Michelangelo Buonarroti: Life and Work

by A. Gromling

Publiser: Barnes & Noble (June 2000)

ISBN-13: 9780760721636

http://www.amazon.com/Michelangelo-Buonarroti-Life-work-hand/dp/0760721637/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239144516&sr=1-1

This is a very special volume of Michelangelo’s artistic value, biography, and the cultural history of Renaissance as an essential reference to any scholar’s collection of Christian Art and Church History. Further, I highly recommend this book to anyone travelling to Italy to study the art of Michelangelo in person since it serves as a reference point to each historical tour site of Renaissance Art. The concise book will highlight in color the major and minor works of Buonarroti from the City of Florence to the Vatican, which includes sketches, graphs, and anthologies of his works of beauty and truth.

Overall, I think the coffee table presentation paints a “great picture” of why Michelangelo was the most sought after artist in Europe during the Renaissance, and it envelopes the background of unique persons and places that accompanied the Florentine’s romancing life work of sculpture and paint in the highest forms of Divinity and Humanities .

Liber Usualis

 St. Bonaventure Publications
No. 801
ASIN: B0017O0NDM

http://www.libers.com/liber.htm

The Liber Usualis, is the unique book used for chanting the parts of the Sacred Liturgy according the traditional Latin Rite. The Liber was first edited in 1896 by Abbey of Solesmes under Abbot Dom André Mocquereau (1849–1930). This 1,900-page book contains most versions of the ordinary chants for the Mass (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei), as well as the common chants for the Divine Office (daily prayers of the Church) and for every commonly celebrated feast of the Church Year (including more than two hundred pages for Holy Week alone). The “usual book” or “common book” also contains chants for specific rituals, such as baptisms, weddings, funerals, ordinations, and benediction. This modal, monophonic Latin music has been sung in the Catholic Church since at least the sixth century and through the present day.

St. Bonaventure Publications has successfully restored this book to its pristine 1953 edition that Solesmes had originally published in Belgium. The Liber is essential to any singer in the Schola Cantorum  which according to Pope St. Pius X is a real liturgical office. It contains the necessary notations of Chant for the Ordinary Parts of Mass (Ordo Missae) that must be sung in plainsong according the Decrees of St. Pius X on Sacred Music. This St. Bonaventure edition is very fine Smyth (sewn) binding, with 6 colored ribbon markers, and even has the late Pius XII additions of the Glorious Assumption of the B.V.M. It’s worth to note, that the rubrics are translated into English for the readiness of the English speaking world. The Liber is a “must have” for any Catholic cleric, singer, and scholar of the Sacred Liturgy.

Why Apologize for the Spanish Inquisition?

by Very. Rev. Fr. Alphonsus Maria Duran
Publisher: Eric Gladkowski (February 1, 2000)
ISBN-10: 0970223501
ISBN-13: 978-0970223500

http://loretopubs.org/index.php?target=products&product_id=36

This Classic Essay on the History of the Spanish Inquisition holds back no apologies for extermination of heresy in Catholic Spain. The book details the office of Catholic Monarch when Europe was being attacked both by Protestant Reformers in the North and the Islamic Infidel in the South. And on top of that there was the internal threat of Judaizing within the Catholic borders. The Union of Church and State Powers to remove this threat was a paramount success in the kingdoms of Catholic Spain, and the Holy Office of the Inquisition would not tolerate such Judaizer-Conversos who pretended to be Christians in order to undermine both Church and State and even conspire against both from within Catholic Spain.

The book refutes the bias of pseudo-historians who try to describe Spanish Royals and Inquisitors as being blood-thirsty sadists. It will convince any logical and open-minded person that the Church and State in Catholic Spain had to act according to the fullest letter of law to bring back the true spirit of contrition and Catholic fidelity of such Conversos. After reading this book, no one will doubt the sincere and firm orthodoxy that the Spanish Inquisition brought forth, and the strength of virtue that Catholic Spain enjoyed after the initial purges of the 16th and 17th Centuries.

 The Promise of Obedience
A Ritual History

Leon Strieder

Liturgical Press

 ISBN:978-0-8146-6016-4

http://www.litpress.org/Detail.aspx?ISBN=0814660169

The Promise of Obedience investigates the history of liturgical oaths used in sacred rites from both Latin and Eastern traditions. The book demonstrates the emphasis of obedience to superiors in the Church hieararchy as a necessary means for proper order and good morals. 

The scholarship is excellent taking texts from Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance sources, and even some original manuscripts are cited.  This book is highly recommended for any liturgist and student of liturgy, esp. writing a thesis or dissertation of liturgical history and comparitive rites. The book is still in print from Liturgical Press, and it has recently been promoted “on sale” for a timely purchase.  

Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, by Norman P. Tanner, S.J.

Georgetown University Press

ISBN: 9780878404902

http://press.georgetown.edu/detail.html?id=9780878404902

A scholarly collection of the Ecumenical Councils of the Church within two volumes. The original Greek and Latin texts are side-by-side with English translation by Dr. Tanner. Also very concise commentary introduces each council in its context, critical text analysis, and scope.

The texts usually only include the dogmatic decisions of the council minus some disciplinary, inserted letters, speeches, and votes. It is a good reference manual for anyone studying dogmatic theology or church history, but don’t be mistaken this book cannot replace the ominous monument of Archbishop Joannis Dominici Mansi: Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova Amplissima Collectio.

This book is a “must-have” for anyone serious about studying the dogmatic theology of the Catholic Church. So don’t wait until it is out of print, I say the benefit exceeds the cost in this one, so buy a copy now, in fact buy a few copies if you can.

The Scholarly Review of Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini (Pope Benedict XIV) promotes the Great Books of Catholicism and the latest and noteworthy scholarly monographs, dissertations, tracts, films, recordings, and documentaries that ought to be considered being given a space in an aspiring Catholic library bookshelf. The interdisciplinary position of this stage will allow not only books on Art, Biblical Studies, Divinity, Theology, History, Liturgy, Music, Patrology, and Scholastic Philosophy to be prominent, but also other branches of study that continue the rich tradition of Greco-Latin Renaissance and Classical Literature will also find its proper placement.

The Lambertini-Scholar Review would like to welcome the reader to also interact in commentaries and feel free to submit book reviews within this forum. We also invite any author, editor, or publisher to submit their work for review (LambertiniScholar@gmail.com).

We hope to be fair, charitable, and scholarly within this Review Forum, we ask you please invite your friends and colleagues to participate.

And may the love of truth prevail!

The Lambertini-Scholar Review

http://lambertinireview.wordpress.com/

LambertiniScholar@gmail.com