We have now had a chance to fully review the Oblate Breviary published by St. Meinrads. It has many good features. It follows the Rule but keeps in mind the time constraints of Oblates. It has a four week Psalter cycle and introduces chant into the Breviary. It has a simplified format that is easy to follow. The large print is also welcomed. However, there is no Proper of Seasons or Saints nor is there a Commons.
There are three suggestions for those who wish to purchase breviaries. The first is for someone who is just beginning to use the Breviary. Use any of the three simplified versions: Work of God, Shorter Christian Prayer (comes in both large and small print) and The Oblate Breviary of St. Meinrads. However, the Shorter Christian Prayer is the most complete of the three.
The second recommendation is for those wanting more and ready to go beyond the three mentioned above. In this case it is recommended to purchase the Benedictine Daily Prayer and use it in conjunction with Shorter Christian Prayer or the Oblate Breviary. This is because the Benedictine Daily Prayer’s Psalter is so difficult to complete and is not sensitive to the time constraints of Oblates. The simplified psalter of the other two compliments Benedictine Daily Prayer very well. It would provide for many of the short-comings of Oblate Breviary and the two together give a fairly complete Breviary with expansive readings – a nice alternative to the four volume Liturgy of the Hours. The standard one volume Christian Prayer is always an acceptable alternative but it lacks the extensive readings contained within Benedictine Daily Prayer.
The third recommendation is the complete four volume Liturgy of the Hours. This is the most expensive alternative and not recommended until it is determined if the Holy See will permit the new translations of the Psalter. Probably the simplest alternative is what Abbot Placid recommended on a couple of occasion, just purchase a bible, pray the Psalms through at your own pace, select a book of the bible to take the place of the readings, and add your own prayer intentions at the end with an Our Father.
I’m a Benedictine oblate of Saint Meinrad Archabbey and awaited the
publication of the new Liturgy of the Hours book with great
anticipation. I was both very impressed and just slightly disappointed by
the book.
On the negative side, I had the same thought you wrote about: no holy
day or sanctoral material.
On the positive side, it does provide most of what the monks pray and
chant each day, on the same cycle, with the same chants. It is
attractively printed. And it is a major expansion of the one-week
office we have had for years in our Benedictine Oblate Companion
(oblate manual).
Still, I think the ideal would be to have access to all of the same
material the monks use, including feasts and solemnities. Ideally this
could be published electronically either on a CD or PDF files. But I
understand that there are often copyright issues.
I think it is an important new resource for oblates, and I have been
hearing that it’s selling well.
I also have the Benedictine Daily Prayer and have problems with its
leaving out so many psalms, its odd translations of some things, and
its layout. It could be a great breviary in the Collegeville tradition
but was published when not quite ready, in my opinion.