ordo

St Michael's Abbey Press · Farnborough · 1962 Benedictine rubrics

Using the Monastic Diurnal

The Diurnal holds every hour of St Benedict's Office except Matins, but it rarely prints an hour straight through. You build each hour from three or four places in the book, and the ordo tells you which places. This guide works through that process one step at a time. The tools are set to today's date.

Lauds to Compline, Latin & English Six sections, six page-number styles Six ribbons Chant trainer: sing the Salve Regina

Step 1

Know what's in your hands

The Monastic Diurnal is the day-hours book of the traditional Benedictine Office: Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline, with Latin and English in parallel columns. It covers all the feasts and seasons of the traditional Benedictine calendar and follows the psalm schedule St Benedict sets out in his Rule (chapters 8–19).

  • Rubrics. It follows the 1963 Breviarium Monasticum, which applies the 1962 calendar and rubrics. The 1962 system has no "Ordinary Time". The season after Pentecost is simply "time after Pentecost".
  • Lineage. The Farnborough book republishes the Collegeville Diurnal, which carried an imprimatur. St Michael's Abbey Press revived its printing in the 1990s and has issued the book for about twenty years. The current printing is the 8th edition, with an updated table of movable feasts and thinner paper.
  • Binding. Flexible leather, gilt edges and six marker ribbons. Step 6 suggests where to put them.
  • What it lacks. Matins, the night office. For Matins you need the Breviarium Monasticum or the Nocturnale Monasticum from Le Barroux.

The key idea. Very little in the Diurnal is printed in full where you need it. Every hour combines a fixed part from the psalter with variable parts from the Proper of the Season, the Proper of the Saints or the Commons. The ordo tells you which variable parts to use each day.

Step 2

Learn the six sections by their page numbers

The book is not numbered straight through. Each section restarts at 1 and marks its pages differently, so "page 129" exists four times. In an ordo or a guide, always look at the marks around the number before you turn to it.

front coverroughly to scale by page countback cover
SectionPage styleWhat you go there for
Front matterxi–xxxPreface, calendar, table of movable feasts, and the conclusions to the collects. A capitalised cue at the end of a collect tells you which conclusion to add.
Proper of the Season1*–487*Seasonal texts from Advent to the last Sunday after Pentecost. Each Sunday's collect, the Benedictus and Magnificat antiphons for Sundays and Saturdays, and the Advent ferial Ordinary at 9*. Feasts from 23 December to 6 January are here too.
Psalter1–269The most important section: the psalms and the fixed texts of every hour. It is ordered roughly by psalm number, not by hour. That is why Sunday Prime (Psalm 118) comes after Saturday Lauds, at 146.
Proper of the Saints[1]–[385]Saints' feasts in calendar order, with their proper antiphons, chapters, hymns and collects.
Commons & extras(1)–(243)Texts shared by classes of saints (apostles, martyrs, virgins and so on). Also the Office of Our Lady on Saturday (129), the Office of the Dead (135), the Itinerarium (225) and the index (233).
Supplement1**–59**Feasts kept only in particular places or congregations.

Page-reference decoder

Page numbers in this guide are for the Farnborough edition, as cited on Saints Will Arise. Other printings can differ by a page here and there.

Step 3

Get an ordo

An ordo is a day-by-day list of what to celebrate. It tells you which Sunday of the liturgical year it is, which feast or feria takes precedence, which commemorations to make, and often the page numbers. Even experienced users keep one open. The Benedictine calendar differs from the Roman one, so a Roman ordo will mislead you.

