Guest Post: Rebinding the Catechism

One of my readers, Corey, sent this wonderful guest post in upon the rebinding of his Catechism.  Please enjoy the photos and his testimony on why it was important for him to rebind this book.  

-Matt

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Matt, thank you for asking me to do a write-up regarding my recent re-bind of my full-size copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (hardcover).  Note that I have linked the out-of-print (I think) hardcover version of the CCC.  I'll discuss why shortly.

For the reason that I have had wonderful prior experiences having Leonard's Book Restoration do my prior re-binding work, there was no reason for me to go elsewhere.  I have previously had an RSV-2CE New Testament and Psalms and an RSV-2CE (full Bible) rebound by Leonard's, and I continue to be very pleased.

The specs of this rebind are as follows:

• Leonard's "18th Century Revivalist Style (Softcover Version)" rebind.
• Genuine Calf-Skin (my prior Leonard's rebinds were all Goat - a little softer, but the calf feels more durable)
• Addition of 4, dark-brown, ribbons - a necessity I think for the CCC.
• Leonard's recommended using the imitation leather end-pages (versus the antique-paper) for durability.  I think Leonard's may start offering leather end pages (I say that only because solicited a survey on that topic on Facebook recently - along with other potential options - leather end pages "won" the survey I believe).
• I used a somewhat hard to find hardcover, green CCC because it has a "sewn" binding (versus the glued binding of the softcover green CCC).  That cost me about $45 on Amazon.com for a "like new" quality.
• Price with shipping:  $210 (excluding cost of the CCC)

I am extremely pleased with this product.  I can not say enough about the craftsmanship of Leonard's.  This is real, mom & pop shop, work done by good Christian people up in Indiana.  I have no idea how much time goes into the product, but I'm sure we're talking a number of hours.  That, combined with the quality of the materials, more than justifies the price.  We gave a few NT/Psalms (Ignatius) rebinds from my family to some close priest friends over Christmas and they loved them.  As expected, they have nothing like them.

I was asked "why have the CCC re-bound in not-inexpensive genuine calf-skin by Leonard's?"  The reason is simply this (for me):  After the Bible, the CCC is the most important document in my life.  It is arguably the quintessential document issued by the Catholic Magisterium (the teaching office of the Church).  But as we know well as Catholics, without Sacred Tradition, we (all Christians) have no way of knowing that the Bible, in all its parts, is exactly what it purports to be.  And it is only through the Magisterium that we have the necessarily infallible teaching of what is, and what is not, inspired and actually Sacred Tradition.  The Magisterium is the doctrinal glue.  (If we only rely on what "our heart tells us" is inspired and true, I think we know that the Canon of the New Testament would still be growing today.)

It is true that the CCC is merely a self-professed "compendium," but what a compendium it is!  Our Blessed John Paul the Great provided us the value of the document in the Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum (1992) (Deposit of Faith), where the saint explained (in pertinent part):

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which I approved 25 June last and the publication of which I today order by virtue of my Apostolic Authority, is a statement of the Church's faith and of Catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium. I declare it to be a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion and a sure norm for teaching the faith. May it serve the renewal to which the Holy Spirit ceaselessly calls the Church of God, the Body of Christ, on her pilgrimage to the undiminished light of the kingdom!
...
Therefore, I ask the Church's Pastors and the Christian faithful to receive this catechism in a spirit of communion and to use it assiduously in fulfilling their mission of proclaiming the faith and calling people to the Gospel life. This catechism is given to them that it may be a sure and authentic reference text for teaching Catholic doctrine and particularly for preparing local catechisms. It is also offered to all the faithful who wish to deepen their knowledge of the unfathomable riches of salvation (cf. Jn 8:32). It is meant to support ecumenical efforts that are moved by the holy desire for the unity of all Christians, showing carefully the content and wondrous harmony of the Catholic faith. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, lastly, is offered to every individual who asks us to give an account of the hope that is in us (cf. 1 Pt 3:15) and who wants to know what the Catholic Church believes.

What a wonderful and powerful attestation to the importance of this Magisterial document in the lives of all Christians!  

