It is a work dedicated to an Italian poet and writer, Antonio Fogazzaro (1842 - 1911). In his works he investigated the conflict between faith and science, and between Catholicism and the modern world. His novel Il Santo (1906) was put on the Index of Forbidden Books due to its modernist setting.The artists wanted to portray him in the last year of his life, disturbed by the fact that his novel had been censored. The following year his last opera, Leila, was also put on the Index.