The ongoing devastation inflicted upon the sacred liturgy is by no means unique to our time. Since the earliest days of the Church, the liturgy has suffered from the attacks of heresy, schism, and human caprice. Through the ages—whether from the blasphemous Vigilantius, the radical Waldensians of the Middle Ages, the Protestant reformers of the sixteenth century, or the rationalist infiltrators of the Enlightenment—there has always been a persistent, corrosive impulse to undermine, distort, or dilute the sacred rites entrusted to the Church.
In the nineteenth century, Dom Prosper Guéranger (1805–1875), the abbot of Solesmes and founding father of the modern liturgical movement, stood resolutely against a virulent strain of this anti-liturgical spirit. His adversaries were the architects of the so-called neo-Gallican uses—heavily rewritten versions of the breviary and missal which arose chiefly in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France under the guise of episcopal prerogative and “local custom.” These reforms were not mere novelties but systematic mutilations of the venerable Roman liturgy, riddled with rationalist distortions, Jansenist rigorism, and a destructive spirit of division that threatened to fracture the Church’s liturgical unity.
From his close study of this crisis, Dom Guéranger distilled a piercing diagnosis that remains profoundly relevant today: the “anti-liturgical heresy,” a spirit not confined to any single sect but capable of entering even the heart of the Church on earth, seeks to “silence the voice” of tradition and “tear up the pages that contain the faith of ages past.” It is a spirit that embraces novelty over tradition, human innovation over divine institution, and fragmentation over the unity willed by Christ.
This enduring conflict, of which the neo-Gallican crisis was but one episode, found its most eloquent chronicler and staunchest opponent in Guéranger’s Liturgical Institutions. His monumental work exposes the roots and ramifications of these assaults, tracing the liturgy’s sacred origins, glorious organic development, and the steady encroachment of corruptions.
Now, after more than a century and a half of waiting, the English-speaking world at last has access to Guéranger’s masterwork through a newly published translation of the Liturgical Institutions.
Released by Os Justi Press and skillfully rendered by David Foley and Gerhard Eger, this first-ever English edition presents Jean Vaquié’s rigorous 1977 abridgment of Guéranger’s massive three-volume set. The translation preserves the work’s indispensable historical insights, trenchant argumentation, and rhetorical force, offering a vital resource for those who seek to understand and resist the ongoing liturgical decay that threatens the Church today.
For modern traditionalists, Guéranger’s Institutions provides a vital toolkit: a clear diagnosis of the liturgical crisis and a passionate call to defend and restore the traditional Roman liturgy in all its majesty and doctrinal integrity.
This edition, enriched with helpful notes, equips readers to understand and resist the corrosive liturgical changes of recent decades. It is an essential volume for anyone committed to the authentic liturgical tradition of the Church.
Liturgical Institutions is available in hardback, paperback, and ebook directly from Os Justi Press, or from any Amazon site.
(The code RITESTUFF will unlock a 10% discount on the combination of Guéranger’s Institutions and another new book from Os Justi, Lumen Christi: Defending the Use of the Pre-1955 Roman Rite.)
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