LATROBE, PA – Dr. Catherine Petrany, associate professor of theology in the School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Saint Vincent College, recently released her second book, “Psalms of Lament: Suffering and Salvation.”
The work is published by Cascade Books, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers, and is part of the Biblical Studies series from the Catholic Biblical Association of America. The series seeks to bridge the gap between the technical interpretive work of the academic community and the educational and pastoral needs of the Church.
Petrany’s book demonstrates her holistic approach to psalms scholarship inspired by “The Rule of Saint Benedict.”
“The lament psalms are prayers about suffering with petitions for God’s deliverance and contain some of the heartfelt, but also difficult, language of the Psalter. The laments also include statements of great trust and praise in the midst of suffering,” said Petrany, who also serves as the Boniface Wimmer Endowed Chair in Monastic Studies and as a member of the Roundtable of Scholars at the College. “I am interested in the pairing of these two kinds of language—pain and praise, doubt and trust—in individual psalms. One reason for this interest is because the responsorial psalm, which is where many Catholics primarily encounter the psalms in liturgy, often breaks apart these psalms and uses only certain verses. The collision of suffering and salvation in the expression of encounter with God gets a bit lost. So, I wanted to think about what these texts tell us about praising God even as suffering continues.”
With over a decade of service to the College, Petrany has developed a distinctive scholarly approach integrating academic biblical scholarship with Benedictine monastic tradition. Her work focuses on the Book of Psalms, which holds central importance in Benedictine monasticism as the foundation of the Liturgy of the Hours prayed daily in monasteries worldwide.
As part of her work in the endowed position, Petrany continues efforts on a comprehensive commentary on the Book of Psalms in the Interpretation Commentary Series published by Westminster John Knox Press. This commentary will analyze all 150 psalms through the monastic hermeneutic that has shaped her scholarship, serving as a significant international resource for scholars, clergy and monastic communities.
Petrany’s first book, “Pedagogy, Prayer and Praise: The Wisdom of the Psalms and Psalter,” was published in 2015 by Mohr Siebeck.
Petrany also wrote “The Recitation of the Entire Psalter in the Benedictine Tradition,” which appeared in the “American Benedictine Review” (Volume 77, Number 3, September 2026). The article is based on Petrany’s presentations at the Archabbot’s Conference at Saint Vincent Archabbey on Sept. 10, 2025, and the American-Cassinese Congregation Juniorate Institute on July 23, 2025.
“[This article] grew out of a talk that I gave to the Saint Vincent Archabbey monastic community about how the psalms can form us when we pray all of them daily, as Benedictine monks do when they recite the Divine Office,” Petrany said. “During my time at Saint Vincent College, I have become more and more interested not only in what the psalms ‘mean,’ but what they ‘do’ in the lives of those who use them in worship. I am grateful to the monastic community at Saint Vincent for helping me to think about this question in a more concrete way thanks to their witness through daily psalmody.”
In addition to her recent publications, Petrany’s scholarly essays have appeared in journals such as the “Catholic Biblical Quarterly,” “Biblical Theology Bulletin” and the “Journal of Theological Interpretation.”
“I love the psalms a great deal, more every day. I came to Saint Vincent College having studied their rich history and unparalleled poetry in an academic setting,” she said. “Here, I have come to know better their significance as living texts thanks to our Catholic and Benedictine mission, which has inspired me to study and pray the psalms in new ways. These ancient prayers are not only beautiful, but also transformative for those who open their hearts to their wisdom and encounter God there.”
