If You Love Me, You Will Do My Will [Hardcover]

Stephen G. Michaud (Author), Hugh Aynesworth (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393027627 | ISBN-13: 978-0393027624 | Publication Date: March 1990 | Edition: 1st

Sarita Kenedy East is the aging mistress of 465,000 acres of south Texas rangeland. When a Trappist monk visits her in 1948, he discoveres that underneath her empire lay an ocean of oil worth millions. When she dies, Sarita leaves her fortune to Leo, the monk, who encounters a firestorm of opposition including the Catholic Church. Illustrated.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

None of the key participants comes off well in this tale of legal feuding, greed, sanctimoniousness and self-interest. Sarita East, pious, alcoholic, a widow and Texas cattle rancher, fell under the spell of Brother Leo Gregory, a fund-raising, charismatic Trappist monk whom some have called a Svengali. He learned that beneath East's ranch lay pools of oil, valued at half a billion dollars. Upon her death in 1961, Brother Leo claimed control of the fortune. His friend, industrialist J. Peter Grace, the Trappists' business mentor, soon had a falling-out with the monk over the direction East's foundation should take. Other parties with a vested interest in her millions included her lawyer, the Roman Catholic Church and four warring brothers. The legal battle, fought over nearly three decades, engendered a web of intrigue that drew in Francis Cardinal Spellman and several popes. Michaud and Aynesworth, coauthors of The Only Living Witness , recreate a tangled affair with panache and keen irony. Photos.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The authors' fascination with an ambiguous duality in the human personality is as evident in this extensively researched tale of a wealthy Texas widow's will contest as it was in their previous collaboration on killer Ted Bundy, The Only Living Witness ( LJ 1/15/83). Was Brother Leo a selfless spiritual leader inspiring Texas widow Sarita Kenedy East with the will of God about her wealth, or was he a charismatic fraud conning the defenseless widow for control of her millions? Although the book doesn't read as well as a novel, and is encumbered by a huge cast of characters, Texas collections will want to acquire this because it is the only book on the subject. Lawyers and lay readers alike can savor the pitfalls of sharp probate and corporate practice as they unfold in a Texas-size contest over Mrs. East's will and fortune.
- Marcia Baker, Univ. of Arkansas Law Lib., Fayetteville
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 383 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (March 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393027627
• ISBN-13: 978-0393027624
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #662,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling Drama, September 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: If You Love Me, You Will Do My Will (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book, a very quick read. The authors do an outstanding job of capturing the South Texas Catholic culture as well as the personalities of all of the main characters. This story would make for great non-fiction, but it's completely true, the characters all real. Anyone interested in cattle barons, oil bidness, a little Catholic church history, and the modern day "Old West" should read this compelling work.

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing True Documentation, December 1, 2010

By 

Ricardo P. Balli "Richard" (McAllen, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: If You Love Me, You Will Do My Will (Hardcover)

People would not believe this story unless they knew it was true. Mr.Michaud and Mr. Anesworth did extensive research to give a astonishing true story of the last heir of the vast empire of Mifflin Kenedy. Sarita falls in love with a monk and as the title reads, "If You Love Me, You Will Do My Will" and the Catholic monk did. She left 1/2 of her empire to the "Kenedy Memorial Foundation" and the other 1/2 to the Catholic Diocease of Corpus Christi, Texas. The reader would need to know the whole background story to really be understand this truly very intereting book. If you are a history buff of South Texas, this is a must read to understand the whole picture on what when on in the early years and days of the New Texas in the 1800's.