Which Breviary do you use to pray and why?

[Windmill]

Liturgia Horarum (editio typical altera).

I attend an OF parish but the Office is so much more alive when I pray it in Latin. While I love my Monastic Diurnal (1963 Monastic Office), it is much too long to fit into my crazy day. The Liturgia Horarum, for me, blends sacredness and brevity. Not to mention that it is the prayer that most of the ordained are praying worldwide. People may love the old 1961 Roman Breviary, but I would bet that you’d be hard pressed to find another layman in your area that prays it, and even less likely that he prays all of it.

If we ever get an EF parish here, I’d switch in a second and pray my Roman Diurnal…but only parts of it.

Ora, sorry about the job. Prayers headed your way.

 

[OraLabora]

Liturgia Horarum (editio typical altera).

I attend an OF parish but the Office is so much more alive when I pray it in Latin. While I love my Monastic Diurnal (1963 Monastic Office), it is much too long to fit into my crazy day. The Liturgia Horarum, for me, blends sacredness and brevity. Not to mention that it is the prayer that most of the ordained are praying worldwide. People may love the old 1961 Roman Breviary, but I would bet that you’d be hard pressed to find another layman in your area that prays it, and even less likely that he prays all of it.

If we ever get an EF parish here, I’d switch in a second and pray my Roman Diurnal…but only parts of it.

Ora, sorry about the job. Prayers headed your way.

Thanks.

And as you said in another thread (I think it was you), with the pre-Vatican II offices, whether Monastic or Roman, one gets caught into the sanctoral an awful lot so you lose the sense of regularity that ordinary ferias give, not to mention the sense of the seasons. The simplification of the calendar was to me an excellent move; too many accretions made that it was a feast more often than a feria or at least it seemed that way. Without simplicity to contrast against, a feast loses much of its meaning. It can’t be a party every day!

At least we have the tools now to say the LOTH in Latin and for lovers of chant like myself, in Gregorian chant in very convenient books without too much page flipping.

 

[ChurchSoldier]

too many accretions made that it was a feast more often than a feria or at least it seemed that way. Without simplicity to contrast against, a feast loses much of its meaning. It can’t be a party every day!

That’s a good point

 

[ChurchSoldier]

I’ve been wanting to start this habit, rather recently I might add. What sort of things do you recommend to a beginner into the Divine Office?

I have used the “Christian Prayer” recently on a retreat (though am still mystified as to how pages are selected) and enjoyed it.

theanglicanbreviary.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/instructions-anglican-breviary.pdf

Here is a link to instructions on the Anglican Breviary. Since it is a copy of the Roman Breviary pre 1962 I would think it would be similar to the Roman Breviary.

Maybe someone who is familar could comment.

Here’s another site (RC) based on the 1963. saintsshallarise.blogspot.com/

 

[porthos11]

I use the Nova et Vetera edition of the Roman Breviary, and absolutely love it. Beautiful books, and I get so much out of the traditional office. The main downside (since I attend Mass in the ordinary form) is that the calendar doesn’t always match. I’m very much at ease with Latin, though.

I have it in reverse. I use the 4-volume Liturgy of the Hours in the Ordinary Form, but I attend Mass in the Extraordinary Form, so I experience a similar disconnect of the calendars.

 

[NickD]

I use the ICEL-translated post-Vatican II Liturgy of the Hours (basically, the one for use in the US of A), for a variety of reasons.

It’s the most affordable. While it would be great to be able to pray the pre-Vatican II Divine Office, I don’t have the hundreds of dollars to throw around to get the books, and while I could use an app or website, I prefer books still.

It’s in English. Even though I’m in my third year of Latin classes, I don’t have the knowledge of Latin needed for the breviary.

It’s used by the religious congregation in which I will soon be beginning novitiate. The transition, at least re: the breviary should be pretty seamless.

