The Breviary Explained

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By Rev. Pius Parsch. First published in 1952 by Herder in St. Louis. 467 pp.

Pius Parsch furnishes us in this book with an unmatched guide to the riches of the preconciliar Breviary of the Catholic Church. To quote from Fr. Parsch himself: "The Breviary is the official prayerbook of the Church. The Holy Ghost and the Church have been working on it for more than 3,000 years, and it has become the basic book of prayer, a precious common fund to which the great men of prayer from every age have contributed their thoughts and sentiments.... In liturgical prayer, and therefore in the breviary, it is not primarily I who am praying, but the Church, the bride of Christ. The object of her prayer is broader, too: all the needs of God's kingdom here on earth.... For the man who prays, the breviary needs to be staff and guide and way to heaven.... The most prominent feature of the breviary's benefit lies in its wonderful arrangement of prayer in the sequence of canonical hours. Each day we are to make some further progress in building up the temple of grace within our soul."