sin of despair - the unforgivable sin. He falls into despair even with the knowledge that God forgives. The priest is, as a character in the novel states, ‘human’, and as a human shares in its weakness.From a certain perspective, one could call the whiskey priest a martyr. Refusing to renounce his calling, lives as a fugitive performing his priestly services wherever needed. This is only what it appears to be. At the conclusion of the novel, the villagers believe the whisky priest to be worthy of the title of martyr. Unfortunately they only see the surface of his actions. As the reader reads deeper into the thoughts of the priest, the reality of the situation becomes clear. The people see a priest risking his life for his beliefs and the well being of the people. The fact of the matter is that he is doing it form himself. It is pride at work, not the love of God. The whisky priest believes himself a fine fellow to have stayed when the others had gone. He believes that a man carrying God at the risk of his own life is guaranteed a divine reward. It is the priests feeling of superiority and pride that he remains in Mexico. He is a fugitive for all the wrong reasons and fails to recall that it was pride that made the angels fall. The whisky priest is a man who does not fit the mould of a saint. He is human and has weaknesses as all do. He is a disgrace to his vocation and has forgotten what it means to be a priest. A saint is free of human weakness. The whisky priest however, epitomizes the weaknesses of man. He is a sinner who can only be redeemed by God....
