New Dominican Propers for the Liturgy of the Hours

Title Page of the New Collectarium

I recently published a summary of the changes in the Dominican Calendar for Mass and Office that will come into effect on the First Sunday of Advent 2019. At that time, I promised that Dominican Liturgy Publications would be producing new editions of the books we have published for use at the Liturgy of the Hours by those taking various roles in choir.

The first and most important is Propers of the Office for the Order of Preachers, which contains the full propers for all Dominican saints and blesseds on our general calendar. This book would be used by the cantors, lectors, and, if desired by the hebdomadarian, that is, the friar leading prayers that week. This book has been updated to include the two new feasts, that of Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati and of Bl. Bonaventure García Paredes and Companions, Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War. Those feasts with changed ranks or dates now reflect that. The propers are also available in pocket-book size.

Feasts that have been dropped from the Dominican General Calendar have been removed and included in 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. None of these are celebrated in the provinces of the United States, but many use this volume devotionally. The entire propers of those saints previously in the Propers of the Office for the Order of Preachers are now represented in this volume. It also includes the full propers for St. Bartholomew of the Martyrs, O.P., who was just canonized by Pope Francis on July 5.

Finally I am pleased to announce that 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 bedomadarian, not only for Dominican saints, but for every day of the year. Included in this volume are the collects for saints recently added to the Roman Calendar (Saints John XXIII, Paul V, and John Paul II), as well as one blessed, Francis Xavier Seelos, added to the Calendar of the United States. This volume also has the particular feasts celebrated in the Western Dominican Province, but this does not prevent its use by other provinces.

Revision of the Modern Dominican Calendar

I believe most friars have already received a direct mailing of the new Calendarium Ordinis Praedicatorum, approved by the Congregation for Divine Worship on 14 April 2019 and promulgated by the master of the Order Bruno Cadore on 24 June 2019. I have made this these documents available for download here for nuns, sisters, Dominican laity, and any others who wish to celebrate Dominican saints with the new Roman Missal and the Liturgy of the Hours.  Note that those wishing to celebrate those feasts reduced to optional memorials may still do so--they are optional.

The format of this document makes it difficult to identify the changes promulgated.  So I will summarize them.  The list of Dominican feasts is not much changed but there are a good number of changes by which previous obligatory memorials have become optional, and there are some changes in the dates of celebration.  Here is a summary:

Change from obligatory to optional memorial:

4 January:         St. Zdislava Berkiana  (28 November in the U.S.)
18 January:       St. Margaret of Hungary
4 February:       St. Catherine de’ Ricci
10 May:            St. Antoninus of Florence
19 May:            St. Francis Coll Guitart
9 July:              St. John of Cologne and Companions
18 September:  St. Juan Macías
28 September:  Sts. Dominic Ibáñez de Erquicia, James Kyushei Tomanaga, Laurence Ruiz,
                                 and Companions
9 October:        St. Louis Bertrand (obligatory memorial in Western Province as secondary patron)

 Change from obligatory to optional memorial with new date:

15 January:      Sts. Francis de Capillas, Peter Sans, and Companions--move to 9 July
6 November:    Bls. Alphonsus Navarrete and Companions--move to 28 September

New optional memorials:

4 July:              Bl. Pier Giorgio Fassati
6 November:    Bls. Bonaventure Garcia Paredes, Hyacinth Serrano Lopez and Companions

Remove from the Dominican General Calendar:

23 January:      Bl. Henry Suso
12 February:    Bl. Reginald of Orleans
28 April:          St. Louis de Montfort (still an optional memorial on the Roman Calendar)
21 May:           Bl. Hyacinth-Marie Cormier
10 June:           Bl. John Domnici
17 July:            Bl. Ceslaus of Poland

The Order also published a revision of the list of Dominican saints and blesseds that are optional memorials, but only in the provinces where they lived. The four blesseds rmoved from the general calendar just listed are now approved for local use as below. Note that none of these optional local blesseds (of which there are many others) are celebrated in the United States. Three of these additonis include saints, not blesseds.  Here are those changes:

Add to local calendars:

23 January:      Bl. Henry Suso (Germany; Austria=Bavaria)
12 February:    Bl. Reginald of Orleans (France)
1 April:            Bl. Joseph Girotti (Italy--St. Dominic; Austria-Bavaria)
8 May:             Bl. Peter Claverie and Companions (France)
16 May:           Bl. Valdimir Ghika (Vicariate of Eastern Europe)
21 May:           Bl. Hyacinth-Marie Cormier (Italy--Roman)
10 June:           Bl. John Domnici (Italy--Roman)
17 July:            Bl. Ceslaus of Poland (Poland)
18 July:            St. Bartholomew of the Martyrs (Portugal)
13 August:       St. Alexander Longo and Companions (Italy--St. Thomas Aquinas)
7 September:   Bl. John-Joseph Lataste (France)
9 December:    St. Narcisa of Jesus Martillo y Morán (Peru)

A good number of local blesseds have been combined or moved, but I leave it to readers to check for this on the downloadable new calendar.


 Note that these changes become effective on the First Sunday of Advent, 2019 and that for those celebrating the Dominican Mass and Office of 1962 under the provisions of Summorum Pontificum and Universae Ecclesiae the only changes implied by this would be for those who want also to celebrate Dominicans canonized or beatified after 1962. When I publish the Dominican Rite Calendar for 2020, I will include these changes.