I’ve been praying the Divine Office (3-volume set) for a few months now and I am OK with its length and duration and I quite enjoy it. However, as I am from a Traditionalist Catholic background, I am looking to expand and try to pray the Roman Breviary, which, as I understand it, is much longer *.
I was wondering if anyone has taken turns reciting the Divine Office (or the Liturgy of the Hours - as approved for the USA) and then the Roman Breviary and if there be any quite shocking differences to look out for.
SIDE-NOTE: If I were to buy this Roman Breviary, it would be £241 ($405) so I would be looking to sell my version of the Divine Office (3 volume set) if anyone is interested. I also have the 4-volume Liturgy of the Hours Set and I can sell either/both. Also, if anyone has the Roman Breviary (Baronius Press) -
baroniuspress.com/book.php?wid=56&bid=59#tab=tab-1* - and is willing to sell it for lower than £241, I would be willing to talk about it.
Thank you in advance for any answers.
Not the Roman Breviary, but I have alternated between the LOTH, and two post-Vatican II monastic versions of the LOTH. The first one, schema B (used by the abbey I’m associated with), is comparable in length to the 1961 Roman Breviary, in that it incorporates all 150 psalms in a week (and has long readings at Vigils); the second is the monastic schema of St. Benedict (goes back to the 6th century… now
that’s tradition!). It’s 250 psalms a week.
Caveat: I chant Lauds, the mid-day Office, Vespers and Compline in Latin Gregorian chant; so that adds a fair bit of time to reciting the Office. My practice is to chant a psalm first then read it silently in French (my mother tongue, and I use Les Heures Grégoriennes which is in Latin-French).
My take is that the current LOTH is a very nice balance for laity and it has enough elements of tradition in it, that I don’t feel much discontinuity with small “t” tradition when praying it; particularly if it’s chanted in Gregorian chant. When praying the monastic versions I’d miss out on too many psalms due to having to skip offices for various reasons. The LOTH is such that although it takes 4 weeks to go through the psalter (minus the ones that were left out), I generally can get through an entire 4-week cycle without missing out on any of the “compulsory” (well, for those bound anyway) offices.
The big issue with the monastic versions is Vigils, especially on feast days when there’s a third nocturne. It can take close to an hour. I just don’t have that kind of time in the morning (or even the previous evening… I do have a life
)
Doing it the way I do with the LOTH, “Vigils” (Office of Readings) takes 15 minutes at about 6:30 am; Lauds and Vespers about 20 minutes (7:30 am and 5 pm respectively), and mid-day (noon) and Compline (8:15 pm) just a hair over 10 minutes each. Terce and None I do optionally if I have time. The monastic added about 15 minutes for Vigils on ordinary days, and about 5 minutes for Lauds and Vespers (Compline is a bit shorter, as the Monastic is done without antiphon, no responsory and no Gospel canticle), with two additional minor hours (about 10 min. each). I do use Monastic Schema B from time to time to be in prayer union with the monks of my abbey.
My big beef with the 1961 Breviary is that it really isn’t all that traditional (dates only to 1910 and has many breaks with 1400 years of tradition up to that point); the LOTH has plenty of “traditional” elements in it if not for spreading the psalter over 4 weeks, and it lends itself very well to chanting. The only thing I don’t like about it: the NT canticles at Vespers, the questionable location of some psalms, the omission of cursing psalms and verses (at least Les Heures includes them), and relegating psalms 77, 104 and 105 to certain times of the year. But then no breviary is perfect. But it is the official liturgical prayer of the Church and the liturgy used by the vast majority of Catholics who pray the Office. One thing I don’t like about pre-Vatican II breviaries is that there are simply way too many feasts so that one loses the sense of regularity and orderliness that ferias of ordinary time can bring. A feast loses its meaning if almost every day is a feast and the ferias are the occasional days. As our prior says “I have a very great devotion to Saint Feria!”.
What I find is absolutely essential to praying the LOTH is to have balance in your prayer life. It shouldn’t be an excessive chore, and it should leave room in your life for other devotions such as lectio divina or charity work. It’s especially important that it doesn’t interfere with family obligations.
