http://medievalist.net/hourstxt/home.htm This webpage contains a Book of Hours from the First Year of Elizabeth’s reign. it’s very Catholic. I’ve decided to use it to say both the Little Office of the BVM and The Office of the Dead daily. My prayer life needs to be kicked up a notch. there are other offices and prayers. Well worth your time. CFLawrence
The Primers aren't really a niche anglo-catholic thing, and have been a very traditional Anglican devotion. It's just a shame that that devotion has dwindled in recent times, but good on you to rediscover it!
The main sad aspect is that these hours of the Divine Office were meant to be conventual liturgical services, but outside of the more traditional monasteries* and cathedral chapters, the Roman Catholic Church allowed them to become devotions primarily for the clergy. The chief liturgical accomplishment of the Church of England was reviving the liturgical celebration of Mattins and Evensong, and also the Litany, which was used in some parishes as a stand-alone service (John Wesley famously desired the Litany to be read in church on the two ancient fasting days of Wednesday and Friday). Although less complete than this fantastic book, the Fransiscan Office Book by the Anglican friar Richard Bugyi-Sutter features a full set of Monastic Offices, as opposed to the condensed Cathedral Offices of the Book of Common Prayer (Lauds, Matins, Prime, Terce, Sext, Noone, Vespers, Compline, and a set of hymns to follow each hour which are in some respects analogous to the Marian Office). These are all in traditional language. The Order of the Holy Cross in the US uses, at least at their monastery closest to me, the 1979 BCP, but several more traditional BCP editions, basically, any with Prime and Compline, would work, although the expansive nature of the Rite II Divine Office is doubtless convenient. Regrettably they do not use the Anglican Service Book, which is the 1979 BCP Rite II set in traditional language (something I was told the rubrics of the 1979 BCP permit, and of course the 1979 BCP like all ECUSA BCP editions was released to the public domain).** * The choir monks of Carthusian charter houses, who are almost hermits in terms of their way of life, do pray much of the office and also the Missa Sicca or “dry mass”, also known as the Hunter’s Mass, basically, the Roman Rite equivalent to our Ante-Communion or the Eastern Orthodox Typika service, which allows them to fulfill their priestly obligations. There is also a conventual mass and a conventual service from the Divine Office. Traditionally, hermits always prayed the Office alone, and this remains the practice of Fr. Lazarus el Antony, the only remaining hermit living in the hills above St. Anthony’s Monastery, by his cave. ** I really hope ACNA moves to release the 2019 book into the Public Domain at some point, as continuing this tradition would reinforce the idea that they are the largest successor to the Episcopal Church and respectful of distinctive Episcopalian traditions. It would also be splendid if they published a limited edition Standard Book; the celebrated Updike edition of the 1928 BCP is the last example of this, although Arrion Press produced a prospectus for a Standard Book edition of the 1979 BCP, which tragically was not published; it was beautiful, perhaps not as good as Updike, but still a worthy continuation of that tradition.
By the way, this is an awesome resource, in case my previous post did not make that sufficiently clear.
http://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/Filius/PsalterIesu.html here is something in the same vein as the book of hours, very beautiful. Will be added to my devotional life.