Publishers announced for new Breviary!
  • monasteryliturgistmonasteryliturgist
    Posts: 602
    @chonak yes I think thats what gives it the AI feel. I also really don't like the mixing of styles. If word on fire is not any better I think I am going to have to tape some holy cards on top of it or something.

    I think Publishers need to be careful when choosing art for liturgical books. It should point towards adornment rather than being the center of attention in the page.
  • igneusigneus
    Posts: 447
    Will the US have no plain Liturgia-horarum-style edition with no artwork at all? Options with some artwork are nice to have, but...
  • monasteryliturgistmonasteryliturgist
    Posts: 602
    @igneus it doesnt seem like it. Perhaps the "Christian Prayer Version" but both the full 4 volume published only by Ascension and Word on Fire have both announced that they will have art work.

    After Some searching, the only artwork I have seen with Word on Fire is this (see attached). But Im not sure if all of it will use the same style or not. It appears that Ascension will have original artwork by the same artist all throughout.
    Screenshot 2026-05-17 162851.png
    1274 x 930 - 1M
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,281
    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)
  • monasteryliturgistmonasteryliturgist
    Posts: 602
    @chonak but this is for the current version only right? not the one coming out this next year.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,281
    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.
  • DCM
    Posts: 98
    The "African breviary" uses the short-lived Revised Grail psalms from 2008. The upcoming American books will use the Abbey Psalms, which are basically a Revised Revised Grail (one further step of revision). I guess some further tinkering was requested once the USCCB bought the copyright.

    A history of the revision process:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grail_Psalms
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,281
    Yes, I skipped that detail because I really have no idea how extensive the USCCB revisions were.

    Thanks.
  • Marc Cerisier
    Posts: 606
    The current Abbey Psalms is closer to the 2008 version. The 2010 version (RGP) that was publicly released was destroyed by (as I’m told) non-native English speakers at the Vatican that went through the text with a broad “find and replace” paintbrush that introduced many errors to the text. Changes in leadership at the Vatican between the original 2008 submission and the acquisition of the psalter by the USCCB allowed for the re-edit of the texts.
    Thanked by 2Liam CHGiffen
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,639
    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.
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen a_f_hawkins Roborgelmeister
  • RomanticStringsRomanticStrings
    Posts: 354
    This might be of interest:

    https://youtu.be/3tIk4CZbJV4?si=Ko_wzMgRFZE3Psog
  • fcbfcb
    Posts: 405
    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.
    Thanked by 2chonak Liam
  • monasteryliturgistmonasteryliturgist
    Posts: 602
    Free for seminarians, but doesnt seem so for Religious. I tried contacting them twice about any discount that could give us but did not receive any kind of answer. Im wondering what the plan will be. Everyone has about 1 year to get new breviaries by the time they are printed, but with how fancy they are printed most communities are going to have a hard time with pricing when they have to suddenly buy 4 volume sets for 20+ members in their local houses.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen tomjaw
  • drforjc
    Posts: 40
    @monasteryliturgist my understanding is that a single donor offered to pay for a free set for seminarians (I'm in the Winona-Rochesteer diocese)
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,625
    I have no stake. My pastor doesn’t even own the current set. But it strikes me as unjust to buy books for seminarians except in the poorest dioceses or for seminarians in need (like ones from various foreign countries who can do work-study essentially but who can’t really work otherwise and have no savings or family and other American benefactors) and ignore (women) religious.
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