A sweeping, ambitious study of the Virgin Mary’s emergence and role throughout Western historyHow did the Virgin Mary, about whom very little is said in the Gospels, become one of the most powerful and complex religious figures in the world? To arrive at the answers to this far-reaching question, one of our foremost medieval historians, Miri Rubin, investigates the ideas, practices, and images that have developed around the figure of Mary from the earliest decades of Christianity to around the year 1600. Drawing on an extraordinarily wide range of sources—including music, poetry, theology, art, scripture, and miracle tales—Rubin reveals how Mary became so embedded in our culture that it is impossible to conceive of Western history without her.In her rise to global prominence, Mary was continually remade and reimagined by wave after wave of devotees. Rubin shows how early Christians endowed Mary with a fine ancestry; why in early medieval Europe her roles as mother, bride, and companion came to the fore; and how the focus later shifted to her humanity and unparalleled purity. She also explores how indigenous people in Central America, Africa, and Asia remade Mary and so fit her into their own cultures.Beautifully written and finely illustrated, this book is a triumph of sympathy and intelligence. It demonstrates Mary’s endless capacity to inspire and her profound presence in Christian cultures and beyond.

Marialis Cultus is the title of a Mariological Apostolic Exhortation by Pope Paul VI on February 2, 1974. It is subtitled: "For the Right Ordering and Development of Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary," and focuses Marian devotions, clarifiying the way in which the Roman Catholic Church celebrates and commemorates Mary, the mother of Jesus. The preparation of the document reportedly took 4 years. The exhortation has three parts: Part 1 discusses the history of Catholicism's Marian devotions, as well as their rationale. Part 2 focuses on what should/will take place in the Church's Marian devotions in the future Part 3 touches on the Angelus and the Rosary prayers. Marialis Cultus gives guidelines for devotions to Mary by the Church - that is, it attempts to make sure that all Marian liturgical celebrations and public expressions of devotion align with established doctrine. It noted that every element of the church's prayer life, including Marian devotions, should draw its inspiration from the Bible and harmonize with the liturgy. The conclusion to the document emphasizes the theological and pastoral value of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The author offers an interpretation of Mary that is theologically sound, spiritually empowering, ethically challenging, socially liberating, and ecumenically fruitful. She construes the image of Mary so as to be a source of blessing rather than blight for women's lives in both religious and political terms.

Would you like to learn to pray like a medieval Christian? Rachel Fulton Brown traces the history of the medieval practice of praising Mary through the complex of prayers known as the Hours of the Virgin. Mary and the Art of Prayer asks readers to immerse themselves in the experience of believing in and praying to Mary.