Question for GERMAN clergy/lay people and a FAVOR

A worthy old priest I know wants a complete set of the post-Conciliar, German language, “breviary” or Studenbuch – for the entire Liturgy of the Hours, “Die Feier des Stundengebetes”.

First, is there someone out there who has one which he or she would be willing to part with and send to this worthy old priest?

Second, is there someone out there who actually understands the overly-complicated, bizarre German “solution” for the Stundengebetes who could be of help?

Please… I implore you… don’t tell me “Well, Father, you could look on amazon and …. “, because I might ban you permanently from the blog.

 

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, The Campus Telephone Pole and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

13 Comments

  1. Admiral-GER says:

    I would love to help, But,
    “Die Feier des Stundengebets” in its complete set is VERY expensive, even if you find a used set. I payed around €270 for my set, what I consider a good catch.
    I have heard of an Androis App that offers all Texts, but I suspect this will not be an option for an older priest.

    I may be able to help with the second question.
    I am used to the german brevirary since years (I am a lay). I don’t see any bizarre things (I don’t know the ‘original’ latin version), so can you please specify what the question and the problem is? You can email me directly.

  2. Imrahil says:

    Sorry, no idea.

    If, what happens rarely, I feel like praying something of the Liturgy of the Hours, I usually go for the Latin 1962 version. Preference plus a very simple reason: it is there. On the internet or so.

    As it were, copyrights for Die Feier des Stundengebetes is (directly or indirectly, I don’t know) 100% in Church hands. Permission to render it on the internet has been denied.

  3. ClavesCoelorum says:

    I’m unsure about what help it is that you asked for exactly, but if it is translation or so, I’m happy to help, since German is my native tongue. :)

  4. Andy Lucy says:

    At the risk of being banned here, I came across this on the German Ebay site. Are these the exact books being sought?

    http://www.ebay.de/itm/Die-Feier-des-Stundengebet-Lektionar-Zweite-Jahresreihe-8-Bande-komplett-1979-/350586607385?pt=Antiquarische_B%C3%BCcher&hash=item51a0971719

    As to the second part… it took me forever to get the hang of the 1962 Breviary. And my German, while not bad, likely isn’t up to that task. Sorry.

  5. In regard to your second question, about the German solution to the breviary problem, the German solution is to my knowledge unique, and can under certain circumstances be complicated, but is not especially bizarre.

    I’ve prayed with the German breviary, as well as the Latin, English, and Italian. The “problem” which needs a solution, and which has a unique solution in the German-speaking world, is that the two year cycle of readings, coordinated with the two year lectionary cycle for the Mass, is too big to easily fit into a manageable number of volumes for the liturgy of the hours. The solution in the editio typica was to make a one cycle and print that in the typical edition of the liturgy of the hours, and to publish the two year cycle of readings as a supplement. Except for the German speaking countries, all other language speaking groups for which I am familiar with the breviary have followed this solution; the standard edition includes the texts for a one year cycle of readings, and the two year cycle, if available, is only available as a separate lectionary for the office of readings.
    In the German version, the two year cycle of readings is the only cycle published, and, due to its size, it has been published as a separate lectionary “Lektionar” for the office of readings, split up into many small volumes, so that an individual volume covering, e.g., Advent through Christmastime, can be slipped into the main volume in use in that time period.

    What this means is that you need three volumes for the liturgy of the hours “Die Feier des Stundengebets: Stundenbuch”, which include everything except the readings for the office of readings, and sixteen volumes for the lectionary “Die Feier des Stundengebets: Lektionar zum Stundenbuch” — eight volumes for each year of the cycle.

  6. gaudete says:

    Subscribing everything CatholicPhilosopher said, I’d like to add two things:
    First, concerning the three main volumes [“Die Feier des Stundengebetes” for Advent etc. (blue), Fastenzeit/lent/easter (red), Jahreskreis/ordinary season (green)] there are 3 possibilities “Ausgabe” for each volume, A, B or S:
    – version S = “standard” ;-) = just the book, fake leather cover (EUR 58) or leather cover (EUR 75), no possibility to attach the lectionaries = cheapest variant, if you want to carry the lectionary with you, you need an extra cover with zip or so;
    – version A = “all inclusive” ;-) = the book, leather cover, small pocket in front to attach the lectionaries as if one book only, the first of the lectionaries of the matching season/color already included (EUR98);
    – version B = “but only fake leather” ;-) = the book like A with pocket for lectionary, but only fake leather, not available anymore but used.
    So this is already around 250-300 EUR only for the indispensable three basic volumes.

    Secondly, there is an alternative to buying the 13 or 16 lectionaries (only 13, if the first of each cycle/”colour” is already included in the 3 volumes, that is if you have the A/B version). They are about 15€ each = another 195-240 EUR.
    Instead of that, and if you intend to pray matins/office of readings primarily at home, you could opt for the monastic lectionary “Monastisches Lektionar. Für die Benediktiner des deutschen Sprachgebietes” , 4 volumes (two cycles = “Jahresreihe”, each cycle in two books = “Teilband”). The text is exactly the same, only on sundays is the gospel added to make it a full vigil – you could just skip that. They are as heavy as the core volumes, so more or less not “carry-on” ;-) but on the other hand the small lectionaries of the 16-piece set are very fragile and “self-closing” and not easy to be used without clipping them into the A/B-variant. BTW, don’t go via amazon for those (sorry FatherZ) but to the publishing house http://www.eos-verlag.de directly, there they are 32 EUR each = 128 EUR in total. HTH!

  7. Mark Nel says:

    Thank you CatholicPhilosopher. I have been praying the Liturgy of the Hours as a lay person, sadly in English only, since 1987. I have never ever known that the Office of Readings contained in my three volume set was in fact only one of a two year cycle of readings. I always thought that it was only the Mass readings that had two weekday cycles and that the Church had settled on one cycle for the Liturgy of the Hours.

  8. Fr. A.M. says:

    Fr. Z, We have a spare set here, 3 vols, with the 16 supplements. I shall ask the relevant permission to give it away. Shall I e-mail you for the e-mail/contact address of the German priest ?

    And it was nice to say hello to you at the Sacra Liturgia conference.

  9. Fr. A.M. says:

    Sadly the librarian doesn’t want to part with them, which is disappointing. I am really sorry about this. I will pray that St. Joseph will find those books for that old priest.

  10. Still hoping that someone has something.

  11. Braut des Lammes says:

    I’ve only got one set of Die Feier des Stundengebets that I use myself *but* I’ve got a double of the volume for Lenten and Easter tide (the red one) which I once bought from a deceased priest’s inheritance. He definitely used it and it looks used but I would gladly send it to the worthy old priest if he doesn’t mind that.

    (In toto there are three volumes for the liturgical year, so he’d need the other two). In case of any questions regarding the “solution” I should be able to help too.

    Greetings from Germany.

  12. Emilio III says:

    It seems strange that something which clerics are expected to use every day is not readily available at a reasonable price. I myself looked for the Spanish version for some time before realizing that there was no interest in bringing it back to print. At least in that case there is a free electronic version available in several formats (with the two cycles of readings). The people who put it together are not allowed to charge for it, so they recover some of their losses by selling a Spanish-Latin Missal (NO) for a small sum ($5?).

    Although it will probably not help this priest, is there something similar in German?

  13. AndreM73 says:

    Father Z; I’ll be studying at the Stiftsgymnasium in Melk, Austria this year, and from what I hear they just might have what you’re looking for. I’ll let you know as soon as I find out!

Comments are closed.