A Traditional Missal for Young Catholics

A few years ago, I noticed that my children were ready to follow the real prayers of the traditional Latin Mass—they had long outgrown "baby missals" that have photos of the priest at the Introit accompanied by a text in big letters, like "Watch Father ascend the steps: he is going to pray to God for us," etc.—but they were also not ready to deal with a full 2,000-page missal like the Baronius or the Angelus Press.

Not being able to find anything that served this intermediate purpose, I decided to create the resource and try it out. My children used copies of it for a good while, and versions of it were passed around to families in the local community. The feedback was that it served its purpose well and should be made more widely available. I am happy to announce that A Traditional Missal for Young Catholics can be purchased from Lulu, and to help you get a better sense of what it's like, I've appended a bunch of photos.

The book is decorated throughout with beautiful artwork to help inspire and focus a child’s easily wandering attention. The artwork is drawn from a wide range of masters and chosen to match the meaning of the text, so that it can stir up piety and prayer. It offers to a child something worthwhile to ponder in the extended periods of silence during the Mass, thus forming the imagination as well as the intellect.

The booklet contains, in easy-to-read print, the fixed and unchanging parts of the Mass. It prepares the young reader for the eventual use of an adult daily missal. Many features—such as the clear indications of when the proper prayers and readings take place, so that a child, if he or she wants, may consult a parent or sibling next to them for the proper—assist the reader to follow the Holy Mass more easily and come to a deeper understanding of both its unchanging and its changeable parts. This book serves as a tool to help the parents, as the first teachers of their children in the school of the Faith, to be inspired in passing on knowledge and love of the traditional Latin Mass, as so many Catholics have done through the centuries.

Having made this book for love of the Mass and to help out parents, I've set the price as low as Lulu will allow. The relatively high cost of the book ($18.87) is entirely due to its being in full color on every page, with a total of 47 artwork reproductions.

The “Mass of the Ages” is a sign of order, beauty, sacredness, and holiness to children in the midst of our rather confused world. This booklet will help children to begin their quest of understanding the mysteries that the Church offers to them in her sacred rites. It would make a lovely Easter gift!

Here can be seen the "red box" feature that identifies any proper antiphon, prayer, or reading.

The book has prayers for the Pope and for one's Bishop at the end.

A Traditional Missal for Young Catholics may be purchased here.