The Liturgical Year: Volume I - Advent

The Liturgical Year #1

by Prosper Guéranger, Peter Holm (Editor), Eric Hamric (Editor)

Includes the four Sundays of Advent and the sanctoral cycle from November 30 (St. Andrew the Apostle) to December 24 (Vigil of Christmas).

This monumental liturgical work, comprising fifteen volumes, was the life-long labor of Benedictine Abbot Dom Guéranger. Writing with the heart of a seraphic contemplative, the holy abbot takes the reader on a daily spiritual pilgrimage through the liturgies of both the East and the West as he immerses the soul into the very life of the ecclesia orans et adorans (the church praying and adoring). The author achieves this by providing daily entries corresponding to the yearly cycle of the Church’s worship in both her divine seasonal feasts and those of her saints. Each day begins with a rich and provocative meditation on the mystery of faith to be celebrated together with the ecclesial history of the same; this is followed by excerpts from the Roman Missal’s Mass of the day (complete with Propers, i.e., Introits, Collects, Offertory prayers, etc ) as well a host of exquisite hymns from the divine office which are coupled with varied and sundry sequences garnered from other ancient Catholic rites.

The temporal and geographical universality of the Church is thusly honored; and the oneness of faith amply manifested in light of the axiomatic criterion: Lex orandi est lex credendi (the law of praying is the law of believing). If the essence of the Holy Mass is God, the Incarnate Victim, offering Himself to God, then the liturgy of the Mass is man, in union with Jesus Christ (per ipsum, et cum ipso, et in ipso), offering God to God. Truly, here is a priceless treasure awaiting your holy exploitation. Such was the strategy employed by the father of Saint Therese of Lisieux who made it a daily routine in the Martin home to read to his five daughters from these very volumes.

This new edition from Loreto replaces the hardcover set we published in the year AD 2000 in honor of the Jubilee Year of Faith proclaimed by the Holy Father. There are still a few miscellaneous volumes of that hardcover set available, but no complete sets are left. Loreto has spent hundreds of hours repairing broken text in the original publication which wass first prnted in the United States in the 1940's. At the time of its first publication here the original English text from the original Dublin/London edition was somewhat expurgated in order to pacify some "Americanist" elements here in the US. Loreto has consulted the original English and French editions and we have added in to these volumes all that was deleted from the original Solesmes texts. Thus you have here the complete text as it was intended to be published in a handy and easily readable format.

This is a book to be read and studied for a lifetime. Even a once through reading will immeasureably increase your knowledge and love of the history and true liturgical life of the Church.

Genres: Religion, Catholic

273 pages, Kindle Edition

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

[Aaron Crofut · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a gem; a beautifully written commentary on the Advent liturgy of the Church. It is not the type of book one sits down and reads cover to cover, though the first section on the history and purpose of Advent certainly reads like that. The other two sections cover the propers of Advent and the Feast days that fall within Advent; both are detailed and helpful for daily meditations. The third section could be used as a solid stand alone Lives of the Saints. With that much information at hand, I can't say I read every page; there's just too much to keep up with, because this is volume 1 of 15 for the year! Heck, there are 120 pages of details describing tomorrow's liturgy alone, and I don't think I'll be able to spend all of Christmas just reading about Christmas. This is, however, an incredible auxiliary in keeping up with the Church's daily celebration.

As a still fairly recent convert, I find myself in the strange position of finding some things familiar while needing an introductory lesson on others. I have great respect both for Dom Prosper Gueranger and his translator in weaving together such in-depth explanations with material that would easily guide in a neophyte and having them blend as seamlessly as they do. He describes the Liturgy, both of the Mass and the Divine Office, as milk for those who are children and meat for those who are grown in the faith, and manages to make it so for the reader. While primarily drawing from the Latin liturgy, Dom Gueranger was a scholar of liturgies and is able to incorporate hymns, prayers, and traditions from a wide range of rites within the Church.

There's the history of Advent, there's poetry of the prayers, there's philosophy concerning the role of time in proper worship (every season, every day, every hour has a unique sacred meaning requiring its own expression in worship)...this book is sadly underutilized today. I highly recommend finding a download online unless you happen to have a few hundred dollars to toss about in buying a hard copy!

[Mary Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

an Enormous work

Very detailed. Gives an account of pre-Vatican 2 liturgy. One can see the continuity and the change since Vatican II.

[The Alien Observer]

Very beautiful and informative! The liturgy is deeply philosophical and spiritual.

[Raul · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read to start the new liturgical year. I will be coming back to this book next year.