My Daily Psalms Book: The Perfect Prayer Book

In 1945, Venerable Pope Pius XII commanded the Pontifical Biblical Institute that a new Latin translation of the Psalter be made, with Augustin Cardinal Bea as Rector. In fact, they are commonly known as the "Bea Psalter." For this 1947 edition from the Confraternity of the Precious Blood, the Reverend Monsignor Joseph B. Frey undertook the English translation from the Latin. It is sublimely beautiful, and this indeed is "The Perfect Prayer Book."

I love this tiny, but complete psalter of the Roman Breviary, 1962 or earlier. It’s only in English, but all of the psalms for all of the hours of the day are there. The translation from the Latin is that of Fr. Ronald Knox and it’s beautiful, elegant, and comprehensible. I keep a copy in my bike bag for long trails. I simply add the Gloria Patri in between psalms when praying out in the wild.

I didn't seek the book where amazon delivered with care hide it real well. Thanks. The little book of psalms is beautiful and well written, thanks again, Lucy Prince

I love the book of Psalms. Follow what it says and your life will be fulfilling!

The translation is not so great in my opinion. This is the "Pian" or "Bea" psalter. The Douay Rheims Challoner version of the psalms is so much better compared to this, since it is based on the Latin Vulgate. I do like the illustrations though. ***EDIT***: I've decided to give this little book a 5 star rating instead of the 3 stars I originally gave. I've come to see that the translation is quite beautiful. Not only that, but the arrangement of the psalms and the size of this book makes it an excellent daily companion. The psalms are arranged like in the pre Vatican 2 Breviary (Divine office), so the psalms aren't in chronological order. There is however a numerical index in the back where you can find whichever psalm you want. This book also includes 10 extra canticles in addition to the psalms. These canticles are those of: The Three Young Men, David, Tobias, Judith, Jeremias, Isaias, Ecclesiasticus [Sirach], The Blessed Virgin [Magnificat], Zachary, and Simeon Also, the psalm numbering is different from other bibles' psalm numbering. For example, psalm 51 and 23 in the NAB or RSVCE or KJV would be 50 and 22 in this book. This doesn't mean that the psalter is incomplete, just that the numbering is different.

I first bought this book back in 2012. It had all 150 psalms arranged by day so that you go through the whole cycle of psalms in one week. The print was dark, and a nice easy to read size - best of all, nearly every psalm was accompanied by a beautifully detailed picture by Ariel Agemian which took up nearly half the page. These illustrations were not just decorative, they were also instructive, and reinforced the main theme of each psalm - I almost always studied the picture before proceeding to the psalm. Fast forward to 2019; my old volume is a little beat up from use, and I decide to buy a replacement. What do I get? I get a very unpleasant surprise! The font is about half the size of the original, and the print is lighter making it more difficult to read. And what's worse, the pictures are now about the size of two postage stamps - and I'm not exaggerating. Yet the dimensions of the book, and the number of pages are still the same! What in the world is going on with that??? I don't know if they've moved to a new publisher or what, but I was bitterly disappointed. I threw that thing back in the package and returned it for a refund. As another reviewer states, if you have one of the older versions, you'd better hold onto it!

The book is fine and matches the rest of the Confraternity of the Precious Blood series. The illustrations are about 1/3 of the page. What I find very confusing is the numbering of the psalms. I am so far unable to find Psalm 23 "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want". The page pointed to by the index have no wording which seems similar to the familiar verse.

I bought this to replace my old one as it is falling apart from my daily use. Every Catholic should have & use this as a form of praying & mediating with the Church, as these prayers form part of the Breviary that the true, faithful & loyal priests are required to say every night. The Psalms are perfect prayers that God has given to us, and they are so relaxing & enjoyable to either just read or better yet, to pray. The book is small, so it will fit in most shirt pockets to take along with you as you travel. It is truly a great prayer book to help give make your life better. +JMJ+

My old one was in tatters and the new one is slightly different type-set and pictures are smaller otherwise exactly the same. I love this book which is small enough to put in your pocket. Perfect, and worth a try if you love the psalms like I do. I am hanging on to both - one for the work place and one for home. Thank you

A great little pocket book to carry along! The psalms are organized to cover various times of the day throughout the days of the week. By the end of the week , all psalms have been recited. The psalms, said a various times of the day are not long at all to read and once said really help to center me and bring me back into the presence of God. They are the most perfect prayers to offer God!

Portable and nice for everyday use

UPDATE The publisher have recently made some changes to the appearance of this book. The cover re-design looks nicer with the title in Gothic print - and it also appears on the spine. The material used to make the cover is very slightly better in quality as well, but still does not qualify whatsoever as 'imitation leather.' Indeed, this very same publisher prints a 'Mass and Adoration Companion' with a much better quality cover, which also has overlapping edges, unlike the cut flush cover for the psalm book. The biggest change, very unfortunately, is the quality of the text. Previously, although the font was small it was in bold, black lettering. Now, stupifyingly, the way the text is printed it looks like someone literally forgot to put ink in the printer! A very light and very feint and very thin font has been substituted, which renders the wording almost impossible to read. I cannot begin to imagine what has possessed the publisher to turn out such an inferior product. Also to be noted is the fact that hwereas this book was once available in Kindle format, that is no longer the case. This means, of course, that it can no longer be read on a tablet or mobile phone - nor can Alexa narrate it for people who are vision impaired, using Kindle Assistive Reader. ORIGINAL REVIEW I agree with the many superlative points about this book given by both the publisher and many reviewers. However, any time I see it advertised on the internet - including on Amazon - the cover is described as being either leather or imitation leather. Neither is true. In the Amazon advert, specifically, the word 'leather' is shown almost as a part of the book title, whilst 'imitation leather' is then shown further down as an available format. Instead though, the cover of this book is actually thin, limp cardboard with an even thinner coating of plastic. The cover also is cut flush and does not overlap the pages, as one would expect with a leather or even imitation leather cover. In addition, there is no book mark provided, although the original edition of the book had two. Given the truly spectacular contents of this book, it is literally shameful that so much effort is put into misleading the buying public about its binding. Buy it and take advantage of its genuine treasure as an aid to prayer by all means; just be aware that the description of the cover is completely false.

This a small flexible book suitable for carrying in a pocket. It gives the impression that it would be quite hard-wearing. I like the translation, but if you don't like "thee's" and "thou's" it's not for you. The illustrations are excellent - done by the artist who did the very popular face of Christ based on the Turin shroud. The one problem I have with the book is the order of the psalms. They are arranged in the order of the "extraordinary form" Breviary. This order is of no great antiquity, dating only from 1912 and there doesn't seem much reason for using it except as part of the recitation of the Breviary. If you're just going to say the Psalms on their own, then it would seem better to me to use the Biblical order.