St. Michael the Archangel parish establishes The Bliven Library
- Apr 15
- 2 min read
In downtown Portland, St. Michael the Archangel parish leaders are establishing a contemporary lending library. The Bliven Library selections include biographies of the saints and reference books about theology, spirituality and scripture.
The Reverend Edmond Bliven was a dedicated diocesan priest, known for his meaningful homilies. He was a respected scholar, especially in scripture, liturgy and Jewish history and traditions. Bliven was an editor of The Catholic Sentinel, a national award-winning Catholic newspaper in Oregon for 155 years. A noted speaker, Bliven served on an annual ecumenical panel with a rabbi from Congregation Beth Israel and the dean of Trinity Episcopal, each presenting their faith traditions on varying topics.
Bliven is best-known for “Book of Catholic Prayer,” his compilation and organization of traditional Catholic prayers and scripture passages. Bliven’s fascinating and greatly informative commentaries provide insights into scripture, history, prayer, sacraments and more. The four sections include Walking with the Lord, Talking with the Lord, Listening to the Lord and Knowing the Lord, illustrated with calligraphy in Greek and English by the Rev. Robert Palladino.
St. Michael’s is Portland’s national Italian parish, which meant that a Catholic of Italian heritage could receive the sacraments there. In the 1980s, when Bliven arrived as the new pastor, he surprised the Italian-American parishioners at his first Mass by speaking in Italian, and in Latin for the canon of the Mass. Many of the parishioners surprised their new pastor because they had never learned or had forgotten Italian.
St. Michael the Archangel parish is located at 1701 S.W. Fourth Ave., Portland, OR 97201. The Bliven Library is next door to the parish office. The office manager can provide access. The library is open Fridays from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. with the librarian present. For other hours, visitors may gain access by emailing librarian@stmichaelportland.org.
Complete and helpful information about library access, checking out and returning books, book recommendations and the online catalog is available on the parish website.
Photo by Oregon Catholic Press