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The ''Book of Azariah'' is a book by the Italian author and 
For instance, on May 26, 1946, the fifth Sunday after Easter, the Mass Gospel was
John 16, 23-30Biblegateway, John 16
/ref> and Azariah's comments, in part, are quoted as follows:
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
mystic Maria Valtorta
Maria Valtorta (14 March 1897 – 12 October 1961) was a Roman Catholic Italian writer and poet. She was a Franciscan tertiary and a lay member of the Servants of Mary who reported reputed personal conversations with, and dictations from, ...
. It was written in 1946 and 1947 in Viareggio
Viareggio () is a city and ''comune'' in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 62,000, it is the second largest city within the province of Lucca, after Lucca.
It is known as a seaside resort as ...
, Italy, where Valtorta was bedridden for several decades. The text is based on a series of "dictations" which Valtorta attributed to her guardian angel
A guardian angel is a type of angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group or nation. Belief in tutelary beings can be traced throughout all antiquity. The idea of angels that guard over people played a major role in A ...
, Azariah.
In the book Valtorta does not provide a specific biblical reference to Azariah himself, but simply refers to him as her guardian angel. The name Azariah, from Hebrew, means the Lord's help.
The book consists of a set of "lessons", provided by Azariah on Sundays, whose starting points are the 58 Masses of the Roman Missal
The Roman Missal ( la, Missale Romanum) is the title of several missals used in the celebration of the Roman Rite. Along with other liturgical books of the Roman Rite, the Roman Missal contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of th ...
of the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
prior to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...
in 1965. Maria Valtorta
Maria Valtorta (14 March 1897 – 12 October 1961) was a Roman Catholic Italian writer and poet. She was a Franciscan tertiary and a lay member of the Servants of Mary who reported reputed personal conversations with, and dictations from, ...
had originally called the book ''Angelical Masses'', with the subtitle "Directions". But the first Italian edition in 1972 used the name of her guardian angel, "Azariah". As in other works by Maria Valtorta
Maria Valtorta (14 March 1897 – 12 October 1961) was a Roman Catholic Italian writer and poet. She was a Franciscan tertiary and a lay member of the Servants of Mary who reported reputed personal conversations with, and dictations from, ...
, the themes of continuous prayer and identification with the Person of Christ and his sacrifice are emphasized throughout the work.
For instance, on May 26, 1946, the fifth Sunday after Easter, the Mass Gospel was
John 16, 23-30/ref> and Azariah's comments, in part, are quoted as follows:
Generosity ought to be responded to with generosity. We, spirits who see men from the height of the Heavens and follow them with divine light as our guide, view the wonderful prodigies provoked by this competition in generosity between the soul giving itself to Him who has given Himself to it and God, who gives Himself even more to reward the generous one giving himself to Him. And we can truly say, in response to the questions of many about the humanly inexplicable ascents and descents of souls, that the rise or fall is linked to and follows from the degree of generosity with which a soul adheres to the Lord.The first lesson in the Book of Azariah was written on February 24, 1946, and the last on March 16, 1947. The book was thus written in parallel to Valtorta's best known work '' The Poem of the Man God'', where the first episode was written on December 18, 1943, and major writing ended on April 28, 1947, although a few sections near the end were written later, concluding on December 8, 1951. However, unlike the Poem of the Man God, where she wrote a good number of the last episodes first, the order of the lessons in the Book of Azariah is sequential with respect to the date on which they were written.
Sources
*Maria Valtorta
Maria Valtorta (14 March 1897 – 12 October 1961) was a Roman Catholic Italian writer and poet. She was a Franciscan tertiary and a lay member of the Servants of Mary who reported reputed personal conversations with, and dictations from, ...
, 1972 ''The Book of Azariah'',
* Maria Valtorta
Maria Valtorta (14 March 1897 – 12 October 1961) was a Roman Catholic Italian writer and poet. She was a Franciscan tertiary and a lay member of the Servants of Mary who reported reputed personal conversations with, and dictations from, ...
, 1949 '' The Poem of the Man God'',
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Book of Azariah, The Catholic spirituality Angels in Christianity Italian non-fiction books 1947 non-fiction books Channelled texts