Monastic Diurnal

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futureKC123

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Hello All,
I am looking to get a better LoTH. The Diurnale Romanum seems nice but it’s expensive and I’m not sure my Latin is good enough. The Monastic Diurnal I’ve heard is nice but I’m worried about the time it takes because I am not a monk and am a full-time student. There is also the one from St. Michael’s Abbey and Lancelot Andrewes press (which I think is just all English). Any suggestions on a breviary? I am looking for some English and Latin, not too expensive, and something that takes a reasonable amount of time.
Thanks for all your help!
FKC
 
I have prayed way too many forms of the Divine Office than is good for me. I’ve prayed:
  1. Liturgy of the Hours
  2. Liturgia Horarum (Latin LOTH)
  3. Monastic Diurnal (Benedictine 1963 from Farnborough Abbey)
  4. Diurnale Romanum (1961)
  5. Little Office of the BVM (pre- and post-conciliar)
If I was wanting to get into a “better LOTH”, I’d either get the MD from Farnborough Abbey:
theabbeyshop.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_29&products_id=745

If you get this, be sure and visit this blog that has an Ordo and a primer on using the MD:
saintsshallarise.blogspot.com/

If you want something less time-consuming but with Latin-English in a traditional Office, you could go with this:

angeluspress.org/Divine-Office

However, the above office is only Prim-Sext-Compline for Monday-Saturday and Lauds-Prime-Sext-Vespers-Compline for Sundays. Note, the collects and Antiphons are missing for proper feasts. Also, it is not something you can fit in your pocket. Although it is slim, it is almost 8X10" in footprint. In short, this Divine Office has the 1962 Breviary with the offices of the day you were most likely to pray as a busy layman, but the form factor is awkward and you are missing Collects that you will have to find from a traditional missal or online source.
 
If you want something less time-consuming but with Latin-English in a traditional Office, you could go with this:

angeluspress.org/Divine-Office

However, the above office is only Prim-Sext-Compline for Monday-Saturday and Lauds-Prime-Sext-Vespers-Compline for Sundays. Note, the collects and Antiphons are missing for proper feasts. Also, it is not something you can fit in your pocket. Although it is slim, it is almost 8X10" in footprint. In short, this Divine Office has the 1962 Breviary with the offices of the day you were most likely to pray as a busy layman, but the form factor is awkward and you are missing Collects that you will have to find from a traditional missal or online source.
I cringe when I hear the word “traditional” associated to the 1960 Breviary. It really only existed since 1910 when Pius X reformed the Divine Office in a manner just as controversial as the 1970 LOTH. In another 18 years, the 1970 LOTH will be just as old as the 1960 breviary was when when the LOTH came out. The 1910 breviary on which the 1960 is based split the psalms into equal lengths, “invented” new antiphons with no traditional melodies, etc. just like the 1970 LOTH did. Really the only thing “traditional” about it is the calendar, and even then, the calendar underwent extensive reform in the mid-to-late 50s. It was a complete and major overhaul of the Office in use up 'till then and it broke with many traditions (for example the three Laudate psalms prayed together every day at Lauds).

The Divine Office really, is a work in progress and always has been. Indeed though, the MD goes back 1500 years to Saint Benedict who codified its basic schema, so that Office does have deep tradition; it has been adapted through the millennia to follow the calendars of the times and indeed even exists in post-Vatican II form.

That said, and this is my own personal preference, I prefer an Office that goes through the entire psalter on a fixed cycle. So that means when I have time, usually the same post-Vatican II monastic schema used by the abbey I’m affiliated with (one week cycle or a two-week option), and if I don’t (which is the case at the moment) the 4-week LOTH.

I know all the criticisms of the current LOTH, but really, when you dig beneath the surface, most of them don’t hold water. Plus it really was designed for busy people (the clergy had been asking for it for decades, Pius X’s reforms were in fact the first crack at it). If you DO want to inject a bit more tradition into it, I suggest doing it in plainchant for at least part of the Office. There are several excellent options now for that:
  1. Antiphonale Romanum II (Solesmes, 2010); Vespers of all Sundays in the year, Feasts and Solemnities, noted for Gregorian chant;
  2. Les Heures Grégoriennes (St-Martin, France, 2008), ALL of the day hours of the current LOTH noted for Gregorian Chant;
  3. Mundelein Psalter, noted for plainchant in English.
The real, core, tradition of the Divine Office is the chanting of the psalms, which goes back to Jewish liturgy.
 
While the Psalms are the meat of the Office, it’s the prayers (Collects), Antiphons, Calendar, and Hymns that make it “The Office”. Otherwise, it’s just a Psalter. What makes the 1960 Office “traditional” in my experience, are these prayers and hymns that frame the psalter - and the 1960 Breviary is way more consonant with the pre-1910 Breviary in this regard than the 1970 LOTH. Yes, the Psalms may be arranged differently between the 1960BR and the pre-1910 Breviary, but many of the other prayers are the same. That’s what gives it a traditional flavor. However, the LOTH is a whole new beast. Not only is the calendar different, but many of the Collects, Antiphons, and prayers and fabricated out of whole cloth.

