Liturgy of the hours and modern style hymns

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So I have been praying the liturgy of the hours through divine office.org and I came across a hymn called “Shepherd of my Heart” by Melinda Kirigin-voss. I listened to the hymn on youtube and found it too saccharine. I have also found episcopalian hymns praying the hours through this site. I began to pray the hours with the expectation that it would contain ancient prayers and hymns of the Church. Why all these modern hymns? :confused:
 
They seem to have a pretty good variety. I pray 3-6 hours daily. The only thing that gets to me are a couple of the British accents in the audio; they don’t blend with the other voices well. Nothing wrong with their hymns.
 
Jon_Mallory said:
So I have been praying the liturgy of the hours through divine office.org and I came across a hymn called “Shepherd of my Heart” by Melinda Kirigin-voss. I listened to the hymn on youtube and found it too saccharine. I have also found episcopalian hymns praying the hours through this site. I began to pray the hours with the expectation that it would contain ancient prayers and hymns of the Church. Why all these modern hymns? :confused:
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If the on-line hymns are not the ancient ways you were looking you might consider praying the hours at an abbey, monastery, or convent. 😃
 
Yes, “Shepherd of My Heart” is one that I always fast-forward through as soon as it comes on. It is in the category of “Jesus is my boyfriend” songs. Kirgin-Voss does some wonderful other songs, though, such as “How Great Thou Art”.

The hymns on DivineOffice.org seem to be somewhat mixed between great classic four-part hymns and some modern stuff like Taizé. Thankfully there is more of an emphasis on classic hymns. I especially look forward to “Lord of All Hopefulness” and “Let All Things Now Living” and “What Wondrous Love Is This”.

As for the voices, yeah, there was a point several months ago where they made a big, momentous announcement and said the voices of DivineOffice.org were going to better reflect the universal nature of the Church, and then these two British folks showed up, and that was all. I do not like the woman’s voice, her accent sounds stilted and fake. Another new arrival is this woman who has a deep voice and sounds like she has some kind of speech impediment where her lips don’t close properly. And they can put her on long readings like the Office Of Readings and I just kind of zone out when that happens. I would personally prefer just to stick with the original cast.

Of the original cast there are two voices whom I have named. I call one lady “Drama Mama” because her inflections are also soooo melodramatic! And then there is another fellow I call “Rick Steves” because he sounds exactly like the PBS travel-show host.

I have been listening to DivineOffice.org both on the website and the Android app, and I couldn’t live without it. I am too lazy to pick up the book and actually pray actively, I just press “play” on the podcast and pretend to pray while I am on the train, or doing work at home, or whatever. I vastly prefer this to the Rosary and so it really has enriched my prayer life.
 
My guess is some type of click through marketing tie in. Notice that the links generally lead to amazon for a CD or other thing you can purchase. When praying from Christian Prayer there is often a choice of a couple hymns. I tend to chose older ones rather than those from the 60’s or 70’s when it’s an option. I have also used hymns from the Mundelein Psalter if I don’t like the choices. For instance the chant hymn for Evening Prayer for today was “Great Ruler of All Space and Time”. Long and short is with individual recitation you could use any hymn that matches the character. I can guarantee you that I have never sang or recited Shepherd of my Heart.
 
I think it is an awful site.
  1. The quality of the singing is very amateurish (today’s was flat).
  2. Why oh why don’t they chant the Psalms to Plainsong like we do in the UK.
    3.I notice they also use modern language rather than traditional language.
  3. The hymns are awful - most of the modern ones are American Catholic compositions, the Anglican ones are much better, but where are the St Ambrose ones?
American voices seem to be back on today - they say the Aymen drawl rather than Ahmen which always makes me shudder!
 
Jon_Mallory said:
Does the four volume set of liturgy of the hours also contain the same hymns as divine office.org?
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On the left side of this website there are two links for alphabetical listing of hymns…

kpshaw.blogspot.com/

Hymns from the Liturgy of the Hours (ICEL, 1975) and Hymns from the Divine Office (non-ICEL, 1974)

Neither of them has the song ‘Shepherd of My Heart’. There is a song with the title ‘Shepherd of Souls, in Love Come, Feed Us’ in the first listing.
 
liturgyluver said:
  1. The quality of the singing is very amateurish (today’s was flat).
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I thought I saw something once that lead me to believe their music was user-contributed or suggested. I’ve never had an issue with finding them “amateurish”; just volume challenges for my noisy commute, and some aren’t particularly singable for the average Joe.
3.I notice they also use modern language rather than traditional language.
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Again, my understanding: they use the currently approved translation for the US.
 
liturgyluver said:
American voices seem to be back on today - they say the Aymen drawl rather than Ahmen which always makes me shudder!
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Aymen is good for agreement in casual conversation but ahmen is better liturgically. A good reason to use Latin is its pronunciation of amen.
 
