UK Divine Office (3-volume) question

[Jon_in_the_Nati]

Friends,

Since becoming a Catholic (converting from an Anglican church some time ago) I have continued out of habit to pray the divine office in the Anglican form (Matins, Midday, Vespers, Compline). Recently I have made the decision to switch to the officially-sanctioned Liturgy of the Hours so as to share in the universal prayer of the Church.

In looking at the four-volume American edition of the LOTH, I was impressed neither with the translation of the prayers nor with the physical quality of the books themselves; I was advised to pick up the Divine Office 3-volume set from Collins. I understand the difference in the content of the two sets (I also understand that because of the differences, I would not be able to pray the offices in public recitation); I am more interested to know if anyone has had experience with this set.

Are the books themselves of good quality? Normally I’d find a set and try them out, but that is not likely to happen over here. I’d appreciate any insight anyone has.

 

[Batfink]

Yes. I live in the UK and pray from the three volume Collins set.

I find them to be of good quality, but I still invested in a leather cover for further protection. My one complaint would be that they don’t come with enough ribbons (I have no experience of the US set so I don’t know how it compares), only 5 per book. Today, for example, if I had only been using the ribbons, I would have had one in the office of the day, one in the Office of Readings of the day, one in the psalter at Week 1 Wednesday and one in Compline. Then I would have been left with just one to choose between St Andrew, the Common of Apostles, the appendix of hymns and many others. So I use extra page markers, it’s not a big deal and the books handle it well (e.g. they don’t get bent out of shape by so many bookmarks).

The small matter of ribbons aside, the books are durable, the paper is thick enough for purpose, the font size is legible and usually clear (there are odd bits where it’s slightly confusing, especially right now because the first volume Advent-Week 9 contains explanations in red italics about every single prayer/action/word the first time it is used, assuming one is starting from scratch as a newbie. This gets easy enough to overlook if you’re used to it). Each volume comes with a pull out set of two cards with the psalms and canticle from Sunday Week 1, the gospel canticles, the Te Deum and the Invitatory psalm so you can refer to those without having to flick pages.

If you get a leather cover, note that they make two sizes. Some people presumably have one per volume, I have just one which I swap when the book in use changes. The two sizes are ‘volumes 1-2’ and ‘volume 3’. Volume 3 is bigger and is needed for that volume, it will also fit the other two; their specialist covers fit them more snugly.

I would recommend this set, if you’re happy praying in private only. I also have the one volume Morning, Evening and Night Prayer book, which I sometimes take with me to public services (it is more portable). Maybe you would like to consider a similar purchase of the US version so you can have the best of both worlds, finances permitting.

 

[peregrinus_sg]

Hi Batfink,

Funny, my set of the 3 volume Divine Office from Collins comes with 6 ribbons per volume. So I generally have no problems with not having enough ribbons to go round. The American edition, which I have used when I was resident in the USA, has only 5 ribbons.

But I’m interested to know where you got the leather covers for the books from.

Thanks in advance for the information!

 

[DebChris]

I purchased a set of Collins Divine Liturgy before returning to the Middle East this year. Stateside, I had been using the single volume Christian Prayer, substituting spiritual classics for the non-Biblical readings. It’s a little harder to find spiritual classics here than it was in the states.
The US uses the NAB for liturgical purposes, while here they use the RSV, as in England.
My set also has 6 ribbons per book. The one drawback that I see is that the Divine Liturgy only has one year cycle of Biblical readings while the LOTH includes a two year cycle.
I also have a pocket size Morning and Evening Prayer. I understand that Morning Prayer is prayed before the daily 6:30am Mass. My personal schedule, both work and inclination, is not compatible with the early morning daily Mass. Mass is also offered in the evening every day.

 

[Batfink]

Hi Batfink,
But I’m interested to know where you got the leather covers for the books from.

Thanks in advance for the information!

Where do you live? If you’re in the UK, they’re available from most bookshops which sell the books. I got mine from the CTS bookshop next to Westminster Cathedral. They’re also available online, (or at least they were, I haven’t checked recently) on sites like Amazon.