I undertook, some time back, to update the lists of books for the Benedictine Office that I have previously listed on this and related blogs, and so here is the start of a short series.
This first post is on 'starter books' for laypeople who want to say some or all of the day hours of the Benedictine Office.
Part II will look at resources for chanting the day hours of the Office.
Part III will look at the full breviary and books for Matins.
The Benedictine vs the Roman Office
I should start by saying that the books and resources I'm looking at here are those specifically for the form of the Office used by the Order of St Benedict and thus originally approved for use by the Benedictine Confederation.
Although there are many common texts and elements, the Benedictine Office differs significantly from the various versions of the Roman Office (and current Liturgy of the Hours).
In general, the Benedictine Office has a much longer Night office (particularly on feasts and Sundays) than the 1962 (and later) Roman version, and quite a few psalms are repeated each day at the day hours giving a distinctive flavour to those hours. By contrast, the Roman Office (since 1911) includes very few repeated psalms.
The basic structure and content of the Benedictine Office is set out in St Benedict's Rule (written circa 520 AD), and that structure has been preserved in the 1963 Monastic Breviary, which remains the only officially approved version of the Benedictine Office currently in force.
It is worth noting also that there are a number of other religious orders - such as the Carthusians and Cistercians - who use forms of the Office based on St Benedict's Rule, but often in conjunction with different calendars, rubrics, and texts employed (antiphons, responsories, readings etc). I haven't included them in this listing.
Modern versions of the Office used by Benedictines and other orders
After Vatican II broad permissions were given for monasteries to design their own forms of the Office (within certain parameters), and some of those versions have been published. I will generally only note them here where they use the Rule's psalter distribution.
GETTING STARTED
How to learn the Benedictine Office
In an ideal world, you would learn the Office by immersion - by living in a Benedictine monastery and hearing and experiencing the Office as it is sung each day.
St Benedict, after all, envisaged that his Office would be sung in choir each day, not said privately.
But while some laypeople or clerical oblates may be able to go on retreat at a traditional monastery for a week here and there, that probably won't be enough to really learn it. And most people simply don't have easy access to a monastery that actually says the Traditional Benedictine Office.
So the next option is to start from a book or online version of the hour.
Challenges in using the books
Learning the Latin
Keep in mind that the official version of the 1963 (and earlier) Office is the Latin - the translations provided in the various books are there as aids to understanding, they are not officially approved for liturgical use.
Accordingly, you may find my notes on the psalms in the context of the Benedictine Office of use since they include both short overviews, and in many cases word by word translations together with a selection of translations for comparison purposes.
Using Office books
In addition, most Office books, such as the Monastic Diurnal, assume a fair amount of knowledge of how the Office works (the rubrics), and employ a lot of shortcuts and abbreviations.
I'd suggest taking a look at my How to say the Benedictine Office series (and make sure you start with how to find you way around your Office book if you have already bought a diurnal or other Office book).
My other suggestion is: start gradually and build up.
Latin-English Office books and online resources
1. Learn the ferial Office - individual hour books
In order to learn both the structure of the hour and the Latin, my suggestion is that you start by just learning the normal 'ferial' Office, that is, the default Office when it is not affected (much) by feasts or seasons.
If you start by just focusing on one or two individual hours, you can both learn how the various components of the hour work, and start gradually learning the psalms said at those hours.
A useful starting point for this is the set of books put out by Clear Creek Monastery that give you just the ferial Office with the Latin and English for each hour on each day of the week.
The best hours to start with are Prime (before starting work each day) and Compline (before bed), as the collects do not change each day, and they change the least with feasts and seasons.
Th book gives all the texts you need to say Compline throughout the year; for Prime it lacks the antiphons used for feasts and particular seasons, but gives you everything else you need for most days of the year.
The books for the other hours are also useful for learning the structure and content of those hours.
Note that these are paperbacks that were essentially intended as leaflets to allow guests to the monastery to follow the Office rather than beautifully produced books - but they do the job.
2. Divinum Officium
If you don't want to buy a book though, another option for getting started is the wonderful Divinum Officium website (and there is a Breviarium Meum ap that pulls it into mobile from the site).
It is a step up from the individual hour books in that it automatically sets up the hour taking into account feasts and seasons.
Be warned though: it doesn't always strictly follow the 1963 rubrics, and there are occasionally mistakes!
3. Office online
The Benedictine Office is meant to be sung, not said silently!
I'll come back to books and resources for the chants in due course, but I'd strongly recommending starting early by using these books and resources to follow along with the Office as it is sung by various monasteries online, such as Le Barroux.
You could also consider investing in the Neumz ap. Although it still mostly follows the modern calendar and a version of the psalter that omits the hour of Prime, it does include chants and translations of both the Mass (both Novus and Vetus Ordo) and selected hours/part of the Office (its particularly useful for Lauds, Vespers and Compline) each day sung by the nuns of Jouques and monks of Le Barroux. I'll come back to this in the next part, in the context of singing the Office.
4. The Monastic Diurnal
If you are serious about saying the Office as the official public prayer of the Church though, or to fulfill you oblate obligations, you will need a book that provides the full texts of the Office with the extra sections that allow you to add in things like local feasts.
And the best book for this purpose is easily the Latin-English Monastic Diurnal published by St Michael's Abbey Farnborough (and widely available elsewhere) in editions from 2005 onwards.
In essence, the Diurnal gives you everything you need to say the 1963 Office from Lauds to Compline (the day hours) for every day of the year.
The English is from a 1920s Collegeville translation, and is quite poetic (though personally I prefer the more literal Douay-Rheims updated version employed in the Clear Creek books!).
The only thing missing is the (long) Night Office, Matins, and I will come to that in a later post.
There is also a Latin-French version of the Diurnal available, put out by Le Barroux.
5. The Ordo
If you are buying the Diurnal though, do consider buying my Ordo to go with it (available in paperback, PDF or E-PUB formats)!
It essentially tells you exactly which pages of the Diurnal you can find the texts for the seasons or saints that impact on the Office each day, and how to use them.
6. Monastic Companion
You may also find A Companion to the Monastic Breviary of use: it contains a translation of the rubrics for the 1963 breviary as well as some introductory material on the hours.
Other 'Benedictine' Office books
And I want to conclude today's part of this update with a brief note on books I think you might come across.
1. Monastic Diurnal (Lancelot Andrewes Press) and Monastic Diurnal Noted
These are English only translations of earlier versions of the Monastic Diurnal originally published by assorted Anglican groups and later adapted for Western Rite Orthodox use.
They are not officially approved versions of the Benedictine Office.
2. Benedictine Daily Prayer.
This is a strictly devotional, rather than liturgical, office published by Collegeville.
The book has its fans, but personally I think its claims to be 'Benedictine' are pretty tenuous.
More to come
I'll take a look at singing the Office in the next post in this series, but in the meantime, do let me know if you think I've missed a useful book or resource!
