This work provides an introduction to the history and major themes of the 17th-century French School of Spirituality and its contemporary relevance. Included are works of Pierre de Berulle (1575-1629), Madeleine de Saint-Joseph, Jean-Jacques Olier and John Eudes.

The Oxford Handbook of Mary offers an interdisciplinary guide to Marian Studies, including chapters on textual, literary, and media analysis; theology; Church history; art history; studies on devotion in a variety of forms; cultural history; folk tradition; gender analysis; apparitions and apocalypticism. Featuring contributions from a distinguished group of international scholars, the Handbook looks at both Eastern and Western perspectives and attempts to correct imbalance in previous books on Mary towards the West. The volume also considers Mary in Islam and pilgrimages shared by Christian, Muslim, and Jewish adherents. While Mary can be a source of theological disagreement, this authoritative collection shows Mary's rich potential for inter-faith and inter-denominational dialogue and shared experience. It covers a diverse number of topics that show how Mary and Mariology are articulated within ecclesiastical contexts but also on their margins in popular devotion. Newly-commissioned essays describe some of the central ideas of Christian Marian thought, while also challenging popularly-held notions. This invaluable reference for students and scholars illustrates the current state of play in Marian Studies as it is done across the world.

A volume introducing Catholic social thought features entries on the faith's important figures and movements, and analyzes theory and recent research in the social sciences.

When La vie spirituelle appeared in 1901, it was the first book that delved into the dogmatic and ascetic underpinnings of St. Louis-Marie's two well-known works, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin and The Secret of Mary; the first, that is, 200 years after they were written, and 60 years after they were discovered. In his preface, Fr. Antonin Lhoumeau says that "many have written on the devotion to the Blessed Virgin, called the Holy Slavery of Mary; but none has yet shown with consistency and to a great extent, that it is, according to the teachings of St. Louis-Marie, a system of spirituality, a special form of interior life, and not merely a set of pious practices." Fr. Lhoumeau's aim was to fill the gap in the understanding of the devotion to our Blessed Mother, and he succeeds very well indeed. In his 1902 review, Jean-Baptiste Terrien, the renowned Jesuit professor at the Institut Catholique de Paris, wrote: "All those who have at heart the glory of their Blessed Mother and the great business of their perfection in Christ, will have the pleasure and will gain edification by reading this book." THE AUTHOR: The Most Rev. Antonin Lhomeau (1852-1920), was the Superior General of the Company of Mary and the Daughters of Wisdom, the twelfth, after St. Louis-Marie, its founder. Fr. Lhoumeau founded several journals for the diffusion of the teachings of St. Louis-Marie. Besides the current title, he has two other works on Marian spirituality. Fr. Lhoumeau, a brilliant and cultivated soul, was also an accomplished musician and musicologist, who wrote several studies on Gregorian chant and hymn books. He died in 1920 and is buried in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre in France.

O divine Wisdom, Lord of heaven and earth, I humbly beg pardon for my audacity in attempting to speak of your perfections, ignorant and sinful as I am. I beg you not to consider the darkness of my mind or the uncleanness of my lips unless it be to take them away with a glance of your eyes and a breath of your mouth. Aeterna Press