The “dirty little secret” of the LotH is that translations don’t really matter since there’s like a dozen different approved English versions of various strains. The Liturgical Press publishes an approved Benedictine Breviary that contains some really odd translation choices. And Saint Michael Abbey publishes a Monastic Diurnal with appr…
The “dirty little secret” of the LotH is that translations don’t really matter since there’s like a dozen different approved English versions of various strains. The Liturgical Press publishes an approved Benedictine Breviary that contains some really odd translation choices. And Saint Michael Abbey publishes a Monastic Diurnal with approved Latin-English side-by-side that doesn’t match up with the broader church either.
Regarding +Strickland: the blame is on both +Strickland and Pope Francis, and both need to be called out. Obviously recent statements from +Strickland are scandalous and unacceptable (nay, heterodox even). And he is ultimately responsible for his words and actions. But are we at all surprised? I saw this coming back in 2019.
What happens is that a respected cleric (that wants to be faithful and support Rome!) begins voicing serious concerns: “I want the Church to be a strong and courageous witness to Jesus Christ. I’m worried about the lack of clarity and orthodoxy coming from Rome and elsewhere. And meanwhile, faithful devout Catholics are being dealt with heavy-handedly, uncharitably, and unfairly while crazy theological progressives get the soft gloves.” Then Rome responds by treating that cleric… heavy-handedly, uncharitably, and unfairly. This begins the feedback loop of confirmation bias. It always ends with removal and dismissal, and the faithful suffer. We’ve seen it happen with +Vigano, +Schneider, +Torres, Fr. Altman, and now +Strickland.
How can Pope Francis not realize that when he brings the hammer down on these clerics (while also letting “the modernists” get a free pass), he ends up confirming their grievances and suspicions which only drives them further down the rabbit hole.
We need to remember that even bishops (like Strickland) are the little ones who are under Pope Francis, and yet “woe to the one who causes one of these little ones to sin.”
Pope Francis is overly harsh with those who need to be dealt with gently, and overly gentle with those who need to be dealt with harshly.
EDIT: “dirty little secret” is NOT meant to be pejorative, it’s more tongue-in-cheek. The point is that while we wait for 2026, there are dozens of translations and arrangements currently approved for use. Honestly, if you pray any arrangement of any translation of psalms day-by-day, you are technically “praying the Hours” which is just fine. I personally use both the aforementioned benedictine breviaries.
Regarding the dirty little secret of the Divine Office - yep, the Ordinariate has its own (gorgeous) version as well. One time I tried praying Compline out of it with my little Bible study, mainly because it's the only breviary I own so I just made some copies. I made it clear ahead of time that while it's not the "standard" translation, it is a valid Catholic version of the Offices. Most people seemed to like it - for most of them it was their first time praying an Office at all. I did get one person who made an issue of it later, though. "We have a perfectly good Catholic version, why would you confuse people with something that isn't even the Catholic version." SMH
I've been praying with this myself for the last 9 months or so. I typically just pray morning and evening prayer, so it's been nice to have a lot more biblical reading and pray through the entire psalter.
I wonder what Cranmer thinks about his great act of schism/apostasy/heresy/whatever being swallowed up and redeemed by the Church he rejected and betrayed. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Positive reframe regarding waiting for a new translation of LotH with Matthew’s dirty little secret in mind: an opportunity to deep dive into experiential knowledge of the history of the Divine Office as we watch history of this ancient prayer unfold. Particularly, if you need to buy a new breviary now but hope to also purchase the new translation in 2026-ish.
I’m sure there are endless resources elsewhere, but here are a few helpful ones:
“The entire Gregorian chant repertory, including both Novus Ordo and Vetus Ordo, as recorded by the communities of Benedictine nuns of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Fidélité of Jouques and the Benedictine monks of Abbaye Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux in French Provence.”
