In the closing years of the 19th century, one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time was kept a secret, because nobody believed that an obscure French priest could possibly have found the house of the Virgin Mary. With full-color illustrations, "Mary's House" traces the history of a pile of sacred, forgotten stones that provide, for the first time, precious clues to the life Mary lived after the Crucifixion.

A masterpiece that combines the visions of four great Catholic mystics into one coherent story on the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Based primarily on the famous revelations of Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich and Ven. Mary of Agreda, it also includes many episodes described in the writings of St. Bridget of Sweden and St. Elizabeth of Schenau. To read this book, therefore, is to share in the magnificent visions granted to four of the most priviledged souls in the history of the Church. In complete harmony with the Gospel story, this book reads like a masterfully written novel. It includes such fascinating details as the birth and infancy of Mary, her espousal to St. Joseph and her Assumption into Heaven where she was crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth. For young and old alike, The Life of Mary As Seen by the Mystics will forever impress the reader with an inspiring and truly unforgettable understanding of the otherwise unknown facts concerning Mary and the Holy Family.

Incredibly revealing and edifying background of Our Lady, her parents and ancestors, St. Joseph, plus other people who figured into the coming of Christ. Many facts described about the Nativity and early life of Our Lord, as well as the final days of the Blessed Mother–all from the visions of this great mystic.

Possessed by the Virgin is an ethnographic account of three Roman Catholic women in Tamil Nadu, south India who claim to be possessed by Mary, the mother of Jesus. The author follows the lives of these women over many years, investigating questions about gender, social power, agency, and authenticity.

In 1295, a house fell from the evening sky onto an Italian coastal road by the Adriatic Sea. Inside, awestruck locals encountered the Virgin Mary, who explained that this humble mud-brick structure was her original residence newly arrived from Nazareth. To keep it from the hands of Muslim invaders, angels had flown it to Loreto, stopping three times along the way. This story of the house of Loreto has been read as an allegory of how Catholicism spread peacefully around the world by dropping miraculously from the heavens. In this book, Karin Vélez calls that interpretation into question by examining historical accounts of the movement of the Holy House across the Mediterranean in the thirteenth century and the Atlantic in the seventeenth century. These records indicate vast and voluntary involvement in the project of formulating a branch of Catholic devotion. Vélez surveys the efforts of European Jesuits, Slavic migrants, and indigenous peoples in Baja California, Canada, and Peru. These individuals contributed to the expansion of Catholicism by acting as unofficial authors, inadvertent pilgrims, unlicensed architects, unacknowledged artists, and unsolicited cataloguers of Loreto. Their participation in portaging Mary’s house challenges traditional views of Christianity as a prepackaged European export, and instead suggests that Christianity is the cumulative product of thousands of self-appointed editors. Vélez also demonstrates how miracle narratives can be treated seriously as historical sources that preserve traces of real events. Drawing on rich archival materials, The Miraculous Flying House of Loreto illustrates how global Catholicism proliferated through independent initiatives of untrained laymen.

The Life of Sr. Marie de Mandat-Grancey and Mary's House in Ephesus tells the story of a faith-filled woman's life of service and her quest to discover the house of the Blessed Virgin in Ephesus. Sister Marie de Mandat-Grancey, a Daughter of Charity, responded to God's call and dedicated her life to find Christ, the Word made Flesh, in service to the poor. The first twenty-five years of her ministry were spent caring for the homebound, educating children, accompanying youth in their spiritual journey, and finding families for orphans. In 1886, Sister Marie was sent to Smyrna, near Ephesus, Turkey, where she entered a world very different from her own. While serving in the hospital there, Sister Marie read and shared with her own Sisters and the local Vincentian priests The Life of the Blessed Virgin, by Anne Catherine Emmerich, which recorded the events of Mary's last years spent in Ephesus in a house built for her by St. John. Because of Sister Marie's great devotion to the Blessed Mother, she was determined to find this sacred spot. Through collaboration with her Vincentian brothers, local Muslim guides, and the people of the area, Mary's house was found; but the discovery was just the beginning. Once rebuilt, Mary's house became a place where Muslims and Christians assembled in peace side by side as they came to honor Mary. The Life of Sr. Marie de Mandat-Grancey and Mary's House in Ephesus will inspire readers with the remarkable story of a faith-filled woman's life and her quest to discover the house of the Blessed Virgin in Ephesus.