Resources for Liturgy of Hours in a parish
  • Rob_S
    Posts: 1
    Hi--- I’m hoping to start a weekly evening prayer at my parish. At this point I’ve got the pastor and liturgist on board--- which I thought was going to be the hard part. But now I’m finding out that, frustratingly, there really do seem to be no resources for this sort of thing out there.

    eBreviary is not a great option because of the cost (now $50/yr), and because it’s text only. Ideally I would be able to prepare booklets or binders that would give worshipers everything from soup to nuts, including musical notation for the versicles, hymn, and at least one of the canticles/psalms. My guess is that most of our parishioners have never even heard of the divine office, and the last thing I want to do is scare people away by asking them to do a bunch of arcane page-flipping.

    Anyone know of any good resources?
  • G
    Posts: 1,400
    I used the Meinrad tones to do Morning Prayer for the Triduum in my parish.
    Had to set it all with my music writing program, as our liturgy committee thought four-line would be too confusing for our people. 8oP
    I used the same tone for everything on any given day, I thought it deadly dull, but the liturgist was right, it was just easy enough for the congregation.
    The Mundelein Psalter is very useful, but probably a bit expensive for your purpose - don't know if they have any provision for congregational copies.

    (Save the Liturgy, Save the World)
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    For single events, I could do something on commission for you. I put together congregational worship aids all the time for both the office and Mass. PM me for more info.
  • irishtenoririshtenor
    Posts: 1,325
    You could use Chabanel psalm tones pretty easily, as long as you're comfortable setting (and pointing!) the music and text for a worship aid.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    Many of the Chabanel arrangements come with a melody-line engraving for the antiiphon already.
  • Ally
    Posts: 227
    I also simply pointed my own texts using tones from various sources. It is tedious in a way, but much easier for the people to use if they are new to LotH. Otherwise we use eBreviary for spoken Vespers the rest of the time.
  • It might be out of your price range option, but I'm an absolute shill for the Mundelein Psalter.
  • I second the Mundelein Psalter, especially when just beginning to chant the LotH.
  • SkirpRSkirpR
    Posts: 854
    There's no resource you can find for under $50. I will repeat what I said recently in another thread: Time is money, and it's a particularly Catholic tendency to spend so much time getting something for free, (in most cases) it would have been worth it to just have spent the money.
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    I should mention that Ormonde Pater's adaptations that I posted above are based on the Anitphonale Monasticum, which for Vespers is basically the same as the Antiphonale Romanum II (except four Psalms at vespers rather than three). The texts in the new AR2 are the same as in the Breviary, not per se the Ordo Cantus Oficii, so you can find the right antiphons by looking them up in the LoH. The psalms can be sung either to Gregorian tones, Meinrad tones, or anything else.
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    Fr. Samuel Weber also has some resources on his site too. (Link on "resources" page of musicasacra.com)

    Magnificat antiphon corresponds to the Three Year cycle for the Gospel at Mass, I don't know of all three options are present if Fr. Weber's books.

    [edited to remove factual error.]
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Huh? There's no three year cycle in LOTH? The 23rd Sunday in OT should have the same office every year.
    Thanked by 1Salieri
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    Thanks for the correction regarding the Psalter, Ben.
  • In the English translation of the LOTH, there is no three year cycle of Gospel Canticle Antiphons. However, in the Latin, and I believe most of the other languages, do have the cyclical translation of the Gospel Canticle Antiphons, which is something that will be changed when the new translation comes out.
    Thanked by 1Salieri
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    Ah, that explains the problem; I was basing my observations on Antiphonale Romanum II.
    Thanked by 1Ben
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Even then, it's only the gospel canticle, so it should be fine.
    Thanked by 1Salieri
  • SkirpRSkirpR
    Posts: 854
    Regarding the history of the three-year cycle and the Liturgy of the Hours, it's rather complicated... a mess as the Pope might say. :)

    The current English edition is based on the original 1970s Latin edition. During Sundays in Ordinary Time, one will notice only one of the three antiphons at the Gospel Canticles (Magnificat [Canticle of Mary] at I Vespers [Evening Prayer I], Benedictus [Canticle of Zechariah] at Lauds [Morning Prayer], Magnificat [Canticle of Mary] at II Vespers [Evening Prayer II]) corresponds to the Gospel read at Mass.

    This is because the antiphon given at I Vespers is from Year A, the one at Lauds is from Year B, and the one at II Vespers is from Year C.