I just don’t understand why all of these things had to be destroyed in the LOTH when it would have been simple enough to simply keep these prayers with a change in structure only.

That’s why I say the 1960 Breviary is “traditional”.
 
The issue with the antiphons was exactly the same as 1910. However the vast majority follow the tradition of copying a psalm verse that give the theme of the psalm. For the seasons such as proper antiphons of Advent, for the most part they are the same in Latin as before, or a translation.

For the collects, they necessarily have to follow the Mass. So you use the 1960 Office to fit the EF Mass, or the LoTH or a modern monastic variant to go with the OF. But the 1960 office is anything but traditional. Even by 1960 many Octaves were cut out, the classes of feasts simplified and Holy Week overhauled.

For the hymns, the Latin hymns are the same as pre-Vatican II and in fact many reverted to traditional verses that had evolved into something else.
 
The one thing it occurred to me that we need to keep in mind here, is that the LOTH is the public prayer of the Church. It is also meant to be consistent with the Mass. In reality, the LOTH and the Mass are all part of the same liturgical action, with the Mass being its summit.

It therefore makes sense that if you regularly attend an OF Mass, you should use the LOTH or one of the current Monastic variants, though even the monks have permission to use the 4-week LOTH when outside the monastery if the monastery uses a heavier schema; the monastic versions are really designed to be sung in choir.

If you attend the EF Mass, then the 1960 breviary or the Breviarium Monasticum (from which the MD is derived) makes sense.

It would be dissonant to mix the breviary of one form with the Mass of the other.

It took myself a while to get over the fact that the Liturgy is “not all about me” and my preferences. It’s about attaching myself to the Body of Christ, and about being in unity with the entire Church. It’s also why I have to pray happy psalms when I’m grumpy, and sad psalms when I’m joyful, because I have have solidarity with those who are suffering and those who are joyful regardless of my mood.

Is the LOTH perfect? No. Neither is the 1960 breviary (the 1910 reforms caused just as much consternation then as now). Neither are the monastic variants; just listen to monks complain… and yes they do complain. They are all man-made breviaries and infused with human consciousness seeking God in our own imperfect way.

I think we should look at from this point of view: the 4-week LOTH is considered by most diocesan clergy a gift, compared to the weight of the previous breviary.

It should also be considered a gift from the Church, especially by the laity. The 1960 breviary was never intended to be used by the laity. On the other hand the Church encourages the laity to participate in the LOTH either in public or in private (and even in private it is still participation in the public prayer life of the Church). Moreover it makes it within grasp of the laity, whereas for most of us, doing a Vigil of 9 (Roman) or 12 (Monastic) psalms, plus long readings, etc. and observing all canonical hours on a consistent basis is simply not realistic.

As I said it’s not perfect, but it is nowhere near as bad as many folks make it out to be, and has numerous built-in options so that its roots are easily recognizable and so that there is a sense of continuity.
 
Great stuff Michel, thanks for sharing.

On the off chance that anyone is interested, there is a Monastic Diurnal which is also noted for chant in English. Its one of those things, which I do not need, but part of me really wants to get.

christminster.org/store/books/

Peace,
 
Great stuff Michel, thanks for sharing.

On the off chance that anyone is interested, there is a Monastic Diurnal which is also noted for chant in English. Its one of those things, which I do not need, but part of me really wants to get.

christminster.org/store/books/

Peace,
In English, I don’t know of any. In Latin, yes, the 1934 Antiphonale Monasticum from Solesmes. But it’s entirely in Latin. You’d need the MD for the translations.

Antiphonale Monasticum

If you can find some Gregorian chant modes in English, it might work with the English Antiphon. Otherwise for the LOTH, there’s the Mudelein Psalter.
 
In English, I don’t know of any. In Latin, yes, the 1934 Antiphonale Monasticum from Solesmes. But it’s entirely in Latin. You’d need the MD for the translations.

Antiphonale Monasticum

If you can find some Gregorian chant modes in English, it might work with the English Antiphon. Otherwise for the LOTH, there’s the Mudelein Psalter.
If you scroll down to the bottom at the link that was in my post, you will see:
Monastic Diurnal Noted
The Monastic Diurnal Noted is a complete Gregorian Antiphonal in English, containing all the Antiphons, Hymn Tunes, and Responsories of the Day Hours of the Benedictine Divine Office (the seven canonical Hours, excluding the midnight office of Matins).
This high quality reprint combines the two original volumes into one single volume. The first volume includes the music of Vespers, the Little Hours and Lauds of Great Feasts. The second volume includes the music of Sunday and Ferial Lauds, with Matins of the Sacred Triduum and Matins of the Dead
.
 
For anyone who is interested in an older version of the Monastic Office, this website as the pre-tridentine monasatic office translated side by side Latin to English. They have it set up for calendar day and for each of the daily hours. Its interesting to say the least, and represents an incredible amount of work put in. Look towards the bottom and you can select (from left to right) whether you want the entire office, which version you want (Tridentine, Monastic, etc.), regular or seasonal, and what language you want. Its pretty neat actually.

divinumofficium.com/cgi-bin/horas/officium.pl

Peace of Christ,
 
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