Sunday, December 1, 2024

Advent in the Office



This is my annual reminder that Advent is the most complicated season for the Office, so you need to keep your wits about you!

Advent falls into two parts - the days up to and including December 16, and the final week of the season.

For the first part of the season, remember to keep a ribbon on the relevant parts for each hour of the day of 'the Ordinary of Advent' (front of the Diurnal), since these displace the normal texts set out in the psalter section of the book.

Key things to remember:

  • Sundays in Advent (from 1 Vespers on Saturday) have proper antiphons at all hours;
  • the Sunday antiphons are then used throughout the week at Prime to None;
  • there are special Benedictus and Magnificat antiphons for each day of the Advent week;
  • the default collect is of the Sunday as usual; and
  • on feast days (such as for St Ambrose), a commemoration of Advent, consisting of the canticle antiphon (of the Advent day), versicle (of the season) and collect of the Advent week (in that order), is normally made at both Lauds and Vespers.
The Immaculate Conception

Another key point to note is that this year the feast of the Immaculate Conception falls on a Sunday, and, due to a special rubric just for this feast, displaces the Second Sunday of Advent (which is marked only by a commemoration at Lauds and Vespers). 

The Ordo

And just a reminder that if you are struggling, consider buying a copy of the Ordo - the summary version is on the blog, but the full version provides much more detailed instructions.

Saturday, October 19, 2024

Ordo for 2025



This to let you know that the Ordo for the 2024-25 liturgical year (ie starting from the First Sunday of Advent, which this year is 1 December) is now available from Lulu.

As usual, the Ordo is available in paperback and ebook (PDF) formats.

About the Ordo

The Ordo basically provides detailed notes and page references to enable you to say the Benedictine Office with confidence using the (St Michael's) Monastic Diurnal (MD), Antiphonale Monasticum (AM) and (Le Barroux) Nocturnale Monasticum (NM). 

It follows the 1960 rubrics and calendar (as published in the monastic breviary of 1963), but includes notes on earlier feasts and rubrics, particularly where these are employed by one or more of the monasteries still using the traditional Office and calendar.

The book includes quick reference guides giving the default pages in the Diurnal for each of the day hours; rubrical notes on the seasons; and notes for each day of the liturgical year.  It includes cross-references to the Roman Extraordinary Form calendar, as well as to feasts particular to selected countries and regions.

For the week of  12 October 2025, for example, the daily notes look like this: 

Sunday 12 October Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost/Second Sunday of October, Class II [Previously: Third Sunday of October]

 Matins: All as in the psalter with responsories and Nocturn I & II readings of the Second Sunday of October, NM 548 ff; Nocturn III readings, Gospel and collect of the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, NM 615-6.

 Lauds to Vespers: All as for Sunday in the psalter with canticle antiphons and collect, MD 477*/AM 609-10.

 Monday 13 October – Class IV [**In some places/EF: St Edward, Class III]

 All as in the psalter for throughout the year with collect, MD 477*/AM 610.

 Tuesday 14 October – Class IV; St Callistus, Memorial [EF: Class III]

 All as in the psalter with collect, MD 477*/AM 610; for the commemoration at Lauds, MD [314]/AM 1085.

 Wednesday 15 October St Teresa, Class III

 Matins: Two nocturns with invitatory antiphon of a Virgin, LH 45; one reading of the feast; responsory, chapter, versicle and collect of the feast, NM 1144-5.

 Lauds: Chapter, responsory, hymn, versicle, Benedictus antiphon and collect for the feast, MD [315]/AM 1086 ff.

 Prime: Antiphon 1 of Lauds of the Common of a Virgin, MD (90)/AM, 678.

 Terce to None: Antiphon, chapter and versicle of the Common of a Virgin, MD (94)/AM 681 ff; collect of the feast, MD [316]/AM 1086.

 Vespers: Chapter, responsory, versicle and Magnificat antiphon of the Common of a Virgin, MD (96)/AM 682-3; hymn and collect of the feast, MD [315]/AM 1086 ff.

Thursday 16 October – Class IV [**In some places, St Gall. EF: St Hedwig, Class III. Canada: St Marguerite d’Youville, Class III]

 All as in the psalter with collect, MD 477*/AM 610. 

Friday 17 October – Class IV [EF: St Margaret Mary Alacoque, Class III; Le Barroux: Class II; Gower: Memorial]

 All as in the psalter with collect, MD 477*/AM 610.

