It is recorded in the annals of the Vatican, on October 13, 1884, Pope Leo XIII overheard the devil say to God that he could destroy the Church if he were given enough time and power over those who would serve him. God granted 100 years, and Satan chose the 20th century.
When Lucy Penn enters Pastor's prayer garden on September 11, 2001, she encounters five school girls watching the smoking sky across the river. They ask her if it's the end of the world. Lucy's lifelong friend is among the missing. Never before that day has Lucy been able to share the remarkable tales her best friend Francie O'Malley swore were conveyed to her by a great angel. Wrestling with her own grief, and to distract the children from their fear, she tells the stories of The Sword Lily Parables, starting from the beginning, with the unfortunate accident that killed the great Bishop Perigord long ago.
Three Rivers had not been the same since, she says. Piety rapidly slipped away, and by the spring of 1962 it seemed that Satan was winning. The Powers That Be, that warrior-choir of angels in charge of these sorts of things, needed a new strategy. If they could not stop the decay of the people's collective memory, all goodness would be lost forever. If the Church should fall, humanity as it was created, would not survive the Great Theft. To stop its decline, the Powers would have to depend on something greater, something better, humble, honest and pure. They would have to depend on the courage of the children.
The assignment falls to Beneficent Angel to design a plan to warn God's people. She would coax her unknowing messenger into relaying to Pastor the sighting of a mighty sign. Pastor, in turn, would warn his flock to denounce their slothful ways, and in light of the pending doom, the peoples of the mountain would undoubtedly repent. Easy-peasy. Pastor would understand. That was the plan, roughly speaking. Beneficent chose Francie O'Malley, a spoiled, bored, 12-year-old girl, to be the messenger.
Admittedly, Beneficent Angel was a little heavy-handed, allowing Francie a glimpse of the ghastly devil called Cell Fish coming ashore, a demon of the highest rank. But instead of sharing her sighting with Pastor, a terrified Francie tells only her best friend Lucy Penn, causing countless glitches in Beneficent's plan.
For this mess-up Beneficent Angel is sorely rebuked. It is suggested Beneficent deliver her message in a more age-appropriate manner. There can be no more scaring a 12year-old child out of her wits. So, Beneficent resorts to a new plan, and animates the statues of angels and saints in Pastor's prayer garden to help her. She even includes the critters nestled at the feet of St. Francis of Assisi.
Set in the desolate environment of St. Mary's-of-the-Future, Francie is left to contend with the constant appearances of an oversized gander impersonating a bishop, an undersized beaver called Scout, and a cranky deer. They seem to have gotten a life of their own, on their adventuresome journey to join the battle of a lifetime through Beneficent's dystopian Three Rivers. And they encounter many an obstacle on their way.
It will remain up to the talking animals, outcasts, angels, saints, and orphans of St. Mary's-of-the-Future to lead Francie O'Malley, and her best friend Lucy Penn, to step up to The Assignment of Angels.
Beneficent watching from Heaven's veranda, can only hope the girls will wind their way through the Sword Lily Parables to unearth their mystical mission to stop the 100 year-old prophecy before it's too late.
