His Humble Servant – Sister M. Pascalina Lehnert`s Memoirs of Her Years of Service to Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII

A very interesting book - though a bit of a heavy read. So much nonsense has been written about the relationship between Pope Pius XII and Sister Pascalina Lehnert, his companion, housekeeper and advisor of nearly 40 years. But I feel this book is as near to the truth as we will ever get. There is a feeling that Pascalina may have been self-censoring a little in her non-political stance through-out the book. She is also overwhelmingly pleasant about everyone in the Roman Curia - when we know the reality was rather different. But her undying though very human love and admiration for Pope Pius XII is wonderful to read about and the descriptions of the endless watchfulness of the War years and the fears of Communism in the 1950s cold war period are extremely telling. Definately a book for followers of Pius XII.

This is a wonderful book ,extremely poignant in parts ,Pope Pius never took any leisure ,every hour of his very long day was dedicated to the office he held ,there is mention of the supply chain he set up during the war ,he did amazing work ,his charity extended to all ,a good deal of the goods he sent out paid for from his private funds, he impressed the Rabbi of Rome so much ,he converted to Catholicism .a top German general visited him secretly and revealed Hitler's plans for him ,Hitler had wanted to remove him from Rome to Germany ,claiming he had a residence ready for him there ,his response was he would never go willingly ,he would die before he would leave his post .This book gives a very personal insight into a very remarkable man.