A truly useful liturgical publication has recently come our way - not exactly a new book, but a new version of an old acquaintance: the Diurnale Romanum (the day hours of the Breviarium Romanum). Its original version, in perfect accordance with the 1960 rubrics, is well known, and loved by many in Traditional communities - see reviews for it here and here, for instance. This large original version is 4 1/2 x 7 1/2 in, and, as it is quite bulky, it seems to defeat one of the main purposes of a Diurnale.
Now, a new version of this Diurnale is available in 3 1/4 x 5 1/4 in, or 8.5 x 13.5 cm, slightly smaller than a 32mo and about an inch thick, a truly pocket-sized version. While the original version has a hard cloth cover and clumsy square corners (in the cover), the new pocket-size comes in a flexible leatherette cover, with rounded corners. The typesetting is (or seems to be) exactly the same as in the larger version, in the appropriate red and black printing. The only drawbacks in our opinion are that, differently from the larger version, the first pages with repeated prayers are not in heavier/thicker paper, and that it still comes with only four ribbons - one or two more would be welcome . Some kind of cover or slip would also be much appreciated. In any event, this little book is a great gift for a traditional priest, or for any layman who prays the hours, as long as they have reasonable eyesight (the printing is excellent and wonderfully readable, but naturally the letters are smaller than what many prefer).
We have no idea if a bilingual Latin-English version, similar to the Latin-German one mentioned by us here in the past, is being planned by any publishing house.
[The small Diurnale is available online, as far as we are aware, only in the bookstore/boutique of the Abbey of Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux - as Diurnale Romanum (format poche), but the image does not exactly match the actual book. The larger version is widely available. As usual, this is a disinterested post, and the book was bought.]
