I sure wish I'd known this 18 years ago. I'd probably have become Catholic a lot faster. In this episode of The Art of Catholic, I've got one of my favorite people, Mike Aquilina, ready to lay down some serious Early Church knowledge. But we're not just interested in history. We're going to dig into what the Early Church believed and practiced with regard to the Virgin Mary. Adding to the already legendary stack of books he's written is "Keeping Mary Close: Devotion To Our Lady Through The Ages"...and it's awesome. I read a lot of Marian literature when working on The Bible and the Virgin Mary series for the St. Paul Center. What sets this book apart from others is that its focus is upon the Early Church. Speaking as a convert who had serious issues with Mary, this book would have helped me immensely when I was dealing with who she is and what the Church has taught about her through the ages. In fact, I’m a little hacked off that he waited so long to write this. But since this is the Year of Mercy, I'm going to set that aside and turn him loose so that all of you can experience the incredible knowledge bomb he's about to drop. Some of the questions I ask are: When did devotion to Our Lady begin? (The answer is going to surprise you.) What did ancient extra-biblical sources say about Mary? (Ever heard of The Ascension of Isaiah or the Infancy Gospel of James? How about the Gospel of Thomas?) How does ancient devotion to Mary differ from what we do today? (They weren't praying rosaries, after all!) All that and much, much more! Enjoy! Matt P.S. You can't have a relationship with Jesus or His Mother without prayer. Prayer is the relationship, for crying out loud! So grab my FREE cheat sheet on how to develop a life of deep prayer called 8 Ways To Jumpstart Your Prayer Life. It can change everything!