where are the images? were there new updates on release?

Veni et noli tardare!!!! They look beautiful. I am especially ready to say goodbye to the 70s pink images forever.

I'm not aware of any plans to release a "singing edition". Something like the current Mundelein Psalter will become obsolete. And with all the translations copyrighted, there will be no legal way of pointing the psalms to sing vespers according to the new edition.

I'd be happy to work on such a project, but I don't know who to even speak with at the USCCB or if they are even interested in such a thing. Which is why those who wish to sing the office will have to use the traditional Latin texts.

Yes, but in a seminary or parish where vespers is only sung on occasion (Sundays, Feasts, etc.) a resource like the Mundelein Psalter was a great help.

Creating and printing a custom worship aid wouldn't be such a big deal if the texts were made available electronically, but it would also require permission to do it legally. One can subscribe to eBreviary and print the office legally, but one can't edit the PDF directly to point it for singing.

I know a vast majority of priests and religious will only ever read the breviary, but the Church should encourage the sung office by providing practical resources to make it happen.

Something like Source and Summit would be great for the Office with the ability to instantly render the text pointed for a variety of psalm tones.

I guess my main issue with Mundelein is that they dont use the Gregorian tones.

My understanding is that the Psalms and Canticles will have at least asterisks and daggers, so that will make them a bit easier to chant. I've also heard that there is discussion about having the final stressed syllable in each line marked, which would help with chanting. I think there might also be a set of tones included in an appendix, but I don't know what tones those might be.

The psalm divisions are still too long to use with Gregorian tones, or they’re way too short because English. The former is a choice!

Sure but the division in the vernacular psalters is sort of bizarre for singing and maybe even recitation. This means that the tones can’t be applied consistently.

I'm just pretty sure the new Psalter has dropped some of the sibilants from "So my soul sings psalms unceasingly." It is perhaps not a great thing when a psalm makes you chuckle, though "It is good to give thanks to the Lord" is only ever heard in John Paul II's accent in my home.

Oh I had the opposite reaction, I was praying that CBP would NOT be chosen. I always find that their products fall apart and look cheasy to my eye.

Yeah, but a lot of priests go with CBP because the books are reliable and familiar, even if ugly. One wonders if the companies themselves had a bad go of it, including financially, and didn't jump in.

But "media organizations" publishing the breviary…that's the semi-official framing, and good riddance. The mock-ups so far of the spine look terrible.

Also, if the typical edition itself only gives page numbers but not the incipit of a hymn, good riddance.

And this goes back to the destruction of Mame, Benziger, Desclée, Dessain, Pustet, etc.

As it is, they will have a hard time competing with the digital offerings. I'm surprised the USCCB hasn't jumped on that bandwagon faster. The vast majority of clergy I know use some kind of app for praying the Liturgy of the Hours - some even for the communal Office.

Two problems: the clergy need to stop being so unedifying and lazy. Evergreen, but it's true, and while it's one thing to pray on one's phone in a dental waiting room when one wasn't expecting to wait forever, doing so in church or habitually is another matter.

There is for some reason, with the first edition, a problem of "page numbers" wherein people need to be told page numbers, not the parts from which something is taken: proper of the season, of the saints, common, the day of the week. But if you have different editions, or only Christian Prayer versus the four-volume set, you're going to be lost. And it's not just me, a layman, annoyed; there was a good discussion where an older priest (solidly middle-aged, been a priest a while) was complaining about how he hoped that "the page numbers would be the same, otherwise priest gatherings would be a problem" and a younger priest was like "no, you are not first-year seminarians in orientation week. Learn to set your breviary, in advance."

and the laity who prefer the new office, such as various third-order members, also have this problem. There's a whole ordo that refers to page numbers! What are we doing here?! (I understand that the layout is not friendly, and this goes back to "why did we reinvent the wheel" but still.)

What about the spines look so horrendous?

While "horrendous" seems a bit extreme, I'm not real keen on the Ascension logo. WoF, in the other hand, looks pretty good to me.

