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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:33:49 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10058-0.txt b/10058-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0f23c86 --- /dev/null +++ b/10058-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7901 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10058 *** + +THE DIVINE OFFICE + +A STUDY OF THE ROMAN BREVIARY + +BY + +REV. E.J. QUIGLEY + +1920 + + + + +PREFACE + + +In the studies preliminary to ordination, the greatest time and +attention must be given to the study of Dogmatic and Moral Theology. +Certain subjects, such as liturgy, are always in danger of being +shortened or of occupying a very small space in a college course. After +ordination, priests find that these subjects are things of daily and +hourly interest and importance. Who is it that does not know that the +study of the Mass and the Missal, of the Breviary, its history and its +contents are studies useful in his daily offering of sacrifice +and praise? + +I hope that this book may serve as an introductory manual to the study +of the Breviary. It may be useful to junior students in colleges, in +giving them some knowledge of the Church's Hours, which they assist at +in their college choirs. It may assist them to know and love the +official prayers of the Church, and may help to form devout habits of +recitation, so that, when the obligation of the daily office is imposed +on them, they may recite it digne, attente et devote. The "texts and +intentions" may be an aid to them, and to students in Holy Orders, in +the great and glorious work of pious prayer. + +Perhaps, this book may be a help to priests. It is an attempt to bring +into one handy volume many matters found in several volumes of history, +liturgy, theology, and ascetic literature. Much of it they have met +before, but some of it may be new and may enable some to pray more +fervently and to aid them in the difficult work of saying each Hour and +each part of an Hour with attention and devotion. Some of the pages may +be to them instructive, and may give them new ideas on such points as +the structure of the Hours, the Collects, the Te Deum, the Anthems of +the Blessed Virgin, etc. + +No book is faultless. Of this one, I can say with the Psalmist, "I +studied that I might know this thing, it is a labour in my sight" (Psalm +72). And I can say it with St. Columban, _Totum, dicere volui in breve, +totem non potui_. In the book I quote Cardinal Bona. In his wonderful +_Rerum Liturgicarum_ (II., xx., 6) he wrote what I add as a finish, +to this preface:-- + +"Saepe enim volenti et conanti vel ingenii vires vel rerum antiquarum +notitia vel alia subsidia defuerunt; nec fieri potuit quin per loca +salebrosa in tenebris ambulans interdum offenderim, Cum aliquid +incautius et neglentius a me scriptum offenderit, ignoscat primum +lector, deinde amica manu corrigat et emendat et quae omisi suppleat." + +E.J.Q. + +ROCKCORRY, CO. MONAGHAN. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I. + +GENERAL QUESTIONS. + + I. Idea of the Breviary + II. Short History of Divine praise in general, + of the Breviary in particular + III. The excellence of the Roman Breviary in + itself and in comparison with others + Respect due to the sacred volume + IV. 1. The contents of the Breviary + 2. The ecclesiastical year and its parts; the + calendar + 3. General Rubrics of the Breviary + Title I. The double office + " II. The office of a semi-double + " III. The office of a simple + " IV. The office of Sunday + " V. The ferial office + " VI. The office of vigils + " VII. Octaves + " VIII. Office of the Blessed Virgin for Saturdays + " IX. Commemorations + " X. The Translation of Feasts + " XI. Concurrence of office + " XII. The arrangement of the office + " XIII. Matins + " XIV. Lauds + " XV. Prime + " XVI. Terce, Sext, None + " XVII. Vespers + " XVIII. Compline + " XIX. The Invitatory + " XX. Hymns + " XXI. Antiphons + " XXII. Psalms + " XXIII. Canticles + " XXIV. Versicle and responds + " XXV. Absolutions and Benedictions + " XXVI. The Lessons + " XXVII. The responses after the lessons + " XXVIII. The short responses after the hours + " XXIX. Capitulum + " XXX. Oratio, collects + " XXXI. The Hymn Te Deum + " XXXII. Pater Noster and Ave + " XXXIII. The Apostles' Creed and the Athanasian Creed + " XXXIV. The Preces + " XXXV. The suffrages of the saints + " XXXVI. The antiphons of the Blessed Virgin + " XXXVII. The little office of the Blessed Virgin + + +PART II. + +RULES FROM MORAL AND ASCETIC THEOLOGY FOR THE RECITATION + OF THE BREVIARY. + +Who are bound to say the office? +Must every holder of a benefice read the office? +What sin is committed by the omission of a notable part? +What sins are committed by the omission of the whole office? +What must a person do who has a doubt about omissions? +Does a person, who recites by mistake, an office other than that + prescribed fulfil his obligation? +What causes justify an inversion of the hours? +Is it a sin to say Matins of following day before finishing Compline + of the current day? +What is the time fixed for recitation of the Office? +When may a priest begin the recitation of Matins and Lauds for the + following day? +What is true time as regards recitation of the office? +Are priests bound to recite Matins and Lauds before Mass? +At what time should the little hours be said? +Where should the office be recited? +What kind of verbal pronunciation should be attended to? +May the recitation be interrupted? +May Matins be separated from Lauds without cause? +Is intention required in reading the hours? +Is attention required? external? internal? superficial attention, + literal attention? +Opinions of theologians on necessary attention. +Distractions, voluntary and involuntary. +Does a person reciting the hours sin, if he have distractions? +Causes excusing from reading the hours. +Scruples and the direction of the scrupulous. + + +ART. I. RULES FOB PIOUS RECITATION OF HOURS. + +1. The words read. +2. To whom we speak. +3. We pray in the name of the church. +4. Our associates on earth. +5. The purpose of our prayer. +6. It gives glory to God and draws down his blessings. +7. It brings help to those who recite it fervently. + + +ART. II. THE MEANS TO ADOPT OF PIOUS RECITATION. + + A. _Before Recitation_. + +1. Purify conscience. +2. Mortification of passions. +3. Guarding the senses. +4. Knowledge of the work that is to be done. + + B. THE IMMEDIATE PREPARATION FOR THE RECITATION. + +1. Reading the Ordo Recitandi officium. +2. To recollect ourselves. +3. To invoke God's aid. +4. To unite ourselves with Christ. +5. (a) Christ our model in prayer. + (b) Our prayers to be offered through him. + (c) Church wishes this and practices it ever. + (d) Lives of saints show how they united with Christ in prayer. + (e) Remembrance of the sublime work we engage in. + (f) To propose general, special and particular intentions. + + +ART. III. AIDS DURING THE RECITATION OF THE HOURS. + + (a) Suitable place. + (b) Respectful and devout attitude. + (c) Slow, deliberate pronunciation. + (d) Distractions. + (e) To apply the mind to what is read. + (f) To read without critical judgments. + (g) To think of Christ's Passion. + (h) To think of the presence of God and of our Angel Guardian. + + +ART. IV. AFTER SAYING THE OFFICE. + +1. Thanks to God. +2. Ask his pardon for faults. +3. Say the _Sacro-sanctae_. +4. The Sacro-sanctae. + + +PART III + +THE CANONICAL HOURS. + +CHAPTER I.--MATINS (TITLE XIII). + +Parts Pater Noster and Ave (Title XXXII) + Credo (Title XXXIII) + Domine labia mea--Deus in + Invitatory (Title XIX) + Hymns (Title XX) + Antiphons (Title XXI) + Psalms (Title XXII) + Canticles + Replies of Biblical Commission on Psalms + Versicles and responds (Title XXIV) + Absolutions and blessings (Title XXV) + Lessons (Title XXIV) + Responses (Title XXIV) + Rubrics and Symbolism + Te Deum (Title XXXI) + Texts and Intentions + + +CHAPTER II.--LAUDS AND PRIME TITLES (XIV AND XV). + +Lauds. + Etymology, Definition, Symbolism, Origin, Antiquity. + Reasons for Hour, Structure, Rubrics + Antiphons, Capitulum (Title XXX) + Benedictus + Oratio, Collect (Title XXX) + Rubrics and explanation of Rubrics + Texts and Intentions + +Prime. + Etymology, Origin, Contents, Structure + Athanasian Creed (Title XXXIII) + Reasons for the Morning Hour and Rubrics + Preces (Title XXXIV), Confiteor + Structure and Short Lesson + Texts and Intentions + + +CHAPTER III.--TERCE, SEXT, NONE (TITLE XVI). + +Terce. + Etymology, Structure, Antiquity. + Reasons for Hour + Texts and intentions + +Sext. + Etymology, structure, antiquity + Reasons for Hour + Texts and intentions + +None. + Etymology, structure, antiquity + Reasons for Hour + Texts and intentions + + +CHAPTER IV.--VESPERS AND COMPLINE PAGE (TITLE XVII-XVIII). + +Vespers. + Etymology, structure, antiquity. + Reasons for Hour + Texts and intentions + +Compline. + Etymology, structure, antiquity + Reasons for Hour + Suffrages of the Saints (Title VII) + Anthems of Blessed Virgin + Texts and intentions + +The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin (Title XXVII) + + +PART IV. + +HEORTOLOGY. + +CHAPTER I.--A. PROPER OF THE TIME. + +Advent +Christmas +St. Stephen; St. John; Circumcision; Epiphany; + Septuagesima; Lent; Easter and Paschal Times; + Ascension; Whit Sunday; Trinity Sunday + +B. PROPER OF THE SAINTS. + +December; January; February; March; May; + June; July; August; October; November + +ROGATION DAYS AND LITANIES + +NOTE A. Breviary Hymns. +NOTE B. Particular Examen. +NOTE C. Bibliography. + + + + +PART I. + +GENERAL QUESTIONS. + + + + +THE DIVINE OFFICE + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +IDEA OF THE BREVIARY. + +_Etymology_.--The word, Breviary, comes from an old Latin word, +_Breviarium_, an abridgment, a compendium. The name was given to +the Divine Office, because it is an abridgment or abstract made from +holy scripture, the writings of the Fathers, the lives of the Saints. +The word had various meanings assigned to it by early Christian writers, +but the title, Breviary, as it is employed to-day--that is, a book +containing the entire canonical office--appears to date from the +eleventh century. Probably it was first used in this sense to denote +the abridgment made by Pope Saint Gregory VII. (1013-1085), about the +year 1080. + +_Definition_.--The Breviary may be defined as "the collection of +vocal prayers established by the Church, which must be recited daily by +persons deputed for that purpose." + +_Explanation of the Definition_.--"Prayers," this word includes not +only the prayers properly so called, but also, the whole matter of the +divine office. "Vocal," the Church orders the vocal recitation, the +pronunciation of each word. "Established by the Church," to distinguish +the official prayers of obligation from those which the faithful may +choose according to their taste. "Which must be recited," for the +recitation is strictly obligatory. "Daily," the Church has fixed these +prayers for every day of the year, and even for certain hours of the +day. "By persons deputed for that purpose," therefore, persons in holy +orders recite these prayers not in their own name, but as +representatives of the universal Church. + +_Different Names for the Breviary_.--This book which is, with us, +commonly called the Breviary, has borne and still bears different names, +amongst both Latins and Greeks. + +Amongst the Latins, the recitation of the Breviary was called the Office +(_officium_), that is, the duty, the function, the office; because +it is, _par excellence_, the duty, function and office of persons +consecrated to God. This is the oldest and most universal name for the +Breviary and its recitation. It was called, too, the Divine Office +(_officium divinum_), because it has God for its principal object +and is recited by persons consecrated to God. It is called the +ecclesiastical office (_officium ecclesiasticum_), because it was +instituted by the Church. Other names were, _Opus Dei; Agenda; Pensum +servitutis; Horae; Horae Canonicae_. + +Which books were employed in olden times in reciting the Office? + +Before the eleventh century the prayers of the Divine Office were not +all contained in one book, as they are now in the Breviary, which is an +abridgment or compendium of several books. The recitation of the Office +required the Psaltery, the Lectionary, the Book of Homilies, the +Legendary, the Antiphonarium, the Hymnal, the Book of Collects, the +Martyrology, the Rubrics. The Psaltery contained the psalms; the +Lectionary (thirteenth century) contained the lessons of the first and +second nocturn; the Book of Homilies, the homilies of the Fathers; the +Legendary (before the thirteenth century), the lives of the saints read +on their feast days. The Hymnal contained hymns; the Book of Collects, +prayers, collects and chapters; the Martyrology contained the names with +brief lives of the martyrs; the Rubrics, the rules to be followed in the +recitation of the Office. To-day, we have traces of this ancient custom +in our different choir books, the Psalter, the Gradual, the +Antiphonarium. There were not standard editions of these old books, and +great diversities of use and text were in existence. + +_Divisions of the Divine Office_.--How is the daily Office divided? +The Office is divided into the night Office and the day Office. The +night Office is so called because it was originally recited at night. +It embraces three nocturns and Lauds. The day Office embraces Prime, +Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline. + +_Parts or Hours of the Office_.--How many parts or hours go to make +up the Office? Rome counts seven, and seven only; and this is the number +commonly counted by liturgists and theologians. They reckon Matins and +Lauds as one hour. + +The old writers on liturgy ask the question: "Why has the Church +reckoned seven hours only?" Their replies are summarised well by +Newman: "In subsequent times the hours of prayer were gradually +developed from the three or (with midnight) the four seasons above +enumerated to seven, viz.:--by the addition of Prime (the first hour), +Vespers (the evening), and Compline (bedtime) according to the words of +the Psalm--'Seven times a day do I praise thee, because of thy righteous +judgments.' Other pious and instructive reasons existed, or have since +been perceived, for this number. It was a memorial of the seven days of +creation; it was an honour done to the seven petitions given us by our +Lord in His prayer; it was a mode of pleading for the influence of that +Spirit, who is revealed to us as sevenfold; on the other hand, it was a +preservative against those seven evil spirits which are apt to return to +the exorcised soul, more wicked than he who has been driven out of it; +and it was a fit remedy of those successive falls which, scripture says, +happen to the 'just man' daily." (_Tracts for the Times_, No. 75. +"On the Roman Breviary.") + + "Matutina ligat Christum qui crimina purgat, + Prima replet sputis. Causam dat Tertia mortis. + Sexta cruci nectit. Latus ejus Nona bipertit. + Vespera deponit. Tumulo completa reponit. + Haec sunt septenis propter quae psallimus horas." + + "At Matins bound; at Prime reviled; + Condemned to death at Tierce; + Nailed to the Cross at Sext; at None + His blessed Side they pierce. + They take him down at Vesper-tide; + In grave at Compline lay, + Who thenceforth bids His Church observe + The sevenfold hours alway." + + (_Gloss. Cap. I. De Missa_) + +Thus, this old author connects the seven hours with the scenes of the +Passion. Another author finds in the hours a reminder and a warning that +we should devote every stage of our lives to God. For the seven +canonical hours, he writes, bear a striking resemblance to the seven +ages of man. + +_Matins_, the night office, typifies the pre-natal stage of life. +_Lauds_, the office of dawn, seems to resemble the beginnings of +childhood. _Prime_ recalls to him youth. _Terce_, recited when +the sun is high in the heavens shedding brilliant light, symbolises +early manhood with its strength and glory. _Sext_ typifies mature +age. _None_, recited when the sun is declining, suggests man in his +middle age. _Vespers_ reminds all of decrepit age gliding gently +down to the grave. _Compline_, night prayer said before sleep, +should remind us of the great night, death. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +SHORT HISTORY OF DIVINE PRAISE IN GENERAL + AND OF THE BREVIARY IN PARTICULAR. + +From all eternity the Godhead was praised with ineffable praise by the +Trinity--the three divine Persons. The angels from the first moment of +the creation sang God's praises. _Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus +Deus, Sabaoth. Plena est omnis terra gloria ejus_ (Isaias vi. 3). + +Cardinal Bona writes that Adam and Eve blessed and praised God, their +Creator. For God created the first human beings, and "created in them +the knowledge of the Spirit of God that they might praise the name which +He has sanctified and glory in His wondrous acts" (Ecclesiasticus xvii. +6-8), Every page of the Old Testament tells how the chosen race +worshipped God. We read of the sacrifices of Cain, Abel, Enoch, Noe; of +the familiar intercourse which the great patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, +Jacob had with God. Recorded, too, are the solemn songs and prayers of +Moses thanking God for His guidance in the freedom from the slavery of +Egypt (Exodus xv.). David, under God's inspiration, composed those noble +songs of praise, the Psalms, and organised choirs for their rendering. +He sings "Evening and morning and at noon I will speak and declare and +He shall hear my voice" (Psalm 54, v. 18); "I rose at midnight to give +praise to Thee" (Psalm 118, v. 162); "Seven times a day I have given +praise to Thee" (Psalm 118, v. 164). + +The Prophet Daniel, a captive in Babylon, prayed thrice daily, his face +turned to Jerusalem. The Israelites, captives in Babylon with Nehemias, +"rose up and read in the book of the Law of the Lord their God, four +times in the day, and four times they confessed and adored the Lord +their God" (II. Esdras ix. 3). Hence, the Jewish day, made up as it was +with sacrifices, libations, oblations, purifications, and public and +private prayer, was a day of prayer. In these public meetings they sang +God's praises, sang of His glory and of His mercy. Sometimes they spoke +with loving familiarity, sometimes they prayed on bended knee, sometimes +they stood and pleaded with outstretched hands, pouring out the prayers +inspired by God Himself. + +In the New Law our Saviour is the model of prayer, the true adorer of +His Father. He alone can worthily adore and praise because He alone has +the necessary perfection. Night and day He set example to His followers. +He warned them to watch and pray; He taught them how to pray; He gave +them a form of prayer; He prayed in life and at death. His apostles, +trained in the practices of the synagogue, were perfected by the example +and the exhortations of Christ. This teaching and example are shown in +effect when the assembled apostles were "at the third hour of the day" +praying (Acts ii. 15); when about the sixth hour Peter went to pray +(Acts x. 9). In the Acts of Apostles we see how Peter and John went at +the ninth hour to the temple to pray. St. Paul in prison sang God's +praises at midnight, and he insists on his converts singing in their +assembly psalms and hymns (Ephes. v. 19; Col. Iii. 16; I. Cor. xiv. 26). + +What form did the public prayers, which we may call the divine office, +take in the time of the Apostles? It is impossible to say. But it is +certain 10 that there were public prayers, 20 that they were offered up +daily in certain determined places and at fixed hours, 30 that these +public prayers consisted principally of the Psalms, hymns, canticles, +extracts from Sacred Scripture, the Lord's Prayer, and probably the +Creed, 40 that these public prayers varied in duration according to the +will of the bishop or master who presided. + +"The weekly commemoration of Christ's resurrection, the yearly +recurrence of the memory of the great facts of Christ's life, the daily +sanctification of the hours of the day, each led the Christian to draw +upon the hours of the Psalter, and when, gradually, fixed hours for +daily prayer passed beyond the home circle and with groups of ascetics +entered the public churches, it was from the Psalter that the songs of +praise were drawn, and from the Psalms were added a series of canticles, +taken from the books of the Old and the New Testaments, and thus, long +ages before any stereotyped arrangement of the Psalms existed, assigning +particular Psalms to particular days or hours, the Psalms were feeding +the piety of the faithful and teaching men to pray" (_The New +Psalter_--Burton and Myers). In this matter of public prayer, it is +hard for us to realise the "bookless" condition of the early Christians +and their difficulties. It was twenty-five years after the Ascension +before the first books of the New Testament were written, and many years +must have elapsed before their wide diffusion; hence, in their bookless +and guideless condition the early Christians were advised to use the +Psalms in their new devotional life (Ephes. v. 19; Col. iii. 16; St. +James, v. 13). + +The first clear evidence of a division of the Psalter for use in the +Western Church is found in the work of St. Benedict (480-543). He had +spent his youth near Rome, and keeping his eye on the Roman usage he +assigned the Psalms to the various canonical hours and to different days +of the week. The antiphons he drew from existing sources, and of course +the canonical hours were already in existence. In his arrangement, the +whole Psalter was read weekly, and the whole Bible, with suitable +patristic selections, was read every year. He also arranged the Sunday, +Festal and Ferial offices. For the recitation of the offices of a +saint's day, St. Benedict arranged that the Matins shall have the same +form as a Sunday office--_i.e._, three nocturns, twelve lessons and +responsories, but the psalms, antiphons and lessons are proper to each +saint. This arrangement interrupted the weekly recitation of the whole +psalter, and caused great difficulty in later times; for when the feasts +increased in number the ferial psalter fell almost into complete disuse. + +St. Benedict's arrangement of the psalms and his other liturgical +regulations spread rapidly, but the Roman secular office never adopted +his arrangement of the psalms, nor his inclusion of hymns, until about +the year 1145. In some details each office shows its independent +history. It is a matter of dispute among liturgists whether Prime and +Compline were added to the Roman secular office through the influence of +the Benedictines (Baudot, _The Roman Breviary_, pp. 19-26). + +The period following the death of St. Benedict in 543 is a period of +which little is known. "We repeat with Dom Baumer (vol. i., pp. 299-300) +that the fifth century, at Rome as elsewhere, was a period of great +liturgical activity, while the seventh and eighth centuries were, viewed +from this point of view, a period of decline" (Baudot, _op. cit._, +p. 53). The labours of St. Benedict probably were continued and perfected +by St. Gregory the Great (590-604). His labours are summed up by Dom +Baumer (_Histoire du Breviare_, vol. i., pp. 289, 301-303): "It is +he who collected together the prayers and liturgical usages of his +predecessors and assigned to each its proper place, and thus the liturgy +owes its present form to him. The liturgical chant also bears his name, +because through his means it reached its highest state of development. +The canonical hours and the formulary of the Mass now in use were also +carefully arranged by him." "The whole history of the Western liturgy +supports us in maintaining that these books received from the great Pope +or from one of his contemporaries a form which never afterwards +underwent any radical or essential alteration." The Roman office spread +quickly through Europe. The enthusiasm of Gregory became rooted in the +monasteries, where the monks learned and taught, with knowledge and +with zeal, his liturgical reforms. Two important reforms of monastic +practice are interesting as showing further progress in the evolution of +the Roman Breviary. St. Benedict of Aniane (751-821), the friend and +adviser of Louis the Pious, became a reformer of Benedictine rule and +practice. His rule aimed at a rigid uniformity, even in detail. And the +Council of Aix-la-Chapelle (817) helped him to establish his reforms. As +a result of the saint's exertions the Penitential Psalms and Office of +the Dead were made part of the daily monastic office. The Abbey of +Cluny, founded in 910, supplied a further reform tending to guard the +office from further accretions. + +Did Hildebrand, Pope Gregory VII. (1073-1086), labour for liturgical +reform? Liturgical writers give very different replies. Monsignor +Battifol (_History of the Roman Breviary_, English edition, p. 158) +maintains that Gregory made no reform, and that "the Roman office such +as we have seen it to be in the times of Charlemagne held its ground at +Rome itself, in the customs of the basilicas, without any sensible +modification, throughout the tenth and eleventh centuries and even down +to the close of the twelfth." Dom Gueranger holds that Gregory abridged +the order of prayers and simplified the liturgy for the use of the Roman +curia. It would be difficult at the present time to ascertain accurately +the complete form of the office before this revision, but since then it +has remained almost identical with what it was at the end of the +eleventh century. Dom Baumer agrees with his Benedictine brother that +Gregory wrought for liturgical reform. Probably Pope Gregory VII., +knowing the decadence which was manifest in liturgical exercises in Rome +during the tenth and eleventh centuries, decided to revise the old Roman +office which, although it had decayed in Rome, flourished in Germany, +France, and other countries. Hence, in his Lenten Synod, 1074, he +promulgated the rules he had already drawn up for the Regular Canons of +Rome, ordering them to return to the old Roman rite. Thus he may be +counted as a reformer, but not as an innovater nor an abridger. But his +reform fell on evil days. The great struggle between Church and State +about lay investitures had a baneful influence on liturgy, even in Rome +itself. The times seemed to call for a modernised (i.e., a shortened) +office. The "modernisers" respected the psalter, the curtailment was in +the Lectionary. The modernising spirit showed itself in the arrangement +and bulk of the office books. The Psalter, Antiphonary, Responsorial, +Bible and Book of Homilies were gradually codified. Even then, a very +large volume was the result. After a time the chant, which absorbed much +space, was removed from the volume, but the resulting volume, noticeably +smaller, was not yet small enough. In time, only the opening words of +the antiphons, responsories and versicles were printed, and to the +volume thus turned out was given the name _Breviary_. The Curial +Breviary was drawn up in this way to make it suitable for persons +engaged in outdoor pursuits and journeys. It gradually displaced the +choir office in Rome, and Rome's example was universally followed. + +This Curial Breviary was adopted by the Franciscans in their active +lives. They changed the text of the Psalter only, _Psalterium +Romanum_, to the more approved text, the _Psalterium Gallicanum_. +The improved Curial Breviary was imposed on the churches of Rome by the +Franciscan Pope, Nicholas III. (1277-1280), and henceforth it is called +the Roman Breviary. Thus we see that the book used daily by priests got +its name in the thirteenth century, although the divine office is almost +from Apostolic times. + +But liturgy is a progressive study, a progressive practice capable and +worthy of perfecting. And the friars strove for the greater perfection +and beauty of the new Breviary. They added variety to the unity already +achieved and yet did not reach liturgical perfection nor liturgical +beauty. They loaded the Breviary by introducing saints' days with nine +lessons, thus avoiding offices of three lessons. And by keeping octave +days and days within the octave as feasts of nine lessons, they almost +entirely destroyed the weekly recitation of the psalter; and a large +portion of the Breviary ceased to be used at all. The Franciscan book +became very popular owing to its handy form. Indeed its use was almost +universal in the Western Church. But the multiplication of saints' +offices, universal and local, no fixed standard to guide the recital, +and the wars of liturgists, made chaos and turmoil. + +Liturgical reform became an urgent need. Everyone reciting the canonical +hours longed for a great and drastic change. The Humanists, Cardinal +Bembo (1470-1549), Ferreri, Bessarion, and Pope Leo X. (1513-1521) +considered the big faults of the Breviary to lie in its barbarous +Latinity. They wished the Lessons to be written In Ciceronian style and +the hymns to be modelled on the Odes of Horace. Ferreri's attempt at +reforming the Breviary dealt with the hymns, some of which he re-wrote +in very noble language, but he was so steeped in pagan mythology that he +even introduced heathen expressions and allusions, His work was a +failure. The traditional school represented by Raoul of Tongres, +Burchard, Caraffa, and John De Arze loved the past with so great a love +that they refused to countenance any notable reforms, A third school, +the moderate school, was represented by Cardinal Pole, Contarini, +Sadolet and Quignonez, a Spanish cardinal who had been General of the +Franciscans. The work of reform of the Breviary was undertaken by +Cardinal Quignonez (1482-1540). He was a man of great personal piety and +possessed a love for liturgy and an accurate knowledge of its history, +its essentials, and its acquired defects. After seven years' labour at +the matter and form of the Breviary, his work, Quignonez's Breviary +(_Brevarium Romanum a Francisco Cardinali Quignonio_) appeared in +1535. It was for private use only, and was not intended as a choir +manual. Yet so popular was his work that, in 1536, six editions had +appeared, and in thirty-three years (until its suppression by St. Pius +V,) it went through no less than a hundred editions. Its immense success +shows how much the need of Breviary change and reform was felt by the +clergy. The book, too, had an important influence on shaping the +Breviary produced by Pius V. (1566-1572). Quignonez's book was +reproduced with the variations of the four earliest editions, by the +Cambridge University Press in 1888. It is an interesting study in itself +and in comparison with later breviaries. + +But it was felt by scholars that Quignonez's reforms were too drastic. +Tradition was ignored. The labour for brevity, simplicity and uniformity +led to the removal from this Breviary of antiphons, responses, little +chapters and versicles, and to the reduction of lessons at matins to +three, and the number of psalms in each hour was usually only three. His +work had as a set principle the grand old liturgical idea of the weekly +recitation of the whole psalter. The quick and almost universal demand +for Quignonez's Breviary indicated the need of a reform and the outline +of such a reform. The Pope, who commissioned Quignonez to take up +breviary reform, requested the Theatines to take up similar work. The +Council of Trent (1545-1563) took up the work of reform. But the Council +rose before the work had made headway, and the matter of reform was +finally effected by St. Pius V. (1566-1572), by his Constitution, _Quod +a nobis_ (1568). + +The Reformed Breviary of 1568 is, in outline, the Breviary in our hands +to-day. The great idea in the reform was to restore the weekly +recitation of the whole psalter. Theoretically, the Breviary made such +provision, but practically the great number of saints' offices +introduced into the Breviary made the weekly recitation of the psalter +an impossibility. The clergy were constantly reading only a few psalms +out of the 150 in the psalter. The rubrics, too, were in a confused +state. Changes were made in the calendar by suppression of feasts, by +restoring to simple feasts the ferial office psalms, and by reducing the +number of double and semi-double feasts. But in the body of the Breviary +the changes were few and slight. The lives of some saints drawn from +Quignonez's work were used, St. Gregory's canon of scripture lessons was +adopted and the antiphons, verses, responses, collects and prayers were +taken from the old Roman liturgy. The antiphons and responses were given +in the older translation of St. Jerome owing to their suitability for +musical settings. And the text of the psalms was the _Psalterium +Gallicanum_, which had been in use in the Roman Curial Breviary, + +But the Pian reform was soon to be followed by a reform of the Breviary +text, in accordance with the Sixtine Vulgate, the Clementine Vulgate, +and the Vatican text. Clement VIII. (1592-1605) published his edition of +the revised Breviary in 1602; and thirty years afterwards Urban VIII, +(1623-1644) issued a new and further revised edition, which is +substantially the Breviary we read to-day. He caused careful correction +of errors which had crept in through careless printing; he printed the +psalms and canticles with the Vulgate punctuation, and he revised the +lessons and made additions. He established uniformity in texts of Missal +and Breviary. But the greatest change made in this new edition was in +the Breviary hymns, which were corrected on classical lines by Urban +himself aided by four learned Jesuits (see Note, Hymns, p. 259). + +"The result (of their labours) has always given rise to very different +judgments and for the most part unfavourable. It seemed to be +exceedingly rash to regard as barbarous the hymns of men like +Prudentius, Sedulius, Sidonius, Apollinaris, Venantius, St. Ambrose, St. +Paulinus of Aquileia and Rabanus Maurus and to desire to remodel them +after the pattern of Horace's Odes.... It is only fair to give them the +credit, that out of respect for the wishes of Urban VIII. they treated +these compositions with extreme reserve, and while they made some +expressions clearer they maintained the primitive unction in a large +number of passages" (Baudot, The Roman Breviary, part iii., chap. ii.). + +The commission appointed by Clement VIII. in his work of revision and +reform included Baronius, Bellarmine and Gavantus. The commission of +Urban VIII. included, amongst other famous men, the famous Irish friar +minor, Luke Wadding (1588-1657). + +The need of revision, rearrangement and reform of the Breviary was in +the mind of every Pope, and nearly every one of them took some step to +perfect the historic book. In the eighteenth century Benedict XIV. +(1740-1758) contemplated Breviary reform in some details, particularly +in improving the composition of some legends and of replacing some +homilies of the Fathers. He entrusted this work to Father Danzetta, +S.J., but when the learned Jesuit's labour was presented to the Pope, so +grave and so contrary were the reasons there put forth, that the Pope +thought it well to abandon the thought of reform. Father Danzetta's +notes are marvels of research and learning. They are to be seen in +Ruskovany's _Coelibatus et Breviarium,_ vol. v. They show to the +ignorant and the sceptical, the dangers and difficulties which all +Breviary reformers have to contend with. + +Pope Pius VI. (1775-1799) returned to the project of Breviary reform. +Dom Gueranger tells us that the plan of reform was drawn up and +presented to the Congregation of Rites, but the actual reform was not +entered on. Pope Pius IX. (1846-1878), at the request of Monsignor +Sibour, Archbishop of Paris, appointed a commission to revise the +Breviary, but their report caused the work to be abandoned. Petitions +for reform were sent to the Vatican Council, but very little resulted. +Leo XIII. (1878-1903) enriched the calendar by adding the names of many +saints; he added votive offices, corrected the Breviary lessons for the +feasts of a number of Popes, and, in 1902, he appointed a commission to +deal with the hagiography of the Breviary and with its liturgy; but his +death in the following year ended the work of the commission, + +The unsatisfactory condition of the rules for the recitation of the +Divine Office were apparent to everyone. Scholars feared to face +Breviary reform, the difficulties were so innumerable and so immense. +However, with wonderful courage and prudence, Pope Pius X. (1903-1914) +tackled the work. He resolved not to adopt a series of minor changes in +the Breviary, but to appoint an active commission of reform, whose first +work should be a rearrangement of the psalter which must bring back the +recitation of the Divine Office to its early ideal--the weekly +recitation of the whole psalter. The problem which faced Pope Pius X. in +1906 was the very same problem which faced his predecessor St, Pius V. +(1566-1572), more than three hundred years ago. St. Pius tried to solve +the problem by a reform of the calendar, but the solution produced no +permanent effect. Pius X. and his commission went to the root of the +difficulty, and by a redistribution of the psalms have made the ferial +and the festive offices almost equal in length, and have so arranged +matters that the frequent recitation of every psalm, and the possible +and probable recitation of every psalm, once every week, is now an +accomplished fact; and the old and much-sought-after ideal--the weekly +recitation of the whole Psalter--is of world-wide practice. + +On the publication of the new Psalter, Pope Pius announced that a +commission would undertake a complete revision of the Breviary, a matter +of great importance and one which must demand long years of care and +study to accomplish. A member of the committee which re-arranged the +Psalter, Monsignor Piacenza, tells us that such revision must embrace:-- + +1. A reform of the calendar and the drafting of rules for the admission +of feasts into the calendar of the universal Church; + +2. The critical revision and correction of the historic and patristic +texts; + +3. The removal of spurious patristic texts; + +4. The remodelling of the rubrics; + +5. The institution of a new form of common office for confessors and for +virgins to facilitate the lessening of the number of feasts of saints, +without diminishing the honour due to them (Burton and Myers, _op. +cit._, p. 144). + +We may sum up, then, all that has been said in this long section by +stating that from Apostolic times there was public prayer, thrice daily. +The Jewish converts, having the psalms committed to memory needed not, +nor could they have in those bookless days, a psalter script. In the +third century, morning, evening, and night offices are mentioned. +Compline was in existence in the time of St. Benedict. "From the seventh +century onwards, ecclesiastical writers, papal decrees and conciliar +decrees recognise the eight parts of the office, which we have seen took +shape during the sixth century, and regard their recitation by priests +and monks as enjoined by positive law. During this period, or at least +at its commencement, Lauds and Vespers alone had a clearly defined +structure and followed a definite arrangement. As far as we can see, St. +Gregory arranged the little hours for Sunday only, and their arrangement +for week days was left to the care of the bishops and metropolitans, or +even of abbots. This was also the case, in many instances, with regard +to Matins, for the number of psalms to be recited thereat was not +definitely fixed. As regards the little hours--Prime, Terce, Sext, None +and Compline--the freedom of the competent ecclesiastical authorities +was as yet unconfined by canonical restrictions. Chrodegang (766) was +first to follow the usages of the Benedictines of the Roman Basilica, +in prescribing for secular clergy the celebration at Prime of the +_officium Capituli_ (_i.e._, the reunion in the chapter for +reading the rule or, on certain days, the writings and homilies of the +Fathers). The rest of the chapter--_i.e._, all that follows the +_confiteor_ in Prime as a preparation for the work of the day, +seems to have been composed in the ninth century.... Under Charlemagne +and his successors variations in the canonical hours completely +disappeared" (Baudot, _op. cit._, pp. 63-65). + +On this foundation was built up the Office, to which additions were +made, and of which reforms were effected, up to our own time. + +"For us, traditional liturgy is represented by the Roman Breviary of +Urban VIII., a book which constitutes for us a Vulgate of the Roman +Office.... The thing which renders this Vulgate of 1632 precious to us +is that, thanks to the wisdom of Paul IV., Pius V., and Clement VIII., +the differences between it and the Breviary of the Roman Curia of the +thirteenth century are mere differences of detail: the substantial +identity of the two is beyond dispute. The Breviary of Urban VIII. is +the lineal descendant of the Breviary of Innocent III. And the latter in +its turn is the legitimate descendant of the Roman canonical Office, as +it was celebrated in the basilica of St. Peter at the end of the eighth +century, such as it had gradually come to be in the course of the +seventh and eighth centuries, a genuinely Roman combination of various +elements, some of them Roman and some not, but of which some, at all +events, go back to the very beginnings of the Catholic religion" +(Battifol, _op. cit._, p. 353). + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +EXCELLENCE OF THE ROMAN BREVIARY--THE ESTEEM + WHICH WE SHOULD HAVE FOR THE BOOK ITSELF. + +The Roman Breviary is excellent, firstly, in itself; and, secondly, in +comparison with all other breviaries. + +It is excellent in itself, in its antiquity, for in substance it goes +back to the first ages of Christianity. It is excellent, in its author, +for it has been constructed and imposed as an obligation by the supreme +pontiffs, the vicars of Jesus Christ, the supreme pastors of the whole +Church. It is excellent, in its perpetuity, for it has come down to us +through all the ages without fundamental change. It is excellent in its +universality, in its doctrine, in the efficacy of its prayer, the +official prayer of the Church. It is excellent in the matter of which it +is built up, being composed of Sacred Scripture, the words of the +Fathers and the lives of God's saints. It is excellent in its style and +in its form for the parts of each hour; the antiphons, psalms, +canticles, hymns, versicles, follow one another in splendid harmony. + +The opinions and praises of the saints who dwelt on this matter of the +Breviary would fill a volume. Every priest has met with many such +eulogies in his reading. Newman's words are very striking. "There is," +he wrote, "so much of excellence and beauty in the services of the +Breviary, that were it skilfully set before the Protestants, by +Romanistic controversialists, as the book of devotions received by +their communion, it would undoubtedly raise a prejudice in their +favour, if he were ignorant of the case and but ordinarily candid and +unprejudiced.... In a word, it will be attempted to wrest a weapon out +of our adversaries' hands, who have in this, as in many other instances, +appropriated to themselves a treasure" (Newman, _Tracts for the +Times_, No. 275, _The Roman Breviary_). This tract raised a +storm amongst Newman's fellow Protestants. All the old Protestant +objections against the Breviary and its recitation (See Bellarmine, +_Controv_. iii., _de bonis operibus de oratione_ i., i. clx.) +were re-published in a revised and embittered form. What a change has +come amongst non-Catholics! Hundreds of Anglican clergymen are reading +daily with attention and devotion the once hated and despised prayer +book, the Roman Breviary. How old Bellarmine would wonder if he saw +modern England with its hundreds of parsons reading their _Hours_! +How he would wonder to read "The Band of Hope" (1915), an address +delivered by an Anglican clergyman to a society of London clergymen. +It includes a rule of life beginning, "Every day we say our Mass and +our Office." (_Cf_. R. Knox's _Spiritual Aeneid_, p. 102.) + +The Roman Breviary is excellent, too, in comparison with every other +breviary (e.g., Aberdeen, Sarum, Gallican). For none of these can show +the antiquity, the authority, the doctrine, the sublime matter, the +beautiful order, which the Roman Breviary presents. It was for these +reasons that the emperors, Pepin (714-768), Charlemagne (742-814), +Charles the Bald (823-888), adapted the Roman rite (Gueranger, +_Institutiones Liturgiques_, tom. i.). And Grandicolas (1772), an +erudite liturgist, but a prominent Gallican with no love for Roman +rites, declared that the Roman Breviary stands in relation to other +breviaries as the Roman Church stands in relation to all other Christian +bodies, first and superior in every way (_Com. Hist. in Brev. Rom._, +cap. 2). St. Francis De Sales applied to his Breviary the words of St. +Augustine on the Psalter, "_Psalterium meum, gaudium meum._" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +THE CONTENTS OF THE BREVIARY. + + +SECTION I. + +The title of the Breviary is, BREVIARIUM ROMANUM EX DECRETO SACROSANCTI +CONCILII TRIDENTINI RESTITUTUM S. PII V. PONTIFICIS MAXIMI JUSSU EDITUM, +ALIORUMQUE PONTIFICIUM, CURA RECOGNITUM PII PAPAE X., AUCTORITATE +REFORMATUM. This work is divided into four parts, the first part being +called _Pars Hiemalis_, the winter part; the second part, _Pars +Verna_, the spring part; the third part, _Pars Aestiva_, the +summer part; and the fourth part, the _Pars Autumnalis_, the autumn +part. + +The Church, guided by the Holy Ghost, has drawn up these volumes of +liturgical prayer, so that for each season, even for each day, her +official prayer may be suited to the time, to different degrees of +solemnity and of rite, and so that it may be fixed and determined, yet +having great beauty in its wonderful unity and variety. Hence, nothing +in her official prayer is left to chance, nothing is left to the +selection or caprice of the individual who recites this prayer; all is +foreseen, everything is in order, every tittle has a reason for its +existence and its place in the liturgy, and represents the end and the +intentions of the Church. For, every part of the Roman Breviary is +stamped with the wisdom, the zeal and the piety of the Church, which +presents it, as an offering all suitable for and worthy of God's honour +and glory. + +Considering, then, the Breviary as a liturgical book, we find that the +Divine Office has four general divisions, corresponding to the divisions +of our Lord's life. First, from Advent to Septuagesima; second, from +Septuagesima to Easter; third, from Easter to Pentecost; fourth, from +Pentecost to Advent. These divisions correspond also to the divisions of +the year, winter, spring, summer and autumn. + +The end and object of the Office are to invite us to join in the +infinite praise which the Son of God rendered to His Father during His +life, and which He renders still in Heaven and in the Tabernacle. +"_Domine in unione illius divinae intentionis qua ipse in terris laudes +Deo persolvisti, has tibi Horas persolvo,_" "O Lord, in union with that +divine intention wherewith Thou whilst here on earth Thyself didst +praise God, I offer these Hours to Thee." The life of Christ is divided +into four principal divisions: first, His birth, circumcision, epiphany, +presentation; second, His public life and His death; third, His +resurrection, ascension, and descent of the Holy Ghost; fourth, His +mystic life in the Church and in Heaven. Hence arise the four general +divisions of the Divine Office:-- + +_First General Division which begins the Church's year_. From Advent +to Septuagesima:--The birth of the Saviour preceded by His life in Mary's +womb, and by the four weeks of Advent, representing (it is said) the +passing of the four thousand years, and embracing the mysteries of the +Holy Infancy, Circumcision, Epiphany, Holy Name of Jesus, and the +Presentation. + +_Second General Division, from Septuagesima till Easter_:--The death +of Christ preceded by the events of His public life, His fasting, +temptation, preaching, miracles, passion and death. + +_Third General Division, from Easter to Pentecost_:--The +Resurrection, the Ascension, Pentecost. + +_Fourth General Division, from Pentecost till Advent_, the +termination of the Church's year. The mystic life of Christ in the +Church, which will end on the Judgment Day. + +These divisions make up the four parts of the Roman Breviary. + +The first part, _Pars Prima_, contains the Pontifical Bull, +_Quod a nobis_, of Pope Pius V. (1568). It states:--1. That the +cause of the new edition was to remove the regrettable variety in the +public liturgy. 2. It recalls the labours of Pope Paul IV., Pius IV., +and Pius V. for the same end. 3. It announces the abolition of the +too-abbreviated Breviary of Quignonez and of all those which have not, +for two hundred years preceding 1568, an authentic approbation or a +lawful custom. 4. It gives permission to those using such breviaries +to adopt the Roman Breviary. 5. It withdraws all privileges in respect +to other breviaries. 6. It declares the Roman Breviary obligatory on all +except those mentioned (_vide 3, supra_). 7. Even bishops are +forbidden to make the smallest change in the new Breviary. 8. The +recitation of offices from other breviaries does not fulfil the +obligation of those bound to breviary recitation. 9. Bishops are +requested to introduce the new Breviary. 10. The Pope suppressed the +obligation of reciting on certain days the little Office of the Blessed +Virgin, the Office of the Dead, the Penitential and the Gradual Psalms, +11. But he recommends their recitation on certain fixed days and grants +an indulgence for the practice. 12. Where the custom of reciting the +little Office, in choir, exists, it should be retained. 13. The +appointment of the time for the adoption of the Breviary is obligatory. +14. Prohibition, under pain of excommunication, is made against those +who print, distribute or receive copies of this Breviary without lawful +authority. 