Dr. Mark Miravalle, husband, permanent deacon, and father of eight, earned his Sacred Theological Doctorate at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. Dr. Miravalle has been teaching at the Franciscan University of Steubenville since 1986. He is President of the international Catholic movement, Vox Populi Mariae Mediatrici (Voice of the People for Mary Mediatrix). Dr. Miravalle is known for his international lectures in Mariology. He has addressed several episcopal conferences, including that of South India, Nigeria, Venezuela, and Costa Rica. In addition, he has served members of the episcopal hierarchy with preliminary investigations for reported apparitions, and has made many conference appearances as well as several television appearances, for example on EWTN and Fox News. He also produces a biweekly Mariology television show for www.airmaria.com.
Dr. Miravalle is the author of numerous books and articles in the area of Mariology and Marian private revelation.
About ninety pages of text, this short, but comprehensive volume on Mary is ideal for anyone who wishes to be introduced or re-introduced to the mother of Jesus. It is particularly of value to those exploring the Catholic Church or the honest challenger of all things Marian who wishes to get a brief, but solid, overview of the Church's understanding of Mary.
The five chapters cover Mary in the Bible and early Church, the Marian dogmas, her spiritual motherhood, Marian devotion, and Mary in private revelation.
The avid and interested reader can polish this off in two hours or less. He should consider this a jumping off point as the endnotes provide plenty of additional resources to go in-depth on any of the book's topics and more.
Mark Miravalle is a foremost expert in Mariology. One would expect a fine volume like this from him.
I really wanted to like this book. I had been meaning to read a book on Mariology for a couple of years and this was the one I selected. I'm a curious Protestant who keeps pushing the envelope and looking deeper into the "wrong " doctrines of the Catholic Church and the more I look, the more solid stuff I keep finding. The saints no loner freak me out, liturgy has become beautiful and I am over my aversion to priests and confession. Mary was the next thing to research. I was super bummed that the author had not much to offer for some of the more illogical seeming beliefs about Mary. I was hoping for extra-biblical sources, historical contextual info or at least early witnesses to stories about her life. Instead he mainly supports the classic assertions about Mary with the official stances of various popes or church writers and sometimes with jumps of logic that seem unnecessary at best, painful at worst. I wanted there to be more there! Will keep reading but this book didn't have much that was fresh or intriguing or compelling for a cynic.
So happy I read this book! It's really made for anyone to read. A Catholic, Protestant, or non-Christian can gain a great deal personally from this book either spiritually or intellectually. It very short (just under 100 pages) and is extremely engaging for anyone even remotely interested in understanding Catholicism's devotion to Mary. Even if you finish and are utterly unconvinced by Marian Dogma, I doubt anyone would be genuinely disappointed in reading it.
Mary is the new Eve, and has a vital role in Salvation History. Miravalle reveals Marian dogma and details important Marian Apparitions. Easy to read, not lengthy, but is a powerful aid to understanding Mary and how she leads us to Jesus, today.