Page:The Roman Breviary Bute 1908 - vol. 1.djvu/9



IFFERENT parts of the Roman Breviary have long been translated for the use of the faithful in English-speaking countries. Nearly all the common books of devotion contain the ordinary form of Vespers and Compline, and there are Vesper books, containing the whole of that office, for every day in the year. There are also translations of Prime, Terce, Sext, and None. Of Mattins and Lauds, how ever, there have only been published those for a few days, such as Christmas and the last three days of the Holy Week, and the copious extracts which are contained in the English version of Guéranger's Liturgical Year.

The object of the Translator in the present work has been to supply this deficiency by laying open to the English reader the whole of the Prayer of the Church. He thinks that this may be grateful to a considerable number of English-speaking Catholics, who would wish, at any rate at times, to read the Service of the Church, but are debarred from doing so by ignorance of the Latin language; and more especially so to converts who have been accustomed to the daily office while Anglicans. Even to some of the clergy, he is not without hope that this version may be of interest, since he has taken great pains to elucidate difficult passages, to explain the historical and other allusions, and, above all, to verify the references to the Holy Scriptures. If the book should fall into the hands of persons who are not Catholics, he ventures to hope that it may at any rate be the means of softening some prejudices.

It is now nearly nine years ago since the Translator began his