The prayer of the pre-55 Breviary: how and why.

“The pre-1955 Roman Breviary is a superior aid for a Catholic priest because it forms the heart according to the mind of the Church’s great tradition: one of costly praise, transcendent orientation, and readiness for sacrifice — Sursum corda. It rejects the modern idols of brevity and convenience in favor of depth, mystery, and fidelity. Just as medieval cathedrals outshine functional 1960s churches in expressing the Catholic faith, so, too, the older Office surpasses its successor in helping to sanctify the priest. The martyrs portrayed in Un Dios Prohibido stand as testimony: the pre-1955 spirit produced martyrs; the trajectory toward 1961 helped shape reformers. For priests seeking to pray not merely efficiently but to consecrate time, the pre-1955 Breviary is the better choice—a cathedral of the Hours.”

Why Should I As A Priest Pray the Pre-1955 Roman Breviary?

My Response.

RESTLESS HEART MEDIA

MAY 29, 2026

Over the past few months, I’ve been helping Fr. Dave Nix to learn the rubrics for the pre-1955 Divine Office. Recently, I warned him the month of June would make him hate me! We laughed and he asked me for a good reason he should continue to learn to pray the pre-1955 version of the Divine Office during the month of June when there are overlapping octaves that make the rubrics a liturgical nightmare. While I could compare and contrast the different rubrical differences between reforms to demonstrate which version is “better” or “more traditional”, the reason I personally choose to pray the pre-1955 has nothing to do with any of them.

The Roman Breviary, the Church’s official prayer of the Divine Office, has undergone several reforms throughout the twentieth century. Among these, the pre-1955 version—organically developed up through the early reforms of St. Pius X and before the greater simplifications of Pius XII and John XXIII—stands as a richer, more demanding, and ultimately more formative instrument of priestly sanctification than the 1961 version. My reasoning rests not on mere nostalgia for what is “more traditional”, but on the different priorities inspiring each: the pre-1955 Breviary was formed with a view of the liturgy that prioritizes depth, endurance, and transcendence over brevity, simplicity, efficiency, and convenience. This mirrors the profound difference between medieval Gothic cathedrals and the functionalist churches of the 1960s. Ultimately, the older Office formed martyrs, while the newer one shaped the mentality that guided much of the Second Vatican Council and the Church thereafter.

The pre-1955 Breviary demanded more of the priest. Matins often featured longer readings from Scripture and the Fathers; octaves, vigils, preces and suffrages enriched the liturgy, and the rubrics maintained a complexity from centuries of organic development. These were not accidental burdens put on priests, but came from the understanding of the opus dei as a solemn, sacrificial labor offered to God, not a task to be updated for busy schedules. Brevity was not a priority because prayer was understood as participation in the eternal liturgy of heaven, where time yields to the worship of God rather than human productivity and accomplishments. Simplicity was secondary to depth; efficiency yielded to mystery; convenience genuflected before the cross. Priests fell into a rhythm of life that resisted the modern cult of fast-food, cultivating in the heart of the priest the virtues of patience, recollection, and detachment.

In contrast, the 1961 Breviary, promulgated under John XXIII with its simplified rubrics, continued previous trends toward reduction: fewer octaves and commemorations, shortened Matins, and an overall shortening that made the Office more manageable for the pace and obligations of the life of a parish priest. These changes prioritized pastoral practicality for secular clergy. While well-intentioned, they introduced a subtle shift in emphasis—from the Office as an objective sacrifice to a more subjective, humanly sustainable exercise. The spirit of efficiency crept in, reflecting a more modern desire to adapt ancient forms of worship to contemporary life rather than forming contemporary life through ancient worship.

More: 

https://restlessheartmedia.substack.com/p/why-should-i-as-a-priest-pray-the?r=2x82t4&utm_medium=ios

“We are Jesuit” the new battle-cry of evil?

