Enlarged reprint of 1954 edition
Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, O.S.B. (1880-1966) is perhaps the preeminent representative of the authentic Liturgical Movement. While better known for his internationally popular St. Andrew Missal, this book—originally entitled Liturgia—is his masterpiece.
The significance of this 1954 work, is explained in his Preface:
Let anyone desiring to be fully convinced [that a return to the liturgy as “a most efficacious means of ‘restoring all things in Christ’”] ...read the pages of Liturgia.
They have been written to explain the principles—too often unknown or misunderstood—which must guide the liturgical apostolate. In them we have endeavoured to show in how many ways the liturgy is the “primary and indispensable source of the true Christian spirit.”
Here are the contents of this magnificent work:
- Biography of the Author
- Letter of Mgr. Van Caloen
- Preface (of Author)
- The Church Adores God by Her Liturgy
- The Blessed Trinity
- To the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Ghost
- Through the Church to God
- The Diocesan and Parochial Spirit
- The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
- Holy Communion
- The Sacraments
- The Sacramentals
- The Divine Office
- Christ in the Liturgy
- Mary in the Liturgy
- Angels in the Liturgy
- Saints in the Liturgy
- Mental Prayer and the Liturgy
- Liturgical Catechism
- Sacred Music and the Latin Language
- Liturgy and Sociology
- The Missal
- Conclusion
- Appendices
I. Liturgy and Catholic Action
II. Sermon Topics for Sundays
III. Select Biographies of Cited Authors
IV. Select Bibliography of Cited Works
Completely re-typeset and reformated for easier reading, each chapter features the lithograph headers and footers drawn by the famed Belgian illustrator, Rene De Cramer, that were included in the original 1924 English edition.
This enlarged reprint edition also includes several unique additions, such as:
- Biography and photograph of Dom Gaspar Lefebvre
- Photographs of certain individuals mentioned in the book
- 2 Appendices (Select Biographies of Cited Authors and Select Bibliography of Cited Works)
The front cover is also noteworthy, as it was adapted from an original slip jacket designed by De Cramer for the early French editions.
276 pages, softcover, illustrated.
REVIEWS
Professor of Philosophy and Theology, Author and Speaker
Dom Gaspar’s Catholic Liturgy spills over with remarkable erudition and compelling theological reasoning. Have no fear, his erudition does not leave the ordinary Catholic disadvantaged. Without sacrificing theological precision he brings the rich theology of the Holy Mass within the compass of every Catholic sincerely in search of the truth. To reach Heaven our must undergo transformation. Dom Gaspar begins that transformation.
Peter Kwasniewski
Excerpt from review at Rorate Coeli blog
"Romanitas Press is to be commended for a painstaking and handsome new edition of an old classic from the healthy phase of the Liturgical Movement. Surely, the author, Dom Lefebvre (a cousin of the great archbishop), should be foreign to no one...
...The book has been newly typeset with great care and is pleasing not only in content but also in appearance, which, as a booklover, I appreciate. This work would serve as a perfect "textbook" on the Liturgy for advanced homeschool students, for university students seeking to get an education they will never find in a modern classroom, for seminarians, clergy, religious, and interested laymen."