A Gift of Roses - by Don Mullan

ISBN: 0-86327-891-4
Price: € 11.99

"Substantial, revealing and moving… written with great sincerity and conviction." - Irish Times Book Review

"The Irish experience was a reflection of what happened internationally." - Lisieux, France

North American readers will find the epilogue of A Gift of Roses deeply moving. It is a fascinating account of the author's experience of being the first Irish journalist permitted into Ground Zero just six days after the horrific events of September 11th, 2001, to visit the church where the body of Fr. Mychael Judge, Chaplain to the New York Fire Department, was carried. Amazingly, Mullan's passport to Ground Zero was a chance reference to this book!

On the first East Sunday of the third millennium the Relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux were carried onto Irish soil to begin an historic eighty-day tour of the country. It had been anticipated that this unique journey would attract tens of thousands of well-wishers and devotees, and, of course, some cynics and doubters. However, no one could have foreseen the tremendous impact that the visit of 'The Little Flower' would have on a country where a succession of Church scandals had rocked and unsettled the faithful. Remarkably, Irish people flocked to churches, cathedrals and convents, and lined the roads between, not in their tens of thousands - but in their millions.

In this book, best-selling author Don Mullan presents a snapshot of the phenomenal response of a wide cross-section of these people. Over 100 personal accounts and reflections are presented in a language that will bring the reader on a thought-provoking, challenging and provocative roller coaster of emotions. These include testimonies of people who claim physical, emotional and spiritual cures. One of the most extraordinary is the rescue of a toddler from a fire who later claimed that St. Thérèse had shielded her from harm. The following day, while inspecting extensive damage to the house, the toddlers grandparents, mother and rescuer were stunned to discover the petals of a rose which the evening before had touched the reliquary lying in a semi-circle at the very spot from where the child had been rescued.

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