Friday, June 10, 2011

St Andrews Missal or the 1962?

I recently asked a friend to help me get the missal for the Tridentine mass. Basically there are 3 versions:
1. 1945 St. Andrews
2. 1962 Baronius Press
3. 1962 Angelus Press

He asked me which I would prefer asked that I google the differences, so far this review has helped me make my decision - I've decided to get the St. Andrews. Hope it helps you decide if you're looking for an answer too:

High quality leather binding, but format could be improved, June 8, 2008
 
By 
Davide Bianchini "Rising Suns" (Connecticut, USA) 


This review is from: 1962 Roman Missal - Black Leather (English and Latin Edition) (Bonded Leather)
I own three missals; 1945 St. Andrews, 1962 Baronius Press, and 1962 Angelus Press. What is desirable about the B.P. Missal is its soft genuine-leather cover, gold trim, and cream-colored pages. However, I would suggest that the B.P.'s "weakness" is the format, especially when compared to the beautiful 1945 St. Andrews missal. For example, the St. Andrews has both the Latin and English on the same page, organized into two columns, with rubrics in red. The B.P. however, has [for the mass] English on one page and Latin on the opposite page, with the rubrics repeated on both pages (also in red).

It's text font and spacing also seems to be cluttered, compared to the Angelus and SA. In addition, the LATIN text [for the propers and other prayers] in the B.P. Missal is reduced in size to ~1/2 the size as the English font. This de-emphasization appears to be a common trend among newer missals; post 1950's (note the 1945 St. Andrew gives equal spacing to both).

A third minor complaint; the print in the B.P. is somewhat difficult to read (for example, there is no clear differentiation between headings, canon, and rubrics like there is in the Angelus Press and St. Andrews). In this regard, the Angelus Press and St. Andrews missal are aesthetically "neater" than the B.P. (although there is significantly more "dead space" in the Angelus Press Missal).

There is also less information on each page. In the B.P., the text for the mass consumes about 71 pages, whereas in the S.A. is about half that; at 34 pages! (When I attend mass with the B.P. missal or Angelus Press missal, I find I am constantly turning pages to keep up). One last point, is the commentary in the S.A. missal is quite exceptional; it reads like a an old seminary textbook and contains traditional line art, with explanatory diagrams.

The fallback to the St. Andrews 1945 is that it has been republished in hard-cover (not leather), with white pages and red trim (the Angelus Press has a imitation-leather cover, with gold trim, and cream pages). Perhaps the format of the S.A. 1945 together with the quality of Baronius Press leather-bound publishing would make for an execptional missal.

***NOTE: IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A NEWER EDITION OF THE SA, PLEASE BE AWARE THAT NEWER EDITIONS (AFTER 1945) HAVE SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE FORMAT, SUCH AS THE DE-EMPHASIS OF LATIN TEXT AS MENTIONED ABOVE, AND THE REMOVAL OF LINE-ART****

3 comments:

  1. Thank you for publishing this comparison of the three missals. I have recently started attending the Tridentine Mass and have wanted to purchase a missal, but I didn't know the difference between various versions. I think I'm going to save up to buy a St. Andrew's . :^) God bless.

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  2. there is a large change for Holy Friday, Thursday between 1945 and 1962. if you compare St Andrew 1945 and 1962 missal, you can see large difference on holy days. 1945 version of Holy Thursday is about 2 hour long, and Holy Friday including mass is 3 hour long, longer if they include blessing of baptismal fond. also 1945 version has second confiteor, 3rd collect on some day, while 1962 version does not have second confiteor. I understand some 1962 missal does not have last gospel. Traditional Holy day ceremony is vary rare, specially , holy days ceremony according to 1945 missal, what I understand, way it was done in 1945 version is one been done for hundreds of years in Catholic church.

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  3. I think mixed up, Thursday and Friday, stead of Holy Friday and Holy Saturday in previous post.

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