The story of Almire Pichon, a French Jesuit who lived from 1843 to 1919, and his remarkable influence on the Martin family of Lisieux and Jean Vanier's family, the Vaniers of Canada. The author compares Almire Pichon's influence to a hidden stream. Two streams of the Church have always existed: the powerful Church and the 'hidden way', the way of powerlessness, of strength concealed by weakness. The latter stream often seems in danger of being stopped by rigidity and legalism, but in the end its very littleness triumphs: refusing to dry up, it flows on quietly, linking one generation to the next. This is the story of one such stream.

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