English LOH texts for the last week of Advent
  • Richard R.
    Posts: 774
    Can someone with the four-volume version of the current Breviary in English clarify this anomaly in Christian Prayer? For the Responsory at Evening Prayer, it gives the following:

    Dec. 17 and 18: Lord, show us your mercy and love (the Responsory used for Sundays of Advent)
    Dec. 19-23: Come and set us free (the Responsory used for weekdays of Advent)

    I tend to think this is some kind of misprint, and would be inclined to use the Sunday Responsory on whichever of those days falls on Saturday (EP I) and Sunday (EP II) of that last week of Advent.

    PS. This is not really a Gregorian Chant question, but I don't see a Category for liturgical texts and/or the LOH.
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,371
    All the weekdays of Advent use the same Responsory in the 1974 printed English version (Divine Office), that is Come to us .... But in the Universalis version online, the US diocese are as in Christian Prayer, 17th &18th December use the Sunday Responsory. And again in the Universalis for Liverpool (England) 17th &18th December use the Sunday Responsory. This seems strange.
  • PLTT
    Posts: 149
    Yes, it is true, the responsory for the 17-18 Dec differs from the 19-23 in both the Latin and the ICEL volumes (afhawkins.....my US version does have "Lord show us your mercy" under both 17 and 18). This is true also in the editio typica altera of the Latin.

    The Divine Office gives it differently, but it has a completely different (and oftentimes, more confusing) arrangement from the Latin - I would imagine that this difference did not perhaps, catch the eye of the translators - or perhaps they assumed it was an error and decided to correct it.
  • Richard R.
    Posts: 774
    Thanks for checking, both of you.
  • Richard R.
    Posts: 774
    While we're on the subject of oddities in the Diving Office, I notice that Volume II of the new Antiphonale Romanum (which apparently predates Volume I by 11 years) gives almost no chants for weekdays that are not Solemnities. One exception is the Monday in the Octave of Easter... only Monday. Is there a tradition that elevates that particular weekday? Do you know if they are preparing a volume to cover all weekdays? Finding concordant chants to match the English is relatively easy using the AR, but very difficult when left with only the Antiphonale monasticum of no matter what vintage.
  • PLTT
    Posts: 149
    Historically, the Monday and Tuesday following Easter and Pentecost were the highly ranked days, equivalent to the rank of Easter, and originally among the great holydays of the Church (of obligation in many places, until the severe curtailment of days of obligation beginning in the 18th century). The other days within the Octave had lower ranks. Only in 1960 were all the days within the Octave raised to the highest rank.

    This is reflected in the post-conciliar missal by the permission to re-use the Mass of Pentecost or a Votive of the Holy Spirit on the Monday and Tuesday. It is also seen in many traditionally Catholic countries in the civic holidays (e.g. the Italian 'Pasquetta')
    Thanked by 2GerardH Richard R.
  • Carol
    Posts: 849
    I know this was a typo but it gave me a chuckle. I pictured religious in robes on a high platform:

    "While we're on the subject of oddities in the DIVING Office, I notice that..."
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