LITURGICAL EPHEMERIDES. - A journal of liturgy, originally in the Latin language, founded in Rome in 1887 by the priest Calcedonio Mancini of the Mission, with the support of Cardinal Parocchi, Vicar General of His Holiness, especially as the organ of the Pontifical Academy of Liturgy. Under Leo XIII, Pius X and Benedict XV, the journal moved on predominantly practical ground (rubrics, ceremonies, liturgical law), in agreement with the Sacred Congregation of Rites, of which it was always a faithful interpreter and authoritative mouthpiece. Nevertheless, even then it did not neglect the historical field, as is shown for liturgical archaeology by the names of Armellini and Marucchi, and for liturgy and church music by those of Piacenza, Ricci, Salvadori, Grospellier, Decheverens, Callewaert, etc.
From 1920 onward the journal began a more broadly scientific orientation, definitively adopted as its program in 1927. To liturgical practice were added studies, in the principal modern languages, of liturgical history, theology and ascetics, critical editions of texts, an extensive systematic bibliography and a rich news section. The best-known liturgists joined the new program, so that the E. L. became an effective working tool and an international organ of study. In 1937 the journal was divided into two sections: Analecta historico-ascetica and Ius et praxi liturgica; but the division was abolished in 1948, when, on the principles of Pius XII's encyclical Mediator Dei, it proved necessary to affirm the unitary sense of liturgical science, taking into account the new demands due to the development of some of its parts.
The journal is flanked by monographic collections of liturgical studies and texts, which extend its sphere of influence also to the plane of scientific popularization.