Compline from Saint Michael Abbey’s Monastic Diurnal with approved Latin-English side-by-side:
The “dirty little secret” of the LotH is that translations don’t really matter since there’s like a dozen different approved English versions of various strains. The Liturgical Press publishes an approved Benedictine Breviary that contains some really odd translation choices. And Saint Michael Abbey publishes a Monastic Diurnal with approved Latin-English side-by-side that doesn’t match up with the broader church either.
Regarding +Strickland: the blame is on both +Strickland and Pope Francis, and both need to be called out. Obviously recent statements from +Strickland are scandalous and unacceptable (nay, heterodox even). And he is ultimately responsible for his words and actions. But are we at all surprised? I saw this coming back in 2019.
What happens is that a respected cleric (that wants to be faithful and support Rome!) begins voicing serious concerns: “I want the Church to be a strong and courageous witness to Jesus Christ. I’m worried about the lack of clarity and orthodoxy coming from Rome and elsewhere. And meanwhile, faithful devout Catholics are being dealt with heavy-handedly, uncharitably, and unfairly while crazy theological progressives get the soft gloves.” Then Rome responds by treating that cleric… heavy-handedly, uncharitably, and unfairly. This begins the feedback loop of confirmation bias. It always ends with removal and dismissal, and the faithful suffer. We’ve seen it happen with +Vigano, +Schneider, +Torres, Fr. Altman, and now +Strickland.
How can Pope Francis not realize that when he brings the hammer down on these clerics (while also letting “the modernists” get a free pass), he ends up confirming their grievances and suspicions which only drives them further down the rabbit hole.
We need to remember that even bishops (like Strickland) are the little ones who are under Pope Francis, and yet “woe to the one who causes one of these little ones to sin.”
Pope Francis is overly harsh with those who need to be dealt with gently, and overly gentle with those who need to be dealt with harshly.
EDIT: “dirty little secret” is NOT meant to be pejorative, it’s more tongue-in-cheek. The point is that while we wait for 2026, there are dozens of translations and arrangements currently approved for use. Honestly, if you pray any arrangement of any translation of psalms day-by-day, you are technically “praying the Hours” which is just fine. I personally use both the aforementioned benedictine breviaries.
Regarding the dirty little secret of the Divine Office - yep, the Ordinariate has its own (gorgeous) version as well. One time I tried praying Compline out of it with my little Bible study, mainly because it's the only breviary I own so I just made some copies. I made it clear ahead of time that while it's not the "standard" translation, it is a valid Catholic version of the Offices. Most people seemed to like it - for most of them it was their first time praying an Office at all. I did get one person who made an issue of it later, though. "We have a perfectly good Catholic version, why would you confuse people with something that isn't even the Catholic version." SMH
If anybody wants a lovely breviary that probably won't ever get revised: https://www.ctsbooks.org/product/daily-office/
I've been praying with this myself for the last 9 months or so. I typically just pray morning and evening prayer, so it's been nice to have a lot more biblical reading and pray through the entire psalter.
I wonder what Cranmer thinks about his great act of schism/apostasy/heresy/whatever being swallowed up and redeemed by the Church he rejected and betrayed. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Just last week, I spilled tea on my breviary and said "Well, at least there will be a new translation soon!" Guess not. Thanks for the recommendation!
Positive reframe regarding waiting for a new translation of LotH with Matthew’s dirty little secret in mind: an opportunity to deep dive into experiential knowledge of the history of the Divine Office as we watch history of this ancient prayer unfold. Particularly, if you need to buy a new breviary now but hope to also purchase the new translation in 2026-ish.
I’m sure there are endless resources elsewhere, but here are a few helpful ones:
https://www.divinumofficium.com/
https://neumz.com/
“The entire Gregorian chant repertory, including both Novus Ordo and Vetus Ordo, as recorded by the communities of Benedictine nuns of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Fidélité of Jouques and the Benedictine monks of Abbaye Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux in French Provence.”
Compline from Saint Michael Abbey’s Monastic Diurnal with approved Latin-English side-by-side:
https://casonasher.com/compline