The Third Miracle

by Richard Vetere

Father Frank Moore--once the Cardinal's golden boy, now in a self-imposed exile because he doubts his faith--is assigned the investigation of a supposed miracle, an appointment he sees as a possible path toward redemption

Genres: Fiction, Media Tie In

240 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1997

About the author

His new novel She's Not There will be released in October 2023. His screenplay Caravaggio won the Golden Palm for Best Screenplay at the Beverly Hills International Film Festival 2021. His play Caravaggio is published by Dramatic Publishing. He wrote the novel The Third Miracle (Simon & Schuster) and co-wrote the screenplay adaptation produced by Francis Ford Coppola, starring Ed Harris and Anne Heche, directed by Agneiskza Holland and released by Sony Picture Classics. His teleplay adaptation of his published stage play The Marriage Fool is now running on Amazon starring Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett.

Reviews

[HippieWitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Highly recommend

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

V, if you're looking for this one, too, it's another you gave to me as you left for the Peace Corps. What really struck me about this one was how clear the setting seemed. It made me want to go drive around Maspeth. It was engaging and thought-provoking: the thoughts it provoked were mostly about people's roles in religion.

[Margaret · Rating 1 out of 5]

Vetere should have done more research about the Catholic Church. He mixed up parts of the Mass,consecrating the wine before the bread. He did not know that people who commit suicide can be buried in a catholic cemetery and it takes much longer to be canonized than he allowed in his novel. The explicit sex detracted from the story.

[Susan Furlong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Highly recommended.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book randomly in a used bookstore. It's a wonderful read, a book that wrestles with hard issues on faith, suicide, and miracles.

[Richard Vetere · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned that it is a timeless story and a good movie as well.

[Helynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting story of a passionate, intellectual young man who just happens to be a Catholic priest, and is called on to help church officials decide if a certain ongoing phenomenon should be declared officially "a miracle." The story is set in the 1980s at Saint Stanislaus Church and convent and St. John's University in Queens. Father Frank Moore, 35, who taught at St. Johns, has written a successful book called The God Within But a crisis of faith has sent him off on a year of self-imposed exile in a Queens hotel.

Father Frank was recently a postulator; that is, one who analyzes paranormal occurrences and helps determine whether they should be declared true miracles and if a certain individual should be declared a saint or "beatified." His last assignment ended with him debunking a "miracle," so now he calls himself the "miracle-killer." Now, there is another would-be miracle recurring at St. Stanislaus, so Frank is called out of isolation. A statue of Mary has been crying bloody tears every October when it rains. The phenomenon seems linked to Helen Stephenson, a much-loved lay volunteer at St. Stanislaus, who died of a heart attack in 1985. There are reports of sick and dying people healed at the touch of the statue's blood. By the sixth year of the miracle, Satanistic-style vandalism has taken place in the church cemetery where Helen is buried. The area has also taken on a circus-like atmosphere with visitors coming to pray to Helen to ask for healing.

Father Frank's task becomes complex because of the Catholic Church's strict criteria. First, a paranormal occurrence must be studied and verified and there must be three such incidents before a miracle can be declared and/or a person beatified. But there are also plenty of very unspiritual happenings in the story such as a diary's evidence of improper sexual contact between Helen Stephenson and a local priest. Frank has his own temptations to deal with when he meets Helen's attractive, troubled adult daughter. He may be a holy man seeking spiritual guidance, but he is still a man . . . .

Eventually, there is enough evidence of a miracle to send for a tribunal in Rome, and here is when many more political elements in the church come to light. Nevertheless, this thoughtful tale also respects the whole realm of miraculous possibilities and heavenly intervention in a distressed and very secular world.

One of my favorite actors, Ed Harris, is wonderful in the role of Father Frank in the 2000 film version.

[Patrick Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Father Frank Shore is a Postulator who investigates claims of miracles for the Vatican. In this case it is a devout woman whose death caused a statue of the Virgin Mary to bleed upon and cured a girl with terminal lupus. The woman has been nominated for sainthood but needs a third verified miracle to qualify. He is sent to investigate a possible miracle in 1944 when an Allied bombing raid causes a tiny girl to pray for and receive deliverance.

Father Shore has never found a miracle and is known as the Miracle Killer for debunking false claims of miracles. He is having a crisis of faith which is exacerbated when he meets the candidates daughter, a non believer and critic of her mother who abandoned her as a ten to do God's work. A great story..

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had this book for quite awhile. Not sure why I even bought it unless it was because I saw there was a movie made of it. I have the DVD and now since I've read the book, will watch it. I enjoyed the book and being Lutheran, much of the information on the service was the same as what we do but all the other more Catholic things I'm not really familiar with but it was still a good read and was very interesting.

[Jonna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book (and the movie that was made, based upon the novel is a must-see). The characterization is wonderful and the story is magical. The author writes it so well, the reader gets lost in the story. I think it's a definite 'good read'. :)

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The basis of an excellent movie starring Ed Harris and Anne Heche. The book is different but wonderful in its own way, about the roles of faith and love and self-doubt in our lives.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good story. I read it in one day. Everyone has doubts - especially a priest dealing with a miracle. What roles people play in religion?

[Booknblues · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Helen Stephenson a woman from New York is being considered for canonization, Father Frank Moore is sent to investigate her life and her miracles.

[Ruta]

meh!