40 Years With a Saint

First published in English in 1996 as Immersed in God, this 20th anniversary edition serves an anecdotal account of the life of St. Josemaria Escriva (1902-1975). Blessed Alvaro (1914-1994) was at the saint’s side for almost 40 years as his confessor, and from 1976 to his death as the Prelate of Opus Dei, was the successor to St. Josemaria. Blessed Alvaro relates dozens of accounts of Saint Josemaria’s apostolate, his service to the Church, and his personality. Many of these stories only came to light after his death, when letters and tributes poured into Rome from around the world.

The author and the interviewer of Don Alvaro is Cesare Cavalleri, born in 1936, who edited the theological journal Studi Cattolici, and was a columnist and television critic for the Italian newspaper Avvenire.

These lively anecdotes are gathered in 13 chapters which form a mosaic of the life of St. Josemaria and provided thousands of readers around the world with a picture of the saint, just before publication of an official three volume biography, The Founder of Opus Dei, by Andres Vazquez de Prada.