Diary of a Country Priest (1951)

Adrien Borel: Priest of Torcy (Curé de Torcy)

Photos 

Quotes 

• Curé de Torcy : Make order. Make order all day long. Make order while thinking that disorder will take over the following day, because it is precisely within order, unfortunately, that the night will blow away yesterday's work.

• Curé de Torcy : You young priests - what do you have in your veins nowadays? In my time, we trained churchmen, heads of the parish, real masters. Now the seminaries send us choirboys, ragamuffins who think they work hardest because they accomplish nothing. At the slightest effort, they whine that priesthood isn't what they expected and give up.

• Curé de Torcy : Along with destroying the Devil, your other pet obsession is to be loved for yourselves. A true priest is never loved! The Church doesn't give a fig if you're loved. Be respected, obeyed.

• Curé d'Ambricourt : Where have I gone wrong?

  Curé de Torcy : You fidget about too much. You look like a hornet in a bottle.

• Curé de Torcy : Maybe God meant for you to live in sadness.

• Curé de Torcy : Avoid the daughter. She's a fiend.

  Curé d'Ambricourt : I won't shut my door to her. Or anyone else, as long as I'm the priest of this parish.

• Curé de Torcy : Work. Do small things, day by day, in the meantime. Small things seem like nothing. But they bring peace. And try to pray. Try hard.

• Curé de Torcy : Pray to the Holy Virgin. She is our mother, of course, the mother of mankind, but also its daughter. The ancient world, the world before grace, had long cradled her. For centuries on end, its old hands had protected the marvelous little girl whose name it didn't even know. A little girl, that queen of angels, which she still remains. Never forget that.

• Curé de Torcy : You're pickled in it, you poor fellow. You weren't even aware, probably. But you slowly drifted into asking wine - and what *wine* - for the strength and courage you'd get from a good roast.