I too was a bit disappointed that Magnificat was not chosen. They are my go-to for ritual books.

FWIW, twenty year ago I sprang for the leather bound CPBC volumes and two decades later they're still in excellent shape, other than the printing being worn off the spine (for which my sweaty hands take full responsibility).

fcb --

What a coincidence- exactly twenty years ago I did the same thing and the condition of my set is just as you describe yours!

:-)

Gaudete in Domino Semper!

@Earl_Grey speaking from a monastery having to choose where to make a 3 liner and where to make a 2 liner in a community that chants is a constant source of contention. I was over joyed to see in one of the pictures that they are finally marking the flex +.

The font selections are terrible for the Ascension spine. Sans serif fonts belong nowhere near a breviary, and it's not 1940, we can drop slab serifs. Paper's not cheap, but it's not a rationed commodity. Classic humanist/roman serifs only.

Adding stuff is also just not necessary. You need the volume number or season name or something, that's it.

It is not that hard to make a breviary, insofar as it is trivial to make a pastiche of an older edition. And the spine already departs radically. They aren't in control of everything on the inside, sure, but the spine is apparently fair game…

as to the division 1) the original idea is dumb, dumb, dumb 2) the breviary and antiphonal did not always align historically, but at least you had 1 verse neatly divided, so the office could always be sung recto tono without too much trouble.

The reason you (a general you as much as a personal one) should care is that we should have beautiful things that are easy to read.

I think that there is a place for artistic innovation or creativity. (Without endorsing the publisher) Alcuin Reid’s bunch are publishing the monastic breviary. These typefaces to me are legible and have a lot of character. They’re trying to approach the aesthetic of a particular earlier edition of that breviary.

Slab serif fonts for body text are just too tiny and hard to make out with respect to letters and therefore words. It’s my one criticism of the Saint Andrews missal. They got easier to read and more typographically pleasing as the amount of content was reduced. The late 50s editions are my favorites. But I prefer the 1945 content.

Sans serifs are divorced from the print tradition and that of manuscripts and Roman stone carving such that they really have no place in the liturgical books whatsoever. It’s decisively modern, in a bad way. But you can do modern and interesting with legible serifs.

Well now that all seminarians at least for the first round will get the WoF breviary, Ascension may well go belly-up or close to it.

MatthewRoth

Funny you should mention that.

In 2013 WLP/J.S. Paluch did the same thing with their new altar missal, sending a copy to every newly-ordained priest in every U.S. diocese. It didn't seem to hurt missal sales for CBPC, Liturgical Press, LTP, Magnificat, etc. I suspect there will be room for everyone in this new venture.

Gaudete in Domino Semper!

The US bishops' instincts when it comes to publishing ritual books seem over the years to be founded much more upon law and compliance (in this case, for example, getting something into the hands of individual clerics and religious so they can fulfill their canonical obligations) than upon evangelization and deeply empowering and encouraging euphony of language and beautiful corporate prayer and worship. Their instincts are like those of meat cutters, rather than of artistry (even a good butcher has artistry in his craft, but meat cutters not so much).

People should stop relying on pages other than the references in their own edition; that’s the only way to pray the preconciliar breviary with any ease, and yet every like-to-like edition (same rubrics, same format) has the same pagination.

The Word on Fire images also stood out because they put an "IHS" symbol on the books, which happens to be the logo WoF uses for their existing LoTH publications.

The downside for me is that I associate that symbol with the Jesuits, so it's as though WoF were trying to positively discourage singing. :-)

So...

Midwest Theological Forum is OFFICIALLY one of the publishers of the one-volume edition ("Major Extracts" - i.e. diurnal), with Liturgical Press, Magnificat, and our old friends Catholic Book Publishing Company allegedly rounding out the outfield.

Quite a healthy variety here. I am genuinely looking forward to seeing the variations among the forthcoming finished products.

Gaudete in Domino Semper!

