Week 3 Story: Diary of Alexander McFadden

Illustration of Saint Kentigern by an unknown artist.
Source: Orthodox Church in America.

September 5

My name is Alexander McFadden. I am eleven years old and I attend Saint Servan's school for boys in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a rather nice place, surrounded by plenty of nature, built with sturdy walls, and full of beautiful stained glass. I am friends with most of the boys in my class, they are around the same age as me and here for the same reasons as I am. There is one boy, though, who has become the absolute bane of my existence: the dreaded Kentigern!
He is acts so perfect around our teacher Servan, answering every single question he asks, completing all of the tasks Servan asks him to do exactly how he wants, never playing or making jokes with us classmates.. What a goody two-shoes! Although I admit it is not the nicest thing to do, my classmates and I have been trying so hard to catch him messing up so we can show Servan how perfect he truly is not. The only issue is that he never messes up! So we must trick him into making a mistake..
The fire in the main part of our school is a great source of life for us. It provides us heat upon which we can cook our meals, it brings warmth upon all of our rooms, and it allows us to light our candles for church services. Losing this great life source would be tragic for us here since it is so difficult to restart, which is why one of us boys must tend to it for a week at a time throughout the day and night. This week, it so happens to be Kentigern's turn to tend the fire, so my classmates and I have big plans for him. Tonight we are going to take many large pales of water while Kentigern is asleep and pour them all over the fire to put it out then tell Servan it was all his dreaded fault for not tending to it! I shall write tomorrow with an update on his punishment.

September 6

Oh, I am so upset!! My classmates and I followed through with our plan to put out the fire and blame Kentigern, but when we woke up this morning the blasted fire was blazing even brighter than before. Nobody can figure out how on earth that boy restored flames to the wet ashes, but Servan remains proud of his star pupil and nothing has changed.

We have even more desire now to catch Kentigern in a mistake, so we have come up with an even crueler plan, but it is sure to work.. At sunrise tomorrow, my classmates and I shall wake and find Servan's beautiful little robin that he prays, mediates, and sings with any time he enters the outdoor area. It is a sweet little bird, but in order for our plan to work, we must end its life by removing its head and blaming its death on Kentigern. Servan will be so upset by the loss of his little friend and will surely punish him severely. I shall write again tomorrow with an update.

September 7

I have no words for what has occurred this morning. We ended the life of that poor little robin and ran to Servan with the news. He was so sad to see the sight and as soon as we told him that it was Kentigern who had done the deed, his facial expression seemed to drop. He asked to see the bird and went to find Kentigern, who was inside sitting at a table on his own. My classmates and I watched from outside the doors as Kentigern tried to explain himself and took the bird into his own hands. He exclaimed a prayer asking God to undo the bird's undeserving death, and by some miracle the bird awoke, flapped its wings, and began chirping! I cannot believe our plan failed again and Servan still favors that boy.

September 10

It has been a few days since Kentigern miraculously revived the robin, and my classmates and I believe it is time to come to terms with his presence in our school. He has proven himself very smart and loyal, and has never done us any wrong. I am going to do my best to talk to Kentigern respectfully and appreciate all that he has contributed to our school and to Saint Servan.

Bibliography & Author's Note

Saint Kentigern and the Robin by Abbie Farwell Brown (Part 1, Part 2). The original story followed the same plot as this one, but from an outside perspective focusing on Saint Kentigern's experience when he was a boy in Saint Servan's school. His classmates did put out the fire and kill Servan's robin friend and proceed to blame both incidents on Kentigern because they were jealous of how much Servan favored him over the others. Kentigern did also perform the miracles described above, but in the original it is known how he relit the fire after his classmates poured water on it. He notices that there are no more flames and places a log atop them with a burst of confidence and upon blowing at the log, it catches and there is a huge blaze in front of him.