A few years back tragic events tied the fate of three Catholic priests. From then on they meet on every anniversary of the disaster to celebrate their survival. On an everyday basis they have their ups and downs. Lisowski works at the curia in a big city, has a career and is dreaming of the Vatican. Problem is, archbishop Mordowicz, an opulent church official who uses his political influence to build the largest sanctuary in Poland, gets in his way. The second priest, Trybus, is a village parson. He ministers to a poor community and gives in to human weaknesses more and more often. Kukuła is not faring well either. Despite his fervent faith, he loses the trust of his parishioners actually overnight. Soon the stories of the three clergymen are going to join once again.

Clergy

In 1985, the village of Ballinspittle in Ireland was the site of a mass visionary experience. Worshippers at the local grotto saw the statue of the Virgin Mary come to life. Soon, thousands made the pilgrimage and—for a summer—the phenomenon gripped the country.  Almost forty years later, a handful of local devotees remain, including the statue’s dutiful caretaker Patrick Joseph Simms. Through Simms and a chorus of locals, the film documents both the mystical landscape of rural Irish Catholicism and a terrible darkness beneath its surface.