New Office Books for the Revised Dominican Calendar

Title Page of the New Collectarium

This post is a reminder, especially for members of the Dominican Family, that we have now published new editions of the various Dominican propers for the Liturgy of the Hours, they are available at Dominican Liturgy Publications for use in the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours by those taking various roles in choir. These include:

The Propers of the Office for the Order of Preachers, which contains the full propers for all Dominican Saints and Blesseds on our general calendar. The propers are also available in pocket-book size.

In addition, I have revised the booklet for Dominican Blesseds Celebrated Locally, a companion volume that has the short biographies and collects for the many Dominican Saints and Blesseds who are only celebrated in particular provinces.

Finally, we have also produced a new edition of our Collectarium: A Manual for Hebdomadarians, which contains all the texts, in particular the collects, needed by the hedomadarian, not only for Dominican Saints, but for every day of the year.

Thanks to a communication from the Procurator General of the Order, I now know the reason for the changes in the calendar. This reduction in the number of Saints and Blesseds, and the reduction of some in rank, was done because a specific directive of the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship asking the order to reduce the number of feasts on our general calendar. The principle for this revision was the popularity of the individual saints; the revised calendar therefore reflects this. The revised calendar (including all the local blesseds) is included in both the Propers book and the Collectarium. A summary of the calendar changes was previously published here.

He also pointed out that local provinces (and houses, and individual friars) are free to celebrate any optional memorials that they see as fitting, as well as even those Blesseds on the list as local options, should there be a pastoral reason for this.