In this concise and balanced survey, Kevin McClure sifts the evidence for and against the authenticity of Marian apparitions and presents lucid, objective accounts of eight key visions.

A Pocket Guide to the Rosary helps Catholics deepen their prayer life and improve their ability to pray what St. Padre Pio called the weapon of our times. The Rosary. Drawing from the writings of the saints, the Bible, and Catholic tradition, Matt Fradd has produced a book that every Catholic should read. Its small size makes it easy to carry to adoration, keep around for family Rosary night, or hand out at your parish. Catholics who find it difficult to enter into the mysteries of the Rosary, or who need some encouragement and inspiration to pray this essential Catholic prayer, will deeply appreciate this small but powerful book. In this essential book, Matt Fradd explains: ● How to truly meditate on the mysteries on the Rosary. ● Major saints methods to pray the Rosary. Carefully chosen biblical passages to reflect on for each mystery. Here's how it works: 1. Overview of each mystery, with biblical quotes to help you establish context and focus your mind 2. Insight on each mystery from the writings of the saints and Church Fathers 3. Personal applications for each mystery, so you can further apply these mysteries to your own life and invite God to be a part of it

The Virgin Mary inspires intense religious devotion throughout the Roman Catholic world. This book explains the multi-faceted Mary, as represented through her appearances to humankind throughout the world.

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.

In the past two centuries hundreds of apparitions of the Virgin Mary have been reported, drawing crowds to the seers and the sites and constituting events of great religious significance for millions of people worldwide. Here Sandra Zimdars-Swartz provides a detective-like investigation of the experiences and interpretations of six major apparitions, including those at La Salette and Lourdes in France during the mid-nineteenth century; at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917; and the more recent ones at San Damiano, Italy; Garabandal, Spain; and Medjugorje, Yugoslavia, where the apparitions continue. Adopting a phenomenological approach to these "encounters with Mary"--one that is neither apologetic nor antagonistic--the author explores the tension between the personal meaning of the events for their subjects and the public appropriation of this meaning by a larger religious community. Along the way she examines the backgrounds of the seers, their willingness or reluctance to talk about the apparitions and their messages, the amount of emotional support they received from family and community as news of the apparitions spread, the reports of miracles at apparition sites, the reactions of local authorities, and the steps taken by the Roman Catholic Church in officially recognizing or rejecting the apparitions as worthy of belief. The author concludes with a survey of religious worldviews based on Marian apparitions, focusing especially on the now-popular transcultural apocalyptic nature of these messages to the modern world. Originally published in 1991. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Our Lady of the Nations is a detailed and scholarly overview of the apparitions of Mary in 20th-century Catholic Europe. Chris Maunder discusses apparitions in general and how they are interpreted in Catholicism by, for example, Karl Rahner and Benedict XVI. The role of women and children as visionaries is considered, including issues concerning changing views of gender, children's spirituality, and the protection of minors. He covers cases that are well known and approved by the Church (Fatima, Beauraing, Banneux, and Amsterdam), others that are well known but not approved (such as Garabandal and Medjugorje), and many that are neither well known nor approved, such as those in Belgian Flanders or Nazi Germany in the 1930s, or in France, Italy, or Germany after the Second World War. Resources include academic studies of particular apparitions, some Catholic theological and devotional literature, and occasionally travel writing. There is also coverage of material in French which is not known to the English reader. Shrines and visionaries are believed to be indicators of the presence of Mary. In the visionary perspective, she has appeared in order to reassure her followers and to warn of divine judgement. Her messages echo doctrinal Catholic Mariology with some innovations, but also express a deep dissatisfaction with the events and trends of the 20th century, from communism to Nazism to liberalism and religious indifference. While the Marian cult evolves according to new templates for apparitions and developments in Mariology, the fundamental message of presence, consolation, and admonition remains constant.

An overview of the major apparitions of Mary throughout the course of history.