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).