The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary from the Visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich has become a classic in Catholic literature. Based on the mystic visions of the Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824), a German Augustinian nun from Dulmen, it focuses first on the ancestry of the Blessed Virgin Mary, then on her childhood and early life, next on her life with Jesus and St. Joseph at Nazareth--though it does not include the Public Ministry of Christ. Thereafter, the narrative picks up following the Passion and Death of Our Lord. Two other books based on the visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich cover the Public Life of Christ and His Passion and Death, namely, The Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations (in 4 volumes) and The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ (in 1 volume). In both of these other books, mention of Our Lady during the Public Life is prominent.
Characteristic of all the writings from the visions and revelations of Anne Catherine Emmerich is a beautiful, holy aura that seems to surround and pervade everything she says (most readers sense this aspect of her work from the very first pages); and The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary is typical of Sr. Emmerich's works in this regard. This book is filled with unusual, saintly descriptions that are not recorded in the Gospel story--descriptions that supplement and illustrate the Biblical narrative in a way that makes the actual Scripture passages truly come alive. The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich will richly reward the reader with insights he could never gain from any other source and is a book he will remember all his life.
EXTRACT FROM THE PREFACE OF THE PRESENT EDITION
ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH was born on September 8th, 1774, at Flamske, near Koesfeld, Westphalia, West Germany, and became on November 13th, 1803, a nun of the Augustinian Order at the Convent of Agnetenberg at Dulmen (also in Westphalia). She died on February 9th, 1824. Although of simple education, she had perfect consciousness of her earliest days and could understand the liturgical Latin from her first time at Mass. During most of her later years she would vomit even the simplest food or drink, subsisting for long periods almost entirely on water and the Holy Eucharist. She was told in mystic vision that her gift of seeing past, present, and future was greater than that possessed by anyone else in history. From the year 1812 until her death she bore the stigmata of Our Lord, including a cross over her heart and wounds from the crown of thorns. An invalid confined to bed during her later years, her funeral was attended, nevertheless, by a greater concourse of mourners than any other remembered by the oldest inhabitants of Dulmen.
Published by St. Benedict Press - distributed by TAN Books