OrdoGood forNotes
Traditional Benedictine Office Ordo (Katrina Edwards, Lulu)BeginnersGives detailed instructions and Diurnal page numbers for each day, following the 1960 calendar and rubrics. Sold as PDF, ePub or print. Each year's edition appears around early November. Quarterly calendars are also posted free on Saints Will Arise.
Saints Will Arise calendarsFree, in EnglishKate Edwards posts each quarter's calendar free on her blog: class, commemorations and Saturday Vespers for every day. The card at the top of this page follows the same calendar for any date.
Divinum Officium kalendar, "Monastic 1963" settingReaders of LatinFree, but gives no instructions. Use it with care: its monastic calendar keeps many Roman saints as feasts that the Benedictine calendar has only as memorials, for example St Callistus and St Hedwig in October.
Your monastery's ordoOblatesSome houses publish one. Le Barroux publishes its ordo online. Local feasts will appear here and in the Supplement.
Roman-rite ordos (FSSP, Romanitas Press, Latin Mass Society)Checking dates onlyThey follow the Roman 1962 calendar and Breviary, not the Benedictine one, so their saints, classes and commemorations will not match the Diurnal.

Step 4

Read the day's entry

Ordo entries are compressed. The lines below are from October and November 2026 in the house style of the Benedictine ordo. Click any red term to see what it tells you to do.

An ordo, annotated

Wednesday 14 October – Feria, Class IV; com of St Callistus at L.

Saturday 17 October – Of Our Lady on Saturday, Class IV. 1 Vespers of the 4th Sunday of October / 21st after Pentecost, MD 459* & 480*.

Sunday 25 October – Christ the King, Class I; no commemoration of the Sunday.

Sunday 1 November – All Saints, Class I; com of the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost at L&V.

Sunday 8 November – 5th remaining Sunday after Epiphany / 3rd of November, Class II. [St N. is not marked in the Office this year.]

Saturday Magnificat antiphons from August to November are tied to the Scripture read at Matins. The Diurnal labels them by calendar month ("4th Sunday of October"), not by the Sunday after Pentecost. That is why the ordo gives both names. They begin at 451*. The month's first Sunday is the first one on or after the 1st. When October has only four Sundays its 3rd week is skipped, and when November has only four before Advent its 2nd week is skipped. That is why 18 October 2026 is the "4th Sunday of October".

Step 5

Work out the rank of the day

Under the 1962 rubrics every day has a class from I (highest) to IV. The class decides which Office wins when a feast and a Sunday or feria coincide, how many commemorations you may add, and whether Vespers begins the evening before. The ordo states the class. Here is what each class means for the Diurnal.

Class I

The greatest Sundays (Advent, Lent, Passiontide, Easter, Low Sunday, Pentecost), the Triduum, the Easter and Pentecost octaves, and the great feasts such as Christmas, St Benedict (21 March), SS Peter and Paul, the Assumption and All Saints.

Class I feasts have First Vespers the evening before. At most one commemoration, and only a privileged one.

Class II

The other Sundays, feasts of Class II, Ember days, the days of the Christmas octave and the greater Advent ferias (17–23 December).

Everything at Lauds and Vespers comes from the feast or its Common, including the psalms. A Sunday allows at most one commemoration, which must be of a Class I or II feast.

Class III

Most saints' feasts, and the ferias of Advent and Lent.

Check whether the feast has proper antiphons. If it does not, keep the weekday's psalms and antiphons and take the rest from the Common. A Class III day displaces the Office of Our Lady on Saturday.

Class IV

Ordinary ferias (weekdays), and the Office of Our Lady on Saturday.

Say the psalter of the day. Up to two commemorations.

Memorial

Not a day of its own. The saint is only commemorated at Lauds.

A memorial that falls on a Sunday is not marked that year.

The "Today in the Office" card at the top does this for any date: it ranks the day and its saints, applies transfers, and lists commemorations and what is not marked. Change the date there and every tool on the page follows it.

Step 6

Set the ribbons before you pray

Placing the ribbons first saves page-turning in the middle of a psalm. The minimum is one ribbon in the Proper of the Season, one in the psalter and one at the nearest date in the Proper of the Saints. Tick the hours you say and the planner allocates all six ribbons for the date in the card.

