Does anyone use The Pieta Prayer Book?

[brother_sun]

I just wanted to see if anyone loves it as much as I do, and can share some storys on how it has helped them. Some of my favorite prayers from it is the Anima Christi, Spiritual Communion, and Consecration To The Blessed Virgin. I could go on… Also it has some indulgences in it. Does anyone know of another prayer book I might take a look at that has more indulgences?

                             Your Brother in Christ

“If you are what you should be, you will set the world on fire.” --Saint Catherine of Siena

 

[mschrank]

My Fiancee has it and she reads from it all the time. It does seem to be a very special book from what I have read.

 

[puzzleannie]

It is banned in most parishes here ostensibly because it contains prayers and promises attached to prayers and devotions that are not part of approved Church teaching. That is all I know about it.

 

[Genesis315]

Yes, the Pieta is a great little booklet!

As for indulgences:

Here is the 1968 version of the Enchirdion of Indulgences:

hismercy.ca/content/ebooks/The.Enchiridion.of.Indulgences.pdf

Here is the 1999 version (unfortunately I can only find it in Latin):

vatican.va/roman_curia/tribunals/apost_penit/documents/rc_trib_appen_doc_20020826_enchiridion-indulgentiarum_lt.html

Here is the old 1866 Raccolta of Indulgences:
members.aol.com/liturgialatina/raccolta/index.htm

Enjoy!

 

[mschrank]

It is banned in most parishes here ostensibly because it contains prayers and promises attached to prayers and devotions that are not part of approved Church teaching. That is all I know about it.

Banned?

I know some of the promises seem wild, but I thought that was considered part of private devotion and therefore outside the remit of the part of the Church that deals with public devotion (i.e., the parishes)?

 

[Genesis315]

It is banned in most parishes here ostensibly because it contains prayers and promises attached to prayers and devotions that are not part of approved Church teaching. That is all I know about it.

Really? My Cathedral bookstore sells it. One of the premises of the Pieta book is that all of the private revelations are approved. In fact they always provide the imprimatur and/or papal approval for each one.

 

[dawgfan]

Really? My Cathedral bookstore sells it. One of the premises of the Pieta book is that all of the private revelations are approved. In fact they always provide the imprimatur and/or papal approval for each one.

Page 7 of The Pieta Prayer Book

The 21 St. Bridget Promises, while traditionally associated with the St. Bridget Payers, are not covered by an imprimatur. In Jan of 1954 the Holy Office issued a warning that the supernatural origin of theses promises has not been approved.

Outright banning of the book is kind of extremist IMO. I don’t necessarily believe in the promises but it is of interest to read regarding the history of the St. Bridget prayers.

I like the book and carry it with me alot.

 

[patrick457]

It is banned in most parishes here ostensibly because it contains prayers and promises attached to prayers and devotions that are not part of approved Church teaching. That is all I know about it.

Actually, only the 21 promises attached to the 15 O’s (as the Prayers of St. Bridget are called) are banned to be published.

The 15 O’s of St. Bridget were said to be written at the 15th Century by English Brigittine mystics but were attributed to St. Bridget. The Prayers serve a twofold purpose: A Catechetical one (the prayers summarizes the events of the Passion, so they fulfill a basic catethetical function; remember these were the days when Bibles were still expensive and rare) and a Penitential one; that is to excite the reader to a greater sense of sorrow for his sins and to motivate him to a greater love of Him who suffered so much for our sake. The prayers themselves were widely known and were popular during the late Middle Ages (it was a common item in Medieval prayer books, breviaries and books of hours), though the text and/or order of the prayers varied from book to book.

Somewhere along the way, the (dubious) 21 Promises were attached to it. Over the centuries these promises have varied in number, but 21 promises is the most common form. The usual claim is that these promises were revealed to St. Bridget when she was at St. Paul’s in Rome (in front of a Crucifix supposedly by Pierre Cavallini, perhaps a variation of Pietro Cavallini, an Italian painter and mosaic designer who lived during c. 1250-c. 1330. Out of his surviving works, a crucifix does not appear).

These promises were not given to St. Bridget nor do they have any ecclesiastical standing whatsoever. Plus, it was supposedly approval by Popes but that claim was quite false; no authentic records of the approval of the promises exist.

Here is the text of the Warning:

Acts of the Holy See
Congregation of the Holy Office
Warning

In some places, a certain little work has been disseminated called the “Secret of Happiness: 15 Prayers Revealed by the Lord to St. Bridget in the Church of St. Paul at Rome”, published at Nice and various other places in several languages.

