Official Breviaries and  Breviaria Parva
as they appeared
(along with other important liturgical events
as they happened)
 in Europe and the USA
 

• In this study, the word "usages" (or "use", "usage", or even "custom") is preferred to the word "rite",  though authors and even official documents & breviaries have often used the word "rite" to identify the liturgical practices and/or texts of certain Religious Orders, such as the Carmelites, Dominicans, Premonstratensians, Carthusians, etc.  The liturgical customs of these Orders technically belong to the Roman Rite. [After the liturgical reforms resulting from the Second Vatican Council, some of these Orders, while retaining their particular calendars, adopted the present Roman Rite and gave up their usages, a few of which dated to the 12th century and earlier.  Monastic office usages based on the liturgical code in the Rule of St. Benedict, flourished and multiplied, however.] There are, at the same time,  distinct non-Roman "rites" within the Catholic Church, such as the Ambrosian Rite (for the Archdiocese of Milan, Italy), and the Mozarabic Rite, (used in one place in Spain);  both of these rites have existed alongside the Roman Rite since ancient times.

• The breviaries or office texts in this timeline are listed in their first publishing/printing date only, though later editions (which required textual changes) are duly noted.  Prior to the Second Vatican Council,  the "official" Latin texts -  (approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites) published as the Editio Typica - were often numbered (e.g., Editio Typica Secunda, or even like this: Editio Tertia post Typicam),  to indicate later changes.  (A book  published as Editio Juxta Typicam meant that the Bishop who gave his imprimatur attested that the text agreed perfectly with the Editio Typica.)  After the Second Vatican Council, the Latin texts are listed either as editio typica (1971-1972), or in the more recent second edition, as editio typica altera (1985-1987).  Current official English ediitions of liturgical texts are given a "concordat cum originali".

With the publication of the post Vatican II Liturgia Horarum in its various vernacular versions, some American houses of English-speaking communities which are based in the UK (and/or have motherhouses or headquarters there) adopted the UK versions.  The same was true for the interim (temporary) version of the new office.

• This timeline listing makes no claim at completeness.  Not included, for example, are the various editions of the parent breviaries of Religious Orders which have unique usages within the Roman Rite, unless an edition is/was unusual (e.g., the 1967 Dominican Breviary in English (Breviary According to the Rite of the Order of Preachers), which used the Grail psalms throughout the text. 

• Nor are the many editions of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary (also known as Officium Parvum BVM)  listed, unless they, too, are unusual, such as Cardinal Bea's  amplior edition of 1953 and the Little Office of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, perhaps the first published English edition of the Little Office to conform to the principles of the Institutio Generalis Liturgiae Horarum.

• Fully 1/5 of the Catholics in the United States speak Spanish or are of Hispanic origin.  Several Spanish editions of contemporary short breviaries are listed below.

* Officium Parvum BVM: several usages - e.g. Roman, Carmelite, Dominican, Premonstratensian, Carthusian;

* Officium Parvum BVM: several usages - e.g. Roman, Carmelite, Dominican, Premonstratensian, Carthusian;

Divine Praise (for laybrothers - mimeographed -  based monastic breviary with some Roman influence - St. Meinrad's Abbey)

Oratio Vespertina - A Book of Evening Prayer and Praise, V. G. L. (Vilma G. Little),  Stanbrook Abbey Press, Worcester.

Mystici Corporis Christi
encyclical, June 29, Pius XII

Mediator Dei
encyclical, November 20, Pius XII

Stunden-Gebet fuer Laien nach dem neuen Psalter, Parsch, ed. (4th ed) Klosterneunberg, Volksliturgisches Apostolat

Breviary for Religious (Latin/English), (Stanbrook Abbey- Gottmer, Haarlem)

Klein Brevier (Stallaert) - Dutch - Gottmer, Haarlem 

The Little Breviary. A simplified office in English with lessons for all the Sundays of the year and certain feasts. Ramsgate (Abbey), England:  Monastery Press. (Note: this is not  the translation of Stallaert's Klein Brevier.)

