Book on St Gorg Preca rolls off the press

Copies of the 128-page full-colour book on St Gorg Preca's canonisation, with stunning photos and reports from The Times and The Sunday Times, rolled off the press at Strickland House, in Valletta yesterday and will be in bookshops by Monday.

The book, Saint In The Making, traces each step of St Gorg's path to sainthood.

It starts with the period of mourning and spiritual reflection right after his death in 1962, before going on to provide a blow by blow account of his beatification by Pope John Paul II in Malta in 2001.

From there it moves forward on to the build up and canonisation ceremony conducted by Pope Benedict XVI in the pouring rain earlier this month in Rome, and also details the return last week of the relic containing the saint's blood with the mass gathering on the granaries in Floriana.

Over 5,000 Maltese attended the canonisation ceremony in Rome on June 3, with many of them also taking part in a vigil the night before and a thanksgiving Mass at St Peter's Basilica the following day. Saint In The Making, published by Allied Publications and printed by Progress Press, will be on sale for Lm3.50.

Allied Newspapers Ltd managing director Vincent Buhagiar will present a copy of the book to Archbishop Paul Cremona on Monday.