Paperback: Therese Neumann was perhaps the most visited stigmatist in the history of the Church. Over the years, millions of people saw her briefly in her home or witnessed the Passion ecstasies in which she underwent the sufferings of Christ on Fridays, bleeding from the wounds in her hands, feet, head, side and back.
The author, Adalbert Albert Vogl, a German-born friend of the Neumann family through his three priest-uncles, was privileged to be welcomed into the Neumann home on numerous occasions and to spend many hours visiting with Therese, her family members and her spiritual director, Father Naber. He was chosen as an official witness in the informative process leading up to the Cause for Therese Neumann's beatification (one of only two witnesses chosen from North America) and is in contact with the Postulator.
In this book he has set down only things he knows from his own experience or things told him by Therese herself, by Father Naber, or by others who also knew Therese.
Therese Neumann, Mystic and Stigmatist (1987) is thus a primary source of information about this famous mystic and presents a wealth of fascinating stories - many found nowhere else - about her miraculous phenomena and daily life.
Mr Vogl describes Therese's Passion ecstasies, her stigmata, her miraculous receptions of Holy Communion, her abstinence from 1926 to 1962 from all food and drink except the Eucharistic Host, her living without sleep, her visions and the language phenomenon, her mystical recognition of priests and relics, her recognition of the Holy Eucharist and priestly blessings; her cures and prophecies, and her bilocation and other mystical gifts.
The author also describes her activities during World War II, the official investigation by the Archbishop, conversions through her intercession, the rest of the Neumann family, criticisms by her opponents, the throngs of visitors who came to see her, statements on her by priests, bishops and cardinals the paternal interest of Pope Pius XI and Pope Pius XII, and the progress toward her Cause for beatification.
Also included here are numerous photographs, including photos of Therese in Passion ecstasy. Many of the pictures in the book were given to Mr Vogl personally by a lifelong friend of Terese shortly before this friend died.
Therese Neumann, Mystic and Stigmatist is particularly valuable for the original source material it contains on this famous 20th-century mystic and for its accounts of Mr Vogl's conversations and experiences with Therese, which are available nowhere else.
Almost impossible to put down, this book is proof that great sanctity and the unusual gifts and phenomena that often accompany great sanctity exist even in our own day and are not just "legends of a distant and unverifiable past."
About the author: Adalbert (Albert) Vogl was born in 1910 in Altötting, Bavaria, West Germany. in 1923, at the age of 12, he emigrated to the United States, under the auspices of Father Joseph Steiger, settling down for a few years in Earling, Iowa, where he attended St Joseph's parochial school. In 1927, after acquiring a fairly good command of the English language, he returned to his native Bavaria. It was at this time that he first met Therese Neumann, through his uncle, Msgr Adalbert Vogl. Mr Vogl became very militant in the fight against the Hitler party. As the danger increased, he was finally advised by Msgr Adalbert Vogl to leave Germany; he did so, returning to Earling, Iowa in 1935 and becoming a United States citizen. (It was another of Mr Vogl's uncles, Msgr Karl Vogl, who wrote up the famous exorcism case which has been published as Begone Satan; Mr Vogl had urged his uncle to write this story for publication in the German Catholic press).
During World War II, as a member of the G-2 Section (Intelligence Dept) of the Forward Headquarters of the US Third Army under Gen George Patten, Mr Vogl had an opportunity to renew his acquaintance with Therese Neumann in Konnersreuth, Bavaria. He subsequently had other golden opportunities to visit with Therese, as well as with her pastor, Father Naber, Therere's father and other relatives, and with many priests, prelates and others who knew Therese well. Mr Vogl is now retired. He lives in San Jose, California with his wife, Esther, who was also privileged to know Therese Neumann and who gave most valuable help in recording and organizing information on her. Mr Vogl was one of the official witnesses called to testify in the investigative process of Therese Neumann; it is his great desire that she will soon be beatified.
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