Matthew Kudija

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Ascension vs Word on Fire—Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition

Published: 2025-10-22-Wed
Updated: 2026-07-01-Wed

On October 7, 2025, Ascension and Word on Fire announced that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) had selected them as publishers of the new Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition. The Second Edition will be published on February 10, 2027 (Ash Wednesday) alongside the Catholic American Bible. This marks the first time in fifty years that the Church's official daily prayer will be updated in English, and the first time it will be offered by two publishers. This is an exciting renewal of the Church's prayer.

My first reaction when I heard that Ascension and Word on Fire had been chosen for this important project was joy that we would assuredly be given beautiful breviaries. My breviary is the one book I use multiple times every day. I rotate through several well-loved Bibles, but my breviary—whichever volume we are on—is nearly always with me. I look forward to praying with these new editions.

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Contents

• The Liturgy of the Hours
• The Second Edition
• Ascension
• Word on Fire
• Comparison & Recommendation
• An Invitation

The Liturgy of the Hours

The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, is an official liturgy of the Church. After the Mass, it is the highest form of prayer of the Church. "The public and communal prayer of the people of God is rightly considered among the first duties of the Church".¹ As Fr. Mike Schmitz recently pointed out,² a priest doesn't make a vow to pray the Mass every day, but he does made a vow to pray the Divine Office every day. Vatican II encouraged the laity to pray the Divine Office.³

The Second Edition

The First Edition of the Liturgy of the Hours has been published in the United States since 1975-1976 by the Catholic Book Publishing Corp.

The 2027 publication of the Second Edition of the Liturgy of the Hours, then, is the first updated translation in English approved by the USCCB in over fifty years. The USCCB gives this information on their page dedicated to the second edition:

In November 2012, the U.S. Bishops voted to revise the translation of the Liturgy of the Hours in light of the Roman Missal, Third Edition and the 2001 Vatican document Liturgiam authenticam. The approval process was completed in November 2024, and on May 29, 2025, the USCCB transmitted the completed manuscript of the Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition to the Holy See for confirmation. (USCCB)

The USCCB is also in the process of issuing an updated translation of the New American Bible Revised Edition, which will be called the Catholic American Bible. When these updates are complete, we can look forward to a more accurate and unified English translation across the Church's liturgies in the Roman Missal, Lectionary for Mass, and Divine Office.

Ascension

Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition - Ascension

Ascension offers a full line-up of premium, standard, and large-print editions. What stands out about all of the Ascension editions is the attention to design, with typesetting by 2K/DENMARK and newly commissioned artwork by New Jerusalem Studios. Ascension is going all-in on producing the next generation of breviaries.

The standard edition is roughly comparable to the existing bonded leather first edition from CBPCorp., with a bonded leather cover (red rather than black), and paste-down liner. This will likely be the default choice for many, at least until the Major and Minor Extract versions are published.

Ascension offers two "premium" editions. The first, called "Premium Leather", is analagous to the premium Great Adventure Bible, with a goatskin cover, calfskin liner, edge-lined binding, perimeter stitch, and raised spine hubs, but printed in China.

The top shelf option is called "Premium Natural Grain Leather", and is printed by Royal Jongbloed in the Netherlands. This will have a top-grain goatskin cover, presumably a calfskin liner (though I can't find that in writing) and 34 gsm paper, with red-over-gold art-gilding. This is comparable to the highest-quality Bibles available in print from the likes of Schuyler, and it is incredible that a Catholic publisher is now offering breviaries of this quality. Perhaps they will also offer an edition of the new Catholic American Bible of similar quality?

The Ascension edition stands out for its excellent design. 2K/DENMARK is the name in Bible design, and many of the very best Bibles in the world are designed by them. The decision to work with 2K/DENMARK is an indication of the seriousness with which Ascension approached this project, and they released a great video highlighting the partnership.

The design is exactly what you would hope for in a breviary: it is simple in a way that both dignifies the liturgical text as well as making is easily legible. The text fills the margins with little wasted space. The artwork is reverent and traditional, with ample use of Latin text.

You can see additional sample pages here: Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition Sample Pages

The exterior design of the Ascension editions is simple and dignified. The front cover includes the title and a tasteful embossed emblem, and the spine is similarly restrained and reverent.

The Ascension editions includes eight ribbons, up from the five ribbons included in the first edition. I have couple of bookmarks in my breviary, so this is a welcome addition. Likely I will place the ribbons at:

1. Proper of Seasons
2. Proper of Seasons (Solemnities) or Ordinary (Canticles)
3. Ordinary (Invitatory)
4. Psalter
5. Compline
6. Complementary Psalmody
7. Proper of Saints
8. Office for the Dead

Overall, Ascension has clearly approached this project with the rigor and zeal that characterize their Bibles and Catechisms, and the Ascension Liturgy of the Hours will be a great addition in that line-up.⁴

Word on Fire

Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition - Word on Fire

The Word on Fire announcement included a short video from Bishop Barron, but otherwise did not give many details. From the photos that were released, though, we are sure to get a beautiful second edition from Word on Fire.

