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 4^th Sunday of October/19^th 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. 

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.

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.