Latin Divine Office/Liturgy of the Hours

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Hello all!

I currently pray all 7 hours of the Divine Office/Liturgy of the Hours regularly.

I’ve been interested in starting to do the DO/LOTH in Latin. I’ve only been able to find 2 options for the breviary, the SSPX one which only has the Hours for Sunday (Divine Office - Angelus Press) and the FSSP one which always seems to be out of stock and has ONLY the Latin (https://fraternitypublications.com/...-set-in-latin-onlyshipping-now-15-95-us-only/)

Do any of you have any recommendations for an English-Latin Breviary with all 7 hours? Please let me know if you do!

May the peace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
 
Looks fantastic actually!!

How similar would you say it is to the current English LOTH? Would you say it’s a possible transition?

Thank you!!
 
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It takes a little getting used to, besides dealing with the calendar. One difference is, for example, how Sundays are ranked. Sundays are second class feasts in the 1962 office, and so can be outranked by first class feasts. For example, if the solemnity of St. Joseph the Worker was on a Sunday two weeks from now, you’d pray the Office for that instead of the one for the Fourth Sunday of Lent. Lauds has two different sets of Psalms per day, depending on if it’s Lent, certain days of Advent, an Ember Day, etc (except if it’s a feast day during those times, you pray Lauds I instead of the more penitential Lauds II). If you’re stuck on what you’re supposed to pray for that day though, Divinum Officium is invaluable for help for that.
 
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Do you want to pray the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) in Latin in the Ordinary Form (OF) or the Extraordinary one (EF)? Because you say you pray all seven hours I’m inferring you currently pray the Divine Office according to the OF. The OF has seven offices in total whereas the EF has eight.

If you want it in the OF I cannot, unfortunately, help you. The OF was originally promulgated by the Holy see in Latin; therefore, it has to exist. However, I’ve never seen it in Latin and wouldn’t know how to get hold of it. So if someone does come along with the answer I shall be most interested.

The EF was only permitted in Latin. It is, therefore, relatively easy to find secondhand EF Divine Office breviaries as well as modern facsimiles of them. If you want the EF Divine Office you’ll have no difficulty.
 
I assume that what I pray now, the current English LOTH, is in the OF.

I was not aware of the DO in EF… can the DO in the EF still be prayed alone? I’m wondering how different it actually is and how big of a learning curve it will be… I was going to use the DivinumOfficium.com website, but it is extremely confusing.

I assume that the one recommended by BaroniusPress is the DO in EF… no?
 
rf9661 said:
I assume that what I pray now, the current English LOTH, is in the OF.

I was not aware of the DO in EF… can the DO in the EF still be prayed alone? I’m wondering how different it actually is and how big of a learning curve it will be… I was going to use the DivinumOfficium.com website, but it is extremely confusing.

I assume that the one recommended by BaroniusPress is the DO in EF… no?
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Yes, the one from Baronius Press is the EF.

While different, praying the Office in the EF is actually similar to the OF in regards to principle. The major differences are as follows:
  • The office of Prime was suppressed in OF (so OF has 7 offices while EF has 8)
  • EF has more readings per office
  • The EF psalter has all 150 psalms in one week (the OF spreads the psalter over 4 weeks)
  • in OF the hymn always comes before the readings. In the EF the hymn comes after the readings during Lauds, Vespers & Compline; while the hymn comes before readings for the other 5 hours.
  • prayers are different
But otherwise, they are very similar.
 
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TomH1 said:
If you want it in the OF I cannot, unfortunately, help you. The OF was originally promulgated by the Holy see in Latin; therefore, it has to exist. However, I’ve never seen it in Latin and wouldn’t know how to get hold of it. So if someone does come along with the answer I shall be most interested.
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It exists. Liturgia Horarum was published by the Vatican publishing house. I’m not sure if it’s still in print, but I have a set. You can probably find used sets on eBay etc.

Also this set I understand is very nice, but pricey:

https://www.theologicalforum.org/Category/105/Product/420/Liturgia_Horarum_Hardcover_Edition_

Finally, you can find it on-line here:

http://www.almudi.org/Portals/0/docs/Breviario/fuentes/breviario.html

The layout is quite hokey and not so easy to use but it’s all there.

Finally, if you are interested in chanting the OF Liturgy of the Hours, there are two options.
  1. For Vespers of Sundays, feasts and solemnities, there is Antiphonale Romanum II available from Solesmes on their website.
  2. For the day hours throughout the year (Invitatory, Lauds, all three minor hours, Vespers and Compline), there is Les Heures Grégoriennes. It is Latin-French so the French translation is alongside the latin. It’s beautifully made and especially easy to use as everything for any given Office is always in one book with the least page flipping possible. You can always use an English-language LOTH alongside for translations. It is what I use. For the Office of Readings, I either recite recto-tono from Liturgia Horarum, or I use a home made Nocturnale that I concocted using the antiphons sourced in Ordo Cantus Officii (first edition; I have the second edition but haven’t adapted my antiphonary to it yet). It’s also pricey but worth every penny:
 
I just recently purchased, and received, the Baronius press Breviary set. It is a Latin/English breviary, which I’m not a big fan of the English translation. I personally don’t care for some of it. But I ordered it to use the English for navigation throughout. Just didn’t think my Latin was good enough to be able to quickly navigate through it. I am very pleased with it though, definitely no regrets. It is a little pricey, but worth it, I believe, for what you receive. It is according to the 1962 EF.
 
Traddy1962 said:
I’m not a big fan of the English translation. I personally don’t care for some of it.
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I’m a little surprised they didn’t use the DR for Scripture. I hardly know any Latin, but I agree with you on some parts with the translation of it into English. They’re not always consistent, for one.
 
Yeah I know, for example the Hail Holy Queen prayer is just horrendous in my opinion. Some of the words literally are not the right translation at all. I didn’t buy it to recite the DO in English though. Overall I’m happy with it.
 
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Me and you both! Especially for the price. One thing I did right off the bat was to cut the ends of the ribbons at an angle, and then put a coat of clear nail polish on them. They were already wanting to come apart right out of the box.
 
@Traddy1962 @Fauken

As I’m understanding it, it seems to be the older, EF, Divinum Officium seems to be the more common and popular one.

I’m also sensing the Baronius Press is the preferred version and is worth the price. I’m also surprised Douay-Rheims isn’t used for the English scripture translations… what is used instead?

Also, my Latin as it stands is decent… I do the Rosary in Latin, and occasionally EF Mass. I also speak fluent Spanish, so that helps a ton.
 
Also, I know the Baronius Press includes an introduction/guide book, but do any of you have video recommendations that use the Baronius Press version?
 
That is a very beautiful set but so expensive, not that I have an interest in purchasing that any time soon!

I have the 4 volume set of the Ordinary Form Liturgy of the Hours and it was also quite pricey (around $200 New Zealand dollars), but conversion rates show me that the Extraordinary Form set you linked is about 600 NZD.

I suspect that it is essentially intended just for priests, and that few laypeople really buy the EF version. But obviously some do.
 
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