# The Priest — Lavengro character guide

> The Priest in Lavengro by George Borrow.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** priest

**First appearance:** 0004-i

## Snapshot

A Catholic priest drawn into the tavern-room theological sparring that lets Lavengro test his wit against the authority of the Church.

## Who they are

The priest belongs to the world of roadside argument and clerical authority that Lavengro keeps colliding with on his travels, a foil for the young man's restless, self-taught opinions on religion. Their exchanges set the narrator's Protestant, bookish independence against the priest's institutional certainty, and the friction is as much about class and nation as doctrine. He matters because he sharpens the book's running debate over faith, learning, and who gets to speak for either.

## In the story

### [Part I: Lavengro; The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/part-i-lavengro-the-scholar-the-gypsy-the-priest)

The banished priest who teaches the narrator languages.

### [Preface to the First Edition (1851)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/preface-to-the-first-edition-1851)

One of the three principal characters, associated with scholarship and gypsyism but distinct from the other two.

### [The Cards and the Irish Lesson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/x)

The nice old clergyman who teaches Latin and Greek at the school.

### [Chapter XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/xii)

Mentioned as a Papist tutor in the clergyman's household who scowls at the red coat and curses the king between his teeth.

### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/xiv)

A banished priest who becomes the narrator's preceptor in French and Italian; described as elderly, with a snuff-colored coat and a stoop.

### [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/xv)

Teaches French, Italian, and Spanish; compares Dante unfavorably to Boileau.

### [XXV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/xxv)

Recalled as a preacher delivering a sermon on faith; later seen preaching by the seaside, now older with gray hair.

### [XCIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/xciii)

The man in black, visits Lavengro and Belle, discusses Mezzofante and Vatican plans.

### [XCVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/xcviii)

The Italian priest who rules the governor's household, persuades the young ladies to drop English acquaintances, and extracts money from the governor and servants.

### [XCIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/xcix)

The red-haired priest who attempts to convert the family and bribe the postillion.

### [The Servant's Tale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/c)

The red-haired priest seen at Rome, glimpsed by the postillion at an old mansion.

### [Chapter III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/iii)

The man in black, a Roman Catholic priest who argues for the supremacy of the popish religion, defends image-worship, and discusses the pagan origins of Christian terms.

### [XLVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/xlvi)

Murtagh mentions a priest in Torre Lodones who cheated and robbed him after a card game.

### [A Word for Lavengro](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/i-a-word-for-lavengro)

Referenced in the context of priestcraft and the dangers of priestly machinations.

### [On Priestcraft](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/ii-on-priestcraft)

Mentioned as the learned but unprincipled priest with whom the hero converses in the dingle, revealing Rome's secret history.

### [On Canting Nonsense](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/viii-on-canting-nonsense)

Mentioned in the context of being encouraged to drink more hollands and water by Lavengro, so that Lavengro could learn the plans of the Propaganda of Rome.

### [The Old Radical](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/xi-the-old-radical)

Mentioned in the context of the author's hatred for priestcraft, especially that of Rome.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/endnotes)

Referenced in the note about Tom of Hopton (Thomas d'Éterville), a banished priest who made a fortune and bequeathed it to his relations.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/characters/the_priest
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lavengro_se/characters