Divine Office 3 Volume Set - Assistance Please

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I want to improve my daily prayer and certainly want to utilise the full 3 volume set of the Divine Office (I live in Australia).

Could someone point me in the right direction to somewhere online on how to use it correctly please? All I can find is information on the 4 volume set.

My parish priest unfortunately never seems to have the time to stop and chat after mass and I’m finding it increasingly difficult to find a priest who will actually take the time.
 
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Happy to help but’s probably easier if you PM me with a specific question.
 
Why not just get the Laudate app on your phone or computer?

Even many of the religious I know now use their cell phones instead of carrying a hard copy breviary.
 
DIERM said:
Why not just get the Laudate app on your phone or computer?

Even many of the religious I know now use their cell phones instead of carrying a hard copy breviary.
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I realise that would be handy, but I’m a book person when it comes to prayer or the Bible. Thank you anyway 🙂
 
InThePew said:
Happy to help but’s probably easier if you PM me with a specific question
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Thank you. I pray the Rosary daily but really want to deepen my spiritual prayer via the Divine Office. Not having used it before (and I’d like to avoid one of the condensed single volume types if possible) I wouldn’t mind some guidance on how to use it (where to place the ribbons in preparation for each days prayer etc. )
 
Three volume? Does that mean you have the Divine Office which they use in England ( Catholic one.0? If that is so then it is somewhat different then the one we use in USA. Would be helpful if you find someone who uses the three volumen of course. Maybe you can find something on the internet to help you or search for some sisters who I am sure would be happy to help you where you live.
 
Divine3 said:
Three volume? Does that mean you have the Divine Office which they use in England ( Catholic one.0? If that is so then it is somewhat different then the one we use in USA. Would be helpful if you find someone who uses the three volumen of course. Maybe you can find something on the internet to help you or search for some sisters who I am sure would be happy to help you where you live.
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Yes, 3 volume 🙂 As I mentioned I’m in Australia and that’s the Divine Office we use as opposed to the American 4 volume.

The reason for my post, also mentioned, is I can’t find anything on the internet and trying to get the time of a parish priest is difficult (back in the day it was easier to make contact with one’s parish priest).
 
I think Catholic Bookshop in Melbourne has it; at least it looks like what you are looking for; 3 volumes, listed under Divine Liturgy; $135 each. My search was by Australian Catholic bookstore.
 
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otjm said:
I think Catholic Bookshop in Melbourne has it; at least it looks like what you are looking for; 3 volumes, listed under Divine Liturgy; $135 each. My search was by Australian Catholic bookstore.
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Thanks I know that. I’m looking for assistance on how to use them 🙂
 
ah - I must have missed a curve there somewhere. Give them a ring and see if they come out with any sort of guide; I know our 1 volume and 4 volume have guides.

The other route would be to simply check in with Laudate, etc. That should get you to the right week, and then you have the books.

Or perhaps I am still missing something in your question. I presume you work on the same 4 week cycle with the exceptions of Advent and Lent; so if you are in Ordinary time, take the week (e.g. wee 23) and divide by 4; that would leave you in week 3.
 
Thanks. I just now bought the Kindle version and will read it
 
Melbourne said:
Not having used it before (and I’d like to avoid one of the condensed single volume types if possible) I wouldn’t mind some guidance on how to use it (where to place the ribbons in preparation for each days prayer etc. )
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Okay so starting with Volume III since that’s what we’ll be returning to next week, you’ll see on the front that it’s for weeks 6-34 of the year - in other words it takes you from a little after the Epiphany through the the start of Advent (interrupted by Lent and Easter which are in volume II). Each volume is slightly different in it’s layout but, on the whole, they follow the same pattern.

As you’ll see from the contents page, the prayers/proper for Solemnities of the Lord (Trinity, Corpus Christi and Sacred Heart) are in the front of the book, along with the Proper of Seasons - in other words, the Benedictus/Magnifcant antiphons and concluding prayer for Sundays. You’ll also find the readings part of the Office of Readings here. The concluding prayers for each week of the year also also helpfully contained in the next section; I have a ribbon in the proper of seasons which obviously moves long as the year progresses and another in the concluding prayers to save me having to flick back the the Sunday.