15. The authentic publication and obligation of the Bull. + +The second document in the _Pars Prima_ of the Roman Breviary is +the Bull _Divino Afflatu_, issued by Pope Pius X, on 1st November, +1911. It tells us:-- + +1. That the psalms were composed under divine inspiration, and that it +is well known that from the beginning of the Church they were used not +only to foster the piety of the faithful, who offered "the sacrifice of +praise to God, that is to say, the fruit of lips confessing to His name" +(Heb. xiii. 15), but--that retaining the custom of the Old Law--they +held a conspicuous place in both the liturgy and Divine Office of the +New Law. He quotes St. Basil, who calls psalmody the voice of the infant +Church, and Urban VIII., who calls psalmody the daughter of hymnody +which is chanted before the throne of God in Heaven. Two quotations from +St. Athanasius and St. Augustine, in praise of psalmody, are added. + +2. In the Psalms there is a certain wonderful power which arouses in +souls a zeal for all virtues. Two quotations from St. Augustine are +added. One says that as it is written that all Scriptures both of the +Old and the New Testaments are divinely inspired and useful for our +instruction.... Nevertheless, the book of the Psalms is, as it were, a +very Paradise containing in itself the fruits of all the other books and +expressing them in hymns; and moreover it joins its own hymns to them +and merges them in the general song of praise. Two further quotations +from St. Augustine, in similar strain, follow. For who will be, asks the +saint, unmoved by those frequent passages in the Psalms in which are +proclaimed the immensity, the omnipotence, the infallible justice, the +goodness, the clemency of God? Or who is not moved by the prayers and +thanksgivings for benefits received by the humble and trustful +petitions, by the cries of souls sorrowing for sin, found in the Psalms? +Whom will the Psalmist not fill with admiration when he recounts the +gifts of the Divine loving kindness towards the people of Israel and all +mankind, and when he sets forth the truths of heavenly wisdom? Who, +finally, will not be inflamed with love by the carefully foreshadowed +figure of Christ, our Redeemer, whose voice St. Augustine heard in the +Psalms, either singing or sighing or rejoicing in Hope or mourning in +present sorrow? + +3. In, former ages it was decreed by Popes and Councils and by monastic +laws that the whole Psaltery should be recited weekly. Pope St. Pius +V., Pope Clement VIII., and Pope Urban VIII. in their revisions of the +Breviary ordered this weekly recitation. And even at the present time, +such would be the recitation of the Psalter had not the condition of +things changed. + +4. This arose from the multiplication of saints' offices (_officia de +sanctis_), which after the canonization of saints gradually grew to +such a huge number that very often the Dominical and Ferial Office +remained unread, and hence not a few psalms were neglected, which yet +are as the rest, as St. Ambrose says, "the benediction of the people, +the praise of God, the praise offering of the multitude, the acclamation +of all, the expression of the community, the voice of the Church, the +resounding confession of faith, the truly official devotion, the joy of +liberty, the shout of gladness, the re-echoing of joy." + +Many complaints from prudent and pious men reached the Pope about the +omission of psalms, which took away from those bound to recite the +Office not only helps, well suited for God's praises and for the +expression of their inmost souls, but also diminished that desirable +variety in prayers which is so appreciated and which so well accords +with and aids our worthy, attentive, and devout praise of God. For St. +Basil says that "in smooth uniformity the soul often grows weary and +while present is yet away, but when in psalmody and chant are changed +and varied in every hour, the fervour is renewed and its attention is +restored." + +5. This matter of the reform of the order of the psalter was brought +before the Holy See by many bishops and chiefly in the Vatican Council, +where the demand for the old custom of reciting the whole psalter +weekly was renewed, with the provision that any new arrangement should +not impose a greater onus on the clergy, now labouring more arduously in +the vineyard of the sacred ministry on account of the diminution of +toilers. These requests and wishes were repeated to Pope Pius X., and he +took up the matter cautiously, so that the honour due to the cult of the +saints should not be diminished, nor the onus on the clergy increased by +the weekly recitation of the full Psalter. Begging the help of God, the +pontiff formed a commission of learned and industrious men, who with +judgment and care carried out his wishes. The results of their labours +were submitted to the Sacred Congregation of Rites, and after careful +consideration by the members of the Congregation the matter was +submitted to the Pope, who sanctioned the new arrangement, that is, as +regards the order and the division of the Psalms, Antiphons, Versicles +and Hymns, with the rubrics and rules pertaining to the same. And the +Pope ordered an authentic edition of these new arrangements to be +prepared and issued from the Vatican Press. + +6. The arrangement of the Psalter has an intimate connection with the +Divine Office and the Liturgy; and by these new decrees regarding the +Office and the Psalms a first step in the improvement of the Breviary +and the Missal has been taken. These matters will be dealt with by a +commission of learned men which is soon to be formed. Amongst other +things that this first step established was that the recitation of the +Scripture lessons with the proper responses according to the rubrics +should receive due honour and more frequent recitation, and that in the +Liturgy the most ancient Masses of the Sundays throughout the year, +especially those of Lent, should be restored to their places. + +7. The use of the old order of Psalms found in the Roman Breviary is +abolished and interdicted from 1st January, 1913, and the use of the new +Psalter for all clergy, secular and regular, who used the Roman Breviary +as revised by Pius V., Clement VIII., Urban VIII., and Leo XIII., and +those who continue to use the old order do not satisfy their obligation. + +8. Ecclesiastical superiors are to introduce the new order of the +Psalter, and chapters are permitted to use it if the majority of the +members agree to its introduction. + +9. Establishment and declaration of the validity and efficacy of the +Bull, notwithstanding all previous apostolic constitutions and rulings, +whether general or particular. Any person infringing these papal +abolitions, revocations, etc., sins and merits God's anger. + +10. Date and place of promulgation. + + + + +SECTION II. + + +THE YEAR AND ITS PARTS. + +The Council of Trent, Sess. XXIII., c. 18, orders "_ut in disciplina +ecclesiastica clerici commodius instituantur grammaticas, cantus, +computi ecclesiastici, aliarumque bonarum artium disciplinam +discant_." The minute study of the ecclesiastical calendar is not +now so necessary for each priest, as it was centuries ago. The _Ordo +Divini Officii recitandi_, issued yearly, and prepared with great +accuracy, relieves priests of much labour and secures them from many +doubts. And the decision of the Congregation of Rites (13th January, +1899) regarding the authority of the _ordo_ gives greater security. +"_Qui probabilius judicat errare Calendarium tenetur eidem Calend. +stare, nec potest proprio inhaerere judicio quoad officium, Missam vel +colorem Paramentorum._" Of course this decision does not apply to +errors which are _openly_ and _plainly_ at variance with the +rubrics of the Missal and Breviary. However, it may be well to revise +and to recall the student days' lessons on the Church's Calendar. The +study is not an easy one, and in labouring to be brief, probably, I may +be obscure and incomplete. + +"_Annus menses habet duodecim..._" says the Breviary. The year has +twelve months, fifty-two weeks plus one day, or 365 days and almost six +hours. But these six hours make up a day every four years, and this +fourth year is called bisextile. + +In making calculations the six hours were taken as six complete hours, +and not six hours wanting some minutes. And the aggregate miscalculation +continued until the minutes added yearly, amounted to ten days and +changed the date of the spring equinox. Pope Gregory XIII. (1572-1585) +sought to remedy the error. He re-established the spring equinox to the +place fixed by the Council of Nice (787). The year had fallen ten days +in arrear from the holding of the Council until the year of the +Gregorian correction, 1582. He again fixed it to the day arranged by the +Council, the 14th of the Paschal moon. And he arranged, that such a +time-derangement should not occur again. He omitted ten full days in +October, 1582, so that the fourth day of the month was followed +immediately by the fifteenth. He determined that the secular year must +begin on 1st January, that three leap years should be omitted in every +four centuries, e.g., 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, and his arrangement has +been observed throughout nearly the whole world. + +_Quarter Tenses_ fall on the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays after +the third Sunday of Advent, after the first Sunday of Lent; after +Pentecost Sunday, and after the feast of the exaltation of the Cross. + +_The Nineteen Years' Course of the Golden Number_. This course or +cycle was invented by an Athenian astronomer about 433 B.C. It was not +exact, but was hailed with delight by the Greeks, who adorned their +temples with the key number, done in gold figures; hence the name. The +cycle of course is the revolution of nineteen years, from 1 to 19. When +this revolution or course of years is run there is a new beginning in +marking, No. 1, e.g., in the year 1577 the nineteenth number, the golden +number, was 1; the following year it was 2, and so on until in 1597 the +golden number again is 2. A table given in the Breviary shows how the +golden number may be found and a short rule for the finding of it in any +year is given. To the number of the year (e.g., 1833) add 1; then divide +the sum thus resulting by 19 and the remainder is the golden number; if +there be no remainder the golden number is 19. + + + + +EPACTS AND NEW MOONS. + +The Epact (Greek [Greek: epaktos] from [Greek: eapgo] I add) is nothing +more than the number of days by which the common solar year of 365 days +exceeds the common lunar year of 354 days. So that the epact of the +first year is 11, because the common solar year exceeds the common lunar +year by 11 days, and these added to the 11 days of the first, produce 22 +as the epact. At the end of the second year the new moon falls 22 days +sooner than in the first year. The epact of the third year is three, +because if 11 be added to the 22, the result is 33, and from this 33 we +subtract 30 days which make up a lunar embolism and the remainder gives +us 3, the epact for the year, and so on. + +In the Breviary there is a table (_alia Tabella epactarum_) +corresponding to the golden numbers from the year 1901 to the year 2000 +inclusive. To take away all doubt in the use of this table, a new table +of epacts, an example may be quoted. In the year 1901 the epact was X, +which is placed under the golden number 2; and new moons appear on the +21st January, 19th February, and 21st March.... Again, in 1911 the epact +is not marked by a number, but by an asterisk (see Table in Breviary) +which is placed under the golden number 12, and in the calendar for the +whole year will indicate the new moon on January 1st, January 31st (for +in February there is no new moon indicated in the Table; the sign [*] is +not found), on March 1st, March 31st, and on April 29th. In the year +1916 the golden number is 17 and the epact is 25 (written not in Roman +numerals but in ordinary figures), the new moons occur on 6th January, +4th February, 6th March, 4th April, etc. For when the epact is 25, +corresponding with golden numbers greater than the number 11 in the +calendar, we must take in computation the epact 25 (written in modern +figures) but where the epact corresponds with numbers less than the +number 11, in the _tabella, the epact_ XXV. in Roman numerals must be +taken in calendar countings. This change takes place with epact 25 only, +so that the computation of the lunar years may more closely respond to +the solar year. It is for this cause, too, that in six places in the +calendar two epacts, XXV. and XXIV., are given. + +The new Breviary contains a _tabella_ of Dominical letters, up to the +year 2000 A.D. It needs no comment. + +_Indiction_. Indiction was a cycle of fifteen years, the first of which +dated from the third year of the Christian era. It was usual to indicate +the number of the year in a cycle and no mention was made of the cycles +already completed. Thus, the _indictio sexta_ meant the sixth year of a +cycle and not the sixth cycle or period of fifteen years. Hence, to know +the year of indiction is useless for determining the date in old +documents of State. Indiction was instituted by Constantine in 313 for +fiscal purposes. In papal and imperial documents the name of Pope or +emperor was generally given and the regnal years noted. + +_Movable Feasts_. In virtue of the decree of the Council of Nice, in +325, Easter, on which all other movable feasts depend, must be +celebrated on the Sunday which follows immediately the fourteenth day of +the moon of the first month (in the Hebrew year), our March. Easter, +then, is the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon (i.e., the full +moon which happens upon or next after March 21st). If full moon happens +on a Sunday, Easter Sunday is the Sunday after the full moon. The matter +of the arrangement of Easter was for long a subject of very bitter +contention in the Irish and in the English Church. The Irish, clinging +tenaciously to the calendar of St. Patrick, carried it everywhere in +their missionary labours, so that the controversy was not confined to +Ireland and England. It was long and bitter, until at last the Irish +Church agreed to follow the reform. (See Healy, _Ireland's Schools and +Scholars_, p. 592; Moran, _Irish Saints in Great Britain_, "The +Conference at Whitby in 664," pp. 255-261). + +Calendar study is interesting, and many valuable contributions on this +matter have been given to us by Father Thurston, S.J., and other English +and Irish scholars. + + + + +GENERAL RUBRICS OF THE BREVIARY. + +The next document in the Breviary, Part I., has the title "Rubricae +Generates Breviarii," the general rubrics of the Breviary. They are +called _general_, as they apply to every part of the Breviary and are to +be distinguished from the rubrics dealing with the proper (_proprium_) +of the Breviary, the proper of time or of the saints. The word "rubrics" +was originally applied to the red marking lines used by carpenters on +wood, later it referred to the titles used by jurisconsults in +announcing laws, which were written in red colours. The word appears in +Church literature to refer to signs and directions as early at least as +the fourteenth century (_Cath. Encyclopedia_--word "rubrics"). + +The general rubrics are divided into thirty-seven Titles. Attention will +be given to each; of these Titles, some of which must be modified by +recent legislation. The order followed may not be the order followed in +the general rubrics as given in the Breviary, as matters treated in the +general rubrics found in the Breviary are treated under other headings +here. However, a look at the table of contents or at the index shows the +pages treating of these Titles. + + + + +TITLE I. THE DOUBLE OFFICE. + +"Consequently, the civilised peoples already in remote antiquity have +found a call to the worship of God in the changing seasons and times and +so have introduced sacred seasons. Sacred times and places are common to +all religions in general. The change of times bringing with them +corresponding changes in nature made a religious impression upon +mankind. In turn, man sanctified certain times and dedicated them to +God, and these days, thus consecrated to God, became festivals." + +The entire number of ecclesiastical holydays and seasons is codified +for us in the different Church calendars. Their contents fall into two +essentially different divisions, each possessing an entirely different +origin and history. The first division consists of festivals of our +Lord, distributed over the year, regulated and co-ordinated in +accordance with certain laws. The second division consists of +commemorations of saints in no wise connected with festivals of our Lord +or with one another. Occupying to some extent an intermediate position +between these two chief divisions come the festivals of our Blessed +Lady, which have this in common with the festivals of the saints, that +they fall on fixed days; but, on the other hand, they are to a certain +extent connected with each other and with some feasts of our Lord. This +is carried out in such a way that they are distributed throughout the +Church year and are included in each of the festal seasons (Kellner, +_Heortology_, Part I.). + +From Apostolic times the feasts of Easter, the Ascension and Pentecost +were celebrated. In the second century feasts of the Apostles were +celebrated and the cult of the Martyrs was of speedy and widespread +development. But it was not, probably, till the fourth century, that the +feasts of saints who were not martyrs were celebrated. + +_Origin of the different grades of feasts_. To-day, we find Church +festivals arranged in three grades, doubles, semi-doubles and simples, +and it is very difficult, to determine clearly and accurately the origin +and the nature of the arrangements. But from the works of scholars, who +have studied this matter, the following may be considered as a fair and +accurate summing up:-- + +In the first ages of the Church the Apostles and Martyrs only were +commemorated in public prayers and, above all, in the Mass, perhaps, by +a special prayer. Then, in time, followed the reading of a panegyric in +their honour, and later still hymns and histories of martyrdom were +added to the public recitation of the Office. Still later, there were +added the feasts of the saints with an office resembling our simple +office. Matins were entirely ferial, but had either a biography of the +saint or a long extract from the Fathers added. The other hours were as +in a Sunday office, save that these feasts had no Vesper matter. + +In still later times, the Church added to the list of names on her saint +roll, the names of saints who were honoured neither as Apostles nor as +Martyrs. For these, special Masses, offices and feasts were established. +St. Martin of Tours was the first confessor so honoured in the Western +Church. For the more important feasts, an office of nine lessons was +established and this came to be known as a semi-double office, and later +such feasts were called doubles. Hence, before the thirteenth century, +we find celebrations of simple feasts, of semi-doubles and of doubles. +And Durandus, who wrote in the thirteenth century, tells us of the +existence of doubles major and doubles minor. The Breviary of St. Pius +V., published in 1568, gives three classes of doubles: doubles of the +first class, doubles of the second class, and doubles per annum. But, in +the revision by Clement VIII. the doubles per annum were again divided +into doubles major and doubles minor. In the new Pian Breviary (1913) +doubles are divided into Primary Doubles of the First Class, Secondary +Doubles of the First Class; Primary Doubles of the Second Class, +Secondary Doubles of the Second Class, Primary Doubles Major, Secondary +Doubles Major. The list of feasts under each of these six headings may +be seen in the Breviary. + +Do double offices differ specifically from each other? No, the form is +the same in all double offices. What then is the difference between +doubles of different classes? The difference is chiefly in the +preference which is given to them in cases of concurrence or occurrence +of feasts of greater or of lesser rite. + +The word "double" (_duplex_) is derived, some authors hold, from the +ancient custom of reciting two offices or saying two Masses on the same +day--one for the current feria and one for the feast (_festa_). Other +authors say that the word is derived from the ancient practice of +chanting twice or in repetition the complete responses and versicles. +And, above all, the recitation of the full antiphons before and after +each psalm, at Matins, Lauds and Vespers, was called "duplication," and +this name, it is said, was given to the office (double, duplex) in which +the practice of duplication took place. + +It is often asked why are there different grades of feasts. Three +reasons are given by writers on liturgy. First, to mark the diversity of +merit in God's saints, their sanctity and their different degrees of +service to His Church. Second, to mark their different degrees of glory +in Heaven. "One is as the sun; another, the glory of the moon; and +another the glory of the stars. For star differs from star" (1 _Cor_.). +Third, for some special national or local reasons--e.g., patron of +a country. + +The rules laid down in the general rubrics in the new Breviary, for +doubles and semi-doubles, are left unchanged almost by the regulations +laid down by the Commission and by the _Variationes_. Their numbers were +reduced, so that there now stand in the new Breviary only seventy-five +doubles, sixty-three semi-doubles, and thirty-six movable feasts. + +A reason for the new arrangement of double feasts in the Pian Breviary +is the general one, that the Pope wished above all things the weekly +recitation of the Psalter, and to bring about this weekly recitation and +the restoration of the Sunday Office a mere rearrangement of the Psalms +was quite insufficient, and a rearrangement of the gradation of feasts +of concurrence and of occurrence was necessary. + + + + +TITLE II.--THE OFFICE OF A SEMI-DOUBLE. + +_Etymology, nature and synonyms_. The word semi-double (_semi-duplex_) +is derived from the Latin; and some writers hold that the word indicates +feasts which are of lower rank and solemnity than double feasts. Others +hold that it means simply, feasts holding a place between double feasts +and simple feasts. Most writers on liturgy hold that on some days a +double office--one of the feast and one of the feria--was held, and that +in order to shorten this double recitation there was said a composite +office, partly of the saint's office and partly of the feria; and they +say that from this practice arose the term semi-double, or half-double. + +Synonyms for the term "semi-duplex," are "non-duplex," "office of nine +lessons." + +1. The antiphons are not doubled in a semi-double office. + +2. The Sundays of the year, excepting Easter Sunday, Low Sunday, +Pentecost and Trinity, are said according to the semi-double rite. In +the new Breviaries the Psalms for Matins are only nine in number, +instead of the eighteen of the older book. + +3. The versicles, antiphons, responses, preces and suffrages of saints, +which are recited in semi-double offices, are given below under their +own titles. + + + + +TITLE III.--THE SIMPLE OFFICE. + +_Etymology, nature_ and _synonyms_. The word _simple_ comes from the +Latin _simplex_, to indicate the least solemn form of office and it is +the direct opposite in meaning to the term "double." It is synonymous +with the term so often found in liturgical works, the office of +three lessons. + +This form of office is of great antiquity, going back to the fifth +century. In the early ages of the Church and down to the fourteenth +century the simple office consisted of the ferial office with lessons, +antiphons and prayers. But in the end of the fourteenth century, simples +came to be celebrated in the same manner as semi-doubles, with nine +lessons and their nocturns, and in case of occurrence were transferred. +As a result the offices of Sunday and the ferial offices were +practically crushed out of the Breviary. The Commission of Reform +applied an easy remedy, by restoring simple feasts to their ancient +place and status. Now, they are not to be transferred; but in case of +occurrence with a feast of higher rite they are merely commemorated. + +These feasts have first Vespers only. At Matins, the nine psalms and +three lessons are said as one nocturn. The psalms in semi-double feasts +are from the Psalter under the day of the week on which the feast is +celebrated. "_In quolibet alio Festo duplici etiam major, vel semi +duplici vel simplici et in Feriis Tempore Paschali, semper dicantur +Psalmi, cum antiphonis in omnibus Horis, et versibus ad matutinum, ut in +Psalterio de occurrente hebdomadae die" (Tit, I. sec, 3. Additiones et +Variationes_). + +In commemorations in the Office, the versicle, response, antiphon and +collect of a semi-double is made _after_ the following commemorations +(if they should have a place in the recitation of the day). + +(1) Any Sunday, (2) a day within the privileged octave of the Epiphany +or Corpus Christi, (3) an octave day, (4) a great double, (5) a lesser +double. Of course the first commemoration is always of the concurring +office except it be a day within a non-privileged octave, or a simple. +In reckoning the order of precedence between feasts which occur on the +same day, lists given in _The New Psalter and its Use_, p. 108, show +that thirteen grades of feast stand before the feasts of semi-double +rite. And in the order of precedence as to Vespers, between feasts which +are in occurrence, these feasts stand in the eleventh place, being +preceded by (1) doubles of the first class of the universal Church, (2) +lesser doubles. + + + + +TITLE IV.--SUNDAY. + +We translate the Latin _Dies Dominica_ by our word Sunday, for in +English the days of the week have retained the names given to them in +Pagan times. In Irish, too, Deluain, Monday, moon's day, shows Pagan +origin of names of week days. + +The literal translation of the Latin _Dies Dominica_, the Lord's Day, is +not found in the name given to the first day of the week in any European +tongue, save Portuguese, where the days of the week hold the old +Catholic names, _domingo, secunda feira, terca feira_, etc. It is said +that the seven days of the week as they stand in numerical order were +retained and confirmed by Pope Silvester I. (314-336): "_Sabbati et +Dominici diei nomine retento, reliquos hebdomadae dies Feriarum nomine +distinctos, ut jam ante in Ecclesia vocari coeperunt appellari voluit; +quo significaretur quotidie clericos, abjecta caeterarum rerum cura, uni +Deo prorsus vocare debere" (Brev. Rom_. in VI. lect. St. Silvester Pope; +31st Dec.). + +There is no evidence of the abrogation of the Sabbath by Christ or by +His Apostles, but St. Paul declared that its observance was not binding +on Gentile converts. Accordingly, in the very early days of Christianity +the Sabbath fell more and more into the background, yet not without +leaving some traces behind it (see art. _Sonnabender_ in Kraut's +_Realenzyklop_). Among Christians the first day of the Jewish week, the +_prima Sabbati_, the present Sunday, was held in honour as the day of +our Lord's resurrection and was called the Lord's Day (Apoc. i. 10; I. +Cor, xvi. 2), This name, _dies dominica_, took the place of _dies +solis_, formerly used in Greece and in Rome. This day has many names in +the works of Christian writers. St. Ignatius, M. calls it _Regina omnium +dierum_; St. Chrysostom, _dies pacis; dies lucis_; Alcuin, _dies +sanctus; feria prima_, Baronius tells us, was another name for +our Sunday. + +The subject of the liturgical celebration of the Lord's Day has been a +great study and a problem to modern scholars. It appears that in the +first ages of the Church, Sunday was a day of solemn reunion and of +common prayer. St. Justin, in his second apology, writes that on the +Lord's Day town and country met together at an appointed place for +sacrifice, for the hearing of the word of God, for pious readings and +for common prayer. This common, prayer consisted largely in the +recitation of the Psalms, hymns and prayers, of what are called the +Sunday Office. This office was nearly always the same in psalms, in +hymns and in every part; so that Sunday after Sunday, for many years, +there was very little change in the Sunday united-prayer part of the +liturgy, although the preaching on the incidents of the life of our Lord +(Beckel, _Messe und Pascha_, p, 91), the blessings and the thanksgivings +relieved the service from monotonous sameness. + +A nocturn, a round of Psalms, was said on Saturday night by the +vigilants preparing for the Sunday services. Before the eighth century +two other short nocturns were added. This addition, which was copied +from the monastic practice, built up the three nocturn form of office +and became the model and form of the office for saints. "There is good +reason for believing that originally the Divine Office formed part of +the Mass. The _synaxis_, for which the early Christians assembled by +night, consisted of the 'breaking of bread,' preceded by the singing of +psalms and hymns, litanies and collects, readings, homilies, invocations +and canticles. This was the whole official liturgical prayer, apart, of +course, from private prayer" (Dom Cabrol, _Day Hours of the Church_, +Introduction, p. xvi). + +One of the chief objects of Pope Pius X. in his reform was the +restoration of the liturgical importance of the Sunday office, the +office of the Lord's Day, and, therefore, in its own right, superior to +the saints' feasts by which it had been displaced from its special +office, psalms and lessons. And this could only be effected by a change +in the rules of occurrence, and in Title IV. (_De Festorum occurentia_, +etc., section 2) we find the new rule for restoring Sunday offices to +their proper liturgical rights. + +In Title IV., sect, 1 (see Breviary, Additiones and Variationes) there +is no change in the old rubric. The eight Sundays of the first class +exclude every other feast. And the Sundays of the second class only give +place to a double of the first class and then are commemorated at Lauds, +Vespers and Mass, and have the ninth lesson in Matins. + +But section 2 (_Dominicis minoribus_)... goes to the root of the matter +of the new change in the rules for Sunday's liturgical office. The +ordinary Sundays ranked as semi-doubles and hence their Mass and Office +was superseded by the Mass and Office of some occurring feast. The +length of the Sunday office, in the breviaries until lately in use, made +many hearts rejoice over the occurring feast. But the almost total +omission of the ancient and beautiful Sunday Masses was a misfortune +and, in a sense, an unbecoming practice, which broke away from ancient +liturgical rule and tradition. The abbreviation of the Sunday office in +the new breviaries and the rule laid down in Title IV., sect. 2, restore +Sunday's office and Sunday's Mass to their old and proper dignity. + +The general rule laid down is that on Sundays throughout the year the +proper office of the Sunday shall always be said. The exceptions are (1) +Feasts of our Lord and their octaves, (2) Doubles of the first class, +(3) Doubles of the second class. On these days the office will be the +office of the feast, with commemoration in Lauds, Vespers and Mass. +Henceforth Sundays are divided into: + +(1) Sundays of the first class, which exclude all feasts; + +(2) Sundays of the second class, which exclude all feasts save doubles +of the first class; + +(3) The ordinary Sundays, which exclude all but doubles of the first or +second class, feasts of our Lord, and their octave days. + +The date of Easter is the pivot of Calendar construction. Before Easter +come the Sundays of Lent and Quinquagesima, Sexagesima, Septuagesima +Sundays. Septuagesima cannot fall earlier than the eighteenth day of +January, nor later than the twenty-second day of February. Hence, in +some years there are fewer "Sundays after the Epiphany" than in others, +owing to the dates of Easter and Septuagesima. The smaller the number of +Sundays after Epiphany the greater is the number of Sundays after +Pentecost. If the number of Sundays after Pentecost be twenty-five, the +twenty-fourth Sunday will have the office of the sixth Sunday after +Epiphany. If there be twenty-six Sundays after Pentecost, the +twenty-fourth Sunday will have the office of the fifth after Epiphany, +and the twenty-fifth will have that of the fifth Sunday; the +twenty-sixth will be the sixth Sunday's office. It should be remembered +that the Sunday called the twenty-fourth after Pentecost is _always_ +celebrated immediately before the first Sunday of Advent, even though it +should not be even the twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost. + + + + +TITLE V.--FERIAL OFFICE. + +_Etymology and different signification_ of the word _Feria_. The word is +derived probably from the Latin _feriari_ (to rest). Among the Romans, +the idea of a day of rest and a holy day was intimately united and +received the name of _feria_. But it was amongst the Hebrews that the +day set apart for the worship of God received the most distinctive +character as day of rest (_Heortology_, p. 2). Hence the early +Christians called the days of the week _feriae_. + +Why did the Church adopt the word _feriae_? She wished to mark the day +of the week and not to name them by their pagan name (_e.g., dies +lunae_) nor by their Jewish names (_e.g., prima sabbati_), which should +be a sort of recognition of the dead and dying synagogue. Hence she +adopted the word _feria_, to denote the Christian rest in the Lord, the +Christian peace and the abstinence from all sin, and that each and every +day should be consecrated to God. The Christian use of the word is found +in Origen (185-254) and was fully established in the time of Tertullian. + +In the time of Amalare (circa 830) the ferial office had taken a +well-defined form, Matins having twelve psalms and six antiphons. In +Lauds of every _feria_ were recited the psalms, _Miserere; Deus, Deus +meus; Deus misereatur nostri_; a canticle drawn from a prophet and +varying each day of the week (_e.g., Confitebor_, Isaias xii., for +Monday's Lauds; _Ego dixi_, Isaias xxxviii., for Tuesday's Lauds, +etc., and the two psalms _Laudate_ (148, 150) and the _Cantate_, psalm +149). In the small hours the Sunday psalms without antiphons were +recited. Vespers had daily, fixed psalms. At each hour the _Kyrie +Eleison_ and ferial _prayers_ were said on bended knees and the hours +terminated--as do the hours of Holy Week still--with _Pater Noster and +Miserere_. + +Ferias are divided into three classes, major ferias, privileged ferias +and non-privileged. Ash Wednesday and the three last days of Holy Week +are the major ferias which are privileged and exclude all feasts (_vide_ +Tit. II., sec. 2). Non-privileged feriae are the feriae of Lent and +Advent, Quarter Tense or Ember days and Rogation Monday. They take +precedence of simple feasts only. + +In the ferial office nine psalms are said, and not twelve, as in the +old order of the Breviary. The psalms found arranged in the new Breviary +for three nocturns are to be said with nine antiphons up to the versicle +of third nocturn--the versicle of the first and second being omitted +(Tit. I., sec. 7). Hence the psalms are to be said straight through +(_sine interuptione_) omitting in the first two nocturns, the versicle +and response, Pater Noster, absolutions and all pertaining to the +lessons. This simplifies things and makes the ferial office shorter than +the office of feasts. + + + + +TITLE VI.--THE OFFICE OF VIGILS. + +_Etymology, nature and synonyms_. The word _vigil_ is from the Latin +_vigilare, to keep awake, to watch_, because in old times the night +before any great event, religious or worldly, was spent in watching. +Thus, the night prior to ordination to the priesthood, the night prior +to a great battle, was spent in watching before the altar. Hence, the +word vigil came to mean the prayers said during the time of watching or +waking, preparatory to the great event. It signified, too, the fast +accompanying the watching, and lastly it came to mean the liturgical +office of Mass and Breviary fixed for the time of vigilance. In the +Roman Church it was sometimes called the nocturn or night office. The +Greeks call the vigil _profesta_, the time before the feast. + +The custom existed among the pagans, almost universally, before the time +of Christ. The Jews practised this ancient night prayer, as the +scripture in several places shows, _"in noctibus extollite manus +vestras in sancta"_ (Psalm 133). Our Saviour sanctified this use by His +example, and the early Christians were, on account of these night +assemblies, the objects of fear and dread, of admiration and of hatred. +Organised vigils lasted till the thirteenth century in some countries, +but owing to abuses and discord they became not a source of edification, +but the occasion and cause of grave scandals, and were forbidden +gradually and universally. The Church now retains for the faithful one +congregational vigil, the vigil of Christmas. Formerly, it was customary +to observe a fast on a day or night of a vigil, but that custom was +suppressed sometimes, or fell into disuse. Vigil fasts are now few. +Almost the only relic of the vigil now remaining is the Mass and Office. + +When were vigils held? In the early ages they were held only on Saturday +nights and on nights preceding great solemnities or the festivals of the +Martyrs. The early converts, if they had been pagans, knew few or no +prayer formulae, and very little of the psalms was learned by them even +in their Christian practice. But Jews who became Christians knew psalms +and hymns and prayers. So that in the early Christian vigils, there was +no attempt made at reciting the Divine Office, and the custom of such +recitation was not introduced until about 220 A.D. and was not +obligatory (Duchesne, _Christian Worship_, Chap. VIII.). + +It is difficult to speak with certainty about the hour of beginning or +the hour of ending these vigil services. Some think that the first +nocturn was said about 9 p.m. Lauds was said before sunrise and hence +was called _Laudes-matutinae_. But "after the middle of the ninth +century, we gather from contemporary documents, that the office of +vigils was, as a whole, regularly constituted and well known" (Baudot, +p.64). These vigils were held in cenacles or upper rooms of houses. +During the days of persecution these meetings were not infrequent and +were held secretly in crypts, catacombs, private houses and at martyrs' +tombs. In times of peace they were held everywhere, in churches, +monasteries, castles. + +Vigils are divided into two classes, major and minor; major vigils are +the vigils of Christmas, Epiphany and Pentecost, and they are called +privileged vigils and are celebrated as semi-doubles. The vigils of +Christmas and Pentecost are privileged vigils of the first class. The +vigil of Epiphany is a privileged vigil of the second class. All others +are minor or non-privileged vigils. + + + + +TITLE VII.-OCTAVES. + +_Etymology and nature_. The word "octave" is from the Latin _octavus_ +(eighth) because, in the early ages of Christianity, the Church +celebrated the eighth day only after the celebration of the feast +itself; not until the twelfth century was the custom of a commemoration +on each of the eight days introduced. We have, probably, an example of +this still in our Breviaries. The feast of St. Agnes is celebrated on +21st January and on 28th it is mentioned at Vespers and Lauds only, and +the name in old Roman service books is _Octavo, S. Agnetis_. The origin +of the octave is Jewish. We read in the Old Testament that God ordered +that the Feasts of Pasch and Pentecost should be celebrated for eight +days. So, too, the Feast of Tabernacles lasted for eight days, the first +and eighth days being days of special celebration and devotion. The +Christian Church adopted the method of showing great honour and glory to +the principal festivals of the Christian year, to the great saints, the +patrons of countries, dioceses, etc. But just as the calendar became +overcrowded with saints' offices, which excluded almost entirely the +Sunday and ferial offices, so, too, the additions of octaves created +confusion and further tended to the exclusion of the old liturgical use +of the Psalter and the supplanting of the Sunday and ferial offices. +Hence, in the _Motu Proprio Abhinc duos annos_, the octaves of the +calendar are divided into three great classes, privileged, common and +simple. Privileged octaves are further divided into three _orders_. +Those of the first order are the octaves of Easter and Pentecost; the +octaves of Epiphany and Corpus Christi belong to the second order, and +the octaves of the Nativity and Ascension belong to the third. The +Christmas octave admits feasts of saints, but the octaves of Epiphany, +Easter and Pentecost do not admit any feasts (Tit. V., sec, 3). A day +within an octave has a right to first Vespers, and the antiphon and +response should be from first Vespers (S.C.R., June, 1905). But the +feast of the day falling within octave has a right to first and second +Vespers. The exceptions are, when at second Vespers of St. Thomas, the +office of the octave of the Nativity to be observed on 30th December has +to be commemorated again, in octaves like octaves of Epiphany when each +day has its proper antiphon at the _Magnificat_, and again on and July +in second Vespers of Visitation the office of St. Peter and Paul is to +be commemorated. In octaves the suffrages of saints and the Athanasian +Creed are not said. When feasts of the Universal Church, which are +celebrated with an octave are perpetually transferred to the next day, +because of a perpetual impediment, according to the rubrics, the octave +day is not therefore perpetually transferred but ought to be kept as in +the Universal Church on its own day. + + + + +TITLE VIII.--OFFICE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN FOR SATURDAY. + +"_In omnibus Sabbatis per annum entra Adventum et Quadragesimam, ac nisi +Quatuor Tempora aut Vigiliae ocurrant_," etc. In all Saturdays +throughout the year, except on the Saturdays of Advent, Lent, Ember Days +or occurring Vigils, or unless a feast of nine lessons has to be said on +the Saturday, then it is laid down in the rubrics that the Office of the +Blessed Virgin should always be said with the rite of a simple office. +The rubrics of the New Psalter (Title I., sec. 6) direct, "_In officio +Sanctae Mariae in Sabbato et in festis simplicibus sic officium +persolvendum est; ad matutinum, Invitatorium et hymnus dicuntur de eodem +officio vel de iisdem Festis; Psalmi cum suis antiphonis et versu de +Feria occurente I. et II. Lectis de Feria cum Responsoriis Propriis vel +de Communi. III. vero lectio de officio vel Festo duabus lectionibus in +unum junctis si quando duae pro Festo habeatur, ad reliquas autem Horas +omnia dicuntur, prouti supra num. 5 in Festis Duplicibus expositum est_." +In the Office of the Blessed Virgin for Saturdays (Decree S.C.R., 26th +January. 1916) the antiphons and Psalms at Matins, Lauds and small Hours +are to be said from the Saturday and from the _capitulum_ onwards all is +to be taken from the office of the Blessed Virgin. + +This office is not to be confounded with the _officium parvum Beatae +Mariae._ The office _de Sabbato_ is obligatory throughout the Church. +The _officium parvum_ was only for choir use, an addition to the office +of the day. Saturday, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, is of great +antiquity, as the mention of it in the works of St. Peter Damien, St. +Bernard and Pope Benedict XIII. shows, but as to the time of its origin +or a history of its growth, little seems to be known. At first the cult +consisted in various and voluntary prayers and practices. About the +middle of the fourteenth century an office was composed for recital on +Saturdays as dedicated to the Mother of God. The office in our +Breviaries was composed by St. Pius V, (1566-1572). + + + + +TITLE IX,--COMMEMORATIONS. + +The rules laid down in the general rubrics of the Breviary for +commemorations were never very simple, and when we read the changes +brought about in _De ratione Divini officii recitandi juxta novum +Psalteri ordinem_, Titles II., III., IV., V., VI., with' the decrees of +the Congregation (January, 1912), and subsequently (_Abhinc duos Annos_) +everyone must fear to tread the maze with certainty and must often fall +back gratefully on the labours of the compilers of the _Ordo_ which he +follows. Or, perhaps, doubts may be dispelled by _The New Psalter_ +(Burton and Myers) published in 1912. The chapter on the Calendar in +that book is worth study, but needs now additions and corrections, owing +to the issue of more recent decrees. + +In the study of commemorations and translations of feasts there are two +words which have a special meaning and which, being often used in +calendar working, deserve a special note. They are "occurrence" and +"concurrence." _Occurrence_ is the conjunction of two or more offices, +which fall on the same day. It may be accidental when two movable feasts +are concerned or when a movable feast falls on a day which has a fixed +office; or it may be perpetual, when a fixed office falls on a day which +already has a fixed office. The Church does not ask the recitation of a +double or a triple office. She, by her fixed rules, prefers one out of +the two of the "occurring" offices, transfers if possible the others, or +at least commemorates them by an antiphon, versicle and prayer, and +sometimes by a ninth lesson at Matins. + +_Concurrence_ is the conjunction of two offices, which succeed one +another, so that a question arises as to which feast the Vespers belong +to; whether to the feast of the day or to the feast of the following +day, or whether the psalms should be of the feast and the remaining part +of the Vespers should be as the _Ordo_ so often notes (_a cap. de +seq._), from the _capitulum_ the office is taken from the following +feast. + +The new rubrics contain five titles which make certain modifications in +the rules hitherto observed. We thus obtain a ready made division of the +subject:-- + +(1) Of the precedence of Feasts (Title II.). +(2) Of the accidental occurrence of feasts and their translation (Title + III.). +(3) Of the perpetual occurrence of feasts and their transfer (Title V.). +(4) Of the occurrence of feasts (Title V.). +(5) Of the commemorations (Title VI.) (Myers and Burton, _op. cit._). + +The new rubrics without the aid of any commentator give pretty clear +notions of the laws of precedence, occurrence and commemoration. For +students in college these rules are expounded in detail with additions, +changes, exceptions. But for priests, long past the student stage, it is +difficult to undo the fixed liturgy lore of their student and early +priest life; and the need of such a book as _The New Psalter and its +Uses_ is, for those interested, a necessity. Even since the publication +of that book, changes have been made. For example, doubles, major or +minor and semi-doubles, which were perpetually excluded on their own day +were transferred to some fixed day. This is given in _The New Psalter +and its Uses_. But this has now been changed. In the case of feasts of +the universal Church, no translation is allowed now. But feasts proper +to a nation, diocese, order, institute or particular church may still be +transferred to a fixed day, if perpetually impeded on their own day. +Another example of necessary changes in that excellent book is in the +last paragraph of page 136 (see Decree S.C.R., June, 1912). The works of +compilers and liturgists need constant revision to keep pace with new +decisions and decrees. + +In making commemorations, the order of the commemoration as laid down in +the _Ordo_ should be followed. Elements of a commemoration are the +Antiphon of the _Benedictus_ or the _Magnificat_ with versicle and +response. These antiphons are considered most excellent, preceding as +they do the Gospel canticles (St. Luke I.). The antiphon, versicle and +prayer of the commemoration at an hour should never be repetitions of +others said in the same hour. Thus, if in the office of a confessor +pontiff having the prayer _Da quaesumus_, another confessor pontiff's +feast, commemorated in the same hour, should not have the same prayer. +About the prayer, or, as it is called, the collect, the following should +be noted: first, the commemoration is omitted if the prayer of the +office which is being recited and the prayer of the feast to be +commemorated have the same object. Thus, a feast of the Blessed Virgin, +falling within the octave of the Assumption, should not be commemorated. +Second, where a commemoration for a saint or saints of title similar to +that of the saints whose office is being said, is to be made, the +Congregation of Rites (5th May, 1736) arranged that not even the +versicles and response be repeated and that the following order be +observed:-- + +IN VESPERS-- + +1st Com. made by Antiphon and Versicle of Lauds. +2nd Com. made by Antiphon of second Vesper and Ver. of II. Nocturn. +3rd Com. made by Antiphon of I. Noct. and Vers. of III. Nocturn. + +IN LAUDS-- + +1st Com. made by Antiphon and Vers. from first Vesp. +2nd Com. made by Antiphon I. Noct., and Ver., III. Noct. +3rd Com. made by Antiphon II. Vesp., Vers., II. Noct. + +If it should happen in commemorating a day within an octave that the +versicle from the common had already been taken for the office, then the +rule is "_Sumenda est in laudibus antiphona de secundis Vesperis; et pro +secundis Vesperis antiphona de laudibus in utroque tamen casu cum v. de +primis Vesperis_" (S.C.R., 18th Dec., 1779). In the above given form +of making commemorations it may be noted that the second commemoration +in Lauds is made up from the versicles and response of Matins and not +from second Vespers, so as to avoid repeating in Lauds what was said at +Vespers (Cavalieri). + +As regards prayers in the office the reminder that the same formula must +not be repeated in the same hour may be supplemented. Because, prayers +having all words identical, save one single word, are not considered in +liturgy as different prayers (_e.g., Accendamur exemplis; instruamur +exemplis_, Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Feasts of several +martyrs). So, too, prayers which have the same form of petition (e.g., +the prayers on feast of St. Joseph and on feast of St. Mathew), are not +considered as different and must not be repeated in the same hour. But +where the petition is different, even though all the remainder of the +prayers are similar in wording, they may be repeated in the same hour. + +But what is to be done in offices where a commemoration prayer and the +prayer of the office is from the common? What must be done where the +feast is the feast of a Doctor and a commemoration of a Doctor is to be +made? What is to be done when the office of the feast is of a virgin not +a martyr, and a commemoration of a virgin not a martyr is to be made? In +the first case the prayer from the office of a confessor or Pontiff +should be said, adding to it the title of Doctor. In the other case, the +prayer _Indulgentiam_, omitting the word _martyr_, is to be said. + +The origin of these commemorations was, that the Popes in removing the +solemn celebrations of certain feasts of Apostles and Martyrs, which +were formerly of precept, provided that their _cultus_ should not be +forgotten, and that their commemoration in the office should remind +priests and the faithful of those servants of God, whom the Church +wishes ever to honour. I have said the order given for commemoration in +the _Ordo_ should be followed; but not to follow this order does not +exceed a venial sin. Even the deliberate omission of a commemoration in +Lauds or Vespers is not a violation of a grave precept. + + + + +TITLE X.--THE TRANSLATION OF FEASTS. + +When several offices fall on the same day, only one office, the one of +highest rank or most important, is said. The others are transferred or +commemorated. The last section dealt with commemorations, and now we +come to the difficult question of the translation of feasts. Title X. of +the general rubrics must be read in connection with the Apostolic +Constitution, _Divino Afflatu_ (1911) and with the _Abhinc duos +Annos_ (1913). + +Translation of a feast may mean the removal of a feast from an impeded +day to a day which is free. Thus a feast of higher rank may fall on a +feast day of a saint whose feast is of lower rank; the latter may then +be transferred. Transference is either perpetual or accidental and +temporary. The former applies to feasts which are always impeded by the +meeting with a feast of higher rite on their fixed days. A feast which +would fall on 6th January would suffer perpetual translation. This +translation bears different names in rubrics, decrees and liturgical +writings--_translatio ad diem, fixam, translatio ad diem assignatam, +mutatio, etc._ Accidental translation means occasional transference, a +transfer in one year and not in another. + +Title II., section i, of the _Divino Afflatu_ gives the characters of +preferential rank which are to be considered in occurrence, concurrence +or translation of feasts, _Ritus altior, ratio primarii aut secundarii, +Dignitas Personalis, solemnitas externa_. + +Although in the General Rubrics of the Breviary, the title _De Festorum +praestantia_ is not found, the four principles, (1)gradation of rite, +(2)classification as a primary or secondary feast, (3)personal dignity, +(4)external solemnity, are mentioned in the sixth section of Title X., +_De Translatione Festorum_, and the degrees of personal dignity are +added in the second section of Title XL, _de commemorationibus_. Before +1897 precedence, and hence transference, was settled first by the rank +of the rite (Double major, etc.); then, too, between two feasts of the +same rite, transference was settled by dignity and finally by solemnity. +But in 1897 the Sacred Congregation of Rites indicated two further notes +to be observed in the weighing of claims for transference, (1)the +classification into primary and secondary feasts, (2)the distinction +between fixed and movable feasts. This latter distinction--between fixed +and movable feasts--has been suppressed by the new legislation and some +changes made in the others. + +I. _Gradation of Feasts_ makes a distinction between doubles, +semi-doubles and simples, and distinguishes the various kinds of +doubles. The order of procedure will be--(1)Doubles of the first class, +(2)doubles of the second class, (3)greater doubles, (4)doubles, +(5)semi-doubles, (6)simples. But as the section shows (Tit. II., sec. i) +this is subject to the privileges of certain Sundays, ferias, and octave +days or even days within an octave. And hence, an ordinary Sunday, +though! only a semi-double, will take precedence of a double; and an +octave day, though only a double, takes precedence of a greater double. + +II. Classification as a primary or a secondary feast. Tables of +classification are to be found in the prefatory part of the new +Breviary, under the headings _Tres Tabellae_. They give a revised list +of feasts with their rank and rites. Some feasts are reduced from +primary to secondary rank (e.g., Feast of the Dolours); and the tables +give a new division of primary and secondary doubles and semi-doubles. + +III. Thirdly, the order of precedence among feasts will be determined by +the dignity of the person who is the special object of the office that +is to be recited. Hence, in the order set down in General Rubrics (Title +XI, _De Concurrentia officii_, sec. 2) all feasts of our Lord, other +things being equal, take precedence of the feasts of our Lady. And then, +in order, come the festivals of the angels, of St. John the Baptist, of +St. Joseph, of the Apostles and other saints. Amongst the saints who are +honoured as martyrs, confessors or virgins there is no precedence as to +personal dignity. + +IV. Lastly, there is the note of "external solemnity," which may give +precedence to one or two feasts, which are equal in the above-mentioned +matters--i.e., in Gradation I., Classification II., Precedence III. But +the main point is that only doubles of first and second class have the +right, as a rule, of transference. Transference is now rather rare. + +"From these rules it will be seen that in cases of concurrence, +occurrence, perpetual transfer or translation, precedence between two +feasts will first be decided by gradation of rite, a double of the first +class being preferred to one of the second, and so on. If the feasts are +of equal rank recourse must be had to the second test, the distinction +between primary and secondary feasts. If both happen to be primary, or +both are secondary, then precedence will be granted to the feast which +has the greater personal dignity. And if both feasts should have the +same dignity, then the fact of external solemnity would confer +precedence" (_The New Psalter and its Uses_, p. 79). For practical help, +a look at the first of the _Duae Tabellae_ is a guide to find out which +office is to be said, if more than one feast occur on the same day. + +Before discussing new offices it may be well to remember that votive +offices of all kinds, including the votive offices conceded by the +decree of July, 1883, are abolished. These offices were drastic +innovations, introduced to get rid of the very long psalm arrangement of +the ferial office. The new distribution of the psalms got rid of the +onus, and votive offices are no longer given in the Breviary. + + + + +TITLE XL--CONCURRENCE. + +_Concurrence_ is the conjunction of two offices which succeed each +other, so that the question arises to which of the two are the Vespers +of the day to be assigned. The origin of this conjunction of feasts was +by some old writers traced to the Mosaic law in which the festivals, +began in the evening, and they quote "from evening until evening you +shall celebrate your sabbaths" (_Leviticus_, xxii. 32). The effect of +concurrence may be that the whole vespers may belong to the feast of the +day or may be said entirely from, the feast of the following day; or it +may be that the psalms and antiphons belong to the preceding festival +and the rest of the office be from the succeeding feast. The General +Rubrics, Title XI, must be read now in conjunction with Titles IV., V., +and VI. of the _Additiones et Variationes ad norman Bullae "Divino +Afflatu"_. The rules for concurrence are given in Table III. of the +_Tres Tabellae_ inserted in the new Breviary (S.C.R., 23 January, 1912). +These tables supersede the tables given in the old editions of the +Breviary. The first of these two tables shows which office is to be +said, if more than one feast occur on the same day, whether perpetually +or accidentally. The second table is a guide to concurrence--_i.e._, +whether the first vespers of the following feast is to be said entirely +without reference to the preceding feast, or if second vespers of the +preceding feast is to be said entire, without reference to the +following; or, again, first vespers of the following with commemoration +of the preceding, or second vespers of the preceding with commemoration +of the following, or vespers of the more noble feast with commemoration +of the other--any of these may be the liturgical order to follow, and +the _Tabella_ makes things clear. + +The "tables" are to be used thus:--Opening the Breviary at the _I +Tabella, "Si occurrat eodem die,"_ first find the number marked in that +square in which the two feasts in question meet, and then read the +direction printed, in column on same page to left-hand side, bearing +the same number. For example: the question is about the occurrence of a +Sunday of the first class and a Double of the first class. _Double of +the first class_ stands first word of page, and _Sunday of first class_ +will be found in column beneath the rows of figures. Now the square in +which straight lines drawn from _double of first class_ and _Sunday of +first class_ meet bears the number 6, and reference to number 6 in +column of directions found on same page gives the rule, "_Officium de 2, +Translatio de I_," that is, the office must be of the Sunday of first +class and the double of the first class must be transferred according to +the rubrics. When in these brief directive notes, (1-8), mention is made +of the "first or the preceding," the reference is made to feast or +office printed in the upper part of the Table, e.g., Double of first +class. Reference to "the second" or "following" refers to feast printed +in the lower section of the Table. Where _O_ stands in a square in the +_Tabella_ it signifies that there can be no occurrence or concurrence +between feasts whose "lines" meet in that square. These two tables are +very ingeniously arranged. The lists, given in the Breviary following +these tables, give the lists of greater Sundays and Ferias, privileged +vigils, doubles of first and second class and greater doubles, and tell +whether feasts are primary or secondary. + + + + +TITLE XII.--THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE OFFICE ACCORDING + TO THE RUBRICS GIVEN ABOVE. + +If any one wish from the rubrics given in the Breviary to arrange the +office, he can see in the calendar and in the tables of movable feasts +which office he is to say on the following day. And when he has found +out the feast he determines, from the rules given, the vespers and the +other hours. + +If the office be the office of an excepted feast, the whole office is +said from the feast as it is in the Proper or Common of saints; but the +psalms of Lauds and the hours are taken from the Sunday psalms, as they +stand in the new Psaltery, At Prime the psalm _Deus in nomine_ is said +in place of _Confitemini_. Compline is said from the Sunday psalms. If +the office be the ordinary non-excepted office it is recited according +to the rule laid down in the new rubrics. Tit. I., n. 5,:-- + +"_Ad matut, invit. Hymnus, Lectiones II. et III. nocturni ac responsoria +2 et 3 nocturnorum propria vel de communi; antiphonae vero, psalmi et +versus trium nocturnorum necnon Lestiones I. Nocturni cum suis +Responsoriis de feria occurrente...."_ + +_"Ad Laudes et ad Vesperas ant. cum Psalm. de Feria; Capit. Hym. Vers. +et Antiph. ad Benedictus vel ad magnificat cum oratione aut in Proprio +aut de Communi ad Horas minores et Complet. aut cum Psalm semper dicitur +de occurrente Feria. Ad Primam pro Lectione breve legitur capit. Nonae +ex Proprio, vel de Communi. Ad Tertiam, sextam et Nonam, capit. Respons. +breve et orat. pariter sumuntur vel ex Proprio vel de Communi_." + +(Matins and the other hours are treated of in another section.) + + + + +PART II. + +RULES FROM MORAL AND ASCETIC THEOLOGY FOR THE RECITATION + OF THE BREVIARY. + +MORAL THEOLOGY GIVES THE RULES AND LAWS, WHICH MUST BE FOLLOWED FOR THE +VALID AND LICIT RECITATION OF THE HOURS. ASCETIC THEOLOGY EXPLAINS THE +MEANS, WHICH ARE TO BE USED IN THEIR FERVENT RECITATION. