"Perhaps you have already heard about Lourdes, a little town in the French Pyrenees Mountains famous all over the world. Thousands of Christians go there every year to pray. Sick people from all countries come in the hope of being cured. And yet, a hundred and fifty years ago, Lourdes was a very little village, and Bernadette, the one who started it all, was just a very simple girl of fourteen." So begins the story of Bernadette and her amazing encounters with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Young readers will enjoy the lovely watercolors and lively text, as they are introduced to the simple girl whose visions of a "beautiful Lady" resulted in the discovery of a miraculous spring.

Padre Pio was a stigmatic, mystic and wonder-worker, and he is arguably Ireland's favourite saint. Compiled by award-winning journalist Colm Keane, this remarkable collection of stories is crammed full of miracles and cures attributed to Padre Pio's intercession. There are accounts of scientifically inexplicable recoveries from cancer, heart disease and brain damage, along with revivals from blood clots, strokes, multiple sclerosis and life-threatening viral infections. Also featured are visions, apparitions and supernormal coincidences. Elsewhere in the book, early Irish pilgrims speak of trail-blazing journeys to San Giovanni Rotondo in the 1950s and '60s, while visits by devotees to Padre Pio's beatification in 1999 and his canonisation in 2002 are vividly recounted. Using personal testimonies, Padre Pio: The Irish Connection documents the widespread influence of this complex and intriguing Italian saint, who bore the wounds of Christ for half a century until his death in 1968.

St. Bernadette’s impoverished childhood, her work as a shepherdess, visions of Our Lady, harsh treatment as a nun, and tragic death at the age of 35 are recalled in this groundbreaking book. Numerous Irish miracles and cures at Lourdes are recollected. Recoveries from cancer, epilepsy, lung problems, skin disease, pain, paralysis and physical disability are included. John F. Kennedy, Grace Kelly, Brendan Behan and Seamus Heaney are among the millions who have visited the shrine. You can read their stories, along with those of other Irish pilgrims. Using first-hand testimony, this moving and inspirational book brings you up-close to the wonders of Lourdes in a way you have never experienced before. Reviews 'Riveting story of St. Bernadette and why the Pyrenean town is a place of pilgrimage and peace’ -RTĖ Radio 1 'A deeply felt, warmly sympathetic and humane book' - The Irish Catholic 'Terrific read'’ - Belfast Telegraph 'A book that will make you believe in miracles’ - C103 'Brings readers close up to the many wonders of Lourdes' - Shannonside FM

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.

Bernadette of Lourdes: her life, death and visions is the first ever scholarly biography of Bernadette Soubirous, either in French or in English. It draws upon many testimonies and archival sources that have never previously been published. Therese Taylor explains who Bernadette was, and how she lived and died but takes no position on whether or not her visions were genuine. This story begins in Bernadette's native country of the Pyrenees, a mountain region haunted by tales of fairies, witches and miraculous groves and springs. It follows Bernadette's astonishing life story, from her family circle, through her years of fame, to her retirement at the convent of St Gildard at Nevers. Her difficult relationships with the historians of Lourdes and her lengthy terminal illness are also considered. This biography places Bernadette in the context of her time. She was born into a volatile family and her parent's lives were blighted by economic failure and alcoholism. At the age of fourteen Bernadette was an illiterate child-servant, who suddenly experienced a series of visions of a White Lady in the Grotto of Massabielle. Townspeople, government officials, clergy and journalists were all drawn in, and sought out Bernadette in order to assess her story. A chain of events was set off which made her one of the most famous women in France. Bernadette has to be understood not only in religious terms, but also with reference to themes such as tourism, commercialism, mass-representation and the exploitation of female celebrities.

Perhaps Bernadette Mayer's greatest work, Midwinter Day was written on December 22, 1978, at 100 Main Street, in Lenox, Massachusetts. "Midwinter Day", as Alice Notley notes, "is an epic poem about a daily routine". In six parts, Midwinter Day takes us from awakening and emerging from dreams through the whole day -- morning, afternoon, evening, night -- to dreams again: "a plain introduction to modes of love and reason, / Then to end I guess with love, a method to this winter season / Now I've said this love it's all I can remember / Of Midwinter Day the twenty-second of December".