In autumn 2011 the Dominican Liturgical Center began close cooperation with the Library of the Dominican College of Philosophy and Theology in Kraków. As part of a project to digitize modern prints, since the beginning of November further items from the liturgical collections of the Library and of our Center have been made available in the Dominican Digital Library “Armarium”. They include antiphonaries, graduals, breviaries, missals and other books used by the Dominicans from the end of the 19th century to the second half of the 20th century.

The digital publications of the books have been prepared so that users can quickly reach the content they are looking for. This is possible thanks to the DjVu format, which allows efficient browsing of selected pages and their presentation in different views: as a colour photograph or as a text layer without the background, which allows economical and clear printing of individual pages. In addition, OCR has been carried out on the images, so the books can be searched by content.

What can we look for in the Dominican liturgical prints in “Armarium”? It is certainly a particularly attractive offer for people interested in the traditional chant proper to the Liturgy of the Church, that is, Gregorian chant. The Dominicans have elements in their religious tradition that differ somewhat from the Roman or Benedictine books. Particularly noteworthy is the 1913 “Processionarium”, in which the “Regulae Cantus Ecclesiastici Regularis, Juxta Ritum S. Ord. Praed.” were published. The first part of this extensive article sets out the general principles that Dominicans should follow in common liturgical singing. The second part contains numerous musical examples.

It is worth mentioning that this “Processionarium” belongs to what was then a new series of books. Its particularly valuable “novelty” is the return to the notation used by the Dominicans in their 13th-century model manuscript of the Dominican liturgy, commonly called the Prototype. It bears witness to the Dominicans’ concern for the quality of liturgical celebrations, in which monodic chant, sung by the participants in the liturgy, is one of the most useful instruments of communal prayer.

We thank the Director of the Library, Fr. Janusz Kaczmarek OP, for making the collections available for digitization, creating the technical infrastructure and providing the equipment and software. Special thanks go to the team of volunteers who signed up with our Center to take part in the project. Working in autumn 2011, they digitized and published nearly 50 books in the digital library. The project is ongoing. Further publications of books connected with the Dominican liturgy can be expected in “Armarium”.

The Armarium Digital Library contains archives, manuscripts, liturgical prints and periodicals published by the Dominicans – everything that may interest both researchers of the history of the Order of Preachers and of Polish culture and people connected with the Dominicans in other ways.

Armarium (Latin) is a monastery’s reference library. Already now the library contains, for example, the first volumes of the pre-war periodicals “Róża Duchowna” (1898) and “Szkoła Chrystusowa” (1930), the chronicle of the Dominican friary in Podkamień, written among others by Fr. Sadok Barącz, several early prints (including the arch-Dominican “Dni Roczne” and “Świątnica Pańska” by Fr. Michał Siejkowski) and a manuscript Dominican antiphonary from Lviv. In addition to Dominican materials, valuable incunabula, early Kraków prints and Old Polish collections of sermons will be made available, as well as philosophical and theological books, hagiographic texts and even old works on mathematics and physics.

The collections are made available thanks to the dLibra software developed at the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center. It is used by most of the nearly seventy Polish digital libraries currently in existence: from large ones, such as the National Digital Library “Polona” or the University of Warsaw Digital Library, to smaller ones, such as “Armarium”.

For their cooperation in the digitization project we warmly thank Fr. Mateusz Przanowski OP, Fr. Janusz Kaczmarek OP and Fr. Andrzej Morka OP.

The library is available at bc.dominikanie.pl.

List of books digitized by our Center:

1. Ordinarium et missa pro defunctis, 1910, Cormier
shelf mark: FDOL
editor: Mateusz Solarz

2. Processionarium S.O.P., 1894, Frühwirth
shelf mark: none
editor: Sylwia Folta/Mateusz Solarz

3. Officia passionis D.W.J. Christum, 1893
shelf mark: 246183
editor: Sylwia Folta

4. Breviarium S.O.P., Pars 1, 1893, Frühwirth
shelf mark: 121140/1
editor: Adriana Kapała

5. Breviarium S.O.P., Pars 2, 1893, Frühwirth
shelf mark: 121140/2
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

6. Breviarium, Pars Prima, 1894, Frühwirth
shelf mark: 34311/1
editor: Weronika Spyrka

7. Breviarium, Pars Altera, 1894, Frühwirth
shelf mark: 34311/2
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

8. Vesperarum Liber, 1900, Frühwirth
shelf mark: FDOL
editor: Sylwia Fołta

9. Cantus pro Benedictionibus SS. Sacramenti in Ordine Fratrum Praedicatorum usitati et a Fr. M. Barge OP Provinciae Franciae allumno recollecti, 1909
shelf mark: 111531
editor: Piotr Kozakiewicz

10. Triduo Ante Pascha, 1910, Cormier
shelf mark: none
editor: Sylwia Fołta

11. Officium B. Mariae Virginis S.O.P., 1895, Frühwirth
shelf mark: 121118
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

12. Martyrologium S.O.FF.P., 1890, Larroca
shelf mark: 34308
editor: Piotr Kozakiewicz

13. Processionarium S.O.P., 1913, Cormier
shelf mark: 121109
editor: Adrianna Kapała

14. Breviarium S.O.P., Pars Prior, 1909, Cormier
shelf mark: none
editor: Adriana Kapała

15. Breviarium S.O.P., Pars Posterior, 1909, Cormier
shelf mark: none
editor: Weronika Spyrka

16. Graduale Sacri Ordinis Praedicatorum, 1907, Cormier
shelf mark: 121105
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

17. Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae, 1890, Larroca
shelf mark: none
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

