HOMO NOVUS
by Gerard Cabrera
Rattling Good Yarns Press. 258 pages, $16.95
WITH HIS FIRST NOVEL, Homo Novus, Gerard Cabrera has written an emotionally charged and deeply moving story of two men and the paths that brought them together. As the story begins during Holy Week in 1987, readers find a Catholic priest, Father Linus Fitzgerald, in a hospital in Massachusetts. He is very sick and is being looked after by a young seminarian, Orlando Rosario.
In alternating chapters, the narrative moves back and forth between the two men as they reflect on their lives and journeys both separately and together.
Father Linus’ caregiver is Orlando, whom Linus greatly esteems. Orlando, now 21, is also preparing to become a priest. The seminarian has been at the center of Linus’ obsessive attentions since he was fourteen, when Linus sexually seduced him as a student. Their relationship began with a violation of trust and eventually blossomed into a caring bond that was both sacred and profane.
Much of the book is about their shared journey as they explore their theological beliefs, their chosen vocation, matters of lust and love and the overall human condition. How Linus and Orlando come to terms with their sexuality and vocation as priests is at the crux of the novel. The story moves from Springfield, Massachusetts, to Boston and to Puerto Rico—to seminaries, churches, and gay bars. It’s a sexually charged recounting that features a balance between the virtues of compassion and love along with the vices of self-interest and lustful desires.
Orlando reflects on his struggles with being gay and the values of the Church and its theology and on how he ultimately comes to terms with his choices and his life. He also develops a close friendship with Eric, a former seminarian who left the Church because he couldn’t reconcile the conflict between being gay and the dogmas of the priesthood. Eric challenges Orlando’s belief system and his choice to continue in the priesthood. Linus, however, revels in Orlando’s perseverance.
On a vacation, Linus and Orlando travel to Puerto Rico, Orlando’s birthplace. Eric, now a seminary dropout, happens to be staying close by. The three indulge their sexual passions, going to gay bars and succumbing to desire for each other. They also have heated theological discussions. It is on this trip that Linus begins to get sick and show symptoms of his disease.
Cabrera has written a powerful story that is unflinchingly emotional, sexually candid, and consistently haunting. It is a compassionate story of connection, abuse, sin, and the search for redemption. Linus and Orlando’s story is one of their shared secrets, desires, sins, and their journey of faith and reconciliation to a church that cannot accept their homosexuality. The title Homo Novus is apt, since it means new man—one who has risen from a lowly position to nobility. That is what both Linus and Orlando attempted as they came to a resolution between their careers and their sexuality and the choice of a religious vocation.
William Burton, a regular reviewer, is based in Provincetown, MA.