Since it is asserted in this pamphlet that God made to St. Bridget certain promises, whose supernatural origin in no way stands up, let local ordinaries take care not to grant permission for publishing or reprinting pamphlets or other writings which contain these aforementioned promises.

Given at Rome, from the offices of the Holy Office, 28 , January 1954
Marius Crovini, Notary of the Supreme Holy, Congregation of the Holy Office

For the record, I do have the Pieta Prayer Book (with the 21 Promises; I did write a note at the bottom of the Promises should it pass to someone else. I was actually planning to have that text of the prohibition printed and paste it on the margins).

 

[ANGELIC_PEACE]

I just wanted to see if anyone loves it as much as I do, and can share some storys on how it has helped them. Some of my favorite prayers from it is the Anima Christi, Spiritual Communion, and Consecration To The Blessed Virgin. I could go on… Also it has some indulgences in it. Does anyone know of another prayer book I might take a look at that has more indulgences?

                             Your Brother in Christ

“If you are what you should be, you will set the world on fire.” --Saint Catherine of Siena

you could take a look at the lovely little prayer book ( i have it myself)…prayers and heavenly promises by joan carroll cruz
from tan books and publishers inc…it’s like the pieta prayerbook but with more prayers and promises

heres the link to check it out…

tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/309/keywords/prayers+heavenly+promises/

ANGELIC PEACE

 

[brother_sun]

Thank you for all your answers. I do believe in all the promises of the The Pieta Prayer Book. Because I believe God is capable of doing all these promises and more for a soul that goes to confession and truly repents. However if it were banned by the Church, I would stop using it.

                                   Your brother in Christ

“If you are what you should be, you will set the world on fire.”–Saint Catherine of Siena

 

[brother_sun]

I just read the post about the Saint Bridget Prayer and have not used that prayer as a part of my devotion.

                                       Your brother in Christ

“If you are what you should be, you will set the world on fire.”–Saint Catherine of Siena

 

[water]

I am using the books on several prayers; however, I don’t focus on the promises too much but I using the prayers to help me closer to God. When one is closer to God, more blessings will come to him. Blessings are not always comfortable things. A pain can be a blessing.

 

[puzzleannie]

Banned?

I know some of the promises seem wild, but I thought that was considered part of private devotion and therefore outside the remit of the part of the Church that deals with public devotion (i.e., the parishes)?

the pastor is responsible for everything distributed to parishioners on parish property because it gives the appearance of being distributed under parish auspices. That is why people cannot put flyers, booklets, magazines etc. in back of church or in the chapel without his permission. That is also why the catechists may not bring in outside books, videos, etc. without his approval. I assume he has his reasons, so that’s it. I am not familiar with the particual devotion that is problematic, I trust my pastor so I follow his rules.

 

[rciadan]

the pastor is responsible for everything distributed to parishioners on parish property because it gives the appearance of being distributed under parish auspices. That is why people cannot put flyers, booklets, magazines etc. in back of church or in the chapel without his permission. That is also why the catechists may not bring in outside books, videos, etc. without his approval. I assume he has his reasons, so that’s it. I am not familiar with the particual devotion that is problematic, I trust my pastor so I follow his rules.

The Pieta prayerbook is awesome. One was given to me by Father Hyacinth on the day I was received into the Church. He had been praying all the prayers in the book every day for over twenty years at that time…

 

[puzzleannie]

if it works for you as a private devotion and was given to you by a trusted priest, that is fine for you, and a blessing for you. we just hope that in your enthusiasm you don’t try as other well-meaning persons have done to distribute it in our parish without permission.

 

[CatholicCajun]

Use it and have had to buy several because they fall apart from being used so much and we own 3 Catholic stores we cannot keep them on the shelves, I have a customer who buys them and leaves them in church for others to take. God Bless.

 

[rciadan]

if it works for you as a private devotion and was given to you by a trusted priest, that is fine for you, and a blessing for you. we just hope that in your enthusiasm you don’t try as other well-meaning persons have done to distribute it in our parish without permission.

One should never distribute material of any sort at the parish without permission, no matter how orthodox. The parish priest is ultimately responsible to the Bishop for whatever happens at his parish and needs to know what is going on. To do something like what PuzzleAnnie has mentioned would be presumptuous and disobedient. We as Ctholics do not arbitrarily make these kinds of decisions without consulting our pastor.

 

[St_Gabriel]

I like the prayer for storms. My kids and I prayed that during a really bad storm and the lights went out for a few minutes in the middle of it and came back on. Spooky.