CHICAGO - s4story -- Blessing My Mother's Rosary: Lourdes. Loss. Love. (ACTA Publications, 2025), authored by Carla Knorowski, is the true story of a promise twice-fulfilled. The book, which Vanity Fair correspondent Maureen Orth calls, "touching…and brimming with love," and Peabody and Emmy award-winning journalist Bill Kurtis describes as "deeply felt—a journey you'll want to take yourself," details Carla's decades-long sojourn to get her mother's rosary blessed at the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France.

Blessing My Mother's Rosary takes readers on an inspirational journey as the author descends to the depths of grief over the death of her mother and ascends to the heights of acceptance and gratitude, all through the blessing of a rosary. It is an exquisitely touching memoir for those who have lost a parent or loved one, for those who have ever visited Lourdes or other sacred places, for those who have never taken such a pilgrimage or wish to, and for all of us who believe in miracles large and small.

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Excerpt from Blessing My Mother's Rosary

"As Mom and I held hands, a flurry of medical personnel rushed in and out of the room. They adjusted cords and PICC lines, took vitals, filled out paperwork. The same questions were asked over and over again by different people. My brother and I knew the drill and patiently answered each. Finally, our mother was formally admitted to the hospital and her condition stabilized…Within weeks, Mom took her final breath and, with it, my one link to goodness was gone forever. Or so I thought."

Biography of Carla Knorowski

Carla Knorowski, PhD, is senior advancement advisor at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, MI. She is the former president and chief development officer of the U.S. Naval War College Foundation, and the former chief executive officer of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation.  A member and former director of The Society of Midland Authors, her books include Gettysburg Replies: The World Responds to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (Lyons  Press, 2015) and Under Lincoln's Hat: 100 Objects That Tell the Story of His Life and Legacy (Lyons Press, 2016, co-authored with James M. Cornelius). Her writing also is featured in Lincoln: An Intimate Portrait (Life Books, 2014).Knorowski is a life-long resident of Chicago. See: https://www.carlaknorowski.com/

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Contact Greg Pierce of ACTA publications, (800) 397-2282, www.actapublications.com, 7135 W. Keeney St., NIles, IL 60714-3039.