Focusing on the lives and works of over thirty well known Church Fathers, Fr. Luigi Gambero, an internationally known expert on early Christianity, has produced a clear and readable summary of the patristic era's theological and devotional approach to the Mother of God. Using numerous citations from these early Christian writers, Gambero presents a concise survey of the first eight centuries of thought, ultimately influential in the development of prevaling Christological and Mariological doctrine. Published here for the first time in English, readers will gain clear insight into the practice and presence of Marian theology in the early church.