Greetings Dear Readers!  Welcome to my new website: Officia Pietatis Christianæ Erga Deum.  It’s been number of  weeks now since I started work on the site and I have made a lot of progress.  So much so that I am almost ready for primetime — although, as of this writing, it’s still a work-in-progress.

I have some new work that I just published – DE CIVITATE DEI.  I will provide more detail below.

The main purpose & mission of this site is to share a very special prayer book and to begin translating the work, sharing it with a broader audience. To my knowledge, it has never been translated into the English language, unfortunately.

It was published in the 16th century by Cardinal Joseph Dominick von Lamberg of Passau, Austria – then part of the Holy Roman Empire.  The work, titled in Latin is:

OFFICIA PIETATIS CHRISTIANÆ ERGA DEUM ET SANCTOS IN OCTO PARAGRAPHOS DISTRIBUTA ET AD USUM QUOTIDIANUM CHRISTI FIDELIUM IMPRESSA

My rendering of the title in English is as follows:

The Duty of Pious Christians Toward God & the Saints, Divided into Eight Sections – Printed for the Everyday Use of the Christian Faithful.

It’s an amazing prayer book.  As the title notes, it has eight sections that assists the reader in their morning  & evening prayers, provides meditations for each day of the week & advice on conquering various categories of sin, preparing for confession & Mass — and something you don’t get much guidance in today’s modern world, on preparing ourselves for a blessed death!

Memento Homo, quia pulvis es, & in pulverem Reverteris…

—from Ash Wednesday, reminding us that we came from dust and to dust we shall return!

Please, I encourage you to  take the time to explore the site.  I have ordered the material hierarchically, using a cascading drop-down menu system and hyperlinks. 

Not only have I reproduced the Officia Pietatis prayer book for you to read & explore, but I have provided useful access to Catholic resources, news, and my Blog where I write short articles on things I care about and would like to share.  Mostly, related to translating the prayer book as well as exhortations, encouragement, and assistance in learning Latin.

***Update***:  After reading the first 10 books of Augustine’s City of God – De Civitate Dei as part of C.C. Pecknold’s bold experimental Twitter Seminar/Book Club, I decided to put the Latin version up here on my site.  It’s on the Main Menu bar now – DE CIVITATE DEI. I’ve added books 1, 2, 10, and 11 thus far.  I’ll add others as I go. Click here for the General Index. If you are interested in participating, search the hashtag #CivDei on twitter or click here. —Saturday, February 18th 2017

To learn more about the inspiration for the site, click here.

Lastly, I ask that you leave comments and feedback – critical or otherwise.  I don’t want to develop this in a vacuum – I need your assistance as well as your prayers to help guide me.

Gratia tibi ago!

In Christo,

Marcus Vincentius Augustinus
Ad majorem Dei  gloriam!

Note Bene: In order to comment on any blog post or other pages open to commentary, you must be registered here at pietatis.org and they will be “screened” before being accepted for publication – id est, the moderation queue is on.  Any comments that I deem offensive, inappropriate, or ad hominem in nature, will not be published.