Liturgy of the Hours question...

[theculturewarrior]

When do I have to pray the Propers of the Saints, and when can I pray from the Psalter instead? Is it basically, any day in which I can't pray the Office for the Dead, I have to pray the Saint's Office, or the Sunday Office?

Where can I find more information on this? (I have trouble understanding the General Instruction).

[Laudate_Dominum]

It's the same as the liturgical day for Mass. So if its a Sunday or a major feast day then obviously the memorial of a saint that happened to fall on that day is trumped.

And on the memorials or feasts the common to be used ought to be specified in the proper.

And I've prayed the office with a lot of different people and religious communities and the sense I have is that there is some flexibility regarding whether you use the commons of the proper vs. the regular psalter. I wouldn't feel rigidly bound. I like to sometimes pray the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary and it doesn't follow the normal thing. But I do think it is important to be in tune with the liturgical calendar and what's going on. I'm just saying that its not a sin to not get it right all the time. :