How To: Ribbon Placement

Where and how to place the ribbons in a breviary (or diurnal) is often one of the first things new-comers to praying the Divine Office struggle to figure out. It's not a difficult problem to solve and many simply figure it out through trial and error, but I would like to put my two cents forward and offer a suggestion for the Diurnal.

First things first: simplicity is your friend. There is no need to mark every section of the MD at all times. I've had people tell me that six ribbons is just not enough and that they needed to add cards and other markers for quick access to every possible section. I'd argue that six ribbons is actually one too many! Let me explain...

In any Breviary, you need to have your ribbons mark the following: (1) the Ordinary, (2) the Psalter, (3) the Proper of Seasons, (4) the Proper of Saints, (5) and the Common of Saints. Note that this is only five ribbons...a sixth is practically a luxury!

Here's the page ranges for each ribbon:
Black   pp. 2-14, 30-43, 115-117 (Ordinary)
Red      p. 15-156 (Psalter)
White   p. 157-442 (Proper of Seasons)
Green   p. 443-669 (Proper of Saints)
Blue     p. 1*-5* (Antiphons and Versicles)
Yellow p. 7*-67* (Common of Saints)

A little explanation about the black ribbon... There is no dedicated Ordinary in the MD. The MD keeps the Ordinary parts for Lauds/Vespers in Sunday Lauds/Vespers and the Ordinary parts for Prime in Monday Prime. These are the places I would keep the black ribbon when saying those offices. For instance, at Lauds, you need to continually move the ribbon as you're praying because Psalm 67, Psalm 50, Psalms 148-150 and the Benedictus are all there.

For Ferial Lauds, I only need three ribbons (Black, Red, White). During the little hours, I'll only need two (Red and White). The other ribbons are just marked in advance and/or just in the general section of the book that they'll need to be.