Optional memorials in LOTH

[The_Prodigal]

Today was the optional memorial of St. Hilary. Normally on days of this rank during ordinary time, I recite everything from the psalter. However today when reciting Evening Prayer (alone) I exercised the option to take everything from the reading onward from the common of pastors up to the prayer which was proper.

I wonder what you who pray the LOTH do on optional memorials. Do you stick with the psalter for simplicity’s sake, or pray from the proper and/or commons to venerate the saint more particlarly?

Is there any reason to prefer one or the other plan - perhaps based on historical precedent predating the most current format of the office - or is it strictly up to personal preference or the (unthinking, merely habitual) custom of the congregation?

 

[Lazerlike42]

Today was the optional memorial of St. Hilary. Normally on days of this rank during ordinary time, I recite everything from the psalter. However today when reciting Evening Prayer (alone) I exercised the option to take everything from the reading onward from the common of pastors up to the prayer which was proper.

I wonder what you who pray the LOTH do on optional memorials. Do you stick with the psalter for simplicity’s sake, or pray from the proper and/or commons to venerate the saint more particlarly?

Is there any reason to prefer one or the other plan - perhaps based on historical precedent predating the most current format of the office - or is it strictly up to personal preference or the (unthinking, merely habitual) custom of the congregation?

I personally always offer the office in honor of the saint.

However, on memorials and optional memorials, the psalms and antiphons from the current day in the psalter are used. The only things which are taken from the commons or the propers are the readings, responses, the antiphon for the Canticle of Zechariah and Mary, the intercessions and the closing prayer, and the second reading in the Office of Readings.

God bless

 

[drforjc]

I personally always offer the office in honor of the saint.

However, on memorials and optional memorials, the psalms and antiphons from the current day in the psalter are used. The only things which are taken from the commons or the propers are the readings, responses, the antiphon for the Canticle of Zechariah and Mary, the intercessions and the closing prayer, and the second reading in the Office of Readings.

God bless

I will back this up from the GILH.

1. ARRANGEMENT OF THE OFFICE FOR MEMORIALS
2. In the arrangement of the office there is no difference between obligatory and optional memorials, except in the case of optional memorials falling during privileged seasons.
   Memorials During Ordinary Time
3. In the office of readings, at morning prayer, and at evening prayer:
   a. the psalms and their antiphons are taken from the current week and day, unless there are proper antiphons or proper psalms, which is indicated as the case occurs;
   b. the antiphon at the invitatory, the hymn, the short reading, the antiphons at the Canticles of Zechariah and of Mary, and the intercessions must be those of the saint if these are given in the proper; otherwise, they are taken either from the common or from the current week and day;
   c. the concluding prayer from the office of the saint is to be said;

(Emphasis mine)

 

[Fidelis]

I’m a lay-person that has only recently been praying the Hours (as much as my state in life as a full time worker, husband and father of three allow). At this point (I use the one-volume Chistian Prayer), I find the complex page-turning involved in some of the optional memorials just a little bewildering. I usually content myself with looking to see if there is a memorial for the day, reading the little biography of the Saint, but then going to the Psalter. I do, however go back to the memorial for the closing prayer.

Maybe as I grow more proficient at the Hours and/or perhaps find myself with less daily responsibilities as I grow older (God willing) I can do it all. In the meantime I’m content in the belief that God will bless my best efforts, feeble though they may be

 

[porthos11]

I usually go only Psalter and Proper, unless this saint has some special significance for me, in which case, I go Psalter+Common+Proper. But that’s more the exception than the rule for me.

What’s more puzzling for me is when there is a new obligatory memorial or one of local significance (e.g. St. Marguerite, here in Canada), which isn’t printed in the Breviary. Since I don’t know whether its official Latin text has a proper Benedictus/Magnificat antiphon, I go with the Ordinary and recite it from the Common, everything else from the Psalter and Proper.

 

[The_Prodigal]

I will back this up from the GILH…
** they are taken either from the common or from the current week and day;** (Emphasis mine)

I’m aware that on optional memorials, the psalter is used for the psalmody, and the readings, responsory, antiphons for the Gospel canticles, and intercessions may be taken from either the psalter or the commons.

Maybe I didn’t make it clear. I’m not asking what is authorized - I’m asking why you might choose to use the psalter as opposed to the commons when you have the option.

 

[SenorSalsa]

it usually alternates here from all from the Psalter, or take the concluding prayer from the Propers, depending on who is leading and what they decide to do. Sometimes(as I recite the LOTH in a group of like 40-50) it seems as if the option is made based on the ease of explanation

 

[drforjc]

I’m aware that on optional memorials, the psalter is used for the psalmody, and the readings, responsory, antiphons for the Gospel canticles, and intercessions may be taken from either the psalter or the commons.

Maybe I didn’t make it clear. I’m not asking what is authorized - I’m asking why you might choose to use the psalter as opposed to the commons when you have the option.

I was just providing documentation for casual thread-browsers.

Regarding your question, I tend to agree with Porthos11 – usually Weekday + propers all the way through, only when the saint has special significance do I use the commons after the psalmody. Otherwise, during some seasons, you have several saints of the same “class” (pastors or martyrs etc) on successive days, and using the same commons day after day can be a bit tedious, and the psalms for the weekday get pushed back for at least another 4 weeks.