Ce roman est d'abord un journal, celui d'un vieux chanoine. Tout annonce qu'il va finir tranquillement sa vie : et puis, des conversations avec ses confrères, la rencontre d'un jeune prêtre, le font revenir sur son propre passé. Il découvre les faiblesses de sa vie sacerdotale : soit à cause de sa lâcheté, soit à cause des habitudes sociales qui pèsent sur le christianisme. Et le voici peu à peu rendu dramatiquement à lui-même. Il avait ses préjugés : l'imprévu l'en délivre. Vieil homme, il répond enfin à son enfance. La maturité pour un prêtre serait-elle un âge perdu ? On dirait que sa vie recommence, il cherche à rejoindre l'humanité la plus délaissée et c'est alors que, pour lui, « le jour descend de la Croix ».

--

This novel is primarily a diary, that of an elderly canon. There is every indication that his life will come to a peaceful end, but conversations with his colleagues and an encounter with a young priest cause him to re-examine his past. He discovers the weaknesses in his priestly existence, which were either due to his cowardice or those social habits that weigh down Christianity. Slowly, little by little, he is dramatically confronted with himself. He had his prejudices: he is delivered of them by the unexpected. Finally, the old man responds to his childhood. Is old age nothing but wasted years for a priest? It would seem that his life is starting all over again he seeks to be with those who are ignored by society and that's when, for him, ‘the new day comes down from the Cross'.