I have Liturgical Press's one volume Christian Prayer from when they had the license in the 1970s. It's a very nice volume. Benedictine Daily Prayer, their oblate office book, is also very nicely designed. I'm glad they were selected.

The art is by no means AI. While not old Missal Art (whether it should be or not is another story), it is being specially created for them.

https://ascensionpress.com/blogs/articles/beauty-that-evangelizes-meet-the-artist-of-the-new-liturgy-of-the-hours

It gives me senses of an Art Neuveau / woodcut style.

Some "overly perfect" details in the image suggest that computer graphics were used in the design process.

In the upper half of the artwork, much of the leafy background looks identical from the left side to the right, which makes it appear as though one side was designed by hand, and the other side was made by just copying and flipping the image. That sort of perfect symmetry looks unnatural.

In contrast, the background in the lower half of the art shows more differences between the left and right sides.

Also, to me, the extensive use of gradient shading makes the image look like a product made with computer graphics tools.

The choice of fonts doesn't look ideal either: in the sample shown, there are some problems associated with the character "a": the weak 'front' of the letter, and the seeming gaps that often appear after the letter:

Will the US have no plain Liturgia-horarum-style edition with no artwork at all? Options with some artwork are nice to have, but...

For the previous English LOTH for the US, the Daughters of St. Paul published a text-only book in one volume ("Christian Prayer"), with all the offices except the Office of Readings; and a single-volume book for the OOR.

After the year 2000, they published some editions for Africa:
https://shop.paulinesafrica.org/product/Liturgy-of-Hours--The-
(4 volumes)

https://shop.paulinesafrica.org/product/Prayer-of-the-Church--The-
(one volume, 1740 p.)

https://shop.paulinesafrica.org/product/Christian-Prayer
(one volume, only 384 pages, so it's probably only selected portions)

That's right; I think the Pauline versions for Africa have the new psalter which we will be using, but otherwise it's the old edition.

Yes, I skipped that detail because I really have no idea how extensive the USCCB revisions were.

Thanks.

broad “find and replace” paintbrush

A terrible tool in the wrong fingers.

Also terrible is attempting to replicate Latin syntax in a ham-fisted or clumsy way.

Also terrible: using false-friend cognates as translation crutches.

I appreciate all the materials that Ascension is putting out to promote their edition of the LOH, and it really does seem like they are trying to attend to the aesthetics of it. Word on Fire has done little, by comparison, to keep people informed on their edition; as far as I know, no one really knows how it will look. I suspect that they are counting on the large donation they received to provide a free set for every seminarian in the US to make their edition the de facto choice of the clergy.

On a musical note (pun intended), I saw from Ascension Presses promotional material that the psalms and canticles will indeed have asterisks and daggers, removing at least one barrier to chanting the Office.

@monasteryliturgist my understanding is that a single donor offered to pay for a free set for seminarians (I'm in the Winona-Rochesteer diocese)

Consider yourselves lucky that the USCCB has kept you in the loop. The CCCB has said absolutely nothing about its plans to implement the new translation of Liturgia horarum in the dioceses of Canada. (But I guess that shouldn't be a surprise, given how Music for Catholic Worship has been coming "soon" for about a decade now...)

MR– am I missing something? I thought the announcement was that every seminarian in the US got a copy. What is your source that implies they will be excluding certain seminarians?

Also, let’s not the perfect be the enemy of the good. It’s not unfair for a donor to do a good things for seminarians… perhaps another donor (or the same, if they were alerted to the issue which may not have even occurred to them) will take care of poorer religious communities.

@igneus If only it worked that way! :) When it comes to more liberal leaning communities they have no problem when they do things like replace the word "he" with "he and she" in the LOH but when it comes to more conservative religious life, the hierarchy watches us like hawks doesnt matter if if we are TLM or not, if you have a habit and live the vows... they watch very closely and if they saw us using the old breviary over the time limit we would be penalized. Do we have money to buy the breviaries? No. Will we still have to find a way? yes-- if we want to keep chanting the office in our choir where outsiders hear us.

