The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

First published in 1833, "The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ" was the principal extrabiblical source for Mel Gibson's blockbuster 2004 movie "The Passion of the Christ," which grossed over $600 million in worldwide box office. To write the work, Goethe friend and author Clemens Brentano spent six years at the bedside of 19th century Augustinian nun Anne Catherine Emmerich, recording her spectacular visions of the life, passion, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In addition to being a visionary, Emmerich was an ecstatic, stigmatic and inediac. After she died in 1824, Brentano spent nine years organizing his notes on the renowned nun's visions of the passion and crucifixion before publishing them as "The Dolorous Passion." The book soon outsold even Goethe in Germany, and became an international best-seller. The book was all but forgotten until resurrected by Gibson for his classic movie about the Passion. The original work is published here in its entirety in English translation. In a 100-page introduction to the original work, author Noel Griese recounts how the book came to be written, and details more than 40 scenes in the Gibson movie based on Anne Catherine Emmerich's visions rather than biblical accounts. He also discusses the history of passion devotionals in the introduction.