Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Scepter Press Daily Roman Missal personal edition review

I arrived home today and a small box had arrived. When I saw it was from the Midwest Theological Forum I was very happy as it meant my copy of the Daily Roman Missal had arrived. This is the Missal that really changed my life as it was the only missal that included the Latin and English for the OF form of the mass. It served the purpose of reinforcing that the Roman Catholic Church never ceased to be the Latin Rite. More importantly, it helped me understand, long before discussions of the new translation, that the English we were saying was not what was in the Latin. It also taught me that there are proper introit, offertory and communion antiphons for every day of the liturgical calendar and the prayer section is also thorough and contains many prayers in Latin and English.

The book comes in hardcover, bonded leather and leather and I went for the bonded leather in burgundy. The leather is textured and the missal feels solid.



The pages are an eggshell cream color and there are black and white/cream engravings on some of the pages. The print is a good size. Some of the pictures look brighter due to the flash. The color of the pages is hard to capture but it appears similar to the paper in my older Daily Roman missal.

Inside cover



Page from Advent




Page from feast of St. Teresa Benedicta



There are 6 ribbons



The edges are gilt and look nice. The binding is tight, but the bonded leather seems flexible enough that it should not split at the base from daily use.



The book is 7 inches by 4 3/4 inches by 2 inches. Compared with my Christian Prayer LOTH book it is a bit thicker and taller. It has 2514 pages.



Edge to edge



As I was unfolding the ribbons from the book I did find one page was folded inward and the folded edge had been bound into the book. I gently cut it free and it will need a trim, but no worries. I am just happy I won't have to bother with the pew cards and can read the readings prior to mass.



And last, but not least, the missal retains the section on preparing for mass and preparing for confession as well as a very good section of classic and traditional prayers. And, of course, the main attraction of the missal for me, the prayers on opposite pages in Latin on the left and English on the right.




Receiving the missal just confirmed for me that this was the best choice. Also, it is ready and shipping now and I noticed the other day on the web site of a well known missal that has separate Sunday and daily versions that there missals will not be ready until early next year and the last time I saw them, they contained no Latin. This missal will be of use at the parish's which are fortunate enough to have the Latin OF mass, but even for those of us who normally attend the OF in English, this missal includes all we need to attempt to pray always and also to pray the mass.

ISBN 978-1-936045-59-4 is the bonded leather in burgundy. It also comes in black bonded leather, black leather and black and burgundy hard cover.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for your informative post! I am very interested in purchasing one for daily Mass, so may I ask, does this Missal contain the New American or the New Jerusalem English translation? Thanks!

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  2. To whom it may concern,
    My name is Fr. Stephen Arabadjis.  I am a member of the Society of St. Pius X.  But I am in my 7th year of Sabbatical.Therefore I was hoping your group could do a 54 day rosary novena for my intentions.  But any prayers and sacrifices would be greatly appreciated.  I know Our Lady will reward you generously for this.
    In Our Lady,
    Fr. Arabadjis
    P.S. Thanking you in advance, since I don't always get all my communications.

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