18. Completorii Libellus, 1911, Cormier
shelf mark: 118068
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

19. Cantus (Eccl. Frratr. Praed.), 1907
shelf mark: 110792
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

20. Brewiarzyk Braci i Sióstr Trzeciego Zakonu św. Dominika (o. W. Podlewski), 1897
shelf mark: 121124
editor: Sylwia Fołta

21. Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae, 1965, Fernández
shelf mark: none
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

22. Completorii Libellus, 1911, Cormier, complete
shelf mark: none
editor: Weronika Spyrka

23. Horae Diurnae Sacri Ordinis Praedicatorum, 1903, Frühwirth
shelf mark: 121126
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

24. Lehr- und Regelbuch fur die Bruder und Schwestern des dritten ord., 1917
shelf mark: 121122
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

25. Brewiarzyk braci i sióstr Trzeciego Zakonu św. Dominika czyli Zakonu Kaznodziejskiego, 1921
shelf mark: 121120
editor: Adriana Kapała

26. Psalterium cum supplemento breviarii S.O.P., 1923, Theissling
shelf mark: 121159
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

27. Kalendarium Perpetuum et rubricae gen.brev. S.O.P., 1921
shelf mark: 3507
editor: Sylwia Fołta

28. JMJD Competoriale
shelf mark: 246185
editor: Sylwia Fołta

29. Processionarium S.O.P., 1930, Gillet
shelf mark: none
editor: Adrianna Kapała

30. Ecclesiasticum Officium Yuxta Ritum S.O.P., 1927, Paredes (triduo ante pascha et dominica resurect.)
shelf mark: none
editor: Weronika Spyrka

31. Formularium Benedictionum et Absolutionum AD Usum FF.O.P. (Cormier), 1913
shelf mark: 121121
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

32. Supplementum AD vesperarum Librum S.O.P., 1923
shelf mark: 246192
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

33. Missale S.O.P., 1939, Gillet
shelf mark: 246210
editor: Adrianna Kapała

34. Missale iuxta ritum O.P., 1965, Fernández
shelf mark: 34326
editor: Sylwia Fołta

35. Missale S.O.P., 1933, Gillet
shelf mark: none
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

36. Missale iuxta ritum S.O.P., 1889, Larroca
shelf mark: none
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

37. Pontificale Romanum Summorum Pontificum, Pars I, 1895, Pope Leo XIII
shelf mark: none
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

38. Pontificale Romanum Summorum Pontificium, Pars II, 1895, Pope Leo XIII
shelf mark: none
editor: Weronika Spyrka

39. Pontificale Romanum Summorum Pontificium, Pars III, 1895, Pope Leo XIII
shelf mark: none
editor: Adriana Kapała

40. Missale pro defunctis S.O.P., 1930, Gillet
shelf mark: 34328
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

41. Missae Priopriae Patronorum & Festorum Regni Poloniae AD Usum S.O.P., 1882
shelf mark: 34330
editor: Sylwia Fołta

42. Missae Priopriae Sanctorum Patronorum Regni Poloniae AD Usum S.O.P., 1910, Cormier
shelf mark: 490
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

43. Missel Dominicain Quotidien Selon le rite l’orde des freres precheurs, 1924
shelf mark: 121167
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

44. Breviarium iuxta ritum S.O.P., 1924, Theissling
shelf mark: 121142
editor: Sylwia Fołta

45. Benedictio Mensae
shelf mark: 34310
editor: Sylwia Fołta

46. Matutinum seu antiphonarium s. ord. praed, 1936, Gillet
shelf mark: none
editor: Sylwia Fołta

47. Cantionale ecclesiasticum (J. Siedlecki)
shelf mark: 250150
editor: Adrianna Kapała

48. Ordinarium iuxta ritum S.O.F.P., 1921, Theissling
shelf mark: none
editor: Weronika Spyrka

49. Martyrologium S.O.F.P., 1925, Theissling
shelf mark: 34309
editor: Adriana Kapała

50. Missale iuxta ritum S.O.P., 1892, Larroca
shelf mark: 246213
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

51. Facultates benedictiones et indulgentiae confraternitatis ss. Rosarii, 1925
shelf mark: 11622
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

52. Diurnum iuxta ritum S.O.F.P., 1826
shelf mark: 121132
editor: Adriana Kapała

53. Missel dominicain quotidien selon le rite l’orde F. Precheurs, 1925
shelf mark: 121167
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

54. Psalmi vespertini et completorium, 1913
shelf mark: none
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

55. Mszał rzymski dla użytku wiernych, 1874
shelf mark: none
editor: Weronika Spyrka/Sylwia Fołta

56. Messale Domenicano seconda edizione, 1959
shelf mark: none
editor: Piotr Kozakiewicz

57. The Dominican Missal in latin and english, 1948, Suarez
shelf mark: none
editor: Katarzyna Piwowarczyk

58. Tonorum Communium iuxta ritum Ordinis Praedicatorum Regulae, 1965, Fernández
shelf mark: 121111
editor: Sylwia Fołta

59. Caeremoniale juxta ritum S. Ordinis Praedicatorum, 1869, Jandel
shelf mark: 122252, 121104, 15090
editor: Sylwia Fołta

60. Das Meßbuch der heiligen Kirche mit dem Ritus der Dominikaner: lateinisch und deutsch, 1928, Schmalhor
shelf mark: 121165
editor: Piotr Kozakiewicz

61. Graduale juxta ritum Sacri Ordinis Praedicatorum, 1928, Paredes
shelf mark: 246180
editor: Sylwia Fołta

62. Officium hebdomadae sanctae iuxta ritum Sac. Ord. Praedicatorum, 1867, Jandel
shelf mark: 215366
editor: Sylwia Fołta

63. Diurnum juxta ritum S. Ordinis Praedicatorum, 1873, Sanvito
shelf mark: 121131
editor: Sylwia Fołta