We have all (hopefully) owned the Catechism for years.  But only recently I acquired a used hardcover copy of the Companion to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  The book is amazing. [Matt interjects: the companion IS amazing.  Buy one.]  Every single Bible verse, Church Document, Writing of the Saints, etc. that is reference/paraphrased, but not explicitly quoted, in the CCC is found in the Companion.  Merely reading the CCC reflects how soaked in Scripture is the entirety of Catholic doctrine (contrary to popular belief).  But if the Christian would simply crack open the Companion to the CCC, he or she would be amazed at the hundreds and hundreds of specific scriptural references there are in the CCC.  The CCC is truly a symphony of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.  What a blessing for all Christians.

I highlight the intensely Scriptural nature of the CCC (further highlighted by the Companion) because I think that fact needs to, in turn, be related to our non-Catholic brethren, who simply believe the Catholic Faith is not scriptural, when the opposite is true.  The Catholic Church is "full(est) Gospel."  When the CCC was published it was labeled by some left-leaning theologians in the Church as "fundamentalist" because the Church had the audacity to affirm the historicity of the Gospels, including all miracles and prophecy. That sort of criticism of the CCC should actually tend to make many non-Catholics comfortable with picking up the CCC and reading it knowing that it affirms every letter of the (entire) Bible as inspired and inerrant.

As a Catechist myself at my parish, I owe much of my recent "continuing education" to Dr. Brant Pitre at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, La.  His seminarian and graduate level courses on CD (some DVD) are a gold mine for the faithful.  And they are intensely orthodox.  Dr. Pitre is a Catholic Bible scholar who gets his students to love scripture.  But he also bases all of his classes squarely within the authoritative Magisterial teaching found in the CCC - while frequently venturing outside of the confines of the CCC to the very documents referenced in the CCC footnotes.  For those of us who have ample time in the car (or even just a 15-20 minute ride to and from work), I highly recommend anything by Dr. Pitre.  He will lead you to the Bible every day.

Thank you for your patience reading.  The foregoing is why the Bible and the Catechism both justify such a nice rebind and place of prominence in our house before our children.

And may God Bless Pope Francis and you all.  Pax Christi.

Amazing Bible Binding Video

This is an excellent Bible binding video put together by one of the nicest Bible producers out there.  They are King James only, and so while I am certainly not endorsing that, it is really something to see this happen and learn to appreciate the care put into each Bible.

So who among us Catholics binds Bibles, breviaries, or other books like this?  Pretty much nobody.  Notice the quality gilt edging.  Most companies spray their edges on.  This is a small non-profit company that does this as a ministry, which accounts for the care put in.  It is said that you can put these Bibles up against anything from Cambridge or R.L. Allen.

Its really a shame that to my knowledge, we have nothing like this in the Church.

Best Pocket Bible Ever: Confraternity NT

The Confraternity Bible is my favorite translation and has been for some time. It is traditional, accessible, and comes with limited faithful commentary. The pocket New Testament and I spend a lot of time together and this is my second copy. The first lasted several tough years of abuse and would still be used today if the washing machine didn't win out in the end.

The pocket New Testament is published by Scepter Publishers, the publishing arm of Opus Dei. It measures roughly 3x5" and fits perfectly in your back pocket. The cover is blue vinyl and has one black ribbon. This thing is tough as nails, will stand nearly any abuse you give it, and only costs around $10.

The page layout is single column with bold print. The font is small but because it has a heavy weight it reads well. It contains a daily reading plan that will take you through the New Testament twice in a year. This is a long way from being chained to the Bishop's desk and should satisfy those who wish we had more weekday readings for Mass in the traditional rite. (Yes I am kidding!) Additionally it comes with all of the standard Confraternity book introductions, excerpts from Divinu Affantu Spiritu by Pope Pius XII, and a preface. It even has a map of Palestine in the time of Christ.

The binding is sewn which adds to the durability. One of the best things about this is that even after continually sitting on it, the book never seems to lose its shape. Its still not bent. My first copy lost its shape after being dunked a sink full of water. But it was still usable and recovered nicely.

