Rubrics Of The Traditional Divine Office

[Tradosaurus Rex]

JMJ

Does anyone know of a good guide for the rubrics of the traditional divine office? I acquired the Baronius Press version and need something which will break down the Office and how to pray it. It came with a guide but I feel I need something a little bit more suited for my stupidity. Like a divine office for dummies type of guide. Maybe something with pictures?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[puellapaschalis]

What kind of rubrics do you mean?

[Tradosaurus Rex]

Basically I'm asking if anyone knows of a guide which breaks down how to pray the traditional divine office. I need a guide which is written in a way that is easy to understand.

[puellapaschalis]

Do you mean the structure, as in which bit comes after which bit? I know a couple of avenues for that:

 

1) In the Psalter of your Breviary, the first instance of each Office will usually have everything spelt out explicitly. So Prime on Monday, Lauds of Sunday, that kind of thing. You can always refer to that.

 

2) Sometimes a Breviary will have a handy insert that gives you the general structure of each Office. The Monastic Diurnal has this, which is very useful (but the pattern is slightly different between the Roman and Monastic uses, so it's not interchangeable).

 

3) You can use a site like divinumofficium.org to help - but the different possibilities can be confusing. I chose the 'skeleton' of Vespers in the Roman pattern for Friday 14th November 2014, and got this:

 

[attachment=3317:Screen Shot 2014-11-14 at 01.31.20.png]

 

Which gives you the bare outline of what comes next.

 

I think the short answer may be 'no'. The trad Office is simply more complicated than the LotH, but it's very doable. My (unasked for!) advice would be to pick one Office to start off with each day, and learn that well (people here can help, just ask). Knowing the structure of one will greatly help in learning the others.

[puellapaschalis]

For completeness, there is a blog about the trad Benedictine Office. It started out with a fairly basic step-by-step guide with this post. Perhaps reading about the structure of, say, Vespers, will give you some insight.

 

But once again my caveat: whilst the two have roughly the same structure, there are differences between the Benedictine and Roman Office. So you could use this to start you off and give you some idea, but it's not to be clung to.

 

Are you familiar with the post-Conciliar Liturgy of the Hours?

[Tradosaurus Rex]

Thank you! Yes I'm interested in the structure. I feel overwhelmed when I look at it, lol. Which hour of the office would you recommend a beginner learn first?

[TIWW]

I am in the US, but our Catholic bookstores which sell various forms of the LOTH, Ie 4 volume set, or others, also sell the yearly guide which goes with them. As of January 1, there will be a new guide. There is also an online Liturgy of the hours, which also has a daily guide. It depends on which one you use, and  in which country you live,for the feasts and commons will be different. 

[Tradosaurus Rex]

For completeness, there is a blog about the trad Benedictine Office. It started out with a fairly basic step-by-step guide with this post. Perhaps reading about the structure of, say, Vespers, will give you some insight.

But once again my caveat: whilst the two have roughly the same structure, there are differences between the Benedictine and Roman Office. So you could use this to start you off and give you some idea, but it's not to be clung to.

Are you familiar with the post-Conciliar Liturgy of the Hours?

Thank you, I will check that out. I haven't had any experience with the post-conciliar LOTH. This is my first time picking up the Office.

[puellapaschalis]

Thank you! Yes I'm interested in the structure. I feel overwhelmed when I look at it, lol. Which hour of the office would you recommend a beginner learn first?

 

Feeling overwhelmed is fine. Just don't let it stop you. Remember that even in The Good Old Days™® (*ahum*), people didn't learn this on their own, as we do now. They learnt it in seminary or the monastery.

 

Way back when, I was advised to start with Compline (just before bed). If you'd like to start with an Office in the morning, I'd suggest Prime (before the day's work begins).
 

I think I'd go for Prime first, out of the two. Compline has a twiddly thing at the beginning that none of the other Offices do. Prime I see as a solid, no-nonsense Office with little inclination for the pomp and faff of the others than can throw someone off-guard.

[AccountDeleted]

Personally, I am switching back to the UK Divine Office from the US LOH but I have used the monastic diurnal when I was staying with the Benedictine nuns on Shaw Island and it is a lovely way to pray as well. If you haven't had Latin before, you might want to get a pronunciation guide as it isn't pronounced exactly as one would think it should be! :)
 
Although it is always best to learn it with a community that is actually using it, if that isn't possible, then this website might help you - it not only has instructions and information, but also the calendar for the Propers each week. Good luck.
 
Saints will Arise: 
Focusing on the Traditional Benedictine Office in accordance with the 1963 Benedictine calendar and rubrics, including the Farnborough edition of the Monastic Diurnal.

[reminiscere]

Firstly, the traditional Roman and Benedictine offices are different, especially regarding the Psalter.

 

Usually when one buys the Baronius breviaries, a copy of Fr. Hausmann's Learning the New Breviary is included. And by new - that means the 1960 (62) office! If not, you can buy it from Angelus. 

 

This should also answer your questions: http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/resources/books/quigley

 

 

[Gabriela]

JMJ

Does anyone know of a good guide for the rubrics of the traditional divine office? I acquired the Baronius Press version and need something which will break down the Office and how to pray it. It came with a guide but I feel I need something a little bit more suited for my stupidity. Like a divine office for dummies type of guide. Maybe something with pictures?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

And btw: Welcome to Phatmass, TR. Great username! :)

[truthfinder]

I found that setting Divinum Officium onto the full rubrics setting can be very helpful when first starting out just to make sure you're getting all the parts.  Some breviaries assume you know the introductory prayers or things like that.  The rubric list itself if very helpful http://divinumofficium.com/www/horas/Help/Rubrics/General%20Rubrics.html

but like others have said, the breviary is something that was usually learned with others - it is truly easiest if you have someone to help you in person; but we'll try our best to help you anyways. Welcome to phatmass!

[Charbel]

J.M.+J.T.

 

If the Divine Office is too much for you, you could simply start out with "Christian Prayer" which is like a shorter version of the LOTH that is great for a beginner. You can find it on amazon for a decent price. If you decide to get that, than you will also need the "Guide for Christian Prayer", so keep that in mind. Best of luck to you!

Edited November 15, 2014 by Charbel