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The Mundelein Psalter edited by Douglas Martis and Samuel Weber. Chicago: Hillenbrand Books, 2007. 1200 pp. ISBN 978-1-59525-019-3. US $50.00.
The Mundelein Psalter is a complete one -volume edition of the Liturgy of the Hours, the official daily prayer of the Roman Catholic Church, which originally appeared in English in 1975 as four volumes from the Catholic Book Publishing Company. The earlier version included no music and was obviously intended for private recitation. The editors of this new Psalter are to be commended for their efforts to promote the communal chanting of this largely scriptural prayer.
The theology supporting a book of this kind is found at the front, in the 1971 Roman document General instruction of the liturgy of the hours. A fine introduction with pastoral guidelines follows, including suggestions for introducing this form of prayer to congregations. The book contains prayer services for morning, evening, and night, as well as an Office for the Dead. It uses the 1963 Grail translation...