Ave Regina

Closely connected to the Brown Scapular is the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Probably dating back to the eighth century, it is one of the oldest traditions of Marian devotion, and for that sake one of the oldest traditions of prayer in the Church at general. It has been used by religious, priests and lay people, and in several religious orders it has been recited in addition to the Divine Office up until our time. It has been used as a means to learn children to read, and it has been the favorite devotion of those who knew how to read - people even knew it by heart! Try memorizing Our Lady’s Matins…

Reciting the Little Office is one of the conditions to be observed if wearing the Brown Scapular (though this can be substituted with some other good work with the permission of a priest), but I also recommend reciting it if you are not wearing a Scapular. The Manual of Indulgences of 1999 grants a partial indulgence for piously reciting an approved little office, and The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of them. It is commonly held that this applies also to reciting parts of it - I’ve found that reciting Lauds, Prime, Sext, Vespers and Compline works great taking my daily schedule into account. Some days I recite all or most of the hours in the evening, but that used to be normal among both lay people and diocesan priests up until recent times, and I find actually reciting the hours more important than reciting them at the right time if I can’t do both.

The Little Office (1961 edition) is composed of the normal hours (Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline), but there is no day cycle, the Office remains the same every day. However there are variations for Advent and Christmastide, and the “normal” Office changes a bit during Lent and Easter. The Office also don’t have variations for commemorations and feasts. This results in a very small book (”Little Office”, remember), which makes it incredibly practical to carry around compared to the Roman Breviary or the Liturgy of the Hours. On the more spiritual level, you get the chance to meditate on the same texts over and over, and the Marian theme of the psalms will stand out more and more clearly after having recited the office for a while, thus giving you a greater understanding of God’s plan for the Blessed Virgin, and how this is found throughout the whole history of Israel. Reciting the Little Office is thus in my opinion perhaps the most important Marian devotion we have, and I’m glad to see - both online and among people I know - that it’s on its way back after sadly having been almost abandoned in mainstream Catholicism for a while.

As I’ve never even looked at the post-1970 edition, I can’t really say which version I prefer, but as the differences probably resemble the difference between the 1961 Roman Breviary and the current Liturgy of the Hours, I went for the 1961 version when I decided to start reading the Little Office. Having read the current Liturgy of the Hours for years, both in vernacular and Latin, I found, at some point, that I personally prefer the 1961 rubrics, as its focus is more on reciting the psalter and less on intercessions etc., which suits my liturgical sense better. However there’s nothing wrong with the current rubrics if you happen to prefer them (which is the great thing about the Papal gift of Summorum Pontificum, you’re allowed to prefer the form you want - or both of them for that sake), and if so taking a look at the newer edition can be fruitful.

As for the 1961 edition, it has newly been republished by Baronius Press, with a beautiful blue leather cover and gilded pages. It is the first ever edition that contains the Gregorian Chant for every part of the Office, which makes it a wonderful book if one is to sing the Office in a parish or other community. It follows the text of the 1961 editio typica of the Roman Breviary, and it uses the Douay-Rheims Bible for the English translation, which is perhaps the best translation for liturgical use in my opinion, due to its reverent and poetic language. This book is highly recommended for all Catholics!

The post-1970 edition is published by Catholic Book Publishing, other than that I don’t know anything about it. I plan to buy it and review it, but that’ll take some time. In case you want to take a look at it, I’ll link to both versions. The one to the left is the 1961 edition :-)

The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Little Office Of The Blessed Virgin Mary