Ask a Question - or - Return to the Divine Office Forum Index

Question Title Posted By Question Date
LOTH during Lent for the saints Blake Thursday, March 29, 2012

Question:

I pray the LOTH and have a question about adding a reading at the Office of Readings from a saint's commemoration during Lent. My Saint Joseph guide says we may add a reading and prayer of a saint during the Office of Readings and a antiphon and prayer at Morning Prayer. Does this mean we have three total readings during the Office of readings and the prayer from the saint's commemoration, or do we drop the second reading in the Proper of Seasons and just read the saint's reading in the Proper of Saints?

Also, if we say the antiphon and concluding prayer of the saint from the Proper of Saints during Morning Prayer, do we drop the concluding prayer from the Proper of Seasons or just add the prayer from the Proper of Saints?

Thank you in advance.



Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r), L.Th., D.D.

Dear Blake:

Note to all readers: It would be helpful to give me what day in the LOTH the question pertains to so we can be on the same page. It can make a difference in the answer.

I presume you are talking about, for example, the Office of Readings in the 4-volume edition on March 17th which reads: OOR 263, Ps 1472 (May add Rd & Pr of St. Patrick, B 1710-1712).

The GILOTH states:

239 During the seasons, if it is desired to celebrate the Office of a saint on a day assigned to his memorial:

a) in the Office of Readings, after the patristic reading (with its responsory) from the Proper of Seasons, a proper reading in honor of the saint (with its responsory) may follow, with the concluding prayer of the saint.

b) at Morning and Evening Prayer, the ending of the concluding prayer may be omitted, and the saint's antiphon (from the Proper or Common) and prayer added.

This means, in this example, one can "add" the readings from the Proper for St. Patrick after the readings from the Proper of Seasons. The prayer from the Proper of the saint substitutes for the prayer from the Proper of Seasons.

In Morning or Evening Prayer the ending of the Prayer is omitted and instead the antiphon and prayer from the Proper of the saint inserted.

The "ending of the prayer" refers to omitting the following from the prayer in the Proper of Seasons, and instead inserting the antiphon and prayer from the Proper of the saint:

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary