Liturgy of the Hours during the Octave of Christmas

[phil19034]

This year (2020) I’ve noticed that the Feast of St. John will not be celebrated because it falls on the Sunday within the Octave where The Feast of the Holy Family is placed unless Christmas & New Year’s falls on a Sunday.

When both Christmas and New Year’s both fall on Sunday, the Feast of the Holy Family is celebrated on Dec. 30th.

So he is my question: When creating the new LOTH, why didn’t the clergy who put it together the LOTH allow for the the Feasts of Saints Stephen (Dec 26th), John (Dec 27th), & Holy Innocents (Dec 28th) to be celebrated on Dec 30th when their given day falls on a Sunday?

Obviously, if the feast is celebrated as a Solminity, all would stay put and Holy Family would be celebrated on Dec 30th, but why not allow the Feast of the Holy Family literally swap places with St. Stephen, St. John, and/or Holy Innocents when Dec. 26th, 27 or 28 are Sundays?

Do you think there is a theological / liturgical symbolism to the way it exists, or simply an idea no one thought of when making the Feast of the Holy Family a moveable Feast?

Thank you & God Bless

 

[Vico]

…
When creating the new LOTH, why didn’t the clergy who put it together the LOTH allow for the the Feasts of Saints Stephen (Dec 26th), John (Dec 27th), & Holy Innocents (Dec 28th) to be celebrated on Dec 30th when their given day falls on a Sunday?
…

The Church could do that, however there is tradition to grapple with. Note that in the Byzantine Catholic menion, Saint John is not celebrated on December 27, but on September 26.

Fixed Byzantine
25 Nativity
26 Synaxis Theotokos (Mother of God)
27 Martyr Stephen
28 20 Thousand Martyrs
29 Holy Innocents
30 Martyr Anysia
31 Melany of Rome
1 Circumcision / Basil
2 Pope Sylvester of Rome

Fixed Latin
25 Nativity
26 Martyr Stephen
27 John
28 Holy Innocents
29 Martyr Becket
30 Martyr Anysia
31 Pope Sylvester of Rome
1 Mother of God / Circumcision (traditional)
2 Basil

 

[LordofByz]

The Feasts of St. Stephen, St. John, and the Holy Innocents were celebrated on those dates universally in the West. They were actually nicknamed the Comites Christi (Companions of Christ) because they followed Christmas. The centuries-old practice was that if one of these feasts fell on a Sunday, that Feast would be fully celebrated on Sunday (outranking the Sunday, in other words). The Tridentine rite followed this custom until Pope Pius XII’s changes to the calendar. Under these changes, the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas outranked the Comites Christi but they were still commemorated. Thus, in the Roman Breviary of 1962 (Extraordinary Form) this year the Office of the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas will be sung with a commemoration of St. John the Apostle at Lauds.
Now since your question deals with the new LOTH, the Feast of the Holy Family was moved from the Sunday following Epiphany to that following Christmas Day. St. John the Apostle, the Evangelist, the Disciple whom Jesus loved, is left off entirely this year in the OF. I agree with you that there is something wrong with this arrangement. Actually all the Apostles get omitted if they fall on a Sunday. There isn’t really any theological / liturgical symbolism in this arrangement. I think it should be corrected at some point.
My proposal is to have the Comites Christi to outrank the Sunday like they did for centuries. Now this does pose a bit of a problem if you celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family within the Octave of Christmas, since the Feast would be celebrated on a Sunday only if the 29, 30, and 31 are Sundays. This might be part of the reason the Feast of the Holy Family was originally on the Sunday within the Octave of Epiphany when it was introduced. Then again, the Feast of the Holy Family was introduced to the general Roman calendar in 1921; the devotion itself only goes back to about the 17th century. The tradition of the Comites Christi goes back centuries. It’s not too much to ask that we celebrate the Feast of St. John this year. He only wrote a Gospel, after all.
In any case, you can try to ask your parish to hold a blessing of wine this year, which is traditionally done on St. John’s Day.

