Where did the Blessed Virgin spend her last days? Some say in Jerusalem. Others claim that, together with the Apostle John, she counted out her final years in a house on a hillside in the peaceful Christian community of Ephesus. With the skill of a detective, Father Bernard Deutsch offers in
Our Lady of Ephesus
a thorough account of the claims supporting both the Jerusalem and the Ephesus traditions. Both from what is known historically and from the visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich, he weaves together an engrossing and dramatic tale.
After covering in detail the startling, providential role played by Emmerich's visions in the discovery of Mary's house in Ephesus, he goes on to tell of legends, traditions, and various writings, from the early Church up to the present, that back up the claims of the house's proponents. He tells also of his own visit to the shrine at Ephesus. An exhaustive appendix provides the text of all relevant patristic, conciliar, and papal documents concerning the house and the shrine. Much absorbing Church history is indeed packed into this volume!