Sunday, February 06, 2011

The Divine Office – Part 4

Tridentine Community News (February 6, 2011):
The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary

An abridged version of the Divine Office that has become particularly popular among laypeople is the Offícium Parvum Beátæ Maríæ Víirginis, or Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Its advantage is that it is shorter and easier to pray than the full Office. Its disadvantage is that there is not as much variety over time in the text of the prayers.

The Little Office contains all of the hours of the full Office. Only Matins varies daily; apart from seasonal differences in Advent, Christmastide, and Eastertide, the text of the other hours is the same every day. It is this very lack of variation that makes for a small, easily portable prayer book, along with the comfort of formulas that become familiar over time.

Certain religious orders, including the Norbertines, the Carthusians, and the Cistericans, had their own versions of the Little Office which, in some cases was prayed in addition to, and not instead of, the Divine Office. Occasionally you may find books meant for those orders’ variations of the Little Office, but the mainstream version is the standard Roman Rite edition.

Praying the Little Office is associated with a variety of graces, including the Sabbatine Privilege, which will be the subject of a future column.

Extraordinary Form

Baronius Press (www.baroniuspress.com) has issued a new Latin/English edition of the Extraordinary Form Little Office based on the 1961 Breviary. On the plus side, this book includes hierarchical English translations from the Douay Rheims bible. It also includes Gregorian Chant notation for those interested in chanting the Office. On the minus side, the Latin text does not employ accent marks, sometimes making it challenging to read. Be sure to order the 2009 (second) edition, which corrects some typos found in the first edition.

We caution you against using the Little Office published by St. Bonaventure Press, as it is based upon the 1904 Breviary, which is not the edition to be used for the Extraordinary Form today.

The comprehensive Breviary site www.divinumofficium.com contains the 1961 edition of the Little Office, along with earlier editions, with parallel Latin and (hieratic) English.

www.ipieta.com offers a $2.99 app for the iPhone which contains a “public domain” version of the Little Office as well as Extraordinary Form Mass readings in English from the Douay-Rheims Bible. We assume this is an Extraordinary Form Little Office, though we cannot determine if it is the 1961 edition.

www.officiumdivinum.org contains the 1961 Little Office of the Blessed Virgin in Latin only, quickly accessible.

A tutorial on the Little Office, including audio samples in Latin and English, is available at www.boston-catholic-journal.com.

Ordinary Form

The Little Office was never revised by Rome after Vatican II. As a result, there is no official Vatican Latin version for the Ordinary Form. All public celebrations of the Little Office must therefore continue to use the Extraordinary Form. However, in 1988 Fr. John Rotelle, OSA, published an edition with approval for private use (only) that updated the Little Office to conform to the new Liturgy of the Hours. Only (modern) English is provided. See www.catholicbookpublishing.com.
Requiem Mass for Fr. Ulysse Lefaive on February 15

On Tuesday, February 15 at 7:00 PM, a High Requiem Mass with Absolution at the Catafalque will be held at Assumption Church in Windsor for the repose of the soul of Fr. Ulysse Lefaive. Fr. Lefaive passed away on September 25; this is our first opportunity in the calendar to offer a Requiem Mass for him. As we have written before, Fr. Lefaive was chaplain of the Windsor Tridentine Mass during a challenging period and never failed to convey his love and support for the Extraordinary Form. All of us who attend the Tridentine Mass in metro Detroit and Windsor owe this holy priest prayers of gratitude not only for his devotion to celebrating the Mass, but also for his behind-the-scenes work that laid the groundwork for the thriving Latin Mass activity that we enjoy in this region today.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week
Mon. 02/07 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (St. Romuald, Abbot)

Tue. 02/08 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Assumption-Windsor (St. John of Matha, Confessor)
[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@stjosaphatchurch.org. Previous columns are available at www.stjosaphatchurch.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Josaphat bulletin insert for February 6, 2011. Hat tip to A.B.]

7 comments:

Tim said...

Hello! I work for The Maximus Group, a Catholic communications firm in the Atlanta area, and I'd like to invite you to a pre-release screening (in Charlotte) of a new film from the producers of "Fireproof." Will you please shoot me an e-mail at tlilley@maximusmg.com? Thanks in advance - I look forward to hearing from you. Tim Lilley

JM said...

Also available, though published by Angelus Press which may scare some people:

'Living the Little Office: Reflections on the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary,' by Sr. Marianna Gildea, R.S.M.

John Lamont said...

I always wondered how the religious communities that said the Little Office combined it with the regular office. Did that mean e.g. saying Lauds twice, once from their own breviary and once from the Little Office? It seems odd.

I am glad however to hear that the execrable new version is not the official version - are you sure about that?

AlexB said...

John:

With regards to praying both the full and Little Offices, some religious communities did do that. An informative history is here:

http://www.kellerbook.com/PARVUM~1.HTM

The Rotelle edition has been approved for private use, so that does make it the sole post-Vatican II semi-official version. However, because it is not based on any official Latin edition from Rome, it cannot be represented as a public liturgy of the Church.

Imagine, for example, if Germans wanted their own edition. They would not translate Rotelle; they would do what Rotelle did and cobble together their own vernacular version. This is why we need Rome to continue issuing normative Latin books.

Spiritual Matters said...

Hi,

Do you know if Fr. Agustin Bea's Amplior Edition of the Little Office of the B.V. Mary conforms to Summorum Pontificum and can be considered as public prayer of the Church?

happyhockeymom said...

I have found on-line a rather unusual Little Office - The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary according to the Carmelite Rite. As far as I can tell, it was published pre-Vatican II.

PP - have you ever seen this one? It is probably the most beautiful Office I have ever seen and plan to use it myself as a layperson.

Pertinacious Papist said...

Greetings happyhockeymom,

No, I have not seen the Carmelite edition of The Little Office, but I'm curious how closely it resembles the edition reviewed in the post.

Kind regards, -- PB