Customer Reviews:
A Life of Contradictions.......2005-06-14
This is book is written in the format of a novel, but with Bernadette's actual words. This was a very satisfying hagiography, because it gave, I feel, a realistic portrait of Bernadette. Often, saints' biographies tend to make the saint out as more angelic than human.The author, for the most part, avoids this annoying habit.There are also many interesting photos, which add to the feeling of the "authenitic" Bernadette.
In sum, I would definitely reccommend this book for anyone truly interested in the life, words, and spirit of the peasant girl from Lourdes who was graced with the presence of the "the Immaculate Conception".
Book Description
Description: 8Sexo y violencia! Take one part Mexi-Monster cinema, one part Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, throw in a little Zoro, the WWF, and the knit-costume-wearing performance art collective, Forcefield, and you come up with the raw, vivid, and psychologically unhinged world of Lucha Librethe sports-entertainment phenomenon that first swept Mexico and now the world. Photographer Lourdes Grobet's penentrating study of Mexican professional wrestling culture features over 500 photographs of luchadores like Blue Demon, Santo, The Witch, Adorable Rub', El Solitario, and Hurricane Ramirez, as well as pictures of their families, friends, and fans--onstage, backstage, and even at home. Lucha Libre also includes photographs of stickers, flyers, postcards, stills from Mexi-lucha-cinema, interviews with the wrestlers, essays, and much, much more! In this comprehensive 20-year study, Grobet has put together the definitive look at Mexico's masked superstars. Viva la Lucha Libre!
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Historical Pictoral History..........2007-05-15
An amazing collection of photos, stories, and history from the archives of the most noted lucha photographer ever... Lordes Grobet thrusts the reader into the world of lucha libre and immerses them in the moments that made history...
Viva ! La Lucha Libre.......2007-05-14
A wonderful journey into the history of Lucha Libre, The faces, the masks, the people and the great cities that were all part of this amazing book! Wonderful pictures and a great treasure to have this book!
great insight into lucha libre culture.......2007-01-06
I found the book to be the best title on the wrestlers and their lives. The culture of Mexican wrestling is so rich and colorful.
Lucha Libre Es Muy Bueno .......2006-08-24
This book is a visually stunning, warmly heartfelt, and emotionally powerful pictorial history of Lucha Libre compiled by the genre's most talented and prolific photographer. Ms. Grobet can only be thought of as the high priestess of the "theater of headbutt theology," as she so amusingly puts it. Lucha Libre shows a side of wrestling life unavailable anywhere else. There are luchadoras feeding their babies, enmascarados helping their wives with the dishes, and space giants hanging out with their Ewoks -- to name but a few images.
Lucha Libre is also a surprisingly large and thick book. Although it has a "softback" cover, it is in every way a coffee table book suitable for impressing a houseguest... assuming that he can be impressed by a full color pictorial history of masked wrestling. It has captions in both Spanish as well as glorious, unpretentious Spanglish that are a genuine pleasure to read. It's only flaws are that it isn't indexed (a pet peeve of mine) and that it's binding is a bit weak. Still, for the price this book is an absolute steal.
You would have to be a no-account Rudo not to buy this book.
THESE LUCHADORS WILL HAUNT YOUR DREAMS.......2006-07-06
I purchased this book for research and I was not dissapointed. First of all the book is large, and at over 300 pages there's plenty of eye candy. A lot of the pictures have a photo journalist feel to them bringing you deeper into the world that is Mexican Wrestling. This book is worth every penny. Do purchase.
Book Description
Ricardo Legorreta is the most renowned architect working in Mexico today. His signature use of brilliant saturated reds, purples, and yellows, thick-textured walls of stucco and plaster, and mysterious, light-filled spaces has earned him a devoted following and a distinguished international reputation. Legorreta's highly personal aesthetic combines a deep appreciation of traditional Mexican architectural elements and culture with a thoroughly modern sense of design that reflects his early training with the Mexican master Luis Barragán.
This long-awaited monograph showcases 25 of the architect's most recent and celebrated projects in Mexico, Texas, and California, with stunning color photography throughout and special focus on nine private houses.
Among the projects shown here are vacation houses in Mexico and in Rancho Santa Fe and Sonoma County, California; the house of actor Ricardo Montalbán and the renowned Greenberg House in Los Angeles; the new Metropolitan Cathedral in Managua, Nicaragua; El Papalote Children's Museum and the City of the Arts, both in Mexico City; the new San Antonio Main Library in Texas; several high-profile buildings in Monterrey, Mexico, including an office complex designed to house an impressive collection of Mexican art and sculpture; and the famous Camino Real hotels in Mexico City and Ixtapa.
