Splendor of Sorrow: What a Hard-Boiled Crime Reporter Discovered about the Love of Jesus and Mary

A tough-as-nails reporter who wrote books with titles like Broadway Murders, the superbly colorful Eddie Doherty spent his old age as a Catholic priest! In his masterpiece Splendor of Sorrow, he gives a hint of the spiritual visions that touched him so deeply as to change the course of his life in ways no one could have foreseen or predicted.

Raised a Catholic, Eddie was a reporter during the Roaring Twenties. He covered the likes of Al Capone and lesser thugs with verve and flair, making a name for himself as a straight-shooting reporter who would even risk danger to find the truth. But his personal life was haunted by suffering. His wife, whom he loved with unflagging gallantry and consuming ardor, died tragically - at which point, Eddie later recounted, "I cursed God bitterly and violently." He left the Catholic Church.

Eddie remarried, only to endure the death of his second wife in an accident. But this time, Eddie did not curse God - instead, sensing the presence of grace even in the sorrows of his life, he began again to receive Holy Communion.

As Eddie held these events in his mind and heart over the years, this masterwork was born. Through the pain and redemption he experienced, he came to be fascinated by God's mercy. He determined to help others grasp how the sorrows of this world are resplendent with the light of Christ.

In Splendor of Sorrow, Eddie shows you how to perceive that light as he explores the Seven Sorrows of Mary. But this is no ordinary book of meditations or sermons! Eddie imaginatively takes you into these great events as a participant. His main character, "the Blindman," watches the events unfold in all their horrific pain and divine splendor. He brings saints and angels from throughout history into the story, suffering and rejoicing with them and gaining their wisdom to illuminate the mysterious events taking place before them. Vivid, deeply felt, mesmerizing, and powerful, this cinematic book is likely to change forever how you regard the mysteries of suffering and grace.

Eddie Doherty (1890-1975) was a writer and reporter whose reawakening to faith marked the beginning of his greatest adventures. He and his wife Catherine de Hueck Doherty founded Madonna House, a Catholic lay movement. At age 79 he was ordained a Melkite Greek Catholic priest.