LATIN HYMNS

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LATIN HYMNS
By Fr. Adrian Fortescue
Copyright 1996, 178 pages, hardcover
Roman Catholic Books, P.O. Box 2268, Fort Collins, CO 80522-2286
970/490-2735, fax 493-8781
$19.95 + $6.95 shipping

This collection of Latin hymns was arranged and translated by Fr. Adrian 
Fortescue, the noted rubrician, from those sung at the parish Church of 
St. Hugh Letchworth, England.  The collection includes a rich collection 
of hymns of the Catholic Church, from as early as the second century, by 
such saints as Gregory the Great, Ambrose, Thomas Aquinas, and Augustine 
of Canterbury.  Most are taken from the Roman Breviary.

Fr. Fortescue writes: "There is not and there is never likely to be any 
religious poetry in the world worthly to be compared with the hymns of 
the Latin Office.... Our old Latin hymns are immeasurably more beautiful 
than any others ever composed.... It would be a disgrace if we Catholics 
were the only people who did not appreciate what is our property.  And, 
from every point of view, we of the old Church cannot do better than to 
sing to God as our fathers sang to Him during all the long ages behind 
us.  Nor shall we find a better expression of Catholic piety than these 
words, hallowed by centuries of Catholic use, fragrant with the memory 
of the saints who wrote in that golden age when practically the whole of 
Christendom was Catholic."

The sixty hymns are printed in Latin and English (no music) on facing 
pages for every major liturgical feast, season, and theme -- Evening 
Hymns, Advent Hymns, Christmas and Epiphany, Lenten Hymns, Eastertide, 
Whitsuntide, The Holy Eucharist, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Other Saints, 
and the City of God.  In addition, Compline for Sunday, Benediction of 
the Blessed Sacrament, the Divine Praises, and the Te Deum are 
included.