Vatican website translation:
95. Communities obliged to choral office are bound to celebrate the office in choir every day in addition to the conventual Mass. In particular:
a) Orders of canons, of monks and of nuns, and of other regulars bound by law or constitutions to choral office must celebrate the entire office.
b) Cathedral or collegiate chapters are bound to recite those parts of the office imposed on them by general or particular law.
c) All members of the above communities who are in major orders or who are solemnly professed, except for lay brothers, are bound to recite individually those canonical hours which they do not pray in choir.
Latin text:
95. Communitates choro obligatae, praeter Missam conventualem, tenentur Officium divinum cotidie in choro celebrare, et quidem:
a) totum Officium, Ordines Canonicorum, Monachorum et Monialium, aliorumque Regularium ex iure vel constitutionibus choro adstrictorum;
b) Capitula cathedralia vel collegialia, eas partes Officii, quae sibi a iure communi vel particulari imponuntur;
c) omnes autem illarum Communitatum sodales, qui sunt aut in Ordinibus maioribus constituti aut solemniter professi, conversis exceptis, debent eas Horas canonicas soli recitare, quas in choro non persolvunt.
Slavishly literal translation:
95. Communities obligated to choral [celebration of the Office], in addition to the conventual Mass, are held to celebrate the Divine Office in choir daily, and in particular:
a) Orders of Canons, of Monks and of Nuns, and of other Religious strictly bound to the choral [celebration of the Office] whether by law or by their constitutions [must celebrate] the entire Office;
b) Cathedral chapters or colleges [must celebrate] that parts of the Office that are imposed upon them by common or particular law;
c) moreover all those members of these communities who are either established in major Orders or solemnly professed, with the exception of lay brothers/[sisters?], must recite by themselves those canonical Hours which they do not complete in choir.
In this and the next two articles, the Council Fathers turn their attention to the obligatory character of praying the Divine Office for certain categories of the faithful. The “choral office” is here understood as gathering to sing the various elements of the Liturgy of the Hours daily. I hope I have adequately distinguished the various groups bound to the “choral office” below, but will happily welcome correction from members of these societies if I have written anything misleading.
Canons (whose historical raison d’etre was to guarantee that the Divine Office was sung daily in cathedrals and other important churches), monks and nuns (understood as male and female cloistered communities responsible for singing the entire Divine Office daily), and members of other religious orders for whom the singing of the Divine Office daily is an aspect of their common life (e.g., Franciscans and Dominicans) continue to bear the responsibility of a “choral office.” Cathedral chapters or colleges, consisting of those not bound to communal living as in the previous examples but whose purpose includes guaranteeing that the Liturgy of the Hours are sung daily in the cathedrals sponsoring such chapters or colleges, are likewise bound to the “choral office.” So important is this responsibility that those in major orders or solemnly professed from each category must make up for whatever parts of the choral office they have not attended by individual recitation.
In the light of the above directives, it may surprise some to find that great latitude appears in practice among these various categories. However, it is important to notice that many of these categories of the faithful have their own form of the daily Office (e.g., Benedictines, Cistercians) and individual communities may develop their own cursus horarum. (For example, I know of Benedictine communities whose members engage in choral celebration of Lauds, Vespers and Compline [as well as the daily Eucharist], but with the minor hours and the Office of Readings left to individual recitation.)
Pray Tell readers may find the practices of these various categories of the faithful to be of interest if members would be willing both to share their cursus horarum and their evaluation of it.
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