Purchase it here from Scepter Publishers for $9.95

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Review: Mundelein Psalter

I love this book. Here is the Mundelein Psalter, published by Hilenbrand Books, a pointed edition of Morning, Evening, and Night Prayer for the modern Liturgy of the Hours. I don't normally pray the modern Office but if I had the opportunity to sing it with this book I might consider doing so. It is extremely easy to use. I suspect a group of lay folk with minimal musical experience (or a family?) would be singing the office within minutes after cracking this open. When the Office is sung rather than merely read or spoken its character can be fully realized. What we do in the office is not just a duty but divine worship.





Because it is meant to be used in choir and not for personal use, the book is large. The psalm tones used are the "Meinrad Tones" written by Samuel Weber, OSB. They make the Grail Psalter not just tolerable but somewhat beautiful.

The layout is amazing. The text, font, and spacing choices are perfect.

You sing the antiphon using the psalm tone below, which I assume the cantor would do . Then everyone else can get the tone in their head to use for the entire psalm. The ease of use of the Mundelein Psalter and its simplicity in form is brilliant and highlights the proper function of the antiphons.

The book contains a hymnal of actual music and texts for the Liturgy of the Hours. These aren't the ecumenical hymns found in the Catholic Book Publishing 1975 edition. They are the real deal. The Te Lucis Ante for Compline uses the modern Latin edition but the side by side English is the old version. I found that interesting.

Having the hymns and their translations alone makes the book worth owning. Whatever hymns not included can be found in the Liber Hymnarius and using this book is recommended by the Mudelein Psalter.

I imagine the tones could get old quick, but it is far better than singing recto tono.

A table of the tones for responsories, intercessions, and collects.

Sewn binding. It could use another ribbon, frankly.

This book is awesome and should be owned by anyone who loves the Divine Office. I promise you will spend time with it just singing through the Psalms.

Retro-Review: Prayer of Christians Interim Breviary

"Prayer of Christians" was the quickly created response to the Pope Paul VI's revision to the Divine Office by "National Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commission". It represents the spirit of the age of changing things quickly but not really knowing where everything was going. Because of that, this edition of the Divine Office has some very traditional elements mixed in with some wacky novelties. Just a couple of points and then we'll just look at the pictures.

-The Psalter is not infamous Grail version, but the same as the 1964 Roman Breviary which I reviewed (rebound) here. It is a translation of the Pius XII Psalter.

-The hymns part of each hour is called the "song". The Office of Readings begins with a sentence from scripture. I suspect this was done for ecumenical reasons.

-Finding the prayers for Sunday is difficult. To my eyes, I cannot see a way to tell which week in the Psalter you should be using, as you can in the 1975 Liturgy of the Hours by look at the Sunday you just celebrated.

-Some of the prayers and Collects are laughable. They are worse than the current (now defunct) ICEL versions.

-The antiphons aren't the same as the ones in the current version.

-The Scripture lessons in morning and evening prayer are different, or sometimes longer than the current edition.

-It is expected that Morning Prayer is the first prayer of the day, not the Office of Readings. "O Lord Open my Lips..." and Psalm 95 are placed at Morning Prayer.

Those are just some of the changes that came in this edition. I don't think this was, although I could be wrong, an obligatory version of the office. This was printed before the Latin Liturgia Horarum was complete, and so I believe most clerics were still praying the 1962 edition in some cut down and modified way. Once this came out many probably switched over to this right away though.

Here is a photo of the layout. It looks shabbily done. All black text.

The 1975 version text layout is a vast improvement in every way. Here is a comparison.

Artwork is what you would expect.

Here is a comparison of both editions. They are the same size. Prayer of Christians lacks the ugly "Chi Rho" symbol used in the 1975 Liturgy of the Hours. The cover has more texture, and the color is more mute than the newer one. It also doesn't seem nearly as cheap. However if you compare sometime like this to Breviaries that came out just ten years early you will notice immediately that they were cheaper. The first edition of the Liturgy of the Hours was worse in some ways. The modern printings are slightly better. I think that is representative of how they treated Liturgy in general at the time. It was to be for the common people and so they made it cheap. Cheap cheap cheap. Gratefully we are correcting that nowadays.

The binding. Sewn.

