Methods and Sources

Methods

Sermonry is constantly on the lookout for any and all commentaries that bring deeper understanding of the propers of the Mass.

The commentaries we’ve found can be divided into a few types:

Scripture Commentaries

Many Mass propers are taken straight from scripture. The church has plenty of scripture commentaries to draw from. Sermonry sources commentaries that are in the public domain.

Commentaries on the Liturgical Year

For centuries, until the new Mass arrived in 1969, the Mass of the Roman Rite cycled through the same set of propers every year. This calendar was variously referred to as the liturgical year or the ecclesiastical year. Many book-length commentaries on the propers were written, the most famous of which, Dom Prosper Guerenger’s The Liturgical Year, is in the public domain.

Reference Works That Cite Scripture

Only one work currently fits this category: Enchiridion Symbolorum, a compilation of church dogma by Heinrich Denzinger. Sermonry includes bits of dogma that cite scripture found in the propers, in order to shed light on the proper from another angle.

Sermons

Many sermons exist, from church fathers to the present day, that dive into one proper or another from a particular Sunday or feast day.

If you have a commentary you would like to see included, please email hello@sermonry.com with your suggestion.