The Book of the Lion Religion Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Chapter, Paragraph

Quote #7

Men do not forget so soon. Father Urbino spoke the noble Latin, praying to God for the rest of the souls of our brothers Miles de Neville and Matteo Mattei, the big sailor from Genoa. It was not a formal requiem, simply a brief address to Heaven. (19.10)

Father Urbino is sent on board to take care of spiritual needs—like a religious doctor. When the sailors die in the storm, he offers up a brief funeral for them. Even though they don't have a church and all of the other religious equipment, it's important that they still join together in prayer.

Quote #8

"Men misjudge me," he said peacefully. "Inside, I sing songs like the ones Miles used to love, and I offer Heaven my own sort of prayers. Nigel is the one who craves." (25.16)

There's this reputation that men like Rannulf pillage, steal, and worse, but as Rannulf explains, people are wrong about him. He may not fit within the box of what they think a religious man should look like, but that doesn't mean he isn't religious in a different way.

Quote #9

All eyes were on one individual, a broad-shouldered, yellow-haired man, with a thick, muscular neck, and a face set in pious thanksgiving, or weariness, or some inner brooding. He prayed a long while, as an army of men watched, firelight flickering. (26.46)

Richard the Lionheart was a famously religious man. When he lands on the shore of the Holy Land, the first thing he does is drop to his knees to pray. By kneeling down, he's showing that there's a king up above whom he obeys, even if he is the King of England. Prayer first, pomp and circumstance second.