Liturgical Book - Roman Catholic

Roman Catholic

In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, the primary liturgical books are the Roman Missal, which contains the texts of the Mass, and the Roman Breviary, which contains the text of the Liturgy of the Hours. With the 1969 reform of the Roman Missal by Pope Paul VI, now called the "Ordinary Use of the Roman Rite", the Scriptual readings were expanded considerably, requiring a separate book, known as the Lectionary. The Roman Ritual contains the texts of the sacraments other than the Mass, such as baptism, the sacrament of penance, the anointing of the sick, and the sacrament of marriage. The texts for the sacraments and ceremonies only performed by bishops, such as confirmation and Holy Orders, are contained within the Roman Pontifical. The Caeremoniale Episcoporum (The Ceremonial of Bishops) describes in greater detail than the ordinary liturgical books the ceremonies involved when a bishop presides over the celebration of Mass, the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours or of the Word of God, particular Masses such as Candlemas, Palm Sunday or the Easter Vigil, the other sacraments, sacramentals, pastoral visitations etc. The Roman Martyrology gives an account of all the saints (not only martyrs) commemorated in the Church each day.

Other Roman-Rite liturgical books include the Roman Gradual and the Gospel Book or Evangeliary.

The Catholic Church is composed of 23 Autonomous particular churches, the largest of which is the Latin or Western Church. The other 22 churches, are collectively called The Eastern Catholic Church, and use a variety of liturgical rites such as the Alexandrian Rite, Antiochene Rite, Armenian Rite, Byzantine Rite, and the East Syrian Rite among others. While the Roman Rite of the Western Church is by far the most common liturgical rite found within the Latin Church, a number of local Western (but not Roman) rites and uses also exist.