Praying the office for the dead

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stephentlig
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Stephentlig

Guest
Could someone please explain to me this office? I see it in my Divine Office book Volume III p692 (Ireland, wales and England edition) and I don’t know what it is and when to pray it? Do I pray it at leisure? Do I offer it up for someone in particular?

Thanks.
 
I usually pray it on the anniversary of my parents’ deaths and similar occasions.
 
It’s the Office to pray if a loved one, or an important member of your community, or a close friend, passes on. For instance when a monk or member of another community of religious will pray it on the day of learning of the death, and/or of the Requiem Mass.

It can also be prayed on the anniversary of a death of someone close, if that day isn’t otherwise liturgically privileged.
 
So I can pray it on any day and at any time I like as long as I don’t replace it with one of the official offices like morning or vigils?
 
It replaces the Office of the day. That is, you replace Lauds of the Day with Lauds of the Office of the Dead, etc.
 
Oh I see very good. Is there a prayer one prays at the beginning of it for the ones you’re offering it up for?
 
The concluding prayers. See pages 709*-711* and 719*-721*in your breviary. (I have the same three-volume set.)
 
Last edited:
How do I replace the Night prayer for Office of the dead? Doesn’t seem to be much info there just telling me to pray night prayer as I would on a sunday? Yet gives me page 499 after evening prayer II in another section. Confused.
 
You do not “replace” it.

The instruction for Night Prayer for the Office for the Dead, found on page 721*, reads, “All as on a Sunday, After Evening Prayer II, pp [499] ff.”

The Night Prayer on page [499] is for “After Evening Prayer II of Sundays and Solemnities.”

The instruction on page 721* is telling you to pray the Night Prayer that starts on page [499].
 
Last edited:
Ah I was looking at a different page 499 the one in the common dedication of a church. So the concluding prayer I just do on 721 for tonights evening prayer for example?
 
No, you pray Night Prayer for “After Evening Prayer II of Sundays and Solemnities” that starts on page [499], as instructed on page 721*, regardless of what day it actually is.

The pages aren’t numbered straight through from the first page to the last. This is why I use all punctuation that appears when referring to the pages in the breviary (*, [ ], etc.)
 
Last edited:
And in the evening prayer tonight on 499 do I replace the concluding prayer in it for some concluding prayer appropriate for the occassion or office of the dead on 721?
 
The options for the concluding prayer at the end of Evening Prayer for the Office of the Dead, which begins on page 715*, are found on pages 719*-721*. Pick whichever seems appropriate to you.

What you are looking at on page [499] is Night Prayer, not Evening Prayer. For Night Prayer, you would select the concluding prayer for Sundays on page [501] since the instruction on page 721* reads “All as on a Sunday”.
 
Last edited:
I initially misunderstood the question in your last post and have amended my response to address what you were actually asking. Mea culpa 😔
 
OraLabora said:
It can be prayed … if that day isn’t otherwise liturgically privileged.
Click to expand...
Liturgically privileged? Did you have in mind those days excepted from the celebration of votive offices in paragraph 245 of the General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours, namely, “solemnities, the Sundays of the seasons of Advent, Lent, and Easter, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, the octave of Easter, and 2 November”?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top