brewiarz

Brewiarz is the Polish term for the breviary, a liturgical book used in the Western Christian tradition to offer the Divine Office, the set of daily prayers that structure worship. It provides the texts for the canonical hours, including Psalms, canticles, biblical readings, prayers, hymns, and antiphons, arranged to follow a yearly and liturgical cycle. The brewiarz is intended for use by clergy, religious communities, and laypeople who participate in or wish to pray the hours.

A brewiarz typically organizes the day into several offices or hours, such as morning and evening prayers, with additional daytime hours and night prayers in many traditional editions. It thus functions as both a prayer book and a guide to the liturgical year, including instructions and rubrics for proper chanting or recitation, feasts, and seasons. Texts are commonly offered in Latin for the historic Roman Rite editions, alongside vernacular translations for contemporary use.

Historically, the breviary arose in the early medieval period as a practical compilation to standardize the daily prayers of clergy. The most influential form in the Latin Rite was the Roman Breviary, standardized in the late 16th century and revised several times in the modern era. In the wake of the Second Vatican Council, the liturgical reforms led to the more comprehensive Liturgy of the Hours, which superseded the traditional breviary in many communities, though the term and older editions remain in use in traditional and monastic contexts. In Poland, the brewiarz has been widely published and used in church life, education, and spiritual practice, often in Polish translations that accompany the liturgical texts.