Familienbrevier, Kunkel, ed. - Wurzburg: Selbstverlag des Verfassers. 

Jugendbrevier.  Das "Familienbrevier" in der Ausgabe fuer die Jugend.  Wurzburg: Selbstverlag des Verfassers.

The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary - "expanded edition" - several publishers translated Bea's text and made use of the newly translated Psalter by the CCD (Olinger translation)

On the Simplification of Rubrics
March 23, Congregation of Rites

Diurnal  The Hours of the Day of the Roman Breviary according to the recent decrees (Latin/English), Desclee.

Diurnal  The Hours of the Day of the Roman Breviary according to the recent decrees (Latin/English), Desclee.

Rubricarum instructum
July 25th,  General Rubrics, John XXIII

Office of Our Lady - English/Latin of Encalcat's Office de la sainte Vierge , (uses Fides Psalter - Mary Perkins Ryan translation)  - Darton, Longman & Todd

Constitution on the Liturgy
Vatican Council II
Dec, 4th 
calls for the reform of the Liturgy 
(article 98 declares Little Offices to be part of official, liturgical prayer)

Morning Praise and Evensong, A Book of Common Prayer, (uses Fides Psalter - Mary Perkins Ryan translation) Storey ed. - Fides

Sacram Liturgiam
motu proprio of Paul VI 
January 25th 
(reiterates article 98 of the Constitution on the Liturgy, and also provides that translations of texts must be drawn up and approved by the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority, i.e. the National Conference of Bishops, in the USA)

Inter Oecumenici
1st Instruction ,Congregation of Rites 
September 26th 
(#'s 80, 81, 82 further clarify the use of Little Offices; new ones must also have the approval of the Holy See).

Morning and Evening Prayers of the Divine Office: Lauds, Vespers, Compline for the Entire Year from the Roman Breviary, edited by Bede Babo, OSB, with prayers translated by Christine Mohrmann (Benziger), CCD (Olinger) translation of Pius XII Psalter.

Ecclesiae Sanctae
motu proprio of Paul VI, August 6 
for those not bound to the complete Office, focus shifts from the use of Little Offices to use of all or part of the complete office - essentially, this put any future editions of existing short breviaries into limbo.

Rescript (for the Benedictines)
Consilium, October 17 
(permits Benedictines to experiment with the office)

Breviary According to the Rite of the Order of Preachers, -St. Saviour's, Dublin.  (Dominican usage in English - with Grail translation of Psalms)

Short Dominican Breviary, ("for the Brothers, Sisters and Tertiaries" - Desclee - excerpted from the complete Dominican Breviary - day hours

The Day Hours of the Roman Breviary, L. Sheppard ed., Burns, Oates, Desclee & Mame - Grail psalms.

Short Dominican Breviary, ("for the Brothers, Sisters and Tertiaries" - Desclee - excerpted from the complete Dominican Breviary - day hours

The Day Hours of the Roman Breviary, L. Sheppard ed., Burns, Oates, Desclee & Mame - Grail psalms.

Laudis Canticum
Apostolic Constitution - Paul VI, November 1 
promulgating the new Liturgia Horarum

Saint Columba Breviary, an abridgment of the Roman Breviary intended for the use of the laity, compiled by Monks of Glenstal Abbey. Glenstal, Ireland:  Liturgical Publications (promoted by and for the Legion of Mary)

Saint Columba Breviary, an abridgment of the Roman Breviary intended for the use of the laity, compiled by Monks of Glenstal Abbey. Glenstal, Ireland:  Liturgical Publications (promoted by and for the Legion of Mary)

Institutio Generalis
(general Instruction for the new Liturgy of the Hours)

Prayer of the Church, interim version of the new Liturgy of the Hours, prepared by the hierarchies of England, Ireland & Wales.  Grail psalms, Geoffrey Chapman Co.

Prayer of the Church, interim version of the new Liturgy of the Hours, prepared by the hierarchies of England, Ireland & Wales.  Grail psalms, Geoffrey Chapman Co. - Also used by American houses of some UK-based English speaking communities.

