The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary [Leather Bound]

Roman Catholic Church (Author), John Newton (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2009

This is the first ever edition that includes the complete Gregorian Chant for the Little Office in traditional four stave notation! The music for the Little Office has never before been gathered together in one volume. For many people the Gregorian chant of the Little Office offers an introduction to the beauty of the Church's traditional liturgical heritage. This volume will help you sing all the Hours of the Little Office.

Our edition includes a commentary on the rubrics and ceremonial by 'A Master of Novices' (which was first published in the early twentieth century), and also includes a description of the indulgences with which the recitation of the Little Office has been enriched by Holy Mother Church.

The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a shorter form of the Divine Office in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It has long been the Church s daily liturgical prayer to Our Lady, and these hours of praise have been used by Priests, religious and the laity throughout the centuries. Lay people used to flock to the great Cathedrals to publicly recite The Little Office during the Middle Ages, and during the great persecution, when the practice of the Catholic Faith was illegal in Great Britain, Bishop Challoner commended The Little Office to his flock.

Through its psalms, antiphons, readings, responsorials, and prayers the Little Office stresses the role Our Lady played in salvation history, and how through her fiat the divine Word took flesh in her womb and achieved salvation for us all; and how Our Lord granted her the first fruits of the general resurrection in her holy and glorious assumption.

All Catholics are called to a consistent prayer life. For those who do not feel called to recite the Divine Office, but still wish to participate in the liturgical prayer of the Church, or for those who have a particular devotion to the holy Mother of God, there is no finer form of prayer than the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Features include:
- Based on an edition published just after the Reform Act in 1850 (allowing English Catholics to openly practice the Faith).
- English translation uses traditional language with scripture taken from Bishop Challoner's version of the Douay-Rheims Bible.
- Fully updated to comply with the editio typica of the Breviary (1961) permitted by the Holy Father's Motu Proprio 'Summorum Pontificum'.
- The first ever edition to include the complete Gregorian chants for the Little Office.
- Meditations before each hour from the mediaeval Mirror of Our Lady.
- Preface by the Very Reverend Fr. Berg, superior of the FSSP.
- Latin-English, red and black text.
- Psalms from the Vulgate.
- Flexible leather cover with stitched edge, gold gilding, 2 ribbons.

Product Details

• Leather Bound: 236 pages
• Publisher: Baronius Press; 3rd edition (March 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1905574401
• ISBN-13: 978-1905574407
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 4.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #208,407 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great, but..., December 13, 2008

By 

adjutorium - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Leather Bound)

I had been using the Bonaventure edition of the Little Office, which is somewhat hard to follow and had no chant notation, so when I heard about the new Baronius edition, I was looking forward to purchasing it. I've been using it for about nine months now, and while it's a big improvement, it also has a number of problems which will hopefully be corrected in future editions.

The biggest problem is that it contains an unacceptable amount of typos, such as missing Latin phrases, verses swapped between hymns, antiphons in Office 2 which belong in Office 3 and vice versa, words in the text which don't show up in the chant. It would have been helpful to have diacritical marks in the Latin text to aid beginners with the pronunciation.

With Office 1 printed by itself, without the Office 2 and 3 variants interspersed, it's much easier to follow. However, once you get to Advent and Christmas, you still have to jump back and forth through the book to complete each of the hours. Even though it would have been redundant and resulted in a larger book, I would have preferred to have each Office printed in its entirety.

While it's great to have chant notation for the hymns and antiphons, it's a shame that common tones were not included - beginners are given no guidance for the chanting of the psalms, which is, after all, the lion's share of the Office. Also, the existing chant notation could have been more explicit, in that there are no markings to indicate lengthened neumes (dots, episemas, etc.).

So much for my grousing. It's still a lovely presentation, with the blue leather cover and two ribbons, but more proofreading and thought given to the chant could have resulted in a much better resource. As it is, it still remains the best introduction to the Little Office that I've encountered.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most original and complete Little Office, March 17, 2008

By 

Jan Zielinski (Kansas, KS, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Leather Bound)

I am a big fan of the Little Office and have most of the previously published editions. This edition was published at the end of last year (2007) and I think is certainly worth getting. It has been edited to conform with the typical edition for the extraordinary liturgy and has all the Gregorian chant in it at the back. Apparently this is a first for a published edition of the Little Office, and I have used these chants on a few occasions. The Latin and English are of a good readable size, and unlike other Little Offices available, the typesetting is very clear. It isn't a photocopy! The binding is also very beautiful, with a stitched leather cover and gold edged pages.
If you want to pray with prayers used for centuries by faithful Catholics, this is the book!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FOR THOSE WHO LOVE THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, January 9, 2010

By 

R. Green (Tequesta, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Leather Bound)

The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary is an exceptional value for the money.

For those lay people who would like to pray the "office" every day, this is the perfect companion piece, which is easily carried. It contains Matins, Lauds, Prime, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline and you are not only praying to God but also His Mother. I'm pleased with my purchase and would not be without it.