St Francis And The Christmas Miracle Of Greccio

A heartwarming story that puts Christ back into Christmas. Legend has it the tradition of the Christmas Nativity began in Italy in 1223 when St. Francis of Assisi recreated the Bethlehem scene at Greccio. This enduring story written by Jeffrey Campbell will delight and inspire both young and old. There are over 30 full color illustrations beautifully rendered by Francesca Bianco.28 pages hardcover gloss laminated first edition 8.5" x 11". This book will be a treasured gift that will be passed on from generation to generation. Let's all join together and do all that we can to bring Christ back into our Christmas Season.

This book explores the medieval monastery as symbolic space (locus symbolicus) and looks at forms of self-representation in medieval monastic life. Papers focus on both the transitory nature of organised religious life, which is based on symbols, and the separate identities religious communities developed by using their own specific forms of ritual and symbolisation. Case studies treat the British Isles and the broader European context. Among the key issues explored here are rituals in internal organisation, the symbolic use of space, architecture and art, symbolism in social interactions, and symbolic constructions of the past.

Picturing Death: 1200–1600 brings together essays considering four key centuries of imagery related to human mortality, from tomb sculpture to painted altarpieces, from manuscripts to printed books, and from minute carved objects to large-scale architecture.

Late Medieval and Renaissance art was surprisingly pushy; its architecture demanded that people move through it in prescribed patterns, its sculptures played elaborate games alternating between concealment and revelation, while its paintings charged viewers with imaginatively moving through them. Viewers wanted to interact with artwork in emotional and/or performative ways. This inventive and personal interface between viewers and artists sometimes conflicted with the Church s prescribed devotional models, and in some cases it complemented them. Artists and patrons responded to the desire for both spontaneous and sanctioned interactions by creating original ways to amplify devotional experiences. The authors included here study the provocation and the reactions associated with medieval and Renaissance art and architecture. These essays trace the impetus towards interactivity from the points of view of their creators and those who used them.Contributors include: Mickey Abel, Alfred Acres, Kathleen Ashley, Viola Belghaus, Sarah Blick, Erika Boeckeler, Robert L.A. Clark, Lloyd DeWitt, Michelle Erhardt, Megan H. Foster-Campbell, Juan Luis González García, Laura D. Gelfand, Elina Gertsman, Walter S. Gibson, Margaret Goehring, Lex Hermans, Fredrika Jacobs, Annette LeZotte, Jane C. Long, Henry Luttikhuizen, Elizabeth Monroe, Scott B. Montgomery, Amy M. Morris, Vibeke Olson, Katherine Poole, Alexa Sand, Donna L. Sadler, Pamela Sheingorn, Suzanne Karr Schmidt, Anne Rudloff Stanton, Janet Snyder, Rita Tekippe, Mark Trowbridge, Mark S. Tucker, Kristen Van Ausdall, Susan Ward.

Music in Early Franciscan Thought is an interdisciplinary study exploring the broad relevance of music in Franciscan hagiography, art, theology, philosophy, and preaching between the founding of the Order in 1210 and 1300—a period covering their rapid ascendancy in medieval society as an Order of clerics. The book covers representations of music in visual and literary hagiography, the inspiration of Pope Innocent III, and the formative writings of William of Middleton and David von Augsburg. Later chapters examine the science and practice of music and its relevance to the ministry of preaching through the writings of Robert Grosseteste, Roger Bacon, Bartholomaeus Anglicus, and Juan Gil de Zamora.

"My task . . . is to rely as much as possible on both written and visual sources, although I obviously must consider the discoveries and insights of modern scholarship, in order to present Francis of Assisi as a major figure in the mystical tradition. This means I will not be much concerned with Francis as the founder of a religious order. I will not present a detailed biography, although the first chapter provides a general overview in order to make the more detailed discussions of his spirituality more intelligible. Rather than attempt to discuss all texts by and about Francis of a mystical nature, I shall instead focus on six elements of his life and spirituality--his conversion; his relationship to the created world; the creation of the Christmas crib at Greccio; the role of learning; the relationship between the active and contemplative life; and his stigmatization at LaVerna in 1224, two years before his death. I believe that a detailed discussion and analysis of these aspects of Francis's life will best introduce the reader to Francis of Assisi." --from the Introduction

From Italian textiles featuring Islamic and Asian motifs to ceramics and glassware that reflected Syrian techniques and ornamental concepts, this book gives an extraordinary view of the influence of imported Oriental goods in Italy over three crucial centuries of artistic development, from 1300 to 1600.".