The Strolling Saint

Publisher Marketing: In seeking other than in myself-as men will-the causes of my tribulations, I have often inclined to lay the blame of much of the ill that befell me, and the ill that in my sinful life I did to others, upon those who held my mother at the baptismal font and concerted that she should bear the name of Monica. There are in life many things which, in themselves, seeming to the vulgar and the heedless to be trivial and without consequence, may yet be causes pregnant of terrible effects, mainsprings of Destiny itself. Amid such portentous trifles I would number the names so heedlessly bestowed upon us. It surprises me that in none of the philosophic writings of the learned scholars of antiquity can I find that this matter of names has been touched upon, much less given the importance of which I account it to be deserving. Possibly it is because no one of them ever suffered, as I have suffered, from the consequences of a name. Had it but been so, they might in their weighty and impressive manner have set down a lesson on the subject, and so relieved me-who am all-conscious of my shortcomings in this direction-from the necessity of repairing that omission out of my own experience. Let it then, even at this late hour, be considered what a subtle influence for good or ill, what a very mould of character may lie within a name. Contributor Bio:  Sabatini, Raphael Rafael Sabatini, creator of some of the world's best-loved heroes, was born in Italy in 1875 to an English mother and Italian father, both well-known opera singers. He was educated in Portugal and Switzerland, but at seventeen moved to England, where, after a brief stint in the business world, he started to write. Fluent in a total of five languages, he nonetheless chose to write in English, claiming that 'all the best stories are written in [that language]'. His writing career was launched with a collection of short stories, followed by several novels. Fame, however, came with 'Scaramouche', the much-loved story of the French Revolution, which became an international bestseller. 'Captain Blood' followed soon after, which resulted in a renewed enthusiasm for his earlier work which were rushed into reprint. For many years a prolific writer, he was forced to abandon writing in the 1940's through illness and eventually died in 1950. Sabatini is best remembered for his heroic characters and high-spirited novels, many of which have been adapted into classic films, including Scaramouche, Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk. They appeal to both a male and female audience with drama, romance and action, all placed in historical settings. It was once stated in the 'Daily Telegraph' that 'one wonders if there is another storyteller so adroit at filling his pages with intrigue and counter-intrigue, with danger threaded with romance, with a background of lavish colour, of silks and velvets, of swords and jewels.'