Ribbon planner

Step 7

Build the hour

Choose an hour, the weekday and the kind of day your ordo gives. The builder lists each part in order, says where its text comes from, and gives the Diurnal page. Grey-blue, gold and green chips point outside the psalter, to the Proper of the Season, the Proper of the Saints and the Commons.

Vespers

    Step 8

    Fill in what the book leaves out

    The Diurnal writes most recurring texts out once and gives cues after that. These are the gaps that catch beginners.

    When the book shows…
    You say…
    An hour that starts with its hymn or psalms
    The opening versicle first: Deus in adjutorium meum intende…, Gloria Patri, then Alleluia. It is printed in full only at 1. At Compline it comes after Converte nos, not at the start.
    Alleluia, from Septuagesima to Holy Week
    Laus tibi, Domine, Rex aeternae gloriae.
    An antiphon
    The whole antiphon, before and after its psalm, group of psalms or canticle. Under the 1962 rubrics it is never cut to its opening words.
    The end of a psalm
    Gloria Patri and Sicut erat, unless the book says otherwise. At Lauds, Psalms 148–150 share one Gloria Patri.
    A chapter
    ℟ Deo gratias.
    A short responsory given as cues
    The full form. Use the expander below. Do not add Sicut erat.
    Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.
    Each line once, not three times as at Mass.
    Dominus vobiscum
    Only a priest or deacon says it. Everyone else says ℣ Domine, exaudi orationem meam. ℟ Et clamor meus ad te veniat.
    A collect ending in a capitalised cue
    The full conclusion from the front matter. The four forms are listed below.
    Two Confiteor texts at Compline
    The second, "out of choir" form, said once, unless a priest is presiding.
    The Preces in the Antiphonale
    Omit them. They are not used in the 1962 Office.

    Short responsory expander

    Pattern: the respond twice, the verse, the second half of the respond, Gloria Patri with no Sicut erat, then the whole respond again. Said alone, you say every repetition yourself. In Passiontide the Gloria Patri is dropped and the respond follows the second half directly. The sample text is Psalm 118:36–37.

    The conclusions to the collects

    Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.The usual form, for a prayer addressed to the Father.
    Per eundem Dominum nostrum…When the Son has already been named in the prayer.
    Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patre in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.For a prayer addressed to the Son.
    Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus…When the Son is named at the end of the prayer. If the Holy Spirit has been named, say in unitate ejusdem Spiritus Sancti.

    Step 9

    Add commemorations

    A commemoration is a short memorial of a saint or day that is not being celebrated in full. It arises in two ways. A memorial is always just a commemoration. And when a feast displaces a day, such as a saint's feast in Lent, the displaced day is commemorated.

    1. Say the collect of the day, with its conclusion.
    2. With nothing in between, say the commemoration: the antiphon (the Benedictus antiphon at Lauds, the Magnificat antiphon at Vespers), then the versicle, then Oremus and the collect.
    3. Close the hour as usual.

    Commemorations are made only at Lauds and Vespers. Ordinary ones, including every memorial, are made at Lauds only. Privileged ones are made at both. The ordo marks them "at L" or "at L&V".

    The day is…Commemorations allowed
    Class IOne at most, and only a privileged one.
    A Class II SundayOne at most, of a Class I or II feast.
    Class II (not a Sunday)One privileged and one ordinary.
    Class III or IVUp to two.

    A commemoration is privileged when the displaced day is a Class I feast, a Sunday, a day in the Christmas octave, a September Ember day, or a day of Advent, Lent or Passiontide. In Lent and Advent the antiphon, versicle and collect come from the displaced weekday. SS Peter and Paul are commemorated together: the first collect is said without a conclusion, then the second. When too many commemorations fall on one day, keep the highest-ranking and drop the rest for that year. The Diurnal's tables of occurrence and concurrence decide close cases, and so does the ordo.

    Step 10

    Watch the seasons

    The skeleton of each hour stays the same all year. The seasons change the antiphons, the Alleluia, posture, the Marian antiphon at Compline, and sometimes the collect. The row for the date in the card is highlighted.

