Saturday, April 19, 2008

Books I've Bought

As I have the bag to hand, here is the list of what I've acquired in Melbourne, omitting one or two secular items; it should keep me busy:

Tracey Rowland, Ratzinger's Faith: The Theology of Pope Benedict XVI.
[Finished already!]

Andrew Pradel, St Vincent Ferrer: The Angel of the Judgment [sic].
[I have been reading this in bed, after I finally finished the Cordwainer Smith I brought with me.]

Michael Sternbeck, ed., The Order of Mass, According to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite: The Missal of Blessed John XXIII.
[This has some valuable notes in it, plus interesting points such as a selection of Prefaces from the new Missal in the spirit of what Pope Benedict suggests in his Motu Proprio.]

Holy Transfiguration Monastery, The Psalter according to the Seventy.
[I've always wanted an English version of the Septuagint Psalms, so as to compare them with the Vulgate.]

Avery Dulles, The Assurance of Things Hoped For: A Theology of Christian Faith.

Eugene Rogers, After the Spirit: A Constructive Pneumatology from Resources outside the Modern West.
[I hope this will answer some of my questions about God the Holy Ghost, the too-often neglected Third Person of the Trinity, Whom we should worship and glorify a good deal more than we do in our modern lip-service of Him.]

Alexander Schmemann, Introduction to Liturgical Theology.
[I have wanted to read this for ages, to get a grasp of the Byzantine Rite and its distinctive insights.]

St Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons for Advent and the Christmas Season.
[Bernard is beaut, and even Lutherans like him! I thoroughly enjoyed reading his sermons super Missus est some years back, but haven't yet tracked them down again...]

St Bernard of Clairvaux (tr. Michael Casey, monk of Tarrawarra), How the Word Visits the Soul: The 74th Sermon on the Song of Songs.

StAR (the St Austin Review) for Jan.-Feb. and Mar.-Apr. 2008.
["Reclaiming Catholic culture" - topics such as "the Counter-Reformation", and "The Classical Muse", in each issue respectively.]

Oriens, Jan.-Mar. 2008.
[The Australian Trad. liturgical journal.]

Tarrawarra: Newsletter of the Cistercian Monks, Dec. 2007.
[The next issue will feature Br Luke's profession; this issue has a rare photo of the Abbey Church before its wreckovation.]

St Patrick's Cathedral Melbourne Images.
[A gift from my father.]

William O'Brien, How to Serve Low Mass and Benediction.
[A small pamphlet, which I bought to check whether I serve correctly or not; irritatingly, it spells out the Latin in 'phonetics', some of which only work if one had a really broad American accent: no Aussie would say "Ohd" for "Ad"!]

Robert Taylerson, A Guide to Morning, Evening and Night Prayer.
[Another pamphlet - I once owned a copy, but leant it out and never got it back, so I've bought a replacement, even tho' I don't need it really!]

******

Oh, and I did buy just one CD, a real bargain at half price:

Biber's Missa Alleluja, & Schmelzer's Vesperae sollennes [sic] - paired with the Gregorian Propers for the Dedication of a Church, plus Palestrina's setting of the Coelestis urbs Jerusalem (DHM 05472 77856 2). Mmmm, Baroque spendour - it's great!

******

P.S. Waiting for me was my order from aLibris: I now have a complete set of Abbot Vonier's three-volume collected works, which I greatly enjoyed reading last year and in previous years, after discovering him while on retreat at the Redemptorist Monastery at Galong, N.S.W. It will be good to have him to hand.

P.P.S. Also at home, but not paid for yet (must send money!) is:

Didier Bonneterre, The Liturgical Movement.

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