The next part is the four-week psalter - the workhorse of the divine office you might say. To find out what week you should be using check the page for that Sunday of the year and it says before the start of Evening Prayer I. Other rubrics in the psalter will tell you when to turn to the Proper of Seasons to find the relevant antiphon / concluding prayer. Night prayer follows a simpler, one week cycle so is pretty straight forward. I have a ribbon each for the current pages in the psalter and Night Prayer.

The next part is the Proper of Saints (which is getting a bit dated these days). This section contains at least a second reading, response and concluding prayer related to the Saint of the Day and rubrics direction you to the relevant page in the common offices (for the Blessed Virgin Mary, Martyrs, apostles, men/women saints, pastors, etc) where you’ll find antiphons and intercessions to use where one proper to the saint isn’t provided. I have a ribbon following the Proper of Saints and varying bookmarks scatted throughout the common offices.

How much or how little of the office you choose to pray is a matter for you. You should begin the first hour you pray with the invitatory psalm (the corresponding antiphon for each day is included in the psalter before the psalms for the Office of Readings) but there are no set times at which the offices should be prayed.

Again, the other two volumes differ slightly but this should be enough to get you going,. If you’ve got any questions feel free to ask.
 
Wow! Thank you so much for that detailed information. God bless
 
Most of won’t know the page numbers. Heck I won’t even know the 4-volume page numbers, because I used the 4-volume set in French.

That said, the principles and structure of the hours are the same regardless of the version you use. So we may still be able to answer questions. I would also highly recommend reading the General Instruction, probably at the beginning of the first volume, and the Ordinary, in each volume. Read, re-read, and study in detail.

I am with you on preferring to pray from a book. However one of the on-line apps could still be a great help as you learn how to pray the Hours. You check out the app, and then find where everything is in the book based on the app. With time you’ll become familiar with the layout of the books. You need to learn first, the structure of each hour, the layout of the books, and what you are celebrating that day (ordinary weekday, optional memorial, memorial, feast, solemnity) and how to celebrate each of those feasts based on what proper parts they have, if any (minimum will be the collect, maximum will be the entire office being proper). Looking at the structure of Lauds and Vespers:

Invitatory (for Lauds only, and only if the first office of the day)
Opening verse (not for Lauds if you used the Invitatory)
Hymn
Psalmody (psalm-OT canticle-Psalm for Lauds, psalm-psalm-NT canticle for Vespers)
Short reading
Responsory
Gospel Canticle with antiphon
Intercessions
Lord’s Prayer
Collect
Concluding verse (use the one for private recitation/when priest or deacon not present).

Where you select those elements from is the tricky part based on the type of celebration and the presence, or not, of proper parts.

The books should also be divided into:

Proper of the Seasons where you will find those parts that change with the season including the readings for the Office of Readings as well as solemnities of the season (Christmas, Easter, etc.)
Ordinary, where you’ll find the parts that repeat all the time, as well as rubrics (instructions)
Four-week psalter
A section for Compline
Complementary psalter for the minor hours
Proper of the saints
Commons for the saints
Office of the dead
Vigil canticles (optional for the Office of Readings)

Not sure if the order is the same for the 3-volume set, but all those sections should be present,

Another big help is to pick up a copy of your diocesan/conference of bishops’ ordo, or consult the calendar for your country online:

https://www.catholic.org.au/calendar#year=2019&month=6&day=3&view=month

If you pray according to the ordo of a religious community (Benedictine, Franciscan, etc.), the calendar will differ in many places compared to the one linked to above, for the saints specific to the order.
 
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Hello, I don’t know if your username reflects where you live but I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Melbourne several times. Anyway, to your question, you use the same three-volume Divine Office we use in England and Wales. Unfortunately, I’ve never found the equivalent to the St. Joseph Guide for the Liturgy of the Hours for our version of the Divine Office. I do have Taylerson’s pamphlet. This, you may also find useful, is a guide to the Divine Office written by a Welsh priest here.
 
Thank you everyone for taking the time to offer your assistance. I’m very humbled by your generosity. God bless you all
 
As this was published in the USA it will probably follow the USA’s 4-volume LOTH and not our 3-volume Divine Office. That is not to say it won’t contain a lot of helpful material; I’m sure it will. You just need to be aware it will require you to make some adaptations to fit it to our version of the Divine Office.
 
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