    SeasonWhenWhat changes in the DiurnalCompline antiphon
    Advent1st Sunday of Advent (27 Nov–3 Dec) to 24 DecAntiphons and chapters from the Proper of the Season. The Advent ferial Ordinary is at 9*. Ferias are Class III, and 17–23 Dec Class II, with the great O antiphons at the Magnificat. Kneel for the closing prayers at Vespers and Compline.Alma Redemptoris Mater
    Christmastide25 Dec to 13 JanFeasts from 23 Dec to 6 Jan are in the Proper of the Season, not the Proper of the Saints. Most days have their own texts, so follow the ordo closely.Alma Redemptoris Mater until 2 Feb
    After Epiphany14 Jan to the Saturday before SeptuagesimaThe psalter of the day, with the collect of the preceding Sunday. Unused Sundays after Epiphany return in November.Ave Regina caelorum from Compline on 2 Feb
    Septuagesima9th Sunday before Easter to Shrove TuesdayAlleluia is dropped. Say Laus tibi, Domine… instead, until Holy Saturday.Ave Regina caelorum
    LentAsh Wednesday to the Saturday before Passion SundayEach weekday is Class III and has its own collect at Lauds and the little hours, plus a separate prayer at Vespers. Kneel at the closing prayers, at Prime too. A feast displacing a Lent feria brings a privileged commemoration.Ave Regina caelorum
    Passiontide & Holy WeekPassion Sunday to Holy SaturdayThe Gloria Patri is dropped from the short responsories. The Triduum hours have a special, stripped-back form, so follow the Holy Week pages exactly.Ave Regina until Wednesday of Holy Week
    EastertideEaster to the Saturday after PentecostAlleluia is added to antiphons, versicles and responsories, and fewer antiphons are used (one at Vespers, three at Lauds). The Lauds collect is that of the Sunday. The Easter and Pentecost octaves are Class I. No kneeling at the Marian antiphon.Regina caeli
    After PentecostTrinity Sunday to the Saturday before AdventThe psalter of the day, with the collect of the preceding Sunday. From August, Saturday Magnificat antiphons go by month (451*). The last Sunday before Advent is always the 24th. The ordo also flags the change between the summer and winter Sunday Lauds hymns.Salve Regina

    Use the simple tones of the Marian antiphons on weekdays and the solemn tones on Saturdays, Sundays and feasts. Kneel for the antiphon except on Saturdays, Sundays and in Eastertide.

    ✠ Where to begin

    Learn the hours from the simplest up

    Don't try all seven hours in the first week. The usual advice is to start with the two hours that hardly change, add the little hours, and leave Lauds, which has three different forms, until last. Read the Rule of St Benedict, chapters 8–19, alongside, so you can see what is fixed and why.

    1. First

      Compline

      Almost entirely fixed (Psalms 4, 90 and 133 every night). Only the Marian antiphon and the hymn tone change. 256–269 Learn the Salve Regina in the chant trainer.

    2. Then

      Prime

      Fixed except the antiphon and psalms. Its collect never changes. 1–9

    3. Next

      Terce, Sext, None

      One antiphon, three psalms. Tuesday to Saturday the psalms are the same every day (119–127). 151–200

    4. Later

      Vespers

      Four psalms and the Magnificat. The feast-class rules start to matter here. 203–255

    5. Last

      Lauds

      Sunday, festal and ferial forms, canticles and commemorations. 37–145

    Help: the comment boxes on Saints Will Arise, the Traditional Benedictine Office group, and the Breviary and Divine Office Discussion Group on Facebook. Both blogs also have quick guides to Matins for when you are ready to add the night office.

    § Sources

    Where this comes from

    This guide summarises and organises the teaching of Kate Edwards on Saints Will Arise and Learn the Benedictine Office, with publisher and retailer details for the book itself. The liturgical calculations (Easter, seasons, Sundays, Ember days) follow the standard computus and the 1962 calendar. When anything here disagrees with your ordo or the rubrics of your Diurnal, follow those.