Armchair Fatima: An Illustrated Tour of the Marian Shrine and Nearby Sites

Description

Armchair Fatima: An Illustrated Tour of the Marian Shrine and Nearby Sites
Madigan, Leo

Fátima – Ophel Books, 2005
Capa mole com ilustração editorial | Pictorial Softcover | Couverture souple-broché cousu.
146 [xxxiv] + 48 [fotografias | photografs] páginas | pages. 20 x 13,5 x 1,3 cms
Muito Ilustrado | Very much Illustrated | Três Illustrée
ISBN 978-9729930515
Livro em muito bom estado. Quase novo | Book in very good condition. Pristine | Livre en très bon état, comme neuf | Libro como nuevo, en muy bueno estado
Idioma | Language: Inglês | English

ENG
In Armchair Fatima the author presents an entertaining, fascinating and informative book on this Marian jewel based on his researches and his occasional work as a guide. His object is clearly to lure his readers to Fatima, in spirit if not in person. Along with the facts, and abundant photographs, old and new, he uses stories. He has a keen ear for a story and his pages are full of them, not only those associated with the immediate Fatima area, but also those places of religious interest which pilgrims visit on day trips such as: The Eucharistic Miracle Church at Santarem, Coimbra, Sitio & Nazaré, The Monasteries of Batalha & Alcobaça, Balasar – Blessed Alexandrina and the earth cross, The Convents of Tuy and Pontavedra, etc.
The 316 photographs in this book, drawn both from the archives and from contemporary sources, draw readers into the Fatima experience as effectively as any words might.
There are those who criticize Marian Shrines by saying that they are too centered on Mary, that Christ is shouldered out, as it were, by all the prayers and devotions directed to His mother.
But a healthy devotion to Our Blessed Lady can never do this because she herself is so utterly centered on her God that any prayer we direct towards her finds God, indeed, it finds God more readily because she is the mediatrix of grace between God and the soul.
This image of the Sacred Heart, (in the middle of the Sanctuary) central yet unobtrusive, majestic yet familiar, aglow with gold yet curiously hidden, illustrates powerfully that, just as the name of Jesus is in the middle of the Hail Mary, so Christ Himself is the true center of any Marian shrine.