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +MORAL AND ASCETIC THEOLOGY. + +Q. Who are bound to recite the Divine Office? + +R. 1. Religious, that is, all those who have made + Religious Profession, in the Canonical + sense, and who are bound to Choir recitation + (Canon 610, Juris Canonici). + + 2. Clerics in Holy Orders (Canon 135, Codex). + + 3. Beneficed Clergy. + +Who are Beneficed Clergy? + +Beneficed Clergy are those who hold a Canonically erected benefice. +Canon 1409 of the _Codex Juris Canonici_ defines an ecclesiastical +benefice to be a "Juridical entity constituted or erected by competent +ecclesiastical authority, consisting of a sacred office and the right of +receiving revenues from endowments attached to the office." Hence under +this Canon, as previously three conditions are required for a benefice, +first, a sacred office, second, the right of receiving revenues from +endowment attached to that office, third, erection by ecclesiastical +authority. There never was any doubt in the many discussions on this +subject, that the work and care of a parish is a sacred office, and that +parish priests hold such an office. But the second condition mentioned +above received different interpretations. Some held that it implied a +certain amount of ecclesiastical property set aside, from the revenues +of which the holder of the benefice would derive his income. Hence the +revenues of parish priests in these Kingdoms, arising from certain and +voluntary offerings of the faithful, were not fixed revenues, did not +fulfil the conditions of "endowment," and parishes must not be regarded +as benefices. This opinion is no longer tenable. Canon 1410 says:--"The +endowment of a Benefice is constituted either by property, the ownership +of which pertains to the Juridical entity itself, or by certain and +obligatory payments of any family or moral personality, or by certain +and voluntary offerings of the faithful which appertain to the rector of +the benefice, or, as they are called stole fees, within the limits of +diocesan taxation or legitimate custom, or choral distributions, +exclusive of a third part of the same, if all the revenues of the +benefice consist of choral distributions." + +This Canon seems to make it clear that the second condition is fulfilled +in all the parishes of these Kingdoms, since to the sacred office is +attached the right of receiving revenue from the certain and voluntary +offerings of the faithful or from stole fees or from both. + +The third condition, erection by ecclesiastical authority, is qualified +by Canon 1418 which prescribes that benefices should be erected by a +legitimate document defining the place of the benefice, its endowment +and the duties and rights of the person appointed. + +This law has not an invalidating clause, hence it is not now necessary +nor ever was it necessary to have such a written document. A valid +appointment was and can be made without any writing. + +Where these three conditions are fulfilled there is a benefice, true, +real, and canonical. Normally parishes are benefices. (See _Irish +Ecclesiastical Record_, Vol. XIV., No. 623; and _Irish Theological +Quarterly_, October, 1917, p. 209.) + +Every cleric in holy orders is bound under pain of mortal sin to recite +daily the Divine Office. No General Council, no Pope, has made such a +law, but the old-established custom has grown, until it has the force of +a law (Bened. XIV., _Instructio Coptharum_). Authors are not agreed as +to the date of the first traces of this old custom. Billuart quotes the +text of the fourth Council of Carthage to prove that it existed in the +fourth century, _Clericus, qui absque corpusculi sui inequalitate +vigiliis deest, stipendiis privatus, excommunicatur_. Gavantus can find +traces of it only as late as the sixth century. Several decrees of +provincial councils regarding this custom are quoted by writers on +liturgy. However, the matter is clearly and definitely dealt with by the +General Council of Lateran (1213) and by the Bulls, _Quod a nobis_ and +_Ex proximo_, of Pope Pius V. (1571). This Pope expressly states that +wilful omission of the Divine Office is a grave sin--"_grave peccatum +intelligat se commissise_." + +The obligation of reciting the office binds those in Holy Orders, even +though they may be excommunicated, suspended, degraded or imprisoned. +The obligation binds for the first time when subdeaconship has been +conferred. Subdeacons are bound to recite "the hour" in the office of +the day, corresponding to the time of their ordination. If the +ordination is finished before nine o'clock, the sub-deacon is bound to +begin his recitation with Terce. If the ordination is held between nine +o'clock and mid-day the recitation begins with Sext. The question is +discussed by theologians if the recitation of Terce or Sext may be +lawfully and validly made before the ordination. Some authors deny that +it may be justly and lawfully done, while others, with some probability, +affirm that before ordination the debt may be paid in advance. + +Are priests bound to follow the Proper in their own diocese? + +They are, if it has been approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites +(S.R.C., 4597-4746). But a priest travelling (_peregrinus_) should +recite the office according to the calendar of the church to which he is +attached regularly, but the obligation of following the calendar of his +home church was not binding by a grave precept. A reply of the Sacred +Congregation of Rites (Nov., 1831) arranged (1) that beneficed clergy +are always bound to recite the office of their own proper church or +diocese; (2) that simple priests may read either the office as arranged +for the place they tarry in or travel in, or the office of their own +home diocese; (3) for unattached priests (_vagi_) it is the wiser order +to follow the office as laid down in their own diocese. + +Must every holder of a benefice read the Divine Office? + +Every holder is bound, under pain of mortal sin, to recite the Divine +Office daily, if the benefice be an ecclesiastical benefice fulfilling +the conditions named above. The omission of the recital of the Divine +Office by a beneficed person is a grave sin against the virtue of +religion and a grave sin against the virtue of justice. For the Church +imposes on the beneficiary the duty of the Office recital, on condition +that he may not take the fruits of his benefice if he do not recite +the Office. + +What sin is committed by the omission of a notable part of the daily +office? + +He who wilfully omits a notable part of the daily Divine Office commits +a mortal sin. A notable part of the Divine Office for any day is held by +some theologians to be the omission of one psalm in one of the small +hours, or a corresponding quantity of matter in lessons, responses, etc. +They hold that such wilful omission is a grave sin. Other theologians +hold--and their opinion is the more common and the more probable +one--that, although one psalm is a notable part of a small hour, in +relation to the whole office it is not a notable part, and its omission +is not a grave matter. These theologians hold that the wilful omission +of an entire small hour or equivalent matter (e.g., Sext, or the third +nocturn of Matins) is an omission of a notable part and cannot be +excused from grave sin. + +The omission of the entire office of a day, the seven canonical hours, +is held by some theologians to carry the guilt of seven mortal sins. +Because, there is a different precept for each hour and the omission of +each hour violates a precept. The Salamenticenses think this opinion +probable. The more common and the more correct opinion is that by such +omission only one sin is committed. And the theologians who hold this +opinion say that the recitation of the canonical hours is imposed under +one precept only, and hence there is only one obligation embracing the +seven hours. This is the opinion of St. Alphonsus (n. 148) who quotes +several authors (including Lessius, Sanchez and St. Antoninus) in +support. If a person in Holy Orders omit several hours with a +retractation, or a moral interruption in his sinful intentions, he may +commit several mortal sins, because all the omissions, which in +themselves are grave matter, may become independent of each other by the +interruption and renewal of the intention (St. Alphonsus, n. 148). + +What must a person do who has a doubt that he has omitted something in +his recitation of the office? Is he bound to make assurance doubly sure +by reciting the part of which he doubts? + +If the doubt be a positive doubt, that is, if he have good reason to +believe that he has recited it, he is not bound to anything further +regarding the part in question. For instance, if a priest remembers +having started the recitation of a lesson, and in a short time finds +himself at the end of it, and cannot be sure if he have recited it, the +presumption is in favour of the priest and of the recitation, because it +is his custom to recite completely whatever part he commences. He has, +thus, moral certainty that he has satisfied the precept, and it is not +necessary to repeat it; if the necessity for repetition be admitted in +such a case, a fruitful source of scruples is opened up. + +On the other hand, if the doubt be negative--that is to say, if a person +has no reasonable motive for believing that he has recited the full +office or the full hour, he is bound to recite the part omitted, +because in such a doubt, the precept of recitation is, as the +theologians say, "in possession." (St. Alphonsus, n. 150). + +It is not allowed to change anything nor to add anything to the daily +office without permission. The Sacred Congregation of Rites (10 June, +1690, n. 3222) replied to a query, that in saints' offices nothing is to +be added and nothing is to be changed, and this reply applies to all +sorts of offices, old and new. + + + + +THE ORDER TO BE OBSERVED IN RECITING THE DIVINE OFFICE. + +In reciting the Divine Office two points of order are to be noted: (1) +the order or arrangement of offices, (2) the order or arrangement of +Hours. The order of offices indicates which office is to be said on each +day as laid down in the calendar. The order of the Hours points out +which of the seven hours should be recited, firstly, secondly, etc., +Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, etc. It is of obligation to observe both +orders. But is it a sin to change wilfully the order of the office? It +is not, if there be a reasonable cause for the change. For instance, if +a priest cannot say the office proper to his diocese on a certain day, +but says some other approved office, the change is not a sin. But if a +priest, _ex industria_, substitute one office for another, it is _per +se_ a venial sin; but if an office be said which is very much shorter +than the calendar office, or if this changing or substituting be so +frequent as to disturb gravely the good order of the year's offices, the +sin may be (and, according to some authors, is) a mortal sin. + +It is asked whether a person fulfils his debt to the Church if he has +recited by mistake an office other than the one assigned in the calendar +of the day. Theologians teach that such a recitation fulfils the debt. +The Church does not wish to impose a second recitation, and her axiom +"_officium pro officio valet_" holds, provided always that the order of +the psalms as laid down in the new psaltery is followed. This order is +necessary always for validity. However, if the substituted office be +very much shorter than the omitted office, it is advised to equalise +them by reciting the psalms of Matins, This is a counsel and was not +laid down by theologians as an obligation. + +An office thus omitted is not to be transferred to another day (S.C.R., +June 17th, 1673). The office may be omitted altogether for that year. If +there be leisure the omitted office should be recited. This practice is +in conformity with the spirit of the liturgy and with the right order of +the calendar. The Sacred Congregation of Rites, questioned on this +matter, replied _sic debere fieri_, such should be done. If a priest +recites by mistake one day's office for another (e.g., the Tuesday +office on a Monday) he is bound to recite Tuesday's office on Tuesday +(St. Alphonsus). If, however, after a portion of the office has been +read, it is noticed that a mistake has been made in reading the calendar +or the _Ordo_, and that the office partly recited is not the office of +the current day, what is to be done? If the priest has without fault +made the mistake of reciting some office not ascribed to the current +day, he is not bound to repeat the part already recited (e.g., +Matins); it is sufficient, valid and lawful to follow the correct +office in the following Hours. The priest reciting is not bound to +repeat even part of an hour, if he finds out his mistake during the +recitation of even a small hour. And he may finish the psalm or hymn or +prayer which he was reciting when he discovered his mistake, and he may +then take up the correct office at the part or hour at which he leaves +off, or he may finish the Hour at which he was engaged. The former +solution of the difficulty seems the better, as it more accurately +agrees with the maxim, _error corrigatur ubi apprehenditur_. If the +error in the selecting of the office has been wilful, say, through gross +carelessness, and is the fault of the priest who changes a notable part +of a canonical Hour, he is obliged--the more probable opinion +teaches--to repeat the full Hour, and this obligation binds under pain +of venial sin--_i.e._, the obligation to recite the office in the +prescribed manner. + +What is a person bound to do who forgets part of an Hour--is he obliged +to repeat the full Hour? + +He is bound to recite the part forgotten only, unless the mistake be +made through gross carelessness, and unless it be a considerable part +(e.g., two nocturns); in that case he is bound under pain of venial +sin to repeat the full Hour. If a person say the same Hour (e.g., +Terce) twice, may he compensate for extra labour by the omission of an +equivalent part (e.g., None)? Such omission is unlawful; he must +recite all the Hours without omission (Scavini, 391). + +Is there an obligation to repeat the Hours in the order fixed in the +Breviary? Yes, there is such an obligation. And a person may sin +venially by the inversion of the Hours, The obligation binds _sub +veniali_ only. The inversion does not mean any grave breach of order, +which is fixed by a secondary precept and as a circumstance of light +importance. If the whole office be recited, the substance of the +office--which is the main and primary matter--is safeguarded. Several +authors argued that any inversion of the Canonical Hours, if frequent, +is a mortal sin, but the opinion which says that the inversion of the +Hours is only a venial sin is the more probable (St. Alph. 169; Gury, +77; Lehmkuhl II., 621). + +Which causes justify an inversion of the Hours? Any reasonable cause +justifies this inversion. Thus, if a friend invite a priest to joint +recitation of an Hour, and the priest have not the preceding canonical +Hours recited, he is justified in accepting the invitation and in +inverting the order of the Hours. Or if a person have a Diurnal only at +hand, he may read the day Hours, although he have not Matins for the day +read. Again, a priest may not have the lessons for Matins at hand, but +he may recite the psalms for Matins, Lauds, and add the lessons at +Matins when they are to hand (Gury, n. 78; St. Alph., n. 170). + +Is it a sin to say Matins for following day before finishing office of +current day? Some theologians answer affirmatively, because the office +of the current day should be complete before another office is begun. +Others hold that such recitation is both valid and licit, as the office +of one day and its obligation have no bond with the office of another +day, and that any reasonable cause exempts from all sin or fault (Gury, +n. 79). Not to recite the commemorations in the prescribed order set out +in the _Ordo_ is held by some theologians to be a venial sin, as they +hold that the rubric is preceptive; others hold that it is not any sin, +as they say that the rubric is directive. + + + + +ARTICLE III.--TIME OF RECITATION. + +The time fixed for the recitation of the entire office of the day is +from midnight to the midnight following, and anyone bound to recite the +Divine Office does not sin gravely if he has recited carefully the +entire office of the day between these limits of time; because, within +these limits, the substance of the obligation binding to time is +fulfilled. Of course, it is lawful in virtue of a privilege granted by +the Church to recite on the previous evening Matins and Lauds for the +following day. In the recitation the times fixed by the Church for each +hour should be observed. But the non-recital at those fixed times is +never a mortal sin and is rarely a venial sin, unless their postponement +or anticipation is without cause. + +When may a priest begin the recitation of Matins and Lauds for the +following day? There were two different replies given to this question. +One opinion stated that it was lawful to begin Matins and Lauds after 2 +o'clock, p.m., and this could be lawfully done every day in the year, +and in every land. Another opinion--and St. Alphonsus calls it +_sententia verior_--denies that such a course is lawful. The old French +Breviaries gave a _horarium_ arranging the hour of anticipation of +Matins and Lauds, so that no one should, through temerity or ignorance, +begin the anticipation before the sun had passed half way in its course +between mid-day and sunset. On January 20th the time to begin the +anticipation of hours was 2.15 p.m., but on June 8th the anticipation +was not to begin till 4 p.m. + +Nowadays, the first opinion is held almost universally. The principal +_internal_ argument for this opinion is the teaching that the +anticipation may begin from the public hour of first vespers, and these +may be recited publicly according to present-day custom at 2 p.m. +Therefore, this time, 2 o'clock p.m., is the beginning of the +ecclesiastical day, and can be taken as the time for private +anticipation of Matins and Lauds. The _external_ argument in favour of +this opinion is the authority of theologians. In 1905, the Sacred +Congregation of Rites was asked the question "_Utrum in privata +recitatione Matutinum sequentis diei incipi possit, 2da pomeriddiane_?". +The reply was, "_Consulantur probati auctores_" (_Acta Sanctae Sedis_ +XXXVII., p. 712). Now many approved authors (e.g., Lehmkuhl, II., 793; +Ballerini-Palmieri, IV. 515; Slater I., p. 609) hold that it is lawful, +privately, to anticipate Matins and Lauds at 2 o'clock, p.m. Lehmkuhl, +who previously favoured a stricter view, was compelled, in the latest +editions of his _Moral Theology_, to say of this opinion which allows +anticipation to begin at 2 o'clock, p.m.: "_Quae sententia hodie a +multis usque gravissimis viris tenetur et observatur, ut, spectata +consuetudine, extrinseca saltem probabilitas negari nequit_." We +conclude, accordingly, that always and everywhere the private +anticipation of Matins and Lauds may begin at 2 p.m. (_cf. Irish +Ecclesiastical Record_, Fifth Series, Vol. I., No. 541). + +Doubts have arisen in connection with time changes made by various +States in Europe. The various schemes of new time, of daylight saving, +of co-ordinations of time, uniformity of time all through certain +States, have given rise to doubts and queries regarding the time for +fulfilling the precept of the office and also regarding the time for +lawful anticipation of Matins and Lauds. These doubts were solved +several years ago, and now there is no longer any difficulty or anxiety +over "true time," "new time," "legal time," in relation to matters +ecclesiastical. In reply to queries, Dr. M. J. O'Donnell, in the _Irish +Ecclesiastical Record_ (Vol. III., p. 582), explains clearly this time +difficulty and its solution by the Congregation of the Council on 22nd +July, 1893. The Bishop of Trier explained to the Congregation of the +Council that owing to the State legislation in the German Empire all +public clocks should register the same time, and that this meant that in +his diocese the legal computation differs by half an hour from the mean +time. "May clerics follow the legal time in reciting the Divine Office?" +was the bishop's question. The Congregation of the Council answered by a +simple affirmative. In 1892, Greenwich time was introduced for State +purposes into all railway, postal, and Government offices in Holland. +The query was put to the Congregation of the Inquisition if the clergy +and people might, for the purpose of fast and other ecclesiastical +obligations, follow the new time, or were they obliged to retain the +true time? The reply was "_affirmative ad primam: negative ad secundam +partem_." "In a word, the constant Roman answer has been 'Do as you +please'; so far as the approval of the legal time is concerned it +confirms the conclusion of the editor of the _Acta_ (xxxii-251) that in +computing time the Church follows the rule that regulates all business +concerns in different localities.... + +"In the meantime, taking into account the conventional character of +'time' and the liberal principles of Rome in the past, we have no doubt +that everyone, priest or layman, is fully justified in following the new +time if he feels so inclined." (See _Codex Juris. Canon._, Can. 33). + +Are priests bound to recite Matins and Lauds before Mass? + +The first sentence of the _Ritus servandus in celebratione Missae_ in +the Missal contains the clause "_saltem Malutino cum Laudibus +absoluto_," The word _saltem_ indicates that the Church notifies the +minimum and expects a further hour, Prime or even others of the small +hours, to be finished before Mass. But theologians hold that there is no +grave obligation for such prior-to-Mass recital, and that any reasonable +cause excuses from the obligation (Lehmkuhl II., 628). In connection +with this matter a very instructive and devotional essay in the _Irish +Ecclesiastical Record_ (Fourth Series XXXI., n. 533) by Father M. +Russell, S.J., is well worth reading. It is entitled "A Neglected +Adverb"; the adverb being _saltem_, from the clause quoted. + +At what times should the small hours be recited? Prime may be, and, +probably with more appropriateness, should be used as morning prayer and +said before Mass. Terce and Sext may be said before mid-day, or Sext and +None may be said after mid-day. Vespers should be said after mid-day. +Compline was the night prayer of the monks, who probably instituted the +hour. It should be borne in mind that the substance of the law of +recitation is fulfilled if the whole office of the day be recited before +midnight, and that the obligation for entire and complete recitation is +grave; while the recitation of the hours at set hours of the day is a +light obligation. + + + + +ARTICLE IV.-OF THE PLACE OF RECITATION AND THE ATTITUDE + 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 +sound produced, he must be careful to form with his lips every syllable. +This must be done, not necessarily in a throaty way. The formation of +the words clearly with the lips suffices. But writers on this point +emphasise the importance of audible recitation as a preventive of +slurred, mutilated Latinity, which often leads to careless, or even +invalid recitation. They note, too, that the reading with the eye +merely, is a habit which readers bring from the reading of other books +to their reading of the Breviary. German authors dwell at length on the +fact that many priests, very early in their career, contract the habit +of faulty vocalisation of liturgy, and that they never seem to notice +their fault, or at least never seem to attempt an amendment. These +authors attribute the defect to sub-voce recitation and recommend +audible recitation, long and frequent audible recitation, to all priests +reading their hours. + +[Footnote A: The privilege of mental recitation was granted to the Friar +Minor by Pope Leo X. and Pius V., but it is probable that the privilege +was withdrawn by Pope Gregory XV. in 1622, in his letter _Romanus +Pontifex_; and Urban VIII., 1635, withdrew all privileges granted _vivae +vocis oraculo_. The text of the document granting the privilege is +obscurely worded. Still, several theologians of repute maintain that the +privilege still exists and extends to the whole office. This is taught +by the Salaraenticenses, _De hor. can. cap._ 3, n. 55; Tamburini, +Rodriguez, etc., others opposed this view of the privilege existing +after Pope Urban's letter _Alias_. This privilege extends to secular +priests who are Franciscan tertiaries, if it exists at all.] + +Can a priest fulfil his obligation by reciting the office with a +companion? Yes, he can, for such recitation is the Church's ideal; and +the priest who says his part (alternate verses, etc.), as in choir, +fulfils his obligation, even when his companion is a layman or an +inattentive person. In such recitation a priest should be careful (1) +that his recitation be of alternate verses, (2) that the verse +recitation be successive and not simultaneous, (3) that the verses, +etc., chanted by one companion (or by one choir) be heard by the other +companion or choir. There is no necessity for a priest at such +recitation to say one verse in a loud voice and to say his companion's +verses in a low, inaudible voice. Some priests do this with distressing +results. Imperfect vocal recitation often leads to doubts and scruples +in old age when remedies either cannot be applied or prove useless. + +Those who recite the office in choir are bound by the rubrics concerning +kneeling, sitting, standing, etc. Secondly, they are bound to observe +the rules of the liturgy, especially the rule as to the stop in each +verse at the asterisk mark. Thirdly, they are bound to recite clearly +and distinctly; but even if they cannot hear distinctly the alternate +choir, or even if they recite in a low voice, they fulfil the obligation +of recitation; and canons are bound at Cathedral offices to sing and +chant or to lose their manual distributions and the fruits of their +prebends. If a person reciting his office with a companion or in a choir +does not understand the words recited by his companion or by the choir, +he is not bound at the end to repeat the part which he did not +understand, because such a person has the intention of offering prayer +and praise to God, and that intention suffices. Moreover, the Church's +precept of reciting the office should he interpreted benignly, otherwise +it must give rise to many scruples; for, companions in recitation, then, +always, should be anxious as to the duty of repetition or the +non-fulfilled duty of complete recitation. + +Pronunciation of the words of the office should be _integral_. That is, +the words and syllables are to be repeated fully without mutilation or +abbreviation. Hence, if mutilation of the words occur to such an extent +that the sense or meaning of the words is notably changed, mortal sin +may be committed. But if the mutilation be small in quantity there is +only a venial sin committed, and often no sin at all may be committed, +as the mutilation of words or syllables may be quite involuntary, or may +be done inadvertently, or may arise from an inveterate habit very +difficult to correct, and in the attempt to cure it time and patience +may have been spent (St. Alph., 164-165). This bad habit, if it extend +over a large portion of the recitation and destroy notably the sense of +the words, may bind _sub gravi_ to repetition, as this fault or habit +affects the very substance of recitation. Priests seldom are bound to +such a repetition, as the mutilation is not destructive to the sense of +a notable part of the office and hence does not affect the substance of +the obligation to vocal recital. St. Alphonsus holds (n. 165), that the +obligation is fulfilled as long as the meaning is not destroyed, _quando +servatur aliqua significatio verborum_. + +Pronunciation should be _continuous_. That is, the recitation of each +hour should be continuous, non-interrupted, and every notable stoppage +or break in the recitation of a canonical hour is a venial sin, if there +be no excusing cause for such an interruption. Any reasonable cause for +interruption (e.g., to obey a bell call, to see a parishioner who +calls, to hear a confession) excuses from all fault (St. Alph., n. 168). + +If the recital of the office for any canonical hour be interrupted, +should the whole hour be repeated? Some theologians say that it should +be repeated. But the more probable opinion denies that there is any such +obligation; it holds that the union of the prayers prescribed by the +Church is not broken, as each psalm, each lesson, each prayer, has a +complete signification and they are united sufficiently in one round of +prayer by the intention formed of continuing the Hour, or even by the +actual continuation. Gury states that a priest interrupting the office +between the verses of a psalm is not bound to repeat the entire psalm on +resuming the recitation, as he says each verse has its own +signification. + +May Matins be said separately from Lauds without any excusing cause? +Yes, for it was the practice of the early Church to say these parts of +the liturgy at times separated by intervals. But if Matins be said +separately, without Lauds following immediately. _Pater Noster_ with +Dominus Vobiscum and the prayer of the day should be said at the end of +the _Te Deum_, If Lauds follow Matins immediately the _Pater_ and _Ave_ +should not be said, for the Congregation (same decree) says "_Laudes +incohandas ut in Psalterio_," but in the Psalter the _Pater_ and _Ave_ +are not assigned for the beginning of Lauds. + +A notable time may elapse between the nocturns of Matins without any +excusing cause. In the early Church intervals occurred between each +nocturn. Some authors state that an interval of three hours between two +nocturns is quite lawful, even when there be no cause for the delay. +With a reasonable cause the interval may last as long as the excusing +cause requires. + + + + +ARTICLE VI.--INTENTION AND ATTENTION. + +The valid recitation of the Divine Office requires that the priest +should have in his mind an intention of praying, for the Divine Office +is a true and real prayer, not a mere vocal exercise. Hence, a priest +reading his office as a mere study or as a means of remembering the +words of the psalms does not validly recite his office (St. Alph., n. +176). Now, what sort of intention is best and what sort of intention is +necessary? An actual, explicit intention which states expressly when the +Breviary is opened, "I intend to pray," is the best intention. The +devout recital of the prayer "_Aperi Domine_" expresses well the best +form of the actual, explicit intentions of those reciting the office. +But such an express, actual intention is not necessary; a virtual +intention, which finds expression in the opening of the Breviary to +recite the office, suffices. The mere opening of the book, the finding +out of the office, the arrangement of the book markers, are ample +evidence of the existence of a virtual intention quite sufficient for +the valid recitation of the office. St. Alphonsus writes, "_Imo puto +semper adesse exercite, intentionem actualem implendi officium_" (n. +176). This question of intention gives great trouble to the timid and +scrupulous, whose doubts and difficulties seem hard to solve. The common +sense and common practice in everyday affairs seem to desert some people +when they prepare to read the canonical hours. For, who has not seen the +nervous, pious, anxious cleric, stupidly labouring to acquire even a +sufficient intention before beginning his hours? + +Attention in reading the hours is a much more discussed and much more +difficult mental effort. It means the application of the mind to the +thing in which we are engaged. When we listen to a conversation or when +we write a letter the mind is fixed and attentive to the matter spoken +or written. Intention is an act of the will; attention is an act of the +understanding. + +Attention may be either external or internal. External attention is +attention of such a kind that it excludes every exterior action +physically incompatible with the recitation of the office--e.g., to +write or type a letter, to listen attentively to those conversing, are +acts incompatible with the simultaneous recitation of the office. But +walking, poking a fire, looking for the lessons, whilst reciting from +memory all the time, are not incompatible with the external attention +required in office recital; because such acts do not require mental +effort which could count as a serious disturbing element. However, in +this matter of external attention no rule can be formulated for all +Breviary readers; for what may lightly disturb and distract one reader +may have no effect on another, and yet may seriously disturb the +recitation of another (St. Alph., n. 176). External attention is +necessary for the valid recitation of the office. + +Internal attention is application or advertence of the mind. Is such +internal attention, such deliberate application or mental advertence +necessary for the valid recitation of the office? + +There are two opinions on this matter, two replies to the question. +According to one opinion, and this is the more common and the more +probable one, internal attention is required for the valid recitation of +the Hours. 1. Because the Divine Office is a prayer, but there can be no +true or real prayer without internal attention, for prayer is defined as +an elevation of the soul to God, but if there be no internal attention, +there is no elevation of the soul to God, and no prayer. 2. Our Lord +complained of those who had external attention at prayer, but lacked +internal attention or advertence, "This people honour me with their +lips, but their heart is far from me" (St. Matt. xv.). 3. The Church +appears to demand internal attention at prayer, for although she has not +given any positive precept dealing with this kind of attention, she does +the same thing when she commands that the recitation of the Divine +Office take the form of prayer for God's honour, and this recitation of +words cannot be true prayer without internal attention. 4. The Council +of Trent seems to exact this attention when it wishes that the Divine +Office be said reverently, distinctly and devoutly, reverenter, +distincte, devote. 5. If no internal attention be required in reciting +the Hours, it is difficult to see how voluntary distractions are +forbidden by Divine Law. + +This is the opinion held by Cajetan (1496-1534), Sa (1530-1596), Azor +(1539-1603), Sanchez (1550-1610), Roncaglai (1677-1737), Concina +(1687-1756), and St. Alphonsus, the great Doctor of prayer (1696-1787). + +According to the other opinion, external attention suffices always and +ever to satisfy substantially the obligation of reading the office and +for the avoidance of mortal sin which invalid recitation entails. For, + +(1) To pray is to speak to God, to trust in Him, to manifest to Him the +wishes and wants of the soul; but this can be done by a person who has +voluntary distractions of mind, just as a man can read to his king an +address, setting forth the thanks and requests of his subjects, although +the reader's mind is far from dwelling on the words or the meaning of +the sentences before his eyes. But he is careful to read all the words +in a clear, intelligible manner. Now the theologians who maintain this +opinion say that, _a fortiori_, this method of reading the Hours should +be valid; for, in the reading the priest acts principally in the name of +the Church, as her minister, and offers up prayers to God in her name, +and they say that the irreverence of the servant does not render the +prayer of the Church unpleasing to Him, + +(2) He who makes a vow, and resolves to do a certain act, fulfils his +vow, even when fulfilling it he acts with voluntary distractions; so, a +pari, with the recitation of the office, + +(3) The administration of the sacraments--even the administration of +Extreme Unction, the form of which is a prayer--with full voluntary +distractions is valid; so, too, should be the recital of +Breviary prayers. + +(4) In the other opinion it is hard to see how, if voluntary +distractions destroy the substance of prayer, involuntary distractions +do not produce similar effect, and hence, there can be no prayer if +there be distraction of any kind. + +This opinion was held by Lugo (1583-1660), Gobat (1600-1679), Sporer +(1609-1683), St. Antonnius (1389-1459), and other eminent men. It is +quoted by St. Alphonsus, as _satis probabilis_. Of it, Lehmkuhl writes, +"Quae ad substantiam divini officii dicamus satis probabiliter +sufficere cum intentione orandi observasse attentionem externam" +(II. 635). + +What are the divisions or kinds of internal attention? + +I. Objectively they are (1) spiritual attention, (2) literal attention, +(3) superficial or material attention. Spiritual attention is that +advertence of soul which tends towards God, the Term of all prayer, when +the soul meditates on the power, wisdom, goodness of God, on the +Passion, on the Mother of God, on God's saints. Literal attention is +that which strives to lay hold of the meaning of the words said in the +office. Superficial attention is that advertence of soul which applies +itself to the correct recitation of the words, avoiding errors of +pronunciation, mutilation, transposition, etc., etc. + +II. Subjectively, virtual attention suffices; habitual is divided into +actual and interpretative. Actual attention is that which exists at the +moment--e.g., the attention paid by a pupil to a question put by a +teacher. Virtual attention is attention which was once actual, but is +not such at the time spoken of, but which lives virtually. Habitual is +attention which once was actual, which does not remain in act, but which +was not retracted. Interpretative attention is that which never existed +at all, but which would have existed if the agent had adverted. + +Which kind of internal attention is required in the reading of the +Office? I. Objectively, material, or superficial attention is necessary, +since the Breviary is a vocal prayer, and therefore it is necessary to +pronounce distinctly all the words of the day's office and to observe +the rubrics. But this suffices; it is not necessary that a priest +reciting his Hours should carefully notice each word, it is sufficient +to have general and moral attention to recite every part well, and with +the intention of praying, "Sed sufficere moralem et generalem qua quis +curet bene omnia dicere cum intentione orandi" (St. Alphonsus). + +Hence, objectively, neither attention, which is called spiritual, +because it is not easy to attain, nor the literal attention, which +religious who do not understand Latin strive after, is needed for valid +recitation. By this, it is not meant to convey that spiritual attention +is not very excellent and very commendable and praiseworthy. + +Subjectively, virtual attention suffices; habitual does not suffice, +neither does interpretative. Best of all is actual attention, but it is +not necessary, because it is not always within the power of mortals. + +This want of internal attention is called mental distraction. +Theologians distinguish two kinds of distractions, voluntary and +involuntary. Voluntary distractions are thoughts which the mind freely +and directly embraces to the exclusion of pious thoughts which should +occupy it in prayer, of which the office is a high form; or they may be +thoughts which arise from previous laziness, thoughtlessness, +pre-occupation or some engrossing worldly affair. Involuntary +distractions are those which come unbidden and unsought to the mind, are +neither placed directly, nor by their causes, by the person at prayer. + +Does a person reciting the Hours sin if he have distractions? + +If the distractions be involuntary there is no sin. But if the +distractions be voluntary there is sin, But, unless the mind be +altogether filled with distractions, not thinking of God, of prayer, of +the words or of the meaning, and unless the distractions are _fully +voluntary_ and _reflective_ during a notable part of the office, there +is no mortal sin. Hence, St. Alphonsus, the great Doctor of Prayer, +wrote, "_ut dicatur aliquis officio non satisfacere, non solum +requiritur ut voluntarie se distrahat, sed etiam ut plene advertat se +distrahi, nam alias iste, licet sponte se divertat non tamen sponte se +divertit a recitatione_" (St. Alphonsus, n. 177). Therefore, before a +person accuse himself of not satisfying the precept of recitation, on +account of inattention or distractions, he must be able to affirm +positively (1)that he was wilfully distracted, (2)he must have noticed +not only his distraction and mental occupation by vain thoughts, but he +must have noticed _also_ that he was distracted in his recitation; (3)he +must be able to state positively that the intention, resolution or +desire to recite piously, which he made at the beginning of his prayer, +was revoked with full advertence and that it did not exist either +actually or virtually during the time of distraction in his recitation. +Seldom, indeed, are these conditions fulfilled, and seldom are there +gravely sinful distractions. + +This subject of attention in prayer, in the official prayer of the +Church, is important. Long and learned disputes about its nature and +requirements occupied great thinkers in times long gone by. To-day +theologians argue on different sides; and anxiety, serious, painful and +life-long, reigns in the souls of many who struggle to recite the +office, _digne, attente ac devote_. + + + + +ARTICLE VII.-CAUSES WHICH EXCUSE FROM READING THE OFFICE. + +Authors generally give six causes which excuse a person from saying the +Hours: lawful dispensation, important work, grave illness, grave fear, +blindness, want of a Breviary. They are recorded in the +well-known lines:-- + +"Quem Papa dispenset multus labor opprimit aeger Qui timet aut occulus, +officioque caret." + +1. The obligation of reading the Office is imposed by the Church and the +Pope can dispense in it even without cause. Bishops can give temporary +dispensations. + +2. A grave occupation excuses from the whole or from a part of the +Office. Thus, missioners giving missions or parish retreats are excused +from the whole Office; so, too, are priest combatants in the battle +line; but when in rest camps they are bound to say the Hours. A priest +engaged in saying his Office, if he receive an urgent call to a dying +person may not have time to finish his Office before midnight. He is +exempt from the part of the Office omitted and does not sin by the +omission. The proposition claiming exemption from the Office for those +engaged in great studies was condemned by Pope Alexander VII. The +biographers of Lamennais trace the beginning of his downfall to his +exemption from his daily Office. + +A difficulty arises sometimes as regards the full or partial or +non-exemption of those who foresee that serious occupation which cannot +be neglected must arise to prevent the recitation of the Hours. In such +cases priests are bound to recite the Office, or as much of it as +possible, within the limits of the current day. In doing this they may +anticipate the times fixed for the recitation of the small Hours, and +they may anticipate Vespers and Compline by reciting them in the +forenoon. If a priest foresees that he may not be able to recite Matins +for next day he is not bound to anticipate, as there is no obligation to +anticipation; the obligation is "recital between midnight and midnight." +It is becoming to anticipate, if possible, so that the Office may be +full and entire. If before midnight there be a cessation from necessary +professional work (e.g., hearing confessions), a priest is bound to +finish his Office for the day or to say as much of it as time allows. +If, however, there be time merely to take a necessary meal before +midnight (e.g., to prepare for a late Mass on next day, Sunday), and +not time to eat and to recite, the obligation of saying the +Hours ceases. + +A grave illness exempts from the saying of the canonical Hours. Hence, +those seriously ill, those who fear the saying of the Office may upset +them in their weak state, and convalescents from a serious illness, are +excused from saying the Hours. In this matter the advice of a spiritual +or a medical adviser should be faithfully carried out by patients. St. +Alphonsus teaches that invalids and convalescents may be allowed to say +Mass and yet not be bound to say the Office, as the saying of Mass does +not fatigue them so much as the saying of the Office (St. Alphonsus, +n. 155). + +A grave fear exempts from the saying of the Office. A priest amongst +furious persecutors of the Church should be excused from any recitation +of his Hours which he fears may draw on him cruel or severe punishments. + +Blindness makes the recitation of the Office a physical impossibility. +Even very defective sight, although not total blindness, exempts from +the obligation of saying the Office. In all such cases a formal +declaration of exemption should be sought. Some theologians hold that +such priests, if they have committed to memory a notable part of the +psalms, should repeat that part from memory. The new psaltery makes such +memorising an extremely difficult feat and no obligation for such a +repetition from memory can be imposed. + +Want of a Breviary excuses from the recitation of the Office. For +example, if a priest setting out on a long journey forgets to take his +Breviary or leaves it in a railway carriage, and cannot procure another, +or cannot procure another without, great inconvenience, he is exempt +from the obligation of his Office; and the omission being involuntary is +sinless. The wilful casting away of a Breviary, as an excuse for not +being able to read the Office, is gravely sinful; and unless the sinful +desire be retracted there may be question of many mortal sins of wilful +omission to fulfil the obligation, as the omissions are then wilful in +cause. Priests travelling are unable sometimes to recite the proper +Office of the day, as their Breviaries lack something (e.g., the +proper prayer or the lessons of the second nocturn). The Sacred +Congregation of Rites (December, 1854) decided "_Sacerdos peregre +profectus cui molesti difficiliorque esset officii recitatio cui et +pauca desunt in libro officii praesentis, nempe oratio et legenda, +valet de communi absque obligatione propria deinde ad supplementum +recitandi... atque ita servari mandavit_." The psalms as arranged +in the new psalter must always be said for a valid recitation of the +Office (_v. Divino Afflatu_). + +What is a priest bound to do, who from a grave cause cannot find time to +recite the whole Office but only a part of it? + +St. Alphonsus gives the rule, "If you can recite a part equivalent to a +small Hour, you are bound to do so under pain of mortal sin. But if you +cannot read or repeat a part equivalent to a small Hour, you are bound +to nothing, as a part so small--less than a small Hour--taken +separately, is considered inappreciable for the end the Church's law of +recitation has in view." + + + + +ARTICLE VIII.--THE DIRECTION OF THE SCRUPULOUS. + +Persons who are scrupulous about the recitation of the Hours should have +help from their confessors, who should deal specifically with any of the +scruples which arise in the daily task. Scruples generally concern the +necessary intention, the necessary attention, pronunciation, and the +time necessary for a good and faithful recitation of the canonical +Hours. How should a confessor deal with scruples about intention? A +confessor should tell a cleric, scrupulous in this point, that his fear +is groundless and that by the very act of taking up his Breviary he +expresses his intention of praying, of saying his Hours; that it is not +necessary that such intention be actual or reflexive, it is sufficient +if it be virtual, and that such an intention _does_ exist every time one +opens the Breviary to say his Hours. The saying slowly and deliberately +the prayer "_Aperi Domine_" is a great aid to the scrupulous in forming +a right intention and in dispelling their vain fears. + +Clerics troubled about attention are helped and comforted by their +confessor repeating to them what they well know themselves, about +voluntary and involuntary distractions, and the telling of the anxious +ones that this very anxiety and anguish show that their fear of losing +attention in their prayer is a true and real sign of its existence. In +dealing with scruples about vocal and integral pronunciation a confessor +should advise that no stopping should be made in the saying of the +psalms, etc., but that the recitation should be continued quietly, +without restraining the voice, without impatience, and without scrutiny +of the pronunciation of the part said, "God is a father, full of +goodness, not an exacting taskmaster, and He is more honoured by +moderate care than by a disturbing solicitude." Above all things, a +confessor should remember that it is important to forbid scrupulous +persons to repeat the whole or even the part of an Hour. An effort +should be made by him to tranquilise the troubled soul with the +principle that the precepts of the Church do not bind him to repeat the +Hours with such inconvenience as leads to bodily and mental illness. The +Church is our mother and does not wish her children to be troubled and +solicitous, but to pray in peace. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SOME RULES OF ASCETIC THEOLOGY FOR THE PIOUS RECITATION OF THE BREVIARY. + +There are many reasons why we should recite the Divine Office devoutly, +for (1) the words which we read are holy; (2) He to Whom we speak is +God; (3) we speak in the name of Holy Church; (4) we are the associates +of thousands on earth and in heaven who sing God's praises; (5) the +purpose of our prayer is sublime; (6) it gives glory to God and draws +down His grace and mercy on His Church; (7) and, finally, the recitation +of the Office brings help and strength to those who repeat it fervently. + +And, firstly, let us see what are the words of the Office. They are the +words of God or of His Church. In the psalms, scripture lessons, gospel +extracts, responses and antiphons, we have God's inspired word. In the +prayers, sermons, homilies, hymns, and often in the responses and +antiphons, as the Church is guided and assisted by the Holy Ghost, it +may be, in a sense, true to say that these her words are divine. For +what is more worthy of respect than the word of God? St. Augustine says +that it is no less worthy of respect than the body of Jesus Christ. _Non +minus est verbum Dei quam corpus Christi_ (Sermon 300). How very careful +should we be to treat the word of God with respect, worthily, +attentively, and devoutly (_digne, attente ac devote_). + +(2) To whom do we speak in our daily service of prayer? We speak to our +Master, Whose very special work we are doing in offering up the great +prayer. His adorable eyes are fixed upon us at this sacred duty. He +listens to us, He reads our thoughts. He judges our intentions, our +efforts and their fulfilment. He is the King of kings, the Almighty God. +Mindful of His presence and majesty should we not try earnestly to bless +His Holy name and to free our hearts from vain, evil and wandering +thoughts? We pray _ad benedicendum nomen sanctum tuum; munda quoque cor +meum ab omnibus vanis perversis et alienis cogitationibus_. + +(3) In whose name do we speak? It is a great honour to be an ambassador +for a great king and a mighty kingdom, guarding the interests of the +fatherland in a foreign land. The priest is always such an ambassador. +"For Christ, we are ambassadors," says St. Paul. In this work of daily +recitation of the Office, we are ambassadors, not of some petty king or +tiny state, but we represent the entire Church, the well-beloved spouse +of Christ, to whose prayer He ever hearkens. _Sonet vox tua in auribus +meis; vox enim tua dulcis est_ (Canticle of Canticles, ii. 14). And St. +Bernard says "_Sacerdos publica persona et totius Ecclesie os_." Hence, +every priest is the ambassador of Christ and of His Church, the guardian +of His interests. And as it is the duty of ambassadors to study +carefully, to watch and further the interests of the kings whom they +represent, it is a priest's duty to study carefully and further the +interests of Christ's Church by the devout fulfilment of the great daily +duty, the recitation of the Divine Office. History brands as traitors +those ambassadors who through ignorance of the language of the foreign +court, or through want of vigilant attention, allow the interests of +their royal masters to suffer. What a punishment awaits the days and +years of ignorant, careless or inattentive fulfilment of the great +official work of a priest--the Divine Office. + +Who are a priest's associates in this work? They are the thousands of +priests and religious throughout the world who say the Hours, and who +send up daily and nightly the great prayer of praise and thanksgiving to +God. _Secundum nomen tuum, sic et laus tua in fines terrae_ (ps. 47, v. +ii). _Dies diei eructat verbum et nox nocti indicat scientiam_ (ps. 18, +v. 3). In this holy work of reciting the Hours, we are united with the +angels and saints in heaven in honouring our common Creator; for, the +Church herself reminds us of this ineffable honour in the hymn for the +dedication of the Church:-- + + "Sed ilia sedes Coelitum + Semper resultat laudibus + Dumque trinum el unicum + Jugi canore jungimur + Almae Sionis aemuli." + + "That house on high--it ever rings + With praises of the King of kings; + For ever there, on harps divine, + They hymn th' eternal One and Trine + We, here below, the strain prolong;, + And faintly echo Sion's song." + +What are the ends for which the Office is said? (a) To glorify God, (b) +to help holy Church, and (c) to sanctify ourselves. + +(a) "To glorify God," that is, to adore His infinite majesty, to thank +Him for his innumerable and constant blessings, to satisfy His justice +in expiating the sins of the world and to beg His grace and mercy. The +ends for which the Office are said are the same as those for which Mass +is offered, for the Office is the supplement of the Mass (Tronson). + +(b) "To help holy Church." The Church militant has many and great needs. +It is her mission to extend the Kingdom of Christ, and to do this great +work she needs freedom from hostile laws, strength and courage to +withstand tyrants and persecution, unity and peace amongst her children +and pastors, zeal in her ministers and recruits for her militant forces. +To obtain these results the Church relies very much on the devout +recitation of the Office. Doubtless, it is for these purposes that the +Church has confided to the care of her chosen ministers this public +official prayer and has laid no such obligation on the laity. St. +Alphonsus did not hesitate to say that if priests and religious said the +Office as they should say it, the Church should not be in the deplorable +state that it then was in. This Doctor of the Church adds "that by +devout saying of the Office many sinners could be drawn from the slavery +of the devil and many souls would love God with more fervour." The wants +of the Church are greater now than they were ever before. Each +devoutly-said Hour draws down God's blessing on His Church. What a vast +number of blessings come from a life of daily recitation offered +worthily, attentively and devoutly (_digne, attente, ac devote_). + +(c) "The benefit of the person who recites the Hours." The third end for +which the canonical Hours are offered is for the benefit of the person +who recites them. St. Alphonsus wrote, "If they said the Office as they +ought, priests themselves should not be always the same, always +imperfect, prone to anger, greedy, attached to self-interest and to +vanities.... But if they recited the Office, not as they say it with +distractions and irreverences, but with devotion and recollection, +uniting the affections of the heart with so many petitions which they +present to God, they should certainly not be so weak as they are, but +would acquire fervour and strength to resist all temptations and to lead +a life worthy of priests." + +Another blessing springs from the attentive recitation of the +Breviary--viz., the daily withdrawal from the world and its cares which +must be banished from the soul which speaks with God. For, as St. +Alphonsus writes, the saying of the Hours devoutly, gives occasion to +pious souls to elicit many acts of virtue, acts of faith, of hope, of +charity, of humility, etc. For one psalm, says the saint, moves all the +powers of the soul and causes us to elicit a hundred acts. And in the +Breviary are found the most beautiful formulae of adoration and praise, +the psalms above all other parts of the Office being wonderfully rich in +magnificent praise of God's attributes. Where can such sublime forms of +prayer and praise be found as in Psalms, 8, 9, 17, 18, 21, 23, 28, 29, +33, 45, 46, 49, 54--to name but a few? + +Finally, the attentive recitation of the Breviary is a source of light +and of grace and of merit. How many lights in prayer spring from these +divine words; how many maxims enter the soul, how many beautiful prayers +are said, and if they be well said, they would obtain for priests +treasures of grace, according to Christ's infallible promise, "Ask and +you shall receive"? A person can merit several degrees of glory by one +devout recitation of the Office, what an abundance of merit may be +gained by the devout recitations in a life of twenty, thirty or forty +years! And it was this thought of lost opportunities and of the great +treasures within the reach of priests, which caused St. Alphonsus when +an old man, to study the Breviary psalms and to write his +well-known work. + +Nor was St. Alphonsus alone in his opinion of the great means of +sanctification which the Breviary affords to priests. St. Joseph of +Cupertino (1603-1663) was asked by Monsignor Claver, Bishop of Potenza, +to point out a means for the greater sanctification of the priests of +his diocese. The saint replied, "Monsignor, if you wish to sanctify your +priests strive to procure two things for them, that they say the Office +piously and that they say Mass with fervour. Nothing more is necessary +to ensure their salvation" (_Life of St. Joseph Cupertino_ by Bernini). +The words of the wonderful Franciscan, whose life was a marvel of piety, +were repeated a century later by St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1671-1751) +and are often quoted as his own. + +In every age of the Church earnest souls drew great sweetness and +consolation from reading the psalms or from reading the canonical Hours. +Writers dealing with this part of priestly work quote the words of +eminent servants of God, They quote St. Augustine, St. Gregory +Nazianzan, St. Bernard, St. Catherine of Bologna, St. Philip Neri, St. +Francis De Sales and St. Alphonsus. It would make this section of this +book too long to quote the words of these saints. But the words of St. +Francis De Sales seem to have a special force. "Sometimes I am so +low-spirited," wrote the Saint, "by business and events, that I do not +know where to turn nor at what end to begin: but during the Office +nothing annoys me, I have not even distractions, I imagine that I am in +heaven singing with the angels the praises of my Creator; and on leaving +the choir I find often that the mighty problems which had given me +trouble are cleared away and, solved in an Instant." Biographies of +God's servants record many great favours bestowed on priests who recite +the Breviary piously. Cardinal Bona, recording a vision vouchsafed to +St. Bernard, tells how the saint saw an angel beside each choir monk, +recording his disposition of soul. Some angels wrote in letters of gold, +others in letters of silver, others in ink, others in water, and others +held their pens but wrote nothing. Our Lord explained to the saint the +meaning of the vision; the writing in gold typified charity and the +fervour of the recitation; the writing in silver denoted devotion but +little charity or fervour; the words in ink-writing signified careful +attention to the full verbal recitation but to little else; the words +written in water meant distraction and little attention to the meaning +or to the words; and the angels who wrote nothing watched the insolence +of those who were voluntarily distracted. The vision has furnished the +theme of much pious writing and a theme for Christian painters. It shows +how God watches over the daily work of priests, while His angels record +in golden or silvern letters the work of pious recitation, or perhaps +hold their pens at rest. + +What means should be used to promote pious recitation? + + + + +ARTICLE II.--THE MEANS TO ADOPT FOR THE PIOUS RECITATION OF THE BREVIARY. + +A.--THE MEANS TO ADOPT BEFORE THE RECITATION. + +Preparation is necessary before beginning every prayer, for the Holy +Ghost says, "Before prayer prepare thy soul, and be not as a man that +tempteth God" (Ecclesias. 18. 23). This preparation necessary before +other prayers is above all necessary before the recitation of the Divine +Office, which is the greatest of all prayers. Two kinds of preparation +are necessary, the remote and the proximate. + +The remote preparation demands the removal of all obstacles which impede +prayer, and the greatest of all prayers, the Church's official prayer. +The chief or capital obstacles which impede or prevent a pious +recitation of the Breviary are: sin, the passions, the absorbing +thoughts of creatures and the ignorance of the Divine Office. And the +means to remove these obstacles are to purify the conscience, science, +to mortify the passions, to guard the sense and to have an intelligent +knowledge of the duty and requirements of a proper fulfilment of the +daily task of the saying of the Canonical Hours. + +The first means is to purify the conscience from sin, for sin hinders +prayer. But what effect has sin on the recitation of the Office? The +Office is a prayer, an elevation of the soul to God, and as all writers +on ascetics teach, sin is a chain that binds us to earth; it is, says +St. Francis, as birdlime which impedes the soul in its flight upwards. +Prayer is a conversation with God, but a soul loving sin cannot converse +with God; "_Peccatores Deus non audit_" (St. John, ix. 31). Prayer is an +intimate union with God, but a soul resting in sin can have no intimate +union with God; there can be no intimate union between light and +darkness, between sanctity and sin, between good and evil; in a word, +between Christ and Belial. _Quae participatio, quae societas lucis ad +tenebras? Quae conventio Christi el Belial?