The canticles and other common cards are "ecumenical" translations and are promoted as such in the preface. Just look at the end of the Our Father.

Incredible Pre-Pius X Totum

A week or two ago, Maximus Scriptorus, of the wonderful ChurchLatin.com asked if I would like to temporarily trade a couple of breviaries for review purposes. I sent him the Econe Breviary and the Horologion and look at one of the tomes he sent me...

An 1879 Totum.

From 1879 Totum

From 1879 Totum

This book is an absolute treasure. He tells me that he purchased it for practically pennies. What we have here is an near flawless, relatively untouched, incredible edition of the Pre-Pius X Breviarium Romanum. It has a hard cover, art-gilt page edges, and all the works.

First lets look at the tank-proof box it came in. Its of a very solid wooden construction and has a fuzzy cloth liner on the inside. It could be velvet but I'm not a fabrics expert.

From 1879 Totum

From 1879 Totum

Let's open the book. Here you can see the gold outline on the inside cover. This feature, absent from almost all books these days is an aesthetic bonus to any bible or prayerbook. Publishers should begin to use it again ... now.

From 1879 Totum

From 1879 Totum

The end "papers" are cloth. The quality job here is kind of absurd. This should be in a museum or at least in a safety deposit box.

From 1879 Totum

Below you can see me opening the book. It looks like I'm abusing it but in fact I am being extremely gentle. The pages are stiff. Stiff as in unused, untouched, brand new. To give you an idea of how brand new this is I'll tell you that yesterday I was flipping pages and came to the feast for today and found that the pages were still stuck together at the gilding. The pages hadn't been turned yet. Keep in mind this book's year is 1879.

From 1879 Totum

The ribbons have not faired nearly as well. Let's take a look at that art gilt edging which give off a ruby effect.

From 1879 Totum

The photo below really shows what I am talking about. Will they ever create books of this quality again? Will that stupid Kindle thing end up overflowing trash bins so that we can recover the lost art of true quality book manufacturing? The books we have today can be nice, but this doesn't compare. Today's editions are a product of our age and not the fault of the publishers. If for instance someone were to product this particular breviary today it would probably cost $500 easy. Not many people want to pay that. Honestly, it could even go for a $1000.

From 1879 Totum

From 1879 Totum

From 1879 Totum

From 1879 Totum

Ok now let's move to the text. First notice how the formatting immediately centers your focus to the words on the page. The gold outline, the wide margins, the fonts, the drop caps, it all just works. You might think the margins are bit too wide. I suspect they used the same printing for smaller volumes rather make new ones for this edition, but when they printed the totum they used larger paper.

From 1879 Totum

From 1879 Totum

From 1879 Totum

From 1879 Totum

From 1879 Totum

From 1879 Totum

I love looking at old books' table of movable feasts. It shows how long they expected the book to last, or at least how long it would stay in use. If they only knew...this one goes to 1898.

From 1879 Totum

From 1879 Totum

From 1879 Totum

From 1879 Totum

This was probably the only time the book was used. I can't read it but it looks like French.

From 1879 Totum

This is in reality a brand new book. The preservation is unbelievable. It is a time warp and an absolute treasure. I am extremely grateful to Maximus Scriptorus for his generous lending of this priceless volume.

Rebound: Modern Notation Liber Usualis

Folks who've been around the blog for a while will remember my Liber Usualis rebind. It was and remains a fantastic job done by McSpadden Bookbindery. I have had several books rebound by them since but this one crushes them all. The work they did on this Liber, which was in absolute tatters, is outstanding. It was literally falling apart and the cover was half off. By that I mean only the front and spine remained. Pages were loose etc.

A month or so ago a fellow schola member gave me this Liber to have rebound (for another, former schola member who retired).

Unlike mine, this one is not smooth grained. The calfskin has some texture to it. (You can click on the pictures to make them larger.) For time's sake today I am not going to be able to give you the tour of the whole book like I normally would. But I think you can get the idea just from the pictures.

Enjoy!

From Modern Liber

From Modern Liber

From Modern Liber

From Modern Liber

From Modern Liber

From Modern Liber

From Modern Liber