Elizium23 said:
Yes, “Shepherd of My Heart” is one that I always fast-forward through as soon as it comes on. It is in the category of “Jesus is my boyfriend” songs. Kirgin-Voss does some wonderful other songs, though, such as “How Great Thou Art”.

The hymns on DivineOffice.org seem to be somewhat mixed between great classic four-part hymns and some modern stuff like Taizé. Thankfully there is more of an emphasis on classic hymns. I especially look forward to “Lord of All Hopefulness” and “Let All Things Now Living” and “What Wondrous Love Is This”.

As for the voices, yeah, there was a point several months ago where they made a big, momentous announcement and said the voices of DivineOffice.org were going to better reflect the universal nature of the Church, and then these two British folks showed up, and that was all. I do not like the woman’s voice, her accent sounds stilted and fake. Another new arrival is this woman who has a deep voice and sounds like she has some kind of speech impediment where her lips don’t close properly. And they can put her on long readings like the Office Of Readings and I just kind of zone out when that happens. I would personally prefer just to stick with the original cast.

Of the original cast there are two voices whom I have named. I call one lady “Drama Mama” because her inflections are also soooo melodramatic! And then there is another fellow I call “Rick Steves” because he sounds exactly like the PBS travel-show host.

I have been listening to DivineOffice.org both on the website and the Android app, and I couldn’t live without it. I am too lazy to pick up the book and actually pray actively, I just press “play” on the podcast and pretend to pray while I am on the train, or doing work at home, or whatever. I vastly prefer this to the Rosary and so it really has enriched my prayer life.
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I like “Rick” and much prefer “Drama Mama” to a couple of the lesser used voices. One fairly new one sounds as though she’s reading the monotone announcements for a department store elevator. The is one older sounding accented man who’s vice is quite pleasant; I’m not good with accents, but he reminds me of an Australian man I once worked with. Definitely agree with “stilted and fake”.

I’m not lazy, necessarily, but with a total of 3 hours+ each day in the car, the book doesn’t work well for a driver! 🙂 I do actually try to pray along as much as possible while listening and driving, though. It is wonderful - and I would welcome suggestions for an audio rosary.
 
exnihilo said:
Aymen is good for agreement in casual conversation but ahmen is better liturgically. A good reason to use Latin is its pronunciation of amen.
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Agreed. In the UK and elsewhere in Europe we always say ahmen. The only exception is that some Irish say Aymen, like almost all Americans I have met.
 
This strikes me as a case of “no good deed goes unpunished.”

Divineoffice.org provides the Liturgy of the Hours for free.

You don’t have to buy the books. You don’t have to pay for access to either the text version or the podcast. They make the prayers available on the web or through an app. It’s all simply made available so you can pray the Church’s prayer more easily. (A form of prayer, by the way, that many people are unfamiliar with.)

And instead of thanks and praise, they get criticism over their choice of hymns, criticism for not chanting the prayers, criticism for using modern language (which is the approved translation).

If it’s so bad, why do you waste your time listening to this free resource?
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
This strikes me as a case of “no good deed goes unpunished.”

Divineoffice.org provides the Liturgy of the Hours for free.

You don’t have to buy the books. You don’t have to pay for access to either the text version or the podcast. They make the prayers available on the web or through an app. It’s all simply made available so you can pray the Church’s prayer more easily. (A form of prayer, by the way, that many people are unfamiliar with.)

And instead of thanks and praise, they get criticism over their choice of hymns, criticism for not chanting the prayers, criticism for using modern language (which is the approved translation).

If it’s so bad, why do you waste your time listening to this free resource?
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I simply want to connect myself with the ancient hymns/traditions of the Church. I am still in RCIA but what attracted me to Catholicism in the first place was its wealth of tradition and antiquity. As a Protestant, I tolerated the constant repetitive hymns but always desired more. I don’t require that hymns be professionally sung. That actually turns me off. When I attended some Orthodox Churches, the liturgy was never celebrated in Byzantine chant. It was chanted by untrained lay persons but the Liturgy was still beautiful because of its content. The theology is contained within the liturgy.
 
