Latest Book
Blessing My Mother's Rosary
Lourdes. Loss. Love.
Blessing My Mother's Rosary: Lourdes. Loss. Love. available now on Amazon and at ACTA Publications, is the story of Carla, as a young woman, fulfilling her promise to take her mother's favorite rosary with her on a backpacking trip through Europe to have it blessed at the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. The seemingly fleeting trip turned into an inspirational journey culminating some forty years later.
It was while she was clearing out her mother's bedroom, that Carla came across the beloved indigo rosary her mother had asked her to get blessed some thirty-five-years earlier. "Sometime in those three-and-a-half decades since, it had lost one Our Father bead and five Hail Mary beads. My mother, however, was never one to discard things, so she had used a safety pin to link the rosary's loop so she could continue to use it in spite of the missing beads. For her, the pin could just as easily represent the six prayers as the beads could. That was who she was and how she thought."
This is the story of Carla's inspirational journey beyond grief and loss. 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.
Blessing My Mother's Rosary: Lourdes. Loss. Love will be published in January, 2025 by ACTA Publications.
Carla has written a deeply felt description of her experience...
Bill Kurtis, Peabody and Emmy Award-winning journalist of National Public Radio's “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!"
Listen to his beautiful and compelling thoughts:
Advance Praise
for
Blessing My Mother's Rosary
A touching story brimming with love of a daughter for her mother framed by a treasured rosary that is brought to Lourdes. Carla Knorowski makes her uplifting quest an adventure spanning decades. The love always shines through.
— Maureen Orth, special correspondent for Vanity Fair, author, National Geographic cover story "How the Virgin Mary Became the World's Most Powerful Woman"
A profoundly moving journey into the depths of faith, grief, and devotion. With remarkable honesty, Carla Knorowski shares tender experiences of the love and loss of her mother, leading readers through moments of heartache and healing that feel universal and deeply personal. This book is a gift for anyone seeking comfort, connection, and a renewed sense of hope.
— J. Kim Penberthy, clinical psychologist and the Chester F. Carlson Professor of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, author of Living Mindfully across the Lifespan: An Intergenerational Guide with her daughter, Morgan Penberthy
Carla Knorowski takes us on a poignant spiritual journey as she completes her mother's desire to have her rosary blessed at Lourdes. No matter your religious belief, you are inspired by the passion of this dutiful daughter. What a beautiful testament to the love between a parent and child.
— Chaz Ebert, author, It's Time to Give a FECK: Elevating Humanity through Forgiveness, Empathy, Compassion and Kindness
A story of love, faith, and memory. In other words, it's our story as much as it belongs to Carla Knorowski. Readers will be grateful that Carla set down this beautiful remembrance of her mother as gently and vividly as she did. And then they'll buy another copy for a special woman in their lives. I know I will. — Alice Camille, author, The Rosary: Mysteries of Joy, Light, Sorrow, and Glory and co-author, The Forgiveness Book
Only a few chapters into Carla Knorowski’s intriguing parable, I was hooked. Her personal story parallels many of my own experiences with my parents, the Blessed Mother of Jesus, and spiritual pilgrimages. As Carla so eloquently expresses, Mary can be our comfort—especially in our most trying times. When we go to her in need, she loves and guides us as only a perfect mother can. This book will feed your soul with hope, love, and encouragement—a necessary recipe for peace during your most challenging of days.
— Mary K. Doyle, author, The Rosary Prayer by Prayer, Grieving with Mary, and Fatima at 100 / Fatima Today
Carla Knorowski speaks for every one of us who has ever lost a loved one and tried to make sense of the ensuring void and grief. This, however, is more than a book about coping with grief. The author allows us to vicariously travel along on a spiritual journey that is both healing and revelatory. She reminds all of us—Catholic or not — of the power of prayer and the reason why saints and the Blessed Mother continue to walk with us in our most difficult times.
—Judith Valente, author of The Art of Pausing: Meditations for the Overworked and Overwhelmed and The Italian Soul: How to Savor the Full Joys of Life
As I read Carla Knorowski’s spiritual masterpiece, I felt as though I had met not only a companion on the journey but a spiritual friend. The story of her visit to Lourdes at age twenty-two, which would not be her last, is memorable and moving in its simplicity. Moving as well is her account of a chance encounter with a fellow young pilgrim, Adrian of Tasmania, which reveals how a “perfect” stranger can become the soulmate of a moment in time and the agent of a life-changing experience. The author’s narrative is a living legacy to the memory of her mother and a testament to how the intertwined lives of one mother and daughter—despite their obvious differences in occupation, temperament, and life circumstances—can craft the missing links of a blessed rosary and become an act of genuine devotion in the process.
— Pamela Smith, SS.C.M., author, How We Can Suffer Out Sorrow…and Become Wiser, Better, Gentler People
Through our friendship, I have learned two things about Carla: She is one who “looks up” with a vibrant, hopeful perspective and she embraces the miracles in her life. This book tells the story of Carla, her mother Mary, and how over time, Lourdes was woven into their lives, bringing them even closer together in the most beautiful of ways. It is a miraculous journey of reflection, hope and love; one, I know you will enjoy.
Michele L. Sullivan, author of Looking Up: How a Different Perspective Turns Obstacles into Advantages
“If the esplanades could talk, the stories they would tell. For all the curious tourists who visited, there were millions upon millions who came to Lourdes for more serious reasons. They came on gurneys or in wheelchairs, hobbling on crutches or limping with canes. Few were healed; most were not. And still, they came. They came deaf or blind, bearing physical deformities, diseased with hidden maladies--cancer, diabetes, leukemia, AIDS. They brought their struggles with autism, dementia, Down syndrome, anxiety, depression, and addiction.
They were one-hundred-and-twenty-four-years’ worth of mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, friends, co-workers, bus drivers, teachers, machinists, engineers, homemakers, doctors, lawyers, cobblers, builders, students. They were famous, infamous, anonymous or forgotten. They came from near and far, hoping to experience something miraculous.”
-Excerpt from Blessing My Mother's Rosary
Cultural explorer Carla Knorowski in Lourdes 1982.
"A touching story brimming with love of a daughter for her mother framed by a treasured rosary that is brought to Lourdes. Carla Knorowski makes her uplifting quest an adventure spanning decades. The love always shines through. — Maureen Orth, special correspondent for Vanity Fair, author, National Geographic cover story "How the Virgin Mary Became the World's Most Powerful Woman"
Photo: Fortress from terrace of Notre-Dame de Lourdes, Lourdes, Pyrenees, France ca. 1890-1900 © Library of Congress