The Divine Office
Praise is the primary duty of a Christian towards God, of any creature towards the Creator. Praise is the unlimited appreciation of the grandeur of God. “He alone is good,” Jesus says, and he moves us to love him in the fullness of his beauty.
The Divine Office, also known as the Liturgy of the Hours, is a prayer-filled communal celebration, an extension of our oblation of our selves with Christ in the Eucharist. Even the private recitation of the Office is offered in union with the faithful and is considered a communal activity. For busy clergy or those with family responsibilities saying even one or two of the Hours is a beneficial discipline and sacrifice made to the glory of God. Spiritual tradition has always considered the celebration of praise at the Office to be a truly angelic function, and this is why the monastic life is often called an 'angelic life.' Reciting the Office is a way of anticipating the life of heaven by the sanctification of time. Praising God at regular intervals during the day makes the entire day holy to God.
Here at St. Mary's, we use the Monastic Diurnal Revised as our guide through the canonical Hours, set within the sisters' daily schedule and following an Ordo calendar through the liturgical year. Most of the Offices are chanted in English (in both America and Malawi) according to a plainsong tradition observed at CSM for over eighty years. The Malawian sisters have also translated the Monastic Diurnal Revised into Chichewa for recitation purposes.
The Divine Office, also known as the Liturgy of the Hours, is a prayer-filled communal celebration, an extension of our oblation of our selves with Christ in the Eucharist. Even the private recitation of the Office is offered in union with the faithful and is considered a communal activity. For busy clergy or those with family responsibilities saying even one or two of the Hours is a beneficial discipline and sacrifice made to the glory of God. Spiritual tradition has always considered the celebration of praise at the Office to be a truly angelic function, and this is why the monastic life is often called an 'angelic life.' Reciting the Office is a way of anticipating the life of heaven by the sanctification of time. Praising God at regular intervals during the day makes the entire day holy to God.
Here at St. Mary's, we use the Monastic Diurnal Revised as our guide through the canonical Hours, set within the sisters' daily schedule and following an Ordo calendar through the liturgical year. Most of the Offices are chanted in English (in both America and Malawi) according to a plainsong tradition observed at CSM for over eighty years. The Malawian sisters have also translated the Monastic Diurnal Revised into Chichewa for recitation purposes.
The Monastic Diurnal Revised (1989)
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The History of Plainchant
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The Monastic Diurnal Revised (1989), with its companion the Monastic Diurnal Noted Revised (2015), is a contemporary adaptation of the Monastic Office, first defined more than fourteen centuries ago in the Holy Rule of St. Benedict. This edition is a revision of the English language version of the Day Hours and Matins Office prepared by Canon Winfred Douglas in cooperation with the Community of St. Mary during the early years of the twentieth century....
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The Sisters of St. Mary in Greenwich, New York, live a vowed life of poverty, chastity, and obedience in Community, centered around the daily Eucharist and a five-fold Divine Office. Our way of life is a modern expression of traditional monastic practice, strongly influenced by the Benedictine ethos, including silent meals in common, plain chant in English for much of our corporate worship, a distinctive habit, and a measure of enclosure.
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The Community of St. Mary Eastern Province 242 Cloister Way Greenwich, NY, 12834 Phone: 518-692-3028 Contact: The Rev'd Mother Superior
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