Prayer-book for Religious/Introduction
Preface
The character and the purpose of this book are clearly indicated by its title. It is a book of devotions and prayers designed and specially adapted for the use of Religious. It offers itself to them as a helpful companion in all the exercises of religion; it aims to assist them in the particular and general examination; to instruct them in the correct and practical methods of making a meditation, and to direct them how to converse with God most properly and profitably in mental and vocal prayer.
It supplies them with abundant devotions and prayers for all the seasons of the ecclesiastical year.
A member of one of our most illustrious Religious Orders remarked one day quite casually in our presence, when devotional literature was the topic of conversation: "What we need in English is a complete Prayer-book to meet the special wants of Religious, so that a Mistress of Novices may be able to say to inquiring aspirants to the religious life: ' Besides the Roman Missal, I recommend to you this particular book; then you will surely have what will prove most serviceable in the convent for the hours of devotion.' "
Acting on this inspiration or suggestion, we have devoted much time and spared no pains in the compilation and adaptation of the present work. It is the result at least of honest effort to meet the whats of our various Sisterhoods, and it comprises, indeed, a number of little books under one title.
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 Parvum Beatae Mariae 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 Immaculate 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. |
| 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 Passion 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 devo- tions 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 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.