Liturgy of the Hours, official translations

[Mark1970]

All countries have their own, officially approved translations of the Liturgy of the Hours. Living in the UK, my “usual” 3-volume version is approved for the use in the UK, possibly Australia and one or two other countries. But not the US, which has its own, 4-volume version.

My question is, if a lay-person such as myself (who is not under an official obligation to recite the LOTH) is reciting it privately, i.e. on their own with nobody else present, it is acceptable to use a version that is not officially approved for use in their country?

My reason for asking is, the current UK version doesn’t have e.g. the proper parts for some recently canonised saints, such as Saint Pio on Friday. But many of these are to be found on e.g. the Universalis website. I’m assuming that under the circumstances it would be perfectly OK to supplement my copy of the LOTH with reference to non-official texts? Thanks in advance.

 

[curlycool89]

All countries have their own, officially approved translations of the Liturgy of the Hours. Living in the UK, my “usual” 3-volume version is approved for the use in the UK, possibly Australia and one or two other countries. But not the US, which has its own, 4-volume version.

My question is, if a lay-person such as myself (who is not under an official obligation to recite the LOTH) is reciting it privately, i.e. on their own with nobody else present, it is acceptable to use a version that is not officially approved for use in their country?

My reason for asking is, the current UK version doesn’t have e.g. the proper parts for some recently canonised saints, such as Saint Pio on Friday. But many of these are to be found on e.g. the Universalis website. I’m assuming that under the circumstances it would be perfectly OK to supplement my copy of the LOTH with reference to non-official texts? Thanks in advance.

Short answer: Yes, as a lay-person you are allowed to use whichever version you want. You have the option to not pray it at all, so yes you have the option to use another version.

On another note, there aren’t actually any proper parts for St. Pio this Friday for those of us with the US LOTH 4-book version, nor in the LOTH Supplement. On the Universalis website (and others), the closing prayer is actually taken from the Common of Pastors (it’s a fairly generic one with an “insert saint name here” part). So, you’re not missing anything for Friday.

That being said (ok, now this is getting long), iBreviary does have a proper Second (hagiographical) Reading (A Letter of St. Pio) for Friday. I don’t actually know where they got it from though, because as I said there is nothing in the approved 4-Volume edition or Supplement.