LOTH/Liturgia Horarum & English hymns to the original chant tones
  • MargaretMargaret
    Posts: 3
    Hi! I have a few questions about chanting the LOTH. I am organizing this for a discernment house for young women, so I am particularly interested in the LOTH, as the majority of religious communities use this, rather than the old rite Office (I read through a couple threads from the past on this, by the way, Les Heures Grégoriennes looks amazing! how great when it comes out in English some day)

    1) Can the LOTH and Liturgia Horarum be used together? eg. hymns and psalms in Latin and readings in English

    2) About the hymns .. if we wanted/needed to sing them in English, does anyone know of any book that has the Latin hymns from Liturgia Horarum translated into English and set to the original chant tones?

    3) Regarding the above, would such English hymns need to be approved for use in the Office? This community also includes a vowed religious sister, so everything about our Office would need to be official.

    About my second question, the Carmelites in Ada Parnell, MI told me this is what they do instead of singing the new hymns in the LOTH. I asked the Prioress specifically about this, and she said there was a book/hymnal of this published by the Poor Clares in Alexandria, VA. I think I remember she said they had gotten the approval for this. Does anyone know about this hymnal? I am thinking of writing them to ask.

    Thanks in advance for any help you can provide! God bless!
  • John Koza
    Posts: 8
    SkirpR has produced an Advent vespers according to your description. You will find a link to it and other comments in this thread:
    click here
    Others with more knowledge may know of similar efforts.
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    You might also see this great book on Compline that I write about here.
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 1,000
    With regard to your first point, you might have a look at the Solem Vespers celebrated during the CMAA Fall Practicum (22 October 2010). It has both Latin and English parts.
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    St Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter - English - www.andrewespress.com

    But as far as question 2, what is a good source for the Office Hymns in English?
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    It would appear that if there is such a hymnal, Richard Rice might know!

    "Rice's collection of Responsorial Psalm Antiphons for the Mass, with melodies adapted from the Psalterium monasticum, is used daily by a community of Poor Clare Sisters in Alexandria, Virginia"
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,220
    How about the hymns in the Mundelein Psalter?
  • MargaretMargaret
    Posts: 3
    Thank you to everyone who responded here! :)

    Yes, shortly after writing this I realized the Mundelein Psalter is probably the closest to what I'm looking for. I have a friend who has it, so I hope to see it soon.

    However, I had never heard of that book on Compline alone. Thanks for the recommendation, Jeffrey. This just may be the answer, as we only have to pray one or two hours together and this is a pretty inexpensive little book. That is super neat that it has Latin and English too - and both the official translations. Either way, I'm definitely getting a copy of this and will recommend it to others.

    frogman, a while back I ran into that page - http://www.canticanova.com/cnp_info/rice.htm - with the reference to the Poor Clares in Alexandria, but hadn't been able to find it since, so thanks for posting that :) I will probably either write him or the Sisters at some point. If I learn anything new, I'll post it here.

    Also, regarding hymns and official translations in English - I ran into someone who told me they don't have to be official for the hymns of the Office ... that the rubrics said something like any suitable hymn can be used. So anyway, I shall go look this up.

    Okay, God bless!
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,513
    Mundelein is good, but doesn't always rhyme. In English, we tend to hunger for rhyme endings.
  • Maureen
    Posts: 679
    Or alliteration and other sound tricks. There's just something satisfying about English rhyme, like solving an equation; and it's nice to be able to taste the words you're singing instead of just having plain tofu prose.
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