An introduction and an interview with Legorreta, a list of projects, and a bibliography provide background and insight into this architect's prolific career.
Customer Reviews:
Stunning.......2007-01-19
This was a gift for friends who love Mexican and Southwestern architecture and has completely wowed all who have seen it.
simply written & presented but effective.......2001-02-28
This is a massive book but readers would be glad to know unlike other architecture books that are filled with academics' essays, pictures take precedent in this instance. Principle photography of this book was taken by Lourdes Legorreta, the daughter of the great architect himself (who happened to be an architect in her own rite & so does Ricardo's son, Victor) & therefore, naturally, she would have empathy of the best angles to be taken of all buildings featured in this book. The preface was written by Ricardo himself & it is complemented by poems that gave us insight of what architecture meant to him. Then, we move on to a chapter dedicated to discussions of elements of architecture such as wall, light, scale, geometry, emotion, humanity. Suffice to say that every & each elements mentioned are just as important & they are intertwined with one another. Subsequently, there was the interview with the great man himself. There were discussions about his relationships with Jose Villagran & Luis Barragan, who seemed to have influenced him quite significantly which he concurred. He described both architects as chalk & cheese. One of them was a perfectionist, emphasised upon the importance of knowing how to build on top of knowing how to design. Because Jose was a Rationist and that all his buildings were functional and anonymous but devoid of spirituality, Ricardo started to wander elsewhere for other enlightenment. That, he found in Luis Barragan, who reminded him the importance of landscaping, as one cohesiveness with the building (I.M Pei believed in the same ideal). Ricardo also joked about how academics interpreted Luis' works in all seriousness and he's adamant that if Luis were alive now, he would have laughed at them all as he designed buildings for the passion and luv of them without any complications of -isms. Then, there were also discussions of several artists that influenced his works, his children's involvement in the same industry, his origin. He also took the opportunity to correct the public's perception about his huge dosage of bold colours. He explained that he isn't using the colours for the sake of using them but using them to emphasise different planes, making the mass changes thru the manipulation of light at different time of the day, and along the way, the users' emotion are taken to yet another height. He couldn't reiterate more that without happiness, what's the point of architecture. Ricardo has this philosophy, quoted by Gropius, which was quite inspiring and something that he takes to his heart, "keep working as if you were going to live forever because if your goals are good, somebody will pick up your flag and keep progressing". And the rest of the book is dedicated in showing Ricardo's testimony or contribution towards architecture: bold colours (& some subtle ones depending upon the clients' requirements) buildings with mass, walls that contained the mystery beyond the walls & thus, enticed people to explore deeper within, forms to excite & stimulate the senses. To complement the pictures, there are floor plan and brief notes or quotations by Ricardo. To finish the book nicely, there is also his biography (doesn't say that he's Year 2000 AIA Gold Medal Award Winner), list of projects (that doesn't include the work that he's done in Japan & other latter works), select bibliography, & project credits (which provided the readers with everything you need to know about his projects). Worthwhile reading. Highly recommended.
A useful study guide disguised as a coffee table book.......2000-05-19
I first came to know the work of Legorreta on a visit to San Antonio & it's new library. The loud colors and monumental scale struck me as odd and distracting in a library setting, but it definitely was a building that made you look twice and want to explore it more. Soon after, I moved to DFW and lived a stones throw away from Solona (the IBM complex). Here is where I learned the true beauty and intelligence of Legorreta's designs and his special notice of the individual and their experience. The colors no longer struck me as loud, but as vibrant and cheerful. This book embraces and shows off this enthusiasm and intelligence VERY WELL. This is a very attractive book with lots of pictures that do justice to Legorreta's palette of colors. There is some narative for each project giving the basic information along with the main design considerations. Also along with each project is a partial floorplan. This is most useful in the study of what is happening in the pictures. When you find an element or view in a picture that intrigues you, the floorplan let's you better understand how that effect was achieve and how it interacts within the context of its adjoining spaces. This is especially important in understanding Legorreta's use of entry sequences and volumes. This also allows you to study how he uses water, stones, and other features in ways that can be experienced from multiple vantage points to create multiple perspectives. If you have experienced Legorreta's Architecture in person and want to understand more about the places you've been, or if you want to see new places that you WILL WANT to experience, then I whole heartedly recommend this book. Buy it, and Enjoy it.
a beautiful photographic essay on a very talented architect.......1999-05-01
beautiful photos and thoughtful text covering some of the work of, arguably, mexico's finest architect. this book does a excellent job of capturing the serene spirit of legoretta's work - having just returned from a week at his hotel in ixtapa, mexico, i can speak to the power, spirit and beauty of legoretta's work, and to the success with which this book conveys these feelings.
