Breviary - Celebration

Celebration

Before 1910 the difficulty of harmonizing the Proprium de Tempore and the Proprium Sanctorum, to which reference has been made, was only partly met in the thirty-seven chapters of general rubrics. Additional help was given by a kind of Catholic Churchman's Almanack, called the Ordo Recitandi Divini Officii, published in different countries and dioceses, and giving, under every day, minute directions for proper reading. In 1960 John XXIII simplified the rubrics governing the Breviary in order to make it easier to use.

Every cleric in Holy Orders and every member of a religious order must publicly join in or privately read aloud (i.e. using the lips as well as the eyes—it takes about two hours in this way) the whole of the Breviary services allotted for each day. In large churches where they were celebrated the services were usually grouped; e.g. Matins and Lauds (about 7.30 A.M.); Prime, Terce (High Mass), Sext, and None (about 10 A.M.); Vespers and Compline (4 P.M.); and from four to eight hours (depending on the amount of music and the number of high masses) are thus spent in choir. Lay use of the Breviary has varied throughout the Church's history. In some periods laymen did not use the Breviary as a manual of devotion to any great extent. The late Medieval period saw the recitation of certain hours of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, which was based on the Breviary in form and content, becoming popular among those who could read, and Bishop Challoner did much to popularise the hours of Sunday Vespers and Compline (albeit in English translation) in his 'Garden of the Soul' in the eighteenth century. The Liturgical Movement in the twentieth century saw renewed interest in the Offices of the Breviary and several popular editions were produced containing the vernacular as well as the Latin.

The complete pre-Pius X Roman Breviary was translated into English (by the marquess of Bute in 1879; new ed. with a trans, of the Martyrology, 1908), French and German. Bute's version is noteworthy for its inclusion of the skilful renderings of the ancient hymns by J.H. Newman, J.M. Neale and others. Several editions of the Pius X Breviary were produced during the twentieth century, including a notable edition prepared with the assistance of the Sisters of Stanbrook Abbey in the 1950s. Two editions in English and Latin were produced in the mid-sixties, which conformed to the rubrics of 1960, published by Liturgical Press and Benziger in America. These used the Pius XII psalter. Baronius Press's revised edition of the Liturgical Press edition (which was originally scheduled for publication at the end of 2006) was delayed due to numerous factors. It is currently scheduled to be printed in late 2011 after their "printer in the Philippines beset by a series of typhoons" delaying the printing. Baronius advised customers "there have been floods in the area around the plant, electrical shortages and the humidity has been very high for a much longer period than normal, causing technical problems and making it very difficult to print continuously". It uses the older Gallican psalter of St. Jerome. In late 2010 the company announced that the concordat cum originali had been granted for the Breviary and specimen pages appeared on their website.

Under Pope Benedict XVI's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, Roman Catholic bishops, priests, and deacons are again permitted to use the 1962 edition of the Roman Breviary, promulgated by Pope John XXIII to satisfy their obligation to recite the Divine Office every day.

In 2008, an i-breviary was launched, which combines the ancient breviaries with the latest computer technology.