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NASHUA, New Hampshire, February 4, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Catholic publishing company Sophia Institute Press announced the launch of Benedictus, a monthly booklet containing the texts for daily Mass, parts of the Roman Breviary, catechesis, and meditations, all based on the traditional Roman rite of the Church. The booklet is comparable to Magnificat, which uses the texts of the post-Vatican II liturgy.

Benedictus describes itself as “the Traditional Catholic Companion.” It is centered on the Traditional Latin Mass, while drawing on the fullness of the Church’s traditional teaching and presenting certain hours from the breviary, as well as daily meditations from “saints and scholars who prayed and loved the Ancient Mass.”

Its monthly pages are complemented by traditional prayers, along with a focus on “Catholic culture,” which is done through pages of “prose, poetry, or music,” all guided by the faith of the ages.

Following the 1962 edition of the Missale Romanum, Benedictus uses the traditional calendar of saints, the Latin Vulgate Bible, and the Challoner version of the Douay-Rheims Bible, which will reassure readers that the Scriptural texts have “freedom from moral or doctrinal error.”

The sample edition shows meditations drawn from the writings of saints and doctors of the Church, including St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Louis de Montfort, as well as from the Imitation of Christ and Dom Gueranger’s great liturgical commentary, The Liturgical Year.

The work is being published by Sophia Institute Press in New Hampshire, which offers a wide range of works on catechesis, apologetics, theology and the sacraments, among other topics.

Sophia Institue Press’s new project comes with many recommendations from leading clerics and laymen, all known for their prominence in defending the perennial faith of the Church. Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Astana, Kazakhstan, Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, and Father Armand de Malleray of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) have all welcomed the work, along with Michael Matt of The Remnant and LifeSite columnist Dr. Peter Kwasniewski.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò is a supporter of the work, as well, writing that the more often both laity and clergy can “encounter the perennial Prayer of the Mystical Body, the more they will be able to taste the treasures of piety, doctrine and spirituality with which the Church turns to the Holy Trinity, through Jesus Christ the High Priest, the Immaculate Victim, the Living Altar.”

The introduction to the sample edition of Benedictus explains the timing and reasoning behind the work: “Amid the widespread religious confusion and secularization of our age, a small flame continues to grow: priests and laypeople around the world are being drawn to the Traditional Latin Mass, as well as the clear and authentic Catholic teaching and morals that inform and flow from it.”

The monthly booklet is an attempt “to assist the faithful in their daily spiritual lives by making the riches of Sacred Tradition more immediately accessible and practicable than ever before.”

Benedictus comes in the wake of almost a full year of COVID-related restrictions within the Church, which has prompted some to increase their devotion to the Holy Eucharist and seen significant growth at traditional parishes, where sacramental dignity is generally not lost with the ever-changing “guidelines” which are placed on the celebration of Mass, supposedly to reduce infections.

Writing for LifeSiteNews back in 2018, Kwasniewski commented on how the “traditionalist movement” was flourishing across the globe, attracting large families, and many vocations.

“There are many young people — I was one of them, and I have met so many others, every place I visit — who will not put up with the liberal liturgical establishment, who have learned to worship God in a traditional way, and who will be the future backbone of the Church,” he wrote.

Speaking to LifeSiteNews, Father Armand de Malleray, the superior of the FSSP apostolate in the U.K., explained his support for Benedictus: “The global lockdown which led to the closure of most churches forced many Catholics to watch Holy Mass and hear homilies online rather than from the pews. Such an unprecedented disruption of the liturgical life of the Church must cease.”

“However, God in his bounty is using this evil to reach out to more souls,” he continued. “With broader Catholic contents online, non-Catholics and lapsed ones have become more likely to come across it as they browse the web seeking some answer to the current global crisis.”

“Thus, it follows that more people have discovered the Traditional Latin Mass and its theological and spiritual explanations,” the priest added. “In this context, the monthly Benedictus presentation of the prayers and readings of the traditional Latin Mass is a timely initiative. It will encourage anyone new to these riches to delve into them with joy and fruit.”

With the first full issue due for August 2021, Benedictus is currently developing a digital format of the work, and is looking for donors to sustain the project. Sophia Institute Press expressed the wish that, once in print, Benedictus would be used by parish groups as a means to have ready familiarity with the riches of the Church’s traditional liturgy.