Glories of Mary [Large Print] [Library Binding]

Alphonsus Liguori (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1991 | ISBN-10: 0899423604 | ISBN-13: 978-0899423609 | Edition: New edition

The Glories of Mary, widely regarded as Saint Alphonsus Liguori's finest masterpiece, has for two and a half centuries stood as one of the Catholic Church's greatest expressions of devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Written as a defense of Our Lady at a time when Jansenistic writers were ridiculing Marian devotion, this classic work combines numerous citations from the Fathers and Doctors of the Church with Saint Alphonsus' intense personal piety to produce a timeless treasury of teachings, prayers, and practices.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Italian --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Library Binding: 189 pages
• Publisher: Catholic Book Publishing Company; New edition edition (August 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899423604
• ISBN-13: 978-0899423609
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #709,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Jesus > Historical Jesus
  • #100 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Theology > Christology

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read for Those Devoted to Mary, August 13, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Glories of Mary (Liguori Classic) (Paperback)

This is one of the richest and most vivid Marian texts I have read in a long time. I highly recommend this text to anyone interested in Marian theology or anyone devoted to the Rosary and Marian piety. It is a classic.

It includes meditations on the mysteries of the Rosary, sermons on the primary liturgical feasts of Mary and prayers to Mary. It is thorough. Each expositional section concludes with a prayer and example.

If you enjoyed Thomas A Kempis' Imitations of Christ, you will love this book.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fundamental teachings about Saint Mary, February 6, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Glories of Mary (Liguori Classic) (Paperback)

This is the most complete book I've ever read about the Mother of God. Saint Alphonsus Liguori analyses with great detail and precision, but always using a perfectly clear language, the decisive role of Saint Mary in the salvation of human souls and her essential contribution to keep them away from sin and eternal condemnation. It is deplorable that the post-Vatican II modernist Church has almost forgotten these fundamental teachings.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Work of Beauty and Devotion, July 23, 2011

By 

john - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Glories of Mary (Liguori Classic) (Paperback)

St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696 - 1787) uses very intense language in this long love letter to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It's a work of beauty and devotion, with stories and legends meant for the edification of people from another place in time; parts of "The Glories of Mary" may not resonate with some modern ears, but it resonated with mine. Although there are serious (and very excellent) Church teachings scattered throughout, it is not fundamentally a theologic or apologetic work: it was written more to move the heart than the mind.

There are 7 parts to the unabridged edition I'm reviewing (Liguori Publications; Revised edition October 1, 2000):

1. Line by line commentary on the Salve Regina
2. Prayers to Our Lady (including The Rosary of Our Lady's Sorrows, covered in more depth in Part 4)
3. Sermons on the Principle Feasts of Our Lady
4. The Sorrows of Mary
5. The Virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary
6. Practices of Devotion in Honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary
7. Further Examples

St. Alphonsus follows a four-step formula in covering most of the material: (1) theme, (2) exposition, (3) example, and (4) prayer. He introduces a topic, develops it in depth using the devotional writings and sayings of the Fathers, Doctors, and saints of the Church, and then provides a story or two to illustrate his point, and a specific prayer for Our Lady's grace pertaining to the particular topic.

As mentioned earlier, this is primarily a work of devotion and therefore not the book I'd give a Protestant to explain the Catholic veneration of Mary; just as I would not give "The Imitation of Christ" to an atheist to explain the rational underpinnings of Christianity. This is the book you read after the light goes on and you realize that for Christ to be King, His mother Mary has to be Queen. That's the way God chose to do it.

If you're Protestant and want to try reading this book with an open mind, you have to have a proper rational foundation for the veneration Catholics give Mary. It's vital to understand that there are three modes of veneration or worship we, as creatures, can render. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, these are latria, dulia, and hyperdulia. Latria is addressed directly to God. It is superior, absolute, supreme worship, "the sovereign worship due to God alone"; addressed to a creature it would become idolatry. When worship is addressed indirectly to God - when its object is the veneration of martyrs, angels, or saints - it is called dulia. Veneration of the Blessed Virgin, who has a "supereminent" rank among saints, is called hyperdulia. Dulia and hyperdulia are given, therefore, with the knowledge that we are offering it *to* God *through* the creature: praising God's creation in this framework has always and forever been but praise for God Himself.

For those outside the Church who put little stock in its whole Deposit of Faith, and choose to use only a part of it - the holy books chosen and approved by that same Church, otherwise known as the Bible - there absolutely is a basis for venerating Mary. I'll explain just one of them here, but if you really have a heart to find out more, there are plenty of books and resources on the subject.

In Chapter 1 of Luke, we have the Annunciation: Mary is full of grace; she is highly favored by the Lord. So highly favored in fact that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the Son of God will be incarnate in her womb. The implications of this are staggering:

* All of Jesus' humanity - his DNA - comes from Mary.
* Jesus, the ultimate source of all grace, whom God could have formed from the dust as he did Adam for his human nature, instead comes to us through Mary - she was chosen to be the channel through which comes all grace.
* God honors Mary like no other creature; as He must: it is his own Commandment (the fourth.)
* Remember what Jesus' saliva mixed in mud did for the blind man; Mary's very blood coursed through the Son of God, thereby consecrating her as no other creature, not even the Angels in Heaven.
* She was without Original Sin, protected by the Fall at the moment of her conception: she had to be, as the Son of God could not be made of flesh that was at any time held captive by Satan. Why would any Protestant want to refute this point? It only impugns Christ to say or think otherwise.
* The Holy Spirit is married to Mary in a mystical but very real manner (unless you would prefer to believe He would impregnate her out of wedlock), and the Song of Songs is to be read, on one level, in this light.
* The Mother of God is a Queen; for who else gives birth to a King but a Queen?

There are many more conclusions you could draw from this one scene in Luke on the fact of the incarnation. There are other scenes, especially the Wedding Feast at Cana in John. Once you begin to follow these threads you will, with prayer, eventually be led to the truth of the Catholic understanding of Theotokos.