The Liturgical Year - Vol. IV Septuagesima

The Liturgical Year #4

by Prosper Guéranger, Laurence Sheperd (Translator)

Covers from the end of the Christmas/Epiphany season to Ash Wednesday. Includes the temporal cycle for the fifth and sixth Sundays after the Epiphany and the three Sundays of Septuagesima. Also includes the sanctoral cycle from February 3rd to March 10th.

Genres: Nonfiction, Catholic

404 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1845

About the author

Dom Prosper Louis Pascal Guéranger, Servant of God, was a Benedictine priest, abbot of Solesmes Abbey (which he founded in the disused priory of Solesmes) and founder of the French Benedictine Congregation (now the Solesmes Congregation). Dom Guéranger was the author of The Liturgical Year, which covers every day of the Catholic Church's Liturgical Cycle in 15 volumes. He was well regarded by Pope Pius IX, and was a proponent of the dogmas of papal infallibility and the Immaculate Conception. Dom Guéranger is credited with reviving the Benedictine Order in France, and revitalizing the Tridentine Mass.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosper...

Reviews

[Raul]

As a Systems Engineer and a father, I tend to look for structure and "blueprints" in everything I do. Dom Guéranger’s fourth volume of The Liturgical Year provides exactly that for the spiritual life. While modern life often treats the weeks leading up to Lent as a throwaway "pre-season," Guéranger reveals the profound necessity of the Septuagesima cycle as a bridge between the joys of the Manger and the rigors of the Cross.

What makes this volume stand out is the masterful way it weaves together history, liturgy, and raw human experience. The sections on the "History of Septuagesima" are intellectually satisfying, explaining the numerical logic of the "70 days" as a spiritual exile in Babylon. However, it’s the "Practice" and "Meditations" that hit home. Guéranger doesn’t pull any punches; he presents the "unvarnished" reality of the Fall and the Deluge not as dusty historical footnotes, but as urgent mirrors for our own personal infidelities.

I particularly appreciated the deep dives into the lives of the "Apostolic" saints—like St. Titus and St. Simeon—which provide a grounded, heroic contrast to the more somber meditations on Adam and Eve. The prose is eloquent and "liturgically thick," yet surprisingly practical for anyone looking to "set their house in order" before Ash Wednesday.

If you are looking to move beyond a "surface-level" Lent and truly understand the "military service" of the Christian soul, this volume is an indispensable guide. It turns the "noisy distractions" of the world into a "cell of solitude," teaching you that the "Sword of the Spirit" is only sharpened when we finally accept our identity as "dust and ashes."

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indispensable aid for a season that the modern Church has abandoned -- Septuagesima, or pre-Lent, which prepares us to have a thoughtful, focused Lent.

Dom Gueranger was a French priest and Benedictine monk (abbot of Solesmes Abbey) who wrote beautifully about Scripture, Church history, and her practices to help us to live out our faith. He died in 1875, but even now he's a spiritual father to many.

[Mary Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

reflections still relevant

These reflections on this liturgical season are still relevant today as human nature struggles with the same issues. Draws you to prepare for the Lenten season.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish I had discovered this series years ago!!
Amazing!