Our Lady, A Presentation for Beginners (Van Zeller)

This is the second edition of Dom Hubert van Zeller's short commentary on the Hail Mary which was part of his "In Other Words" series. Originally published in 1963, it has long been out-of-print. 

Permission has been granted by Downside Abbey Trustees to republish this wonderful work. 

It features a new cover and is newly typeset featuring a foreword by Fr. James Jackson, FSSP, author of Nothing Superfluous, an excellent book on the symbolism of the Rite of St. Gregory the Great or the Traditional Roman Liturgy. 

Here follows an excerpt from the foreword: 

“When theology is placed in the hands of a master, something like Our Lady, A Presentation for Beginners results.

What makes someone a master of theology? Many things come to mind, such as orthodoxy. But a quality of orthodox theology is not the mere parroting of what has already been taught; it demands thought – original ideas – coming at the subject with fresh eyes. It has other qualities too, and when you read Dom Hubert van Zeller, you have all these qualities in abundance...

And what respect he has for the subject! This is present in any of his works, and may be found in abundance in this work. Respect I would say, and yes, much love. Here is an author that loves the subject, and is as far from the technician in a lab coat with his dissecting tools peering at the frog as St. Joseph was when he first looked at his Betrothed.

Clarity, light, respect, fidelity, love; these are the qualities which Dom Hubert brings to his subject, with a plain but profound and direct illumination of “Our tainted nature’s solitary boast,” as Wordsworth called Our Lady. What a little treasure is this book!”