Set amid the tumult of the Spanish Civil War, this spiritual biography recounts the efforts of a fervent young Spanish aristocrat to come to grips with his artistic talent, his intense personality and, above all, his unquenchable passion for God. Trained in art and architecture, Rafael longed to be a Trappist, but was obliged repeatedly by war and illness to withdraw, and then try again. His intensively personal reflections form the basis of this biography of a man intent on giving his life to God despite all obstacles.

Gonzalo Maria Fernández is a monk of Rafael's abbey of St Isidro. Hugh McCaffery is a monk of Mont Melleray Abbey in Ireland.