Ighly sympatheic life of Mercier, who was leader of the Beglian church during WWI and highly critixcal of the Germans especially over the destruction of Louvain --I had not realized before that Mercier had both studied and taught at the University of Louvain, which goes far to explain his responmse to its destruction. The book reads like a call of Mercier's canonization. At least, he comes across as a very decent man and scholar if not a saint. ( )