Product Description
Where do you go for comfort? Millions of people throughout the world turn to Mary, Mother of Jesus, for healing, loving comfort. Her intercessions have brought about miracles, her flowing grace has changed lives and her divine heart has sustained weary souls. In The Healing Touch of Mary, you can share in the power and inspiration of these miracles through the many true stories and achingly beautiful photographs of Madonnas from around the world. From the young girl who shares her glow-in-the-dark Mary statue with a frightened friend...to the woman in a car wreck to whom the Blessed Mother appears and holds her until her rescue...to the youngster whose broken fingers are healed with Lourdes water, these stories embody the power of Mary's intercessions.
Customer Reviews:
Must have!.......2007-08-27
This book is both encouraging and uplifting. You will not be the same after reading of the powerful healings through Mary. It is a quick and easy read. Makes a great gift for someone needing encouragement due to sickness.
A compendium of more than sixty personal accounts.......2007-06-10
Compiled, organized and edited by photojournalist Cheri Lomonte "The Healing Touch Of Mary" is a compendium of more than sixty personal accounts by men and women from around the world revealing the Blessed Virgin Mary's compassionate, loving, faith-nurturing divinity for all of humanity. Enhanced with full-color photographs of the Madonna drawn from Nicaragua, Peru, Italy, France, and the United States, "The Healing Touch Of Mary" offers dramatic, heartwarming stories of Her miraculous, modern-day appearances to Christians in need. These inspirational stories range from a girl who shared her glow-in-the-dark statue of Mary with a frightened friend, to a woman in a car wreck to whom the Blessed Mother appeared, to a child whose broken fingers were healed by Lourdes water, and so many, many more real-life examples of the Madonna's intervention into the lives of those who needed her most. "The Healing Touch Of Mary" is highly recommended reading for Christians of all creeds and denominations, but most especially for members of the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Catholic communities.
The Healing Touch of Mary.......2007-01-04
Wonderful book!!! One of the best i seen on Our LAdy for some time. The writing is very good. I would have liked more traditional pictures , but that being said it is treasure of a book. A+
Truly a Healing Touch.......2006-03-08
These stories tell of real healings through faith in and love of Mary. They inspire anyone who reads them to believe that they too can be healed of whatever their dis-ease might be. This book is an inspiration.
Great stories of faith.......2006-02-02
Cheri Lamonte's The Healing Touch of Mary is an inspirational and deeply spiritual book, which brings the reader into direct contact with hundreds of anecdotes and personal experiences of the maternal role of Mary in the life of all believers. Our society needs books that motivate us to believe and conquer the pessimism brought on by faithless doubt. I find it to be a great contribution to the world of inspirational books."
Father Albert R. Cutié,
Radio and Television talk-show host, advice columnist and author of REAL LIFE, REAL LOVE: Seven Paths to a Strong and Lasting Relationship
Book Description
While the story of the apparitions of Our Lady to Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes in 1858 are well known, relatively few people are familiar with the saint's own spiritual insights and profound holiness. For the first time in English, this book presents a wide selection of St. Bernadette's thoughts, advice, sayings, and prayers through the touching words of her spiritual diary, notes, and letters to friends and family.
After receiving the visions of Our Lady at the grotto in Lourdes, Bernadette eventually became a religious sister as a member of the Sisters of Charity. She lived a life of simplicity, charity, suffering and deep holiness, dying at the age of 35. When she was canonized a saint, her body was found to be incorrupt. In these beautiful writings of St. Bernadette, we learn the secrets of her holiness and happiness. Though she suffered greatly throughout her life, the heroic response of this humble, self-effacing nun transformed excruciating suffering into spiritual fruitfulness. Her letters and writings serve as a model for others passing through their own trials. Her writings reveal and intimate and profound love for God and neighbor. Anyone pursuing a deeper spiritual life will appreciate knowing Bernadette as she truly was, and the inspiring spiritual works of wisdom she offers to us all.
Customer Reviews:
Bernadette's words prove that she was indeed a saint........2007-06-08
This book is very revealing. I had thought it likely that I would find out more about Bernadette's life as a nun from her writings; but she was little concerned with her material life, and almost completely concerned with her spiritual life. She constantly sought to be as saintly as possible, making a conscious attempt to be worthy of the sainthood which she suspected was her destiny. She cultivated within herself humility, altruism, patience, and love for and dedication to God. She also turned out to be very sensitive, and sought emotional support by corresponding frequently with her family. In her letters, she was very loving toward them. After reading the book, I believe that Bernadette achieved her goal of being worthy of sainthood.
