A years-long project to produce a book that contains the prayers the celebrant prays from the presider’s chair has been completed, with the new book now on sale in Australia.

Excerpts from the Roman Missal, known informally as the “Book of the Chair”, is significantly smaller and lighter than the Roman Missal.

The Australian edition provides for Sundays, all feasts and solemnities, and the weekdays of Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. It also contains the Introductory Rites, the Creeds, samples of the Universal Prayer and the Concluding Rites.

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge said Excerpts from the Roman Missal “is offered to help celebrants as they preside at the Eucharist, speaking in the power of the Spirit with the voice of the Church which becomes the voice of Christ to the glory of God the Father”.

Archbishop Patrick O’Regan, the chair of the Bishops Commission for Liturgy, said the book has “the elegance and beauty” that befits a publication containing the prayers of the Mass. Its size and weight will make it easier for altar servers to hold and carry.

“As with a number of projects related to our liturgical rites and practices, the important work of preparation and review and approval takes time,” he said.

“The wait has been worth it. The end result is a fine document that we expect will be highly valued throughout the country.”

St Pauls Publications has a special discount offer in place until March 15.

Click here for more information or to order Excerpts from the Roman Missal.