@drforjc yes thats my understanding as well, but I was hoping there still might be some kind of religious discount at least. Its a little frustrating when you are not sure if seminarians will even make it through--and are not required to say the office at this point, but the ones who are required to say it are going to have to struggle to find a way to get it. Im not asking that everything just be handed to us on a platter, but a little discount or a less expensive version might be nice for poor religious.

Im not mad at a donor for being generous. God bless who ever that was. And yes, hopefully there will be another donor for religious, but I was hoping someone might answer my email at least as a way of courtesy and explain whether or not there was something being planned for this situation.

Ascension does have a group discount that they are advertising. Not sure what it is, as prices have not yet been released, but they do mention in on the main LoTH page.

@ServiamScores yesI agree with that. I dont think there are bad intentions on a benefactors part nor on the part of WOF. I actually think WOF version looks a little better than Ascension version--more traditional.

I think the issue at hand is not so much intentions as it is being sure that there are other options without sacrificing a well made book. For example, neither WOF nor Ascension will have anything but gilded pages. Obviously that is more beautiful but on the other hand its more expensive. There could be ways to make the LOH more attainable with small differences like that.

It’s simply a disease in the American church that puts priests first, the laity second, active religious women a distant third, and active male religious who aren’t clerics and women contemplatives might as well not exist.

Strong agree. And we deacons probably fall somewhere between the women religious and the male religious (except in those places where we're considered part of the laity, which is kind of a promotion).

@monasteryliturgist

Sister, you can register here with Ascension: https://ascensionpress.com/pages/content-bridge-offer/register-as-an-institution, so you can get information with no obligation to purchase. They say:

We recognize that some communities may need more support than the standard institutional discount provides.
To help meet those needs, Ascension is developing the Liturgy of the Hours Assistance Fund, a need-based program that will allow contributors to support eligible Catholic institutions with greater financial need. Assistance will not be paid to organizations as cash; instead, approved assistance will be applied by Ascension toward eligible Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition orders. ... Institutions needing additional assistance may request consideration by submitting an Assistance Fund application. The application will be shared with registered institutions prior to July 1, and applications will close on August 31, 2026.

I think your community would certainly qualify for as much assistance as possible!

Word on Fire is certainly not cultivating business as well as Ascension is. Information Packet. Sample Pages.

While I am looking forward to certain aspects of the new breviary--the translations of the collects and intercessions, for one--I am really dreading other aspects, such as most of the new Psalms. After praying the ones we have for several decades, it's just a lot of change. Besides, as someone very sensitive to formatting, I am already cringing at some of what Ascension shared, such as the bold headings vs. red headings vs. small caps headings and which ones they perceive as "heavier." Oh well. I would really like to be able to see both versions in real life before we have to choose, but clearly Ascension is trying to make people choose ahead of time.

From what I understood, though, all editions were supposed to have daggers and asterisks.

I'm not crazy about Ascension's mixing of serif and sans-serif fonts. I can certainly learn to live it it.

I've been using the Abbey Psalms Canticles since they were approved, about five years ago, and for the most part I've gotten used to them. Some changes are real improvements, others not so much. But a lot is simply a matter of getting the new \words lodged in your synapses, which only happens with time.

@MonasticChantress

I e-mailed Word on Fire, and they said:

We will offer bulk discounts for orders of 10+ copies of the Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition. All details regarding the Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition will be released July 1st at liturgyofthehours.com.

Ascension Press's pricing for their various editions:

We had a meeting at Conception Abbey last year and found the new translation not as difficult of an adjustment as we thought it would be. I'm glad the psalms are being marked although that means we OP's lose a little more of our tradition because like the Cistercians our flex is like and upside down 2.
We sing the OR responsories so either all our books will have be marked or else we'll make a separate book containing the marked text. We haven't decided yet.

Here is the special discount information from Word on Fire:

We do offer discounts for dioceses, parishes, religious orders, and other institutions! You can receive 40% off of the full regular price regardless of quantity.