    I Vespers - antiphon corresponding to the Sunday Gospel, Year A

    Lauds - antiphon corresponding to the Sunday Gospel, Year B

    II Vespers - antiphon corresponding to the Sunday Gospel, Year C


    Basically, it seems the typesetter/printer of the original Latin edition messed it all up.

    The Mundelein Psalter fixes this, by simply listing them as Year A, Year B, and Year C for each Ordinary Time Sunday in the Proper of Seasons rather than Evening Prayer I, Morning Prayer, and Evening Prayer II. So, using the current translation, one *should* repeat the same appropriate antiphon at each of the three hours in question rather than reading as printed. (Note, this all applies only to Sundays in Ordinary Time.)

    When the Liturgia Horarum was revised and reprinted in the 1980s, the whole problem was corrected and then some: three unique antiphons for Years A, B, and C were provided for each of the hours I Vespers, Lauds, and II Vespers on Sundays.

    I Vespers - three antiphons, one each corresponding to the Sunday Gospel, Year A, B, and C

    Lauds - three different antiphons, one each corresponding to the Sunday Gospel, Year A, B, and C

    II Vespers - three more different antiphons, one each corresponding to the Sunday Gospel, Year A, B, and C


    This has yet to be translated into English (save for the African edition).

    Note also, these do not always correspond with the 2010 Antiphonale Romanum. Frankly, there are not enough of these antiphons in the corpus for three different unique antiphons for each of the three hours that require them. This material in the 2010 Antiphonale Romanum comes directly from the 2005 Antiphonale Monasticum - kind of.

    A Sunday in Ordinary Time in the 2005 Antiphonale Monasticum presents this in therms of Gospel canticle antiphons:

    I Vespers - antiphon corresponding to the readings at Matins [Office of Readings] for the week

    Lauds - one antiphon corresponding to the Sunday Gospel, with options for A, B, or C

    II Vespers - another antiphon corresponding to the Sunday Gospel, with options for A, B, or C


    Additionally, the option is given that if one doesn't wish to use the antiphons that correspond to the readings from Matins [Office of Readings] at I Vespers, one may substitute the antiphon from Lauds for I Vespers. This is what the Antiphonale Romanum II did!

    It therefore seems to me that should an Antiphonale Romanum appear for Lauds, it will likely not contain any new Gospel canticle antiphons, but rather repeat the ones from I Vespers:

    I Vespers - one antiphon corresponding to the Sunday Gospel, with options for A, B, or C

    Lauds - same antiphon corresponding to the Sunday Gospel, with options for A, B, or C

    II Vespers - another antiphon corresponding to the Sunday Gospel, with options for A, B, or C

  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    the whole problem was corrected and then some

    Well, if one calls that a correction. :-)
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Salieri
  • I'd like to see an English-language version of the Vespers done at Notre-Dame in Paris. I particularly like how the psalms are done with strophes in alternatim.

    Here's yesterday's Vespers.

    And here's a PDF of the service sheet the people use to participate.
  • Question: (I promise it's not as irrelevant as it sounds)

    Is the specific pointing of psalms in a given hymnal / songbook considered protected material?


    If it's not, there's no reason you can't use the Mundelein Psalter for your liturgy of the hours and just purchase one copy. The psalm tones used therein are in the Creative Commons (Fr. Weber) and the psalms follow the simple copyright restrictions of the rest of the psalms (you can use them in parish worship aids).
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Is the specific pointing of psalms in a given hymnal / songbook considered protected material?


    I imagine some publishers would make a claim that it is.
    But even that would not make it so.
  • Right. I meant "considered protected" by people who know what they're talking about, not just wishful thinking on the part of the publishers.
  • SkirpRSkirpR
    Posts: 854
    @ScottKChicago,

    I'd like to see an English-language version of the Vespers done at Notre-Dame in Paris. I particularly like how the psalms are done with strophes in alternatim.

    Here's yesterday's Vespers.

    And here's a PDF of the service sheet the people use to participate.


    Link to the PDF didn't work. I'd like to see it!
  • And here's a PDF of the service sheet the people use to participate.


    Sorry about that. I've fixed the link in the post, and here it is.
  • G
    Posts: 1,400
    The pointing would not be, assuming it was done according to common sense most everyone would come up with the same schema.
    The typesetting, though is.

    (Save the Liturgy, Save the World)
    Thanked by 1Andrew Motyka
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    I find that it is just easier to set the antiphons to Psalm tones.

    Indeed, it is frustrating that there is no set edition to music.