Does anyone pray the LOH in Latin?

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filiusromae

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I don’t mean the edition used before Vat II. This the 4 Vol set of Liturgia Horarum.

Pax et Bonum
 
I am just wondering how many people pray the LOH in Latin

Tibi gratias ago.
 
Probably not that many outside religious communities, but myself and three other lay oblates of our abbey do so regularly.
 
OraLabora said:
Yes, I do, in Gregorian chant.
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Just curious, are you using a religious order’s breviary?

The last time I looked for Liturgia Horarum I could only find a 6 volume set from Midwest Theological Forum. I believe at the time they were running around $450 for the set. I’ve tried looking at the Vatican Publishing House and cannot find it there.

Personally I would like something with pointed psalms for only morning and evening prayer, as my command of Latin is not good enough for the office of reading. At $450 from MTF, it’s really steep when I would not use but maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of it.
 
Usige said:
Just curious, are you using a religious order’s breviary?
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Occasionally I use our abbey’s breviary but I find it too long for daily lay use.

I use Les Heures Grégoriennes, a Latin/French antiphonary for the daytime hours. Google it, it’s still available but expensive. It’s really well designed though. I use Liturgia Horarum for the Office of Readings, 4-volume set, which I bought before it went out of print.

What you really need are Antiphonale Romanum I and II. AR I has just been released by Solesmes. AR II came out 10 years ago.

They have all the chants for Lauds and Vespers for every Sunday of the year as well as all feasts and solemnities. It’s designed for beginners, so all the psalms and canticles are pointed. The hymns all have every strophe noted. All the readings, intercessions and collects are there, and there are common tones for all chanted parts which can be everything from opening verse to Benedicamus Dominno. Even the music for fully sung invitatories. I use them as they are 100% faithful to the new Ordo Cantus Officii which came out recently. Les Heures is compliant but only for the férial office. For Sundays, feasts and solemnities there are some simplifications (repeated antiphons at Lauds and I and II Vespers).

Best of all, only about 45 Euros for each volume. If you go on the Solesmes website, they’re available from their online store. I just received AR I two weeks ago and am now using it and still analyzing it.

I also built up my own Nocturnale Romanum for the Office of Readings based on the old Ordo Cantus Officii. Unfortunately the new Ordo sources antiphons that are difficult to locate. But you can also chant that office recto-tono, many monasteries do so for the night office.
 
I do, when I’m praying with a community that prays in Latin. Otherwise, no.
 
I used the monastic breviary on occasions but I prefer the Breviarium Romanum.
I’m not big on chanting the Hours but I love listening to it.

The Liturigia Horarum can be found in the Vatican. They have a 4 vol set with plastic cover but nice paper and print. It’s the LOH on the cheap and then there is the the deluxe set, 200 euro per volume. It’s a very beautiful set of books.
 
I thought that would be the case.

If anyone would like to learn Latin you can buy a two books that focus on the Mass, the Office, and theology. The books are Latin Grammar by Cora and Charles Scanlon. You can find it on Amazon.
Pax et Bonum
 
filiusromae said:
The Liturigia Horarum can be found in the Vatican. They have a 4 vol set with plastic cover but nice paper and print. It’s the LOH on the cheap and then there is the the deluxe set, 200 euro per volume. It’s a very beautiful set of books.
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It’s been out of print for a while. I bought my set (plastic cover over which I put a leather cover) before that happened, back in the mid-2000s. The Midwest Theological Forum set appears to be the only one in print at the moment. I’ve considered buying it just to have a nicer set of books to work from but money is tight at the moment, and my Liturgia Horarum set (and self-made Nocturnale) work just fine.

I’m not a fan of the Breviarum Romanum. It’s a distinct break with tradition (almost as much as the Liturgy of the Hours), and as a Benedictine Oblate it doesn’t correspond to my traditions. I like the post-Vatican II version of the traditional Monastic Breviary (same schema as written by St. Benedict 1500 years ago), but it is way too long for lay use. When I do want to pray a monastic schema, I use our abbey’s breviary (monastic schema B). It is a post-Vatican II schema devised in the 1960s that is faithful to the Rule’s command to pray all 150 psalms in a week, but I still find it long (keeping in mind that I chant the hours and that more or less doubles the recitation time). Our abbey prays Lauds and Vespers in Latin Gregorian chant, the other hours (Vigils, Terce, Sext, None and Compline) in French with Latin hymn and Marian antiphon at Compline.

I’ll often use it for a full week at a time. Usually week III in the LOTH, as that is the week I dislike the most with very short Vespers psalms and very long mid-day psalms, almost as if mid-day is a major hour and Vespers a minor hour. I call them “Vesperettes” among my Gregorian friends 😃 Since the monastic is a 1-week schema, I don’t miss any palms that way. I don’t use it in the summer though due to more hours spent with outdoor activities.

These days I’m a bit lazy and have been praying the Office of Readings silently in bed after Compline, and starting the day with Lauds. I need to shake that off and get back on my usual summer routine of Office of Readings combined with Lauds first thing in the morning (6 am). In winter I separate the two Offices, Vigils/Office of Readings at 5:30 or 6 am and Lauds at 7:30 am.

When does summer start and end? According to the Rule of St. Benedict on the Monday following the Octave of Easter until All-Saint’s. Our abbey ends it at the Holy Cross (Sept 14th). Summer ends sooner in Canada than Italy! In summer, the abbey omits the patristic reading and replaces it with a short bible reading (as allowed in the Rule).
 
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Yes, I pray Lauds and Vespers - chanted in Latin every day, and have done so for about 8 years using the chants from the Heures Gregoriennes, which I find easy and quick to use, although very expensive (the French do not allow price discounting, but it is much cheaper to get it shipped from France than to buy locally in other countries). It is post Vatican II standard LOH, but omits the Office of Readings.

The high cost is also due to it being twin language Latin/French. It comes in 3 volumes but is designed that one only needs to use one volume on any one day. There is a good LOH with chant in German from Munsterschwarzach Abbey, but as far as I am aware, noting in English.
 
Yes, I pray the Liturgy of the Hours in Latin whenever I can. I’m under formation towards the priesthood, so during semester time I pray with the rest of the community in English, but for the offices that are not celebrated in common and during semester breaks, I will pray most of the hours in Latin.

If you are not put off by e-books, there is a good set of Liturgia Horarum in ebook format that is very affordable compared to the print editions. They have good links to the sections and you can put bookmarks etc, so I have found them almost equivalent to an actual hardcopy edition. You can find them at: Breviario Digitale - E-BOOK: Testi Liturgici (in LATINO) - Liturgia Horarum - Tomo I - Tomo II - Tomo III - Tomo IV
 
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