Putting Down Roots: Fr. Joseph Muzquiz and the Growth of Opus Dei

By John F. Coverdale

Putting Down Roots by John Coverdale (author of Uncommon Faith) is the exciting story of the beginnings of Opus Dei in the U.S. It tells how Fr. Joseph Muzquiz came to America in 1949 to begin Opus Dei with very little money and only a rudimentary command of the language. At the time, only a handful of Americans had ever heard of Opus Dei. But by the time he passed away in 1983, Opus Dei had put down deep roots in this country.

In Putting Down Roots, we learn many remarkable details about Fr. Joseph’s life including:

• His first meeting with St. Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei.
• His tireless efforts, first as a layman, then as a priest, to spread Opus Dei in Spain during the 1940s.
• His remarkable faith beginning Opus Dei with Salvador Ferigle in the U.S. with no money, few contacts, and a very rudimentary command of English.
• The many heroic virtues he lived, earning him a reputation as an unusually holy priest.

Today, many people in the United States and in other countries pray to Fr. Joseph, as he was called in this country, and hope that one day the Church will declare him a saint. This book explains why.

Putting Down Roots contains eight pages of photos.