Documents of Vatican II

Documents of the Second Vatican Council

by Second Vatican Council (Editor), Austin Flannery

English, Latin (translation)

Genres: Theology, Reference, Religion, Catholic, Church History, Christian, Christianity

1036 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

The Second Vatican Council (Latin: Concilium Oecumenicum Vaticanum Secundum, informally known as Vatican II) addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first ecumenical council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. The council, through the Holy See, formally opened under the pontificate of Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on 8th December 1965.

Several changes resulted from the council, including the renewal of consecrated life with a revised charism, ecumenical efforts towards dialogue with other religions, and the call to holiness for everyone including the laity, according to Pope Paul VI "the most characteristic and ultimate purpose of the teachings of the Council".

According to Pope Benedict XVI, the most important and essential message of the council is "the Paschal Mystery as the center of what it is to be Christian and therefore of the Christian life, the Christian year, the Christian seasons". Other changes which followed the council included the widespread use of vernacular languages in the Mass instead of Latin, the subtle disuse of ornate clerical regalia, the revision of Eucharistic prayers, the abbreviation of the liturgical calendar, the ability to celebrate the Mass versus populum (with the officiant facing the congregation), as well as ad orientem (facing the "East" and the Crucifix), and modern aesthetic changes encompassing contemporary Catholic liturgical music and artwork, many of which remain divisive among the Catholic faithful.

Reviews

[Ramón S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not easy to read but worthy of deep study. Fundamental to know the Catholic Church. Fully inspired and inspiring

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Minus some docs but all the other readings for the class make up for it)

[Russell Dyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was at Loyola University in New Orleans, studying religion -- at a time when I was active in the Catholic Church, which included teaching RCIA, a ten-month course for people converting to Catholicism -- I decided that there were three sets of text I needed to read and know well: the Bible, including the apocryphal gospels and related text; the then new Catechism which had been released in 1992; and the Vatican II council documents and related encyclicals. All three of those included reading commentaries and analyses of each to understand them better and to be familiar with various positions on them.

For the third task, I spent a Summer in a self-study course at Loyola, directed by a friend, Marianist Brother Ed Kiefer, who was an adjunct professor at Loyola and also the director of the Office of Religious Education for the Archdiocese of New Orleans. I used this book, this particular volume and edition as the main text for that course. I learned so much about Vatican II and the hierarchical culture of the Church, as well as the religion -- from decades and centuries before Vatican II, from the years of Vatican II, as well as a better understanding of how the Church and its culture have developed since. If you're willing to dedicate yourself to it, this is an excellent book to read and study.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of conciliar and post-conciliar documents of Vatican II certain contains a wealth of valuable information. Reading this book was at times very enlightening. At other times, things were repetitive, as certain documents referenced others in the book. This is due to the separation they have temporally in how they were written, and should not be seen as a negative aspect of the documents themselves.

I encourage all the Catholic faithful and those who want a deeper understanding of the Catholic Church to take up the challenge of reading these documents, so as to better understand the mind and heart of the Church. :)

[John]

religion,reference,nonfiction

[Bmankiewicz]

This copy is paperback 962 pages. Somewhat worn. Sewn paperback printed in Bombay.. Includes table of contents and extensive index. St. Paul publications.

[Tom Willis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is too big. It does not need to include the post-conciliar documents. It's odd too that it includes the first post-conciliar GIRM, because that is regularly updated. A lot of these secondary documents would be interesting only to a very very very small group of V2 scholars.