A miracle on death row

Play tells story of murderer inmate's Marian visions

Miraculous Medal plaque gives a good indication of what one side of the medal looks like. CNS photo / Leslie E. Kossoff.

Catholic News Agency reports that the story of a Mississippi death-row inmate who admitted his guilt and converted to the Catholic faith after seeing apparitions of the Virgin Mary has come to the stage. The play, "Claude Newman: A Miracle on Death Row," premiered in California last month.

Marcia Stein, an archivist at the Robert M. Myers Archives of the Society of the Divine Word's Chicago province, said Newman's story was "controversial" at the time.

The play on Newman's life is being produced by the Catholic, non-profit, G.K. Chesterton Theatre Company, founded by Gallagher and others three years ago.

The company has staged four other productions of plays with Catholic themes, including a play about the encounter of British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge with Mother Teresa, a play about the Mexican martyr Bl. Miguel Pro, and a play about Franz Jagerstatter, a conscientious objector in Austria who refused to fight in World War II.

For full story see The B.C. Catholic website.