 President of Students for Life American told by pro-abortion students “we are Jesuit”

Thomas Edwards

Sep. 16, 2026

Students carrying “#Iloveabortions” signs protested the arrival of Students for Life America president Kristan Hawkins at Catholic Gonzaga University, where she had been prevented from setting up a pro-life table

The president of Students for Life America, Kristan Hawkins, was greeted by protesting students when she arrived at Gonzaga University in Washington. She had intended to set up a table to promote Students for Life America and speak with students about the pro-life movement. However, she was banned from setting up the table and instead limited to giving a talk which only students who had registered in advance were permitted to attend.

As Hawkins walked towards a university building, she was greeted by a group of students holding signs bearing slogans including “#Iloveabortions”. Among the group was a woman who introduced herself as Brooklyn and described herself as the “reproductive justice president”. The student was carrying a sign stating “let’s talk”, but Hawkins was told that the invitation was aimed at students and that the protesters did not want to speak to her or her team.

When Hawkins pointed out that the students were supporting abortion at a Catholic university, the students burst into laughter and a man among them replied: “We are Jesuit.”

Hawkins responded by explaining that the Jesuits are a Catholic religious order, telling him: “You are actually Catholic.” Another student replied: “Not every order of Catholics focuses on education, and we do.” When the “reproductive justice president” stated that “you can be Catholic and not be pro-life”, Hawkins responded: “Well, then you would be sinning and you would need to go to confession.”

More: https://advaticanum.com/article/president-of-students-for-life-american-told-by-pro-abortion-students-we-are-jesuit

TLM in Amsterdam

Mgr. Hendriks of Haarlem-Amsterdam will celebrate his first Pontifical Latin Mass in the 1962 Rite on the 20th of September in Amsterdam.

@RobbertLeusink

The crisis of the modern world

“The modern world is undergoing an extraordinary spiritual crisis. People are searching for meaning. Young people are searching for an identity. Loneliness is on the rise. Families are breaking down. Technology is penetrating ever more deeply into human existence. Pornography distorts sexuality. Materialism fails to satisfy. Climate change is becoming a surrogate religion for many. People are afraid of death, yet they hardly know what they are living for anymore.

And in the midst of that world, the Church possesses something extraordinary. It possesses the Gospel. The sacraments. The Eucharist. Confession. Two thousand years of wisdom. Scripture. The Church Fathers. Thomas Aquinas. Augustine. The mystics. The saints. An unrivalled tradition of art, music, philosophy, morality and spirituality. And above all: Jesus Christ.

The world is not waiting for yet another organization to listen to it. There are already enough of those. The world is waiting for someone to tell it why it was created.”

Bishop Robert Mutsaerts (August 13, 2026)

My Appeal to Pope Leo XIV: The TLM Is Easier for Me to Actively Participate In

Will appeals from the laity, begging Pope Leo XIV to restore Summorum Pontificum, be heard?

• 
  Nicolas Castelli

  
  

  I recently listened to Michael Knowles’ interview with Cardinal Raymond Burke. Toward the later part of the interview, there was a discussion on the Traditional Latin Mass. His Eminence said:

  I think that the most important thing is for those who love the Traditional Latin Mass [TLM] to make known to their bishops, and to the Holy Father most of all, their desire to worship according to this form, and that they’re not calling into question the validity of the Second Vatican Council. (32:57)

  Upon hearing this, I was inspired to send a letter to the Holy Father in accordance with my canonical right and obligation (CIC, can. 212, §2). However, that canon says that our opinions should not only be made known to the “sacred pastors” but also to “the rest of the Christian faithful.” In this spirit and as a participation in “synodal dialogue,” I desire to share in more detail what I sent to Pope Leo XIV: I desire to worship with the TLM because I find it easier to understand and participate in.

  I was raised Catholic and attended Catholic high school, but I didn’t truly believe or embrace the Faith until I was in college. The parish I grew up in was a typical but not extreme “spirit of Vatican II” church. I found Catholicism (as I knew it) to be uninteresting, unreasonable, and uncomfortably silly. This dramatically changed when I was exposed to the Church’s intellectual tradition and simultaneously met my closest spiritual mentor, my former pastor and college chaplain. I began to reorient my life around the Truth under his direction.

