Rorate Caeli

[Updated:] Divinum Officium and Laszlo Kiss's legacy
Thank you for your interest

Dear readers,



I believe most of you are familiar with the website divinumofficium.com, which has been linked to our page ever since its own foundation (it is posted under both "Today's Mass: Missale Romanum" and "Today's Office: Breviarium Romanum", right at the beginning of the sidebar).  I personally consider it to be one of the most important websites ever created. Unfortunately, the author of this admirable endeavor, Mr. Laszlo Kiss, passed away unexpectedly on July 11 - may he rest in peace.

The website is available to be downloaded and was updated one day before Mr. Kiss's decease. The perpetual calendar on the website is surprisingly accurate and usually conforms almost 100% to the Universal Ordo, as defined by the rubrics in force for the 1960 Code of Rubrics (and, for historical reasons, also for the preceding sets of rubrics). 

A priest who is a friend of our blog contacted us wondering if perhaps any members of our readership who are internet and computer-savvy would be interested in working on a project to repost the site using the downloaded files, so that the site may be kept alive and any edits can be made so that it remains accurate. Ideally, it would be nice to have other languages available in the future besides Latin, English, and Hungarian. The site itself remains online, but who knows for how long? Mr. Kiss wrote on the website: "I keep doing this in the hope, that a team will pick up the idea, and will use the computers in entirety to help worship God." Father adds, "I firmly believe that this is what he would want to happen to his website and to his work. Having access to the entire Traditional Breviary and Missal online is a great boon to the many priests and lay people who use the site as a very helpful resource for praying the traditional Divine Office to the greater glory of God."

[Update (2200 GMT): thank you for the overwhelming, generous, and incredibly prompt response; I believe we have achieved our goals - including the crucial one of finding a permanent and stable institutional web location for this invaluable instrument: we are honored to have "brokered the deal" for the latter. Father will be saying a Traditional Mass this Friday for all those involved in the project. We will post updates on the situation when we are informed.]