_ + +The second means of procuring fervent prayer is the mortification of the +passions. It is not enough to secure fervour in prayer that our souls +should be free from sin; we must struggle to master our passions. This +point is important--for a soul upset by its passions, anger, pride, +etc., cannot with fervour recite the Hours, for it cannot converse with +God, it cannot elevate itself to God, it can have no true union with +God. It cannot converse with God, for God will not converse with an +unmortified soul for three reasons. First, He will not speak if there be +no one to listen, for the Holy Ghost tells us "Where there is no +hearing, pour not out words" (Eccli. xxxii. 6). God wishes a soul in +converse with Him to be calm and still, for God is not in the earthquake +(3 Kings, xix. ii.). Again, even if God speaks to an unmortified soul, +it cannot hear Him as the passions fix its attention on worldly matters. +And even when such a soul tries to listen and to understand, the +passions surging and warring drown all sound and sense of holy things. +For, "the animal man perceiveth not these things that are of the spirit +of God, for it is foolishness to him and he cannot understand, because +it is spiritually examined" (I. Cor. ii. 14). The human soul cannot truly +unite itself to God if the passions are not conquered, because by their +very nature they are opposed to God and hence inspire estrangement from, +and disgust for, holy things. + +Thirdly, the senses must be guarded. Our five senses can impede the +recitation of the Office because they present to our souls images of the +things which occupy them, and they can draw our will towards the +pleasures which correspond with these objects. It is necessary for the +worthy, attentive and devout saying of the Office that each sense be +guarded. The sense of sight should be guarded from gazing at objects at +hand, persons, books, landscape, etc. The sense of hearing should be +guarded in flying from the company of evil speakers, calumniators, +detractors, those who speak of worldly affairs or who give evil counsel. +It is necessary, too, to guard the tongue from evil speech. "I have set +a guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against me" (Psalm 38, 2); +and it is well to guard against too frequent or too long conversations, +which fill the soul with thoughts disturbing to a prayerful disposition. +The sense of touch should likewise be guarded, for St. Thomas says that +the sense of touch is the maintenance of the other senses (1 P. q. 76, +a. 75). And when the foundations of a house commence to fall asunder, +the walls, the frame and the roof totter and fall. So it is with the +senses; when the sense of touch is disturbed the other senses quickly +complete the ruin. + +What knowledge is needed for the valid and for the licit recitation of +the Hours? Must the person know the meaning of the words read? No such +knowledge is necessary, for God hears the prayer of the ignorant and +illiterate and of the babes. To the chief priests and scribes, who +hearing the children crying out the Saviour's praise in the temple, +Christ said "Yea, have you not read 'Out of the mouths of infants and +sucklings thou hast perfected praise'" (St. Matth. xxi. 15-16), St. +Augustine defended from the sneers of the learned, those who prayed to +God in rude and barbarous words, or words which they did not understand. +"_Noverint non esse vocem ad aures Dei nisi animi affectum_" (_De +Catech._ Rud. C.I.). The Church has bound religious, both men and women, +to say the Office in choir, even though they may not understand Latin. +Nevertheless, it is highly desirable that those who understand Latin +should understand what they read daily in the Breviary. God, the Church, +the practice of the saints, our own intelligence, our spiritual +advantage, demand that every priest should read with knowledge so that +with more certainty he may read attentively and devoutly. + +For (1) the Holy Ghost warns us to sing wisely, _Psallite sapienter_ +(Ps. 46.8); (2) that priests may sing wisely, may say the daily Office +piously is the reason and end of liturgical studies of the psalms and of +the Breviary in theological colleges; (3) the saints who wrote so +piously and so learnedly on the psalms and on psalmody are for ever +impressing this matter of intelligent recitation. St. Augustine wrote, +"_Et quare dicta sunt, nisi ut sciantur? Quare sonuerunt nisi ut +audiantur? Quare audita sunt nisi ut intelligantur_" (Tract xxxi. in +Joan). Again, commenting on psalm 146, he writes, "David teaches that we +sing wisely; let us not seek the mere sound for the ear, but a light for +the soul." St. Thomas Aquinas commenting on "For I pray in a tongue, my +spirit prayeth, but my understanding is without fruit" (I. Cor. xiv. 14) +wrote "_Constat quod plus lucratur qui orat. Nam, ille qui intelligit +reficitur quantum ad intellectum et quantum ad affectum; sed mens ejus +qui non intelligit est sine fructu refectionis_." And (4) our own +intellect tells us that the Breviary should be read intelligently and +devoutly. One of the ends of the Church in imposing the Divine Office as +an obligation is, that by honouring the holy mysteries, or the holy +memories of the saints, we may raise our hearts and souls to God, as St. +Paul wishes us, "May the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be +of one mind towards one another according to Jesus Christ, that with one +mind and one mouth you may glorify God" (Rom. xv. 5-6), an effect that +cannot be produced by the recital of words which are not understood. It +is almost impossible to avoid very grave distractions and to sustain +attention if there be not a good knowledge of the matter and form of the +Hours recited. + +It seems irrational that, priests should spend daily more than an hour +reading words that they understand not at all, or very imperfectly; and +that the beautiful and sublime thought and language of the book of +psalms, which are admired by all educated men, should be, to those who +read them every day for years, nothing but a tinkling cymbal, _vox et +praeterea nihil_. This is often the case even with priests who practise +piously and methodically mental prayer. And yet nowhere are such +beautiful acts of faith and confidence in God's power expressed as in +the Psalms (e.g., 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 16, 19, 25, 27, 30, 34, 43, 54, +55, 56, etc.); no more sublime expressions of praise exist than in the +Psalms 8, 9, 17, 18, 20, 21, etc. Time spent in studying the history of +the Breviary, the structure and the growth of the contents of each Hour, +the meanings of the prayers and hymns, is time well spent. + + + + +B.--THE IMMEDIATE PREPARATION FOR THE RECITATION OF THE HOURS. + +First. It is necessary to foresee from the reading of the _Ordo_ what is +to be said, and to mark all the psalms, lessons, responses, antiphons +and prayers. By this practice, St. Bonaventure says, all is recited and +recited in order. _Libri et alia necessaria ad officium praeparantur et +legenda studiose ante praevisa, quando et quomodo sint dicenda +dicuntur_ (Intit. Novit, p. I., c. 4). Unless this matter be arranged +before the prayer, _Aperi_ is begun, a priest is certain to suffer from +distractions, to run the risk of violating the rubrics and to lose some +of the spiritual profit which arises from preparation. This point of +preparation is attended to by all thoughtful priests and it was ever the +practice of the great students and lovers of liturgy. + +Second. It is necessary to recollect ourselves. This is simply to draw +off from profane thoughts the mind and the heart, and to apply them to +the sublime work of conversing with God, which we do in the Divine +Office. This recollecting of our wandering thoughts before prayer is +impressed on us by Holy Scripture, by the example of the saints, and by +our own common sense. Holy Scripture warns us "Before prayer prepare thy +soul and be not as a man that tempteth God" (Ecclus. 18. 23). And as +typical of the preparation made by saintly priests, the example of St. +Charles Borromeo may be mentioned. The saint always spent a quarter of +an hour in preparatory prayer before beginning the Church's official +prayer. The Venerable John D'Avila made the same practice general +amongst his disciples. This holy man narrates, how one day he met a +priest of the Society of Jesus, who asked him to recite the Hours with +him, and that before beginning their prayer the Jesuit fell on his +knees, saying, "There are some who speak of saying the Office as if it +were a trifle. Come, they say, let us say our Hours together, and so +immediately begin. This is showing very little appreciation for so holy +a duty, for it well merits a few moments at least of recollection" +(Bacquez). Our own common sense tells us not to rush heedlessly to begin +any important work. To converse with God is a work of sublime importance +which needs preparation, so that it may be done attentively. + +Third. We must invoke God's aid by prayer. No prayer is more suitable +than the prayer given as a preparatory prayer in the Breviary, "_Aperi, +Domine, os meum_ ... Open Thou, O Lord, my mouth to bless Thy holy name; +cleanse my heart from vain, evil and wandering thoughts; enlighten my +understanding, inflame my will, that so I may worthily, attentively and +devoutly recite this Office and deserve to be heard in the presence of +Thy Divine Majesty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. O Lord, in union with +that divine intention wherewith Thou whilst here on earth didst Thyself +praise God, I offer these Hours to Thee." + +Fourth. To unite ourselves with Jesus Christ. In the prefatory prayer +"_Aperi, Domine_," we say "_Domine, in unione_," etc. In Baptism, +Christians are united to Jesus, to His life, to His spirit. He is the +Head of the Church and we are its members. And this union should be a +real, explicit, vivifying union when we fulfil our ministry of social +prayer. This union with Christ is sought for by Himself, by the +Apostles, by the Church, and is practised ever by God's saints. The +words of the prayer should be reduced to action. + +1. Christ our model in all things is our model in prayer, and so He +teaches us that when we pray we must say "Our Father, Who art in +Heaven," that is, to use His very words and sentiments. And this desire +of our Lord, that souls should be united to Him in prayer, has often +been manifested by Him to His saints. To St. Gertrude He said, "My +daughter, behold My Heart; look upon It in future as supplying your own +defects. When you would pray, ask It to help you to give My Father the +homage you owe Him. I shall be ever ready to second you as soon as you +call Me to your aid." St. Bernard, schooled in this practice by the Holy +Ghost, knew all its sweetness: "David," he says, "rejoiced of old to +have found his heart to pray to his Master and his God--_Invenit servus +tuus cor tuum ut oraret te oratione hac_ (II. Kings viii. 27). And I, +that I may pray, have found the heart of my King and my Brother, of my +sweet Saviour; shall I not then also pray? Yes, certainly, for I am, +too, happy, as I have, if not the Heart of Jesus in place of mine, at +least have I mine in that of Jesus" (Bacquez, p. 191). + +2. St. Paul recommends us to offer our prayers through Jesus Christ. "By +him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise always to God, that +is to say, the fruit of lips confessing to His name" (Heb. xiii. 15). + +3. The Church wishes this union with Christ and mentions it several +times in her prayers, _Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum_. She +expresses her wish in the preparatory prayer, _Aperi, Domine_; she +wishes the words and sentiments of the psalms to be applied to Jesus, +the Saviour, whom David typified, and to whom the psalms in great +number relate. And in the frequent repetition of the _Pater Noster_, we +speak Christ's sentiments and words. + +4. The lives of the saints furnish many examples and precepts of this +union with Christ in our prayer. To the examples of St. Gertrude and St. +Bernard many others can be added. Several such examples are quoted by +Bacquez in his work on the Office. + +5. The remembrance of the sublime work of the Office should aid in its +fervent recitation. Priests should remember the words of St. Alphonsus: +"After the sacrifice of the Mass the Church possesses no treasure so +great as the Divine Office." "It is God's Church, the Spouse of Christ, +who has done me the honour of choosing me for this great work--me, in +preference to a hundred others. She puts into my hand her holy book of +heavenly language, and asks me to read its words before God, to unite +with the angels and saints in honouring God." + +6. To propose some particular intention before the recitation of the +Hours begins, and to renew it during the recitation is an excellent +means of guarding against distractions and mechanical routine. It +sustains during the prayer the fervour with which it was begun. St. +Bonaventure said to priests "Give _great_ attention to the signs +(_i.e._, to the directions, about kneeling, standing, sign of cross, +etc.), _greater_ attention to the words, and the _greatest_ attention to +the (particular) intention." + +But what intention ought we to have? + +We should have general intentions and particular intentions. We must +have the general intentions of the Church, whose ambassadors we are. We +must pray that God be known and adored, loved and thanked and praised. +We must pray that the Church have freedom, that she may be exalted, that +the kingdom of Christ may spread and flourish, that the Pope and clergy +of the world may be blessed and guided by God, that holy souls may be +confirmed in virtue and that sinners may be converted. + +We should have also some particular intentions in reading our Hours. +Thus, we may pray to obtain a more lively faith, a greater hope, a more +ardent charity, greater meekness and humility, greater patience, +detachment from the world, greater fraternal charity, help in keeping +vows--in a word, an increase of virtues, especially those in which we +may have great wants. Again, a priest may and should beg God to help him +and guide him by his light and grace, in doubts, in trouble, in crosses, +in his daily work as a priest, in his parish, in his schools, in his +college. Particularly and fervently should a priest pray for success in +his religious instruction in school, in church, in the pulpit. For St. +Augustine tells us that success in this matter depends more on prayer +than on preaching (_De Doc. Christ., Lib_. 4, chap. 15). And at every +Hour a priest should pray for a happy death. + +Before saying his Hours, a priest may form a special intention of +praying for others, his superiors, his parents, his brothers and +sisters, his benefactors, his friends, his enemies, for those who have +asked for prayers, for some one in sorrow, for some one in sin, for a +soul in purgatory. Of course, these prayers benefit the priest who +offers them, for as St. Gregory the Great said so well, "_Plus enim pro +se valere preces suas efficit qui has et pro aliis impendit_" (Moral +II. 25). + + + + +AIDS DURING THE RECITATION. + +I. A suitable place should be selected. The Psalmist sang "_In omni loco +dominationis ejus, benedic, anima mea, Domino_" (Ps. 102, 22). Our Lord +wishes us to pray always; St. Paul says (I. Tim. ii.) that we should +pray in every place, and theologians teach that a priest may validly and +licitly say his Hours walking in the fields, in his room, or in any +suitable place. The most suitable place is the church. For it is a house +of prayer (St. Matt. xxi. 43), and the Holy Ghost asks us to go there to +pray, "_in templo ejus omnes dicent gloriam_" (Ps. 28, 9). The Apostles, +going to the temple to pray at the sixth and at the ninth hour, show us +how suitable is the place holier than the temple--the church. The +practice of the saints impresses on us the suitability of the church for +the Church's official prayer. In the life of every modern saint we find +recommended and practised the saying of the Hours at the altar. Perhaps, +the example which is best known to missionary priests, is the example of +the Cure d'Ars, who in the early days of his priestly life always said +his Breviary kneeling in the sanctuary. His parishioners liked from time +to time to slip into the church to watch him. "Often," says an +eye-witness, "he paused while praying, his looks fixed on the +Tabernacle, with eyes in which were painted so lively a faith that one +might suppose our Lord was visible to his gaze. Later, his church being +continually filled with an attentive crowd following his least +movements, he took pains to avoid everything that might excite their +admiration. Yet still, he might be frequently found, after a long day +passed in the sacred tribunal, reciting his Hours on his knees, either +in the sacristy or in a corner of the choir, a few steps from the altar; +so strong was the attraction that drew him to unite his prayer to that +of our Lord, so great was the love and respect inspired by the presence +and infinite majesty of his Divine Master" (_Life of Cure d'Ars_, +by Monnin). + +Every priest must feel that the church benches, or the sanctuary, with +their silence, their every part awakening and reminding the soul that +this is the house of God, this is the gate of Heaven, are places most +suitable for prayer and are great aids to fervent prayer. The thought of +the presence of Christ with His adoring angels, to whose songs of praise +the priest should unite himself, should help wonderfully in the devout +recitation of the Hours. St. Alphonsus recommends that priests saying +the Breviary should say it before a crucifix or before a statue or +picture of the Blessed Virgin, so that gazing from time to time on these +holy objects may foster or renew pious thoughts. + +II. A great aid to pious recitation of the Hours is to take up a +respectful position. The Office is a prayer, an elevation of the soul to +God, and should be treated as such; and as everyone knows, the union of +soul and body is such that in vocal prayer both are employed. If the +body take up a lazy or unbecoming position in prayer, it is an insult +to God to Whom prayer is offered, and is a certain source of distraction +and faulty prayer. Habit does much in this matter, and where a priest +labours to correct an inclination to take up a too comfortable position +in saying his Hours, he is striving to pray well. + +Priests, young and old, say writers on this point, should be vigilant in +this aid to fervent prayer. The well-known words of St. Teresa +recommending a comfortable attitude in prayer do not clash with this +doctrine. In the _Selva_, St. Alphonsus writes: "It is related that +while two religious recited Matins a devil appeared, caused an +intolerable stench, and through mockery said, 'To the prayer which you +offer such incense is suited'--_ad talem orationem tale debetur +incensum_." + +Which attitude is the best? Seeing the examples of the saints, St. +Charles Borromeo, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Francis de Sales, St. John de +la Salle, the Cure d'Ars, and of many other saintly men, the best +attitude in reciting the Hours is kneeling. Other saints accustomed +themselves to recite their Hours standing, with head uncovered. Others +followed, in private recitation, all the positions--sitting, kneeling, +standing--required in choir. The practice is said to aid in banishing +distractions, and contributes greatly to attention and devotion. Of +course, in private recitation no one is bound to any of these practices. +But they have proved useful to many in practising devout prayer. +Everyone is bound to pray with fervour, and a respectful attitude is a +big help towards that end. + +Slow, deliberate pronunciation is another aid to the fervent saying of +the Hours of the Breviary. The lives of saintly men show their practice +in this matter. Knowing that they were the ambassadors of the Church in +presenting her praise, thanks and wants to God, they read with care and +attention. From their slow and deliberate reading of the holy words, +their souls drew out the sublime thoughts and sentiments which their +lips expressed. In rapid reading, the mind and heart have not time to +think well on the meaning of the words and of the sentiments, and hence, +no holy thoughts fill the soul, no acts of virtue are elicited, no +prayer of petition is offered, no holy resolutions are formed. Indeed, +very often--to quote the words of a venerable author--priests seem to +say with their lips and to express by their rapid reading, not _Deus in +adjutorium meum intende_, O God, make haste to help me! but _Domine ad +festinandum me adjuva_--"O God, help me to hasten?" Wise old Rodriguez +advises readers of spiritual books to observe a hen drinking and to +imitate her slow and deliberate sipping, by reading in small quantities, +with pauses. Sometimes priests acquire the habit of hurried reading, +quite unconsciously, and afterwards labour hard, and in vain, too, to +correct it. It is important for beginners in the Breviary to go at a +slow pace, as the trot and the gallop are fatal to good and pious +recitation. Sometimes priests excuse this hurried reading, as they wish +to save time! Why do priests wish to save time? "For study," some may +say; but the obligation of the Divine Office precedes all obligations of +study, and its devout recitation is of far greater importance to the +priest and to the Church than is any other or every other study. Some +priests gallop through the Hours, to gain time for other ministerial +work, they say. But they forget that the primary work--after the +celebration of Mass--and the _most important work_ of a priest, is the +great official prayer of the Church. Who amongst priests leads the life +of ceaseless toil which the Cure d'Ars led? And we have read how he said +his Hours. St. Francis Xavier found time to preach to his many +neophytes, to teach them, to baptize them, and yet he did not use the +permission given him to shorten his Breviary prayer. He read the whole +Office daily and added to it prayers to obtain the grace of better +attention and devotion. + +Sometimes the reading of the Hours is hurried for a motive less +praiseworthy than the motives of study or of priestly work. _Producitur +somnus, producitur mensa, produncuntur confabulationes, lusus, nugae +nugarum; solius supremae Magestratis, cultus summa qua potest celeritate +deproperatur_ (Kugler, _De Spiritu Eccles_.), "On this, God complained +one day to St. Bridget, saying that some priests lose so much time every +day in conversing with friends on worldly affairs; and afterwards, in +conversing with Him, while they recite the Office, they are so hurried +that they dishonour Him more than they glorify Him" (St. Alphonsus, +_Selva_). In the hurried reading of the Office, time, a few minutes +perhaps, is gained, but what is lost? Does the loss of all the lights +and graces and blessings of the Office compensate for the time gained? +It is important that all who read the Breviary hurriedly, or who may be +tempted to acquire the habit, should weigh well the words read therein +(Friday's Vespers) "_Labor labiorum ipsorum operiet eos; cadent super +eos carbones_" (Ps. 139). "The labour of their lips shall overwhelm +them; burning coals shall fall upon them." + +To acquire this important habit, the practice of reading at a slow pace +the words of the Breviary, authors suggest several little hints. One is, +never to start reading the Hours unless there be _ample_ time for +finishing the Hour or Hours intended to be then and there read. The +practice of squeezing the small Hours into scraps of time (e.g., in +the intervals between hearing confessions in the confessional, at a +session) is fatal to careful and pious reading. Another hint is, to read +everything, every word (_e.g., Pater Noster, Ave, Credo_), and to repeat +nothing from memory, because the printed words meeting the eyes and the +spoken words reaching the ears help to fix the attention and there is +less risk of their passing unnoticed. This was the practice of St. +Charles Borromeo. St. Philip Neri never recited from memory even in +saying the small Hours. St. Vincent de Paul always spent a great time in +saying his Breviary. His intense fervour was helped by his careful +reading of every word, and this practice of keeping his eyes fixed +steadily on the printed matter of the book he recommended to his +congregation of priests. Some holy priests maintained that they could +recite from memory with greater fervour than from the reading of the +pages of the Breviary; but the practice is not one for the many. Another +hint to help pious recitation is to _earnestly wish_ to say the Office +worthily, attentively and devoutly. This wish must bring up before the +mind the thought of how displeasing to God and how great is the daily +loss--not to speak of a lifetime's loss-to the soul of a priest who +prays carelessly, tepidly and mechanically. But in spite of all +precautions, it may be noticed during the recitation of the Hours that, +without our own fault, the words are said too quickly. It is advised, +then, to pause and to say mentally what the Venerable Boudon was wont to +say to his soul in similar circumstances: "To punish and mortify thee, I +will go more slowly; I will devote to my office to-day a longer time" +(Bacquez). + +IV. To prevent distractions and to banish them are no easy matters. It +is impossible to avoid all distractions. Involuntary distractions do not +hinder merit; still it is important that an effort be made to diminish +and repress the quality of such disturbing elements in prayer. + +First of all, we can never totally avoid all distractions, nor can we +entirely and completely remove them when they enter our souls. The human +soul cannot pray for any notable time without distraction. The greatest +saints knew this well. St. Augustine wrote, "_Vult se tenere ut stet, et +quodammodo fugit a se nec invenit cancellos quibus se includat_" (in +Psalm 95). St. Thomas wrote "_Vix unum Pater noster potest homo dicere +quin mens ad alia fertur_." The author of the _Imitation of Christ_ +wrote, "For I confess truly that I am accustomed to be very much +distracted. For oftentimes I am not there where I am bodily standing or +sitting, but am rather there where my thoughts carry me" (Bk. iii. c. +48). The same writer wrote, "And I, a wretch and the vilest of men.... I +can hardly spend one half hour as I ought." St. Teresa wrote, "I am not +less distracted than you are during Office, and try to think that it +arises from weakness of head. Do not fear to think so, too. Does not our +Lord know, that when we perform this duty we would wish to do it with +the greatest possible attention?" + +After reading these words we can understand how prayer offered up with +involuntary distractions is true, holy prayer. St. Thomas tells us +"_Dicendum quod in spiritu et veritate orat, qui ex instinctu spiritus +ad orandum accedit, etiamsi ex aliqua infirmitate mens postmodum +evagetur.... Evagatio vero mentis quae fit praeter propositum orationis +fructum non tollat_" (2.2. q. 83, a. 13). + +Nevertheless, every effort should be made to avoid and to banish +distractions. The ways of doing this are given in all treatises on +prayer. Every priest knows them well. There are negative means and +positive means. The negative means consist in withdrawing the senses and +the powers of the soul from everything disturbing the soul's converse +with God; in guarding against any too absorbing interest in worldly +affairs, so that the mind is unmanageable and cannot be fixed on sacred +things. St. Francis of Assisi, working at a piece of furniture before +saying Terce, was, during the saying of that hour disturbed by the +thought of his manual work. When he re-entered his cell he took the bit +of work and threw it in the fire saying, "I wish to sacrifice to the +Lord the thing which hindered my prayer to Him." + +The positive means of avoiding and of banishing distractions are given +above; they are to read slowly, to read every word, to read in a +becoming position, to observe choir directions, to give ample time to +each Hour. Another rule given by writers on the pious recitation of the +Office, is to pause at certain places in the psalms to renew attention +and elicit affections. Some authors recommend such pauses at the end of +the invitatory, at the end of each hymn, or after each _Gloria_. "Study +well the _Gloria Patri_," said St. Francis of Assisi, "for in it you +find the substance of the scriptures." + +V. To apply the mind to what is read is another help to pious +recitation. It seems to be a useless repetition of an obvious fact that +to apply the mind to the prayers read, helps to ward off and to drive +away distractions. Such a practice is natural for a person of +intelligence, and the Church wishes and expects such intelligent and +heartfelt prayer. God said to the Jewish priests what applies to the +Christian priesthood, too: "And now, O ye priests, this commandment is +to you, if you will not hear, if you will not lay it to heart to give +glory to My name, saith the Lord of Hosts, I will curse your blessings, +because you have not laid it to heart" (Mal. ii. 1-2). Christ complained +about the Jewish people who honoured Him with their lips, but had their +hearts far from Him. And God's great servants realized this fully. St. +Paul said, "And he that speaketh by a tongue (the gift of speaking +strange tongues) let him pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a +tongue my spirit prayeth, _but my understanding is without fruit_. What +is it then? I will pray with the spirit. I will pray also with the +understanding. I will sing with the spirit, I will sing also with the +understanding" (I. Cor. xiv. 13-15). St. Gregory the Great said that +true prayer consists not only in the articulation of the words, but also +in the attention of the heart; for to obtain the divine graces our good +desires have greater efficacy than mere words (_Moral, lib_. 22. _cap_. +13). Peter de Blois wrote of the priests of his time, "_Labia sunt in +canticis et animus in patinis_! Their lips are in the psalms, but their +heart is in the dishes!" (_Selva_). "_Age quod agis_," says the +_Imitation of Christ_. + +VI. It is advisable not to dwell on the literary excellence of the +Breviary during the recitation of the Office. It is a useful thing that +priests should recognise the authorship of the psalms recited, their +probable dates, the circumstances of their composition, the sublimity of +their thought, the peculiarity of their Hebrew style, the rhythm and +poetry of the Hebrews. But the _dwelling_ on these thoughts leads to +distractions. Again, some priests, like the clerics of the Renaissance +and post-Renaissance times, despise and dislike the Breviary for its +alleged barbarous style. These unworthy and foolish sentiments are met +with, very rarely. They are opposed to the priestly spirit, which should +love and respect the Scripture extracts, God's inspired words. The +homilies from the Fathers are well chosen, and suitable for the greatest +prayer and for the greatest prayerbook the world has ever known. The +hymns are the wonder and study of scholars of every religion. St. +Augustine, after his conversion even, felt a repugnance for the holy +Scriptures as unequal to Cicero in form. But in his mature age and +considered judgment, the saint reversed his judgment; "_non habent_," he +wrote of the Pagan classics, "_illae paginae vultum pietatis, lacrymas +confessionis spiritum contribulatum cor contritum et humiliatum_" +(Confess. Bk. 7, c. 21). + +VII. To think of Christ's Passion is another aid to good Breviary +recitation. We have seen in the theological part of this book (page 4) +the seven principal stages of the Passion which correspond with the +seven principal parts of the Office. And this devout thought on some +scene of the Passion is recommended by all writers on the Divine Office, +as an easy and very profitable means and aid to attentive and devout +saying of the Hours. It is a means practised by thousands of priests. + +St. Bonaventure recommended that at each Hour some thought of the +mysteries of the life and death of Christ should be held in mind. Thus, +Matins, the night Office, might be offered up in honour of the birth and +infancy of Christ; Lauds, in honour of His resurrection; Terce, in +honour of the coming of the Holy Ghost; None, in memory of Christ's +death; Vespers, in thanksgiving for the Eucharist. + +VIII. To remember the presence of God, of our angel guardian, and of the +demons, is a practice recommended by writers on recitation of the Office +in or out of choir. This thought of the presence of God was one of the +aids recommended by St. Benedict to his religious, to aid their devout +fulfilment of the great work of reciting their Hours worthily, +attentively, and devoutly. Centuries after St. Benedict's death we find +St. Bonaventure repeating this advice to his novices. Blessed Peter +Faber, S.J., to make his Breviary prayer more fervent, used to picture +to himself the presence of his guardian angel at his side recording his +pious and holy thoughts, and the demon recording his distractions. +"Dearly beloved priest," wrote St. Alphonsus, "when you take the +Breviary in your hand, imagine that an angel stands on one side to +register your merits in the Book of Life if you say the Office with +devotion, and on the other a devil who, if you recite it with +distraction, writes your faults in the book of death. With this thought +excite yourself to say the Office with the greatest possible devotion. +Endeavour, then, not only at the beginning of the Office, but also at +the beginning of each psalm, to renew your attention, that you may be +able to excite in your heart all the sentiments that you shall read" +(_Selva_). + + + + +ARTICLE IV.--AFTER SAYING THE DIVINE OFFICE. + +1. Give God thanks for His goodness in permitting us to join in the +great work, for hearing our prayer, and for His helps and graces during +its duration. + +2. Ask God's pardon for faults committed in the course of this prayer of +His Church. + +3. Devoutly recite the "_Sacro-sanctae et Individuae Trinitati_ ... +Amen. V. _Beata viscera_....R. _Et beata ubera_...." This prayer, which +is generally printed in Breviaries immediately before the Psalter, is to +be said kneeling, where this is physically possible. This is necessary +in order to gain the indulgence granted by Pope Pius X. to all persons +obliged to recite the Divine Office. It is not of obligation and its +omission is not sinful. It forms no part of the obligatory Office. "It +must be said kneeling, but at the request of Cardinal Asquini, Prefect +of the Congregation of Indulgences, Pope Pius IX. was pleased to make +one exception (July 12, 1865) in favour of persons who were not able to +say it kneeling--_infirmitatis tantum causa_. Hence, travellers or +persons on a journey are not exempted, for they can say it kneeling at +the end of the journey. It is sufficient to say the '_Sacro-sanctae_' +once only, that is, at the end of Compline, with the intention of +obtaining pardon of all the defects a person may have been guilty of in +saying the entire Office. Yet it may be repeated after each Hour, e.g., +after Matins, and Lauds, after the small Hours and after Compline; in +each case one would thereby get forgiveness for the faults committed +during the part of the Office recited. This explanation has been given +by the Holy Father (Pius IX.) himself. The usage amongst the chapters at +Rome, as at St. Peter's, St. Mary's, etc., is to recite it every time +they leave the choir" (Maurel, S.J., _Le chretien e claire sur la nature +et l'usage des Indulgences_). The beauty and sublimity of this prayer is +not always appreciated. Its translation here may inspire fresh thoughts +of fervour. "To the most holy and undivided Trinity, to the humanity of +our Lord Jesus Christ crucified, to the fruitful virginity of the most +glorious Mary ever a Virgin, and to the company of all the saints, be +given by every creature eternal praise, honour, power and glory, and to +us the remission of all our sins. Amen. Blessed be the womb of the +Virgin Mary, which bore the Son of the Eternal Father. And blessed be +the breasts which gave suck to Christ, our Lord." + +In connection with this prayer an interesting question is discussed in +the _Irish Ecclesiastical Record_ (No. 540. December, 1912). Is this +prayer merely a sacramental? Has it an indulgence attached to it at all? +The querist quotes _The new Raccolta_, in answering the second part of +his query but wishes to know if it be an indulgence how it produces its +effects. "For either the defects committed in reading the Divine Office +are voluntary or involuntary. If voluntary they are sins and +consequently cannot be touched by an indulgence; if involuntary they are +not sinful and therefore stand in no need of an indulgence." In a very +long reply Dr. John M. Harty sums up, "For our part we adhere to the +view which says that the efficacy of the privilege annexed by Leo X. and +Pius X. to the _Sacro-sanctae_ is derived from an indulgence. At the +same time we think that these prayers are also sacramentals, since they +are official prayers of the Church. Under this aspect, they obtain the +ordinary benefits which are attached to sacramentals, and, accordingly +lead to a remission of sin and temporal punishment by means of sorrow +and satisfaction, which are elicited under the influence of the +abundant graces given by God, through the intercession of the Church. +They also placate God, so as to render Him willing to grant His favours +even though defects exist in the recitation of the Office.... Though +these defects are not produced _ex opere operato_, they nevertheless are +real, and are an encouragement to priests, whose human frailty prevents +the perfect performance even of the most sacred functions of their +priestly office." + + + + +PART III + +THE CANONICAL HOURS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +MATINS. + +_Etymology_. The word _Matins_ is derived from _Matuta_, the Latin name +for the Greek goddess of morning. The word used in the Roman Breviary is +_matutinum (i.e., tempus)_. It is the old name for Lauds, _Laudes +matutinae_. The word was also used to denote the office of Vigils. +Hence, the word was used in three senses, to denote the nocturns and +lauds, to denote Lauds only and to denote the vigil office. In +liturgical study the word was confusing, and sometimes it is the context +only which gives the author's meaning. This, the principal Hour of the +Church's public prayer, was, in the early days of Christianity, said at +night, and was called _Nocturnum_ and _Vigiliae_. + +_Origin_. The night office of vigils dates from the very earliest days +of Christianity. It derived its name from the vigils or night watches of +the soldiers, who divided the night, from six o'clock in the evening to +six o'clock in the morning, into four watches of three hours each. The +nightly meetings of the Christians came to be called by the name +_vigils_, but the meetings were not begun at the stated hours of +military vigil and did not finish with them. Why these meetings of +Christians were held at night, and in what their religious exercises +consisted in, both in matter and form, is an unsolved problem. But it is +certain that they resembled the services of the Jewish synagogue in the +readings from Scripture, psalm-singing and prayers, and differed from +those services by having readings from the Gospels, the Epistles, and +from non-canonical books, such as the Epistle of St. Clement. The +Eucharistic service always formed part of them. Indeed, the very name, +Synagogue was given to these assemblies of Christians, as we see from +the Pastor of Hermes. In their common prayer, they faced towards the +East, as the Jews did towards Jerusalem. They had precentors and +janitors as in the Jewish rites. Their services consisted of the +readings from the Mosaic law, from Gospels and Epistles, exposition of +Scripture, a set sermon, long and fervent "blessings" or thanksgiving +and psalms. Before there were any written gospels to read, we gather +that the reading of the Old Law, of the Prophets and the Psalms, was +followed by a set sermon on the life and death of Christ (Bickel, _Messe +und Pascha,_ p, 91). From St. Basil (fourth century) it is concluded +that two choirs sang the Psalms. Cassian writes that the monks of the +fifth century celebrated the Night Office with twelve psalms and +readings from the Old and the New Testaments. Hence, "we find the same +elements repeated, the psalms generally chanted in the form of +responses, that is to say, by one or more cantors, the choir repeating +one verse which served as a response, alternately with the verses of the +psalms, which were sung by the cantors, readings taken from the Old and +the New Testaments and, later on, from the works of the Fathers and +Doctors; litanies, supplications, prayers for divers members of the +Church, clergy, faithful, neophytes and catechumens; for emperors, +travellers; the sick; and generally for all the necessities of the +Church, and even for Jews and for heretics. It is quite easy to find +these essentials in our modern Matins" (Dom Cabrol, _Cath. +Encyclopedia_, art. "Matins"). + +Matins on account of its length and position in the Breviary is the most +important part of the daily Office. And, on account of the variety and +beauty of its elements, is considered the most remarkable. + +The prayer _Pater Noster_ begins the Office. It is the Lord's +prayer, _divina institutions formata_, when Christ told His +Apostles "_Sic vos orabitis_" (St. Matt. vi. 9). It is the most +excellent of all prayers, being most excellent in its author, its form, +its depth of meaning, its effects. The prayer consists of a preface, +"Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, +Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And in the body of the +prayer are seven petitions--three for the honour and glory of God, in +and by ourselves, and four for our own wants, spiritual and temporal. +Very excellent matter on the greatest of prayers is to be found in the +_Catechism of the Council of Trent_ (translation, Duffy, Dublin) +and in _A Lapide_ (St. Matt. vi.). Writers on liturgy say that the +recitation of the _Pater Noster_ as the opening prayer of Matins +was _not obligatory_ until the beginning of the twelfth century. It +is said that the monks were wont to say a _Pater Noster_ at each +altar in the church before entering their stalls for Office recitation. +This practice delayed the beginning of the Office in choir, and a rule +was made that those who wished to say this prayer must say it in their +stalls, in a low tone. Of course, in the Breviary of Pius V. (1568) this +practice became obligatory on each person bound to read the Hours. + +_Ave Maria_. This is a leading prayer amongst the great prayers of the +Mass and the Office. It, too, is excellent in its authors, its form +(clear, short devotional), in motive (in honouring Mary, Mother of God, +and in begging her intercession). It is divided into three parts, the +words of the angel, of St. Elizabeth and of the Church, Devout thoughts +on this prayer have been penned by countless clients of Mary in every +age. Priests are familiar with many such writings, great and small, but +_A Lapide_ (St. Luke I.) bears reading and re-reading. The prayer, as it +stands in the Breviary to-day, is not of very ancient date. "In point of +fact there is little or no trace of the Hail Mary as an accepted +devotional formula before 1050.... To understand the developments of the +devotion, it is important to grasp the fact that the _Ave Maria_ was +merely a form of greeting. It was, therefore, long customary to +accompany the words with some external gesture of homage, a genuflexion, +or at least an inclination of the head.... In the time of St. Louis the +_Ave Maria_ ended with the words _benedictus fructus ventris tui_: it +has since been extended by the introduction both of the Holy Name and of +a clause of petition.... We meet the _Ave_ as we know it now, printed in +the Breviary of the Camaldolese monks and in that of the Order de +Mercede C. 1514. ... The official recognition of the _Ave Maria_ in its +complete form, though foreshadowed in the Catechism of the Council of +Trent, was finally given in the Roman Breviary of 1568" (Father +Thurston, S.J., _Cath. Encyclopedia_, art. "Hail Mary.") + +_Credo_. The Apostles' Creed is placed at the beginning of Matins, +because Matins is the beginning of the whole Office, and faith is the +beginning, the _principium_ of every supernatural work. St. Paul teaches +us that it is necessary for us to stir up our faith when we approach +God, "For he that cometh to God must believe that He is." In reciting +the Creed we should think of the sublime truths of our faith, and our +hearts should feel, what our lips say, "For with the heart we believe +unto justice; but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" +(Rom. x. 10). We should remember too, that this formula of faith comes +to us from Apostolic times and that it has been repeated millions of +times by saints and martyrs; their sentiments of belief, of confidence +in God and love of God should be ours. + +_Domine labia mea aperies_. The practice of this beautiful invocation +dates from the time of St. Benedict (480-553). In his Office it stood +after the words _Deus in adjutorium_. These words _Domine labia mea +aperies_, taken from the Psalm _Miserere_, remind us of God purifying +the lips of Isaias His prophet with a burning coal, of how God opened +the lips of Zachary to bless God and to prophesy. "And immediately his +mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke blessing God" (St. +Luke, i. 64). Very appropriately, does the priest reciting the Divine +Office ask God to open his lips, to fortify his conscience, to touch +his heart. + +_Deus in adjutorium_. These words, the opening words of Psalm 69, were +always and everywhere used by the monks of old, says Cassian, who called +this short prayer the formula of piety, the continual prayer. The Church +repeats it often in her Office. St. John Climacus says it is the great +cry of petition for help to triumph over our invisible enemy, who wishes +to distract us and to mar our prayer. It should be said with humility +and with confidence in God. In repeating these holy words we make the +sign of the Cross; for, all grace comes from the sacrifice of the Cross; +and besides, it is a holy and an ancient practice to begin all good +works with the sacred sign. + +_Gloria Patri_. This little prayer indicates the purpose and end of the +recitation of the Office, the glory of the Holy Trinity. "Bring to the +Lord glory and honour; bring to the Lord glory to His name" (Psalm 28). +The many repetitions of this formula in the Church liturgy shows the +great honour which she pays to it, and the trust she places in its +efficacy. It was especially loved by St. Francis of Assisi, who said +that it contained all wisdom. + +This form of doxology, "Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the +Holy Ghost," was adopted to repel Arianism, by giving to the faithful a +compact theological formula by which they could end every dispute. Some +authors quote St. Ephrem (circa 363) as the originator of this much-used +prayer. The form would seem to be of Syrian origin, translated into +Greek and later into Latin (Dom Cambrol, _Dictionnaire d' Archeologie +Chretienne_, I., 2282, _et seq.,_ word Antienne, Liturgie; _Month_, +May, 1910). + +_Invitatory_. _Venite Adoremus_.... The cry of the Church calling on all +to adore and praise God, Who has done all for us, Who is the Great +Shepherd, and we, the sheep of His fold, should not harden our hearts as +did the ungrateful Jews. We should pray for all, Catholics, infidels +and sinners. + +"A message from the saints. Let us imagine, like St. Stephen at his +martyrdom, we are privileged to see the heavens opened, and before our +eyes the City of God, with its twelve gates all of pearl, and its +streets of pure gold, as it were transparent glass, is laid bare, and +that we see the angels in their legions, and the redeemed of the Lord +around the throne of God. Thousands of thousands are ministering to +Him," as St. John tells us, "and ten thousand times a hundred thousand +stand before Him," and we hear the voice of God, as the noise of many +waters in company with that great multitude which no man can number, out +of every tribe and nation, clothed in white robes, with palms in their +hands, coming into Sion with praise, with everlasting joy upon their +heads, for from their eyes God has wiped away all tears, and sorrow and +mourning have fled away. + +"There are the white-robed army of Martyrs, holy Confessors, too, men of +renown in their generation, and Virgins, the Spouses of Christ: there +are those who have come through great tribulation, who once, perchance, +were far from God, but have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb +and are now numbered among the people of God, sitting in the beauty of +peace and in the tabernacle of confidence and in wealthy rest. Let us +bring them all before us in vision. They have overcome the beast and are +standing by the sea of glass, having the harps of God; the Prince of +Pastors has appeared to them and they have received a never-failing +crown of glory and by the Lamb of God they have been led to fountains of +the waters of life." Let us listen as they sing their canticle to God, +"Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts, who is and who was and who is to +come"; let us listen as they sing to us, for we are fellow citizens with +them, and where they are we also must be if we remain faithful to the +end. What do they sing, "O come let us praise the Lord with joy; let us +joyfully sing to God, our Saviour" (_Sing ye to the Lord_, pp. +94-95--Rev. R. Eaton). + +The authorship of this psalm--which is said daily in Matins--is +attributed to David in the Septuagint and Vulgate. Its Latin form in the +invitatory differs slightly from the Vulgate text. The Breviary retains +here the text of St. Jerome's revision and the Vulgate contains the +second and more correct revision. + +_Hymns_. The hymn is an answer to the invitation given to us in the +invitatory, to praise God and to rejoice with Him. It is a song of joy +and praise. Hymns were introduced into the Divine Office in the Eastern +Church before the time of St. Ambrose (340-397). To combat the Arians, +who spread their errors by verse set to popular airs, St. Ambrose, it is +said, introduced public liturgical hymn-singing in his church in Milan, +and his example was followed gradually through the Western Church. (See +Note A, _infra_.) + +The final stanza of a Breviary hymn is called the doxology ([Greek: +doxa] praise, [Greek: logos] speech), a speaking of praise. Hymns which +have the final stanza proper, the _Ave Maris stella_, Lauds hymn of the +Blessed Sacrament, Matins hymn for several Martyrs, the first Vesper +hymn of the Office of Holy Cross, and the Vesper hymns of St. Venantius +and St. John Cantius, never change the wording of the stanza. + +But, _where the metre of the hymn_ admits such a change as possible in +the last stanza. + +(a) From Christmas to Epiphany _Jesu tibi sit gloria, Qui natus es de +Virgine_ is inserted in all hymns, even on saints' offices. + +(b) From Epiphany till end of its octave, _Jesu tibi sit gloria, Qui +apparuisti gentibus_. + +(c) From Low Sunday till Ascension Thursday, on Pentecost Sunday and its +octave, all hymns end in _Deo Patri sit gloria, Et Filio qui a mortuis_. + +This is the ending for all hymns of saints' feasts in Paschal times, +excepting those hymns mentioned above. + +(d) From Ascension to Pentecost (except in the hymn _Salutis humanae +Sator_) the doxology is _Jesu tibi sit gloria, Qui victor in +coelum redis_. + +(e) Feast of Transfiguration has _Jesu, tibi sit gloria, Qui te revelas +parvulis_. + +In all other hymns the doxology is read as it is printed in the +Breviary. + +_Antiphons_. Antiphon, coming from Greek words meaning a re-echoing of +the sound, is a chant performed alternately by two choirs, and was used +in pagan drama, long before the Christian era. At what date it was +introduced into Church liturgy it is difficult to determine. Some say it +was introduced by St. Ignatius, second Bishop of Antioch. It is certain +that it was used by bishops and priests to attract, retain and teach the +faithful during the Arian heresy. In church music, the lector ceased to +recite the psalm as a solo and the faithful divided into two choirs, +united in the refrain _Gloria Patri_. + +With us, the antiphon generally is a verse or verses from Scripture, +recited before and after each psalm. "The verse which serves as the +antiphon text contains the fundamental thought of the psalm to which it +is sung and indicates the point of view from which it is to be +understood. In other words, it gives the key to the liturgical and +mystical meaning of the psalm, with regard to the feast on which it +occurs" (_Cath. Encycl._, art. "Antiphon"). + +_Psalms._ In the Breviary, before the recent reform, twelve psalms were +recited in the first nocturn of Sundays and on ferias. This recitation +of twelve psalms was, Cassian tells us, caused by the apparition of an +angel, who appeared to the monks and sang at one session twelve psalms, +terminating with _Alleluia_. The event was mentioned at the Council of +Tours, In the new reform, nine psalms are recited at Matins; they +should, the old writers on liturgy tell us, remind us of the nine choirs +of angels who without ceasing sing God's praise. + +In the new Psalter, the Psalms have been divided into two large +divisions, Psalms I.--CVIII. being assigned to the night Office, Matins; +and Psalms CIX.--CL. for the day Offices, Lauds to Compline. From this +latter division has been made:-- + +(1) a selection of psalms suitable by their character and meaning to +Lauds (_vide infra_, psalms at Lauds); + +(2) a selection of psalms suitable to Compline; + +(3) the psalms long used in the small Hours of Sunday's Office; + +(4) the first psalms assigned by Pope Pius V. to Prime on Monday, +Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. + +The remaining psalms are divided into seven groups, in simple numerical +order. The psalms of Matins generally come first, and are followed +immediately by the groups of psalms for the day Hours. + +In the new Breviary, seven new canticles are added to the ten, which +stood in the older book. The ten taken from the old and from the new +Testament are _Audite coeli_ (Deut., chap. 32) in Lauds for Saturday; +_Benedicite_ (Daniel, chap. 3) Sunday's Lauds; _Cantemus_ (Exod., chap. +15) Thursday's Lauds; _Confitebor_ (Isaias, chap. 12) Monday's Lauds; +_Domine audivi_ (Habacuc, chap. 3) Friday's Lauds; _Ego dixi_ (Isaias, +chap. 38) Tuesday's Lauds; _Exultavit_ (I. Kings, chap 2) Wednesday's +Lauds. From the new Testament we have _Benedictus, Magnificat, Nunc +dimittis_. To these are now added _Audite verbum_ (Jeremias, chap. 31), +_Benedictus es_ (I. Paralip., chap. 29), _Benedictus es_ (Daniel, chap. +3), _Hymnum cantemus_ (Judith, chap. 16), _Magnus es_ (Tobias, chap. +13), _Miserere nostri_ (Ecclus. 