UbiCaritas Press is pleased to announce the upcoming publication of The Mass: A Literal, Historical, and Dogmatic Explanation of Its Prayers and Ceremonies, vol. 1, by the Rev. Pierre Lebrun, C.O.I.. , translated by Harry B. Oesman, (6.14 x 9.21, 600 pages, San Diego: Ubi Caritas Press, 2024.)
Against the currents of naturalism and rationalism then reigning on the heels of the 16th century rebellion against age-old Church teachings, Fr. Lebrun sets out to explain the true and right worship of the God in the Mass, the unbloody sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord, and the fount of all graces. He explains the teaching of the Church on every prayer said, the meanings of the gestures made, from the time the Priests prepares to vest, all the way through the acts of thanksgiving. In his preface, he says: “We cannot even begin to understand the true significance of the words said in Mass, but by their explanation one by one, and that whatever is said ought to be based on the Fathers, on the most ancient of the writers of the Church, and on Tradition.” He intersperses here and there information on the historical development of the ceremonies of the Holy Mass.
Fr. Lebrun’s work was very much a labor of love. For decades, he sought material from all corners of Christendom, travelling around Europe to find documentary evidence of customs, rites, and ceremonies. His research notes now occupy yards of shelf-space at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, in Paris. (BnF Latin Mss. 16796–16818).
L’explication de la Mess is the classic exposition on the Mass. In the 300 years since its publication, reference and other books on the Holy Sacrifice, and the liturgy in general, have imported whole sections of it, often without attribution. Writing 150 years after Fr. Lebrun’s death, Dom Prosper Guéranger said: “We quote his wonderful work several times. He is one of the last liturgists that France has produced who is truly worthy of the name. His erudition is equal to his orthodoxy.” (Institutions liturgiques, 2Ed., Paris, 1880, 2:485). More recently, the work was deemed the preeminent contribution to the method of articulating the mysteries of the Mass and its practical forms in history. (Xavier Bisaro, Le passé présent, Paris, 2012).
THE AUTHOR
The Rev. Pierre Lebrun, was born in Brignoles in 1661. At 17, he entered the minor seminary of the Congregation of the Oratory of Jesus and Mary Immaculate (the French Oratory) in Aix-en-Provence. He went on to their house of studies in Toulouse, and in 1688, earned his theology degree at the university there. Ordained priest, he was sent to the Order’s new seminary of Saint-Magloire in Paris in 1690. He spent his life on his great work on the Mass, applying himself despite his weak constitution. He also dedicated himself to the formation of priests, and was responsible for teaching them Church history. He died at the seminary in 1729, aged 68.
PUBLICATION DATE, OTHER VOLUMES
UbiCaritas Press is publishing Fr. Lebrun’s work in French and English. The publication date will be determined in January 2024, at which time all volumes of the revised and newly annotated French edition will be available to the public all at once. The first volume of the English translation is now available for reviewers.
REVIEWS AND INQUIRIES
For inquiries, please send an email to ucpress@cox.net. If you wish to write a review, please send us your name, street address, email, and telephone number, as well as your affiliation. The publisher will send a reviewer’s copy.
The Mass: A Literal, Historical, and Dogmatic Explanation of Its Prayers and Ceremonies, vol. 1, by the Rev. Pierre Lebrun, CO, translated by Harry B. Oesman, 6.14 x 9.21, 600 pages. San Diego: UbiCaritas Press, 2024.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Translator’s Note
Author’s Preface
Certain Terms Used
The Names and Parts of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Division of This Work
PRELIMINARY TREATISE. ON THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS AND THE PREPARATIONS PRESCRIBED FOR ITS OFFERING.
Art. I. The necessity for sacrifice in every age, the cessation of those of the Old Law and the excellence of the unique Sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross and on our altars, which comprehends all else and which will never cease.
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| The frontispiece of the original French version. |
Art. II. How the faithful ought to prepare themselves to assist at Mass fruitfully.