 

[TomH1]

The answer is straightforward. It is found in a document called the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and Calendar. If two liturgical days occur on the same calendar day the higher ranking liturgical day is the one celebrated.

The feast of the Holy Family is a feast of the Lord in the Universal Calendar and is ranked higher than any other holy day with the rank of feast. Indeed, unlike other feasts, they can outrank Sundays in the Christmas Season or in Ordinary Time.

This year St. John the Evangelist cannot be celebrated because it falls on a Sunday. Plus, that Sunday is the Sunday in the Christmas Octave on which the feast of the Holy Family is kept. St. John cannot be transferred because if a feast is impeded it cannot be transferred. Here again feasts of the Lord in the Universal Calendar have their own rules and they can be transferred if impeded.

As you point out St. John the Evangelist can be temporarily promoted to a solemnity. That is happening this year in our cathedral which is dedicated to St. John. In cases where this happens St. John will be observed because all solemnities outrank all feasts and they also outrank Sundays in the Christmas season.

 

[phil19034]

Thank you @TomH1! I didn’t consider what would happen if the Sunday was just a Sunday and the Feast of the Holy Family wasn’t being moved to it.

 

[Zach]

Can any recommend Liturgy of the hours book for a beginner? I want a hard copy, not online. I want to start praying them daily. Thanks.

 

[LordofByz]

The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the easiest for a beginner since it doesn’t really change from day to day, only by season. I personally began to learn to pray the Divine Office with Lauds, Vespers, Compline in English printed by Liturgical Press, 1965. Mostly used copies are available. It comes with all the rubrics to pray the respective hours any day of the year, so I was able to readily learn it. Overall the English translation is pretty easy to understand. The psalm translations are pretty good; no thees or thous like the Coverdale psalter but flows better than the NAB psalms. The hymns are translated literally, not poetically. It also contains commentary by Pius Parsch, very helpful for someone to meditate on the meaning of the prayers. But I think your question might be more appropriate for a separate forum post.

 

[phil19034]

If you are in the United States (or even Canada) I suggest the Daughters of St. Paul (Paulines) edition. Reason, unlike the Catholic Book Publishing (CBP) edition, the Paulines version has the complete DayTime prayers.

So CBP version complete Lauds, Vespers and Compline only, while Paulines version has everything except the Office of Readings.

https://www.amazon.com/Christian-pr...11b8e&pd_rd_wg=jcBfx&pd_rd_i=B007F639JG&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Christian-Pr...8JDKK9P5QG5&psc=1&refRID=XCTJ1EFS08JDKK9P5QG5

There are two different cover styles depending on year of print. Also, while most are a black cover, some copies have a brown(ish) cover.

Personally, I have both, the CBP version and the Pauline version. I use both though because (while I prefer the Pauline version) my Pauline version is old and the binding is starting to break, so I use it sparingly.

But again, I highly recommend the Pauline version, and if you can get a new one from Amazon, awesome!

BTW - the “Shorter Christian Prayer” book (in my opinion) is a waist to buy, and was really only meant for groups to purchase. The cost savings is not great enough (in my opinion), it’s better to go with the full Christian Prayer.

NOTE: if you are in Africa, a Commonwealth Nation (other than in Canada or the Caribbean), Ireland, etc; you will most likely want either the UK version of the Divine Office, or the African Breviary.

God Bless

 

[TomH1]

Can any recommend Liturgy of the hours book for a beginner?

I don’t think this is what you’re asking for. However, I’m not aware of any liturgical book that is designed for the beginner. Some just have fewer parts of the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office). However, if you want a book to help you learn how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) I can recommend the one below.

Its author is Madeline Pecora Nugent. The book was published in 2008. Its title is The Divine Office for Dodos: A Step-by-Step Guide to Praying the Liturgy of the Hours. It is published in the USA and by Catholic Book Publishing. The ISBN is 9780899424828. It’s available on, at least, Amazon and ABE Books.