  But there was a serious stumbling block. I understood why the Church teaches that “the sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice” (CCC 1367) in terms of argumentation. I trusted that it was sound, but I couldn’t see it for myself. It simply did not “match” my lived experience of the liturgy.

  My pastor invited me and several other college men to attend a Latin Mass on his day off—this was during the time of Summorum Pontificum. It was a low Mass in the ugly convent chapel. I had no idea what he was saying or doing. I thought it would be the “regular” Mass in Latin. However, I quickly perceived with intense curiosity that the form of prayer was different than anything I had experienced. When that consecrated host was elevated, it clicked. For the first time, I realized I truly was at Calvary.

  More: https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/my-appeal-to-pope-leo-xiv-the-tlm-is-easier-for-me-to-actively-participate-in

The “traditional character” of Pope John XXIII

Cardinal John Heenan on the Traditional Character of Pope Saint John XXIII:

“Pope John was an old-fashioned Catholic of the ‘garden-of-souls type.’ He read his Faber, and no doubt prayed the Litany to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus regularly; he was not an original thinker. It was Pope Pius XII — not Pope John XXIII — who permitted married pastors to become priests, who changed the eucharistic fasting rules, and who introduced the evening Mass. Pope John was no innovator. He did not set any great reform in motion. His achievement lay in teaching the world of the 20th century how small hatred is, and how great love is.” 

- Westminster Cathedral Chronicle, (July 1964)

Heretics and idolators shall be shut out of the Kingdom

N.B. It is a heresy to hold that the Church’s moral teaching is “wrong and needs to be changed”.

It is a heresy to offer a so-called LGBTQ Mass”. There is no such thing.

It is a heresy to contradict the Catechism by saying there is no such thing as private property.

Those who love falsehood, those who love error, cannot also at the same time love Christ.

From the Holy Gospel according to Luke
Luke 14:1-11
At that time: As Jesus went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees, to eat bread on the Sabbath-day, they watched Him. And, behold, there was a certain man before Him, which had the dropsy. And so on.

Homily by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan.
Bk. 7 on Luke XIV

Now is healed this man sick of the dropsy, in whom too much watery matter had well-nigh drowned the functions of life, and quenched the fire of understanding. Anon, a lesson is given in lowly-mindedness, when it is forbidden to the guests at a marriage feast to go and sit down unasked in the highest room, albeit the Lord spake gently, that the teaching of courtesy might forestall a harsh rebuke, reason prevail by dint of persuasion, and the desires be bent to follow the instruction. And upon this, as next-door neighbour, cometh courtesy, which is so called by the Lord, when it is shown to the poor and weak, since to show it to them from whom we are to receive aught, is but a movement of self-interest.

 Lastly, as to a soldier that hath served his full time, is apportioned a reward for esteeming lightly of riches so he only can inherit the kingdom of God, whose soul is not given to seek after lower ends, and who purchaseth not to himself earthly possessions whereas the Lord saith: “Sell that thou hast, and follow Me.” Matth. xix. 21. Neither can he gain it that buyeth oxen, which beasts Elisha slew and gave unto the people. 3 Kings xix. 21. Neither can he win it which hath married a wife and therefore cannot come, for “he that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord but he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.” 1 Cor. vii. 32, 33. Not that this is to be taken for blame of marriage, but only that virginity is the more honourable way, since “the unmarried woman” and the widow “careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit.” 34-

But in all fairness, having thus spoken concerning widows, let us betake ourselves again among the married, and join with them in entertaining the opinion which is held by so many, that there are only three classes of men who are shut out from the great supper named in the gospel, which three classes are Heathens, Jews, and Heretics. And therefore it is that the Apostle warneth us that we “walk not as other Gentiles walk,” in malice and bitterness, and uncleanness, and covetousness, and so have no entry into the kingdom of Christ, since “no unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” Eph. iv. 17, v