OW IN THE FINAL stages of production, the 3rd edition of the SAINT EDMUND CAMPION MISSAL is being published by Sophia Institute Press. It’s been completely redone, and will be about half the size of the 2nd edition—much less heavy, much less bulky. I serve on the production team, and it’s been amazing to witness the assemblage of Roman Catholic missals, graduals, and hymnaries collected as part of this project.
1954 Plus 1955: Both versions of Holy Week will be provided: Pre-1955 and Post-1955. We have made some fascinating discoveries, and much of what has been published on the internet vis-à-vis the “Old Holy Week” has proven to be incomplete or inaccurate. In other words, the “Old Holy Week” is similar to a treasure that had been neglected and forgotten; it’s absolutely thrilling to be part of a movement to help restore it.
Rare Book From 1882: As I mentioned, our team has collected a magnificent wealth of old books. We use these books for a variety of purposes: “hominem unius libri timeo.” Here’s a spectacular book scanned by Google:
* PDF Download • Missal for the Faithful (1882)
—“Missel des fidèles contenant le texte du missel romain” (1,142 pages).
Warning! This is a large file: 178MB
Some examples from this sumptuous book:
Drop Caps: The capital letters were also used by John David Chambers in his “Sarum Psalter,” which we’ve mentioned in the past. Those letters were the basis for the colorful drop caps in the 1st edition of the Campion Missal:
Bishop Caloen: The Missal in 1882 was the work of Father Gerardo van Caloen (d. 1932), a famous Belgian Benedictine monk. For a while, Father Caloen was at Beuron Abbey, which had a famous relationship with Henri and Jules Desclée. In 1896, Father Caloen became Abbat of the gorgeous Monastery of Saint Benedict in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 1906, Caloen was consecrated a bishop.
Cowboys: All of this liturgical restoration was alongside the crucial discoveries of Abbat Joseph Pothier, who restored for us the true Gregorian rhythm, the authentic Gregorian pitches, and even the fonts and neumes which are still used today. Pothier developed those neumes with the Desclée brothers. It is no wonder that Father Angelo De Santi (d. 1922) called Pothier “master of us all.” What’s fascinating is that Abbat Pothier’s work of restoration was happening at approximately the same time cowboys were running around the United States.