36), _Vere tu es Deus_ (Isaias, chap. +45). (_Cf. The New Psalter_, Burton and Myers, pp. 51-52). + +"The psalms retain the accentuation of the Latin words, which was +inserted at the request of Pius V. in the Reformed Breviary of 1568; and +also the asterisk, which was introduced to mark the division of the +verses of the Psalms in Urban VIII.'s Reform in 1632." The verse +division of the psalms do not, in the Breviary, always coincide with +those of the Vulgate--e.g., Psalm X.:-- + +PSALTER VULGATE + +Dominus in templo sancto suo Dominus in templo sancto suo +Dominus in coelo sedes ejus Dominus in coela sedes ejus: +(v.4). Oculi ejus in pauperem respsiciunt; + palpebrae ejus + interrogant filios hominum + (verse 5). + +The present verse divisions of the Vulgate were introduced by a +Calvinistic printer of Geneva, who used them in an edition of the Greek +new Testament published in 1561. Formerly, biblical chapters were, for +sake of reference, divided into seven sections denoted by letters of the +alphabet a, b, c, etc. In the older breviaries, the reference to the +little lesson at Compline stood, I. Pet. v.c. The new Breviary has +adopted the modern form of reference, and we now read I. Pet. v. 8-9. It +is sometimes confusing to find reference made to the psalms by +non-Catholic writers. This arises from the different method of numbering +which is used by them. In the Greek version of the old Testament--the +septuagent--the Psalter is arranged differently from the Hebrew. Psalms +9 and 10 are counted as one and so are Psalms 114 and 115, but 116 and +117 are divided into two, leaving the complete number 150, as in the +Hebrew version. The Vulgate and the Douay version follow the Greek, and +Psalm 9 contains 21 verses, not 38 as in the English Authorised Version. +The English revised version follows the numbering of the Vulgate. + +"Our Latin version of the Psalms is that of the old Itala; it was not +made directly on the Hebrew original ... it is then a translation (the +Greek). By the time of St. Jerome, it had become very faulty, owing to +the very many transcriptions which had been made of it; and this great +scholar revised it, about 383 A.D., on the request of Pope Damascus. His +corrections were not very numerous, because, he feared to upset, by too +many changes, the habits of the faithful, most of whom knew the psalms +by heart. This first version is known as the Roman Psalter. It was soon +deemed insufficient. St. Jerome once more set to work between 387 and +391, and published a second edition, more carefully and more extensively +corrected, of the Italic version of the Psalms; it is called the +_Gallican Psalter_, because it was adopted by the churches of Gaul. When +he, later on, translated the Old Testament from the Hebrew, he published +his third edition of the Psalms, the _Hebraic Psalter_. This version was +a good one, but the faithful were so familiar with the old Itala psalter +that the Church, in her wisdom, thought best to keep it in the editions +of the Vulgate according to the Gallican form.... Our official version +of the psalms is then in many ways defective. It is frequently +incorrect and barbarous in style, obscure in places, and even fails at +times to give the exact sense of the original. Although our Vulgate is +not perfect, it possesses admirable strength and conciseness, joined to +an agreeable savour which gives it the greatest value and causes the +words of the sacred singers, under this form of the Latin spoken by the +people, to strike the mind and become engraved upon the memory much +better than if they were clothed in all the elegance of a modern tongue" +(Vigouroux; _Manuel Biblique_, tom. ii., 663-664). + +The following replies by the Biblical Commission (May, 1910) may not be +deemed out of place:-- + +I. Whether the appellations, Psalms of David, Hymns of David, Davidical +Psaltery, employed in the old collections and in the Councils themselves +to designate the Book of the one hundred and fifty Psalms of the Old +Testament, as well as the opinion of many Fathers and Doctors who held +that absolutely all the psalms of the Psaltery are to be ascribed to +David alone, have so much force that David must be regarded as the sole +author of the entire Psaltery? + +ANSWER: In the negative. + +II. Whether it may rightly be argued from the concordance of the Hebrew +text with the Alexandrine Greek text and other ancient versions, that +the titles prefixed to the Hebrew text are older than the version known +as the Septuagint, and that therefore they have been derived if not from +the authors themselves of the Psalms at least from the ancient Judaic +tradition? + +ANSWER: In the affirmative. + +III. Whether the said titles of the Psalms, as witnesses of Judaic +tradition, may be prudently called into question when there is no grave +argument against their genuineness? + +ANSWER: In the negative. + +IV. Whether, considering the not unfrequent testimonies of the Sacred +Scripture concerning the natural skill of David, illumined by the gift +of the Holy Ghost, in the composition of religious canticles, the +institutions laid down by him for the liturgical chant of the Psalms, +the attribution to him of Psalms made both in the Old and New Testament +and in the very inscriptions which have been prefixed to the Psalms from +antiquity, and in addition to all this the agreement of the Jews and the +Fathers and Doctors of the Church, it can be prudently denied that David +is the principal author of the canticles of the Psaltery, or that it can +be affirmed that only a few of the canticles are to be attributed to the +Royal Psalmist? + +ANSWER: In the negative to both parts. + +V. Whether, specifically, the Davidical origin can be denied of those +psalms which both in the Old and the New Testament are cited expressly +under the name of David, among which are specially to be reckoned Psalm +II., "Quare fremuerunt gentes"; Psalm XV., "Conserva me Domine"; Psalm +XVII., "Diligam te, Domine fortitudo mea"; Psalm XXXI., "Beati quorum +remissae sunt iniquitates"; Psalm LXVIII., "Salvum me fac, Deus"; Psalm +CIX., "Dixit Dominus Domino meo"? + +ANSWER: In the negative. + +VI. Whether it is possible to admit the opinion of those who hold that +among the Psalms of the Psaltery there are some, either of David or of +other authors which on account of liturgical or musical reasons, the +carelessness of amanuenses or other unknown causes, have been divided or +united; and also that there are other Psalms such as the "Miserere mei, +Deus," which in order that they might be better adapted to the +historical circumstances or solemnities of the Jewish people have been +slightly revised or modified, by the omission or addition of a versicle +or two saving, however, the inspiration of the whole sacred text? + +ANSWER: In the affirmative to both parts. + +VII. Whether the opinion can with probability be maintained of those +among more recent writers who have endeavoured to show from merely +internal indications or an inaccurate interpretation of the sacred text +that not a few of the psalms were composed after the time of Esdras and +Nehemias, or even after the time of the Macchabees? + +ANSWER: In the negative. + +VIII. Whether from the manifold testimonies of the Sacred Books of the +New Testament, and the unanimous agreement of the Fathers, as well as +from the admission of the writers of the Jewish people, several +prophetic and Messianic psalms are to be recognised, as prophesying +concerning the coming kingdom, priesthood, passion, death and +resurrection of the future Redeemer; and that therefore the opinion is +to be absolutely rejected of those who, perverting the prophetic and +Messianic character of the Psalms, twist these same prophecies +regarding Christ into merely a prediction regarding the future lot of +the chosen people? + +ANSWER: In the affirmative to both parts. + +On May 1, 1910, in an audience graciously granted to both Most Reverend +Consultors Secretaries His Holiness approved the foregoing answers and +ordered that they be published. + +Rome, May 1, 1910. + +PULCRANUS VIGOUROUX, P.S.S. + +LAURENTIUS JANSSENS, O.S.B. + +Consultors Secretaries. + + +The Psalms were always dear to the hearts of Christians. Our Lord died +with the words of a psalm on His sacred lips: "Into thy hands I commend +my spirit" (Psalm 30, v. 6). Millions of dying Christians have repeated +His great prayer. On the Church's very birthday, when St. Peter preached +the first Christian sermon, he had three texts and two of them were from +the Psalms (Acts II.). To an educated and rigid Pharisee like St. Paul +they were a treasure house of teaching. To the early Christians the +Psalms were a prayer book, for there was no Christian literature. It was +twenty-five years after the Ascension before the first books of the New +Testament were written. Hence St. Paul and St. James tell their fellow +Christians to use the Psalms in worship (Ephesians, v. 19; Colos. iii. +16; I. St. James 5-13). Some of the greatest of the early Christian +writers and saints, Origen, St. Athanasius, Hilary of Poitiers, St. +Ambrose, St. Chrysostom, Bede, and St. Augustine all studied the psalms +deeply and wrote learned commentaries on them. The works of later saints +abound in happy and beautiful quotations from these religious poems. +With them, too, as with those holy people of whom St. Chrysostom wrote, +"David is first, last and midst." For many years no priest was ordained +who could not recite the whole Psalter without the aid of a book, This +veneration of the inspired words deserves respect and imitation. The +learned Calmet (1672-1757) writing of the universal esteem and study of +the Psalms, said that then there existed more than a thousand +commentaries on them. Since then, the number has been doubled; so great +and universal is the reverence and esteem in which this book of +Scripture is held. To conclude this very long note on the Psalms I quote +the quaint words of a mediaeval poet. It shows how the saints of old +found their Master in the songs of His great ancestor:-- + + Rithmis et sensu verborum consociatum + Psalterium Jesu, sic est opus hoc vocitatum, + Qui legit intente, quocunque dolore prematur, + Sentiet inde bonum, dolor ejus et alleviatur; + Ergo pius legat hoc ejus sub amore libenter, + Cujus ibi Nomen scriptum videt esse frequenter. + +_Versicle and respond_ are placed after the psalms and before the +lessons to rouse the attention which is necessary before all prayer, and +the lessons are a noble form of prayer. These little prayers are of very +ancient origin and were dealt with by Alcuin (735-804) in his recension +of the Gregorian books for use in Gaul. His pupil, Amalare, also studied +them, so that a meaning should be found in what was sung, and that the +truncated repetitions should be avoided. He retained what was +traditional and ancient, introduced versicles and responds taken from +ancient Roman books and from books belonging to Metz, selected passages +from the Gospels which seem to fit in with the antiphons and added them +to what he found in the Roman books, made alterations in the order here +and there and gave completion to the whole by adding some offices for +saints' days proper to the Church of Metz (Baudot, _The Roman Breviary_, +p. 88). Amalare had been administrator of the diocese of Lyons during +the exile of Agobard the Archbishop. The latter, with learning and +bitterness, attacked the reforms of Amalare, but, "in spite of all, the +reform of Amalare held its ground in Metz, and then in the greater +number of the churches north of the Alps" (Baudot, _op. cit._). Much of +the work of Amalare stands in our Breviary. + +_Pater Noster_ is said to beg from God, light and grace to understand +the doctrine contained in the lessons. In choir, a part of the Pater +Noster is said in common and in a loud voice to recall the Communion +of saints. + +_Absolutions and Blessings_. "The custom of giving a blessing before the +lections was already in existence in the fourth century. The ruler of +the choir, who gave it in the beginning, gave also the signal for the +termination of the lesson by the words, 'Tu autem' (scil, desine or +cessa), to which the reader responded 'Domine miserere nobis,' while the +choir answered _Deo gratias_. In the palace of Aix-la-Chapeile, it was +by knocking, and not by the words _Tu autem_, that the Emperor +Charlemagne gave the signal for the conclusion of the lections, while +the lector recited himself, _Tu autem, Domine miserere nobis_. The +_Rituale Ecclesiae Dunelmensis_, containing fragments of the Roman +liturgy from the end of the seventh to the ninth and tenth centuries, +includes forms of blessing for the different festivals, sometimes three, +sometimes nine. In the latter case each lesson was provided with its own +form of blessing, which correspond with the mystery commemorated by the +festival. The absolutions, _Exaudi Domine_ and _A vinculis peccatorum_ +did not appear until the succeeding period" (Baudot, _op. cit._, p. 74). + +In offices of three and of nine lessons, the lessons are preceded by the +absolutions and blessings as they stand in the ordinarium, except in the +Office for the Dead and Tenebrae Offices when they are not said. The +Absolution is said immediately after the Pater Noster which follows the +versicle and response under the third, sixth or ninth psalm. The first +benediction is said immediately after it, and the second and third at +the conclusion of the responses after each lesson and in reply to the +words Jube Domine benedicere. The three words are to be said (when only +one person recites the office) before the short Lesson at Prime +and Compline. + +In an office of nine lessons, the absolutions and benedictions in the +first two nocturns do not vary; but in the third nocturns the eighth +benediction may be, if the office is of a saint, Cujus festum, or if of +two or more saints, Quorum (vel quarum) festum. The ninth may be _Ad +societatem_ or, if the ninth lesson be a gospel extract with homily, +_Per evangelica_. + +In offices of three lessons the Absolution Exaudi is said on Monday and +Thursday; Ipsius, on Tuesday and Friday; A vinculis, on Wednesday and +Saturday. But the benedictions vary. Thus, when a gospel extract and a +homily are read, the three benedictions are Evangelica, Divinum, Ad +societatem. When with the three lessons, no gospel extract is read, the +benedictions are Benedictione, Unigenitus, Spiritus Sancti. In an office +of a saint or saints, where the total number of lessons to be said is +three (e.g., the Office of SS. Abdon et Sennen, 30 July), where first +two lessons are from Scripture occurring and last lesson gives lives of +these saints, the benedictions are, Ille nos, Cujus (vel Quorum aut +Quarum) festum, Ad societatem. + +_Lessons._ In the early days of Christendom, the Divine Office consisted +in the singing of psalms, the reading of portions of Sacred Scripture +and the saying of prayers. The principle of continuous reading of the +books of the Bible bears an early date. Later were added readings from +the acts of the martyrs, and later still, readings from the homilies of +the Fathers. Till the seventh century the ferial Office had no lessons +and the Sunday Office had only three, all taken from the Bible, which +was read in its entirety, yearly. In the seventh century, ferial Offices +received three lessons. About the time of St. Gregory, (died 604) the +Office for Matins was divided into three parts or nocturns, each having +lessons. The lessons for the second and third nocturns were not taken +from the Bible, but from the works of the Fathers. These extracts were +collected in book form--the _homilaria_. The collection of extracts made +by Paul the deacon (730-797) and used by Charles the Great (742-814) in +his kingdom, form the foundation of the collected extracts in our +Breviaries. The scripture lessons in our Breviaries are generally known +as "the scripture occurring," and are so arranged that each book of +scripture is begun at least, except the books, Josue, Judges, Ruth, +Paralipomenon and the Canticle of Canticles. Quignonez arranged in his +reform that the whole Bible should be read yearly. But his book was +withdrawn by Pope Paul IV. in 1558. + +Although the ecclesiastical year begins with Advent, the beginnings of +the Bible are not read till March. Hence, we begin the lessons from +Genesis, after Septuagesima Sunday, and not, as we should naturally +expect, at Advent, the beginning of the ecclesiastical year. The order +in which the Scripture lessons are read does not follow the order in +which the books of the Bible stand in the sacred volume. Thus, the Acts +of the Apostles begin on the Monday after Low Sunday and are read for a +fortnight; The Apocalypse begins on the third Sunday after Easter and is +read for a week; then the Epistle of St. James begins, and so on, with +special regard to the feasts of the time, rather than to the order of +the books of the Bible. + +The lessons of the second nocturn are generally commemorative of a saint +or some episode of a saint's life. They have been much, and often +ignorantly criticised, even by priests. The science of hagiology is a +very wide and far-reaching one, which demands knowledge and reverence. +Priests wishing to study its elements may read with pleasure and profit +and wonder _The Legends of the Saints_, by Pere H. Delehaye, S.J., +Bollandist (Longmans, 3s. 6d.). "Has Lectiones secundi Nocturni ex +Historiis sanctorum, quas nunc habemus recognitas fuisse a doctissimis +Cardinalibus Bellarmino et Baronio, qui rejecerunt ea omnia, quae jure +merito in dubium revocari poterant et approbatus sub Clemente VIII." +(Gavantus). And Merati adds "quod aliqua qua controversia erant utpote +alicujus aliquam haberent probabilitatem, ideo rejecta non fuerant sed +retenta eo modo quo erant cum falsitatis argui non possent, quamvis +fortasse opposita sententia sit a pluribus recepta" (Merati, _Obser. ad +Gavant_, sec. v., chap. xii., nn. 10 and 16). The words of these learned +men and the writings of the learned Bollandist mentioned above are +worthy of consideration, as sometimes priests are puzzled about the +truth and accuracy of the incidents recorded in those lessons of the +second nocturn. They should be treated with reverence. The ignorant +flippancy of a priest in an article (in a very secular periodical) on +St. Expeditus gave great pain to Catholics and gave material for years +to come to scoffing bigots. + +"Legends, _i.e._, narratives, were based upon documents of the nature +described above, and worked up by later writers, either for the purpose +of edification or from the point of view of the historian. The writings, +however, differ endlessly as to their value, according to the knowledge +and authority possessed by the writers, and according to their nearness +to the events described. There were many martyrs whose sufferings were +recorded in no acta or passiones, but were imprinted on the memory of +men and became part of the traditions handed down in the community, +until they were finally committed to writing. The later this took place +the worse for the authenticity. For it was then that anachronisms, +alterations in titles, changes in the persons and other similar +historical errors could more easily creep into the narrative, as we know +in fact they have done in many instances. The historical sense was +unfortunately lacking to the Franks and Byzantines, as well as all idea +of sound criticism. + +"A false kind of patriotism and national pride often go along with +credulity, so that we find here and there in literature of this kind, +even downright fabrication. After the introduction of printing, by which +literature became more widely diffused, and comparative criticism was +rendered possible, it at once became evident among Catholics that error +was mixed with truth and that a sifting of the one from the other was +necessary, and, in many cases, possible" (Kellner, _Heorlology_, pp. +209-210). "It was not the intention of the Church or of the compilers +and authors of the service books to claim historical authority for their +statements. And so, the Popes themselves have directed many emendations +to be made in the legends of the Breviary, although many others still +remain to be effected" (Dom Baumer, _Histoire Du Breviare Roman_). Cf. +Dom Cabrol, _Le Reforme du Breviare_, pp. 61-63. + +_Responsories._ (Title XXVII.). In the new Breviary the responsories to +the lessons have been restored to their place of honour. They are of +ancient origin, but "how they came to have a place in the Divine Office, +who was responsible for their composition, what was the process of +development until they reached their present form, are questions upon +which liturgical writers are not quite agreed" (Rev. M. Eaton, _Irish +Eccles. Record_, January, 1915). Amalare of Metz found them fully formed +and placed. The rule of St. Benedict, written about 530 A.D., mentions +them as a recognised part of Matins. In solemn vigils, in the early +Church, the congregation took part in the psalm singing, and hence we +find _psalmi responsorii_ mentioned, and we still have a typical +instance in the Invitatory Psalm of our Office. Probably, some similar +practice existed in the readings from Sacred Scripture. "At those +primitive vigils, then, after the reading of the Sacred Scripture, the +responsory was given by the precentor and the assembled faithful took up +the words and chanted them forth in the same simple melody. Next, a +verse was sung frequently echoing the same sentiment, and the choir +again, as in the _psalmi responsorii_, repeated the refrain or the +responsorii proper. Frequently other verses were added according to the +dignity of the festivals, and after each the faithful struck in with the +original refrain.... At first those responsories would probably have +been extempore ... left to the genius or to the inspiration of the +individual chanter, but gradually, by a survival of the fittest, the +most beautiful ones became stereotyped and spread throughout several +churches.... Later they were carefully collected, arranged and codified +by St. Gregory or one of his predecessors and passed into all the books +of liturgy" (Rev. M. Eaton, _loc. cit._). Monsignor Battifol (_History +of the Roman Breviary_, Eng, trans., p. 78) says that these parts of the +liturgy, in beauty and eloquence rival the chorus dialogues of Greek +drama, and quotes as an example the _Aspiciens a longe_ from the first +Sunday of Advent. + +_Rubrics._ The responsories, as a rule, are said after each lesson of +Matins. When the _Te Deum_ is said after the ninth lesson, there are +only eight responsories. At the end of the third, sixth and eighth +lesson the _Gloria Patri_ with a repetition of part of the responsory is +said. It is said in the second responsory in offices of three lessons +only. In Passiontide the _Gloria Patri_ is not said, but the responsory +is repeated _ab initio_. In the Requiem Office _Gloria Patri_ is +replaced by "_requiem aeternam_." In the Sundays of Advent, Sundays +after Septuagesima until Palm Sunday, and in the triduum before Easter, +there are nine responsories recited. + +Perhaps an explanation of the rubric may not be useless. The asterisk +(*) indicates the part which should be repeated first after the verse +and immediately after the _Gloria Patri_. The _Gloria Patri_ should be +said to include the word _sancto_, and _sicut erat_ should not be said. +Some responsories have two or three asterisks, and then the repetitions +should be made from one asterisk to another and not as far as the verse +ending. Examples may be seen in the responsories for the first Sunday +of Advent and in the _Libera nos_ of the Requiem Office. The +responsories of the Requiem Office--which is almost the only Office +which missionary priests have an opportunity of reciting in choir--are +highly praised for their beauty of thought and expression. They were +compiled by Maurice de Sully (circa 1196), Bishop of Paris. + +_Symbolism of the Rubric._ The responsories are placed after the +lessons, the old writers on liturgy say, to excite attention and +devotion, to thank God for the instruction given in the lessons, to make +us realise and practise what has been read and to teach us that "Blessed +are they who hear the word of God and keep it." Again, those writers +knew why the chanter said only one verse and the worshippers replied in +chorus--to show that all their souls were united and free from schism. + +_Te Deum_ (Title XXXI.). _Author._ In the Breviary prior to the reform +of Pius X., this hymn was printed under the words "Hymnus SS. Ambrosii +et Augustini." However, "no one thinks now of attributing this canto to +either St. Ambrose or St. Augustine" (Battifol, _op. cit._, p. 110). +Formerly, it was piously believed to have been composed and sung by +these saints on the evening of Augustine's baptism. The question of the +authorship of this hymn has led to much study and much controversy. Some +scholars attribute it to St. Hilary, others to Sisebut, a Benedictine; +others to Nicetas, Bishop of Treves, in the year 527. To-day, the +opinion of the learned Benedictine, Dom. Morin--who follows the readings +of the Irish manuscripts--that the hymn was written by Nicetas of +Remesiana (circa 400 A.D.), is the most probable. This opinion has been +criticised by several Continental scholars (V. _Cath. Encly_., art. +"Te Deum"). + +_Rubrics_. The Te Deum is always said at the end of Matins, unless in +Matins of Feast of Holy Innocents, of Sundays of Advent, and from +Septuagesima to Palm Sunday, and ferias outside Eastertide (from Low +Sunday to Ascension Day). + +_The Structure of the Hymn_. In this wonderful composition, there are +probably two hymns connected, and followed by a set of versicles and. +responses, which might be used with any similar hymn. It is probable +that the first hymn (_Te Deum ... Paraclitum Spiritum_), lines 1 to 13 of +Te Deum are older than the second part, which was written probably as a +sequel to the early hymn. The rhythm of the hymn is very beautiful, +being free from abruptness and monotony. Students of poetry may note +that seven lines have the exact hexameter ending, if scanned +accentually, as voce proclamant; Deus sabbaoth, etc. Seven have two +dactyls, as laudabilis numerus, laudat exercitus; one ends with +spondees, apostolorum chorus. The other six lines have a less +regular ending. + +This hymn of praise to the Blessed Trinity is divided into two parts and +seems to be modelled on the lines of the Psalm 148, _Laudate Dominum de +coelis_ (see Sunday Lauds I.). The verses 1 to 6 of the hymn, like the +opening verses of the psalm, record the worship and adoration of the +angels. The second part of the hymn records the worship of human beings +living or dead--Apostles, Prophets, Martyrs. The second hymn, _Tu Rex +gloriae Christi_, etc., is a prayer to Christ, the God Incarnate, the +Redeemer now in Glory, to aid His servants and to aid them to be of the +number of His saints in everlasting glory. + +The third part of the hymn, vv. 22-29 (_Salvum fac_ ... _in aeternum_) +is considered by scholars to be simply versicles, responses and prayers; +the verses 22-23 (Salvum fac... usque in aeternum). being the versicle, +and verses 24-25 (Per singulos dies... saeculi), verse 2 of Psalm 144 +being the response before the beautiful verses of prayer "Dignare Domine +die isto sine peccato nos custodire," etc. "Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep +us this day from sin; O Lord, have mercy on us," etc., etc. + +This hymn has a special interest for Irish priests, as the Irish +recensions of it, found in the Bangor Antiphoner (to be seen in the +Library of Trinity College, Dublin) are of the greatest value to +scholars engaged in critical study. They date from the tenth century, +and give Nicetas as the author. The wording in the old Irish Antiphoner +differs in some verses from the text given in our Breviary. Thus, in +verse 6, the Bangor text has, _universa_ before the word _terra_; again, +in verse 18, the Breviary reads "_Tu ad deteram Dei sedes_," Bangor, and +probably more correctly, reads _sedens_. Verses 26-29, "_Dignare +Domine_... _confundar in aeternum_" are not found in the Irish book. +Those who wish to study these old Irish MSS. may receive great help from +Warren's _Bangor Antiphoner_ (II., pp.83-91) and light comes too from +Julian's _Dictionary of Hymnology_ (pp. 1120-1121). + + +SOME TEXTS AND INTENTIONS WHICH MAY HELP TOWARDS THE WORTHY RECITATION + OF MATINS (_vide_ pages 4, 120). + + "Matutina ligat Christum qui crimina purgat." + "Although I should die with Thee, I will not deny Thee." + "And in like manner also said they all." + "Pray, lest you enter into temptation," + "And being in agony He prayed the longer." + "Friend, whereunto art thou come?--" + "And they holding Jesus led Him away"--the Garden. + "Art thou one of His disciples?" + "My kingdom is not of this world"--Before the High Priest. + +_General Intentions_:-Exaltation of the Church; the Pope; the Mission to +the heathen; Christian nations; the conversion of the heretics, infidels +and sinners; the Catholic laity; the Catholic priesthood. + +_Personal Intentions_:-Lively faith; a greater hope; ardent charity. + +_Special Intentions_:-For parents; for benefactors; for those in sorrow; +dying sinners; deceased priests of Ireland; for the conversion of +England; for vocations to the priesthood. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +LAUDS. + +_Etymology, Definition, Symbolism_. The word "Lauds" is derived from the +Latin _laus_, praise. It is applied to this Hour, as it is _par +excellence_, the hour in which God's praises are chanted by His Church. +This Hour succeeds Matins and precedes Prime. The name is said to have +been given to this Hour on account of the last three Psalms, which +formerly formed part of the Office. In these Psalms, 148, 149, 150, the +word _Laudate_ recurs several times. Before the eighth century the Hour +was called "Matutinum," or morning Office, and sometimes it was called +_Gallicinum_ or _Galli cantus_ from being recited at cock-crow. This is +the Office of daybreak and hence its symbolism is of Christ's +resurrection. "Christ, the light of the world, rose from the tomb on +Easter morning, like a radiant sun, trampling over darkness and shedding +His brightness upon the earth. The hymns, psalms, antiphons and +versicles of Lauds, all proclaim the mystery of Christ's Resurrection, +and the light which enlightens our souls. The reform of the Psalter in +1911 has not always preserved this liturgical idea; nevertheless, the +character of the Office has not been altered. Lauds remains the true +morning prayer, which hails in the rising sun, the image of Christ +triumphant--consecrates to Him the opening day. No other morning prayer +is comparable to this" (Dom. F. Cabrol, _The Day Hours of the Church_, +London, 1910). + +_Antiquity_. The Christians, in their night vigils, followed the pious +practices of the Jews, as to prayers at dead of night and at dawn, +Hence, the Hour, Lauds is of great antiquity, coming, perhaps, from +Apostolic times. It is found well established in the very earliest +accounts of Christian liturgy. + +The old writers on liturgy loved to dwell on pious congruities and +parallelisms. They ask the questions, why did the early Christians pray +at dawn and why is the practice continued? They answer at great length, +I will try to summarise their holy themes. The early Christians prayed +at dawn, 1. that in the New Law the figures of the Old may be fulfilled; +2. to honour the risen Saviour and to remind us of our resurrection; 3. +to glorify Jesus typified by the physical light. "I am the Light of the +world" (St. John, viii. 12); 4. because at dawn, after rest, body and +soul are refreshed and ready to devote all their powers to God, free +from distractions and noise. Each dawn, revealing God's wondrous work, +should hear God's praises in the most sublime words ever uttered, the +Psalms (e.g., _Dominus regnavit, Jubilate Deo_, etc., etc.); +5. because God seems more disposed to hear prayers made at that hour. For, +He has said, "Yet if thou wilt arise early to God and wilt beseech the +Almighty... He will presently awake unto thee and make the dwelling of thy +justice peaceable" (Job, viii. 5-6). "I love them that love me; and +they that in the morning early watch for me shall find me" (Proverbs +viii. 17). + +_Structure_. If Lauds succeeds Matins immediately, _Pater Noster_ and +_Ave Maria_ are omitted, and the Hour begins with _Deus in adjutorium_. +At these words it is a practice but not an obligation to make the sign +of the cross from head to breast (see Vespers, _infra_). Then the Gloria +Patri, Sicut erat, Amen, Alleluia are said before the antiphons and +psalms. But if a notable delay--say, of ten minutes' duration--be made +between the end of Matins and the start of Lauds, the _Pater Noster_ and +_Ave Maria_ begin Lauds. After the psalms, comes the Capitulum, the +Hymn, Versicle and Response, antiphon to Benedictus, Canticle +_Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel, Gloria Patri, Sicut erat_, Antiphon to +Benedictus repeated, _Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo, Oremus_, +collect, commemorations preceded by versicle, response and _Oremus_ +before each. Then _Dominus vobiscum_, _Et cum spiritu tuo_, _Benedicamus +Domino, Deo Gratias, Fidelium animae, Amen_. If another Hour do not +succeed immediately, _Pater Noster_ (said silently), _Dominus det nobis_ +(with a sign of the cross) _suam pacem, Et vitam aeternam_. _Amen_. Then +is said the antiphon of the Blessed Virgin, Alma Redemptoris or Ave +Regina, or Regina Coeli, or Salve Regina, according to the part of the +ecclesiastical year for which each is assigned, with _versicle, +response, oremus, collect, Divinum auxilium_.... Amen. + +_Rubrics_. In the paragraphs dealing with the structure of this hour is +given the rule for saying _Pater Noster_ and _Ave_, The Psalms for +Lauds in the new Breviary follow these rules:-- + +_General Rule_: Psalms of the current day. + +_Exception_: Sunday Psalms on the excepted Feasts. + +In applying the general rule to Sundays and week days, it will be seen +that the Psalter contains two sets of Psalms for Lauds. The use of the +two sets is as follows:-- + +_Sundays_: + (i) Throughout the year: first set of Psalms. + + (ii) Sundays from Septuagesima to Easter: second set of Psalms. + + +_Ferias_: The first set of Psalms is to be used on:-- + + (i) Ferias throughout the year, not including those in Advent, + Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima weeks. + + (ii) Ferias in Paschal time. + + (iii) Feasts at any season of the year. + + (iv) Vigils of Christmas and Epiphany. + + +The second set of Psalms is to be used on:-- + + (i) Ferias of Advent. + + (ii) Ferias from Septuagesima to Wednesday in Holy Week, inclusive. + + (iii) Vigils (common) outside Paschal time, when the Office of Vigil + is said (_New Psalter and Its Uses_, p. 188). + +On Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, the Psalms of the +Feria are to be said. But the Canticle of Moses (Deut, 33) is not said +on Holy Saturday. + +_Antiphons_. As a general rule antiphons of the current day of the week +are to be said. + +_Exceptions_. (1) On excepted Feasts, (2) non-excepted Feasts which have +proper antiphons, (3) Holy Week has special antiphons, (4) Six ferias +before Christmas have special antiphons. + +In Paschal time, all psalms and the canticles are recited under one +antiphon. + +Antiphon of Benedictus (1) Sunday antiphons are proper. (2) Ferias +throughout the year have antiphons of current feria. But Ferias in +Advent, and in Lent, in Passiontide, Paschal time and September Ember +days have proper antiphons. (3) Feasts have antiphons from proper or +from common. + +_Capitulum_ (Title XXIX.). _Etymology, meaning and synonyms_. + +The word _capitulum_ comes from the Latin, and means a little chapter, a +heading, a beginning, an abridgment, because this little chapter is a +little lesson, a brief extract from Sacred Scripture, the head or the +beginning of the Epistle of the Mass of the Feast (Gavantus, Bona). It +is found in every Hour, except Matins. It is known by other names, the +summarium, collectio, collatio, lectio brevis, epistoletto, lectiuncula, +Versiculus brevis. + +_Antiquity_. Some authors hold that this usage of reading a brief +extract from Sacred Scripture is of Jewish origin. For, the Jews were +accustomed to interpose brief readings from Scripture prose in their +psalm chanting service. The _capitulum_ is found in Christian services +of the fourth century; and St. Ambrose (340-397) is said to have +instituted the _capitula_ of Terce, Sext and None. This new practice +spread quickly and several councils recommended or ordered the +usage--e.g., the Council of Agde In 506 A.D. + +_Remarks._ The _Capitulum_ is said always except from Holy Thursday to +the Vespers of Saturday preceding Low Sunday, and in Requiem Offices. In +Compline it is said after the Hymn. + +The _Capitulum_ of Lauds is ordinarily taken from the beginning of the +Epistle of the Mass of the day of the feast. Sext and None generally +have their _capitula_ drawn from the middle and end of the same Epistle +extract. Terce has generally the same words for the _Capitulum_, as +Vespers and Lauds, because it is the grandest and most sublime of the +little Hours. The _Capitulum_ is said without a blessing being sought, +because it is (in choir) read by the Hebdomadarius, who there represents +the person of Christ, just as the _Capitulum_ does too, and for Whom it +would not be consonant to ask a blessing. It concludes without _Tu +autem_, because these words are correlative of _Jube_. And since it is +such a short lesson it is easy to recite it without fault or sin, the +more so as it is read by the Hebdomadarius, who should be advanced in +perfection. It is short, whilst the lessons of Matins, the night Office, +are long, because the day is specially given to toil and the night to +contemplation. During the recital of this little lesson all turn to the +altar through respect for Christ, figured by the _Capitulum_. Sometimes +the words of the _Capitulum_ are from the Itala version and not from +the Vulgate. + +_Psalms and Canticles of Lauds_. The Office of Lauds now consists of +four Psalms and a canticle, followed by a little chapter, a hymn, +versicle, antiphon, of Benedictus, the canticle, Benedictus and prayer. +One of the characteristics of Lauds is the canticle taken from the Old +Testament. Fourteen canticles taken from the Old Testament now find a +place in our Breviaries. Formerly, only seven canticles from the Old +Testament were given in the Psaltery (cf. _supra_, p. 149). + +"If, according to the new distribution of the Psalter, the Psalms for +Lauds do not refer so directly to the symbolism of sunrise, they are +nevertheless more varied and are generally well chosen. The canticles +inserted among the Psalms have also been changed. The whole selection is +worthy of note. It contains, besides those given in the former +arrangement of the Psalter, others which are very beautiful and +admirably prayerful. + +"The hymns for Lauds, all ancient and varying with the seasons, form a +fine collection. Their theme is one: the rising of the sun as a symbol +of Christ's resurrection, and the crowing of the cock, which arouses the +sluggish and calls all to work. Some of these hymns are of considerable +poetical merit: that for Sunday, _Aeterne Rerum conditor_, is a little +masterpiece. + +"The 'Benedictus' corresponds with the _Magnificat_ of Vespers. Both are +sung with the same solemnity and are of the same importance; they form +as it were the culminating point of their respective Hours, and for +feast days the altar is incensed while they are chanted. + +"The 'Benedictus' or Canticle of Zachary recalls the Precursor's mission +of proclaiming the Messiah and the new alliance. It is altogether +appropriate to the Office of daybreak, as ushering in the dawn of a new +era. The closing verse speaks of the light which the announcement of the +Messiah shed upon the nations 'sitting in darkness and in the shadow of +death'" (Dom Cabrol, Introduction to _Day Hours of the Church_). + +"This Canticle of Zachary (St. Luke i. 68-79) naturally falls into two +parts. The first (verses 68 to 75, 'Benedictus Dominus ... diebus +nostris') is a song of thanksgiving for the fulfilment of the Messianic +hopes of the Jews, to which is given a Christian sentiment. The power, +which was of old in the family of David for the defence of the nation, +is being restored, and in a higher and more spiritual sense. The Jews +mourning under the Roman yoke prayed for deliverance through the house +of David. The 'deliverance,' a powerful salvation ('cornu salutis +nobis') was at hand so that the Jews were seeing the fulfilment of God's +promise made to Abraham, and this deliverance, this salvation was such +that 'we may serve Him without fear in holiness and justice, all our +days' (St. Luke i. 75). + +"The second part of the canticle (verses 76-80, 'Et tu puer ... ad +dirigendos pedes nostros') is an address by Zachary to his own son, who +was to take an important part in the scheme of the powerful salvation +and deliverance by the Messiah. This canticle is known as the canticle +of joyous hope, hence its use at funerals at the moment of interment, +when words of thanksgiving for the Redemption are specially in place as +an expression of Christian hope" (_Catholic Encyclopedia_, art. +"Benedictus"). + +_Oratio_ (Title XXX.). The word _oratio_ has various meanings. In the +liturgy it is translated by the word "collect." The word "collect" means +either that the priest who celebrates Mass collects in a short form the +needs, the thanksgivings and the praises of the people, to offer them up +to God; or most probably "the original meaning seems to have been this: +it was used for the service held at a certain church on the days when +there was a station held somewhere else. The people gathered together +and became a collection at the first church; after certain prayers had +been said they went in procession to the station church. Just before +they started, the celebrant said a prayer, the _oratio ad collectam_ +(_ad collectionem populi_), the name would then be the same as _oratio +super populum_, a title that still remains in our Missal, in Lent, for +instance, after the Post-Communion. This prayer, the collect, would be +repeated at the beginning of Mass at the station itself. Later writers +find other meanings for the name. Innocent III. says that in this prayer +the priest collects all the prayers of the faithful" (_De Sacr. Altar. +Mystic_. ii., 2). See also Benedict XIV. (_De SS. Missae Sacr_. ii., +5,--Dr. A. Fortescue, _Cath. Encyl_., art. "collect"). + +_Antiquity of collects_. No one can say with certainty who the +composers of the collects were. All admit the antiquity of these +compositions. In the fourth century certain collects were believed to +come from apostolic times; indeed, the collects read in the Mass on Good +Friday, for Gentiles, Jews, heretics, schismatics, catechumens and +infidels bear intrinsic notes of their antiquity. Other liturgical +collects show that they were composed in the days of persecution. Others +show their ages by their accurate expression of Catholic doctrine +against, and their supplications for, heretics, Manicheans, Sabbelians, +Arians, Pelagians and Nestorians. St, Jerome in his Life of St. Hilarion +(291-371) writes, "Sacras Scriptures memoriter tenens, post orationes et +psalmos quasi Deo praesente recitabat." It is said that St. Gelasius (d. +496), St. Ambrose (d. 397), St, Gregory the Great (d. 604) composed +collects and corrected existing ones. The authorship and the period of +composition of many of the Breviary collects are matters of doubt and +difficulty. Even the date of the introduction of collects into the +Divine Office is doubtful. In the early Christian Church there seems to +have been one and only one prayer, the _Pater Noster_, in liturgical +use. St. Benedict laid it down in his rule that there should be none +other. It is generally held by students of liturgy that the collects +were originally used in Mass only and were introduced into the Office at +a time much later than their introduction into the Mass books. + +In the Masses for Holy Week we see the collects in their oldest existing +form. The rite of the Mass has been shortened at all other seasons, and +there remains now only the greeting, _Oremus_, and the collect itself. +The _Oremus_ did not refer immediately to the collect, but rather to the +silent prayer that went before it. This also explains the shortness of +the older collects. They are not the prayer itself, but its conclusion. +One short sentence summed up the petitions of the people. It is only +since the original meaning of the collect has been forgotten that it has +become itself a long petition with various references and clauses +(compare the collects for the Sundays after Pentecost with those of +modern feasts)--(_Cath. Encyl._, art. "Collects"). + +The following examples which are not extreme, may help to make clear and +emphatic the matter of the shortness of the old and the length of the +new collects. + +"Protector in te sperantium, Deus, sine quo nihil est validum, nihil est +sanctum: multiplica super nos misericordiam tuam; ut te rectore, te +duce, sic transeamus per bona temporalia, ut non amittamus aeterna. +Per Dominum." + +_Translation_--"O God, the Protector of all that hope in Thee, without +Whom nothing is sure, nothing is holy, bountifully bestow on us, Thy +mercy, that Thou being our ruler and our guide, we may so pass through +temporal blessings that we lose not the eternal. Through our Lord ..." +(Collect for third Sunday after Pentecost.) + +"Omnipotens et misericors Deus qui beatam Joannam Franciscam tuo amore +succensam admirabili spiritus fortitudine per omnes vitae semitas in via +perfectionis donasti, quique per illam illustrare Ecclesiam tuam nova +prole voluisti: ejus meritis et precibus concede ut qui infirmitatis +nostrae conscii de tua virtute confidimus coelestis gratiae auxilio, +cuncta nobis adversantia vicamus. Per Dominum ..." + +_Translation_-"Almighty and merciful God Who inflaming blessed Jane +Frances with love, didst endow her with a marvellous fortitude of spirit +to pursue the way of perfection In all the paths of life, and wast +pleased through her to enrich Thy Church with a new offspring, grant by +her merits and intercession that we, who, knowing our own weakness, +trust in Thy strength, may by the help of Thy heavenly grace overcome +all things that oppose us. Through our Lord" (Collect of St. Jane +Frances Fremiot De Chantal, August 21). + +_Rubrics_. In Vespers and Lauds the collect is said after the antiphons +of the _Magnificat_ and _Benedictus_, unless the _Preces_ (q.v.) are to +be said in these hours. Then the _Preces_ are said after the antiphons, +and the collects follow after them immediately. The collect of a ferial +Office is found in Office of the previous Sunday, except in ferias of +Lent and Rogation days which have special and proper collects. + +At Prime and the other Hours the collect is said after the little +respond, unless the _Preces_ be recited. They precede the collect. At +Compline the collect is said after the antiphon _Salva nos_ if the +_Preces_ be not recited. + +At Prime and Compline the collects of the Psalter are never changed +except during the last three days of Holy Week. In this triduum, in all +hours up to and including None on Holy Saturday the collect is said +after the Psalm _Miserere_. + +Before reciting the collect in the Office, everyone in deacon's orders +or in priesthood says _Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo_, and this +is said even if the Office be said privately. All others reciting the +Office say _Domine exaudi orationem meam. Et clamor meus ad te veniat_. +Then the word _Oremus_ is prefixed to the recitation of the collect, and +at the end, _Amen_ is said. If there be only one collect, the _Dominus +vobiscum_ or the _Domine exaudi_ with the responses _Et cum spiritu tuo; +Et clamor meus ad te veniat_ is repeated after the _Amen_. But if there +be more than one collect, before each is said its corresponding antiphon +and versicle and also the word, _Oremus_. After the last collect is +said, the _Dominus vobiscum_ and _Et cum spiritu tuo_ are repeated. Then +we add _Benedicamus Domino; Deo Gratias, Fidelium animae_.... This +latter verse is not a constant sequel to the _Benedicamus_, as we see in +Prime, where the verse _Pretiosa_ succeeds it; and again in Compline it +is succeeded by _Benedicat et custodiet_. The concluding words of the +prayers or collects vary. If the prayer is addressed to God the Father, +the concluding words are _Per Dominum_ (see the collects given above). +If the prayer be addressed to God the Son, the concluding words are _Qui +vivis et regnas_--e.g., Deus qui in tuae caritatis exemplum ad fidelium +redemptionem .... Qui vivis et regnas (Collect for St. Peter Nolasco's +feast, 3ist January). If in the beginning of the prayer mention is made +of God the Son, the ending should be _Per eundem, e.g.,_ Domine Deus +noster? qui, beatae Brigittae per Filium tuurn unigenitum secreta +coelestia revelasti; ... Per eundem Dominum (collect for feast, 8th +October). But if the mention of God the Son is made near the end of the +collect, the ending is _Qui tecum vivit et regnal, e.g._, "Famulorum +tuorum, quaesumus, Domine.... Genitricis Filii tui Domini nostri +intercessione salvemur: Qui tecum vivit et regnat" (collect of +Assumption, 15th August). If the name of the Holy Ghost occur in the +prayer, the conclusion is, _In unitate ejusdem Spiritus sancti, e.g._, +"Deus, qui hodierna die corda ... in eodem spiritu recta ... _in imitate +ejusdem Spiritus_" (collect: for Pentecost Sunday). + +The following lines, giving the rules for terminations, are well known +and are useful, as a help to the memory:-- + + _Per Dominum_ dicas, si Patrem quilibet oras + Si Christum memores, _Per eundem_, dicere debes + Si loqueris Christo, _Qui vivis_ scire memento; + _Qui tecum_, si sit collectae finisin ipso + Si Flamen memores _ejusdem_ die prope finem + +When there are several collects an ending or conclusion is added to the +first and last only. _Dominus vobiscum_ is said before the first collect +only, but each collect is preceded by the word _Oremus_, unless in the +Office for the Dead. + +_Explanation of the Rubric_. Where a feast is transferred either +occasionally or always and its collect contains words such as _Hanc +diem, hodiernom diem_, it is not allowed to change the wording, without +permission of the Congregation of Rites (S.R.C., 7th September, 1916). + +If the collect of a commemoration be of the same form as the prayer of +the feast, the former is taken from the common of saints, in +proper place. + +_Dominus vobiscum_. This salutation is of great antiquity. It was the +greeting of Booz to his harvestmen (Ruth, ii. 4). The prophet used the +selfsame salutation to Azas. And the Angel Gabriel expressed the same +idea, _Dominns tecum_, to the Blessed Virgin. It was blessed and +honoured by our Lord Himself, when to His apostles he said "Ecce ego +vobiscum sum omnibus diebus" (St. Matt. 28. 20). This beautiful +salutation passed into Church liturgy at an early date, probably in +apostolic times. Its use in liturgy was mentioned at the Council of +Braga (563), and it is found in the Sacramentarium Gelasianum (sixth +century). These words are called the divine salutation. They mean that +the priest who utters them is at peace with all clergy and people and +thus wishes God to remain with them--the highest and holiest of wishes. +For the presence of God, Who is the source of every good and the author +of every best gift, is a certain pledge of divine protection and of that +peace and consolation which the world cannot give. This formula is used +even in private recitation of the Office, as the priest prays in union +with and in the name of the Church. + +The words _Et cum spiritu tuo_ add a new and further significance to the +salutation; for it is the spirit, the human soul, that prays, and when +the spirit prays in the name of the Church for her children, its work +is a work of high spiritual order, demanding the use of all the +soul's powers, + +_Oremus._ This exhortation is of very great antiquity, and in this form +is found in the liturgies of St. James and of St. Mark. In those days it +was said by the priest in a loud voice. The priest, the mediator, +following the example of the great Mediator, Christ, calls others to +join with him in prayer. St. Augustine tells us, that sometimes after +pronouncing the word _Oremus_, the priest paused for a while and the +people prayed in silence, and then the priest "collected" the united +prayers of the congregation and offered them to God, hence the name +_collect_ (St. Augustine, Epistle 107), (_cf._ Probst., _Abendl +Messe_, p. 126). + +_Invocation and Conclusion_. Prayer is addressed generally to God the +Father. This practice is in accordance with the example and doctrine of +Christ, "Father, I give Thee thanks" (St. John, xi, 41); "Amen, amen, I +say to you; if you ask the Father anything in My name, he will give it +to you" (St. John, xvi. 23). "And He taught us to say 'Our Father.'" In +the early ages of the Church, seldom was prayer addressed to God, the +Son. Innocent III. tells us that the reason for the practice was a fear +that such prayer might lead the catechumens, the Jews or the Pagans +converted to Christianity, to allege or to believe that Christians +worshipped several Gods. However, with the advent of the early heresies, +it became necessary to formulate prayers witnessing the divinity of +Christ and His equality in all things to the Father and the Holy Ghost. +In some of the great prayers of the liturgy, the three Persons of the +Holy Trinity are named to show their equality and unity of nature and +substance. Nearly all the prayers of this kind are the products of the +Church during the storms of early heresy against the divinity, nature or +personality of Christ. + +The conclusions of the prayers generally contain the words _Per Dominum +nostrum Jesum Christum_, because all graces come through Jesus Christ, +our Lord and Saviour, Who pleads, as Mediator between God and Man, as He +Himself has said, "No man cometh to the Father but by Me" (St. +John, xiv. 6). + +Hence, in every collect, we may distinguish five parts: the invocation, +the motive, the petition, the purpose, the conclusion. + +(1) The Invocation takes some form such as _Deus, Domine_. + +(2) The motive is commonly introduced by the relative _qui_; e.g., Deus, +_qui corda fidelium sancti spiritus illustratione docuisti_. + +(3) The petition, the body or centre or substance of the prayer, is +always noted for the solemn simplicity of language, which marks +liturgical prayer, e.g., _Multiplica_ super nos misericordiam tuam. + +(4) The purpose is an enforcement of the petition. It has reference, +generally, to the need of the petitions and is marked usually with the +word _ut_. "Multiplica super nos misericordiam tuam, _ut_ quae, nobis +agendis praecipis, te miserante adimplere possimus" (prayer for feast of +St. Patrick). + +(5) The _conclusion_ varies, e.g., "Per Dominum nostrum," "Per eundem +Dominum," etc. + +"Those who pay intelligent attention to the liturgical chant at High +Mass, and in particular to the chant of the celebrant, will be able to +discover for themselves that the intonations used in the singing of the +collect and the Post-Communion serve, as a rule, to mark off two at +least of the main divisions indicated. Two inflections, a greater and a +lesser, occur in the body of the prayer, the greater for the most part +coming at the close of the 'motive,' while the lessor concludes the +'petition' and produces the purpose of the prayer. When the prayers are +correctly printed, as in the authentic 'Missale Romanum,' the place of +the inflexions is indicated by a colon, 'punctum principals,' and a +semicolon, 'semi-punctum,' respectively. These steps, it will he +observed, indicate, not precisely 'breaks in the sense' (as Haberl +incorrectly says) but rather the logical divisions of the sentence, +which is not quite the same thing" (Father Lucas, S.J., _Holy Mass_, +chap, vi.). + +The question is often asked, why _Dominus vobiscum_ is said after the +collect, or prayer. Writers on liturgy reply that it is so placed +because Christ frequently used the salutation _Pax vobis_, and the +priest in public prayer holds the place of Christ, and as he, the +priest, used this formula of salvation before the collect to obtain the +spirit of prayer and the grace of God, he repeats it so that these gifts +may be retained. + +In the collects, the fatherland of the saints is rarely found, because +the saints' true home and fatherland is heaven, where they were born +again to life eternal, and their fatherland is not this valley of exile +where they spent their temporal life. Nor are their surnames given in +the collects (see the collect of St. Jane Frances Fremiot de Chantel +given on p. 180). But it is not infrequent in the collects to find +certain appellations characterising a saint or noting some special +prerogative or wonderful gift of grace. The Church's collects record the +wonderful gifts of St. John Chrysostom ("the golden-mouthed"), St. Peter +Chrysologus ("qui ob auream ejus eloquentiam Chrysologi cognomen adeptus +est") (_Rom. Brev_.). Sometimes the nation or earthly home of a saint is +given in a collect to distinguish one saint from another. This is seen +in the case of saints bearing the name of Mary, which if used absolutely +or unqualifiedly refers to the Mother of God. See the collects for St. +Mary Magdalen, St. Mary of Egypt, etc. + +The collect or prayer is placed at the end of the Hours to collect or +gather up the fruits of all the prayers that precede; to beg from God +that His grace may follow our actions as it precedes them; that the +prayer may be a shield and buckler against all temptations which may be +encountered. The prayers at Prime and at Compline never vary, to remind +us, the old writers tell us, that all our acts should be invariably +referred to God. In the early ages of the Church, all public prayers, +both in Mass and in Office were offered up by both priests and people +with outstretched arms. This practice is observed still, in a certain +way, in Mass. + +_Benedicamus_ is the prayer to thank God for all His graces. + +_Fidelium animae_. This prayer is said after every Hour, unless where +the hour is said in choir and followed immediately by Mass. It Is +omitted, too, before the Litany. + +De Precibus (Title XXXIV.). These are prayers which are said at some of +canonical Hours, before the collect or oratio. They commence with Kyrie +eleison or Pater Noster. They consist of versicles and responses and +these differ from other versicles and responses, which are generally +historic, e.g., In omnem terram exivit sonus eorum, Amavit eum Dominus +et laudavit eum. But the versicles and responses of the _preces_ are +always a call to God or an exhortation to praise God (e.g., Fiat +misericordia tua, Domine), super nos, Quemadmodum speravimus in te (see +Prime, infra, page 193). These prayers are of great antiquity, mention +of them being found in the works of Amalare (ninth century). + +They are said in some Offices in Vespers, Compline, Lauds, Prime and +Little Hours. Before the reform of the Breviary by Pope Pius X,, the +Preces at Vespers contained six short prayers and the Psalm, Miserere. +In the new Breviary nine short prayers are given in the Preces--the six +former prayers being retained and three new ones, Pro Papa; Pro +antistite; Pro benefactoribus, being added. The Miserere is omitted. The +same additions were made in Lauds and the Psalm, De Profundis omitted. + +In Prime and the Little Hours, the preces are unchanged standing in the +new Breviary as in the old. + +_Rubrics_. The Preces are recited in the Office of-- + +(1) Prime and Compline on certain days; + +(2) Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline of certain +feasts. + +The preces feriales at Lauds and Vespers are the same in structure. They +have the same structure in Terce, Sext, None, but differ in character. +The preces dominicales at Prime and Compline have a form of their own, +additions being made in the preces of Prime when said on a feria. + +1. The Preces Feriales are said at Lauds on Ferias of Lent, Advent and +Passiontide, Ember days, except Ember day at Pentecost and on Vigils +(except on Vigil of Christmas, Epiphany, Ascension, Friday after +Ascension and Vigil of Pentecost)--when the Office on those days is of +the current feria. + +2. At Prime (i) Preces Dominicales are said in all semi-doubles, +simples, Ferial Offices. + +(i) They are said at Little Hours if said at Lauds. + +(ii) At Prime, Preces Feriales are said if they have been said at Lauds. + +3. At Vespers Preces Feriales are said (1) on ferias of Advent and Lent +when office is of feria. + +4. At Compline, Preces Dominicales are said on all (i) semi-doubles, +(ii) simples, (iii) all Ferias, _unless_ at Vespers a double or an +octave was celebrated. + + + + +SOME TEXTS AND INTENTIONS WHICH MAY HELP TOWARDS THE DEVOUT + RECITATION OF LAUDS. + +1. "And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they come +to the sepulchre, the sun being now risen." + +They said to one another, "Who shall roll us back the stone from the +door of the sepulchre?" (St. Mark, xv.). + +2. "And looking, they saw the stone rolled back.... And entering the +sepulchre they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a +white robe; and they were astonished. Who sayeth to them, Be not +affrighted; you seek Jesus of Nazareth Who was crucified. He is risen, +He is not here" (St. Mark, xv.). + +3. "Behold Jesus sayeth to her (Magdalen) 'Woman, why weepest thou?'" + +4. "Behold Jesus met them (the women) saying to them 'All hail.'" + +(5) "See my hands and feet, that it is I myself, handle and see" (St. +Luke, xxiv.). + +6. "Bring hither thy hand and put it into My side and be not faithless." + +7. "My Lord and my God" (St, John, xx.). + +_General Intentions_. The wants of the Church, peace among +nations--vocations to the priesthood--Church students--souls in +Purgatory. + +_Personal Intentions_. A glorious resurrection; fervour in saying the +Office; fervour in saying Mass; fervour in priestly work; forgiveness +of all sin. + +_Special Intentions_. For Catholic Ireland; for the conversion of +America; for peace throughout the world. + + + + +PRIME (TITLE XV.). + +_Etymology_. The name _Prime_ is derived from the Latin _prima_ because +this part of the Office was said at the first hour of the day, 6 a.m., +with us, following the old Roman distribution of the day. + +_Origin_. It was stated by some writers that this Hour was established +by St. Clement and should therefore date from almost apostolic times. +But modern writers, following the statement of Cassian, date the origin +of this Hour from about the year 382. It was believed, too, that the +monastery indicated by Cassian as the cradle of Prime was the monastery +of Bethlehem, St. Jerome's monastery. But it was probably established +not there, but in a monastery in the neighbourhood, Dair-er-Raociat +(convent of the shepherds) or in Seiar-en-Ganheim (enclosure of the +sheep). Cassian tells us the reason that led to the introduction of this +Hour. Lauds ended at dawn, and the monks retired to rest. As no other +choir work called them until Terce, at 9 a.m., some of them were +inclined to rest until that hour and to neglect the spiritual reading +and manual work laid down by their rule. To prevent this prolonged rest, +it was decided to introduce a short choir service, the recital of a few +psalms, and then the monks went to work until Terce (_Cath. +Encyclopedia_, "Prime"). + +_Contents_. Originally the matter for Prime was drawn from Lauds and was +a repetition of part of Lauds. Prime consists of two parts. The first +part consists of hymn, psalms, little chapter and collect. The prayers +and confiteor inserted before the collect and said on certain days are +adjuncts. The second part contains the Martyrology (when Prime is said +in choir) and other prayers peculiar to the Hour. "The reason for this +divergence may be traced to the fact that Prime is of monastic +institution and the second portion, which is said in the chapter house, +has reference to monastic customs. The Martyrology and Necrology having +been read, prayers were said for the dead recommended to the Community, +as benefactors, friends, patrons, protectors, etc. Then followed a +special prayer in preparation for manual labour of the day, and a +chapter of the rule was read, on which the Abbot briefly commented or +else gave some admonition to the Community. This monastic character will +be easily recognised by a glance at the formulas used. The prayer, +'Sancta Maria et omnes sancti' forms a natural conclusion, to the +reading of the Martyrology, The 'Deus in adjutorium,' the 'Pater Noster' +with accompanying versicles, and the collect, are the prayers before +manual labour: 'Respice,' etc., Look, O Lord, upon Thy servants and upon +Thy works... and direct Thou the work of our hands. 