Reform of the Divine Office

To n. 124.

By the new reform of the Office, at the individual greater and lesser hours the Psalter is recited, so distributed through the various hours and days that from Sunday to Saturday it is recited entire; for this reason a division of the longer psalms into various parts has been made, whether the office is of Sunday and of a feria, or whether it is of Saints. Nevertheless certain more principal Offices of the Lord, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Saints are excepted, for which the old order is to be observed. But the feasts of Saints retain their proper hymns, chapters, and prayers. Pius X, Constitution Divino afflatu, November 1, 1911; Rubrics to be observed.

The obligation of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been abrogated. Rubrics to be observed, title VII, n. 2.

The obligation of the Office of the Dead has been abrogated. November 2 is excepted, on which one complete Office of the Dead is to be recited, the Office of the Octave of All Saints, or any other office transferred to that day, being omitted. But any other Office, accidentally impeded, even of the first class and a fortiori of inferior rite, cannot be transferred to that day. Only an occurring Office of the first class is admitted, and a Sunday; in which case the Commemoration of the Dead is transferred to the third day, which will be held as the second, if nevertheless it is not similarly impeded. Rubrics to be observed, title XIII, nn. 1-2.

All votive Offices have been abolished. Rubrics to be observed, title VII, n. 1; Sacred Congregation of Rites.

The obligation of the Gradual and Penitential Psalms has been abrogated. Rubrics to be observed, title VII, n. 2. The psalms Miserere and De Profundis are no longer recited at ferial prayers.

Finally, the special rubrics of the Breviary and Missal were adapted to the new dispositions of the Motu Proprio of Pius X concerning feast days and of the Decrees of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, July 24 and 28, 1911, by Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, January 23, 1912; Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol. 4, p. 57 ff. Afterwards the Offices were ordered in a somewhat new way by the Motu Proprio of Pius X Abhinc duos annos, October 22, 1913, and by the Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, October 28, 1913; Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol. 5, p. 449 ff., p. 457 ff.