Imperatrix Aeterna
Imperatrix Æterna: Magical Stories of the Queen of Heaven includes several stories of Mary’s manifested miracles in the Catholic tradition, originally written by Pope Celestine V, the late thirteenth century monk who founded the Celestine branch of the Benedictine order, here lovingly translated and introduced by Fr Robert Nixon, OSB.
The veneration of a divine or quasi-divine feminine figure is a virtually omnipresent phenomenon in the various spiritual traditions of humankind, deriving from the complex archetype of a mystical woman: a Magna Mater. She is vested with both power and compassion; she serves as the complement, refuge, and telos of masculinity, and the speculum, idealization, or apotheosis of femininity. This archetype is so primal as to transcend all the more particularized mythological systems and finds a multitude of different expressions within each of them.
Celestine’s stories speak to the compassionate nature of the Celestial mother Mary, as well as her powers of intercession and to defend against evil. The collection continues with tales by Ippolito Marracci of the ‘Noble Daughters of Mary’, those queens, princesses, and saints who devoted themselves to the Blessed Mother. These historiolae attest to the importance placed upon Magna Mater, while the quotes interspersed throughout reveal how widespread the adoration of this figure is, by whatever name She is known.
The sewn hardcover edition is printed on Munken Crème and covered in Skivertex Ostra Red, with 19th century Western European reproduction decorative endpapers, red head and tail bands, and gold foil lettering on front and spine.
Imperatrix Æterna: Magical Stories of the Queen of Heaven
by Pope St. Celestine V and Ippolito Marracci
including Charles Baudelaire, Aleister Crowley, and others
Translated and compiled by Robert Nixon, OSB
Cover artwork by Rosa Laguna.
ISBN 978-1-914166-22-8 (Hardback) See details below
210mm x 297mm
ISBN 978-1-914166-23-5 (Paperback)
198mm x 129mm
ISBN 978-1-914166-29-7 (epub)
134 pages.
Published March 2023.