'Dirige et +sanctificare,' etc., 'Vouchsafe to direct and sanctify our senses, words +and actions,' etc. Whilst the 'Dominus nos benedicat' and the 'Fidelium +animae' are the conclusion of the prayers for the dead" (Dom Cabrol, +Introduction to the _Day Hours of the Church_). + +_Structure_:-i. Pater, Ave, Credo, silently. 2. Deus in adjutorium. ... +Domine ad adjuvandum .. with sign of the cross, Gloria Patri. ... Sicut +erat. ... 3. Hymn, _fam lucis_. 4. Antiphon, first words only. 5. Psalms +for the Sunday or feria as rubrics direct, with the Athanasian Creed if +it be ordered, then the antiphon in full. 6. Regi saeculorum ... or, +Pacem et veritatem. ... Deo Gratias, Christie, Fili Dei vivi.... 7. +Preces, if they are ordered in the Office of the Day, Preces Dominicales +or Preces feriales as rubrics direct. These include versicles, +responses, confiteor, misereatur... indulgentiam... versicles responses. +8. Dominus vobiscum. Et cum spiritu tuo. Oremus, Domine Deus..... Amen. +Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo. 9. Benedicamus Domino, Deo +Gratias. 10. In choir, the martyrology is here read, 11. Pretiosa... +mors.... 12. Sancta Maria et omnes Sancti.... 13. Thrice, Deus in +adjutorium meum intende, Domine ad adjuvandum... without the sign of +cross, Gloria Patri.... Sicut erat. 14. Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison, +Kyrie Eleison, Pater Noster, qui es in coelis... (in silence). Et ne nos +inducas in tentationem. Sed libera nos a malo. 15. Respice in servos +tuos.... Et sit splendor....16. Gloria Patri.... Sicut erat....Oremus, +Dirigere et sanctificare.... l7. Jube, Domine.... Deus et actus +nostros....Amen. 18. Lectio brevis, which in feast offices is the +Capitulum from None. 19. Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domine (with sign +of cross on forehead, breast and shoulders); Qui fecit....20. +Benedicite, Deus; Domine nos benedicat...in pace, Amen. To the lectio +brevis at Prime, Tu autem Domine, miserere nobis, is added. + +_The Athanasian Creed_. In the Roman Breviary prior to the reform of +1911, the title given to the formula of faith was Symbolum S. Athanasi. +In the new Breviaries the title stands Symbolum Athanasianum. Why was +the change made? + +During the past two hundred years the authorship of this formula has +led to great discussion and its reading has led to much bitter and +heated controversy in Anglican and Protestant churches. Many contended +for its retention in Protestant services and many rejoiced at its +partial exclusion, its truncated revision and clamoured for its +rejection everywhere from service. Controversy led to the study of its +origin. In 1872 a Protestant author, Ffoulkes, maintained that it was +not composed by St. Athanasius (296-373) but by Paulinus of Aquileia +(A.D. 800). But the literature of the age of Charlemagne proves that +this creed had at the beginning of the ninth century an antiquity of at +least more than a century (Ommaney, _History and Structure of the +Athanasian Creed_, Oxford, 1897). Scholars, basing their opinions on +words found in the _Expositio Fidei Fortunati_, date the origin of +this symbol from the fifth century. It contains certain expressions +which a writer subsequent to the Council of Chalcedon (451) would have +been most unlikely to employ, and omits certain expressions which such a +writer would have been most unlikely to omit. However, it is likely that +the creed dates from the fifth century. Who its author was, is quite +doubtful. It was not St. Athanasius, it may have been St. Hilary of +Aries, or St. Vincent of Lerins, or some local bishop in southern +France, "But let us only suppose that the real author was some local +bishop--or the theologian employed by some local bishop--and that it was +composed in the first instance for purely local use in some district of +southern France--then does not the difficulty disappear, and are not +the facts of its silent and gradual adoption suitably explained? Not +coming from an author of wide reputation, it would not at first have +attracted much attention and would have been used only in the locality +of its origin; from there its use would have spread to neighbouring +districts; as it got more known it would have been more widely adopted, +and the compactness and lucidity of its statements, and the +enthusiasm-inspiring character of its style would have contributed to +make it highly prized wherever it was known. Then would come speculation +as to its authorship, and what wonder if in uncritical times an +Athanasian authorship was first guessed, then confidently affirmed and +believed?" (Father Sydney F. Smith, S.J., _The Month_, October, 1904). + +This opinion is only one of several held by Catholic scholars. Dom Morin +holds strongly, and gives very good reasons for his view, that it was +written by Martin of Braga between the years 550 and 580. It was +written, he says, for the people of Galicia in Spain, who had been +recently converted from Arianism (_Journal of Theological Studies_, +April, 1911). It was adopted into Gallican liturgy and office about 980, +and in the Roman office only when the Curial Breviary was adopted. + +"The liturgical use of the Athanasian Creed was Frankish in origin +(ninth century) and spread through the influence of the Cluniac reform +(tenth century), but only found its way to Rome in the Supplementary +prayers in the twelfth and thirteenth century" (Burton and Myers, _op. +cit_., p. 51). + +_Rubrics_. Athanasian Creed, to be said (1) Trinity Sunday, (2) Sundays +after Epiphany, (3) Sundays after Pentecost unless there be in (2) and +(3) the commemoration of a double, or of an octave. + +Why is prayer offered at this first hour of the day? + +Writers on liturgy answer, 1st to offer to God the first fruits of our +day, of our work, of our devotion, following in this the example of +Christ, Who from His first entry into the world offered Himself to His +Father for the salvation of mankind. 2d To beg of Him to keep us safe +during the day, 3d To beg of Him to keep us free from sin, "ut in +diurnis actibus nos servet a nocentibus." + + "May God in all our words and deeds + Keep us from harm this day. + May He in love retain us still, + From tones of strife and words of ill, + And wrap around and close our eyes + To earth's absorbing vanities. + May wrath and thoughts that gender shame + Ne'er in our breasts abide. + And painful abstinences tame + Of wanton flesh, the pride" (Hymn at Prime). + +_Rubrics_. The Office of Prime begins in choir with the silent +recitation of _Pater Noster, Ave, Credo_. Then, if in choir (aloud) Deus +in adjutorium. ... Domine ad adjirvandum. ... Gloria Patri.... Alleluia, +or Laus tibi.... Then the hymn _fam lucis_ is said. The antiphon for the +day is said as far as the asterisk (*), then the Psalms of the day's +Office as arranged in the new Pian Psaltery, according to the day of the +week, except on some special feasts, when the Psalms at Prime are the +Sunday psalms. When the _ordo recitandi_ marks an Office as _officium +solemne_ (an excepted feast), the psalms at Lauds and Hours are the +Sunday psalms; and at Prime the psalm _Deus in nomine tuo_ (Psalm 53) +takes the place of Psalm _Confitemini_ (Psalm 117). At Prime, and at the +small Hours, Terce, Sext, None, only one antiphon is said. It is said in +full at the end of the last Psalm in each Hour. + +The Capitulum, the little Responsory, _Christe_, _Fili Dei vivi_ ... is +then said. In this responsory the versicle _Qui sedes ad dexteram +Patris_ is sometimes changed, e.g., in paschal time it is, _Qui +surrexisti a mortuis_. + +The manner of reciting this responsory is sometimes not correctly +understood, owing, perhaps, to its printed form in some Breviaries. The +normal method is to repeat the _whole_ response, then say the versicle, +and then the second portion of the response; then the _Gloria Patri el +Filio et Spiritui Sancto, without the Sicut erat_, is said, and the +response repeated. The versicle _Exsurge_ and the response _Et libera_ +are then said. This is the method of recitation in all the small Hours +and at Compline. + +After this responsory, if the Office be of double rite or be an Office +within an octave, or on the vigil of Epiphany or on Friday or Saturday +after Ascension, or on a Sunday on which a double is commemorated, or an +octave is celebrated, or on a semi-double feast within an octave, +_Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo_, and the prayer _Dominus Deus +omnipotens_ is said. But if the Office be not any of these mentioned +just now, the responsory is followed by the _Preces_. + +_Preces_ (Title XXXIV.) In the Breviary there are two sets of preces, +the Preces Dominicales for Sunday and the Preces Feriales for ferial +Offices. These ferial preces of Prime differ from the ferial preces of +Lauds, and are said in Prime when the ferial preces are said in Lauds, +That is, on the ferias of Advent, Lent, Passiontide, Ember days and +Vigils. The ferial preces of Lauds are found in the Breviary, +immediately after the second set of Psalms for ferial Lauds and after +the short responsory in the psalm arrangements for the days of the week. +(See Lauds, _supra_, p. 188.) + +These prayers were introduced at a very early stage of Christian +liturgy. St. Isidore writes that they come from Greek liturgy and the +opening words _Kyrie eleison_ seem to indicate remnants of an old +litany. Formerly they were read oftener during the liturgical year than +we now are called on to repeat them. They are sometimes referred to as +the _preces flebiles_, tearful prayers, because they are said in times +of penance, and are formed to excite tears. In choir recitation they are +said kneeling. When the preces or the preces feriales are said the sign +of the cross is made from the forehead to the breast, at the words +_Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini_. Then the Confiteor is said. + +The Confiteor was from an early date a prayer said privately as a +preparation for Mass. It is found in several forms; _Confiteor Deo, +beatae Mariae, omnibus sanctis et vobis_ (Sarum Missal), but since the +time of St. Pius V. (1566-1572) our present form alone was followed and +allowed (S. R. C., 13th February, 1666). If the Office be recited +privately or with one or two companions, the _confiteor_ is said once +only and simultaneously in the preces, and the words _vobis fratribus_ +and _vos fratres_, which priests say in the opening prayer of Mass are +omitted. It should be remarked, too, that the _Misereatur_ and +_Indulgentiam_ have not in this location _vestri, vestris, vos,_ but +_nostri, nostris, nos_. Sometimes errors in this part of the recitation +of the Office are unnoticed, and this pronoun error makes the formula +meaningless. + +After the _Indulgentiam_ come the concluding versicles of the preces, +Dignare ... sine peccato ... miserere ... miserere ... Fiat ... +Quemadmodum ... Domine ... Et ... Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo, +and the prayer _Domine Deus Omnipotens_ ... Amen. ... Dominus vobiscum, +Et cum spiritu tuo. ... Benedicamus Domino, Deo gratias. If the Office +be said in choir, the martyrology is read at this part of Prime. The +reading of the martyrology is not of obligation in private recitation of +the Office; but the reading of it was highly recommended, even in +private recitation, by Pope Gregory XIII. (14th January, 1584; see his +words in the beginning of the Martyrology). + +Then are said, Pretiosa ... mors ... sancta Maria ... Deus in +adjutorium... Domine ad adjuvandum (both the latter being repeated +thrice) ... Gloria Patri ... Sicut erat ... Kyrie eleison ... Christe +eleison ... Kyrie eleison ... Pater Noster (silently) until words "Et +ne nos" ... Sed libera ... Respice ... Et sit ... Gloria Patri ... Sicut +erat ... Oremus, Dirigere et ... Amen, Jube Domine ... Dies et +actus ... Amen. + +The short lesson which, on all feasts, is the same as the chapter which +is said at None will be found in the proper or common, under that Hour, +The new Psalter and new rubrics made no change in this matter. Hence, +for example, on the feast of SS. Peter and Paul the short lesson at end +of Prime is taken from None of the feast, "Et Petrus ad se reversus"; +the short lesson for Prime on the feast of St. Aloysius is "Lex Dei +ejus" and not the short lesson printed in the Psalter under the +day's Office. + +On all Sundays and week days it varies according to the season. Thus-- + +1. From the 14th January until the first Saturday in Lent, from Monday +to Wednesday in Trinity week, from the Friday after the octave of Corpus +Christi until the Saturday before Advent, the short lesson is "Dominus +autem" (II. Thess. iii.), + +2. From the first Sunday of Advent until the 23rd December inclusive it +is "Domine miserere" (Isaias xxxiii,). + +3. From the first Sunday of Lent until the Saturday before Passion +Sunday inclusive it is "Quaerite Dominum" (Isaias iv.). + +4. From Passion Sunday until Wednesday in Holy Week it is "Faciem meam" +(Isaias, 1.), + +5. From Easter Sunday to the Vigil of Ascension inclusive, the short +lesson is "Si consurrexists" (Coloss. iii.). + +At the end of the short lesson the words "Tu autem Domine, miserere +nobis; Deo gratias" are added, and after these words are said +"Adjutorium nostrum ... Qui fecit ... Benedicite Deus" and the Blessing, +"Dominus nos benedicat ... requiescant in pace, Amen." Then _Pater +Noster_ is said silently, unless another Hour is to follow immediately. + + + + +TEXTS AND INTENTIONS FOR PIOUS RECITATION OF PRIME. + +1. "Herod and his army set him at nought" (St. Luke, c. 25). + +2. "Not this man, but Barrabas. Crucify Him." + +3. "I find no cause in Him. I will chastise Him and let Him go" (St. +Luke). + +4. "But Jesus he delivered up to their will" (St. Luke, c. 23). + +5. "Shall I crucify your King?," (St. John, 19). + +_General Intentions_. The Pope and his intentions; the propagation of +the Faith; the priesthood; the Catholic laity; Catholic Missions in the +East; Catholic Europe. + +_Personal Intentions_. The spirit of meekness and humility; greater +devotion to the Eucharist; greater love of the Blessed Virgin; the +priestly vows. + +_Special Intentions_. For our friends; for the sick and sorrowful; for +the Church in Scotland; for our enemies; for the priesthood of America. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +TERCE, SEXT, NONE (TITLE XVI.). + +TERCE. + +_Etymology._ The word Terce comes from the Latin word _tertia (hora)_, +third. Because this little Hour was said at the third hour of the Roman +day, that is, about 9 o'clock in the forenoon, + +_Structure._ It consists of Pater Noster, Ave, Deus in adjutorium, +Gloria Patri ... Sicut erat ... Amen, Alleluia, Hymn, opening words of +the antiphon, the three psalms, antiphon in full, capitulum, response, +Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo, Oremus, collect, Dominus vobiscum, +Et cum spiritu tuo, Benedicamus ... Deo gratias, Fidelium animae.... +Amen. And Pater Noster is said silently if another Hour is not begun +immediately. + +Terce is called the golden Hour, _hora aurea_, because at this time of +the day, the third Hour, the Holy Ghost, who is typified by gold, +descended on the apostles. It is called sometimes the sacred Hour (_hora +sacra_) because in conventional churches it is recited immediately +before Holy Mass. It is the most solemn of all the small Hours. + +_Antiquity._ The custom of praying at these three hours, terce, sext and +none, is very ancient. It was in use amongst the devout Jews, and the +early converts to Christianity retained the practice. The Apostolic +Constitutions contain the words "Preces etiam vestras facite +hora tertia." + +Why does the Church wish us to pray at the third hour? + +The question is asked by liturgists of olden times. Their replies are:-- + +1. to remind us of the hour when our Saviour was condemned (St. Mark, c. +15). + +2. to remind us of the hour at which the Holy Ghost descended on the +Church. + +3. as the Church's hymn tells us that at this hour of the day when men +are engrossed in worldly affairs, they especially need God's help, + + "Come, Holy Ghost, Who ever One, + Reignest with Father and with Son. + It is the hour, our souls possess + With Thy full flood of holiness. + Let flesh and heart and lips and mind + Sound forth our witness to mankind. + And love light up our mortal frame + Till others catch the living flame, + Now to the Father, to the Son, + And to the Spirit, Three in One, + Be praise and thanks and glory given, + By men on earth, by saints in heaven. Amen." + + (Translation by Cardinal Newman of St. Ambrose's + hymn, _Nunc sancte_). + + + + +TEXTS AND INTENTIONS FOR PIOUS RECITATION OF TERCE. + +1. "Therefore, Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him." + +2. "And the soldiers plaiting a crown of thorns put it on His head; and +they put on Him a purple garment." + +3. "And they came to Him and said, 'Hail, King of the Jews,' and they +gave Him blows" (St. John). + +4. "Jesus, therefore, came forth bearing the crown of thorns and the +purple garment, and he (Pilate) sayeth to them 'Behold the Man!'" + +_General Intentions._ The Pope's Intentions; the conversion of heretics; +the conversion of the Jews. + +_Personal Intentions._ Devotion to the Holy Ghost; devotion to the +Passion. + +_Special Intentions._ Vocations in America and Australia; for the Irish +people throughout the world; for the souls of our deceased penitents. + + + + +SEXT. + +_Etymology_. The word Sext comes from the Latin word _sexta, (hora)_, +the sixth hour, because the little Hour should be said at what was the +sixth hour of the Roman day, about mid-day with us. + +_Structure._ The structure of this hour is similar to that given in +Terce above, the hymn, antiphon, psalms, little chapter and responses +differing, but the order and form being similar in both. + +_Antiquity._ The Psalmist wrote, "Vespere et mane et meridie narrabo et +annuntiabo, et exaudiet vocem meam" (Ps. 54). This practice of devout +Jews was maintained by the early Christians and in the Acts of the +Apostles we read, "Ascendit Petrus in superiora ut oraret circam horam +sextam" (Acts x, 9). At this hour, the Christians met for public, +joint prayer. + +Why does the Church wish us to pray at the sixth hour of the day? + +1. Because at this hour Christ instructed the Samaritan woman, the type +of the Gentiles; and He promised to give the living water, springing up +unto life everlasting, which was His blood, poured out on Calvary at the +sixth hour. + +2. Because at this sixth hour Christ was raised on the cross for our +salvation and it is right and just, daily, to remember Him and His great +love for us. Besides, it is to realise His words "And if I be lifted up +from the earth, I will draw all things to myself" (St. John xii. 32). +And the Church, in the opening words of Sext for Sunday, impresses this +idea on us "Deficit in salutare meum anima mea," "My soul hath fainted +after thy salvation" (Ps. 118). + +3. To ask God to grant us health and peace of heart, as the hymn for +Sext sings:-- + + "O God, Who canst not change nor fail, + Guiding the hours as they go by, + Brightening with beam the morning pale, + And burning in the midnight sky, + Quench Thou the fires of hate and strife, + The wasting fever of the heart; + From perils guard our feeble life, + And to our souls Thy grace impart. + Grant this, O Father, only Son, + And Holy Ghost, God of Grace, + To whom all glory, Three in One, + Be given in every time and place--Amen." + + (Translation by Cardinal Newman of St. Ambrose's + hymn, _Rector potens_). + + + + +TEXTS AND INTENTIONS FOR THE PIOUS RECITATION OF SEXT. + +1. "And they took Jesus, and after they had mocked Him, they took off +the purple from Him and put His own garments on Him and led Him out to +crucify Him" (St. Mark, c. 15). + +2. "Bearing His own cross, Jesus went forth to that place called +Calvary." + +3. "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but for yourselves." + +_General Intentions._ The wants of the Church; for peace and goodwill +amongst all States and peoples; for the Pope; for Church students. + +_Personal Intentions._ For patience; for fraternal charity; for the love +of the practice of mortification. + +_Special Intentions._ For Catholic schools; for increase in number of +daily communicants; for the success of catechists and their work. + + + + +NONE. + +_Etymology._ The word _None_ comes from the Latin word _nona_, ninth +(_hora nona_), because this part of the Office was said at the ninth +hour of the Roman day, that is, about three o'clock in our modern day. + +_Antiquity._ This hour was set apart in Apostolic times for joint +prayer, "Now Peter and John went up into the Temple at the ninth hour of +prayer" (Acts iii. 1). + +_Structure._ See note under this head at Terce. + +Why does the Church desire prayer at the ninth hour? + +1. In this she follows the example of her Founder, Christ, Who prayed at +the ninth hour. "At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, +saying 'Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabacthani?' which is, being interpreted, 'My +God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?'" (St. Mark xv. 34). + +2. That ninth hour was the long-wished-for and long-watched-for hour +when reconciliation between earth and heaven was complete. + +3. To beg from God light and grace, especially towards the end of life, +for the day's decline in the afternoon is a figure of the waning of +spiritual and corporal life. The hymn for None expresses this:-- + + "O God, unchangeable and true, + Of all the light and power, + Dispensing light in silence through + Each successive hour; + Lord, brighten our declining day, + That it may never wane + Till death, when all things round decay, + Brings back the morn again. + This grace on Thy redeemed confer, + Father, Co-equal Son, + And Holy Ghost, the Comforter, + Eternal Three in One--Amen." + (St. Ambrose's hymn, translated by Cardinal + Newman). + + + + +TEXTS AND INTENTIONS TO AID THE PIOUS RECITATION OF NONE. + +1. "Come down from the cross" (St. Matthew, c. 27). + +2. "Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy Kingdom" (St. +Matthew, c. 23). + +3. "My God, my God, why has Thou forsaken me?" (St. Matthew, c. 27). + +_General Intentions_. All the intentions of the Sacred Heart; the +conversion of Britain; the Church in America. + +_Personal Intentions_. Fervour in preparation for Mass; fervour in +thanksgiving after Mass; fidelity to professional duties and studies. + +_Special Intentions_. The temporal welfare of Ireland; to beg a blessing +on her priests; to beg a blessing on her Church students; to beg a +blessing on her Catholic laity; to beg a blessing on her +elementary schools. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +VESPERS AND COMPLINE. + +_Etymology_. The word _vespers_ comes directly from the Latin _Vesper_; +_Vespera_ or _Espera_ was a name given to the star Venus, which rising +in the evening was a call to prayer. This Hour is recited after None and +before Compline. In structure, it resembles Lauds, Pater Noster, Ave, +Gloria, Five Psalms with antiphons, Capitulum, Hymn, Versicle, antiphon, +Magnificat, antiphon and collect. + +It had several synonymous names. It was called _Duodecima Hora_ +(Antiphonary of Bangor), because it was said at the twelfth hour of the +day, six o'clock, or, perhaps, the name came from the twelve psalms +which made up the Hour in some churches. It was known, too, by the names +_Lucernarium, hora lucernalis_, the hour of the candles; because at this +hour a number of candles were lighted, not only to shed light but for +symbolic purposes. It was sometimes referred to as _hora incensi_, from +the custom of burning incense at this evening service, and sometimes it +is called _gratiarum actio_ (St. Isidore), because it gives thanks to +God for the graces given during the day. It came to mean not the evening +Hour, but the sunset Hour. And in the sixth century it was celebrated +before daylight had gone and before there was any need for artificial +light. In the fourth century it was recited by torchlight. + +_Antiquity_. The Jews honoured God by special and solemn evening +service. Their feasts by God's command began in the evening. "From +evening unto evening you shall celebrate your sabbaths" (Lev. xxiii, +32). And David sang "Evening and morning and at noon I will speak and +declare" (Psalm 54:32). The eariy Christians faithfully followed +the practice. + +"In the sixth century, the order of Psalms, etc., in Vespers differed +little from the Vespers in our modern Breviaries. Long before the sixth +century there were evening Offices in various forms. Its existence in +the fourth century is also confirmed by St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. +Basil, St. Ephraem ... Before the fourth century we find allusions to +the evening prayer in the early Fathers, Clement I. of Rome, St. +Ignatius, St. Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, the Canons of +St. Hippolytus, St. Cyprian (for texts see Baumer-Biron; 1. c.t. 20 seq. +73-74, 76, 78)"--(Dorn Cabrol, _Cath. Ency._, art "Vespers"). + +Why do we offer up public prayer in the evening? The old liturgists +reply:-- + +1. To imitate the devout Christians of apostolic times. + +2. To honour Jesus, the true Sun of the world, Who hid Himself at His +Incarnation, and in His life, and Whose glory was hidden in His Passion. + +3. To thank Christ for the Eucharist, which He instituted in the evening +of His earthly life, ... "and they prepared the Pasch. But when it was +evening (vespere autem) He sat down with His twelve disciples" (St. +Matthew, xxvi. 20). At this vesper meeting He gave to priests the power +to offer the sacrifice of the Mass, to change bread and wine into His +body and blood. At this vesper service, too, Christ and His apostles +celebrated the divine praises, "Hymno dicto" (St. Matthew xxvi. 30). + +4. In the evening our Lord's body was taken down from the cross. + +5. At the approach of evening Christ appeared to His disciples at Emmaus +and revealed to them His divinity. "Stay with us because it is towards +evening (_advesperascit_) and He went in with them. He took bread and +blessed and brake and gave it to them and their eyes were opened and +they knew Him" (St. Luke xxiv. 29-30). At Vespers we thank God for the +Eucharist. + +The hymns at Vespers date for the most part from the sixth century. They +are of great beauty and have the peculiar characteristic of telling of +the days of creation. Thus St. Gregory's (?) fine hymn, _Lucis Creator +optime_, in Sunday's Vespers, refers to the creation of light; Monday's +hymn, _Immense coeli Creator_, refers to the separation of land and +water; Wednesday's hymn (written probably by St. Ambrose), _Coeli Deus +sanctissime_, refers to the creation of the sun and moon; the hymns for +Thursday's vespers, _Magnae Deus potentiae_, refers to the creation of +fish and birds; Friday's hymn, _Hominis superne conditor_ (St. Gregory), +refers to the creation of the beasts of the earth; Saturday's hymn (St. +Ambrose) is an exception, as it refers to the Trinity. All these hymns +have been beautifully translated into English and the text and +translations repay study. + +Sunday's hymn, _Lucis Creator optime_, stands thus in translation:-- + + "O blest Creator of the light, + Who makest the day with radiance bright, + And o'er the forming world didst call + The light from chaos first of all. + + Whose wisdom joined in sweet array + The morn and eve and named them day, + Night comes with all its darkening fears; + Regard Thy people's prayers and tears, + + Lest sunk in sin, and whelmed with strife, + They lose the gift of endless life; + While thinking--but the thoughts of time, + They weave new chains of woe and crime. + + But grant them grace that they may strain + The heavenly gate and prize to gain; + Each harmful lure aside to cast, + And purge away each error past. + + O Father, that we ask be done, + Through Jesus Christ, Thine only Son; + Who, with the Holy Ghost and Thee, + Doth live and reign eternally. Amen." + + (Translation by Dr. J.M. Neale). + +_Structure._ Vespers, in structure, resembles Lauds and consists of five +Psalms. It begins with Pater Noster, Ave (said silently), Deus in +adjutorium,... Domine ad adjuvandum.... Gloria Patri.... Sicut erat. +Alleluia or Laus tibi.... Antiphon begun only if the feast be not +double; if feast be a double the antiphon is said in full before and +after each psalm. If feast be a semi-double or simple the antiphon is +intoned at the beginning and is said in full at end of each psalm and +then only. Then are said Capitulum, Deo gratias, Hymn, versicle and +response, antiphon to Magnificat, the canticle Magnificat, Gloria +Patri.... Sicut erat.... Dominus vobiscum.... Et cum spiritu tuo, +Oremus, collect, commemoration if any made by versicle and response and +antiphon of Magnificat proper to commemoration with collect, Dominus +vobiscum, Et cum.... Benedicamus Domino; Deo gratias, Fidelium +animae.... Amen. If Compline be not said immediately after Vespers, +Pater Noster is added. + +At the opening words of the _Magnificat_, _Nunc Dimittis_ and +_Benedictus_, it is a practice with many priests to make the sign of the +cross from forehead to breast, as at _Deus in adjutorium_ (_cf._ +Ceremoniale Epis. lib. II. i. 14). This custom, where it exists, should +be preserved (S.R.C., April, 1867). + +Writers on liturgy tell us that the number of Psalms in Vespers have a +symbolic meaning, typifying the five wounds of the Saviour, the last of +which, the wound in the side, was inflicted on the evening of Good +Friday, and the others, as the Church says in the hymn _Vergente mundi +vespere_, at the waning of the day of the Old Law, before the dawn of +salvation (Honorius of Autun, circa 1130). Other writers say that these +five psalms should produce acts of contrition for the sins committed +during the day, by the five senses; and that they should be for us, +morally, what the five lighted lamps were for the wise virgins in the +Gospel parable (Amalare of Metz, circa 850). + +_Magnificat._ Author. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the author of this +canticle. "The witness of the codices and of the Fathers is practically +unanimous for the Vulgate reading: 'Et ait Maria,' but apart from this, +the attribution of the _Magnificat_ to Elizabeth would in St. Luke's +context be highly abnormal" (Dr. H. T. Henry, _Cath. Encyc_., word, +_Magnificat_)--The Roman Breviary entitles it _Canticum Beatae Marine +Virginis_. + +It is divided by commentators into three parts (St. Luke 1, vv. 46-49; +50-53; 54-55). It "is in many places very similar in thought and phrase +to the Canticle of Anna (I. Kings ii. 1-10) and to various psalms (Ps. +33, vv. 3-4; Ps. 39, v. 9; Ps. 70, v. 9; Ps. 125, vv. 2-3; Ps. 110, v. +9; Ps. 97, v. 1; Ps. 117, v. 16; Ps. 32, v. 10; Ps. 92, v. 7; Ps. 33, v. +11; Ps. 97, v-3; Ps. 131, v. 11). Similarities are found in Hab. c. III. +v. 18; Mal. c. III. v. 12; Job. c. 5, v. 11; Is, c. 41, v. 8; Is. c. +149, v. 3, and Gen. c. 17, v. 19. Steeped thus in scriptural thought and +Phraseology, summing up in its inspired ecstasy the economy of God with +His chosen people, indicating the fulfilment of olden prophecy, and +prophesying anew until end of time, the Magnificat is the crown of the +Old Testament singing, the last canticle of the Old and the first of the +New Testament. It is an ecstasy of praise for the inestimable favour +bestowed by God on the Virgin, for the mercies shown to Israel, and for +the fulfilment of the promises made to Abraham and the patriarchs" (Dr. +Henry, _loc. cit_.). + +It is found universally in the ancient liturgies and affords a proof of +the apostolic and universal praise of the Blessed Virgin. Durandus +(thirteenth century) gives some reasons for the assignment of the +Magnificat to Vespers. Because Vespers is the grandest liturgical Hour; +because Mary probably arrived at the house of Elizabeth in the evening; +because it was in the moral evening of the world that Mary consented to +be the Mother of God; because she is the star of the sea, etc. The +following interesting reason for the use of the Magnificat at Vespers is +given by St. Bede (works 5, 306). "It comes to pass, by the bounty of +the Lord, that if we were at all times to meditate upon the acts and +sayings of the Blessed Virgin, the observance of chastity and the works +of virtue will always continue with us. For, the excellent and salutary +custom has grown up in Holy Church that all shall sing her hymn (the +Magnificat) every day with the Vesper Psalms, in order that the +recalling of the Lord's incarnation, by this means, may the oftener +incite the souls of the faithful to devotion and that the consideration +of the example set by His Mother may confirm them in the stability of +virtue. And it is meet that this should be done at Vespers, so that the +mind wearied in the course of the day, and distracted by various +opinions, may, at the approach of the season of quiet, collect itself in +oneness of meditation and through the wholesome reminder may hasten to +cleanse itself, by the prayers and tears of the night, from everything +useless or harmful which it had contracted by the business of the day." + +_Suffrages of the Saints_. (Title XXXV.) In Sec.2 of rubrics of the new +Breviary we read, "Deinceps, quando facienda erunt suffragia sanctorum, +unum fiet suffragium, juxta formulam propositam in Ordinario novi +Psalterii." Thus were abolished the old formulae of suffrages and a new +one inserted. + +Antiphon Beata Dei Genitrix.... V. Mitificavit .... R. Et exaudivit.... +Oremus, A cunctis.... + +This will be said at Lauds and Vespers outside Paschal time (1) on all +Sundays and ferias, (2) on semi-doubles and simples, except (_a_) in +Advent and Passiontide, (_b_) when there is a commemoration of a double, +a day within an octave. In Paschal time the Commemoration is of +the Cross. + +In this prayer the names of the Holy Angels and of St. John the Baptist, +if they be titulars, are inserted before the name of St. Joseph. At the +letter N. in the prayer, the name of the titular saint of the particular +church should be inserted; but churches dedicated by the title of a +mystery (e.g., the Ascension) are not to be named in this prayer +(S.R.C., March, 1912). + + + + +TEXTS AND INTENTIONS TO AID THE PIOUS RECITATION OF VESPERS. + +1. "Woman, behold thy Son; Behold Thy mother" (St. John, c. 19), + +2. "I thirst" (St. John, c. 19). + +3. "And they, putting a sponge full of vinegar about hyssop, put it to +His mouth" (St. John, c. 19). + +_General Intentions_. The conversion of sinners; the wants of the +Church; those in death agony; spread of Eucharistic devotion; daily +Communion; priest adorers; reparation for bad Communions; reparation for +impieties and irreverences towards the Eucharist. + +_Personal Intentions_. Regularity in visits to Blessed Sacrament; +Fervour in Mass and in administering Holy Communion; a happy death; true +and deep devotion to Mary. + +_Special Intentions_. The Irish Daily Mass Crusade; Total Abstinence; +devotion to the Passion; devotion to the agonising Heart of Jesus. + + + + +COMPLINE. + +_Etymology and synonym_. The word compline comes from the Latin word +_complere_, to complete, to finish, because this Hour completes or +finishes the day Hours of the Office. It bore several names, _Completa_ +(St. Isidore), _Initium noctis_ (St. Columbanus), _Prima noctis hora_ +(St. Fructeux). + +_Antiquity_. The origin of this Hour has given rise to a great deal of +controversy. Both Baumer and Battifol in their histories of the Breviary +attribute the origin of this Hour to St. Benedict (480-543). Other +scholars attribute its origin to St. Basil, and hence date it from the +fourth century. It is admitted that before the time of St. Basil, Bishop +of Caesarea (370-379) this Hour was in existence. Some hold that St. +Basil established the Hour in the East and St. Benedict in the West. The +latter certainly invested the Hour with the liturgical character and +arrangement which were preserved by the Benedictines and adapted by the +Roman Church. The Compline of the Roman Church is more ornate and solemn +than the liturgy assigned to this Hour by St. Benedict, which was very +simple. The addition of the response _In manus tuas Domine_, the _Nunc +dimittis_ and its anthem of the Blessed Virgin make this Hour one of +great beauty. + +_Structure_, The structure of the Hour seems to point to its monastic +origin, "The reader begins, 'Pray, Father, a blessing' (jube, domne +benedicere); the blessing, 'The Lord Almighty grant us a quiet night and +a perfect end. Amen.' 'Noctem quietam....' Then follows a short lesson, +which the Father Abbot gave to his monks. 'Brethren, be sober and watch; +because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about, +seeking whom he may devour, whom resist ye, strong in faith. But Thou, O +Lord, have mercy on us.' And the monks answer 'Thanks be to God.' +'Fratres sobrii estote et vigilate....' Then the _Pater Noster_ +(silently), and the presiding priest, who was the Abbot or his deputy, +said the confiteor and the choir answered _Misereatur_.... 'May Almighty +God have mercy upon thee and forgive thee thy sins, and bring thee to +life everlasting.' The choir then repeats the Confiteor and the priest +replies 'Misereatur vestri....' 'May Almighty God have mercy upon you, +forgive you your sins and bring you to life everlasting.'" Of course, in +private recitation, or where two or three recite the Office, these +prayers are said only once, and in the Confiteor, _tibi pater_ and _te +pater_ are omitted, and _nostri, nostris, nos, nostrorum, nobis_, are +said in the Misereatur and Indulgentiam. + +Then the _Converte nos Deus.... At averte iram tuam.... Deus in +adjutorium.... Domine ad adjuvandum.... Gloria Patri_.... Antiphon +(begun only) and three psalms, which vary, are said, _Gloria +Patri_.... _Sicut erat_... being said at the end of each. _In +manus tuas_... is said twice. _Redemisti nos_. ... _Commendo +spiritum meum_; _Custodi nos_ ... _sub umbra_.... _Salva +nos_; _Nunc dimittis_.... _Gloria Patri, Salva nos Domine +vigilantes, custodi nos_... _pace_. (Preces are said here if +rubric orders; i.e., _Kyrie eleison, Christie eleison_... _ad te +veniat_); _Dominus vobiscum, Et cum_.... _Benedicamus Domino, +Deo gratias_; _Benedicat et custodiat nos omnipotens_. Amen; +then the anthem of the Blessed Virgin, _Alma Redemptoris Mater_ +(from Saturday before first Sunday of Advent to the feast of the +Purification, inclusive) with its antiphon; in Advent, _Angelus +Domini_, response, _Et concepit_, Oremus and prayer, _Gratiam +tuam_, or with antiphon (after Advent) _Post partum_... and +response, _Dei genetrix, Oremus, Deus qui salutis_. After the +Purification, until Holy Thursday the anthem is _Ave regina +coelorum_, with versicle _Dignare me_ ..., _Da mihi_, Oremus, +_Concedemisericors_. From Holy Saturday until Saturday after +Pentecost, the anthem is _Regina coeli_ with versicle, _Gaude_... and +response, _Quia surrexit_.... _Oremus_ and prayer, _Deus qui per +resurrectionem_. From Holy Trinity Sunday to the Saturday before +Advent, the antiphon is _Salve Regina_ with versicle, _Ora pro +nobis_... response, _Ut digni, Oremus_ and prayer, _Omnipotens +semipeterne Deus_. Then the versicle _Divinum auxilium_.... Amen. +_Pater Noster, Ave, Credo_, in silence, are said. The _Sacro-sanctae_ +is added (see pp. 133-135). + +The study of the component parts of this Hour are of great interest. +After the Abbot had given his blessing and begged of God to grant the +two-fold favour of a quiet night and a good death, a monk read from Holy +Scripture, and when a suitable portion was read, or at the end of a +Scripture chapter or theme, the Abbot said, "Tu autem," and the reader +"Tu autem, Domine, miserere nobis." This was to ask God to pardon faults +both of reader in his reading and of monks, who, perhaps, were drowsy +and inattentive. The Abbot terminated the exercise by the _Adjutorium +nostrum_ (the _Pater Noster_ is of more recent introduction). Monks who +were absent substituted for the Scripture lesson which they had missed, +the pithy extract from St. Peter, "Fratres; sobrii estote," which we now +read. The whole company of monks and their abbot then proceeded to the +chapel where each made his examination of conscience, and at a sign from +the abbot, the monks, two by two, in a subdued tone of voice, said the +_Confiteor, Misereatur, Indulgentiam_ and _Converte nos_. Gavantus and +Merati hold that the _Converte nos_ does not belong to this introductory +matter, but formed part of Compline proper. This prayer is very +beautiful: "Convert us, O God, our Saviour. And turn away Thine anger +from us. Incline unto my aid, O God; O Lord, make haste to help us. +Glory be to the Father,... Praise be to God." + +The new arrangement of the Psalter did not retain the old traditional +psalms, 4, 90, 133, in Compline, except for Sundays and solemn feasts. +But the selection of psalms accords well with the idea of the +hour--night prayer--and with the other prayers, which go to make up the +close of the Office of the day. The hymn, _Te lucis_, so chastely +simple, has ever been admired. Its ideas suit so admirably for the +prayer before sleep and for reminding us of sleep and her sister death +and the solemn petition made to God to be our guardian and defence in +the solemn hour of death, are simply and solemnly set out in this daily +hymn. How beautiful it reads in Father Caswall's translation:-- + + "Now with the fast departing light, + Maker of all, we ask of Thee + Of Thy great mercy, through the night, + Our guardian and defence to be. + + Far off let idle visions fly, + No phantom of the night molest: + Curb Thou our raging enemy, + That we in chaste repose may rest. + + Father of mercies! hear our cry; + Hear us, O sole-begotten Son! + Who, with the Holy Ghost most high, + Reignest while endless ages run." + +In Passiontide, the Breviary gives us the last verse, Deo Patri, and the +translation renders it:-- + + "To Thee, Who dead again dost live, + All glory, Jesus, ever be, + Praise to the Father, infinite, + And Holy Ghost eternally." + +_Little Chapter_. This is a beautiful call to our Lord to remind Him, as +it were, that we are His own, that we bear His name. In this invocation +we express our confidence in Him and ask Him not to abandon us, but to +dwell with us. "But Thou, O Lord, art among us, and Thy holy name is +invoked upon us; forsake us not, O Lord our God"; and for past +protection the Church adds to their invocation, taken from the prophet +Jeremias, the words of gratitude, "Thanks be to God." + +_The Response_. "In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum... nos." +"Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. Into Thy hands I commend +my spirit. For Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord God of Truth. I commend my +spirit. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. +Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. Keep us, O Lord, as the +apple of Thine eye. Protect us under the shadow of Thy wings." No more +sublime prayer exists in the liturgy than this response, which the +Church orders us to say nightly. She wishes, in its daily recital, to +prepare us for death, by reminding us of the sentiments and words of our +dying Lord on the cross, "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit" (Ps. 30, +v. 6), and by asking Him Who redeemed us on the bitter tree, to keep us +safe as the apple of His eye and to protect us "under the shadow of His +wings" (Ps. 40, v, 6). These solemn words of our dying Saviour have +been, in all ages, and in all lands, the death prayer of many of those +whom He redeemed, with the great price. St. Stephen, the proto-martyr, +prayed "Lord Jesus receive my spirit." "Into Thy hands I commend my +spirit," prayed St. Basil in his death agony. "Into Thy hands I commend +my spirit," prayed thousands of God's servants, heroes and heroines, +e.g., Savanarola, Columbus, Father Southwell, the martyr Mary, Queen of +Scots, and countless other servants of God. + +_Nunc Dimittis_. The canticle _Nunc dimittis_ is the last in historical +sequence of the three great canticles of the New Testament. It was +spoken at the presentation of Christ, by Simeon, "This man was just and +devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was in +him. And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should +not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. And he came by +the spirit into the temple. And when His parents brought the child Jesus +to do for him according to the custom of the law. He also took Him in +his arms and blessed God and said 'Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O +Lord, according to thy word in peace....'" (St. Luke ii. 29-33). This +sublime canticle uttered by the holy old man at the close of his days is +placed fittingly in the priest's Office at the close of the day. It +breathes his thanks, expresses his love and his wish to die, having seen +the Saviour. + +Before the canticle are said the opening words of the antiphon, "Salva +nos"; and it is repeated in full at the end. "Save us, O Lord, while we +are awake, and guard us when we sleep, that we may watch with Christ and +rest in peace." + +The prayers, Kyrie eleison, Christie eleison, etc., are said always +except when a double office or a day within an octave has been +commemorated at Vespers. The prayer, _Visita quaesumus_ is found in +Breviaries of the thirteenth century and was introduced probably by the +Friars Minor. The words _habitationem istam_ are said to indicate that +it is a prayer not only for the chapel of the friars, but for their +dwellings on journeys. It was said in choir by the abbot or presiding +priest. Like all prayers for Compline it begs God to drive far away the +snares of the enemy; it begs Him to let His angels dwell in that house +to keep the dwellers therein, in peace; and finally, it begs Him to "let +Thy blessing be always upon us. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, +Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, +world without end. Amen." + +After the Dominus vobiscum and its response, the abbot or presiding +priest gave the solemn blessing "Benedicat et custodiet..., May the +Almighty and merciful Lord, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, +bless and preserve us. Amen." + +Then one of the anthems of the Blessed Virgin Mary is said. From the +Saturday before Advent until the feast of the Purification, inclusive, +is said the anthem "Alma Redemptoris Mater"; translated by Father +Caswall, it reads:-- + + "Mother of Christ, hear Thou thy people's cry, + Star of the deep and portal of the sky, + Mother of Him who Thee from nothing made, + Sinking we strive and call to Thee for aid. + Oh, by that joy which Gabriel brought to Thee, + Thou Virgin first and last, let us Thy mercy see." + +The Latin hexameters are attributed to Hermanus (circa 1054). It has +been translated by several poets great and small, and is well known in +Newman's translation, "Kindly Mother of the Redeemer." It was a popular +hymn in Norman Ireland and in Catholic England, as we see in Chaucer's +"Prioress's Tale." After this anthem are said its versicle, response, +and prayer _Oremus, Gratiam tuam quaesumus_. + +From the first Vespers of the Nativity, the versicle, response and +prayer said are "Post partum ...; Dei Genetrix.... Oremus, Deus qui +salutis." ... From the end of Compline on February 2nd until Holy +Thursday exclusive the antiphon is "Ave Regina coelorum." It appears to +be of monastic origin, and St. Jerome attributes it to St. Ephraem. Its +expressions are borrowed from the works of St. Ephraem, of St. +Athanasius and of other doctors, and its theme is Mary, as Queen of +Heaven, the dawn of our salvation, and an extolling of her beauty. + +From Compline of Holy Saturday, inclusive, until None of the Saturday +after the feast of Pentecost, inclusive, the "Regina coeli" is said. It +is a very old composition, but its author is unknown. Some authors +attribute it to St. Gregory the Great (590-604). Others, following a +venerable tradition, say that the three first lines were the composition +of angels, and the fourth, Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia, was added by +Pope Gregory. The legend tells us that when in the year 596 Rome was +desolated by the plague, Pope Gregory the Great exhorted his people to +penance and prayer, and carrying in his hands the picture of the Blessed +Virgin, said to be painted by St. Luke, he led them in procession to the +church, Afa Coeli, on Easter morn. When the procession was passing +Adrian's Mole, angel voices were heard chanting the Regina Coeli, and +the Pope astonished and rejoiced added the words "Ora pro nobis Deum, +Alleluia," and immediately a shining angel appeared and sheathed his +sword, the plague ceased on that very day (Gueranger, _Liturgical +Year_, "Paschal Time," Part I., p. iii; Duffy, Dublin). Attempts at +translation have been indifferent. + +From the first Vespers of the feast of the Most Hoiy Trinity to the None +of the Saturday before Advent, the Salve Regina is said. The authorship +was assigned to St. Bernard (1091-1153). But scholars reject this +theory. It is assigned to Petrus de Monsoro (circa 1000) and to +Adehemar, but the claims of both are doubtful. In 1220 the general +chapter of Cluny ordered its daily chanting before the high altar, after +the Capitulum. The use of the anthem at Compline was begun by the +Dominicans about 1221 and the practice spread rapidly. It was introduced +into the "modernised." Franciscan Breviary in the thirteenth century. +The Carthusians sing it daily at Vespers; the Cistercians sing it after +Compline, and the Carmelites say it after every Hour of the Office. It +is said after every low Mass throughout the world. It was especially +obnoxious to Luther, who several times denounced it, as did the +Jansenists also. It is recorded in the lives of several saints that the +Blessed Virgin, to show her love for this beautiful prayer, showed to +them her Son, at the moment they said "Et Jesum ... nobis post hoc +exilium ostende." + +Speaking of these antiphons of the Blessed Virgin, Battifol, in his +_History of the Roman Breviary_ (English ed.), writes: "We owe a just +debt of gratitude to those who gave us the antiphons of the Blessed +Virgin ... four exquisite compositions, though in style enfeebled by +sentimentality." + +After the antiphon of the Blessed Virgin the versicle and response are +said. Then Oremus and prayer "Omnipotens sempiterne Deus ... Divinum +auxilium ... Amen," are said. Then the Pater Noster, Ave and Credo are +said silently, and this finishes the Hour. The prayer Sacro-sanctae et +individuae.... V. Beata viscera ... R. Et beata ubera ... Pater Noster +and Ave are generally added though not of obligation. They are to be +said kneeling. The reading of this well-known and oft-repeated prayer, +in its English translation, may bring fresh and fervent thoughts to +priests, for it is a sublime prayer:-- + + "To the most holy and undivided Trinity, to the + humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified, to the + fruitful virginity of the most glorious Mary ever a + Virgin, and to the company of all the saints, be + given by every creature, eternal praise, honour, + power and glory, and to us the remission of all our + sins. Amen. Blessed be the womb of the Virgin + Mary, which bore the Son of the Eternal Father. + And blessed be the breasts which gave suck to + Christ our Lord." + + + + +TEXT AND INTENTIONS TO AID THE PIOUS RECITATION OF COMPLINE. + +1. "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." + +2. "It is finished." + +3. "For this Thou hast redeemed us, O God of truth." + +_General Intentions._ The spread of the faith; the Pope; the Church in +France and in Spain; for the Church in Australia. + +_Personal Intentions._ A happy death; fervour in administering the last +sacraments; devotion to St. Joseph, patron of a happy death. + +_Special Intentions,_ For the sick poor of Ireland; for persons dying +without the last sacraments; for those dying all alone; for +dying sinners. + + + +THE LITTLE OFFICE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN, (TITLE XXXVII.). + +_Origin._ This Office dates from the eighth century at least. Pope +Gregory II. (715-731) and Pope Gregory III. (731-741) ordered the monks +to say this little Office in addition to their great Office. The +practice was observed by St. John Damascene (676-787) and by St. Peter +Damien (1007-1072).This usage was confined to monasteries only. At the +end of the eleventh century the practice became almost universal. Pope +Urban II. (1088-1099) besought the special aid of the Blessed Virgin in +his crusade against the Turks and recommended all clerics to recite the +little Office. Provincial councils prescribed its use and some canonists +held it to be obligatory. However, the Bull _Quod a nobis_ of Pope Pius +V. (9 July, 1568) removed all obligation of the private recital of this +Office, but he exhorted all to continue the practice and granted +indulgences for its recitation. + + + + +PART IV. + + +NOTES ON SOME FEASTS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +PROPER OF THE TIME. + +ADVENT. + +_Advent_ (Latin, _advenire_, to come to) is a period beginning with the +Sunday nearest to the Feast of St. Andrew (November 30) and embracing +four Sundays. In the early Church there was a divergence of date and +practice in Advent celebration. Thus, in France it began on St. Martin's +Day (11 November) and ended with Christmas, France kept Advent with +tri-weekly fasts. Rome did not, in very early days, observe the Advent +fasts, but maintained the shorter period, containing only four Sundays. +(Father Thurston, _The Month_, No. 498). + +Several authors stated that this period of preparation for the +celebration of Christ's birthday was instituted by Gregory the Great. It +is now traceable to the fourth century in France; in Rome it was of +later date. The Church, as is seen in the Advent Offices in the +Breviary, instituted this part of the liturgical year to honour and to +recall the two comings of Christ--His first coming in human form at +Bethlehem, as Saviour; and His second coming, as Judge of all mankind. +In her liturgy she expresses repeatedly both sentiments, a sentiment of +joy and a sentiment of sorrow. The former she expresses by her +_alleluias_ and the latter by her omission of the _Te Deum_ and by her +recital of the ferial prayers, the prayers of tears and grief. + +In the Advent Offices are many phrases which were fulfilled at the +Incarnation: "Rorate coeli desuper et nubes pluant Justum; O Adonai, +veni ad redimendum nos; Emitte Agnum, Domine, Dominatorum terrae; +Orietur sicut sol Salvator mundi et descendet in uterum Virginis." +Centuries have passed since the Saviour came, and yet the Church wishes +us to repeat the sublime prayers and prophecies which associate +themselves with the coming of the Word made Flesh, and by our repetition +to be animated with the ardent longings of olden days; and that by them +we may awaken our faith, our hope, our charity, and obtain and augment +God's grace in our souls. + +_Rubrics_. The first Sunday of Advent has the invitatory hymn and the +rest of the Office proper. The lessons are from Isaias, the prophet of +the Incarnation. The first response to the lesson is unique in the +Breviary for it has three verses (see p. 164). These three verses are +spoken in the names of the holy people who lived before the law, during +the law, and after the law. The Gloria Patri is added to honour the Holy +Trinity, who has at length sent the long-watched-for Messias (Durandus). +And the response is repeated from the beginning because the second +coming of Christ is watched for, by His faithful (Honorius d'Autun). The +_Te Deum_ is not said, in order thereby to mark the sad thought of the +second coming of Christ, then our judge. + +_Lessons_. From the first Sunday of Advent until the first Sunday of +August the lessons of the first and second nocturns are given in the +Breviary in the Proprium de Tempore, after the Psaltery. The lessons of +third nocturn for same period are given after those of second nocturn. +The suffrages