Under the Rose: A Confession

Set against the political upheaval of the 1960s, a Catholic feminist remembers how her romantic relationship with a priest inspired them both to take responsibility for their own life choices.

Beneath its seemingly scandalous surface, Flavia Alaya’s life story goes to the heart of women’s struggles for independence, self-definition, and sexual agency.

A radiant but sheltered Italian-American woman on a Fulbright in Italy, Flavia was twenty-two years old when she met Father Harry Browne. When the attraction that began in a cafe in Perugia grew too compelling to resist, they embarked on a relationship that violated one of the most powerful taboos of the Church and of society, yet endured for over two decades. By day, they were subsumed in progressive community organizing. By night, they were subsumed in a relationship carried out, even through the birth of their three children, in absolute secrecy-sub rosa, or under the rose.