William Storey, compiler of some of the best-loved prayer books of our time, has selected the most beautiful elements from the full Liturgy of the Hours and other sources to create a simpler book for Morning and Evening Prayer. Intended for individuals and groups who want to taste the venerable tradition of using scripture to offer praise, thanksgiving and intercessions at dawn and sunset, this new book provides a four-week cycle of prayer. Each "hour" includes a psalm, a canticle and a brief reading from the Old or New Testament, interspersed with prayers that echo the biblical poetry. An introduction explains how to use the book, and supplementary sections offer an order for night prayer, basic prayers, hymns and additional scripture readings.

A miniature edition of some of the most exquisite medieval manuscripts.

This book features 107 of the finest examples of illuminated pages from medieval and Renaissance Books of Hours. Roger Wieck's comprehensive text introduces the Book of Hours -- a "bestseller" for three hundred years -- to the general reader, discussing its iconography, the artists who illuminated this genre, and its role as a religious text in the lives of its owners. As a collection of both stirring words and inspiring images, the Book of Hours thus comprised a series of "painted prayers".

Storey's new compilation of "The Liturgy of the Hours" is presented in language that is both dignified and contemporary, crafted in accordance with Vatican II's liturgical emphasis and promotion of scriptural prayer.

The Book of Hours were derived from the official service-books of the Church, but they were produced as the personal prayerbooks of the laity. Combining sacred and secular elements in a manner found in no other type of illuminated manuscript, Books of Hours have an especial significance in the history of religious sentiment and in the development of painting.

For over three hunderd years, more Books of Hours were made than any other type of book, even the Bible. From c. 1225, when the first Books of Hours began to appear, to 1571, when during the Counter-Reformation Pope Pius V prohibited the use of all existing Books of Hours, nearly every European family of a certain means owned a Book of Hours. Books of Hours Reconsidered presents recent research on this medieval bestseller in twenty-one essays written by international scholars. The scholarship in this volume helps instill Books of Hours with new life and give them new meaning at a moment when interest in Books of Hours is on the rise.