Book Review: “Mary’s Miracles”

According to Saint John Paul II, “The faithful have always recognized the value of the Blessed Virgin’s material presence and have recourse to her for every kind of grace.” Author Marian Amberg does a fantastic job of bringing the Pope’s statement to life in “Mary’s Miracles, a Traveler’s Guide to Catholic America.”

Amberg,“faith traveler and award-winning author of over 100 publications,” (including the best-seller, “Monuments, Marvels, and Miracles”) provides this very practical and well-organized guide to use for “traveling” around the United States to visit more than 50 Marian shrines, chapels and statues. 

Organized by region and state, this guide includes very interesting stories, colorful photos, devotions and regional maps that highlight the location of the Marian sites. And to make it easier to create a plan for your travel, Amberg has provided websites, phone numbers and addresses for each site.

We can gain a taste for the powerful stories in this guide as we read about Site 1. This site is, located at Lackawanna, New York (near Buffalo).and the story is about the special devotion made by the Venerable Nelson Baker. 

Father Baker, while on pilgrimage to the great shrines in Europe, “devoted his life to Mary and vowed to spread her devotion in America.” Under his leadership and with the strength of his love for Mary, a trade school for boys, Our Lady of Victory Infant Home for unwed mothers, and their babies, Our Lady of Victory Hospital, and the beautiful Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica were built. The remaining 51 sites each contain their own unique story of a Marian shrine, chapel, statue or of a blessed outcome of Mary’s intercession.

One of the things I liked best about this book was that as I read the story for each site, I felt the presence of Mary, my appreciation for her faith grew and I was comforted knowing she is always near and willing to serve as an intercessor for my prayers to God.

It is impressive to read the amount of research material Amberg provides for each site. She goes into deeper details for some of the sites in a “Signs and Wonder” section. Her writing style, the way she organized all her research, combined with her story-telling skills, made it difficult for me to even want to stop and put the book down.

It is wonderful to know that there are so many beautiful shrines and chapels devoted to Mary located right here in America. And we are blessed with this guide which makes it easy to plan a vacation or pilgrimage so we might experience Mary’s miracles first-hand. So, as summer approaches, if you are planning to travel in the U.S., I strongly recommend you consider using this guide so that you are able to visit some of the wonderful Marian sites Amberg has written about.

Personally, reading this book has inspired me to take time to pray in front of the side-altar and beautiful stained-glass window which are devoted to Mary at Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Church in my hometown, Perry. I invite you to visit our beautiful church and our “shrine” devoted to our Blessed Mother. 

John H. Dolezal is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.