This collection of prayers is called 'traditional' but 'catholic' would have been as appropriate. They come from many Christian strands - Roman, Orthodox, Anglican, Puritan - and from half a dozen languages. The authors range from saints and doctors to some not usually thought of as pious.

The prayers are all, however, 'traditional' in at least three ways. They share Christian orthodoxy, they are expressions of true devotion, and they all use the English language or prayer that first became common speech in the Prayer Books of the sixteenth century. That this 'register' is neither archaic nor obsolete will be proved in the praying, for this book is to be not only read but prayed.