In 1295, a house fell from the evening sky onto an Italian coastal road by the Adriatic Sea. Inside, awestruck locals encountered the Virgin Mary, who explained that this humble mud-brick structure was her original residence newly arrived from Nazareth. To keep it from the hands of Muslim invaders, angels had flown it to Loreto, stopping three times along the way. This story of the house of Loreto has been read as an allegory of how Catholicism spread peacefully around the world by dropping miraculously from the heavens. In this book, Karin Vélez calls that interpretation into question by examining historical accounts of the movement of the Holy House across the Mediterranean in the thirteenth century and the Atlantic in the seventeenth century. These records indicate vast and voluntary involvement in the project of formulating a branch of Catholic devotion. Vélez surveys the efforts of European Jesuits, Slavic migrants, and indigenous peoples in Baja California, Canada, and Peru. These individuals contributed to the expansion of Catholicism by acting as unofficial authors, inadvertent pilgrims, unlicensed architects, unacknowledged artists, and unsolicited cataloguers of Loreto. Their participation in portaging Mary’s house challenges traditional views of Christianity as a prepackaged European export, and instead suggests that Christianity is the cumulative product of thousands of self-appointed editors. Vélez also demonstrates how miracle narratives can be treated seriously as historical sources that preserve traces of real events. Drawing on rich archival materials, The Miraculous Flying House of Loreto illustrates how global Catholicism proliferated through independent initiatives of untrained laymen.

Around the 15th and lasted until the beginning of the 20th century, on the Italian Adriatic coast to the Apennines, the sacred tattoo began to spread. The inhabitants and pilgrims of these lands had the use of tattooing their hands or forearms near their wrists. They were blue tattoos of figures, mottos, crosses, sacred symbols, pierced hearts, skulls and anchors. The origins of this tradition came from the Sanctuary of Loreto, probably it was an act of devotion or perhaps recognition. Caterina Pigorini Beri, in this book of 1889, traces the birth of this interesting custom and collects a hundred drawings of the original tattoos.

Generations have lived under the guidance and inspiration of John Henry Cardinal Newman. This book serves as an appropriate introduction to the spirituality and theology of this Catholic convert, Saint, pastor, preacher, educator, theologian, apologist, and poet.

Scripture speaks of miracles wrought through relics: a dead man was raised when Elisha’s bones touched him, and the clothing of Jesus and His apostles healed the sick. In the early Church, Masses were celebrated over the bones of the martyrs, and phials of their blood have effected countless miracles. Direct successors of the Apostles themselves speak of venerating relics; Church Fathers encourage it; throughout the ages of Catholic legacy, relics of the saints are always present. The Church takes diligent care in preserving and documenting the authenticity of her relics. Best-selling author Joan Carroll Cruz takes full advantage of these resources. With painstaking research, she exposes the details behind hundreds of the Church’s most famous and beloved relics. She covers 38 second-class relicsof our Lord and Lady, such as the Holy Grail and Our Lady’s Veil, and relics of all sorts from 75 favorite saints, such as St. Mary Magdalene, St. Agnes, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Maria Goretti, and many more! Relics is a unique collection of years of dedicated research about the lives of the saints and the mementos they left behind, to remind us of their presence and intercession for us.

Nativities from around the world in a dazzling variety of styles Nearly one hundred nativities from all over the world—most of which have never before appeared in any book—are collected here. Artisans from locales as diverse as the Czech Republic, Guyana, Burkina Faso, and Bangladesh are represented. There are nativities made with materials ranging from hand-carved wood, blown glass, and wool, to more unique materials such as salt dough, dried maguey cactus, and recycled bicycle parts. The artistry, ingenuity, and diversity of these creations are greatly prized by thousands of nativity collectors worldwide, many of whom have graciously allowed pieces from their own collections to be photographed for this book. Susan Topp Weber has owned and operated Susan’s Christmas Shop in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for more than thirty years. She has a prized collection of nativities herself, which began with a gift in 1965, and has sold nativities at her shop since 1978. She is the author of Christmas in Santa Fe.

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