A new book is recounting 200 select testimonies of St Josemaría Escrivá’s intercession as “tangible experiences of divine mercy” to be shared by all Christians.

There are more than 120,000 testimonies of spiritual and material favours received through the intercession of St Josemaria.

The postulator of his cause of canonisation Mgr Flavio Capucci has now gathered a selection in a book called Favours we ask of the Saints.

According to Mgr Capucci, the idea to publish the accounts was conceived ahead of the canonisation last October.

The testimonies extend over a 27-year period and witnesses range from cloistered nuns to non-Christians. The majority are from people who do not belong to Opus Dei and who, in many cases, knew virtually nothing about the prelature.

The letters of gratitude for St Josemaría’s intercession reflect situations ranging from drug addiction to people on the verge of suicide, and victims of illnesses such as AIDS, cancer and depression. There are accounts of people saved from a firing squad, from a traffic accident, and from kidnapping.

“The majority talk about coming closer to God, at times after a life fallen away from the faith,” said Mgr Joaquín Alonso, a consultor of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.