are not said in Advent. In Advent the lectio brevis is +"Domine miserere." In Sunday Matins special versicles are given. The +preces are said at Lauds and Vespers in ferias of Advent and at the +small Hours; preces are said, too, if they be said at Lauds. + +The great antiphons are the antiphons of the Magnificat which begin on +the 17th December. They are sometimes called the great O's, or the O +antiphons, as each begins with this letter. They begin "O Sapientia, +quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti ..." and continue "O Adonai, O radix +Jesse," etc.... They are the most beautiful antiphons in the liturgy, +expressing the prayers and ardent hopes for the coming Saviour. They +have formed the subjects of study for poets, scholars and liturgists, +ancient and modern. It is asked why these antiphons introduce the +Magnificat and not the Benedictus. And liturgists reply: Because the +Incarnation was of Mary, and hence these heralds of the Infant King more +appropriately introduce Mary's canticle rather than that of Zachary. And +the old liturgists add that these antiphons are said at Vespers, the +evening Hour, because the Messias was expected and watched for in the +world's evening. They tell us, too, why there are seven great antiphons. +They are to excite our piety during this octave preparatory to the +birthday of Christ. This number seven typifies the seven gifts of the +Holy Ghost; it represents the seven miseries of mankind, ignorance, +eternal punishment, the slavery of the devil, sin, gloom and exile from +our fatherland, which is Heaven. And those wonderful men of mediaeval +days tell us why we have need of a Teacher, O Sapientia; of a Redeemer, +O Adonai; of a Liberator, O Radix Jesse; of a Guardian, O Clavis David; +of a brilliant Instructor, O Oriens; of a Saviour to bring us, Gentiles, +back to our Great Father, God; O Rex gentium; a Herald to the Jews. +Honorius of Autun tells that these antiphons refer to the seven gifts of +the Holy Ghost and are arranged in the well-known order in which these +gifts are always arranged in works of piety. He says that Christ came in +the Spirit of Wisdom, O Sapientia, that in the word "Adonai" is +indicated that Christ redeemed us in the Spirit of Understanding. He +says, too, that the antiphon "O Radix" signifies the sign of the cross, +and that Christ redeemed us in the Spirit of Counsel. "O Clavis" +indicates that Christ opened Heaven and closed Hell in the Spirit of +Strength or Fortitude. "O Orient" shows forth Christ enlightening us in +the Spirit of Knowledge. "Rex gentiam" points out the holy King who +saved men by the Spirit of Piety. "O Emanuel" refers to Christ coming in +the Spirit of Fear, but giving us also the Law of Love. + +These antiphons have formed the theme of the oldest Christian poem in +Europe--Cynewulf's "Christ," a work which is the admiration of modern +scholars. They were celebrated with great pomp and joy in monastic life, +the monks carrying their congruous symbolism into their recitation. For, +to the gardener-monk was assigned, the chanting of "O Radix Jesse," and +to the cellarer-monk, the "O clavis David"--typifying their work of +root-growing and key keeping. (See _The Month_, No. 489; _The Irish +Ecclesiastical Record_, December, 1918). + +_Christmas. Antiquity._ "It was formerly taken for granted that Christ +had actually been born on this day, and, accordingly, the learned were +of opinion that the Church had observed it from the beginning, as the +day of His birth. Even at the present day it will be dfficult for many +to give up this idea. But there is no Christmas among the Christan +feasts enumerated by Tertullian ([died] 220), Origen (185-254), and the +recently published Testament of Jesus Christ. On the contrary, there is +clear proof that even in the fourth and fifth centuries it was unknown +in some parts of the Church, where its introduction, at a later period, +can be proved historically" (_vide_ Kellner, _op. cit._, pp. 127-158). + +Christmas is one of the great festivals. In Rome there were two night +Offices. The first, celebrated at nightfall in the Papal chapel, begins +with the antiphon of the first psalm in the nocturn. It has nine lessons +and the _Te Deum_. About midnight a more solemn Office began, this time +with the invitatory and psalm _Venite_. The first of these Offices +became the Office of the vigil. + +In the Office of Christmas Day the lessons are read without the title of +the book (Isaias) from which they are taken, because their author's name +was so often repeated during the Advent that each one knew their source, +or because at Christmas God speaks to us by His Son, rather than by His +prophet. In the first response the Gloria Patri is said, to thank God +for the great favour He has bestowed on us--His Son, the Christ. In the +third nocturn, _Alleluia_ is added to the antiphons, because the third +nocturn typifies the time of grace, in which we should express the joy +that is ours in the birth of the Saviour. In this nocturn, too, are +given three Gospel extracts, corresponding with the Gospels in the Mass +of Christmas. Matins are separated from Lauds by the first Mass because, +it is said at midnight, and Lauds is a day Office. At Prime the versicle +of the little response is _Qui natus est_. + +_Rubrics_. Christmas is a primary double of the First Class. The third +of the new _Tres Tabellae_ (S.C.R., January, 1912) in the new Breviaries +gives the rules for concurrence of Vespers in the Octave of Christmas. + +_Feast of St. Stephen_. The worship of St. Stephen may be said to be as +old as the Church herself, since St. Paul gave him the title of Martyr +of Christ (Acts XXII. 20). His name is to be found in the earliest +liturgical sources, e.g., the Arian martyrology belonging to about 360 +and in all calendars, ancient and modern, excepting the Coptic. His +cultus received great impulse from the discovery of his relics at Kaphar +Gamala, on the shore of Lake Genesareth, and the wonderful miracles +wrought by them, A basilica in his honour was erected, in Rome in the +fourth century. + +_St. John the Apostle_. The commemoration of St. John on the 27th +December was formerly united with that of St. James the Less. In time, +St. John's feast only was celebrated on this date, and such was the +case as early as the time of Bede. + +_The Circumcision._ This festival was originally called _Octava Domini_, +and hence it may be inferred that it was not an independent festival and +passed unnoticed if it fell on a week day. Thus, in the _Homilarium_ of +Charlemagne (786) it is referred to by this name. But very shortly after +this, the name which we now use for the festival of the 1st January was +used in Rome, and spread through the Church. In the early days of +Christianity the first day of the civil year was given over to +rejoicings, dancing, feasting and rioting. And these abuses lingered in +France, though stripped of their pagan character, until the later middle +ages. A remnant of them is found in the so-called Feast of Fools, which +was held in churches, and which mocked several religious customs and +ceremonies. These feasts lasted till the middle of the fifteenth century. + +_Epiphany_. The name is derived from a Greek verb employed to describe +the dawn, and the adjective derived from the Greek verb was applied in +classic Greek, to the appearances of the gods bringing help to men. In +Christian liturgy, the feast was instituted to celebrate the appearance, +the manifestation of Christ, to the Gentiles, in the persons of the +Magi. In later times, there were added to this commemoration of Christ's +manifestation to the Gentiles, two further commemorations of his +wonderful showings of His divine mission, viz., His manifestation in His +baptism in the Jordan, a manifestation to the Jews, and His miracle at +Cana, a showing forth to His friends and disciples. This feast is of +early origin. Suarez thinks it should be attributed to the Apostles (_De +Relig_. L.2. ch.5, n.9); and Benedict XIV. held that it was established +by the infant Church at Rome to draw off the Christians from the profane +and sinful revelry which marked the pagan feast of this date. However, +these statements are hardly accurate. "With regard to the antiquity and +spread of the feast, it was unknown in North Africa during the third +century, for Tertullian makes no reference to it; and even in the time +of St. Augustine, it was rejected by the Donatists as an oriental +novelty. In Origen's time, at least, it was not generally observed as a +festival in Alexandria, since he does not reckon it as such. For Rome, +evidence is wanting for the earliest times, but since the daughter +Church of Africa knew nothing--of the festival at first, it may be +inferred that originally it was not kept at Rome, but was introduced +there in course of time. In Spain it was a feast-day in 380, in Gaul in +361 ..." (Kellner, _op. cit._, p.172). + +In the antiphons for the Magnificat and the Benedictus it may be noticed +that the three manifestations are given not in the same order. "This day +is the Church united to the Heavenly Spouse, for Christ, in the Jordan, +washes away her sins; the Magi run to the royal nuptials with their +gifts, and the guests of the feast are gladdened by the water changed +into wine" (Ant. of Benedictus). The Magi, seeing the star, said to +each other: "This is the sign of the King: let us go and seek him, and +offer him gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh" (Ant. of Magnificat, 1st +Vesp.), "We celebrate a festival adorned by three miracles: this day, a +star led the Magi to the manger; this day water was changed into wine at +the marriage feast; this day Christ vouchsafed to be baptised by John, +in the Jordan of our salvation" (Ant. of Magnificat, 2nd Vesp.). Now, +the baptism is the special event commemorated by the Easterns on this +feast, and on account of its connection with the baptism, this feast +has, amongst the Greeks, the secondary title of the feast of lights. +And, in Ireland (Synodus II., St. Patricii, can. 20), contrary to the +ancient custom of the Church, solemn baptism was administered on this +feast day. This subject of the baptism forms the only theme of the +ancient sermons bearing on this feast. On the other hand, the visit of +the Magi is the sole event commemorated by St. Augustine in his six +sermons delivered on this feast day. The third event, the marriage +feast, is of later commemoration; and Maximus of Turin doubted if they +all actually happened on the same day. + +The Octave to the feast dates from the eighth century. It was customary +on this date, in the Eastern Church, to read publicly the epistola +festalis of the Patriarch of Alexandria arranging the date of Easter and +the practice was ordered by the fourth Council of Orleans in 541. + +In Epiphany the invitatory is not said in the beginning of Matins, in +order, say the liturgists, not to repeat the inquiry made by Herod from +the scribes about the birthplace of Christ, an inquiry and invitation +inspired by hatred and anger. The invitatory is omitted, they tell us, +that we, like the Magi, may come to Christ, without other than a silent +invitation. Teachers of olden time used to urge those who were slow to +believe to imitate the Magi. But, the invitatory is not quite omitted. +It is read in the third nocturn, which typifies the law of grace, in +which the Apostles and their successors invite all to praise and worship +God. The psalms of the feast are taken from the psalms of each day of +the week, but chiefly from Friday's psalms, perhaps because the Magi's +visit was on that day. + + + + +SEPTUAGESIMA. + +"During the age of the persecutions it was scarcely possible for +Christians to observe any other festival than Sunday, and so it is not +surprising that the two writers who have occasion to speak of the +institution of the festivals of the Church, mention only Easter and +Pentecost, both of which fall on a Sunday. To these Christmas was added +in the fourth century and Epiphany somewhat earlier. These chief +festivals, along with others soon added to their number, formed the +elements for the organisation of a festal system in the Church, as +centres round which the lesser festivals grouped themselves. The last +step of importance, however, in the development of the Church's year was +to connect these chief festivals with one another, so as to make them +parts of a whole. The Sundays afforded a convenient means for effecting +this. They were associated with the festal character of the nearest +feast and were connected with it as links in a chain. The way for this +development had been prepared by the season of preparation for Easter, +and the Sundays in the fifty days between Easter and Pentecost-- +Quinquagesima--were marked with the festal character with which +antiquity invested the whole period. All that was needed was, first of +all, to connect Christmas, Easter and Pentecost; and, in the second +place, the institution of a season of preparation before Christmas. This +was accomplished between the sixth, and the eighth centuries. + +"During the first six centuries the ordinary Sundays of the year had +neither liturgical position or character, since they were not even +enumerated. There was a sort of _commune dominicarum, i.e._, a number of +Masses existed from which one could be chosen at will for each Sunday. +To these Sundays, which were called simply _dominicae quotidianae_, +those after Epiphany and Pentecost belonged. + +"They numbered altogether twenty-nine or thirty, according as the +calendar gave fifty-two or fifty-three Sundays in the year.... The +smaller number of these, six at most, come between Epiphany and +Septuagesima, but the larger, twenty-three to twenty-eight, between Whit +Sunday and Advent. The variation depends on the date of Easter. There is +no historical circumstance forthcoming to give these a specially festal +character. ..." (Kellner, _op. cit_., pp. 176, _et seq_.). + +Septuagesima Sunday comes nine weeks before Easter. It cannot come +before the 18th January, nor after the 22nd February. It is the first +day of a period of mourning and penance, preparatory to the great +penitential period of Lent. On the Saturday preceding Septuagesima two +_alleluias_ are added to the Benedicamus and Deo Gratias, to intimate +that the period of rejoicing in the Saviour's birth has passed. Violet, +the penitential colour, is used at Mass, and the chapters in Genesis +recording the fall of Adam, warn man to think well, to humble himself +and to do penance. Every part of the Office, the lessons, antiphons and +hymns, bear the notes of mourning and penance. + + +LENT. + +_Lent_.--The Teutonic word, _Lent_, originally meant the spring season. +It has come to mean the forty days preceding Easter. Scholars used to +maintain that this season of penance was of apostolic origin; but, +modern scholars noting the diversity of practice and the diversity of +duration in different churches and the Easter controversy, hold that it +is not of apostolic origin, and that it dates from the third century or +even from the fourth century. It is not mentioned in the Didascalia +(circa 250 A.D.), but was enjoined by St. Athanasius upon his flock +in 331. + + +EASTER AND PASCHAL TIME. + +Easter is the chief festival of Christendom, the first and oldest of all +festivals, the basis on which the Church's year is built, the connecting +link with the festivals of the old covenant and the central point on +which depends the date of the other movable feasts. Some of the very +early Christian writers call it feast of feasts (festum festorum). + +The English word Easter is from _Eastre_, the goddess of spring. In the +liturgy we never find the word _Pascha_, always the words _dominica +resurrectionsis_. Pascha has no connection with the Greek [Greek: +Pascho], but is the Aramaic form of _pesach_. + +Some points regarding this festival are to be noted, its antiquity, its +connection with Jewish feasts and Christian feasts, its preparation, +character and duration. + +_Antiquity_. No mention of this feast is in the _Didache_, in Justin's +Dialogue with Trypho, or in his apologies. But in the year 198 A.D. an +exchange of letters between Pope Victor, Bishop Narcissus of Jerusalem, +Polycrates of Ephesus, shows that the feast had been for years in +existence. Many references are found in Tertullian and writers of his +time to this festival. + +_Connection of the Christian Festival with the Jewish_. "The connection +between the Christian and the Jewish feasts is both historical and +ideal--historical because our Lord's death happened on the 15th Nisan, +the first day of the Jewish feast; ideal, because what took place had +been prefigured in the Old Testament by types, of which itself was the +antitype. The Jewish rites and ceremonies (Exodus XII.) are referred to +in the prophecies of the Messias. Thus, Isaias calls Him the Lamb chosen +by God, who bears the iniquities of others. The Baptist called Jesus, +the Lamb of God. The Evangelist refers to the typical character of the +Passover rites, when he applies, 'a bone of it shall not be broken' +(Exod. XII. 46), to Christ on the Cross. Justin and Tertullian see in +the Christian sacrifice the fulfilment of the imperfect sacrifices of +the old law. Hence, there is no doubt that the Jewish Passover was +taken over into Christianity. Thereby its typical ceremonies found their +due fulfilment. + +"To the real and historical connection between Easter and the Passover +is due the explanation of a striking peculiarity in the Church's year, +viz., the moveable feasts of which Easter is the starting point. Easter +falls on no fixed date, because the Jewish 15th Nisan, unlike the dates +of the Julian and Gregorian Calendars, varied year by year. + +"The preparation for Easter was the Lenten fasts. The fare on fast days +consisted of water and soup made with flour; fruit and oil and bread +were also eaten. The catechumens also fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays. +Among the faithful there were some who ate nothing from their repast on +Sunday until the following Saturday, e.g., for five days, and who all +the year round took only one meal a day. Others abstained in Lent from +all food for two consecutive days, but others fasted by taking nothing +to eat all day, until the evening" (Kellner, _op. cit._, p. 93). + +The Easter celebrations were in the early ages chiefly noted for the +great and solemn ceremonies of baptism conferred on a large number of +catechumens, with solemn procession from the baptistry to the cathedral. +The Easter Octave celebrates by festivals the supper at Emmaus, the +appearance of our Lord (St. Luke xxiv.), His appearance by the sea (St. +John xxi. 1-14), His appearance to Magdalen (St. John xx. 11-18), His +appearance on the mountain (St. Matthew xxviii. 16-20), and His +appearance just after He had risen (St. John xx, 1-9), + + +THE ASCENSION. + +This day was kept as a festival in very early times, although it is not +mentioned in the lists of Church festivals given by Tertullian (+220), +nor by Origen (185-254). St. Augustine (354-430) (Epist. ad Januarium, +54, c.l.) attributes the institution of this festival to an apostolic +ordinance or the injunction of a general council. But neither can be +proved. But the festival dates from the days of the early Church, and as +it was natural that the concluding act of our Saviour's life should be +remembered and honoured, the celebration of the feast of His Ascension +spread widely and rapidly. The feast was noted for the solemn +processions held, to imitate and to commemorate our Lord's leading of +the Apostles out of the city to the Mount of Olives. + + +WHIT SUNDAY. + +Pentecost or Whit Sunday extends back to the early days of the Church. +From Tertullian, it is plain that the festival was well known and long +established. In the _Peregrinatio Silviae_, we read a detailed account +of how the feast was kept in Jerusalem at her visit (385-388). "On the +night before Whitsunday the vigil was celebrated in the church of the +Anastasis, at which the bishop, according to the usual custom in +Jerusalem on Sundays, read the Gospel of the Resurrection, and the +customary psalmody was performed. At dawn, all the people proceeded to +the principal church (Martyrium) where a sermon was preached and Mass +celebrated. About the third hour, when the psalmody was finished, the +people singing accompanied the bishop to Sion. There, the passage from +the Acts of the Apostles describing the descent of the Holy Ghost was +read, and a second Mass was celebrated; after which the psalmody was +resumed. Afterwards, the archdeacon invited the people to assemble in +the 'Eleona,' from whence a procession was made to the summit of the +Mount of Olives. Here, psalms and antiphons were sung, the Gospel was +read and the blessing given. After this, the people descended again into +the 'Eleona,' where Vespers were sung, and then, with the bishop at +their head, proceeded in a solemn procession, with singing, back to the +principal church, which was reached towards 8 p.m. At the city gate the +procession was met by torch bearers, who accompanied it to the +Martyrium. Here, as well as in the Anastasias, to which the people +proceeded in turn, and in the chapel of the Holy Cross, the usual +prayers, hymns and blessings took place, so that the festival did not +conclude until midnight." (Kellner, _op. cit._, pp. 112-113). In most +churches, the principal services were solemn baptism and processions. In +some places it was customary to scatter roses from the roof of the +church, to recall the miracle of Pentecost. In France, trumpets were +blown in church, in memory of the great wind which accompanied the Holy +Spirit's descent. + + +TRINITY SUNDAY. + +The first Sunday after Pentecost, for centuries, was not called Trinity +Sunday. Pope Alexander II. (circa 1073) was questioned about a feast in +honour of the Holy Trinity and he replied that it was not the Roman +custom to set apart any particular day in honour of the Trinity, which +was honoured many times daily in the psalmody, by the _Gloria Patri_. +But an Office and Mass, dating from a hundred years earlier than this +Pope's time, were in use in the Netherlands and afterwards in England, +Germany and France; and in 1260 were spread far and wide. In 1334, Pope +John XXII. ordered uniformity and general observance of this feast on +the Sunday after Pentecost. The Office in our Breviaries dates from the +time of Pius V. It is beautiful and sublime in matter and in form. +Whether this is a new Office or a blending of some ancient offices, is a +matter of dispute. Baillet, _Les Vies des Saints_ (Tom ix. c. 2, 158) +thinks it a new Office. But Binterim, _Die Kirchichle Heortology_, Part +I., 265, and Baumer-Biron, _Histoire du Breviaire_, 298, take a +different view. The Roman rite follows the older form of enumeration, +second Sunday after Easter and so forth, and not first Sunday after +Trinity. The latter form of enumeration is adopted in the Anglican +church service books. + + +THE PROPER OF THE SAINTS. + +_December. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception._ The discussion of +the question of this feast lasted for more than a thousand years. A +feast of the Conception was celebrated in the Eastern Church in the +early part of the eighth century and was celebrated on the 9th December +(Kellner, _Heortology_, p. 242, _et seq._). The feast was celebrated in +England before the Norman Conquest (1066) (Bishop, _On the Origins of +Feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary_, London, 1904). + +But there is an earlier codex than those mentioned by Bishop, and from +it, it is argued that the feast is of Irish origin. In a metrical +calendar, which is reasonably referred to the time of Alfred the Great +(871-901), there is the line "Concipitur Virgo maria cognomine senio"; +and this calendar exhibits, says Father Thurston, S.J., "most +unmistakable signs of the influence of an Irish character." It was +written, Dr. Whitely Stokes believed, by an Irishman in the ninth +century or thereabouts. The script appears to him to be "old Irish, +rather than Anglo-Saxon, and the large numbers of commemorations of +Irish saints and the accuracy with which the names are spelt, point to +an Irish origin." This calendar places the feast of our Lady's +Conception on the 2nd May. In the metrical calendar of Oengus, the feast +is assigned to the 3rd May, and in his _Leabhar Breac_, the scribe adds +the Latin note, "Feir mar Muire et reliqua, _i.e._, inceptio ejus ut +alii putant--sed in februo mense vel in Martio facta est illa, quae post +VII. menses nata est, ut innaratur--vel quae libet alia feria ejus." +Again, in the martyrology of Tallaght, from which Gorman, a later +martyrologist, says that Oengus, the Culdee, drew his materials, is +found under date May 3rd, a mention of the celebration of the Conception +of Mary. This evidence seems to show--although it is not perfectly +conclusive--that the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was +celebrated in the Irish Church in the ninth and tenth centuries, but not +on the 8th December (see Father Thurston, S.J., _The Month_, May and +June, 1904; Father Doncoeur, S.J., _Revue d'histoire ecclesiastique_, +Louvain, 1907, p. 278, et seq.; Baudot, _The Roman Breviary_, pp. +253-255; Kellner, _op. cit._). + +It is to be regretted that even in the new Breviary the lessons for the +second nocturn of this feast are taken from the composition, _Cogitis +me_, falsely attributed to St. Jerome, and rejected by critics, from the +days of Baronius, as spurious (Baudot, _op. cit._, p. 236). + +_February. The Purification._ Candlemas. According to the Gospel +narrative, Mary fulfilled the commands of the Law (Lev. XII. 2-8), and +on the fortieth day brought the prescribed offering to the Temple, where +she met Simeon and Anna. + +The first reference found in Christian writers to this festival is found +in the famous _Peregrinatio Sylviae_, the diary of a Spanish lady who +visited Jerusalem about 385-388. She tells us that the day began with a +solemn procession, followed by a sermon on St. Luke II. 22 seqq., and a +Mass. It had not yet a name, but was called the fortieth day after the +Epiphany; and this naming shows that at Jerusalem the Epiphany was +regarded as the day of Christ's birth. The lady's words show that the +feast was not then observed in her own country. The feast was observed +in Rome in 542; and Pope Sergius I. (687-701) ordered a procession on +this festival. The opinion that is so often met with in pious books, +that this feast with its procession of candlebearers was established by +the Church to replace the riot and revels of the Pagan _Lupercalia_, is +now rejected by scholars. For, processions, with or without lights, were +so common amongst Pagans and Christians that any connection between +these two feasts is negligible. + +_March. St. Joseph_. In the Western Church the cultus of St. Joseph is +not found in any calendar before the ninth century, although numerous +traces of the esteem and veneration paid to him by individuals are +found. The public cultus of St. Joseph was introduced by the private +devotions of great servants of God, such as St. Bernard, St. Gertrude, +St. Bridget of Sweden, John Gerson, St. Bernardine of Sienna, and other +Franciscan preachers. The spread of the devotion in several countries +led Pope Sixtus IV. (1471-1484) to introduce St. Joseph's feast, as a +simplex, having only one lesson. Clement XI. (1700-1721) changed it into +a feast of nine lessons. Two centuries previously the feast is found in +Breviaries under date 19th March. + +_The Annunciation_. Devotion to the Mother of God was continued by the +apostles after the death of her Son. Fervent and widespread devotion is +traceable in the Church's early days, but the organising of our Lady's +feasts was a work of some time and difficulty. A great difficulty was +the fear of blasphemy from pagans, and of error amongst pagan converts, +so trained in myths and genealogies of the gods. Then the festivals +commemorating the facts of the life, death and resurrection were +primarily commemorative of the Redeemer and secondarily of His Mother. +Long before the institution of her feast, the cultus of Mary was almost +universal. The feast of the Annunciation falls on the 25th March with +us. Its date depends entirely on the date of Christmas, but the birth of +Christ was not always placed in calendars on the 25th December. + +In early days the feasts of martyrs and other saints were not celebrated +in Lent, and hence this feast of the Blessed Virgin was set down in some +calendars as transferred, and was celebrated in Advent. In Spain, it was +celebrated eight days before Christmas. In the East, the feast was +generally celebrated on the 25th March, and gradually this date was +fixed, and was sanctioned by several councils in the eleventh century. + +_May. The Finding of the Holy Cross_. The history of the finding of the +true cross by St. Helena is well known. The Alexandrine Chronicle gives +the day as the 14th September, 320. This September feast of the holy +cross is of earlier origin than the feast of May. The latter was +established to commemorate the act of the emperor in 629, when he +brought back to Jerusalem the true cross, from the Persian conquerors. +On 3rd May, he handed it over to the Patriarch Zacharias, and, strange +to say, this festival of May spread rapidly in the Western Church, +whilst in the East only one feast, (the September one), of the finding +of the cross was celebrated for centuries. In Milan, for instance, the +September feast was received in the eleventh century, whilst the May +feast was rooted in the Western Church very many years before that time. + +The antiphons and hymns of this Office are, it is said, amongst the +most beautiful and sublime prayers of our liturgy. + +_The Apparition of St. Michael_. The cultus of the holy angels is of +Jewish origin and existed in the Christian Church from the beginning. In +St. Paul's Epistle to the Colossians (modern _Khonus on the Lycus_) he +speaks of this devotion and of the attempts of a Gnostic sect to spread +false doctrines on this point (Col. ii, 18). Although the evil wrought +was long lived, true devotion to the angels was practised in Colossae +and there the Archangel Michael appeared. In honour of this apparition, +the festival of St. Michael in September was established. Devotion to +the Archangel was of very early date in Rome and in the Western Church +generally. Masses in his honour are found in the oldest Roman +Sacramentary (483-492); and in these he is mentioned by name in prayers +and prefaces. The May feast was instituted in the sixth century, to +commemorate a second apparition near Sipontum on Monte Gargano, which +took place on the 8th May, 520. + +_June 29. Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul_. There always has been a +constant tradition in Rome that these two saints suffered martyrdom on +the same day, 29th June, and it is only natural that this day should be +kept with great devotion and solemnity at Rome. In the East, feasts in +honour of these martyrs were held at different seasons, Christmas, +February and Epiphany. The day was kept in many places as a solemn +holiday, servile works being prohibited. But in Rome, devotion was +closely connected with the date and with the exact places of martyrdom. +"Owing to the distance which separated the two churches of the apostles +from each other, it was most fatiguing to celebrate Mass at both places, +and so in course of time the festival was divided into two parts, and +the Mass in honour of St. Paul took place on the 3Oth June." + +_July. The Visitation_. This feast was probably originated by the +Franciscans in the thirteenth century. It certainly was preached and +spread by their zeal. It is mentioned amongst Franciscan records bearing +date 1263. It was kept in different places at different dates. In Paris +it was kept in April. In 1850 Pius IX. raised this feast to the rank of +a double of the second class, to thank God for having, on this day, 2nd +July, freed Rome from the revolutionary yoke. + +_Feast of St. Mary Magdalen_. Commentators on Sacred Scripture are not +agreed whether Mary of Magdala was the sister of Lazarus or whether +there were two or three Marys connected with our Lord--Mary the sister +of Lazarus, Mary of Magdala, and Mary the sinner named in St. Luke's +Gospel vii. 27. The Roman liturgy seems to favour the opinion that Mary +of Magdala was the sister of Lazarus, and that she was a sinner and was +possessed by seven devils. The history of Mary Magdalen after our Lord's +death has been written, with large and varied additions of adventure, by +pious mediaevalists. In the Western Church, traces of the saint's cultus +are met with in Bede and his contemporaries. But devotion far and wide +begins with mediaeval times. The many legends which have grown up +around her name and history have so obscured historic truth that the +Breviary gives no historic lessons on her feast day, but gives as a +lesson part of a homily from St. Gregory. Some of the legends may be +found in the Office of St. Martha (July, 29th). + +_August. The Assumption._ "In all probability this is the earliest of +our Lady's festivals" (Kellner, _op. cit._, p. 235). Early writers +mention the Garden of Gethsemani as the place of Mary's burial and the +third year--some say the twelfth year--after our Lord's death as the +year of her death. St. John Damascene relying on the writings of +Euthymius tells us what we know of the Assumption. He tells that the +wife of the Emperor Marcian (450-457) wished to transfer our Lady's +relics from Jerusalem to Constantinople and was informed by Juvenal, +Bishop of Jerusalem, that such relics were not in Jerusalem. The Blessed +Mother had been buried there, in the Garden of Gethsemani, in the +presence of the Apostles, Thomas alone being absent. On his arrival he +wished to venerate the Mother of God; the tomb was opened for him, but +nothing was found save the linen grave-clothes, which gave forth a sweet +perfume. The Apostles concluded that Christ had taken to Heaven the body +which had borne Him. The Emperor Maurice ordered the date, the 15th +August, long and widely recognised, to be the date of this annual +festival. However, some churches celebrated it on other dates. In the +Gothico-Gallic missal of the eighth century, the feast is fixed for the +18th January. The festival was called sometimes _dormitio Mariae, +pausatio Mariae_. It was celebrated in Rome at the end of the seventh +century, but how long it had been in existence there, and in the West +generally before that time, no one can say. + +_Feast of the Name of Mary._ This feast owes its origin to the devotion +of the faithful and was first authorised by the Pope in 1513. It was +extended to the universal calendar in 1683, on the occasion of the +deliverance of Vienna from the Turks. + +Over the derivation and meaning of the name _Maria_ much scholarship and +conjecture have been lavished. It is said to mean (1) _stella maris_ +(Eusebius); (2) lady, from the Syrian _Martha_ (St. John Damascene); +this is the Breviary meaning, but the Breviary uses the first meaning, +_stella maris_, too; (3) stately, imposing one (Bardenhewer); (4) from +the Egyptian, _merijom_, friend of water, bride of the sea (Macke). + +_October. Feast of the Holy Rosary._ It is not necessary to speak of the +origin of the Rosary. This feast was established by Gregory XIII. in +1573, as a thanksgiving for the victory of Lepanto (October, 1571). +Clement XI. extended the feast to all Christendom in consequence of the +victory gained at Peterwarden by Prince Eugene in 1716. + +_November. Feast of all Saints._ This feast was "instituted to honour +all the saints, known and unknown, and, according to Urban IV., to +supply any deficiencies in the faithful's celebration of saints' feasts +during the year. In the early days, the Christians were accustomed to +solemnize the anniversary of a martyr's death for Christ, at the place +of martyrdom. The neighbouring dioceses began to interchange feasts, to +transfer them and to divide them, and to join in a common feast; ... +frequently groups of martyrs suffered on the same day, which naturally +led to a joint commemoration. In the persecution of Diocletian the +number of martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be +assigned to each. But the Church, feeling that every martyr should be +venerated, appointed a common day for all. The first trace of it we find +in Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost. ... At first only martyrs and +St. John the Baptist were honoured by a special day. Other saints were +added gradually, and increased in number when a general process of +canonization was established; still, as early as 411 there is in the +Chaldean calendar a 'commemoratio Confessorum' for the Friday after +Easter. ... Gregory IV. (827-844) extended the celebration on 1st +November to the entire Church" (_Cath. Ency._, art, "All Souls"). + +_Feast of All Souls_, "The theological basis for the feast is the +doctrine that the souls, which, on departing from the body are not +perfectly cleansed from venial sins, or have not fully atoned for past +transgressions, are debarred from the Beatific Vision, and that the +faithful on earth can help them by prayers, almsdeeds, and especially by +the holy sacrifice of the Mass. In the early days of Christianity the +names of the departed brethren were entered in the diptychs. Later, in +the sixth century, it was customary in Benedictine monasteries to hold a +commemoration of the deceased members at Whitsuntide, In Spain, there +was such a day before Sexagesima or before Pentecost, at the time of St. +Isidore (d. 636). In Germany, there existed (according to the testimony +of Widukind, Abbot of Corvey, c. 980) a time-honoured ceremony of +praying for the dead on 1st October. This was accepted and sanctified by +the Church" (_Cath. Ency._, art. "All Souls"). + +The psalms and lessons of this Office are especially well chosen, and +the responses to the lessons--said to be the work of Maurice de Sully +(d. 1196)--are greatly admired by liturgical experts. + +It may be noted here, that, in the recitation of this Office, which is, +for most priests, the only choral recitation of liturgy, care should be +taken to select the proper nocturn or nocturns. "In the general rubrics +of the Breviary (Tit. XIX. n. 2) it is stated that the invitatory is not +to be said in _Officio Defunctorum_ per annum, excepto die +Commemorationis omnium fidelium defunctorum, ac in die obitus seu +depositionis defuncti et quandocunque dicuntur tres nocturni. When, +therefore, only one nocturn is recited, the invitatory is to be omitted +except on the dies obitus seu depositionis." In this latter case, even +though the body is not present--for some special reason, such as +contagious disease--the invitatory is not to be omitted. + +"On any other occasion, no matter how solemn or privileged, such as the +seventh, thirtieth, or anniversary day, when only one nocturn is +recited, the invitatory must not be included. This is clear, not only +from the rubrics of the Breviary and Ritual (Tit. VI., cap. IV.) but +also from certain answers of the Congregation of Rites" (_Irish Eccles. +Record_, December, 1913). + +Dom Baudot's _The Roman Breviary_ gives in an appendix, pp. 239-252, +"tables showing the date at which each saint was inserted in the Roman +Breviary, the rank given to his festival, and the variations it has +undergone. It is often difficult to give precise dates." + + +ROGATION DAYS, EMBER DAYS AND LITANIES. + +"Litanies were solemn supplications instituted to implore the blessing +of Heaven on the fruits of the earth. It was customary to recite them in +the spring, that is, the season of late frosts, so much dreaded by the +cultivators of the soil.... The people marched in procession to the +spot, chanting the while that dialogue prayer which we call a litany, +elaborated, according to circumstances, into a long series of +invocations, addressed to God and to angels and saints." + +"The day set apart for this purpose at Rome was the 25th April, a +traditional date, being that on which the ancient Romans celebrated the +festival of the Robigalia.... + +"The most ancient authority for this ceremony is a formulary for +convoking it, found in the Register of St. Gregory the Great, which must +have been used in the first instance in the year 598" (Duchesne, +_Christian Worship_, chap, viii., n. 9). + +Ember days, a corruption from Latin Quatuor Tempora (four times). "The +purpose of their introduction, besides the general one intended by all +prayer and fasting, was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach +men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy. The +immediate occasion was the practice of the heathens of Rome. The Romans +were originally given to agriculture and their native god belonged to +the same class. At the beginning of the time for seeding and harvesting +religious ceremonies were performed to implore the help of their +deities; in June for a bountiful harvest, in September for a rich +vintage, and in December for the seeding.... The Church when converting +heathen nations has always tried to sanctify any practice which could be +utilised for a good purpose." The fasts were fixed by the Church before +the time of Callixtus (217-222). The spread of the observance of Ember +days was slow; but they were fixed definitely and the fast prescribed +for the whole Church by Gregory VII. (1073-1085). (_Cf. Catholic +Encyclopedia_, word, Ember Days; Duchesne _Christian Worship_, chap, +viii.; Dom Morin _Revue Benedictine_, L'Origine des Quatre Temps, 1897, +pp. 330-347.) + + +NOTE A. + +THE BREVIARY HYMNS. + +Of all the many and varied branches of Christian art, there is none +which offers to the researches of criticism a field so extensive as does +the hymnography of the Roman Breviary. No other source of liturgical +study, if we except the antiphonarium, has received such attention from +studious men. But never, in any age, did this study receive such careful +treatment and give rise to such patient and laborious research as in +our own. (Pimont, _Les hymnes du Breviare Romain_, Introduction.) + +In this note, an attempt will be made to define a hymn, to tell of the +introduction of hymns into the Roman Breviary, and to note briefly the +character of these hymns. + +St. Augustine, commenting on Psalm 122, defined a hymn as a song with +praise of God, cantus est cum laude Dei. It may, however, be more +strictly defined as a spiritual song, a religious lyric (v. _Cath, +Ency._, art. "Hymn"). + +In the early Christian assemblies great use was made of the psalms and +canticles in their congregational singing. St. Paul wrote: "Speaking to +yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual canticles, singing and +making melody in your hearts to the Lord" (Ephes. v. 18) "...teaching +and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual canticles, +singing in grace in your hearts to God" (Col. iii. 16). The Jesuit, +Father Arevalo, in his _Hymodia Hispanica_, cites many witnesses, such +as Clement of Alexandria, the Apostolic Constitutions, Pliny the +younger, to prove that hymns were used in the first and second +centuries. But a much-debated question is, whether those hymns were +really made part of the Office, as hymns stand there to-day. Some +scholars deny that they were; others assert that they were certainly +part of the Church's Office. All agree that they were certainly in use +formally and substantially in the Office in the third and fourth +centuries in the Eastern and in the Western Church. The Council of +Antioch (269-270) wrote to the Pope that Paul of Samosate had +suppressed some canticles recently composed in honour of Jesus Christ. +St. Dionysius of Alexandria composed some hymns, to win over an erring +bishop. In the fourth century the Council of Laodicea spoke of the +introduction of some hymns, which were not approved; and St. Basil tells +us that hymns were in universal use in the Eastern Church. + +In the Western Church, St. Hilary of Potiers (370) composed a hymn book +for his church. Its existence is known from the words of St. Jerome. St. +Augustine states that St. Ambrose (340-397), shut up with his people in +the church in Milan by the persecutors, occupied his flock by their +singing of hymns which he himself had composed, and some of which are in +our Breviaries. The Church of Milan certainly had hymns in its Office +and in its Office books then, for St. Paulinus in his life of St. +Augustine wrote: "Hoc in tempore, primum antiphonae, hymni ac vigilae in +Ecclesia Mediolanensi celebrari coeperunt; cujus celebritatis devotio +usque in hodiernam diem, non solum, in Ecclesia Mediolanensi verum per +omnes pene Occidentis provincias manet." + +But the question arises, when did Rome introduce hymns into her liturgy? +The learned Jesuit, Father Arevalo, held that the Roman Office had hymns +as an integral part from the time of St. Ambrose, and he called the +opinion of those who held that they were of later introduction an +inveterate error, _errorem inveteratum (Hymnodia Hispanica_ XVIII., n. +95). The introduction of antiphonal chanting was introduced into Rome at +the time of St. Ambrose and liturgical hymn singing, too, was +introduced about the same time. This we know from the Milanese priest +Paulinus, St. Augustine, Pope Celestine I., and Faustus, Bishop of Riez. +But formal, official and systematic hymnody was not introduced in Rome +until centuries after the death of St. Ambrose. Mabillon (Suppl. ad IV. +lib de div. off. Amalarii, t. 11) and Tomasi (In annot, ad Resp. et +antip. Rom. Ecc.) place the date of the introduction of hymns into the +Roman liturgy, in the eleventh or twelfth centuries. But scholars now +agree that hymns were formally recognised in the liturgy of Rome in the +latter half of the ninth century. "To judge of what Amalare of Metz +says, there was no sign of it at the beginning of the ninth century, but +from the middle of the same century onwards hymns must have been +introduced into the Office used by the Churches of the Frankish empire, +and shortly afterwards in Rome" (Baudot, _op. cit._, pp. 67-68). Wilfrid +Strabo agrees with Amalare. Rabanus Maurus testifies that hymns were in +general usage in the second part of the ninth century. (Migne, Pat. Lat. +clx. 159, cxiv. 956). This is the opinion of Gueranger, Pimont, Blume +and Baumer. + +Dom Gueranger explains why Rome, the mother and mistress of all the +churches, did not adopt the practice of hymn chanting in her liturgy for +centuries; why she did not precede or quickly follow the Eastern and +many parts of the Western Church in this matter of liturgical hymns. +"The Church," he says, "did not wish to alter by religious songs the +simplicity, or the meaning, of her great liturgical prayer. Nor did she +wish to adopt quickly any innovation in her liturgy or discipline" +(_Inst. Liturg._ I. 1, pp. 170-171). + +No part of the Church's liturgy has met with such persistent, abusive, +and often ignorant criticism as her hymns have received. + +The renaissance clerics, the Gallicans, the Jansenists, and the +Protestants poured forth volumes of hostile and unmerited criticism on +the matter and form of Rome's sacred songs. Becichemus, rector of the +Academy of Pavia in the sixteenth century, in his introduction to the +work of Ferreri, wrote of the hymns: "sunt omnes fere mendosi, inepti, +barbarie refecti, nulla pedum ratione nullo syllabarum mensu +compositi.... Ut ad risum eruditos concinent, et ad contemptum +ecclesiastici ritus vel literatos sacerdotes inducant.... Literatos +dixi: nam ceteri qui sunt sacri patrimonii helluones, sine scientia, +sine sapientia, satis habent, ut dracones stare juxta arcam Domini." The +remarks of the rector recall the saying of Lactantius, "literati non +habent fidem." Ferreri, who had been commissioned by Pope Clement to +revise and correct the Breviary hymns, wrote in his dedication epistle: +"I have given all my care to this collection of new hymns, because +learned priests and friends of good Latinity who are now obliged to +praise God in a barbarous style, are exposed to laugh and to despise +holy things." Santeuil (1630-1697) characterised the Breviary hymns as +the product of ignorance, the disgrace of the Latin language, the +disreputable relics of the early ages, the result of lunacy. + +Violent attack leads to violent defence. Both are generally born of +ignorance, a partizan spirit, and exaggeration. Pious Catholic defenders +write that the Roman Breviary has hymns far superior to the classic +lyrics of ancient Rome; that they have an inimitable style; that they +are far superior to Horatian poetry; that there is nothing to compare +with their style and beauty in pagan classics, Indeed, zeal has led some +holy men to censure Pope Leo X., Clement VII., and. Urban VIII. for +their attempts to correct these compositions, which they hold to have +been perfect. + +Truth seems to hold the place of the golden mean between the bitter +critics and the over zealous defenders of our Breviary hymns. The +following propositions, drawn from Father Barnard's _Cours De Liturgie +Romaine_, may be taken as a fair and accurate statement of the views of +scholars, views which may be safely held by all students of this portion +of liturgy. + +_First Proposition_:--Many of the hymns of the Roman Breviary have not +the elegance of the Odes of Horace, of the hymns of Santeuil and +of Coffin. + +Proof:-(1) The holy Fathers had outlined in a rough sketch rather than +perfected their hymns (Pope Urban VIII., Bull Quamvis, 17th June, 1644). + +(2) Speaking of the new Hymnal of Ferreri, Pope Clement VIII. says that +the new work could only add to the splendour of worship and help to the +common interest, implying that the new hymns helped religion by their +accuracy and grace of correct poetic forms. + +(3) Pimont, the author of a classic work on the Breviary Hymns, in a +number of comments, notes the crudities of the Breviary hymns, even in +their revised forms. Thus, in the hymn for Prime, he notes apparent +ruggedness. He passes similar comments on the hymns assigned to the +little hours. + +(4) Bacquez states that all the hymns do not join beauty of expression +to the merit of the thought expressed, and that a certain number lack +style and good prosody. + +These opinions should not be extended to all, nor even to very many of +the Breviary hymns. All serious critics agree about the beauty of such +hymns as the _Aeterne rerum Conditor_, the _Somno refectis artubus, +Splendor Aeternae gloriae, Verbum supernum prodiens_, and a good number +of others. + +The greater part of the Breviary Hymns are composed according to the +rules of prosody, and their form is lyric, the popular form of Latin +song, which preceded in Italy the prosodical system borrowed from the +Greeks, and used by the classic pagan poets. The critics of the +Renaissance period are very loud and very wrathful over the form of +these hymns. Some of them accuse St. Ambrose, Prudentius and Gregory the +Great of gross ignorance of the rules of Latin verse and, what to the +critics was worse, ignorance of the ways of pagan classical models. But, +was the rhymed, tonic accented lyric, which was to be sung by all sorts +and conditions of men, in public, such an outrageous literary sin? Was +it ignorance or prudence that guided the early hymn writers in their +adoption of popular poetic form? It is not certain by any means that the +early hymn writers wished to copy or adopt the classic forms of the +Augustinian age. Nor is it clear that such men of genius as St. Ambrose, +Prudentius, St. Gregory the Great, were ignorant of the rules and models +of the best Latin poets. It seems that they did not wish to follow them. +They wilfully and designedly adopted the popular lyric forms, so that +they might give to their flocks in popular and easily remembered forms, +prayers and formulas of faith. + +_Second Proposition_:-The Breviary hymns have the principal elements of +poetic beauty. + +Briefly, these elements are sublimity of thought, beauty of sentiment, +aptness of expression, unction of form. In these matters the Breviary +hymns are not inferior to the classic poetry of paganism, nor to the +much-belauded beauties of the Gallican Breviary hymns (_vide_ Bacquez, +_Le Saint Office_, notes vi. and viii. in finem). + +The composition of the hymns is in perfect harmony with the end for +which they are intended, that is, liturgical prayer, chanted prayer. +Their phrases do not display the vain and superfluous literary glitter +of the much-lauded Gallican hymns, but their accents go out from the +sanctuary and live in the hearts of the people. Their language is, like +the thought and expression of the psalms, the word of a soul praying to +God and adoring Him in fervour, in simplicity, and in faith. Of the +piety and expression of the French hymns, Foinard, an ardent apostle of +the French liturgical novelties, wrote: "Il ne parait pas que ce soit +l'onction qui domine dans les nouveaux Breviaries; on y a la verite, +travaille beaucoup pour l'esprit; mais il semole qu' on n'y a pas +travaille autant pour le coeur." Letourneux, the fierce Jansenist, wrote +to the Breviary-poet, Santeuil, his co-worker: "Vous faites fumer +l'encens; mais c'est un feu estranger qui brule dans l'ensenoir. La +vanite fait en vous ce que la charite devrait faire." And the Catholic +De Maistre, so famed for his fair-minded criticisms, wrote of the new +hymn-makers' works: "They make a certain noise in the ear, but they +never breathe prayer, because their writers were all alone (_i.e._, +unaided by the grace and guidance of the Holy Spirit) when they composed +them." Of the Roman Breviary hymns he wrote: "They always pray and +excite the soul to prayer." "Train your hearts to attention, and hear +all their prayers. You will in them see the true religion, as clearly as +you see the sunbeams." + +_Fourth Proposition_:--The characteristic of the Roman Breviary hymns is +to express with lively sentiments and with unction the noble ideas and +beautiful sentiments of the supernatural order, in a simple manner, +without prosodical pretension, yet having ever a true rhythm which +sometimes vies with better compositions. + +The characteristic mentioned in this proposition, which comes as a +corollary from the three preceding propositions, is one which is clearly +noted in our Breviary hymns. For by their very position in the Breviary, +side by side with the Psalms, Scripture extracts and words of the +Fathers, the Church shows her esteem and her use of these lyrics of +prayer and praise. Again, the Church's mind is shown by her retention of +her hymns in her liturgy, notwithstanding the many efforts made to +substitute a new hymnal. Up to the sixteenth century these Breviary +hymns were universally esteemed. They were admired by St. Augustine. +They are quoted and praised by St. Thomas in his Summa. Deays the +Carthusian {1402-1471} wrote a beautiful commentary on them. Amongst all +priests, secular and regular, the hymns were venerated and loved. +Although there were many men of genius in every age and in every part of +the Christian Church, the hymns escaped until the renaissance under Leo +X. (1475-1521). + +The lovers of everything classic and pagan were pained and exasperated +at the venerable simplicity, the lack of prosody, the vagueness and +crudity of the wording of the liturgical hymns. In 1531, Wimpheling, a +priest of the diocese of Spire, produced a work, _Himni de tempore et de +sanctis_ ... _secundum legem carminis diligenter emendati_. Leo X., +yielding to his own taste and the wishes of the learned innovators who +were ardent students of pagan antiquity, commissioned Ferreri to compose +a new hymnal for liturgical use. His book was allowed for liturgical +use, but was not prescribed. It omitted all the old hymns sanctioned by +the Church for centuries, and sung with fervour by thousands down the +ages. "There are found in the work of Ferreri," wrote Dom Gueranger, +"all the images and all the allusions to pagan beliefs and usages which +we find in Horace. Sometimes, it is only fair to say, his hymns are +beautiful and simple ... but they follow generally and too servilely the +pagan models ... but they are the work of strong and clear inspiration, +which under the mask of classic diction shows itself in every part." +(_Inst. Liturg._ t. I., p. 370.) During the reign of Pope Paul III. new +hymnals were issued, but the Breviary hymns were not removed. St. Pius +V. in his reform of the Breviary did not touch the Breviary hymns. +Clement VIII. in his reform added new hymns but did not remove nor +retouch the old ones. This work remained for Pope Urban VIII. +(1623-1644). + +Urban VIII., Maffeo Barberini, was a poet of no mean rank. Before his +election to the papacy, he was a recognised lover of classical +literature and an adept in following classic themes and classic forms. +Our Breviaries contain some few of his compositions and they show +correctness of form, poetic merit, and piety. They are the hymns, +_Martinae celebri, Tu natale solum_ (January 20); _Nullis te genitor, +Regali solio fortis_ (April 13). His great desire was the correction of +the Breviary hymns. This work of correction was not beyond the personal +power of the Pope himself, if we judge him by his hymns. His views are +expressed in the Bull _Divinam Psalmodiam_, issued to promulgate the +corrected hymns. It found a place in all copies of the Roman Breviary in +the last century. To carry out the corrections outlined by the Pope, +four Jesuits were appointed, and whether the result of the corrections +is the Pope's or the Jesuits' is a highly and hotly disputed point. +First of all, the task set to the Jesuits was a very difficult one, and +one demanding much prudence as well as learning. It may seem to us that +to begin the correction, mutilation and reconstruction of the works and +words of men so great in church history and liturgy as Prudentius, +Sedulius, St. Ambrose, St. Paulinus, was a work of rashness, a sort of +sacrilege, attempting to remodel the glowing piety of their poems to the +pattern of Horace's verse. But the Jesuits had got their commands and +they were bound to obey. They were chosen on account of their classical +scholarship, which was kept sharp by their daily teaching in college, +and they were specially bound by a vow of loyal obedience to Papal +orders. "It is only fair to give them the credit that out of respect for +the wishes of Urban VIII, they treated these ancient compositions with +extreme reserve and, while they made some impressions clearer, they +maintained the primitive unction in a large number of passages" (Baudot, +_op. cit._, p. 185). + +They corrected more than nine hundred false quantities found scattered +through the Breviary, 58 in the psalter per hebdomadam, 359 in the +proper de Tempore, 283 in the proper