Oremus: A Prayerbook For The Old Catholic Priest [Anglais] [Broché]

The book itself is meant to be a standard text for some jurisdictions, bearing the imprimatur from authorities of the Old Catholic Church of the United States and the English Catholic Church, and bearing the approval of the International Synod of Old Catholic Churches (ISOCC). The General Instructions state that there is no authorisation granted for local modification of the sacramental rites herein; my personal view is that this instruction is a bit unfortunate, not least of which because it is unenforceable for the most part. I understand that one of the issues with more general Old Catholic disunity is disagreement over liturgical forms, but my personal view is against such restrictions. However, this does not detract from the general value of the text.

Like many prayer books (the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer being a good example here), the rubrics are in fact not printed in red throughout, but rather in italicised typeface, and often bracketed from spoken texts and title headings. There are thirty principle chapters overall, which cover sacraments (baptism, eucharist, unction, marriage), liturgical rites for special events (Stations of the Cross, various blessings and consecration rites), general prayers (morning, evening, meal blessings, Marian prayers, etc.), various litanies, processions, and creedal statements. The text includes some rare pieces, such as the form for release from excommunication or inhibition, the churching of women, and a form for exorcism (which, interestingly, has perhaps the longest section of commentary preceding the actual liturgical form of any section in the book).

The book does not contain forms for ordination of deacons, priests, or bishops, or confirmation rites. As a book meant to be useful for study as well as worship practice, having the forms for these liturgies would be valuable additions.

I do take one star off on my rating of this book for some editorial issues. There are various page layout, spelling, terminology and citation issues that are a bit of a problem with this text. For example, the General Instructions indicate that there are 'Modern English' and 'Old English' options - however, this is incorrect. The 'Old English' that is mentioned here is not in fact Old English (which is the language of Beowulf, the Exeter book anthology, etc. and generally incomprehensible to modern English speakers) nor is it even Middle English (which is best typified by Chaucer or the Pearl Poet, again a hard read for modern English speakers). The 'Old English' here is in fact Shakespearean/King Jamesian language, and the terms 'traditional' and 'contemporary' language would be much more accurate. Also, the information on the book speaks of the text being useful to seminarians as well as clergy - however, without citations throughout the text, this becomes problematic in an academic sense. The editors state the breadth of sources (as mentioned above) but do not cite throughout the text which liturgies, forms and prayers come from which sources, which would be invaluable for the student of liturgy.

In terms of it being a prayer book, these are fairly minor concerns (after all, the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer has various liturgies derivative of other traditions, such as Rite II, Prayer D being influenced by Orthodox liturgies, yet such influences are not referenced in the BCP itself). The combination of the fact that there is very little by way of standard and readily accessible collections such as this for Old Catholics and the breadth of material contained make this a valuable resource for Old Catholics, independent Anglicans, and students and liturgists of other Christian denominations and jurisdictions as well.

The text is readable, generally useful, and many pieces will ring a familiar sound in the memory of readers of many denominations, as these liturgies derive from the kinds of forms shared by Christendom from the earliest days in some cases; churches Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox share many of the same words, so this should not be surprising. For the high liturgical non-Old Catholic, perhaps the most interesting and useful sections of the books will be those on blessings, of everything from seminaries and church cornerstones to animals to simple prayers to be said while vesting for services.

A valuable resource.