The Glories Of Mary.

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The Virgin With Angels.

Artist: William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905).

Date: 1900.

Current location: Petit Palais, Paris, France.

Source: Art Renewal Center image.

Copied from the English Wikipedia to Commons.

This File: 8 July 2005.

User: Phrood.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Glories of Mary is a classic book in the field of Roman Catholic Mariology, written during the 18th-Century by Saint Alphonsus Liguori, a Doctor of the Church.

The book was written at a time when some Jansenists (Jansenism was declared heretical by the Pope) were criticising Marian devotions, and was written in part as a defence of Marian devotion. The book combines numerous citations, in favour of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the Church Fathers and the Doctors of the Church, with Saint Alphonsus' own personal views on Marian veneration, and includes a number of Marian prayers and practices.

The Virgin at Prayer.

Artist: Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato (1609–1685).

Description: Giovanni Battista Salvi "Il Sassoferrato", Jungfrun i bön (1640-1650).

National Gallery, London.

Date: Between 1640 and 1650.

Current location: National Gallery, London.

Source: Web Gallery of Art: Image Info about artwork.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The first part of the book focuses on the Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen) prayer and explains how God gave Mary to mankind as the "Gate of Heaven". On this topic, Saint Alphonsus quoted Saint Bonaventure, namely: No one can enter Heaven unless by Mary, as though through a door.

The second part of the book deals with the key Marian Feasts, such as the Immaculate Conception, Nativity, Purification, Annunciation, Assumption, etc. The third part focuses on the Seven Sorrows of Mary, explaining how her "prolonged martyrdom" was greater than that of all other martyrs. The fourth part discusses ten different Virtues of the Blessed Virgin, while the fifth part provides a collection of Marian prayers, meditations and devotions. An appendix is devoted to defending the role of Mary as Mediatrix of all Graces.

PLEASE NOTE: AN ARTICLE ON SAINT ALPHONSUS LIGUORI, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH, WILL APPEAR ON ZEPHYRINUS, SHORTLY.