 In some monasteries: 1 Vespers of St Luke: All as in the Common of Apostles, MD (2) ff with collect of the feast, MD [317-8].

 Saturday 18 October – St Luke, Evangelist, Class II

 Matins: Three nocturns, all of the Common of Apostles, LR 134 ff, except for the readings (Nocturn I, Common of an Evangelist; Nocturns II & III, of the feast), Gospel and collect, NM 1149-50.

 Lauds: Festal psalms with antiphons, chapter, responsory, hymn, versicle and Benedictus antiphon of the Common of Apostles, MD (9)/AM 622 ff; collect of the feast, MD [317-8]/AM 1087.

 Prime: Antiphon 1 of Lauds of the Common, MD (9)/AM 622.

 Terce to None: Antiphon, chapter and versicle of the Common, MD (11)/AM 625 ff; collect of the feast, MD [317-8]/AM 1087.

 2 Vespers: Festal psalms with antiphons, chapter, responsory, hymn, versicle and Magnificat antiphon of the Common of Apostles, MD (13)/AM 626 ff; collect of the feast, MD [317-8]/AM 1087; commemoration of the Fourth Sunday of October/Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Magnificat antiphon and versicle, MD 458-9*/AM 589; collect, MD 478*/AM 611.



Pocket summary edition

Some years ago someone asked if I could produce a pocket version of the Ordo, that would fit neatly with the size of the Diurnal.  Accordingly, this year I've produced a summary version of the Ordo as a trial to assess demand!

Note that it does not provide any rubrical notes, cross-references to other calendars or other support material: it essentially assumes that the reader is very familiar with the Benedictine Office, and can work things out from the basic references to pages in the Diurnal.

Here is what the same week in 2025 looks like in the pocket version:   

Eighteenth week after Pentecost/Second week of October. 

Ordinary of time throughout the year (in the psalter section), default collect, MD 477*.

Sunday 12 October Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost/2nd Sunday of October, Class II, MD 477*. 

Monday 13 October – Class IV. 

Tuesday 14 October – Class IV; com of St Callistus at Lauds, MD [314]. 

Wednesday 15 October St Teresa, Class III, MD [315] ff. 

Thursday 16 October – Class IV. 

Friday 17 October – Class IV. 

Saturday 18 October – St Luke, Class II, MD [317-8].  At 2 Vespers, com of the 4th Sunday of October/19th after Pentecost antiphon, MD 458-9* & 478*.


Blog calendar

As usual, I've posted a brief version of the ordo on the pages of the blog, accessible from the top bar.  Each month's entry is essentially identical to the summary (pocket) version of the Ordo, with the addition of rubrical notes for the liturgical seasons taken from the full version of the Ordo. 

Errors and omissions....

Please do let me know if you find any errors, so I can correct them, at the very least for future editions, or if you have suggestions on formatting and content.

And if you are a catholic religious or priest, please contact me by email if you would like a copy of the PDF version. 

Sunday, October 6, 2024

New to the Benedictine Office?



I have had a few queries lately from people seeking help to learn the Benedictine Office, so I thought it might be timely to provide a few pointers for those who have just acquired the Monastic Diurnal, and are new to the Office.

Getting started

The first key message is - don't rush things.

There is a learning curve to saying the Office, and since this is the liturgy of the Church, getting it right matters.

So take the time needed to become familiar with the book and the way it works, and then the structure.

If you are new to the Office, or new to the Benedictine Office, start with this post about the Benedictine Office. 

Then you need to be able to find your way around the Monastic Diurnal.

Once you can find your way around the book, have a look at this post on what changes and what doesn't in the Office, so you can get a feel for when you will need the various sections of the book.

Take it slowly - start with Compline!

Secondly, don't try and say all of the 'hours' that make up the day Office immediately - start slowly and build up.

The best starting point is actually Compline, said in the evening, before bed.

The key advantage of Compline is that it is more or less the same every night, so easy to learn, and there are only a few choices of texts to make.

Even more importantly, for most hours of the Office, the Diurnal doesn't write out everything you have to say or sing in full, it just provides a few prompts.  

But for Compline, almost everything you need to say is written out in full (the main exception is that each psalm has a doxology, Glory be, or Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.  Sicut erat in principium et nunc et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen) added to it (you can find the doxology under Prime, for Psalm 1, at the beginning of the psalter section of the Diurnal).

