Description
Written by St. Anselm of Canterbury, the “Magnificent Doctor” of the Church
This book is comprised of three parts. The first is the Dialogue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Anselm on the Passion of Our Lord. This remarkable piece of devotional literature presents a touching colloquy between the Mother of God and Saint Anselm (1033–1109) in which the passion and death of Christ is described with great beauty and poignancy. The second work is entitled the Liber de Passione Christi (Book of the Passion of Christ). Like Saint Anselm’s dialogue, it is also presented in the form of a colloquy with Mary on the passion of Jesus, but the interlocutor in this instance is Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153). The third text is Our Lady’s Lament. Unlike the other works included here, this tract was originally composed in Middle English. While the author cannot be determined with certainty, it is considered most likely to have been written by John Lydgate (1370–1451), an English Benedictine monk and poet.
Finally, the traditional method of praying the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows of Mary is also included in the form of a translation of the booklet entitled Corona dolorosa, seu modus pie meditandi dolores praecipuos B. V. Mariae, 1 published in 1738. From the Translator’s Note found in the book.