Pax et bonum

 

[Granum_Frumenti]

theanglicanbreviary.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/instructions-anglican-breviary.pdf

Here is a link to instructions on the Anglican Breviary. Since it is a copy of the Roman Breviary pre 1962 I would think it would be similar to the Roman Breviary.

Maybe someone who is familar could comment.

Yes, the two sets of instructions are similar enough; they are not identical but also not radically different. The “flavor” is similar, but overall the 1962 version has a number of simplifications.

I vaguely remember having come across, some time ago, an authoritative-looking page with details on the differences before and after the reforms of 1960. My search today has been unsuccessful, but I’ll keep on looking at some point.

 

[tlenseigne]

I use ibreviary which is on the internet. No need for books as it is updated daily. Alot of people find the LOH hard but using ibreviary, no hassle and my wife and i use this on the iphone and my tablet.

 

[tlenseigne]

i usw ibreviary on internet via iphone or tablet. it is up dated every day and no need for books

Tim

 

[tlenseigne]

i use ibreviary on internet as it is updated daily via iphone or tablet. No need to use books.

 

[SeminarianUK]

I don’t know. There’s something about books rather than using a phone or tablet.

I just like the whole experience, having my own breviary with all my prayer cards in their relevant places and so on.

 

[porthos11]

I don’t know. There’s something about books rather than using a phone or tablet.

I just like the whole experience, having my own breviary with all my prayer cards in their relevant places and so on.

I agree. Only in exceptional circumstances will I use an electronic device for the Divine Office.

 

[OraLabora]

I agree. Only in exceptional circumstances will I use an electronic device for the Divine Office.

Same here. I’m an avid cyclist and most summer Saturdays my wife and I are on the road for the better part of the day, same thing Sunday afternoons after Mass. So my only opportunity to say mid-day prayer will be while on the road, and I bring it up on my iPhone during one of our breaks. That’s one circumstance where carrying the weight and size of the breviary would be problematic as we ride road bikes with no panniers, so the phone has to do.

We also travel a lot however, and when that happens I carry the current LOTH volume with me in my computer bag.

 

[porthos11]

Same here. I’m an avid cyclist and most summer Saturdays my wife and I are on the road for the better part of the day, same thing Sunday afternoons after Mass. So my only opportunity to say mid-day prayer will be while on the road, and I bring it up on my iPhone during one of our breaks. That’s one circumstance where carrying the weight and size of the breviary would be problematic as we ride road bikes with no panniers, so the phone has to do.

We also travel a lot however, and when that happens I carry the current LOTH volume with me in my computer bag.

Ah, but in my case, as I’m also a cyclist, I do carry my bound Breviary in my backpack. To each his own, but I don’t consider my cycling exceptional enough for me to resort to the electronic device.

There’s just something…wrong…about using an electronic device for the Divine Office, but that’s just me.

 

[OraLabora]

Ah, but in my case, as I’m also a cyclist, I do carry my bound Breviary in my backpack. To each his own, but I don’t consider my cycling exceptional enough for me to resort to the electronic device.

There’s just something…wrong…about using an electronic device for the Divine Office, but that’s just me.

We do most of our riding in a mountainous area and do a lot of climbing through mountain passes, so weight saving is a big thing for us. We don’t use a backpack, we only carry what fits in our jersey pockets and a small under-seat tool bag, usually a couple of spare tubes, energy bars, CO2 cartridges and a small all-in-one tool for minor repairs.

If the ride isn’t too long and we leave straight from our house, we’ll leave home at around 9:30 or 10 in the morning and I’ll do mid-day prayer at the time of Terce before we leave. Most of our Saturday rides are in the 100-120 km range with the odd one up to 160 km.

But it’s my only regular exception, other than the rare occasion when I go out and discover that I have forgotten my breviary. Like you I find that praying from a device just seems to be missing something. Once I went for a medium-length ride with a monk friend of mine, and to my surprise he photocopied Terce and Sext (on the monastic schema) so we recited them aloud at rest breaks along the way.