Learning Compline also gives you a chance to learn the formulas used for laypeople saying the Office (such as saying Domine exaudi orationem meam/Et clamor meus ad te veniat, rather than 'Dominus vobiscum/Et cum spiritu tuo, Monastic Diurnal page 264).

Learn the components that make up the hours

Next, while you are learning Compline, take the time to learn about the various components that make up the hours - the opening prayers, antiphons, psalms, chapters and so forth - since knowing what these are will help you when you move on to the other hours.

As you go along, you might also find this list of Diurnal traps and shortcuts of use.

And in fact, the second hour you should add to your routine is Prime, said in the morning before work (even if you drop it in favour of Lauds later on), because it has the next fewest moving parts.

Use an Ordo

Fourthly, especially if you a beginner, don't try and puzzle out what feasts or season it is, and what parts of the Office change as a result of this for yourself - use an Ordo.

There are a few different Ordos for the monastic Office that are available publicly, and I provide a brief summary version on this blog, but especially if you are new to the Office, the one I publish each year via Lulu is the most comprehensive.

Use the summary tables for the hours

The posts for each hour on my Learn the Benedictine Office blog give you page numbers for the standard parts of each of the hours, as well as detailed instructions on how to say them.  Before you start trying to say each new hour, read them through, then use the summary tables to check you have the right pages until you are confident.

And if still aren't sure you've got it right, use the Divine Officium website (choose the monastic 1963 option) as a cross-check.

Listen to the Office being sung

Finally, it is worth keeping in mind as well that the Benedictine Office is meant to be sung - in choir if possible - but even singing it on one note alone is better than just saying it.  At a minimum, remember that you at least need to move your lips to say the words, you need to do more than just use your eyes.

If you can, visit a monastery and listen to them singing the Office.

If that isn't possible, a few monasteries have live streams for some or all of their hours, and there are a number of videos on youtube or elsewhere (the chant of Le Barroux has a great archive) that are worth listening to, and attempting to follow along with (though individual monasteries have their own calendars, so it won't always line up with what you are expecting!).

More anon.

Friday, October 4, 2024

Coming soon - Ordo 2024-25




Apologies for the long gap between updates - I've been extremely unwell for the last few years courtesy of Government mismanagement of the (still ongoing) Covid pandemic, and so my capacity to engage in things has been very low.

I do, however, finally seem to be recovering somewhat, albeit with ups and downs, and so will try and post a little more frequently in the future, if only to try and get out some of the things that have been running around my brain, and/or sitting in rough draft form on my computer for some considerable time.

The Ordo for the next liturgical year

First though, I want to assure readers that the Ordo for next year should be available towards the end of the month.

This year I've actually done two versions of the Ordo, essentially the standard version I've produced for the last few years, and a pocket book sized summary version - but more on this anon!

And in the meantime, just in case there any new starters to the Benedictine Office who are struggling to work out what texts to use each day, I've reduced the price of the Ordo for this year (which covers to the start of Advent) to make it more accessible.

Monday, March 18, 2024

The Office in Passiontide

Just a reminder that from Sunday, we are now in the season of Passiontide.

That means that the 'Ordinary' (antiphons, chapters, versicles, responsories, hymns and so forth) are of the season of Passiontide, not Lent, while the canticle antiphons and collects are of the day of Passiontide.

One of the most distinctive  aspects of the season is the omission of the doxologies in the responsories, and for the invitatory at Matins.Where the Passiontide day is displaced by a feast (such as St Joseph on March 19, and St Benedict, on March 21), a commemoration of the Passiontide day is made at Lauds and Vespers, by saying the  canticle antiphon of the Passiontide day and hour, versicle (of the season) and collect of the day and hour immediately after the collect of the feast.

The hymn below is sung at Matins and Vespers each day.


 

The Office during Passiontide

 

Passiontide (the period up to and including Wednesday in Holy Week) has its own ‘Ordinary’ which can be found in the 'of time' section of an office book.

 At Matins, the Ordinary can be found at NM 278-9:

  • The invitatory antiphon each day is for the season (Hodie si vocem Domini audieritis), and is said without the doxology;
  • The hymn is for the season and is the same each day (Pange lingua);
  • The readings during the week are usually patristic sermons, relating to the Gospel of the Mass set for that day;
  • The responsories omit the doxology, instead simply repeating the response; and
  • The chapter verse for Nocturn II is for the season (Jer 11:18-19).

