We Give You Thanks and Praise: The Ambrosian Eucharistic Prefaces

by Alan Griffiths

This collection of over three hundred prefaces of the Eucharistic Prayer is a blend of ancient and modern texts. It is intended to provide a resource for worship. Through the seasons of the year, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1580510698
• ISBN13: 9781580510691
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: Sheed & Ward
• Length: 343 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.3" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

An Excellent Liturgical Resource

As a liturgist, involved in my Synodical Worship Commission, I find myself reading a great many liturgical texts and history books. One of the single-most-useful books I have ever obtained has been Griffiths' "We Give You Thanks and Praise" in which the Eucharistic Prefaces of the Ambrosian Missal (a sub-rite of the Latin Rite in the Roman Communion) are collected in a stylistic, though accurate, English translation. The Ambrosian Rite is unique in the west in the modern era for its literal plethora of prefaces (over 300, compared with about 100 in the modern Missale Romanum, 30 in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, and as few as 5 or 6 in earlier editions of the Lutheran and Anglican rites). These prefaces not only flesh out the themes of the Liturgy in the Ambrosian rite, but provide those of us who do not celebrate that rite with deep wells from which to contemplate about how we phrase our prayers and praises. I can't thank my friend Cody enough for referring this book to me, and this book has proved to be quite influential in the work I have submitted for consideration to the Liturgical Commission of the Synod of Saint Timothy. I hope that other denominations and jurisdictions will be able to find it equally useful.

Specialized, but worthwile

I have been to Milan and con-celebrated Mass according to the Ambrosian rite. It was in Italian and mine is not good at all. So it was delightful to find a book that gave the prefaces in English. I am hoping someone will do a translation of the whole Ambrosian Missal someday. It is a beautiful Mass and the prayers provide fruitful subjects for meditation. If you want something a little different then you will enjoy this book.

Great resource for more than just the Eucharist

I've had my copy for a few months now and it's come in quite handy for use in the Daily Office as well. The central core of the prayers can also be used, with some editing, for a general prayer of thanksgiving outside of the Eucharistic context. Some of the phrasing is occasionally odd and, although I don't have the original Latin in front of me, I suspect a bit too literal to the original. The texts occasionally need a bit of rewriting for use in contemporary liturgy.