Daily Prayer (The Divine Office minus the Office of Readings) for Great. Britain, Ireland, Wales, Australia, etc.) Grail psalms - Collins, Dwyer, Talbot 
 

Daily Prayer (The Divine Office minus the Office of Readings) for Great. Britain, Ireland, Wales, Australia, etc.) Grail psalms - Collins, Dwyer, Talbot - Also used by American houses of some UK-based English speaking communities.

Book of Prayer for personal use (A Short Breviary - 4^th ed) - CCD Psalms (Olinger translation) - a modified and shortened translation of Liturgia Horarum; had local bishop's  imprimatur but prohibited from distribution by the NCCB, as it was not approved by the National Conference.

Morning and Evening Prayer (with Night Prayer) from The Divine Office for Great. Britain, Ireland, Wales, Australia, etc.) Grail psalms - Collins, Dwyer, Talbot - Also used by American houses of some UK-based English speaking communities.

Operi Dei
Decree 
Sacred Congregation of Sacraments and Divine Worship, 
February 10 
(approves Thesaurus Liturgiae Horarum Monasticae for entire Benedictine Order)

Lord Hear Our Prayer - McNally, Storey, eds, basic 1 week Morning and Evening Prayer - 1 psalm for each hour - Ave Maria Press 

Every Day We Praise You - Hoagland & Skelly, eds.,1st of the 4 week approved Psalter + various devotional material - Catholic Book Publishing Co. 

Daytime Prayer - from the Liturgy of the Hours, (U.S. Catholic Conference, Washington, D.C.), with Midmorning, Midday, Midafternoon Prayer.- (extracted from The Liturgy of the Hours)

A Shorter Prayer During the Day, extracted from The Divine Office for Great. Britain, Ireland, Wales, Australia, etc.) Grail psalms - Collins

A Shorter Prayer During the Day, extracted from The Divine Office for Great. Britain, Ireland, Wales, Australia, etc.) Grail psalms - Collins Also used by American houses of some UK-based English speaking communities.

Shorter Morning and Evening Prayer, the 4 week Psalter and material for the year, extracted from the Liturgy of the Hours, for ICEL jurisdictions 
 - Collins &  Liturgical Press

Little Office of the BVM, Rotelle, ed., Catholic Book Publishing Company.- the oldest of the short breviaries given a post Vatican II - Liturgia Horarum focus. 

The New Companion to the Breviary with Seasonal Supplement, Carmelites of Indianapolis, inclusive psalms- includes  some non-official festal celebrations (reissued  in 1997 - see below)

Liturgia de las Horas para los fieles, ediciones Paulinas (Daughters of St. Paul), 1992 (7th ed, 1999).  This is essentially "Shorter Christian Prayer" in Spanish (please see note about Spanish speaking Catholics in the USA)

The People's Companion to the Breviary -  Carmelites of Indianapolis, inclusive psalms- includes  some non-official festal celebrations (new edition of 1988 text - see above) 

Benedictine Oblate Companion - St. Meinrad's Archabbey, St. Meinrad, Indiana. "A one week cycle for the Divine Office...an adaptation of the Office as prayed by the Monks of St. Meinrad's Archabbey".

Venite  A Book of Daily Prayer [ecumenical]
compiled and edited by Robert Benson.  New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam.  Four offices with texts paraphrased from many sources; psalms are used in a 30 day cycle.  An unusual structure.

2001

Lauds and Vespers (in Latin and English), ed. Rev. Peter Stravinskas.

Princeton, New Jersey: Scepter Publishers and Mt. Pocono, Pennsylvania:  Newman House Press.

A first volume containing Morning and Evening Prayer of the 4 week psalter in Latin and English for Ordinary Time.   Additional volumes are to follow.

The book's purpose is to encourage use of more Latin in the Liturgy of the Hours.  The English supplied (some of it quite good, actually) is only a translation help and may not be used for liturgical prayer (somewhat akin to the Latin/English Missals before the Council).