Category: Re-Reading Sacrosanctum Concilium

As regards the readings, the following shall be observed.

So that it may really be possible in practice to observe the course of the hours proposed in Art. 89, the psalms are no longer to be distributed throughout one week, but through some longer period of time.

The Council Fathers emphasize that any revisions of the Liturgy of the Hours must take into account the history of this liturgical form as it developed in the Roman Rite so that the revision is not merely antiquarian or aesthetic, but that it would be of genuine assistance to monastic communities, active communities bound to…

Therefore, when the office is revised, these norms are to be observed.

Vatican website translation: 88. Because the purpose of the office is to sanctify the day, the traditional sequence of the hours is to be restored so that once again they may be genuinely related to the time of the day when they are prayed, as far as this may be possible. Moreover, it will be…

Vatican website translation: 81 [sic]. In order that the divine office may be better and more perfectly prayed in existing circumstances, whether by priests or by other members of the Church, the sacred Council, carrying further the restoration already so happily begun by the Apostolic See, has seen fit to decree as follows concerning the…

Vatican website translation: 85. Hence all who render this service are not only fulfilling a duty of the Church, but also are sharing in the greatest honor of Christ’s spouse, for by offering these praises to God they are standing before God’s throne in the name of the Church their Mother. Latin text: 85. Omnes…