Bernardo—Another Review

Critics are sentinels in the grand army of letters, stationed at the corners of newspapers and reviews, to challenge every new author.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


This review appears in the latest edition of The Scruffy Dog Review. I encourage everyone to visit this publication at http://www.thescruffydogreview.com

Scruffy Dog is a bold, sincere, and exciting effort at spreading the joys of literature. I invariably find the content of this new journal fascinating.

Also, once again, I’m delighted with another reviewer’s positive comments about Bernardo.


Bernardo and the Virgin

Reviewed by Brenda Birch

In the book, Bernardo and the Virgin, Silvio Sirias tells Bernardo Martinez’s story in a unique and refreshing way – through the eyes of those who knew and loved him, because one could not know Bernardo Martinez and not love him. The author brilliantly mixes English with just a dash of Spanish tossed in at just the right moment for added authenticity. The prose is fluid and allows the reader to have fun with the pages.

This is fiction based upon a true man of God. Bernardo Martinez lived in the small Nicaraguan village of Cuapa. He made his living as a tailor and volunteered to be the caretaker (sacristán) of the local church, with a lifelong dream of becoming a Priest. A man of simple means, his innocent outlook on life and his seemingly divine patience is both hilarious and heartbreaking.

Bernardo’s life changes when, for a mere three hundred cordobas (about forty dollars), he purchases a statue of la Virgencita (The Virgin Mary) from another parish. La Virgencita comes to him in both visions and dreams, reveals her fears for the Nicaraguan people and gives him instructions for the people in order to save them.

Despite ridicule by some unbelieving villagers and imprisonment and suspected torture by the new Sandinista Government, Bernardo’s faith never waivers and he holds true to the message of la Virgencita, determined to keep her message in the hearts of all believers. His honesty and integrity is unquestioned by the faithful and soon, the small village of Cuapa becomes a pilgrimage site for those seeking healing and salvation from God through la Virgencita.

The story is not only about Bernardo, but explores the faith and passion of the Nicaraguan people themselves – from their entertaining superstitions and rituals, their passion for la Virgencita and the Catholic faith, their desire for a better life and the romantic yet unfulfilled notions of the Sandinista Revolution and what it would bring to a people too long silenced and repressed by a cruel dictatorship.

Bernardo and the Virgin is ultimately about goodness – goodness that in the end will triumph over evil. Bravo Silvio!