Synopses & Reviews
The Virgin Mary inspires intense religious devotion throughout the Catholic world. In her 350 official incarnations-among them Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Lourdes, and The Mother of Sorrows-Mary brings a feminine face to worship, and serves as a conduit for the redemption of humanity. This beautiful and timeless book by the authors of the Abrams title
Holy Cards explores Mary's many visionary appearances throughout history and their significance, and examines the iconography surrounding the most famous of these visions.
Catholics honor the woman they venerate as the Mother of God through special novena prayers. The Marian prayer cards displayed here, along with other examples of vernacular art illustrating Mary's various appearances, form an exquisite but accessible treasury of the many facets of the Holy Mother. With its radiantly illustrated iconography; its eternal theme; and its rare collection of holy cards, Visions of Mary should inspire believers and all those interested in art and religious iconography.
Synopsis
In her 350 official incarnations, among them Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Lourdes, and The Mother of Sorrows, the Virgin Mary brings a feminine face to worship, and serves as a conduit for the redemption of humanity. This beautiful and timeless book by the authors of "Holy Cards" explores Mary's many visionary appearances throughout history and their significance.Harry N. Abrams
Synopsis
Holy cards offer comfort, consolation, and encourandshy;agement to Catholics, who often carry these portable images with them and use them in daily religious rituals. Given as remembrances at wakes and funerals, Communions, and confirmations, holy cards are also a widely popularand#8212;and highly collectibleand#8212;form of folk art. This handsome volume is both a richly illustrated survey of this devotional art and a gallery of saints organized thematically along with brief biographies, attributes, and powers. Prophets and angels, disciples and evangelists, martyrs and hermits, visionaries and mystics are among the religious figures in Catholicism represented hereand#8212;in exquisite depictions that are at times dramatic and disturbing, at times moving and comforting. This book explains the often enigmatic symbolism in these cards in a beautiful package that makes an ideal gift for first Communion, confirmation, or graduation.
About the Author
Barbara Calamari is a freelance writer who has worked in film and television. Sandra DiPasqua is a graphic designer and art director. The two women have colandshy;laborated on Patron Saints, Holy Cards, Visions of Mary, Novena: The Power of Prayer, and Holy Place: Sacred Sites in Catholicism. Both authors live in New York City.