You might be interested in the podcast here: monasterypodcast.com/ The sisters record lauds and vespers. It doesn’t provide the texts, only the audio, and it’s only two of the hours, but it might be more to your liking. (Warning: I’m simply aware that this exists. I don’t listen to it so I don’t know what they do day in and day out.)

Or you could download music you like from iTunes or whatever and skip the podcast, just use the texts to pray yourself.

Personally I think divineoffice.org is a wonderful resource. I’ve recommended it to any number of people. You don’t have to figure out how the books are set up or which page you’re supposed to be on, you don’t have to worry about feast days “messing up” the order or flipping any pages. It’s just all there in front of you, easy to use, and if you like the idea of praying with other people that option is also available.

I think it’s great that someone in RCIA has connected with the Liturgy of the Hours. Though I have to warn you, it can be dangerous. One of our candidates a number of years ago approached me about some prayer books she bought. She found them on eBay and they said they were Catholic, so she bought them, but once she had them she didn’t quite know what to do with them. She brought one in and it turned out to be a volume of the Liturgy of the Hours. I told her I thought the easiest way to learn was to pray with someone else, so she started bringing her book to class and we prayed vespers together before our meetings so she could get the hang of it. Eventually she got rid of those books…as she was getting rid of her other belongings prior to entering the monastery. You never know where prayer may lead…
 
Jon_Mallory said:
I simply want to connect myself with the ancient hymns/traditions of the Church. I am still in RCIA but what attracted me to Catholicism in the first place was its wealth of tradition and antiquity. As a Protestant, I tolerated the constant repetitive hymns but always desired more. I don’t require that hymns be professionally sung. That actually turns me off. When I attended some Orthodox Churches, the liturgy was never celebrated in Byzantine chant. It was chanted by untrained lay persons but the Liturgy was still beautiful because of its content. The theology is contained within the liturgy.
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Don’t worry about. You really shouldn’t have to explain your preference. Nothing wrong with not wanting to sing modern hymns. For some reason some get annoyed when a Traditional preference is expressed. I ended up getting the books one at a time and use that resource I posted earlier.
 
I believe the hymns printed in the brievery used by most people and I would guess put on divineoffice.org are put out by the publisher. The brievery hasn’t been updated since the 70s there are some pretty bad hymns in there.

youtube.com/watch?v=U5sSEkZ86ts

But there is no strict rule on what hymn you sing during the liturgy of the hours. In my seminary, we typically sing a hymn either in the brievary or something in a hymnal. For more solemn feasts we may sing chant actually. The Liturgy of the hours is as old as the Church, as it has Jewish roots and has always been a part of the Church’s liturgy. There are plenty of things you can sing for the hymn. If you are serious about doing the liturgy of the hours look into an alternate type of hymnody to sing before you start the psalms.

I can suggest illuminarepublications.com/products/lch/ this has hymns and also chanted hymns set for the liturgy of the hours. I believe the official hymn book fo the Church is the Liber Hymnarius, this is all in latin.
 
DivineOffice.org is limited as to which hymns they can include because they must license their text and audio for use on the site and on the podcasts. So it is no real surprise that they do not all come from an ancient treasury with ultra-professional production values. “Christ in Whose Passion Once Was Sown” is done totally on a cheesy electronic keyboard with Kirgin-Voss on vocals. Despite of all that, I love it.
 
I believe the official hymn book fo the Church is the Liber Hymnarius, this is all in latin.
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I’m on my second copy of Liber Hymnarius. The first one is falling apart from constant use.

Unless I’m praying LOTH with a group of people, I use the Liber Hymnarius. Though my Latin isn’t tremendous, I’ve found resources to help me understand the more difficult portions.
 
drforjc said:
I’m on my second copy of Liber Hymnarius. The first one is falling apart from constant use.

Unless I’m praying LOTH with a group of people, I use the Liber Hymnarius. Though my Latin isn’t tremendous, I’ve found resources to help me understand the more difficult portions.
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This is what frustrates me about trad vs contemporary practices. If you want to experience the traditional prayers and liturgy, it has to be in a language no one understands anymore. Prayers should be translated into the vernacular so people can actually understand them. Otherwise, they take on the character of a magic esoteric ritual. I feel the need to say that this is just my opinion and I am open to criticism. I don’t want anyone to get angry.
 
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