 The Ordinary for the day hours can be found at MD 240* ff.

 At Prime to None:

  • The antiphons, chapters and versicles are of the season of Passiontide, and can be found in the psalter section; and
  • The collect for Terce to None is the same as for Lauds of that day.

 At Lauds and Vespers:

  • Chapters, hymns, responsories and versicles of the season replace those in the psalter section;
  • The responsories (but not the psalms) omit the Gloria Patri, instead repeating the opening verse;
  • The canticle antiphons are proper for each day. They generally reflect the (EF) Gospel for the day; and
  • There is a specific collect for both Lauds and Vespers each day.

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

On the observance of Lent

 Today is Ash Wednesday, and traditionally in monasteries, Chapter 49 of the Benedictine Rule, dealing with the observance of Lent is read, so here it is:

The life of a monk ought always to be a Lenten observance. However, since such virtue is that of few, we advise that during these days of Lent he guard his life with all purity and at the same time wash away during these holy days all the shortcomings of other times. This will then be worthily done, if we restrain ourselves from all vices. Let us devote ourselves to tearful prayers, to reading and compunction of heart, and to abstinence.

During these days, therefore, let us add something to the usual amount of our service, special prayers, abstinence from food and drink, that each one offer to God "with the joy of the Holy Ghost" (1 Thes 1:6), of his own accord, something above his prescribed measure; namely, let him withdraw from his body somewhat of food, drink, sleep, speech, merriment, and with the gladness of spiritual desire await holy Easter.

Let each one, however, make known to his Abbot what he offereth and let it be done with his approval and blessing; because what is done without permission of the spiritual father will be imputed to presumption and vain glory, and not to merit. Therefore, let all be done with the approval of the Abbot.

A few other chapters of the Rule also touch on Lent, covering fasting and additional sacred reading.

St Benedict's contemporary Caesarius of Arles gave a sermon (196) directed at the laity that echoes many of the same themes, so is well worth a read:

Caesarius of Arles' Sermon 196, directed at the laity, provides a useful perspective on the practice of Lent in this period:
My dear brothers and sisters, the season of Lent draws near through God’s mercy. And so I ask you, beloved, that with God’s help we may celebrate these days, which are healthful for the body and medicinal for the soul, in such a holy and spiritual way that our observance of this holy Lent may bring us not to judgement but to perfection. If we act negligently, if we become involved in too many activities, if we do not wish to be chaste, if we do not participate in fasting, vigils, and prayer, if we do not read or listen to others reading the holy Scriptures, then what should have been our medicine is turned into our wounds; what should have been our remedy becomes our judgement.
And so I ask you, my brothers and sisters, to rise up at an early hour for the vigils; gather especially for Terce, Sext, and None. May none remove themselves from this holy work unless sickness, public need, or what is clearly a great necessity occupy them. Nor is it enough that you hear the holy readings only in church; read them at home or have them read by others and gladly listen to them. Recall, my brothers and sisters, what our Lord said, “What will it profit them if they gain the whole world but give up their life?” Especially remember and constantly fear what is written: “The world’s burdens have made them miserable.” And so when at home act in such a way that you do not neglect your soul. Should you be incapable of more, at least try to labour as much for your soul as you do for your body.
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, it is by fasting, reading, and prayer that we during these days of Lent should store up food for our souls as if for the whole year. For although you frequently and faithfully hear with God’s help the holy lessons throughout the whole year, during these days we should rest from the waters and waves of this world and have recourse to the port of Lent. Silently and quietly we should receive the holy readings into the receptacle of our hearts. 

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

1963 vs 1953: To go forward or back?

Apologies for being slow in getting to this final part of my series on the 1953 vs 1963 breviaries, but here it is.  In the last several posts I've pointed out some of the differences between the 1953 and 1963 breviaries, and their relative merits.

So should we go forward, as most of the traditional monasteries are doing, and make judicious amendments to the rubrics and calendar (as would presumably have occurred in the natural course of events, had Vatican II's license to 'experiment' not intervened), or should we, as some are vigorously advocating, revert back to the 1953, or some earlier version of the breviary?

A monastic Office

The first point to make is that when it comes to the Benedictine Office, this is, in the end, a decision for monasteries to make, not laypeople.

