While the celebration of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary may be less than familiar to many American Lutherans, its observance is noted from the Gelasian sacramentary onward, appearing in medieval missals, Lutheran missals, Lutheran chant books, and Lutheran postils, as well as the hymnals and agendas of the Missouri Synod and Wisconsin Synod.Continue reading “The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary”
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Alleluias of Trinitytide
Of all the genres of liturgical Psalmody, the Alleluias have required the most editorial attention. Our sources generally agree concerning the Introits, Graduals, Communions, and Offertories, but not always so with the Alleluias, particularly for the latter half of Trinitytide. And the Alleluias of Easter? Fuhgeddaboudit. The map of the Alleluias for a given SundayContinue reading “Alleluias of Trinitytide”
The Passion according to Zechariah
Among the gems that have been uncovered in our work for The Lutheran Missal, one shines with particular brightness: the compilation reading from Zechariah which beautifully weaves together a string of prophecies concerning our Lord’s passion. That the Holy Spirit foretold the events of the Crucifixion is no surprise to Christians familiar with Psalm 22Continue reading “The Passion according to Zechariah”
Help Wanted!
As we add several more Lutheran sources to our database to get a broader picture of post-Reformation use and to iron out a few questions of majority usage, we could use some people with capabilities in the late medieval/early modern versions of various languages, specifically the following: Finnish Hungarian [Sorry, no image for this one.Continue reading “Help Wanted!”
The Feast of St. Matthias
St. Matthias is an unusual apostle. He is never mentioned until he is chosen to fill the spot vacated by Judas. And then, having been “numbered with the eleven apostles,” Matthias is never heard from again. Some theologians are not certain that he should have been chosen at all. It was St. Peter’s idea, true,Continue reading “The Feast of St. Matthias”
NKJV Lections / KJV Psalmody
The editorial team for The Lutheran Missal has been primarily focused on the Psalmody (Introits, Graduals, Alleluias, etc.) for the better part of a year. Even though the word count of the Psalmody is much less than that of the Lections (readings), the Psalmody requires more editorial attention, for reasons I’ll explain in later posts.Continue reading “NKJV Lections / KJV Psalmody”
The Second Sunday in Advent
During last year’s field testing, I was able to put together some notes for each day in the first part of the liturgical year, and as we move toward the Second Sunday in Advent once again, I thought I would share a slightly expanded version of those thoughts from last year for those who weren’tContinue reading “The Second Sunday in Advent”
“Old Liturgical Rubrics”
In my previous post concerning the ranking of the Vigil of Christmas above the Fourth Sunday of Advent, I stated that this was according to the “old liturgical rubrics”—a very scholarly citation, indeed. These rubrics can be found in the following sources:Breviarium pro dioecesi ecclesiae Augustensis, 1497 (folio a1:verso)Directorium seu index divinorum officiorum secundum ritumContinue reading ““Old Liturgical Rubrics””
Stop Advent’s War on Christmas!
Every year liturgically-minded pastors and parishioners bemoan the intrusion of Christmas upon the season of Advent. It’s not that we don’t think Christmas is important. Quite the opposite—it’s so important that the Church anticipates the Nativity of Our Lord with the month-long penitential season of Advent. But since our sinful world has no use forContinue reading “Stop Advent’s War on Christmas!”
A Breviary Announcement
The Lutheran Missal project is excited to announce that, in addition to the missal, we are in the progress of producing a bilingual breviary that will feature side-by-side Latin and Anglo-Saxon text. The Anglo-Saxon text for Psalms 1-50 will be the prose translation of Alfred the Great, and the remainder will be that of theContinue reading “A Breviary Announcement”
The Lutheran Missal 