An update on the Mundelein Psalter

Most of you will no doubt have heard of the Mundelein Psalter which was put out by the NLM's good friends over at The Liturgical Institute.

I was pleased to receive an update this evening on its progress. It is now in its second printing as the first run sold about in approximately 3 months time -- a very good sign to say the least.

While it is not technically in a "second edition", there have been corrections made as regard some typos found in the first printing and they have also printed it this time on thinner bible paper which has thereby reduced the overall size of the volume by a full half-inch, thus making it fit hymnal racks in parish pews.

The people at Mundelein tell me the response to the psalter has been overwhelmingly positive and they receive stories even from families who are now chanting The Liturgy of the Hours together.

The Mundelein Psalter is made for the modern Roman breviary and is designed to try to reinstill the chanted Divine Office tradition using the presently approved vernacular translation -- thereby allowing it to also be used for formal liturgical use.

Here is a sample of what it sounds like: Canticle of Zechariah (the Benedictus).

There are of course different schools of thought about bringing the chant tradition into the vernacular and how it might be done, but one thing is certain in my mind, while we must work to retain the Latin Gregorian tradition, the movement to also develop the chant tradition of the Roman church into the vernacular languages is an important and highly worthwhile task as well.