| Lourdes: Font of Faith, Hope, and Charity | 
 enlarge | Author: Elizabeth Ficocelli
Creator: C.f.r. Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel
Publisher: Paulist Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $10.22
You Save: $6.73 (40%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 187231
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 181
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.3
ISBN: 0809144867
Dewey Decimal Number: 232.917094478
EAN: 9780809144860
ASIN: 0809144867
Publication Date: October 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
Beautiful and inspirational November 19, 2008
Ms. Ficocelli has done it again! This book is well-written and inspiring, as all of her others have been!
Lourdes: Font of Faith, Hope, and Charity April 14, 2008
Excellent book to learn about the Lourdes and the message of the apparitions. The author is vivid and clear in her narration. Well written book!
Great Read! March 22, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is a great resource on the historical and contemporary Lourdes. The first chapter of the book presents the story of the apparitions in a simple, straightforward manner. Some of the earliest accounts of Lourdes suffered from exaggeration and lack of full adherence to the facts. Elizabeth applies her journalistic skills to create an accurate and factual account of the historical Lourdes. She tells the inspiring story of Bernadette and the other visionaries and outlines how Lourdes grew from a sleepy little town to a place that attracts on a yearly basis an estimated 5 million people of all faiths. In addition, Elizabteh has created a great guide to the modern day Lourdes that will be an invaluable resource for anyone planning a pilgrimage to the site.
Wonderful book on all aspects of Lourdes March 16, 2008
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
This being the 150th anniversary of the apparition in Lourdes of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Bernadette, Paulist Press commissioned Elizabeth Ficocelli to do a book covering Lourdes - Lourdes: Font of Faith, Hope, and Charity. The author found that while there was a wealth of books on the saint and Lourdes in other languages, that there were not that many in English.
This book is not just another biography on Saint Bernadette, but goes much farther. The first three chapters do an excellent job of going over Bernadette Soubirous early life and the history and circumstances of the time along with a nicely detailed description of the apparition and the reaction by Bernadette and the towns people. You get easily drawn into the times and the reactions both positive and negative that occurred. Also covered is her life in the convent and just how accurate was the Virgin Mary telling her "I cannot promise you happiness in this life, only in the next."
A subsequent chapter covers the growing coverage on Lourdes and some of the battled between various authors documenting the events and the errors that cropped up. I found this chapter highly ironic for those covering the life of the saint were quite willing to expose the errors of other authors while never correcting there own.
The next two major sections of the book cover the start of the pilgrimages to Lourdes, Bernadette's canonization, miracles both physical and spiritual, and the reality of Lourdes today. One thing I really liked about the book was that it was pitch perfect in its theological descriptions. It contained one of the best descriptions of canonization and sainthood that I have read and even got the detail right that papal canonization are in fact infallible. Throughout the book this same attention to detail is quite evident.
Another aspect of the book I enjoyed was the descriptions of Lourdes today and the large number of volunteers that help make possible the throngs of pilgrims who visit possible in the first place. Since a large number of people who visit Lourdes have physical disabilities a lot of care and attention is needed and these volunteers certainly see there work as a sacred responsibility and as a service to Christ himself. These chapters also cover some of the authenticated miracles in the history of Lourdes along with an explanation of the extremely thorough process for recognition and why only a relatively few number of miracles are recognized. Also covered are spiritual conversions at Lourdes and while these would not be considered officially by the Church as miracles, they are obvious examples of God's grace. While the large majority who go to Lourdes will not experience a physical healing, there are quite a number of spiritual healings that occur there and of course sometimes there are both physical and spiritual healings. One interview of a person who was healed and his healing recognized as one of the authenticated cures is quite interesting in that he had pretty much given up hope and that his brother was the one who brought him to Lourdes. He now brings pilgrims to Lourdes everywhere himself.
The is really quite an excellent book even for those who are quite familiar with St. Bernadette's biography and even includes an excellent introduction by Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR where he say he owes much to his recovery after the accident to Our Lady of Lourdes. Normally I am quite skeptical to books put out by Paulist Press, but I have zero qualms over this one and highly recommend it.
Excellent read February 27, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I thoroughly enjoyed the author's approach to a beautiful story and her ability to demonstrate in a tangible way the message and meaning of Lourdes. This is a story told through the eyes of a person of great faith and insight.
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