IF YOU ACCEPT THE INITIAL METHODOLOGY THIS MAY BE THE BEST WE CAN HOPE FOR OF DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE SAINT.......2007-05-04
In the initial account of the apparitions Dr. McEachern uses the method of drawing lines from various different accounts given by the Saint over several different years in order to present one comprehensive report. If you accept this methodology as valid, you will draw much from this book. I felt a bit uncomfortable realizing I was reading a mosaic of shards shattered and shorn from so many different sources and presented as her complete account, but perhaps such textual criticism does not present a problem to other readers. I would prefer to read the accounts in their entirety, including to the various ecclesial and legal authorities who questioned her, in chronological order, and piece together a conclusive report from that entirety. Here this work has been done for us, leaving only the golden threads from among the whole cloth. I would hope one day to see the fullest tapestry.
After that opening, the compiler of this volume does leave us a fairly representative collection of the Saint's letters, translated. Again I hope one day to see them in the original, including the regional dialect, and in chronological order, as here we find the intriguing and often difficult and treacherous work of translation done for us.
I also found the opening introduction touched by a persistent trait of other reports on this Saint, the disparagement of her family and conditions and education and mind, rather than a charitable embracing and comprehension. I am always uncomfortable to read such judgmental emphasis, yet here find it more balanced and contextualized than in earlier standard texts. The Saint herself suffered this from the first moments she reported the Visions, and for the rest of her life on earth, and accepted this suffering, for reasons she examines in this book, including unmentioned yet infinitely consoling comments by Our Lady herself, who was of similar age and education and conditions. I am not so holy and so feel deeply uncomfortable for the Saint suffering such mistreatment both during and after life, but I must resolve to convert by her very wise and holy and compassionate example, and by her own exhortations shared here in her own, translated hand.
A necessary addition to any Catholic spiritual library, and probably the best we can get for this Saint.
Bernadette Soubirous -- in plain English.......2007-02-22
In developing my own book on the famous apparitions at Massabielle (Lourdes: Font of Faith, Hope, & Charity, Paulist Press, Sept. 2007), I researched a great number of titles. None of them, however, gave me better insight into the real person of Bernadette Soubirous than A Holy Life. Thanks to Patricia McEachern's careful translation, English-speaking readers can appreciate the oftentimes difficult journey to sainthood through Bernadette's candid letters and journal entries as she lived out her sanctity in the motherhouse at Nevers. A true treasure -- it was like meeting the visionary in person!
Bernadette's life from the Grotto to the cloister........2006-07-05
This book is a wonderful resource for all who want to know Bernadette better. From her writtings one can see the depth of her faith. She saw all that occurred in her life as the will of GOD and she accepted everything that came her way. One learns that Bernadette carried her cross in life with acceptance and love. She suffered greatly and wanted to unite her suffering with Jesus' for the sake of all sinners.
Book Description
Creative, Stylish, and INEXPENSIVE Solutions for Creating a HOME
Why spend every dollar you have on decorating? With a little help and creativity, you can turn your apartment into home sweet home without breaking the bank—and you don't have to give up comfort, individual expression, or warmth.
Regardless of you background, budget, gender, or personal tastes, decorating writer Lourdes Dumke will take you on a style-wise yet budget-sensitive tour of your home-to-be and help create your personal palace. Combined with a sprinkle of imagination and a dose of creativity, this helpful guide to making the perfect living space is exactly what you need. You will discover:
·Decorating and furnishing hints for every room
·Unique yet simple ways to unleash creativity
·Practical ideas for the best places to shop on a budget
·Commonsense suggestions for decorating and furnishing with already-owned items
·And much, much more!
The tips and tricks in this book will save you a bundle and turn your apartment into a decorated delight. You're sure to hear "WOW!" again and again from your impressed visitors—as well as from yourself!
Customer Reviews:
Not what I was looking for...........2004-08-27
this book just didn't have any information in it that I didn't already have.
Decorating made Easy.......2001-06-20
If you have very little money, little time, little or no decorating talent, and the desire to make your apartment look great, this book is for you! This is the first decorating book I picked up where ALL of the ideas in this book are paractical.
How to Decorate helped me establish a budget and "scheme" for apartment. Following the author's guidelines will help you do the same. So when you go shopping for instance, you will not impulse buy and end up with furniture you don't really want.
The author also makes great suggestions on discount shopping stores, space and style consideration, cheapo ways to change the look of furniture, and how to "size up an apartment" during your initial apartment hunting period.
