…only to look upon a maggot infested horror. That, the priest said, was the start of the conversion of the man who would become St. Loyola, for the warrior came to realize that all beauty, all strength, all earthly power soon passed away and so he went in quest of an answer to the meaning of this life on earth.

I was so enthralled that upon returning home I immediately started work on a manuscript based on the tale. Strangely enough, though I did volumes of research I could not find any reference to St. Loyola that matched the story I heard in church. Sometime later I returned to Louisiana and the church on the bayou to tell the priest how his sermon on the warrior saint had given me the genesis of a novel. The priest looked puzzled and replied that he had never preached such a sermon. When I persisted he stated that he was certain because he kept a log of each of his sermons so that he would not repeat any one of them too often. Furthermore, he said, he had never even heard of the story of the warrior saint.

Subsequently, I questioned some people who I knew had been in the same church that Sunday and not one of them recalled hearing the sermon. I did. Nevertheless, I persisted in writing what eventually became the novel Cestus. Whatever power sent this story to me, I know that it is my mission to open hearts and minds, and souls, to the power of the cross.

Cestus is available at Amazon in both soft cover and Kindle forms.

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