The exterior is simple and dignified. The leather looks similar—if not identical—to that used on the Word on Fire Bible, with a deep, beautiful grain. Word on Fire's restraint on the spine creates an august appearance: we see only the title, an IHS monogram, and the volume number.

The selection of muted colors for the ribbons adds to the dignified presentation of the Word on Fire second edition.

The layout appears to be similar to that used in the Word on Fire Liturgy of the Hours booklets. The red accents are replaced with gold, some prayers are abbreviated (i.e. "Our Father" rather than the whole prayer), and historical names for the offices are used (i.e. "Vespers I" rather than "Evening Prayer").

Above is the current first edition on the left, and the Word on Fire Liturgy of the Hours booklet on the right (standing in for the Word on Fire second edition because of their similarity until I have one to compare in person). The first edition has a large typeface that mostly fills the page, whereas Word on Fire includes marginal titles that create more whitesapce. This appears to be one downside for the legibility vs. portability tradeoff of the Word on Fire layout, which is of utmost importance in a breviary. We will need to see the final product to fully evaluate it, and to compare it against the Ascension edition.

Bishop Barron shared a heartfelt reflection on the Liturgy of the Hours in the announcement video from Word on Fire in which he called his breviary as one of his most treasured possessions. He closed with his aspirations for the project: "We hope to draw countless more into the Church's ancient prayer...I truly believe this project will spark a renewal of the Church's daily prayer, restoring the Divine Office to the heart of Catholic life." Word on Fire's excellence in wielding beauty for evangelization and the renewal of the Church is characteristically present in this Liturgy of the Hours.

Comparison & Recommendation

The below table summarizes the key features of the current first edition as compared with the two forthcoming second editions. I will update this with further details as they become available. I look forward to holding both editions in hand and offering a detailed side-by-side review with a focus on layout, craftsmanship, and usability for daily prayer.

	CBPCorp. (1st Ed.)	Ascension (2nd Ed.)	Word on Fire (2nd Ed.)
Edition(s)	Bonded Leather: $209 Imitation Leather: $174	Premium Natural Grain: $909 Premium: $490 Standard: $265	Premium Goatskin: $499 ($360 pre-order)
Printed In	Korea	Premium Natural Grain: Netherlands (Royal Jongbloed) Premium & Standard: China	Italy (LEGO)
Cover	Bonded leather / imitation leather	Premium Natural Grain: full-grain goatskin Premium: top-grain goatskin Standard: Spanish Taratan II Cromwell bonded leather (Red)	Full-grain Steer (Cromwell Spain/Portugal)
Binding	Smyth-sewn Paste-off binding	Premium Natural Grain: Smyth-sewn, Edge-lined binding, liner? Premium: Smyth-sewn, Edge-lined binding, black calfskin liner Standard: Smyth-sewn, Paste-off binding	Smyth-sewn Paste-off binding
Typesetting	CBPCo	2K/DENMARK	WOF
Typeface	Goudy Old Style (10.5 pt)	Ascension Serif by 2K/DENMARK (10 pt)	Trinité No. 2 (11.4 pt)
Paper	?	Premium Natural Grain: 34 gsm Bolloré Primapage Ivoire Premium & Standard: 36 gsm	PDL (France)
Ribbons	5x (insert)	Premium Natural Grain: 8x double-faced Berisford Premium & Standard: 8x satin	7x
Other	-	Premium Natural Grain: Perimeter stitch, raised spine hubs, red-over-gold art-gilding Premium: Perimeter stitch, raised spine hubs	Perimeter stitch, raised spine hubs, red-over-gold art-gilding, Gustave Doré art
Dimensions	4.75" x 7" x 1.25" (Vol. I) to 1.75" (Vol. II)	4.5" x 6.75" x ?" (Vol. I) to ?" (Vol. II)	~5.25 x 8.25 x ?

An Invitation

Ascension and Word on Fire bring their distinctive strengths to this project, and I see this project as a renewal of the Divine Office that will draw many more into the Church's daily prayer. But there's no need to wait for the Second Edition to be available: I would like to close with an invitation to pray the Liturgy of the Hours with the Church now. If you already pray one or more hours, think about adding another. If you have never prayed the Liturgy of the Hours before, here is how to start:

• Go to Sing the Hours right now and listen as Paul Rose guides you in praying whatever office is appropriate: Lauds (Morning Prayer) if it is before noon, Vespers (Evening Prayer) if it is after noon, or Compline if you are going to bed soon. Stop what you are doing and pray.
• If you want more now, spend something like $9 per month to get the monthly Liturgy of the Hours booklets, or $22 to get Shorter Christian Prayer which has everything you need to pray the primary hours of Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer.
• Get the Ascension or Word on Fire Second Edition four-volume sets when released in early 2027, or a Major Extracts version from other publishers such as MTF when released in 2028.