The Divine Office. Volumes 1, 2 and 3.

Brown leather binding with raised banding. Set of three volumes for the use of the Laity. Dimensions are for one volume.

In the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland at the time of its publication these were 'banned books'. These copies are reputed to have come from the library of Traquair, Scotland's Oldest Inhabited House. Visited by 27 Scottish Kings and Queens Traquair dates back to 1107 and has been lived in by the Stuart family since 1491. Originally a royal hunting lodge, Traquair played host to Mary Queen of Scots and later as staunch Catholics they supported the Jacobite cause without counting the cost. Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restrictions on Roman Catholics introduced by the Act of Uniformity, the Test Acts and the penal laws. Requirements to abjure (renounce) the temporal and spiritual authority of the pope and transubstantiation placed major burdens on Roman Catholics. The penal laws started to be dismantled from 1766. The most significant measure was the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, which removed the most substantial restrictions on Roman Catholicism in the United Kingdom

Current: The Devine Office is the official prayer of the Roman Catholic Church, taken from the Liturgy of the Hours, incorporating morning prayer, prayer during the day, and evening prayer, for every day of the year. Volume One of the Divine Office covers the period from Advent up to the start of Lent, and includes all the prayers, as well as readings.