Thursday, April 30, 2015

Introducing Matthew Hazell, A New Contributor to NLM

Last week, Dr Kwasniewski sent me a link to Matthew Hazell’s latest piece on his blog Lectionary Study Aids. It is, as always, both useful and interesting: a brief summary of Fr Cipriano Vagaggini’s book The Canon of the Mass and Liturgical Reform, and a link to a scanned copy of the book, now long out of print. (Fr Vagaggini was a major contributor to the post-Conciliar reform of the Ordo Missae.) I was going to write about the post with links to Matthew’s blog, but it occurred to both Peter and myself that since we think our readers should know about all of his excellent projects, it was easier just to ask him to join the writing staff at NLM. I am very pleased to say that he has accepted our invitation. Matthew will continue to post his work and research on Liturgical Study Aids, but also give notices and links here on NLM about what he’s been doing. Welcome aboard, we’re delighted to have you with us!

A biographical notes from the man himself: Hailing from the United Kingdom, Matthew is a convert to the Catholic faith from evangelical Protestantism, and was received into the Church in 2008. He has a B.A. (Hons.) in Biblical and Applied Theology from the University of Wales (Bangor) and an M.A. in Biblical Studies from the University of Sheffield. While studying for his M.A., he met his wife, Lucy, and the two of them currently still live in the glorious city of Sheffield.

Since discovering and becoming attached to the usus antiquior, Matthew has developed a keen interest in the liturgical reforms carried out during and after the Second Vatican Council, as well as the history of the Council itself. Recently, his research has concentrated on the Postcommunion prayers of the usus recentior and their sources, but he has also done work on the post-Conciliar reform of the Roman Lectionary, and the various interim and experimental lectionaries used in various countries during the 1960s. He is also working on a study of the long and short forms of readings on Sundays and solemnities in the usus recentior, from the viewpoints of both biblical theology and liturgical theology, which he hopes to discuss on NLM.

When not working or studying, Matthew likes to play board games and retro video games, preferably with a nice pint of real ale or a bottle of Trappist beer to hand!

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