If your shopping/moving budget is $500 or less, this book is a must have!!
how to decorate and furnish your apartment on a budget.......2001-06-19
This book is for those of us with little money, little time and very little or no decorating skills/creativity. If you are moving into an apartment (like me) and have a desire to create a pleasant living space, this book is definetly for you.
I like the book because it is very practical and it helped me focus on what I wanted my apartment to look like. It helped me establish a budget and a "look" for the apartment, so now, when I go shopping, I know exactly how much I have to spend, what I need and whether or not something will match or look good, etc.
The author also gives tips on where to find stuff on at a discounted rate and her sample budgets made me remember to buy the little stuff you tend to forget about, like a small trash can for the kitchen.
The best part about all of this is that the entire process, budgeting and creating a scheme only took a few hours to create.
how to decorate and furnish your apartment on a budget.......2001-06-19
This book is for those of us with little money, little time and very little or no decorating skills/creativity. If you are moving into an apartment (like me) and have a desire to create a pleasant living space, this book is definetly for you.
I like the book because it is very practical and it helped me focus on what I wanted my apartment to look like. It helped me establish a budget and a "look" for the apartment, so now, when I go shopping, I know exactly how much I have to spend, what I need and whether or not something will match or look good, etc.
The author also gives tips on where to find stuff on at a discounted rate and her sample budgets made me remember to buy the little stuff you tend to forget about, like a small trash can for the kitchen.
The best part about all of this is that the entire process, budgeting and creating a scheme only took a few hours to create.
Book Description
The sacred grotto at Massabieille, near the town of Lourdes in southern France, appeals to Catholics like no other place. This is the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, the place where Mary appeared to a humble peasant girl named Bernadette Soubirous in 1858 and spoke words of comfort and simple faith. At Mary's behest, Bernadette dug in the rocky soil of the grotto and struck water. A puddle soon became a spring that gushed forth waters that were recognized to have documented healing properties, baffling physicians and scientific experts. Some six million pilgrims visit Lourdes each year, making it the most popular place of pilgrimage in the world.
One of these recent pilgrims was Fr. James Martin, an American Jesuit who went to Lourdes as chaplain for a group of pilgrims sponsored by the Order of Malta. Fr. Martin's illuminating account of seven busy and gratifying days at Massabieille--at turns touching, humorous, reverent, and self-effacing-- is a vivid description of a place with a special, mysterious spiritual presence.
Customer Reviews:
A SIMPLE AND TOUCHING STORY AS BEFITS THE PLACE.......2006-10-21
James Martin, associate editor of America Magazine, manages without any sense of cramming to fit into the 65 brief pages of this small book the story of his first trip to Lourdes and the events of his week there, the history of Lourdes itself and of St. Bernadette Soubirous, and reflections about pilgrims and pilgrimages and the Knights of Malta with whom he traveled. It is a simple story told simply, eloquently, engagingly, with self-depreciating humor and obvious devotion. It is a good refresher if you have been there, a foretaste if you intend to go, and a hint of God's ever-present grace whatever your travel plans. I do believe I shall read his longer work, My Life with the Saints.
Book Description
Plastic Madonnas, packaged holy tours, and biblical theme parks can arouse discomfort, laughter, and even revulsion in religious believers and nonbelievers alike. Scholars, too, often see the intermingling of religion and commerce as a corruption of true spirituality. Suzanne K. Kaufman challenges these assumptions in her examination of the Lourdes pilgrimage in late nineteenth-century France.
Consuming Visions offers new ways to interpret material forms of worship, female piety, and modern commercial culture. Kaufman argues that the melding of traditional pilgrimage activities with a newly developing mass culture produced fresh expressions of popular faith. For the devout women of humble origins who flocked to the shrine, this intensely exciting commercialized worship offered unprecedented opportunities to connect with the sacred and express their faith in God.
New devotional activities at Lourdes transformed the act of pilgrimage: the train became a moving chapel and popular entertainments like wax museums offered vivid recreations of visionary events. Using the press and the strategies of a new advertising industry to bring a mass audience to Lourdes, Church authorities remade centuries-old practices of miraculous healing into a modern public spectacle. These innovations made Lourdes one of the most visited holy sites in Catholic Europe.
Yet mass pilgrimage also created problems. The development of Lourdes, while making religious practice more democratically accessible, touched off fierce conflicts over the rituals and entertainments provided by the shrine. These conflicts between believers and secularists played out in press scandals across the European continent. By taking the shrine seriously as a site of mass culture, Kaufman not only breaks down the opposition between sacred and profane but also deepens our understanding of commercialized religion as a fundamental feature of modernity itself.
