Journey through the summer feasts of the Church with some of the great apostles, martyrs, bishops, confessors, and saints of Catholic tradition.
Volume 12 of Dom Prosper Guéranger’s monumental The Liturgical Year is Time After Pentecost, Book III and marks an important shift in the series: the focus turns primarily to the Proper of the Saints, following the great feast days of the Church from June 2 through July 7.
Rather than treating these saints as isolated biographies, Dom Guéranger places each feast within the living worship of the Church. He explains why the saint is commemorated, unfolds the history and theology behind the feast, and draws spiritual lessons from the Mass, Divine Office, hymns, and prayers appointed for the day.
This volume includes an especially rich collection of saints, among them:
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St. Boniface, Apostle of Germany and martyr
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St. Barnabas the Apostle
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St. Anthony of Padua
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St. Basil the Great, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
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St. Aloysius Gonzaga
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St. Alban, Proto-Martyr of England
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St. John the Baptist
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Sts. Peter and Paul
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St. Irenaeus
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The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
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Numerous martyrs, bishops, confessors, virgins, and holy rulers of the early and medieval Church
Dom Guéranger shows how the liturgical calendar acts as a kind of school of sanctity. Each saint reveals a different expression of the same Catholic Faith: the courage of the martyrs, the missionary zeal of the apostles, the wisdom of the Doctors, the purity of the virgins, and the perseverance of those who remained faithful through persecution and hardship.
Several of the Church’s most beloved summer feasts receive special attention. The Nativity of St. John the Baptist recalls the Forerunner who prepared the way for Christ. The feast of Sts. Peter and Paul honors the two great Apostles whose preaching and martyrdom helped establish the Roman Church. The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary turns the reader toward Mary’s charity and the sanctification of St. John in the womb.
Throughout the volume, Dom Guéranger draws from Scripture, history, the writings of the Fathers, ancient hymns, and the traditional Roman liturgy to show how the Church remembers her saints—not merely to admire them, but to encourage the faithful to imitate their virtues.
This is one of the strengths of the later volumes of The Liturgical Year: the calendar becomes a procession of Catholic history, with each feast introducing the reader to another witness of the Faith.
Volume 12: Time After Pentecost III is an excellent companion for Catholics who want to deepen their knowledge of the saints, understand the traditional feast days of June and early July, and follow the Church’s sanctoral calendar with greater devotion.
By: Dom Prosper Guéranger, O.S.B.
Translated by: The Benedictines of Stanbrook Abbey
Series: The Liturgical Year, Volume 12 of 15
Season: Time After Pentecost — Book III
Primary Focus: Proper of the Saints, June 2–July 7