While the monastic office is used by many Catholic laypeople, it is, strictly speaking, the form of liturgy approved for the use of member monasteries of the Benedictine Confederation.

Its use by priest oblates was approved in 1948, and, following the publication of successive editions of the Monastic Diurnal from the 1950s onwards, many monasteries now encourage or permit its use by their oblates.

But the 'default' form of the Office for laypeople is the Roman Office, not the Benedictine, so I think a strong case can be made for saying that lay users of the monastic office, whether oblates or not, should accept it as it is set out in the official books, or as modified by the particular monastery to which they are affiliated.

That said, the widespread promotion of the monastic office in recent years by monasteries, in the form of the Monastic Diurnal, podcasts of the Office and more, has introduced many to the Benedictine Office, and so it is inevitable that those who say it will have opinions.

And perhaps it is not altogether inconsistent with the spirit of the Rule for us, as visitors or junior members of the monastic family to offer them, without any particular expectation for how they will be necessarily be accepted.

Monastic considerations vs the secular

A second key point to note is that, in my view at least, the underlying logic of the Roman and Benedictine Offices are fundamentally different.

While it is true that from Trent onwards, the Benedictine Office has largely (been forced to) follow the Roman, this is an aberration, not the norm.

While the two forms of the Office has long interacted and influenced each other, for most of monastic history the two forms have not followed the same rubrics or calendar.

In particular, the Rule has always served as an important reference point for the Benedictine Office, and that has generally been interpreted to mean prioritising the ferial psalm cursus set out in the Rule over the (probably Roman in origin) festal psalms; and the Scriptural cycle over the lives of saints (other than those particular to a monastery or congregation, or location) and other feasts.  

Of course, the extent to which fidelity to the Rule should take precedence over developments in the liturgy and Romanising encroachments has been hotly debated at regular intervals, but the general principle remains.

The deregulation of the liturgy

The third issue concerns the status of the 1963 breviary, and this is something on which I have changed my position.

My previous view was that as the 1963 breviary (based on the1960 calendar and rubrics) is nominally still the normative book for member monasteries of the Benedictine Confederation, we should follow its prescriptions fairly strictly, out of obedience.

In essence, the permission to develop one's own form of the Office granted to monasteries after Vatican II, as made clear by the monastic Thesaurus, was contingent on adoption of the new sanctoral calendar (hence the odd combination, in the traditional Solesmes monasteries, of the 1977 sanctoral calendar and the 1960 temporal).

The use of the liturgy, after all, is regulated by the Church for good reasons, and for Benedictines in particular, obedience is an important virtue!

However, in the last few years quite a few things have changed, and I now think its reasonable to take the view that monasteries using the 1963 breviary as their starting point have the same freedom to make changes to the rubrics that monasteries using the Novus Ordo calendar do.  

My reasoning is as follows.  

First, in the normal course of events, the Benedictine Confederation would surely have made further revisions to fix some of the obvious problems with the 1960 calendar and rubrics.  But because control of the monastic liturgy had effectively been deregulated, leaving control over it to individual monasteries in the expectation that the 1960 books would cease to be used, that never happened.

When the Thesaurus governing the Office for monasteries was published in 1977, after all, the assumption was that monasteries would adopt the new calendar, since the 1960 calendar had been de facto suppressed.  

However, a series of permissions, most particularly the decree Summorum Pontificum (2007) effectively restored the status of the 1960 calendar.  

Accordingly, I think a good case can be made (particularly in the light of later decisions) that monasteries using the 1960 calendar have the same right to design or amend their own Office rubrics (such as restoring 1 Vespers for Class II feasts) as monasteries following the novus ordo calendar in combination with the monastic feasts set out in the Thesaurus (and since supplemented).

Secondly, and perhaps more fundamentally, Cum Sanctissima (2020) effectively unlocked the freeze on the calendar, providing a mechanism for incorporating both newer feasts into the calendar, as well as reviving older ones, at least as Class III feasts, thus granting a lot more flexibility to those starting from the 1960 calendar.

Thirdly, a series of official Ordos for the Extraordinary Form have indicated that there is some room to go further when it comes to reviving older feasts, since one mentioned at least the possibility of marking  the Octave of Corpus Christi where appropriate to local conditions.  And if one can revive one octave, why not others?

All of these decisions provide, I think, a basis for modifying the 1960 calendar and rubrics in ways that can address many of the concerns raised by the 'restore the 54 movement', given the canonical principle that permissions should be interpreted broadly, and the normal principles that allow for some liturgical development.

