We are pleased to share this item from Arouca Press about their new reprint of a classic resource for learning about the traditional Latin Mass, Key to the Missal, by Cornelius A. Bouman and Mary Perkins Ryan, originally published in 1960.
Few books do so much in so little as this one. In sixteen short chapters the authors manage not only to present a key to the Traditional Missal, but also a key to the entire Church Year, as well as a key to the Sacred Liturgy. In addition to the chapters on the seasons of the Church Year, the book gives in two initial chapters of authentic information on the history of the Missal and its use, concluding with three chapters on the feasts of Our Lord, of the Mother of God, and of the Saints. May this book give the reader a greater appreciation for such a treasure as the Traditional Roman Missal!
“Key to the Missal is a concise but richly informative commentary on the Roman Missal, the liturgical book containing the liturgy of the Mass of the Roman Rite for every day in the year. In plain and simple language, its coauthors—Cornelius Adrianus Bouman (1911-88), a Dutch liturgical historian and Byzantine Rite deacon, and Mary Perkins Ryan (1912-93), an American religious educator—open to readers the riches of the Mass, and they do so within the broader framework of the Church’s calendar. After two introductory chapters on the history and use of the Missal, the rest of this little volume takes us through the Liturgical Year, highlighting key insights drawn from the texts of the Mass. With the Missal as our optic on the Church’s cycle of seasons and feasts, we can be certain that we are thinking as the Church thinks about the mysteries of salvation: lex orandi, lex credendi...” — from the Foreword of the new edition, by Fr Thomas Kocik