The Dagger and the Rosary
The Dagger and the Rosary

Author: Brian Sloan

Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers

Published: 2023-12-08

Total Pages: 538

ISBN-13: 1035806452

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Sicily in 1693 is recovering from a devastating earthquake and struggling under the oppression of the Spanish Inquisition. Raids from Barbary pirates menace the coastline, while European Princes plot against each other. Meanwhile, the sixteen-year-old Bernardo has been brought up in an isolated Benedictine Abbey since being orphaned seven-years before. Now an unexpected journey will introduce him to this chaotic and often cruel world, where his faith will be tested. Rescuing a young girl, Agata, from Barbary pirates will reveal his presence to an old family enemy, as well as introducing him to a secret brotherhood, and to the confusion of adolescent love. However, as love deepens, the petite Agata does not remain a victim for long, growing into a beautiful woman and determined avenger. Family secrets and desperate journeys threaten to tear them apart but will ultimately lead them both to find out what is most important in life.

The Secret of the Rosary
The Secret of the Rosary

Author: Saint Louis de Montfort

Publisher: Aeterna Press

Published: 2015-02-20

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

BIOGRAPHERS have already told us much about St. Louis De Montfort and the Rosary; now, with this first English edition of THE SECRET OF THE ROSARY, we can listen to Montfort speaking for himself. Drawing upon his own experience as well as upon the experience of others, he endeavors to bring home to the reader, “in a simple and straightforward manner,” as he himself tells us, the authentic message of the Rosary; namely, that it is a veritable school of Christian life. He sees it as including essentially the meditation of the mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus and Mary, with a view not only to honoring but especially imitating their virtues as held up to our consideration in each mystery. Aeterna Press

The Sword of Hachiman
The Sword of Hachiman

Author: Lynn Guest

Publisher: Mereo Books

Published: 2019-01-01

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13: 1861515634

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"Twelfth-century Japan, the dawn of the Shogun era. Two mighty warrior clans, the Minamoto and the Taira, struggle for power of the figurehead Cloistered Emperor. At the moment, the Taira are in uneasy control, but the three Minamoto sons, separated and exiled at birth, are secretly reuniting to conquer the Taira and avenge their father's bloody death. Although the eldest is the leader, it is the youngest, Yoshitsuné, whom the warlike monks who sheltered him and trained him in the martial arts deem worthy of possessing the family heirloom, the sword of Hachiman - the sword of the War God. With striking colour and authenticity, Lynn Guest unfolds the story of one of the most romantic and celebrated heroes in Japanese history and legend. Yoshitsuné is initiated into espionage and love in the bedchamber of a young Taira noblewoman. Soon tested in the ferocious hand-to-hand combat that is his birthright, he wins his first and most faithful retainer, the fierce, hard-drinking monk, Benkei. We follow Yoshitsuné behind the scenes of the rarefied Cloister Court, where the delicate, sarcastic emperor desperately manipulates the lords who hold him prisoner - but who nevertheless must have his blessing to act.

Arabian Nights, in 16 volumes
Arabian Nights, in 16 volumes

Author:

Publisher: Cosimo, Inc.

Published: 2008-12-01

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 1605205850

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Notorious for the delight he took in tweaking the sexual taboos of the Victorian age-as well as the delight he took in the resulting shock of his bashful peers-British adventurer, linguist, and author CAPTAIN SIR RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON (1821-1890) is perhaps best remembered for his unexpurgated translation of the Eastern classic The One Thousand and One Nights, more famously known today as The Arabian Nights. Originating in Persian, Indian, and Arabic sources as far back as the ninth century AD, this collection of bawdy tales-which Burton was the first to bring to English readers in uncensored form-has exerted incalculable influence on modern literature. It represents one of the earliest examples of a framing story, as young Shahrazad, under threat of execution by the King, postpones her death by regaling him with these wildly entertaining stories over the course of 1,001 nights. The stories themselves feature early instances of sexual humor, satire and parody, murder mystery, horror, and even science fiction. Burton's annotated 16-volume collection, as infamous as it is important, was first published between 1885 and 1888, and remains an entertainingly naughty read. Volume IV includes: [ "Ni'amar Bin Al-Rabi'a and Naomi His Slave Girl" [ "The Sweep and the Noble Lady" [ "The Mock Caliph" [ "Ali the Persian" [ "The Lover Who Feigned Himself a Thief" [ "Caliph Al-Maamum and the Strange Scholar" [ "The Man of Al-Yaman and His Six Slave-Girls" [ "The Man Who Stole the Dish of Gold Wherein the Dog Ate" [ "The Woman Whose Hands Were Cut Off for Giving Alms to the Poor" [ "The Ruined Man Who Became Rich Again Through a Dream" [ "The King's Daughter and the Ape" [ and many others.

The Art and Architecture of the Texas Missions
The Art and Architecture of the Texas Missions

Author: Jacinto Quirarte

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2010-07-22

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 0292787820

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Winner, Presidio La Bahia Award, Sons of the Republic of Texas Built to bring Christianity and European civilization to the northern frontier of New Spain in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries...secularized and left to decay in the nineteenth century...and restored in the twentieth century, the Spanish missions still standing in Texas are really only shadows of their original selves. The mission churches, once beautifully adorned with carvings and sculptures on their façades and furnished inside with elaborate altarpieces and paintings, today only hint at their colonial-era glory through the vestiges of art and architectural decoration that remain. To paint a more complete portrait of the missions as they once were, Jacinto Quirarte here draws on decades of on-site and archival research to offer the most comprehensive reconstruction and description of the original art and architecture of the six remaining Texas missions—San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo), San José y San Miguel de Aguayo, Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción, San Juan Capistrano, and San Francisco de la Espada in San Antonio and Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo in Goliad. Using church records and other historical accounts, as well as old photographs, drawings, and paintings, Quirarte describes the mission churches and related buildings, their decorated surfaces, and the (now missing) altarpieces, whose iconography he extensively analyzes. He sets his material within the context of the mission era in Texas and the Southwest, so that the book also serves as a general introduction to the Spanish missionary program and to Indian life in Texas.