The Church takes diligent care in preserving and documenting the authenticity of her┬аrelics. Best-selling author Joan Carroll Cruz takes full advantage of these resources. With painstaking research, she exposes the details behind hundreds of the ChurchтАЩs most famous and beloved┬аrelics. She covers 38 second-class┬аrelicsof our Lord and Lady, such as the Holy Grail and Our LadyтАЩs Veil, and┬аrelics┬аof all sorts from 75 favorite saints, such as St. Mary Magdalene, St. Agnes, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Maria Goretti, and many more!
Relics┬аis a unique collection of years of dedicated research about the lives of the saints and the mementos they left behind, to remind us of their presence and intercession for us.┬а
┬аJoan Carroll Cruz was a native of New Orleans and was the educational product of the School Sisters of Notre Dame. She attended grade school, high school and college under their tutelage. Mrs. Cruz was a tertiary in the Discalced Carmelite Secular Order (Third Order) since 1968; for eight years she served as Mistress of Formation (Novice Mistress).┬а
For her non-fiction books, Joan Carroll Cruz depended heavily on information received from foreign shrines, churches, convents and monasteries. Her books include┬аThe Incorruptibles, published in 1977;┬аDesires of Thy Heart, a strongly Catholic-themed novel, also in 1977;┬аRelics, published in 1983;┬аEucharistic Miracles┬аin 1987;┬аSecular Saints┬аin 1989;┬аPrayers and Heavenly Promises┬аin 1990;┬аMiraculous Images of Our Lady┬аin 1993;┬аMiraculous Images of Our Lord┬аin 1995;┬аMysteries, Marvels, Miracles: In the Lives of the Saints┬аin 1997;┬аAngels & Devils┬аin 1999; and┬аSaints for the Sick┬аin 2010.