The Matriarch of Portugal—A Renata Costa Novel

The 21st Century House Churches Series (Book 12)

De: David Michael David Michael Curtis

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

After a year stranded on a remote island with only a King James Bible for company, Renata Costa is miraculously rescued and returned to her family in Lisbon. But the joyous reunion she dreamed of quickly becomes a battleground for her soul. The simple, scripture-based faith she forged in solitude is in direct conflict with the rich, centuries-old Catholic traditions her family holds dear.

Faced with a crisis of conscience, Renata can no longer pray the rosary, venerate saints, or attend Mass. Her quiet stand, rooted in the authority of the Word of God alone, is seen not as faith, but as a betrayal—a symptom of trauma that must be corrected. When her family, guided by their concerned priest, delivers a heartbreaking ultimatum—renounce her new beliefs or be cast out—Renata is forced to make a choice between the family she adores and the God she has come to truly know.

Driven from her home, Renata begins a solitary vigil in a small, bare room in the heart of Lisbon’s historic Alfama district. But what starts as a church of one soon attracts other lost and broken souls: a lonely widow consumed by grief, a troubled young man drowning in anger, and a desperate mother whose home is ravaged by alcoholism. As this unlikely fellowship grows, they discover the revolutionary power of a church built not on ritual, but on the living Word—a discovery that places them on a collision course with the powerful religious institution that governs their community.

The Matriarch of Portugal is a powerful novel about the cost of discipleship, the clash between tradition and truth, and the quiet, world-changing power of a single life sold out to the scriptures.