The Anglican Use Sacramentary

As I arrived at the rectory this morning I decided to open a package that had been sitting around for a couple of days. I had assumed it must contain bulletin inserts for the next special collection or a book someone had ordered, but I didn’t recognize the source: Lulu Enterprises. When I opened the box, I found treasure! The Anglican Use Sacramentary, Volumes I and II! A perfect gift for the Society of Our Lady of Hope on the Feast of the Assumption! The outside of the volumes is nothing to brag about, an orangish slick red. But inside it is another story. Just thumbing through it for a few minutes I am in awe of the amount of work done by the editor, C. David Burt, to make the Book of Divine Worship useful for a celebrant. The pages are nicely laid out, the prefaces and sung portions of the liturgy are noted, and the rubrics – you guessed it – are red. It solves the problem I was just beginning to consider – how to actually put the Book of Divine Worship into use. I was beginning to think I would have to use a notebook with things copied from the Catholic BDW and from the Episcopalian Altar Book, a pretty sloppy way of presiding at a liturgy. This will take care of that problem quite nicely, indeed.

Looking further into The Anglican Use Sacramentary, one will notice other useful devotional material for use in the liturgy and private prayers said by the celebrant. There is, for instance, and expansion of the private prayers at the Breaking of the Bread which seem to come from the Anglican Missal. Indeed, Mr. Burt notes in his Preface that he has drawn on material from the Anglican Use Gradual, the Anglican Service Book, the Anglican Missal, the Priest’s Handbook, Lesser Feasts and Fasts, the Knott Missal and from the Roman Sacramentary. Thumbing through it makes me eager to share it with Fr. Frowin Reed at Conception Abbey, and especially with the Society of Our Lady of Hope here in Kansas City with whom we will soon begin using the Anglican Use.

While I wish it had a more beautiful cover reflecting the dignity of what is included inside, I can live with it until someone shares an alternative. But there is something lacking which makes me hesitate to put it into use. There is no imprimatur. The title page notes that this is just a draft, a work in process. But perhaps it is just far along enough that local bishops can give permission for it to be put into use until the final version is issued. I hope so, and will certainly check with Bishop Finn.

And being just a draft means there is another chance to take care of embarrassing typos. And can’t we do something about the highly inaccurate description of the Roman Canon in Rite I as an “Old English Translation.” Is it old as in antique? But I didn’t think things from the 1940s counted as antique, and if this is Knott’s translation of the Canon, it is certainly 20th century. On the other hand, this is no “Old English” like I have ever seen. Beowulf was written in Old English. I can’t make heads or tails of Beowulf, and this is elegant enough to stand beside a Cranmer collect or preface. If this is Knott’s translation, why can’t we just say that? That is just a quibble, but it will make me cringe every time I see it, even more than the orange cover. But don’t let that give the impression that I disapprove of The Anglican Use Sacramentary. This is a magnificent piece of work. Mr. Burt and his team are to be commended.

The Society of Our Lady of Hope in Kansas City owes a debt of gratitude to our friends of the St. Thomas More Society who sent us this gift. Thank you very much. We will remember you every time we use it.