Amazon.com
Lourdes by Ruth Harris is a compulsively readable history of the most famous Catholic healing shrine in the world. In 1858, a peasant girl named Bernadette saw the Virgin Mary in a grotto. Millions of pilgrims from around the world have since traveled to Lourdes in order to petition the Virgin for healing. In Harris's hands, the story of Lourdes (up to World War I) is "a story about France, about the struggles of Catholics in the aftermath of revolutionary turmoil, the capacity of the Second Empire to adjust to, and even profit from, religious movements, and the inability of the Third Republic to suppress them." It is also "a focal point in the wider debate between science and religion, and between anti-clericalism and clericalism." If you don't have the historical knowledge to recognize or consider all of the topics identified above, don't worry about it. Harris will give it to you, in language that is as down to earth as it is sophisticated. Her arguments (illustrated by dozens of fascinating photographs) range widely, but through them all she remains attentive to "one fixed point: the essential image of a young, poverty-stricken and sickly girl kneeling in ecstasy in a muddy grotto." --Michael Joseph Gross
Book Description
A magisterial history of the world's greatest Catholic healing shrine: an examination of its incredible flowering, and how it shaped the Church and the faith of millions
In 1858, near the tiny French town of Lourdes in the foothills of the Pyrenees, a young peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous witnessed the Virgin Mary in a grotto. Since then, millions of pilgrims from all over the world have gone there every year to walk in a procession to a shrine whose waters have made it a synonym for healing.
Oxford historian Ruth Harris traces the history of this mass phenomenon, placing Lourdes at the center of nineteenthcentury debates on religion, science, and medicine--debates being revisited today. She examines the pivotal role of women and children as its visionaries, devotees and advocates address issues of mysticism and non-orthodox faith that speak to our own era of spirituality. Above all she explores how, at a moment in French history when the Church was under attack, this place of pilgrimage improbably prospered. She offers a serious challenge to the view that the spirit of modern Europe has been exclusively secular and progressive. Lourdes is a major work and sure to become an important history of the greatest of healing shrines.
Customer Reviews:
A miracle that survives a historian's scrutiny.......2004-09-09
Unlike the standard pious or devotional book on the phenomenon of Lourdes, Ruth Harris approaches her subject not as a devotee or skeptic, but as a historian. With no axe to grind, she (theoretically) can take a dispassionate view of a topic that has claimed the passions of generations of believers and non-believers since 1858, when Bernadette Soubirous reported her visions of the Blessed Virgin. Harris chronicles the visions themselves, of course, but throws her net much wider to help the reader understand their historical and social context.
In 1854, Pope Pius IX (whose anti-democratic bent would appall modern American Catholics) promulgated the dogma of the Immaculate Conception - which stated that the Blessed Virgin herself was conceived without the stain of Original Sin. Just four years later, Bernadette's vision revealed its identity in Bernadette's Pyrenean patois: "Y soy Immaculad Conceptua" -- virtually confirming the newly-proclaimed dogma. How this must have gratified the wing of the Church that supported the Pope - and how it must have rankled those who saw Pius IX as a retrograde disaster for the Church!
Harris subjects Bernadette herself to close scrutiny, chronicling her family's hardscrabble existence, her father's business incompetence and the family's recent shameful residence in a cold, drafty former prison. Harris presents the Bernadette of history--asthmatic, lice-ridden, desperately poor, barely educated yet devoutly religious--whom the Virgin graced with her visible presence. In detailing Bernadette's stark, grimy reality, Harris allows us to witness the girl's no-nonsense and even gritty brand of holiness.
Bernadette's visions are wonderfully detailed. Many will be surprised that Bernadette's vision of a playful 9-year-old differs markedly from the standard image of the Blessed Mother. Harris portrays Bernadette's poignant and fruitless attempts to prevent her countrymen from correcting the apparitions to make them conform to their impression of what the Virgin "really" looked like. It is such delightful glimpses into Bernadette's world that make the book so fascinating.
Harris goes well beyond the Lourdes apparitions. She explains why, of all the Lourdes visionaries, only Bernadette's visions are passed along to us. She discusses how Bernadette's post-vision behavior was vital to "selling" the apparitions to the public. Harris discusses the economics and small-time politics of the region, its native patois and the confusing political/religious alliances that sought to use Lourdes to further their own causes. Along the way, Harris spotlights the emerging role of science in the 19th century, and the antipathy with which luminaries of the day (notably Emile Zola) viewed the cures and miracles of Lourdes.
