Michelle Duppong: Hope in the Depths of Suffering

Servant of God Michelle Duppong (1984–2015) lived ordinary days with extraordinary love — and God used her short life to set hearts ablaze. After her death, letters poured in describing the many graces obtained through her intercession — most often a deep peace and trust in God’s will. Her growing reputation for holiness led Bishop David Kagan to open her cause for canonization.

Michelle was a missionary to the core. As a Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) alumna, she helped plant the movement at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, forming friendships, inviting students to weekday Mass, and quietly building a Eucharist—centered culture that stirred hearts. Even in Rome, she sowed seeds of conversion that later blossomed back home. This is evangelization as Michelle lived it: personal, joyful, and relentlessly centered on Jesus Christ.

Then came her final mission. In the words of her spiritual director, Msgr. Thomas Richter, she entered into a “twelve—month Holy Week” — a year in which illness and suffering did not interrupt her evangelization but instead fulfilled it. United to Christ, her cross became a channel of grace for others. Caregivers who did not share her Faith were moved by her peace. Friends who came to console her left consoled. “We could see in her another Christ.”

The impact of Michelle’s short life reverberates still. One student she befriended not only went on to enter the Church but named her daughter Michelle. Reports of favors obtained through her intercession continue to be carefully gathered. Pilgrims visit her grave and family farm in increasing numbers, convinced that her appeals from Heaven change lives. The Church has taken notice, conferring the title Servant of God and initiating the rigorous process toward possible canonization.

This book will help you:

• Discover how ordinary life — on campus, at work, at home — provides a path to sanctity
• Keep faith first while living a balanced, joyful life rooted in the Eucharist
• Practice present—moment trust in your relationships with God and others
• Bring friends to Jesus and learn to accompany them into deeper discipleship with Him
• Find hope—filled insights into redemptive suffering that will steady you in trials

Each chapter includes “In Michelle’s Words” — brief, powerful excerpts from her talks, podcasts, and writings — to help you pray with her heart and live what she lived.

Read this to meet a young woman whose joy was contagious, whose love was costly, and whose sanctity is credible. Then share it — with a friend who suffers, a student searching, or a parish hungry for hope. Michelle Duppong may be the saint you’ve been praying God would send.