Synopses & Reviews
When Adrien Nocent's The Liturgical Year was published in the 1970s, it was the very first comprehensive commentary on the three-year lectionary in relation to the Sacramentary/Missal as these were revised following the Second Vatican Council. Expressed on nearly every page was Nocent's conviction that the liturgy and the Word of God proclaimed within it have something important to say to real people of every culture and time. He constantly returns to the question: What does this passage have to say to us today?
Now this extraordinary work of applied, postconciliar liturgical scholarship has been emended and annotated by one of today's leading liturgical scholars. Paul Turner has provided many helpful explanatory notes on history, culture, language, and, of course, liturgy. He has also updated the liturgical texts to conform to The Roman Missal, Third Edition. The result is a resource that promises to enrich and inspire a new generation of presiders, preachers, liturgy planners, and students.
On the fiftieth anniversary of Vatican II's Sacrosanctum Concilium, encounter the vibrant scholarship and pastoral wisdom of Adrien Nocent's The Liturgical Year again or for the first time!
Volume 3 covers all of the Sundays of Ordinary Time.
Review
“Though originating in the postconciliar period, Adrien Nocent’s volumes remain one of the church's finest commentaries on the Lectionary and contain remarkable up-to-date insights for our times. Thanks to the emendations and annotations of Paul Turner, one of today’s finest liturgical scholars, these volumes will enrich the thoughts of parish liturgists, presiders, homilists, musicians, lectors, theology students, and participants in the church’s liturgy.“Stephen J. BinzBiblical scholarAuthor of
Conversing with God in Advent and Christmas (also
Conversing with God in Lent and
Conversing with God in the Easter Season)
Review
“
Aggiornamento is back! Paul Turner has updated the first volume of Adrien Nocent’s
The Liturgical Year in a discrete, respectful, and informed manner, enabling the author’s reflections on the feasts and seasons as well as on the Lectionary to connect effectively with the concerns and interests of present-day readers. I look forward to the next two volumes.” Patrick Regan, OSB Saint Joseph Abbey Saint Benedict, Louisiana Author of
Advent to PentecostReview
“In 1977 when Adrien Nocent's book appeared in English translation, I was studying the liturgical year with him at Sant’Anselmo. I remember how moved I was to read his deep reflections after having experienced the new lectionary with its three-year cycle of readings at that point only a couple of times. Now, having experienced the three-year cycle more than a dozen times, I am still moved by his writings. I am delighted that his book has been updated by Paul Turner and is coming into print again.” Michael S. Driscoll Associate Professor University of Notre Dame
Review
“Adrien Nocent was truly a remarkable scholar well ahead of his time! . . . He weaves the paschal mystery, eschatology, and living liturgy daily into a core tool for interpreting Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany in a fresh way. In this reissue, Fr. Paul Turner sensitively respects Nocent’s own voice as he bridges the time after the Council to the present age. . . . This work needs to be on every priest’s, liturgist’s, musician’s, and assembly member’s ‘go to’ shelf.” Joyce Ann Zimmerman, CPPS Institute for Liturgical Ministry
Review
“This new edition of Adrien Nocent’s
The Liturgical Year dappers up an old friend! . . . The virtues of Nocent’s original work . . . can again serve preachers, liturgists, and lovers of the liturgy because of Turner’s fine work. It promises to be a key resource for another forty years.” Rev. Michael Witczak Associate Professor of Liturgical Studies Catholic University of America
About the Author
Adrien Nocent, OSB (1913-1996), was a Belgian monk and professor at the Pontifical Atheneum of Saint Anselm in Rome. He served as a consultor for the Consilium for the Implementation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council, working especially on the revision of Holy Week and of the Lectionary for Mass.Paul Turner is pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Kansas City, Missouri. A priest of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, he holds a doctorate in sacred theology from the Athenaeum of Saint Anselm in Rome. He is the author of Glory in the Cross: Holy Week in the Third Edition of The Roman Missal, When Other Christians Become Catholic, and many other titles. He is a former President of the North American Academy of Liturgy and a team member for the North American Forum on the Catechumenate. He is a member of Societas Liturgica and the Catholic Academy of Liturgy. He serves as a facilitator for the International Commission on English in the Liturgy.