Challoner's Meditations for Every Day of the Year

One project I embarked on a while ago was to transcribe for the website the Meditations of Bishop Challoner for Every Day of the Year. Although I completed the moveable period of the year - from Ash Wednesday to the octave day of Corpus Christi, I never got round to the rest of the year, which is done by month.

Now, with some much valued help from the United States, it has proved possible to resume the project. The daily meditations for 28th and 29th December are already online, and it is hoped that it will be possible to complete the entire series over the subsequent year. http://www.liturgialatina.org/challoner/nov26.htm

Richard Challoner (1691-1781) was an English Catholic bishop, and a leading figure of English Catholicism during the greater part of the eighteenth century. Both by his apostolic labours as Vicar Apostolic of the London district, and by his many writings, he nourished the faith and devotion of Catholics in the country at a time when the worst period of persecution was over, and the faithful were gradually emerging into the light.

He is perhaps most famous for his revision of the Douay Rheims translation of the Bible, but also for 'The Garden of the Soul' and for his 'Meditations for Every Day of the Year'. He also brought out editions of other works such as The Imitation of Christ, a Catechism of Christian Doctrine, and the Memoirs of Missionary Priests.

His body was translated to Westminster Cathedral in 1946, and the cause for his beatification has been introduced.

"I shall add no more by way of Preface, but only beg of thee resolutely to undertake, and consequently to persevere, in this heavenly exercise of mental prayer, in spite of the world, the flesh, and the devil. That thou art seeking after is a treasure of infinite value, if it costs thee some pains in digging for it, it will abundantly recompense all thy labour. This exercise is the true Christian philosophy, consisting in the search and love of true wisdom; even that wisdom which is so much extolled by the spirit of’ God in Holy Writ, and which comes down from God, and carries us up to God. THIS IS THE SCIENCE OF THE SAINTS."

Preface to Challoner's Meditations.

Wikipedia article on Bishop Challoner: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Challoner

Catholic encyclopaedia on Bishop Challoner: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03564a.htm