The case for going forward from 1960

But the key question remains, does the 1960 Office provide a reasonable basis for going forward, or are its changes so radical as to warrant being jettisoned altogether?

I have to say that I don't like the approach of saying we dislike those involved in the reform process, and are suspicious of their motives, and so should therefore reject everything that changed.  

Instead, we should assess the changes made on their merits, in the light of experience in using them.

And my own view remains that there are many good things in the 1960 reforms that are worth retaining, and nothing so bad that it cannot be rectified by judicial modifications of the calendar and rubrics.

In particular:

  • I really much prefer singing the antiphons in full both before and after the psalms, rather than just the incipit (opening words) as was done previously for most hours except on major feasts;
  • I like the fact that the original structure of Prime as set out in the Rule was restored, with Chapter separated out;
  • I support the pruning that occurred of prayers before the hours, preces, suffrages and so forth noting that there is nothing stopping one from using these outside the hours; and
  • I think the attempt to reduce the number of grades of feasts was a move in the right direction, even if the current rules around the four main categories of feasts and days need further changes.
But I'm willing to hear to hear the counter-arguments!

The sanctoral calendar

When it comes to the calendar, I also support the reduction of many feasts to two Nocturns over three, as it is far more consistent with the intent of the Rule. 

First, the number of three nocturn feasts added to the calendar was surely driven by the Roman Office's incentive to avoid the ferial Office in favour of the shorter festal one; for Benedictines though, the incentive is reversed, with the three Nocturn Office being much much longer than the ferial office.

My view, for what it is worth, is that the extra time needed to say the festal Office would be better used to sing more of Matins in chant (rather than recto tono as most monasteries currently do) and ideally to revive the practice of chanting the responsories. 

Secondly, three nocturn feasts, at least under the current rubrics, generally means abandoning the ferial psalm cursus in favour of the Commons or specific festal psalms - but the ferial psalm cursus is the element of the Office that is most distinctively Benedictine, spelt out in the Rule.  

For similar reasons, while the culling of octaves went a long way too far, I don't support their wholesale revival - while marking some feasts on their octave day, or through some texts or commemoration might be appropriate in some cases, pushing out the ancient Matins Scriptural cycle in favour of saints lives, papal or patristic commentaries on particular feasts for large chunks of the year seems to me to distort the original focus of the hour.

What changes would one make to 1963 if it was up to you?

Most of the traditional monasteries have already made a number of changes to the 1963 breviary, for practical or other reasons, including:

  • saying 1 Vespers of Class II feasts and the Office of Our Lady on Saturday;
  • ignoring the cuts and changes to division points in the psalms and canticles; and 
  • restoring selected feasts.
My own view, for what it is worth, is there are a couple of small further rubrical steps worth considering.

I think the remaining distinction between Class I and II feasts, namely the transfer/commemoration rules, make no sense and should be abolished so that the rules for Class I feasts also apply to Class II feasts - it is ridiculous to reduce important feasts to a commemoration if they clash on a Sunday, or sometimes to omit them altogether. It may be that monasteries would still want to make some differentiations between these feasts in terms of the ceremonial they use, but that is easily managed.

And if it really is necessary to have two classes of more solemn feasts, maybe the way to do it would be to retain the ferial psalter (in conjunction with the antiphons of the Common or feast) for the first two Nocturns?

Secondly, where a Class III feast would otherwise have no Vespers at all (because it occurs on a Saturday or before a Class I or II feast, where 1 Vespers of the Sunday or feast has precedence) it should have 1 Vespers and/or be commemorated.

Thirdly, the differentiation between Class III feasts with their own antiphons (where the festal psalms are said at Lauds and Vespers) and Class III feasts without their own antiphons (where the ferial psalms and antiphons are used at Lauds and Vespers, but antiphons of the Commons at Prime to None) seems to me an oddity.  Why not use antiphons of the feast (either specific to the feast or from the Common) at all the day hours, but in conjunction with the ferial psalms?

There are other small things that can be done - the seasonal hymn doxologies should be restored, and the alternative chapter for Prime for example.  But these are easily done without needing a wholesale reversion to an earlier from of the Office.

Forward march!

In conclusion, I hope you have enjoyed this series, and found something of interest in it - and I'm happy to hear other perspectives on the points I've made.