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| Breviarum Defunctorum (book) |
In chapter two (Ways to Cultivate the Fear of Dying in Mortal Sin) of the Handbook for Grade School Nuns, teachers are encouraged to make their students memorize the Litany for a Happy Death, which is said to be found in this tome [St. Fidgeta & Other Parodies, 107].
The Breviary [breviarium translates as abridgement] that most Catholics knew about was a little book that contained all the prayers for the canonical hours, Bowen explains. "Every priest had to read these every day, though outside of monasteries they didn't have to be read at the specified hours. Monks would chant the prayers, but priests only had to read them silently (it was called 'reading (or saying) one's office') and could do it whenever they found time. The books were small enough to be carried in a pocket." Bowen isn't readily sure if there really is an official book of prayers for the dead but we're betting Bellairs' Breviary of the Dead is another one of the author's creations.
"Whether there is a Litany for a Happy Death, the contents must be quite different from the hilariously scary version John offers," explains Bowen. "The humor here is closely related to some of the bits in the Litany of St. Fidgeta."
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| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breviary |
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