IN RECITING THE OFFICE.

Where should the Divine Office be recited? The Divine Office should be
recited in the place intended and set apart by the Church for that
purpose--viz., in the choir or in the Church (Con. Trid., sess. 24).
Canons and religious are bound to recite their office in choir; of
course, this refers to Canons in residence at a cathedral for daily
service, and to religious in the strict application of the term. The
Divine Office may be recited by priests anywhere, in the church, in a
dwelling-house, walking, in the fields, etc.

In reciting the office a priest should observe an attitude in harmony
with the great work in which he is engaged, prayer to God. Hence, his
attitude should be becoming, on his knees, standing, sitting, walking,
but not sprawling or lying. The rubrics which prescribe kneeling,
sitting, standing, apply to choir recitation only. But writers recommend
that in private recitation these directions should not be altogether
omitted, and they say that the practice of these rubrics of kneeling,
bowing, standing, etc., is laudable and an aid to devout recital.




ARTICLE V.--PRONUNCIATION OF THE WORDS.

What kind of pronunciation is to be attended to in the recitation of the
Divine Office? The pronunciation should be vocal--that is, there should
be some sound, _aliquis sonitus verborum_, as St. Alphonsus writes (n.
162). Hence, to read the Breviary merely mentally or with the eyes only,
does not satisfy the obligation.[A] Although the reader may not hear the