The Lourdes phenomenon teaches that holiness cannot be understood apart from the hopes and social circumstances of real life. The apparitions, bound so tightly to the language, dress and prejudices of a particular people, place and time, seem truer than if they were otherworldly and distant. The Virgin Mary, dressed in the garb of Bernadette's time, speaking her patois, connecting with her girlish heart through play, spoke to a single girl in space and time. But by doing so, she speaks with greater clarity to all people in all times.
That the phenomenon of Lourdes can survive the scrutiny of a historian's eye is almost as miraculous as the original luminous apparition!
Fascinating but ...........2004-07-05
Harris has written a very detailed and historically accurate account of the Shrine at Lourdes and its development. I gained a better understanding of the historical tension between Republican and secular France versus religious and Catholic France. However,the author tips her hand when it comes to her bias. She admits in the preface that she initially found the phenomena of Lourdes "repugnant". Whilst I can understand that she may not be a believer,the term "repugnant" seems an oddly harsh one. Her knowledge of Catholic theology is pathetic for an Oxford scholar writing on the world's greatest shrine. She apparently believes that the Immaculate Conception refers to the Virgin Birth. Worth reading but be aware that she has her own agenda.She struggles to potray the inhabitants of the rural France in a fair manner,but it's apparent she thinks they are a bunch of flea ridden dummies.
Reductionist and Condescending.......2004-01-31
Ruth Harris purports to write a scholarly treatment of Lourdes. Clearly, scholarly in her sense of the term means a rejection of the actual faith which underlies the history of Lourdes and most of the people who go on pilgrimage there. It is a common ploy today for intellectuals who reject the faith itself and are in fact hostile to it to disguise their true dispositions by characterizing simple believers as adherents to some kind of folk beliefs independent of the actual content of Catholicism. In this way, Harris is able to attack Catholicism itself but appear to respect phenomena such as visions, miracles and those who believe in them. The latter are cast into the framework of common folk thinking and acting independent of the hierarchically-constituted Church. Harris' Lourdes exists only in her imagination and in the confines of the intellectual constructs she imposes on it. It is similar in vein to those who cast Our Lady of Guadalupe into the framework of syncretism, that is, the common people subverting Catholicism by mixing it with pagan elements. The truth is known to be otherwise for those who are careful to study the history. Lourdes and Guadalupe are towering monuments to Catholic orthodoxy. Harris' perspective has nothing to do with the actual dispositions of Saint Bernadette Soubirous and the millions who have followed her to the grotto in Lourdes. This work will impress those who know little about Lourdes or Bernadette and are predisposed to Harris' psychological and sociological reductionism. I might add that a work purporting to be objective would have considered more carefully the extensive scientific evidence. Those interested in the real Lourdes and the real Bernadette should read the works of Rene Laurentin, the best Lourdes scholar.
Thinly-veiled anti-Catholicism from cover to cover.......2003-01-11
Having received an Amazon gift certificate, I eagerly a sought book on Lourdes which I had not yet read. I came upon Ruth Harris' book, surprised that I had never seen mention of it in any Catholic literature. Indeed, each and every one of the rave reviews in the book is from secular sources, and scant wonder. The book is an unabashed attack on Catholicism from beginning to end. The author seems bent on depicting the Lourdes phenomenon as being made possible primarily because of a deeply-rooted pagan or earth-based folk spirituality beneath a forced, thin veneer of orthodox Catholicism. The author consistently uses the term "Counter-Reformation" as synonymous with 19th century orthodox Catholic culture, as if to imply that this culture was largely reactionary and paranoid, and sets out to portray the true believers at Lourdes as being in opposition with and repressed by the orthodox Catholic hierarchy. In spite of her reviewers' awe of her "elegant scholarship," she makes incredible leaps of interpretation. For example, in describing how people over the years have been led by stray cattle and other animals to discover miraculous hidden statues of the Virgin Mary, Harris concludes that the presence of animals in these tales and their wooded settings must indicate a pagan sensibility. She gives a sexual interpretation to the anecdote of a bull licking a statue of the Blessed Virgin. With this kind of thinking, Harris would probably look upon the story of St. Francis and the Wolf and determine that St. Francis must really be a pagan at heart! Furthermore, when she insists that when these statues are placed in local churches and miraculously find their way back to their hidden forest "homes", this proves their defiance and rejection of the institutional Church, an assumption made in apparent ignorance of the fact that, on the contrary, the Church seeks to spread truth and devotion to all remote and hidden corners of the world, and generally builds chapels and shrines upon the sites of such miraculous findings-- of which Lourdes itself is a supreme example! In one chapter on the Lourdes visionary Bernadette Soubirous, Harris compares her with another young, female, 19th-century French saint, St. Therese of Lisieux. Flying in the face of historical records which verify the unusual, almost idyllic happiness of the Martin family, Harris averts to modern psychobabble and describes them as "tormented", and criticizes the fact that Therese was interested in political happenings only to the extent that they offered the promise of converting the heathen-- as if this was not incredibly rare and laudable in someone so young. She makes the unsubstantiated remark that the Martin parents "taught the children to accept without question the perceived conspiratorial links between Freemasonry, Jews, and the devil," just one in a series of gratuitous potshots at some fantasized Catholic anti-Semitism. Deciding that she must know more than the Catholic Church who declared St. Therese a Doctor of the Church the year before her own book's publication, Harris makes the common blunder of mistaking Therese's concept of 'spiritual childhood' for childishness, and amazingly states that this led to Therese's perception of "God as mother." Though Harris does use some original documents in her research, claims of the more spurious kind are most often based not on these primary historical sources but on articles written by other, similar modern scholars with similar "modern" agendas. Her supposed admiration for Lourdes seems based primarily on its social-work dimension of volunteers helping the sick. I can honestly say that, other reviewers' raves about Harris' scholarship aside, I feel I learned little in the way of undistorted fact aside from her several mentions that St. Bernadette Soubirous had fleas.
