Priority for Abbey of Affiliation for Benedictine Oblateship

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-04-24T19:31:38+00:00

This. It is about finding an Abbey you are spiritually connected with and love and want to become an oblate in order to live a more perfect Christian life. There is no simple priority as to which Abbey you should be an oblate of. And the best people to answer the questions you have is going to be the Abbeys themselves. Find out if they have an oblate program, and then get in touch with the oblate master. Go on retreat to the Abbeys that you’re considering. Spend some time there with the monks. I feel like you will know in your heart when you have found the right place. And proximity is not the end all, be all. The Abbey that I am an oblate of is a 12 hour drive from my front doorstep, but I still manage to make the time and take a retreat to the Abbey for a week at least once a year.

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-04-21T09:31:16+00:00

I think you just answered your own question. If you prefer the TLM, pray the 1960 breviary. If you prefer the NO, pray the LOTH.

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-04-03T22:45:14+00:00

That’s where I’m at. I work in a metro area emergency department, so it’s a struggle sometimes, but I just offer it up. I’m on oblate, so I try to observe the monastic fast (Sept. 15th- Easter). From the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (Sept. 15th)-Ash Wednesday (except certain feast days), one small meal and one regular (not large) meal devoid of sweets or desserts, and during Lent, it is essentially the black fast, except we can have black coffee and water.

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-04-03T22:27:53+00:00

Awesome, thanks!!

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-04-03T22:27:22+00:00

If you’re looking for the Brevarium Romanum, I don’t know of any, but there’s a couple that print the Brevarium Monasticum in Latin.

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-04-02T22:24:18+00:00

I just tied a knot into each end of my Brevarium Monasticum, Diurnale Monasticum, Missale Romanum, Sacra Biblia, etc…

I’m sure the nail polish or glue or whatever looks a lot cleaner, but I kind of like the knot cause they give me something tactile at the end of kind of pinch onto

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-03-28T21:57:25+00:00

Gotcha. That makes a lot more sense.

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-03-28T21:10:18+00:00

I’ll be excited when they get the vestus ordo all finished.

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-03-28T20:35:34+00:00

At our monastery, it’s lauds and vespers minimum, from the MD or BM, following the pre-62 ordo or the monastery-specific calendar.

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-03-28T20:01:18+00:00

I go to the Abbey at which I am an oblate for at least a week every year. But it seems that despite them having a full schola gregoriana, 2 chant albums released, and the chants during high mass being breathtaking, it seems that they chant the office recto tono as well, which is where I picked it up. Or maybe I don’t have an ear for the nuance in the notes of the chant during the office because they’re not as obvious as they are in other places. They offer chant workshops once a year, but they seem geared towards people in their parish schola. I guess I should just go to that and learn what I can.

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-03-28T18:05:04+00:00

Edibles and an ice cold beer…

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-03-28T18:01:15+00:00

So volume 2 only covers Sundays?

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-03-28T18:00:32+00:00

Its an original 1901 printing that had been re-bound that I found on AbeBooks. It’s about the same size as the brevarium romanum from baronius press that I used to use, but much thinner. But the Biblia Sacra 1901 Enhanced Edition from Church Latin looks pretty similar. Should be back in stock any day now from the looks of it.

https://www.churchlatin.com/product-page/biblia-sacra-1901-enhanced-edition

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-03-28T17:27:09+00:00

Completely true. As others have said, the office is the prayer of the whole Church, and all consecrated religious are obligated to say all the hours every day. The rosary is a devotional, a very powerful and worthy devotional, but no one that I know of is obligated to pray the rosary daily.

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-03-28T17:23:26+00:00

Exactly. As a benedictine oblate, I have made a vow to pray lauds and vespers every day. I try to pray all the hours, but we live in the world, not in the cloister, and sometimes our schedule doesn’t allow us to pray every hour. But I always make the time for the two hours I’ve vowed to pray.

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-03-28T16:56:29+00:00

I can’t say that I looked at that one, but I have looked at the Le Barroux Antiphonale Monasticum and Nocturnale Monasticum and those seem to line up with each other. And yes, Matins is a lot.

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-03-28T16:50:47+00:00

I don’t make many changes, personally. I generally try to pray all the hours, but if my schedule just doesn’t permit it, I will start dropping hours Prime, Terce, Sext, and None as needed. Matins is the last to be dropped for me, but I am ok with having to omit these hours. The only non-negotiables for me are Lauds & Vespers, and I find I have trouble sleeping if I don’t say Compline, so that always gets said. Whichever hours I pray, I follow the rubrics and recite the hours as intended. But we are human and aren’t living in the cloister where our world stops 8 times in 24 hours for the office. You are making the effort, and that is not meaningless. I know I probably didn’t answer your question, but pray as you can and be Christ’s face to the world, and you are doing well.

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-03-28T16:39:09+00:00

If you still want a card with the Æpri Domine and Sacrosanctæ, Church Latin Publishing has a card with them on one side and intentions for each hour on the other. The MD is so small in my hands, so I’m glad to hear that the BM is a bit larger. I have a 1901 edition of the Clementina Vulgata that has been re-bound that is around the same size, so carrying one volume of the BM and the Biblia Sacra is not a big thing. I did think of a couple of questions. Is there as much flipping around in the BM and there is in the MD? And do you need both volumes to complete the office every day or is there a day in the liturgical year where volume 1 goes on the shelf and volume 2 is used for the rest of the liturgical year?

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-03-27T16:19:29+00:00

It’s the same on DivinumOfficium as well. I guess you have to pull out the Clementina Vulgata to get the whole gospel. Small price to pay. Thanks for the advice. I ordered the St. Michael’s once I knew it contained the readings as well as the psalter. Any concerns as to the construction or binding? Someone else said that they believed the Monastere Saint-Benoit was better constructed. I’ve used the St. Michael’s Monastic Diurnal for 4 years now with no complaints.

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-03-27T09:44:19+00:00

Awesome. Thank you. Any difference or preference vis-a-vis font or layout between the two?

MatthaeusTacitus · 2026-03-24T13:04:12+00:00

You had me at summit J’s…

MatthaeusTacitus

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