At the orders of the Holy Father Pope Francis, the then-Congregation (now Dicastery) of Divine Worship on Feb. 11, 2018 instituted a new obligatory memorial on the General Roman Calendar to be observed on the Monday after Pentecost Sunday: The Blessed Virgin Mary under her title of Mother of the Church (a theme strongly emphasized … Continue reading
Adoremus, a publication on liturgical life well worth following for any Christian, just published a reflection by Br. Stanley Rother Wagner OSB, a Benedictine monk of St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana, on the Liturgy of the Hours and the problem of contentment — or lack thereof — in our prayer and spiritual life. Anyone who … Continue reading
Blessed Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist to all! The gospel according to Mark, acknowledged by the consensus of Scripture scholars today to have been the first to be written chronologically of the four canonical gospels, is my personal favorite of the four, for its breathless, action-packed excitement mixed with a matter-of-factness that to me … Continue reading
The new translation of the Psalms and Canticles that will be incorporated into the Liturgy of the Hours Second Edition, called the “Abbey Psalms & Canticles” (formerly the Revised Grail), was first published upon its approval for optional liturgical use in early 2020 by USCCB Publications in an attractive hardcover format. Unfortunately, with USCCB shuttering … Continue reading
I have written before about the new collaborative product of ICEL, the USCCB, and GIA Publications: The Divine Office Hymnal, published in 2023 and containing all the new translations of the Liturgia Horarum second typical edition’s Latin hymns — in accurate, clear, crisp, poetic, modern English — that will be included in the upcoming Liturgy … Continue reading
Great news! The new collaborative publication between GIA, the USCCB and ICEL, titled “The Divine Office Hymnal,” is now available for orders on GIA’s website. This is the fruit of many years’ work by ICEL in leading the translation into fresh, accurate, metrically matching, contemporary but poetic English of all 294 Office Hymns in the … Continue reading
One of the hallmarks of the Liturgical Movement in the early- to mid-20th century was the impetus to open up the treasures of the Sacred Liturgy of the Catholic Church to the entire people of God. To this end, a slew of vernacular publications of liturgical texts, not only bilingual hand missals but also simplified … Continue reading
Divine Worship: Daily Office’s Commonwealth Edition published by Catholic Truth Society in the UK is understandably esteemed by most as the crown jewel of the Ordinariates’ divine offices. The reputation of its underdog cousin, the North American Edition published by Newman House Press in New Jersey, was marred from the very beginning by delays in … Continue reading
I have written several posts in the past about the ongoing revision of the Liturgy of the Hours’ American edition, giving props to USCCB and ICEL for their excellent work, reasonable timing and transparency about progress. Although this continental revision of the translation will not solve some fundamental issues with the current Roman office that … Continue reading
Daytime Prayer in the Roman Office: A (Very) Brief Historical Overview From about the mid-first millennium until 1911, when Pope Pius X radically rearranged its psalm distribution, the divine office of the Roman rite had a never-changing psalmody for the “little hours” of the day: Prime (First Hour, 6 a.m.), Terce (Third Hour, 9 a.m.), … Continue reading
Tom's Digest 