Father Hagan—Monsignor Delgard: colleagues and confidants

Father Hagan and Monsignor Delgard’s relationship combines ecclesiastical companionship with private trust. The novel offers no account of how their friendship began, but shows them responding to one another in moments of public crisis and personal vulnerability; most decisively, Delgard has heard Hagan’s confession the night before Hagan dies.

Companions in a Public Crisis

At the field where Alice Pagett stands amid the apparent healings, Father Hagan and Monsignor Delgard are both overcome as the crowd collapses around them. Hagan has fallen to his knees, while Delgard slowly collapses beside him. Gerry Fenn cannot tell whether their weakness matches his own or whether their posture expresses homage. Hagan bows his head into his hands and rocks back and forth; Delgard can only stare at Alice beneath the twisted tree. The scene places the two churchmen side by side, sharing an encounter whose meaning neither their position nor their response can settle.

Concern for Hagan’s Decline

At dinner, Delgard and Bishop Caines exchange concerned glances as Hagan struggles to eat. Hagan’s health has worsened over several weeks, with a sharper change overnight, and his movements are slow and distracted as he lifts his spoon to the mushroom soup. Delgard quietly asks whether he is still unwell. His attention makes the priest’s condition a matter of personal concern, not merely an observation made among their companions at the table.

Confession and Trust

After Hagan’s death, Delgard tells Gerry Fenn that he heard Hagan’s confession the night before he died and knew that Hagan had nothing to fear from any hidden shame. The disclosure establishes a more intimate dimension to their association: Delgard had access to Hagan’s private conscience, and speaks with the certainty of someone entrusted with that confidence. He also distinguishes Hagan’s fear of dying from fear of a secret, acknowledging that even strong religious belief offers no guarantee about what follows death. Their bond is thus shown through both pastoral trust and Delgard’s effort to understand the fear that remained with his colleague.