Lancer Author

Salpointe Board of Directors member and past parent, Philip Lacovara, recently published his first non-fiction book.
 
It is the true story of a Benedictine monk who is now a Servant of God and on the road to sainthood. The Mariner and the Monk tells of Captain Leonard La Rue, a brave officer in the U.S. Merchant Marine, a Benedictine monk, and the reason that tens of thousands of Koreans are alive and live in freedom today. La Rue served in the Merchant Marine from the depths of the Great Depression through World War II, including during the deadly Murmansk Run. His most famous accomplishment was his willingness to fill the holds and deck of his ship with Korean refugees fleeing the approaching Chinese forces at the port of Hungnam. La Rue and his crew were celebrated and honored for the successful evacuation of more than 14,000 men, women and children during Christmas 1950. But once the war was over, he said goodbye to the Merchant Marine and chose to spend the remaining four decades of his life as a Benedictine monk known as Brother Marinus La Rue, OSB.
 
“On a secular level,” Phil reflects, “La Rue’s life touched many of the most important aspects of the sea services during the middle of the 20th century: trade during the Great Depression, WWII, peacetime rejuvenation of commerce and the Korean War, including the Marines’ famous stand at the Chosin Reservoir.”
 
“But on a religious level,” the author continues, “La Rue was a man who stood out among his peers for his unassuming but conspicuous Catholic faith. In a profession where vices can grow almost unchecked, he was quiet, professional, sober, and personable. His crew praised him for his seamanship and decorum, one calling him in the 1950s ‘a living saint.’ La Rue went to Mass when he could, but prayed always. In 2019, Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli signed a decree naming Brother Marinus La Rue, OSB, a ‘Servant of God,’ recognizing his heroic virtue. Whatever happens on the long road to possible canonization, La Rue's/Brother Marinus' story shows that there can always be quiet saints among us.”

Phil also recently published False Flags under the pen name of Henry Philips. False Flags is a riveting fictional story of a mysterious investigation that spans the globe.
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