Impartial and Fascinating.......2001-06-11
This book is a gem simply for providing a detailed glimpse of the historical, social, political, and religious landscapes that surrounded the actual "event" of the apparitions. The author takes the figure of Bernadette and 'Aquero' firmly out of the strictly pious, sentimental realm and places them firmly in the realm of their time and circumstances--all without denying the events their fair sense of mystery. An important work that finally begins to give Lourdes its scholarly due in the secular sphere as well the religious.
Book Description
Esperando a mi bebé es la única guía que aborda las cuestiones específicas de las mujeres latinas embarazadas.
El embarazo en nuestra cultura latina es un gran acontecimiento familiar, y por generaciones, madres y abuelas han impartido sus consejos a sus hijas. Hoy en día, a medida que las hijas trabajan y se mudan lejos de sus familias, este enlace de apoyo familiar está desapareciendo. Durante su embarazo, Lourdes Alcañiz reconoció la necesidad de un libro que se enfocara claramente en las dificultades que confrontan las futuras madres latinas. De ahí la inspiración de Esperando a mi bebé, que toma una perspectiva personal y amigable sin dejar de ser una fuente de información médica sólida y precisa. En él encontrará temas concretos, tanto fisiológicos como culturales, que afectan a las mujeres latinas durante el embarazo, tales como:
• Cómo llenar el vacío cultural entre pacientes hispanos y doctores que no los son, tanto como las maneras de sentirse cómoda en la consulta médica.
• Información actualizada sobre la diabetes del embarazo, hipertensión, enfermedad de la vesícula, depresión y otras condiciones que afectan más a las mujeres latinas.
• Dietas ideales para mujeres embarazadas que no privan el sabor de los platos latinos.
• Ejercicio apropiado durante el embarazo y cómo incorporarlos a la rutina diaria.
• Qué hierbas son seguras y cuáles no.
• Cómo reconciliar las creencias populares del embarazo con los procedimientos médicos modernos.
• La gama de emociones durante y después del embarazo, y cómo reconocer la diferencia entre un simple malestar de humores y una depresión de posparto.
• Recursos para mujeres latinas embarazadas sin seguro médico.
Salpicado de anécdotas de madres latinas acerca de sus experiencias físicas y emocionales durante todo el proceso del embarazo, Esperando a mi bebé es una verdadera guía de confianza.
Customer Reviews:
Esperando a mi bebe.......2007-09-07
Es un excelente libro que ha dado respuesta a muchas de mis inquietudes y cada ves que necesito saber de algo corro y busco en el indice y preciso que encuentro la razon a mis dolores lo he disfrutado mcuho.
Gracias
super complete manual for the pregnant loved one!.......2007-02-16
My wife is an avid reader and a loving mother, this was the perfect gift for such a person, demistifies and educates, this is a wonderful gift, we actually bought 2 of them as gifts for pregnant friends.
GUIA PERFECTA PARA LA MUJER EMBARAZADA, NO DUDES EN COMPRARLO, NOSOTROS COMPRAMOS 2 EXTRAS PARA REGALAR. FELICIDADES!
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Religious
| Leaders & Notable People
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
A Holy Life: The Writings of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes
St. Bernadette Soubirous: 1844-1879
The Song of Bernadette
The Incorruptibles: A Study of the Incorruption of the Bodies of Various Catholic Saints and Beati
15 Days of Prayer With Saint Bernadette of Lourdes (15 Days of Prayer Books)
