Front matter
Pi^AYm^M O OK ,
ro/t Religious v
Copyrights
Preface
Book I. contains treatises on Meditation, Prayer, and the Particular Examen, besides the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius reduced to prayers.
Book II. embraces the General Devotions; Morning and Night Prayers; many methods of assisting at Mass, and devotions for Confession and Communion.
Book III., all the Special Devotions for the various seasons of the year.
Book IV., the Bona Mors Devotions; Reflections for the Monthly Retreat; Examination of Conscience for Extraordinary Occasions; Prayers for the Sick and Dying; the Administration of the Last Sacraments, and the Office of the Dead.
Book V., miscellaneous devotions; Litanies; Indulgenced Prayers; Novenas; Helpful Sayings or Maxims, and Extracts from the writings of Masters in the Spiritual Life.
It contains the Officium Parvutn Beafce Mar ice Virginis, i.e., The Hours of Our Lady, with special commemorations of the Founders of Religious Orders; besides the little Offices of the Holy Ghost, the Sacred Heart, the Immacu ] ate Conception, and the Holy Angels.
A cursory inspection of the contents of this book will reveal the fact that a distinct and original plan or method was adopted and carried out in the disposition of the matter and in the arrangement of details.
In accordance with this method, most of the offices, devotions, and prayers are grouped and classified under the headings of "The Week Sanctified."
This is a popular term, applied to the custom in vogue among religious people, whereby each day of the week is consecrated or dedicated to a particular devotion, thus :
Sunday To the Holy Trinity.
Monday To the Holy Ghost and to the Holy
Souls in Purgatory.
Tuesday. .......... To the Holy Angels.
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Wednesday To St. Joseph.
Thursday To the Blessed Sacrament and to
the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Friday To the Passion of Our Lord.
Saturday To the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Under these heads we were able to classify in a very desirable and practical manner all the devotions for the various seasons of the liturgical year — Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost cycles — and, in particular, all our favorite monthly devotions.
The monthly devotions are usually arranged in the following order:
January The Holy Infancy.
February The Holy Trinity (also the Holy
Family) .
March St. Joseph.
April The Holy Ghost (also the Pas-
sion for Lent).
May The Blessed Virgin Mary.
June The Blessed Sacrament and the
Sacred Heart of Jesus.
July The Precious Blood of Jesus.
August The Most Pure Heart of Mary.
September The Holy Cross.
October The Holy Angels and the Holy
Rosary.
November The Holy Souls in Purgatory.
December The Immaculate Conception.
It appeared to me that without a strain all these devotions could be classified under the headings of " The Week Sanctified/' and so they were classified. Novenas and prayers to many different saints will be found in a special group. The Indulgenced Prayers, except those
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which were approved since 1902, are from The New Raccolta.
This book is dedicated most respectfully to the members of our Religious Orders, whose heroic life of self-denial for the love of God and their neighbor, in the following of Christ and in the spirit of their vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty, is an inspiration and encouragement to all who value truth and justice, virtue and holiness, while it is, at the same time, a rebuke to the worldly-minded, who walk not with God, whose thoughts are not of heaven, but of earth, and who, in their nervous quest for honor, wealth, and pleasure, in these times of individualism or egotism, seek simply the gratification of self.
We plead with these good and edifying Religious for an occasional Memento before Jesus in the tabernacle.
F. X. Lasance.
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