This is how the standing order works:

Guaranteed Reserves: By placing your order today, you guarantee that your requested items are reserved and will automatically ship the moment each volume is released.
Post-Shipment Invoicing: There is no upfront card charge. Your billing department will be emailed an invoice after each individual volume shipment.
Shipping & Taxes: Shipping costs are calculated and applied directly when a shipment goes out. If your organization is tax-exempt and we have your form on file, no taxes will be charged.


Here are the purchase options available to you when ordering in bulk:

Premium 4-Volume Set
Retail $500.00 $300.00/set
Full 4-volume set. Volume II will ship in January 2027 with subsequent volumes shipping as they become available throughout the year.

Premium 4-Volume Set (Large Print)
Retail $600.00 $360.00/set
Full 4-volume set. Volume II will ship in January 2027 with subsequent volumes shipping as they become available throughout the year.

Premium Case
Retail $120.00 $72.00/case
Premium leather case. Ships with your first order, not with every volume release.

Premium Case (Large Print)
Retail $140.00 $84.00/case
Premium leather case. Ships with your first order, not with every volume release.

If you would like to order just Volume II: Lent & Easter (the first to be printed and released), let us know!

That was a nice, friendly e-mail. I haven't watched their video yet, but the images are beautiful and the typesetting looks better in some ways than Ascension.

I was somewhat dismayed to see their marketing seems to be exclusively to priests. "Bigger than our current volume--perfect size for your hand!" I don't think they mean the hands of our barely 5-foot Sisters! Men have (typically) huge hands! "Pastors and flock can pray together!" What about the hundreds of women religious?

I am going to ask both publishers how much their volumes weigh. As our superior joked while we were discussing this yesterday, "Everyone will need a little white table!" (that our nonagenarian Sisters use in front of their wheelchairs to hold their Office books).

@DCM I believe that was why they published a separate book for that last year

The hymns are the restored hymns as translated from the Liber Hymnarium.

The settings of text to both metrical and chant melodies can be found in the recently(ish) published "Divine office Hymnal" from GIA.

With regard to the musical setting of the LOTH, there was an announcement about this at the colloquium. The CMAA is creating a two-volume set with square-note antiphons (adapted from the Gregorian by Richard Rice) and psalmody for everything but the office of readings. This will also be released in the form of a website along the lines of Breviarium gregorianum. There will also be options like psalm-tone antiphons on the model of Fr. Weber's work.

@Charles_Weaver, "@Richard R.": any possibility of getting permission to produce a version with your antiphons and the CCCB lectionary and psalter? (Assuming, of course, that the CCCB bothers to tell anyone anything about their plans for LotH2e...)

Edit: I guess the "@" system doesn't work when a user's alias has a space in it.

Son of Edit: While we're on the subject, has anything actually been said by the CCCB about their plans for LotH2e? Or has anyone heard anything about them?

Charles_Weaver:

This is GLORIOUS news! I can't wait to see this finished product.

When you say "...everything but the Office of Readings", do I take that to mean this will be a two-volume Diurnal?

Gaudete in Domino Semper!

Word on Fire answered our question about the weight of their volumes. It just seems to me that the designers haven't actually used a breviary day in and day out and certainly not in a choir setting.

"Volume II comes out to 2,700 pages and the pagination remains identical for both editions. These new volumes feature a slightly taller aspect ratio than previous editions to beautifully accommodate the tall, narrow formatting of the Psalms.

The weight for Volume II (Lent & Easter) is about 2.5 lbs and for Volume I (first half of ordinary time) is about 1.5 lbs. Volumes III and IV are going to be close to 2.5 lbs, but we don't know for sure yet since the page count has not been finalized."

@smcatharine it seems to me ascension will have a similar issue. Obviously this is just an observation from pictures, but although their version looks smaller in pages height and width, the depth of the book looks much thicker.Based on some videos I have seen of it being handled.