of Saints, and 252 in the common of +Saints. They changed the opening words of more than thirty hymns. Some +hymns were untouched--e.g., the three hymns of the Blessed Sacrament, +the _Ave Maris Stella_, which is rhythmic prose, not verse, and the hymn +of the Angels, which was sufficiently perfect. The metre of three hymns, +_Tibi Christe splendor Patris_, and the _Urbs Jerusalem_ and _Angularis +fundamentum_ were changed. + +The Jesuits have been censured very bitterly for their work of +correction. Perhaps they merited some censure, but surely they did not +merit the censures heaped on them by hostile critics like Thiers, Henri +Valois, and the Franciscan, Cavalli. They answered their critics +splendidly and triumphantly by the works of Father Arevalo, S.J. But the +wordy war lasts to the present day. Students who wish to see the +unrevised and the revised hymnal of Urban VIII. may consult Daniel's +_Thesaurus hymnologicus_ for examples. Other examples are given in +Monsignor Battifol's work, and others in Dom Baudot's. If the reader +read in the Breviary, the hymn _Te lucis ante terminum_, he may note a +difference in that, the revised form, and this, the unrevised:-- + + Te lucis ante terminum, + Rerum Creator poscimus, + Ut solita clementia + Sis praesul ad custodiam. + + Praesta pater omnipotens + Per Jesum Christum Dominum + Qui tecum in perpetuum regnat + Cum Sancto Spiritu + +Again, see Lauds for Passion Sunday, _Lustra sex_, second verse, +unrevised reads:-- + + Hic acetum fel arundo + Sputa clavi lancea + Mite corpus perforator + Sanguis unda profluit + Terra, pontus, astra, mundus + Quo lavantur flumine. + +_Iste Confessor_, unrevised reads:-- + + Iste confessor domini sacratus + Festa plebs cujus celebrat per orbem + Hodie laetus meruit secreta + Scandere coeli. + + Qui Pius, prudens humilis judicus, + Sobrius, castus fuit et quietus + Vita dum praesens vegetavit ejus + Corporis artus. + +The imitation of Breviary hymns has for centuries formed a notable part +of sacred Latin poetry. A great amount of Latin poetry dealing with +sacred themes finds no place in Missal or Breviary. Every nation has +ancient Latin hymns, generally modelled on the then existing liturgical +models; and these hymns are found in national hymnals and in works +dealing with Christian antiquities, but they find no place in modern +liturgy. Thus the Latin poetry of the ancient Irish Church is formed for +private and not choral use. The oldest purely rhythmical Latin hymn is +that of St. Sechnall (1448), "Audite omnes amantes Deum, sancta merita." +But neither it, nor any other of the old Latin hymns by Irish writers, +finds place in the Breviary. Collections of Latin hymns by Irish writers +of early Christian Ireland are to be found in Todd's _Book of Hymns of +the Ancient Irish Church_ (Dublin, 1885-1891); the _Irish Liber +Hymnorum_ (London, 1898), the _Antiphonary of Bangor_ (Warren's Edition, +London, 1893). + +One of the most difficult works for a scholar to attempt and to carry +out to his satisfaction is the translation of prose or poetry into +another language. The work of translating the Latin of the Roman +Breviary into English was attempted and completed years ago. The work +was great and creditable, but not renowned as a feat of translation. The +hymns of the Breviary have been translated by several authors in every +country of Christendom, and with different degrees of success. The study +of the Breviary hymns is a highly interesting one, and when it is +supported by the different efforts of different translators, it yields +new delights, and new beauties are discovered in verses which are +sometimes said too rapidly for earnest thought and attention. In the +list of books given in the bibliography below, there are given the names +of books of translated hymns. Any one of them is of great interest. + + + + +NOTE B. + +PARTICULAR EXAMEN ON THE RECITATION OF THE DIVINE OFFICE. + +I. How preparation for saying the Hours is to be made:-- + +(a) Have we before commencing to recite the Breviary made a fervent act +of faith in the presence of God and in the sovereign majesty of Him to +Whom we are going to speak? + +Have we endeavoured to purify our hearts by an act of contrition, in +order that we may escape the terrible reproach which God addresses to +the sinner--"to the sinner God hath said, 'Why dost thou declare my +justices and take away covenant in thy mouth?'" (Psalm 49, v.16)? + +Have we taken particular care to clear off from our souls everything +which can distract us, and above all others these things to which we are +attracted and to which our minds may return during our prayer? + +"Ante debes facere quod ait propheta: scopebam spiritum meum donec +incalescat spiritus tuus ex devota meditatione et affectum et +desiderium concipiat" (D. Gerhard Zutp. de spir. Ascen.). "Studeat +oratione devota et recollectione animi interna divinum praevenire +officium" (St. Bona. spec, di., p.2, c.7). + +Have we recollected ourselves and remained silent for a time, +particularly when passing from study or from a secular business, in +order to banish vain or worldly thoughts, and to make ourselves ready to +receive the Holy Ghost? + +Have we united ourselves to Jesus Christ, Who is the perfect praise of +God, the Father? Have we united ourselves in spirit to the Church, in +whose name we are going to praise God? "In unione orationum ac meritorum +Christi Jesu gratiam ad officium debite persolvendum petat" (St. +Bona. _ibid_.) + +Have we begged the Holy Ghost by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin +and the saints, whose offices we read, that we may be allowed to join +our praises to those which they give God? + +Have we always formed intentions general and particular, not forgetting +to form intentions embracing the intentions of Christ and His Church? + +Have we adopted some pious thought prior to our reading, so that +distractions may be excluded and fervour fostered during our recitation? +Have we chosen suitable time and place to pray? + +Have we taken pains to mark the places in the Breviary and looked over +the rubrics? Has not negligence in these matters caused innumerable +distractions? + +II. Dispositions which we should have in saying the Office:-- + +Let us find out with what dispositions we recite the Divine Office, and +if we say it in the manner in which the Church wishes it to be said, +digne, attente, ac devote. (Orat. rec. ante offic.). + +1. Have we considered well that God is present and that we speak to Him? +Do we look on ourselves as instruments which need to be animated with +God's holy spirit in order to bless His holy name? Have we said the +Office with all the respect and all the veneration which His almighty +majesty calls for? Cum timore et humilitate, tanquam Deo visibiliter +presente, psallant (S. Bona, spec, discip., p. 1, c. 15). + +2. In order to say it attentively have we taken great pains to put away +all kinds of distractions? + +"Munda cor meum ab omnibus vanis perversis et alienis cogitationibus" +(_ibid._). + +Have we rejected even good thoughts which were unsuitable for the time +of recitation, and above all have we banished idle or indifferent ones? + +Have we tried, following the example of the saints, to excite in +ourselves the different sentiments expressed by the Psalms, or to dwell +on some perfection of God, or on some mystery of our Lord, or on some +virtue of the saint whose office we read? Have we piously dwelt on +these, or on some other subject proper to the Church's season or +according to our needs? + +"Si orat psalmus, orate; si gemit, gemite; si gratulatur, gaudete; si +timet, timete" (St. Aug. in Ps. 30). + +In order to say the Office devoutly, have we said it with love, having +our hearts and souls fully alive to the advantages and the excellence +and the beauties of the Divine Office? + +Have we said it with fervour, abandoning ourselves to a good emotion, to +holy affections, and to joyous transports, which the Holy Ghost usually +works in fervent souls? Have we done this work with joy, taking a +peculiar pleasure in this holy labour, recognising the great honour it +is to be a partaker in the songs of praise offered to God by the +heavenly company, whose hosts are filled with His glory? + +III. How we must keep watch over ourselves in reading the Office:-- + +Let us examine ourselves to find out if in reading the Breviary we keep +the rules of good recitation, as laid down by the saints--Distincte, +integre, continue, reverenter, ordinate (St. Bonav., spec. discip. p. +1, c. 16). + +1. _Distincte_, Do we recite distinctly, observing the ordinary pause at +the middle and at the end of each verse, not hurrying the one on the +other? Do we articulate every word, not adopting a careless or too +speedy pronunciation? + +"Non in gutture vel inter dentes, seu deglutiendo et syncopando +dictiones vel verba" (Con. Basil, sess. 22). + +2. _Integre_. Do we say the Office in its entirety, being scrupulously +careful not to omit the smallest part, and taking great care that a part +that we should wish or try to say by heart shall not slip out of our +recitation altogether or be mutilated? + +"Integre, ut de dicendis nihil omittant" (St. Bona., spec, discip., +p. 1). + +3. Continue. Do we say our Hours without interruption? Do we love this +holy exercise? Or do we easily interrupt our prayer on any trifling +pretext, and on the first opportunity? + +"Interruptiones in eo non fiant, nisi urgente necessitate" (_ibid_.). + +4. _Ordinate_. Do we say our Office with order, that is, order both in +substance (not substituting one Office for another) and in manner, +according to the rubrics arranging the several hours? + +"_Ordinate in substantia, tempore et modo_" (St. Bona. spec., _ibid_.). + +5. Have we said our Hours piously, with all the modesty and all the +reverence which so holy an action demands? With becoming attitude, not +lying prone, not crossing our legs; without saluting or speaking to +those passing by? + +"In officio curando magnopere reverentia et honestas, cum ubique sit +eadem cui tune loquimur et adstamus Deitas et majestas" (_ibid_.). (From +_Examens Particulers sur l'Office Divin_, par M. Tronson). + + + + +NOTE C. + +BIBLIOGRAPHY. + +Priests are provided in their text-books of College days with reliable +guides dealing directly and indirectly with liturgy. Hence, some of the +books quoted here may already be favourites with many readers; but, +perhaps, some books in the list may be brought to the notice of +students of liturgy for the first time, and may be useful in introducing +priests and church students to easy, pleasant paths in liturgical +studies. The prices quoted may be useful to book-buyers, + +1. Dom Gueranger, _The Liturgical Year_ (1895, Duffy, Dublin, 16 vols. +£3 9s.)--This work is a favourite with all lovers of liturgy, It studies +and comments on the Church's liturgy day by day, week by week. It gives +readers of the Missal and the Breviary a new interest and an additional +fervour in their daily prayers. It is a standard work and holds its own +wonderfully against all competitors. + +2. _Cours De Liturgie Romaine Le Breviare_, L'abbe Bernard, Sulpician +(Paris. 1887, 2 vols, 7 francs). This is a text-book written with great +care, showing fine scholarship and deep piety. It is the work of a +skilled teacher. + +3. _Le Breviare Romain, Commente_ par L'abbe Maugere. Paris. 1887, 6 +francs.--A very concise and useful work, which I have used often in +compiling my book. + +4. The articles in the _Catholic Encyclopedia_, on the Breviary and +liturgy generally. + +5. Duchesne, _Christian Worship_ (London. 1904. 10s.). Very readable and +serviceable to students of early Church history. + +6. Battifol, _History of the Roman Breviary_. (London, 1912. 15s.) + +7. Biron-Baumer, _Histoire du Breviaire_. (Paris. 2 vols. 11 francs.) + +8. Baudot, _The Roman Breviary_ (London. Cath. Truth Society. Price +4s.6d.) + +Monsignor Battifol's book is well and favourably known. It is in +English, and has had a large circulation. It received searching and +severe criticism from Dom Baumer, the author of _Geschichte des +Breviers_. Baumer's work (translated into French by Biron) is a work +showing wonderful industry, learning and critical acumen. The great +German Benedictine was aided in several parts of his work by Mr. E. +Bishop, the English liturgiologist, who intended to translate the work +into English. Dom Baudot's book gives in concise form the results of the +labours of Battifol and Baumer. The book is readable, accurate, and is +excellent value for the price. + +9. _The Calendar_. The introductory matter given in the Breviary +suffices for the wants of the ordinary student of liturgy. But those who +wish for an exhaustive study of times and seasons may safely read +_Kalendarium Manuale_, Pars I. _Festa immobilia_, Editio secunda; price +9 lire; and Pars. II. _Festa Mobilia_, price 13 lire, by Rev. N. Nilles, +S.J. Calendar study is highly interesting, and the articles in the +_Catholic Encyclopedia_ and Father Thurston's articles in the _Month_ on +Calendar affairs are always instructive. + +_The New Psalter_ (Myers and Burton. London. 1915. 3s.6d.) is a very +useful and practical help to the understanding and application of the +new rubrics. I have quoted several times from its pages, + +_Heortology_, a History of Christian Festivals from their Origin to the +Present Day, by Dr. Kellner, Professor of Catholic Theology in Bonn, is +a translation of a text-book written for German students preparing to +pass Government examinations. It is a fine book, and if a student of +liturgy knew its contents well he would have no poor knowledge of this +and, incidentally, of other questions of liturgy. Gueranger, Duchesne +and Kellner constitute the beginnings of a student's liturgical library +(London, Keegan, Paul. 1908. Price 10s. 6d.). An excellent little volume +by Father McKee, dealing with the same subject, is published by Catholic +Truth Society, London, 2s, 6d. It is introductory and elementary. + +10. Thousands of works on the Psalms have been published. But any priest +or student who studies Steenkiste's work on the Psalms learns nearly all +that is needed to recite his psalms digne, attente ac devote. His work +is a mine of useful, pious, and, in the main, accurate comment on the +inspired text. Breviary students studying this commentary need little +else to help them to admire, to understand and to use their psalmody in +a prayerful manner. Steenkiste, _Liber Psalmorum_ (3 vols, Bruges. 1886. +Price 15s.). + +_The New Psalter of the Roman Breviary_, by Fillon, S.S. (London, +Herder. 1915. Price 6s.). + +Father Fillon was consultor to the Biblical Commission. His notes are +short and useful to those who, having studied the psalms, can recall +their meaning by a few brief hints. Its comments are too brief, but it +gives the Latin text, English translation, notes on psalms and newly +added canticles, and is arranged in the order in which they stand in the +Pian psaltery. + +_Sing Ye to the Lord_, by Rev. R. Eaton (London, Catholic Truth +Society. 2 vols. 4s. each). + +In these books the leading idea or ideas of the Psalms are taken up, and +beautiful explanations and spiritual readings given. The books are +delightful reading, and give Breviary readers, old and young, fresh +thoughts on psalms which through familiarity and constant repetition may +have lost some of their pious meaning and prayerfulness. + +Books of Scripture commentary by non-Catholic writers should be read +with caution, and often ecclesiastical permission for their perusal must +be sought. Neale and Littledale's _Commentary on the Psalms_ (6 vols. +London. 1867) is a compilation by two Anglican scholars, from the +commentators of the Middle Ages. The wonderful piety of these men of +old, saints and scholars, their beautiful comments, their glowing +fervour, and above all their knowledge and love of the Bible text, +surprise us all. Sometimes, of course, these mediaevalists run into +far-fetched, outlandish comments, but the compilers give always the +comments of the Masters, St. Thomas, St. Bede, etc. + +Very many metrical arrangements of the Psalms by non-Catholic authors +exist in English. Most of these metrical efforts are very poor, +unreliable in giving the sense, and awkward and ungainly in poetic +forms. An interesting book is Prothero's _Psalms in Human Life_. The +author was a Protestant, hence his numbering of the Psalms may at first +sight be confusing, + +Sermons fresh and beautiful, full of unction, and full of texts, sublime +and practical, are to be found in the Psalms. A work, little known in +our islands, is Monsignor Doublet's fine work, _Psaumes etudies en vue +de la Predication_ (3 vols. 8th Edition. 12s.). + +A charming booklet, dealing chiefly with the Psalms as prayers, is +Rolland Gosselin's _Prieres et Meditations bibliques_ (Paris. 1917. +Bauchesne. 3s.). + +_10. Hymns._ Immense labour has been devoted to the study of Latin +sacred poetry. The _Analecta Hymnica_ in 60 huge volumes testifies to +the learning and zeal of its Jesuit authors. Ordinary mortals content +themselves with lesser works, such as Pimont's _Hymnes du Breviare +Romain_ (Paris Poussielgne. 2 vols, 12-1/2 francs), or with _La Poesie +du Breviaire, Les Hymns_, by l'abbe C. Albin. Price 6 francs. The +opinions and judgments in neither book are infallible; and some of +Pimont's findings have been roughly criticised and sometimes rejected. +But both books give good, sound knowledge of Breviary hymns and thus +help to make their recitation a pious and a rational exercise, not a +mechanical, soulless labour. + +Translation of poetry has ever been a study and a pastime. Every cleric +is familiar with the prose translations which aided his boyhood's +labours in rendering the poetry of Horace and Euripides into modern +speech. But prose efforts are one thing, and poetical efforts are +another, and just as many have laboured to present Virgil and Homer in +modern language, in metre, in rhyme, in rhythm; so, many poets and +verse-makers, in different ages and in different climes, have laboured +to turn into modern poetic form and into their own national tongue the +poems of the Breviary. The Breviary hymns have met with several good, +kind, translating poets; but very often they have been rudely handled by +well-meaning verse builders. Passing over in charitable silence the +indifferent efforts of those people, it may interest some students of +the Breviary to read the efforts of well-known authors to translate the +liturgy, its anthems, responses, collects, hymns, into good English. + +(1) _The Day Hours of the Church_.--A translation of the Horae Diurnae, +with the psalms, etc., arranged according to the reform of Pope Pius X. +This is a good book, giving in parallel columns on the same page, Latin +and English translations. It includes the very best hymn translations by +Catholic authors, John Dryden, Cardinal Newman, Father Caswall, etc. +(Burns & Gates. 8s.). This book is intended for the use of the laity, +and, owing to the strict regulations issued for the printing of the new +Roman Breviary, this book may not lawfully be used to replace the +Breviarium Romanum. But, as it is a complete translation of the little +Hours of the Church, it is a very useful aid to the attentive and devout +recitation of the Hours. A look at its pages before each hour's +recitation, or a glance to see the meaning of some verse of psalm or +hymn will repay anyone. It is a wonderfully careful production, has a +beautiful _format_, and is good value at the price marked. + +(2) _Annus Sanctus_, by Orby Shipley (Burns & Oates. 1884). This book +contains the work of many Catholic translators, and their translations +of Breviary hymns vary in merit. It contains a good introduction, the +translations attributed to Dryden, and it gives some things which are +always interesting, the efforts of several minds, poets and +verse-makers, to render the same Latin hymn into English verse. It +includes verses from several Irishmen. + +(3) _Hymns from the Roman Breviary_, translated (Catholic Truth Society, +London. Price 1s. 6d). A good selection from Catholic and non-Catholic +translators. The translations of Dr. Neale, Anglican--held to be +superior in fidelity and in poetic form to that of any English +translator--are given in this booklet. Neale's _Collected Hymns_ (Hodder +& Stoughton, 6s.) are useful for translators and composers of vernacular +hymns. But his work is, I think, over-rated. + +(4) Other translations of Breviary hymns are found in the collections of +hymns used in Anglican churches: _Hymns, Ancient and Modern; The English +Hymnal; The Hymner from the Sarum Breviary_ (Plain-song and Mediaeval +Society, London); _Songs of Sion_, by Woodward, etc. + +For advanced study of liturgy, Dom Cabrol's _Dictionaire D'Archeologie +Chrietienne Et Liturgie_ (Paris: Letouzey et Ane) is indispensable. Its +study delights and consoles those who possess it. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Divine Office, by Rev. E. J. Quigley + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10058 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..882584f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10058 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10058) diff --git a/old/10058.txt b/old/10058.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..71a8d54 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10058.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8321 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Divine Office, by Rev. E. J. Quigley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Divine Office + +Author: Rev. E. J. Quigley + +Release Date: November 17, 2003 [EBook #10058] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DIVINE OFFICE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Keren Vergon, Charlie Kirschner and the +PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +THE DIVINE OFFICE + +A STUDY OF THE ROMAN BREVIARY + +BY + +REV. E.J. QUIGLEY + +1920 + + + + +PREFACE + + +In the studies preliminary to ordination, the greatest time and +attention must be given to the study of Dogmatic and Moral Theology. +Certain subjects, such as liturgy, are always in danger of being +shortened or of occupying a very small space in a college course. After +ordination, priests find that these subjects are things of daily and +hourly interest and importance. Who is it that does not know that the +study of the Mass and the Missal, of the Breviary, its history and its +contents are studies useful in his daily offering of sacrifice +and praise? + +I hope that this book may serve as an introductory manual to the study +of the Breviary. It may be useful to junior students in colleges, in +giving them some knowledge of the Church's Hours, which they assist at +in their college choirs. It may assist them to know and love the +official prayers of the Church, and may help to form devout habits of +recitation, so that, when the obligation of the daily office is imposed +on them, they may recite it digne, attente et devote. The "texts and +intentions" may be an aid to them, and to students in Holy Orders, in +the great and glorious work of pious prayer. + +Perhaps, this book may be a help to priests. It is an attempt to bring +into one handy volume many matters found in several volumes of history, +liturgy, theology, and ascetic literature. Much of it they have met +before, but some of it may be new and may enable some to pray more +fervently and to aid them in the difficult work of saying each Hour and +each part of an Hour with attention and devotion. Some of the pages may +be to them instructive, and may give them new ideas on such points as +the structure of the Hours, the Collects, the Te Deum, the Anthems of +the Blessed Virgin, etc. + +No book is faultless. Of this one, I can say with the Psalmist, "I +studied that I might know this thing, it is a labour in my sight" (Psalm +72). And I can say it with St. Columban, _Totum, dicere volui in breve, +totem non potui_. In the book I quote Cardinal Bona. In his wonderful +_Rerum Liturgicarum_ (II., xx., 6) he wrote what I add as a finish, +to this preface:-- + +"Saepe enim volenti et conanti vel ingenii vires vel rerum antiquarum +notitia vel alia subsidia defuerunt; nec fieri potuit quin per loca +salebrosa in tenebris ambulans interdum offenderim, Cum aliquid +incautius et neglentius a me scriptum offenderit, ignoscat primum +lector, deinde amica manu corrigat et emendat et quae omisi suppleat." + +E.J.Q. + +ROCKCORRY, CO. MONAGHAN. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I. + +GENERAL QUESTIONS. + + I. Idea of the Breviary + II. Short History of Divine praise in general, + of the Breviary in particular + III. The excellence of the Roman Breviary in + itself and in comparison with others + Respect due to the sacred volume + IV. 1. The contents of the Breviary + 2. The ecclesiastical year and its parts; the + calendar + 3. General Rubrics of the Breviary + Title I. The double office + " II. The office of a semi-double + " III. The office of a simple + " IV. The office of Sunday + " V. The ferial office + " VI. The office of vigils + " VII. Octaves + " VIII. Office of the Blessed Virgin for Saturdays + " IX. Commemorations + " X. The Translation of Feasts + " XI. Concurrence of office + " XII. The arrangement of the office + " XIII. Matins + " XIV. Lauds + " XV. Prime + " XVI. Terce, Sext, None + " XVII. Vespers + " XVIII. Compline + " XIX. The Invitatory + " XX. Hymns + " XXI. Antiphons + " XXII. Psalms + " XXIII. Canticles + " XXIV. Versicle and responds + " XXV. Absolutions and Benedictions + " XXVI. The Lessons + " XXVII. The responses after the lessons + " XXVIII. The short responses after the hours + " XXIX. Capitulum + " XXX. Oratio, collects + " XXXI. The Hymn Te Deum + " XXXII. Pater Noster and Ave + " XXXIII. The Apostles' Creed and the Athanasian Creed + " XXXIV. The Preces + " XXXV. The suffrages of the saints + " XXXVI. The antiphons of the Blessed Virgin + " XXXVII. The little office of the Blessed Virgin + + +PART II. + +RULES FROM MORAL AND ASCETIC THEOLOGY FOR THE RECITATION + OF THE BREVIARY. + +Who are bound to say the office? +Must every holder of a benefice read the office? +What sin is committed by the omission of a notable part? +What sins are committed by the omission of the whole office? +What must a person do who has a doubt about omissions? +Does a person, who recites by mistake, an office other than that + prescribed fulfil his obligation? +What causes justify an inversion of the hours? +Is it a sin to say Matins of following day before finishing Compline + of the current day? +What is the time fixed for recitation of the Office? +When may a priest begin the recitation of Matins and Lauds for the + following day? +What is true time as regards recitation of the office? +Are priests bound to recite Matins and Lauds before Mass? +At what time should the little hours be said? +Where should the office be recited? +What kind of verbal pronunciation should be attended to? +May the recitation be interrupted? +May Matins be separated from Lauds without cause? +Is intention required in reading the hours? +Is attention required? external? internal? superficial attention, + literal attention? +Opinions of theologians on necessary attention. +Distractions, voluntary and involuntary. +Does a person reciting the hours sin, if he have distractions? +Causes excusing from reading the hours. +Scruples and the direction of the scrupulous. + + +ART. I. RULES FOB PIOUS RECITATION OF HOURS. + +1. The words read. +2. To whom we speak. +3. We pray in the name of the church. +4. Our associates on earth. +5. The purpose of our prayer. +6. It gives glory to God and draws down his blessings. +7. It brings help to those who recite it fervently. + + +ART. II. THE MEANS TO ADOPT OF PIOUS RECITATION. + + A. _Before Recitation_. + +1. Purify conscience. +2. Mortification of passions. +3. Guarding the senses. +4. Knowledge of the work that is to be done. + + B. THE IMMEDIATE PREPARATION FOR THE RECITATION. + +1. Reading the Ordo Recitandi officium. +2. To recollect ourselves. +3. To invoke God's aid. +4. To unite ourselves with Christ. +5. (a) Christ our model in prayer. + (b) Our prayers to be offered through him. + (c) Church wishes this and practices it ever. + (d) Lives of saints show how they united with Christ in prayer. + (e) Remembrance of the sublime work we engage in. + (f) To propose general, special and particular intentions. + + +ART. III. AIDS DURING THE RECITATION OF THE HOURS. + + (a) Suitable place. + (b) Respectful and devout attitude. + (c) Slow, deliberate pronunciation. + (d) Distractions. + (e) To apply the mind to what is read. + (f) To read without critical judgments. + (g) To think of Christ's Passion. + (h) To think of the presence of God and of our Angel Guardian. + + +ART. IV. AFTER SAYING THE OFFICE. + +1. Thanks to God. +2. Ask his pardon for faults. +3. Say the _Sacro-sanctae_. +4. The Sacro-sanctae. + + +PART III + +THE CANONICAL HOURS. + +CHAPTER I.--MATINS (TITLE XIII). + +Parts Pater Noster and Ave (Title XXXII) + Credo (Title XXXIII) + Domine labia mea--Deus in + Invitatory (Title XIX) + Hymns (Title XX) + Antiphons (Title XXI) + Psalms (Title XXII) + Canticles + Replies of Biblical Commission on Psalms + Versicles and responds (Title XXIV) + Absolutions and blessings (Title XXV) + Lessons (Title XXIV) + Responses (Title XXIV) + Rubrics and Symbolism + Te Deum (Title XXXI) + Texts and Intentions + + +CHAPTER II.--LAUDS AND PRIME TITLES (XIV AND XV). + +Lauds. + Etymology, Definition, Symbolism, Origin, Antiquity. + Reasons for Hour, Structure, Rubrics + Antiphons, Capitulum (Title XXX) + Benedictus + Oratio, Collect (Title XXX) + Rubrics and explanation of Rubrics + Texts and Intentions + +Prime. + Etymology, Origin, Contents, Structure + Athanasian Creed (Title XXXIII) + Reasons for the Morning Hour and Rubrics + Preces (Title XXXIV), Confiteor + Structure and Short Lesson + Texts and Intentions + + +CHAPTER III.--TERCE, SEXT, NONE (TITLE XVI). + +Terce. + Etymology, Structure, Antiquity. + Reasons for Hour + Texts and intentions + +Sext. + Etymology, structure, antiquity + Reasons for Hour + Texts and intentions + +None. + Etymology, structure, antiquity + Reasons for Hour + Texts and intentions + + +CHAPTER IV.--VESPERS AND COMPLINE PAGE (TITLE XVII-XVIII). + +Vespers. + Etymology, structure, antiquity. + Reasons for Hour + Texts and intentions + +Compline. + Etymology, structure, antiquity + Reasons for Hour + Suffrages of the Saints (Title VII) + Anthems of Blessed Virgin + Texts and intentions + +The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin (Title XXVII) + + +PART IV. + +HEORTOLOGY. + +CHAPTER I.--A. PROPER OF THE TIME. + +Advent +Christmas +St. Stephen; St. John; Circumcision; Epiphany; + Septuagesima; Lent; Easter and Paschal Times; + Ascension; Whit Sunday; Trinity Sunday + +B. PROPER OF THE SAINTS. + +December; January; February; March; May; + June; July; August; October; November + +ROGATION DAYS AND LITANIES + +NOTE A. Breviary Hymns. +NOTE B. Particular Examen. +NOTE C. Bibliography. + + + + +PART I. + +GENERAL QUESTIONS. + + + + +THE DIVINE OFFICE + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +IDEA OF THE BREVIARY. + +_Etymology_.--The word, Breviary, comes from an old Latin word, +_Breviarium_, an abridgment, a compendium. The name was given to +the Divine Office, because it is an abridgment or abstract made from +holy scripture, the writings of the Fathers, the lives of the Saints. +The word had various meanings assigned to it by early Christian writers, +but the title, Breviary, as it is employed to-day--that is, a book +containing the entire canonical office--appears to date from the +eleventh century. Probably it was first used in this sense to denote +the abridgment made by Pope Saint Gregory VII. (1013-1085), about the +year 1080. + +_Definition_.--The Breviary may be defined as "the collection of +vocal prayers established by the Church, which must be recited daily by +persons deputed for that purpose." + +_Explanation of the Definition_.--"Prayers," this word includes not +only the prayers properly so called, but also, the whole matter of the +divine office. "Vocal," the Church orders the vocal recitation, the +pronunciation of each word. "Established by the Church," to distinguish +the official prayers of obligation from those which the faithful may +choose according to their taste. "Which must be recited," for the +recitation is strictly obligatory. "Daily," the Church has fixed these +prayers for every day of the year, and even for certain hours of the +day. "By persons deputed for that purpose," therefore, persons in holy +orders recite these prayers not in their own name, but as +representatives of the universal Church. + +_Different Names for the Breviary_.--This book which is, with us, +commonly called the Breviary, has borne and still bears different names, +amongst both Latins and Greeks. + +Amongst the Latins, the recitation of the Breviary was called the Office +(_officium_), that is, the duty, the function, the office; because +it is, _par excellence_, the duty, function and office of persons +consecrated to God. This is the oldest and most universal name for the +Breviary and its recitation. It was called, too, the Divine Office +(_officium divinum_), because it has God for its principal object +and is recited by persons consecrated to God. It is called the +ecclesiastical office (_officium ecclesiasticum_), because it was +instituted by the Church. Other names were, _Opus Dei; Agenda; Pensum +servitutis; Horae; Horae Canonicae_. + +Which books were employed in olden times in reciting the Office? + +Before the eleventh century the prayers of the Divine Office were not +all contained in one book, as they are now in the Breviary, which is an +abridgment or compendium of several books. The recitation of the Office +required the Psaltery, the Lectionary, the Book of Homilies, the +Legendary, the Antiphonarium, the Hymnal, the Book of Collects, the +Martyrology, the Rubrics. The Psaltery contained the psalms; the +Lectionary (thirteenth century) contained the lessons of the first and +second nocturn; the Book of Homilies, the homilies of the Fathers; the +Legendary (before the thirteenth century), the lives of the saints read +on their feast days. The Hymnal contained hymns; the Book of Collects, +prayers, collects and chapters; the Martyrology contained the names with +brief lives of the martyrs; the Rubrics, the rules to be followed in the +recitation of the Office. To-day, we have traces of this ancient custom +in our different choir books, the Psalter, the Gradual, the +Antiphonarium. There were not standard editions of these old books, and +great diversities of use and text were in existence. + +_Divisions of the Divine Office_.--How is the daily Office divided? +The Office is divided into the night Office and the day Office. The +night Office is so called because it was originally recited at night. +It embraces three nocturns and Lauds. The day Office embraces Prime, +Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline. + +_Parts or Hours of the Office_.--How many parts or hours go to make +up the Office? Rome counts seven, and seven only; and this is the number +commonly counted by liturgists and theologians. They reckon Matins and +Lauds as one hour. + +The old writers on liturgy ask the question: "Why has the Church +reckoned seven hours only?" Their replies are summarised well by +Newman: "In subsequent times the hours of prayer were gradually +developed from the three or (with midnight) the four seasons above +enumerated to seven, viz.:--by the addition of Prime (the first hour), +Vespers (the evening), and Compline (bedtime) according to the words of +the Psalm--'Seven times a day do I praise thee, because of thy righteous +judgments.' Other pious and instructive reasons existed, or have since +been perceived, for this number. It was a memorial of the seven days of +creation; it was an honour done to the seven petitions given us by our +Lord in His prayer; it was a mode of pleading for the influence of that +Spirit, who is revealed to us as sevenfold; on the other hand, it was a +preservative against those seven evil spirits which are apt to return to +the exorcised soul, more wicked than he who has been driven out of it; +and it was a fit remedy of those successive falls which, scripture says, +happen to the 'just man' daily." (_Tracts for the Times_, No. 75. +"On the Roman Breviary.") + + "Matutina ligat Christum qui crimina purgat, + Prima replet sputis. Causam dat Tertia mortis. + Sexta cruci nectit. Latus ejus Nona bipertit. + Vespera deponit. Tumulo completa reponit. + Haec sunt septenis propter quae psallimus horas." + + "At Matins bound; at Prime reviled; + Condemned to death at Tierce; + Nailed to the Cross at Sext; at None + His blessed Side they pierce. + They take him down at Vesper-tide; + In grave at Compline lay, + Who thenceforth bids His Church observe + The sevenfold hours alway." + + (_Gloss. Cap. I. De Missa_) + +Thus, this old author connects the seven hours with the scenes of the +Passion. Another author finds in the hours a reminder and a warning that +we should devote every stage of our lives to God. For the seven +canonical hours, he writes, bear a striking resemblance to the seven +ages of man. + +_Matins_, the night office, typifies the pre-natal stage of life. +_Lauds_, the office of dawn, seems to resemble the beginnings of +childhood. _Prime_ recalls to him youth. _Terce_, recited when +the sun is high in the heavens shedding brilliant light, symbolises +early manhood with its strength and glory. _Sext_ typifies mature +age. _None_, recited when the sun is declining, suggests man in his +middle age. _Vespers_ reminds all of decrepit age gliding gently +down to the grave. _Compline_, night prayer said before sleep, +should remind us of the great night, death. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +SHORT HISTORY OF DIVINE PRAISE IN GENERAL + AND OF THE BREVIARY IN PARTICULAR. + +From all eternity the Godhead was praised with ineffable praise by the +Trinity--the three divine Persons. The angels from the first moment of +the creation sang God's praises. _Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus +Deus, Sabaoth. Plena est omnis terra gloria ejus_ (Isaias vi. 3). + +Cardinal Bona writes that Adam and Eve blessed and praised God, their +Creator. For God created the first human beings, and "created in them +the knowledge of the Spirit of God that they might praise the name which +He has sanctified and glory in His wondrous acts" (Ecclesiasticus xvii. +6-8), Every page of the Old Testament tells how the chosen race +worshipped God. We read of the sacrifices of Cain, Abel, Enoch, Noe; of +the familiar intercourse which the great patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, +Jacob had with God. Recorded, too, are the solemn songs and prayers of +Moses thanking God for His guidance in the freedom from the slavery of +Egypt (Exodus xv.). David, under God's inspiration, composed those noble +songs of praise, the Psalms, and organised choirs for their rendering. +He sings "Evening and morning and at noon I will speak and declare and +He shall hear my voice" (Psalm 54, v. 18); "I rose at midnight to give +praise to Thee" (Psalm 118, v. 162); "Seven times a day I have given +praise to Thee" (Psalm 118, v. 164). + +The Prophet Daniel, a captive in Babylon, prayed thrice daily, his face +turned to Jerusalem. The Israelites, captives in Babylon with Nehemias, +"rose up and read in the book of the Law of the Lord their God, four +times in the day, and four times they confessed and adored the Lord +their God" (II. Esdras ix. 3). Hence, the Jewish day, made up as it was +with sacrifices, libations, oblations, purifications, and public and +private prayer, was a day of prayer. In these public meetings they sang +God's praises, sang of His glory and of His mercy. Sometimes they spoke +with loving familiarity, sometimes they prayed on bended knee, sometimes +they stood and pleaded with outstretched hands, pouring out the prayers +inspired by God Himself. + +In the New Law our Saviour is the model of prayer, the true adorer of +His Father. He alone can worthily adore and praise because He alone has +the necessary perfection. Night and day He set example to His followers. +He warned them to watch and pray; He taught them how to pray; He gave +them a form of prayer; He prayed in life and at death. His apostles, +trained in the practices of the synagogue, were perfected by the example +and the exhortations of Christ. This teaching and example are shown in +effect when the assembled apostles were "at the third hour of the day" +praying (Acts ii. 15); when about the sixth hour Peter went to pray +(Acts x. 9). In the Acts of Apostles we see how Peter and John went at +the ninth hour to the temple to pray. St. Paul in prison sang God's +praises at midnight, and he insists on his converts singing in their +assembly psalms and hymns (Ephes. v. 19; Col. Iii. 16; I. Cor. xiv. 26). + +What form did the public prayers, which we may call the divine office, +take in the time of the Apostles? It is impossible to say. But it is +certain 10 that there were public prayers, 20 that they were offered up +daily in certain determined places and at fixed hours, 30 that these +public prayers consisted principally of the Psalms, hymns, canticles, +extracts from Sacred Scripture, the Lord's Prayer, and probably the +Creed, 40 that these public prayers varied in duration according to the +will of the bishop or master who presided. + +"The weekly commemoration of Christ's resurrection, the yearly +recurrence of the memory of the great facts of Christ's life, the daily +sanctification of the hours of the day, each led the Christian to draw +upon the hours of the Psalter, and when, gradually, fixed hours for +daily prayer passed beyond the home circle and with groups of ascetics +entered the public churches, it was from the Psalter that the songs of +praise were drawn, and from the Psalms were added a series of canticles, +taken from the books of the Old and the New Testaments, and thus, long +ages before any stereotyped arrangement of the Psalms existed, assigning +particular Psalms to particular days or hours, the Psalms were feeding +the piety of the faithful and teaching men to pray" (_The New +Psalter_--Burton and Myers). In this matter of public prayer, it is +hard for us to realise the "bookless" condition of the early Christians +and their difficulties. It was twenty-five years after the Ascension +before the first books of the New Testament were written, and many years +must have elapsed before their wide diffusion; hence, in their bookless +and guideless condition the early Christians were advised to use the +Psalms in their new devotional life (Ephes. v. 19; Col. iii. 16; St. +James, v. 13). + +The first clear evidence of a division of the Psalter for use in the +Western Church is found in the work of St. Benedict (480-543). He had +spent his youth near Rome, and keeping his eye on the Roman usage he +assigned the Psalms to the various canonical hours and to different days +of the week. The antiphons he drew from existing sources, and of course +the canonical hours were already in existence. In his arrangement, the +whole Psalter was read weekly, and the whole Bible, with suitable +patristic selections, was read every year. He also arranged the Sunday, +Festal and Ferial offices. For the recitation of the offices of a +saint's day, St. Benedict arranged that the Matins shall have the same +form as a Sunday office--_i.e._, three nocturns, twelve lessons and +responsories, but the psalms, antiphons and lessons are proper to each +saint. This arrangement interrupted the weekly recitation of the whole +psalter, and caused great difficulty in later times; for when the feasts +increased in number the ferial psalter fell almost into complete disuse. + +St. Benedict's arrangement of the psalms and his other liturgical +regulations spread rapidly, but the Roman secular office never adopted +his arrangement of the psalms, nor his inclusion of hymns, until about +the year 1145. In some details each office shows its independent +history. It is a matter of dispute among liturgists whether Prime and +Compline were added to the Roman secular office through the influence of +the Benedictines (Baudot, _The Roman Breviary_, pp. 19-26). + +The period following the death of St. Benedict in 543 is a period of +which little is known. "We repeat with Dom Baumer (vol. i., pp. 299-300) +that the fifth century, at Rome as elsewhere, was a period of great +liturgical activity, while the seventh and eighth centuries were, viewed +from this point of view, a period of decline" (Baudot, _op. cit._, +p. 53). The labours of St. Benedict probably were continued and perfected +by St. Gregory the Great (590-604). His labours are summed up by Dom +Baumer (_Histoire du Breviare_, vol. i., pp. 289, 301-303): "It is +he who collected together the prayers and liturgical usages of his +predecessors and assigned to each its proper place, and thus the liturgy +owes its present form to him. The liturgical chant also bears his name, +because through his means it reached its highest state of development. +The canonical hours and the formulary of the Mass now in use were also +carefully arranged by him." "The whole history of the Western liturgy +supports us in maintaining that these books received from the great Pope +or from one of his contemporaries a form which never afterwards +underwent any radical or essential alteration." The Roman office spread +quickly through Europe. The enthusiasm of Gregory became rooted in the +monasteries, where the monks learned and taught, with knowledge and +with zeal, his liturgical reforms. Two important reforms of monastic +practice are interesting as showing further progress in the evolution of +the Roman Breviary. St. Benedict of Aniane (751-821), the friend and +adviser of Louis the Pious, became a reformer of Benedictine rule and +practice. His rule aimed at a rigid uniformity, even in detail. And the +Council of Aix-la-Chapelle (817) helped him to establish his reforms. As +a result of the saint's exertions the Penitential Psalms and Office of +the Dead were made part of the daily monastic office. The Abbey of +Cluny, founded in 910, supplied a further reform tending to guard the +office from further accretions. + +Did Hildebrand, Pope Gregory VII. (1073-1086), labour for liturgical +reform? Liturgical writers give very different replies. Monsignor +Battifol (_History of the Roman Breviary_, English edition, p. 158) +maintains that Gregory made no reform, and that "the Roman office such +as we have seen it to be in the times of Charlemagne held its ground at +Rome itself, in the customs of the basilicas, without any sensible +modification, throughout the tenth and eleventh centuries and even down +to the close of the twelfth." Dom Gueranger holds that Gregory abridged +the order of prayers and simplified the liturgy for the use of the Roman +curia. It would be difficult at the present time to ascertain accurately +the complete form of the office before this revision, but since then it +has remained almost identical with what it was at the end of the +eleventh century. Dom Baumer agrees with his Benedictine brother that +Gregory wrought for liturgical reform. Probably Pope Gregory VII., +knowing the decadence which was manifest in liturgical exercises in Rome +during the tenth and eleventh centuries, decided to revise the old Roman +office which, although it had decayed in Rome, flourished in Germany, +France, and other countries. Hence, in his Lenten Synod, 1074, he +promulgated the rules he had already drawn up for the Regular Canons of +Rome, ordering them to return to the old Roman rite. Thus he may be +counted as a reformer, but not as an innovater nor an abridger. But his +reform fell on evil days. The great struggle between Church and State +about lay investitures had a baneful influence on liturgy, even in Rome +itself. The times seemed to call for a modernised (i.e., a shortened) +office. The "modernisers" respected the psalter, the curtailment was in +the Lectionary. The modernising spirit showed itself in the arrangement +and bulk of the office books. The Psalter, Antiphonary, Responsorial, +Bible and Book of Homilies were gradually codified. Even then, a very +large volume was the result. After a time the chant, which absorbed much +space, was removed from the volume, but the resulting volume, noticeably +smaller, was not yet small enough. In time, only the opening words of +the antiphons, responsories and versicles were printed, and to the +volume thus turned out was given the name _Breviary_. The Curial +Breviary was drawn up in this way to make it suitable for persons +engaged in outdoor pursuits and journeys. It gradually displaced the +choir office in Rome, and Rome's example was universally followed. + +This Curial Breviary was adopted by the Franciscans in their active +lives. They changed the text of the Psalter only, _Psalterium +Romanum_, to the more approved text, the _Psalterium Gallicanum_. +The improved Curial Breviary was imposed on the churches of Rome by the +Franciscan Pope, Nicholas III. (1277-1280), and henceforth it is called +the Roman Breviary. Thus we see that the book used daily by priests got +its name in the thirteenth century, although the divine office is almost +from Apostolic times. + +But liturgy is a progressive study, a progressive practice capable and +worthy of perfecting. And the friars strove for the greater perfection +and beauty of the new Breviary. They added variety to the unity already +achieved and yet did not reach liturgical perfection nor liturgical +beauty. They loaded the Breviary by introducing saints' days with nine +lessons, thus avoiding offices of three lessons. And by keeping octave +days and days within the octave as feasts of nine lessons, they almost +entirely destroyed the weekly recitation of the psalter; and a large +portion of the Breviary ceased to be used at all. The Franciscan book +became very popular owing to its handy form. Indeed its use was almost +universal in the Western Church. But the multiplication of saints' +offices, universal and local, no fixed standard to guide the recital, +and the wars of liturgists, made chaos and turmoil. + +Liturgical reform became an urgent need. Everyone reciting the canonical +hours longed for a great and drastic change. The Humanists, Cardinal +Bembo (1470-1549), Ferreri, Bessarion, and Pope Leo X. (1513-1521) +considered the big faults of the Breviary to lie in its barbarous +Latinity. They wished the Lessons to be written In Ciceronian style and +the hymns to be modelled on the Odes of Horace. Ferreri's attempt at +reforming the Breviary dealt with the hymns, some of which he re-wrote +in very noble language, but he was so steeped in pagan mythology that he +even introduced heathen expressions and allusions, His work was a +failure. The traditional school represented by Raoul of Tongres, +Burchard, Caraffa, and John De Arze loved the past with so great a love +that they refused to countenance any notable reforms, A third school, +the moderate school, was represented by Cardinal Pole, Contarini, +Sadolet and Quignonez, a Spanish cardinal who had been General of the +Franciscans. The work of reform of the Breviary was undertaken by +Cardinal Quignonez (1482-1540). He was a man of great personal piety and +possessed a love for liturgy and an accurate knowledge of its history, +its essentials, and its acquired defects. After seven years' labour at +the matter and form of the Breviary, his work, Quignonez's Breviary +(_Brevarium Romanum a Francisco Cardinali Quignonio_) appeared in +1535. It was for private use only, and was not intended as a choir +manual. Yet so popular was his work that, in 1536, six editions had +appeared, and in thirty-three years (until its suppression by St. Pius +V,) it went through no less than a hundred editions. Its immense success +shows how much the need of Breviary change and reform was felt by the +clergy. The book, too, had an important influence on shaping the +Breviary produced by Pius V. (1566-1572). Quignonez's book was +reproduced with the variations of the four earliest editions, by the +Cambridge University Press in 1888. It is an interesting study in itself +and in comparison with later breviaries. + +But it was felt by scholars that Quignonez's reforms were too drastic. +Tradition was ignored. The labour for brevity, simplicity and uniformity +led to the removal from this Breviary of antiphons, responses, little +chapters and versicles, and to the reduction of lessons at matins to +three, and the number of psalms in each hour was usually only three. His +work had as a set principle the grand old liturgical idea of the weekly +recitation of the whole psalter. The quick and almost universal demand +for Quignonez's Breviary indicated the need of a reform and the outline +of such a reform. The Pope, who commissioned Quignonez to take up +breviary reform, requested the Theatines to take up similar work. The +Council of Trent (1545-1563) took up the work of reform. But the Council +rose before the work had made headway, and the matter of reform was +finally effected by St. Pius V. (1566-1572), by his Constitution, _Quod +a nobis_ (1568). + +The Reformed Breviary of 1568 is, in outline, the Breviary in our hands +to-day. The great idea in the reform was to restore the weekly +recitation of the whole psalter. Theoretically, the Breviary made such +provision, but practically the great number of saints' offices +introduced into the Breviary made the weekly recitation of the psalter +an impossibility. The clergy were constantly reading only a few psalms +out of the 150 in the psalter. The rubrics, too, were in a confused +state. Changes were made in the calendar by suppression of feasts, by +restoring to simple feasts the ferial office psalms, and by reducing the +number of double and semi-double feasts. But in the body of the Breviary +the changes were few and slight. The lives of some saints drawn from +Quignonez's work were used, St. Gregory's canon of scripture lessons was +adopted and the antiphons, verses, responses, collects and prayers were +taken from the old Roman liturgy. The antiphons and responses were given +in the older translation of St. Jerome owing to their suitability for +musical settings. And the text of the psalms was the _Psalterium +Gallicanum_, which had been in use in the Roman Curial Breviary, + +But the Pian reform was soon to be followed by a reform of the Breviary +text, in accordance with the Sixtine Vulgate, the Clementine Vulgate, +and the Vatican text. Clement VIII. (1592-1605) published his edition of +the revised Breviary in 1602; and thirty years afterwards Urban VIII, +(1623-1644) issued a new and further revised edition, which is +substantially the Breviary we read to-day. He caused careful correction +of errors which had crept in through careless printing; he printed the +psalms and canticles with the Vulgate punctuation, and he revised the +lessons and made additions. He established uniformity in texts of Missal +and Breviary. But the greatest change made in this new edition was in +the Breviary hymns, which were corrected on classical lines by Urban +himself aided by four learned Jesuits (see Note, Hymns, p. 259). + +"The result (of their labours) has always given rise to very different +judgments and for the most part unfavourable. It seemed to be +exceedingly rash to regard as barbarous the hymns of men like +Prudentius, Sedulius, Sidonius, Apollinaris, Venantius, St. Ambrose, St. +Paulinus of Aquileia and Rabanus Maurus and to desire to remodel them +after the pattern of Horace's Odes.... It is only fair to give them the +credit, that out of respect for the wishes of Urban VIII. they treated +these compositions with extreme reserve, and while they made some +expressions clearer they maintained the primitive unction in a large +number of passages" (Baudot, The Roman Breviary, part iii., chap. ii.). + +The commission appointed by Clement VIII. in his work of revision and +reform included Baronius, Bellarmine and Gavantus. The commission of +Urban VIII. included, amongst other famous men, the famous Irish friar +minor, Luke Wadding (1588-1657). + +The need of revision, rearrangement and reform of the Breviary was in +the mind of every Pope, and nearly every one of them took some step to +perfect the historic book. In the eighteenth century Benedict XIV. +(1740-1758) contemplated Breviary reform in some details, particularly +in improving the composition of some legends and of replacing some +homilies of the Fathers. He entrusted this work to Father Danzetta, +S.J., but when the learned Jesuit's labour was presented to the Pope, so +grave and so contrary were the reasons there put forth, that the Pope +thought it well to abandon the thought of reform. Father Danzetta's +notes are marvels of research and learning. They are to be seen in +Ruskovany's _Coelibatus et Breviarium,_ vol. v. They show to the +ignorant and the sceptical, the dangers and difficulties which all +Breviary reformers have to contend with. + +Pope Pius VI. (1775-1799) returned to the project of Breviary reform. +Dom Gueranger tells us that the plan of reform was drawn up and +presented to the Congregation of Rites, but the actual reform was not +entered on. Pope Pius IX. (1846-1878), at the request of Monsignor +Sibour, Archbishop of Paris, appointed a commission to revise the +Breviary, but their report caused the work to be abandoned. Petitions +for reform were sent to the Vatican Council, but very little resulted. +Leo XIII. (1878-1903) enriched the calendar by adding the names of many +saints; he added votive offices, corrected the Breviary lessons for the +feasts of a number of Popes, and, in 1902, he appointed a commission to +deal with the hagiography of the Breviary and with its liturgy; but his +death in the following year ended the work of the commission, + +The unsatisfactory condition of the rules for the recitation of the +Divine Office were apparent to everyone. Scholars feared to face +Breviary reform, the difficulties were so innumerable and so immense. +However, with wonderful courage and prudence, Pope Pius X. (1903-1914) +tackled the work. He resolved not to adopt a series of minor changes in +the Breviary, but to appoint an active commission of reform, whose first +work should be a rearrangement of the psalter which must bring back the +recitation of the Divine Office to its early ideal--the weekly +recitation of the whole psalter. The problem which faced Pope Pius X. in +1906 was the very same problem which faced his predecessor St, Pius V. +(1566-1572), more than three hundred years ago. St. Pius tried to solve +the problem by a reform of the calendar, but the solution produced no +permanent effect. Pius X. and his commission went to the root of the +difficulty, and by a redistribution of the psalms have made the ferial +and the festive offices almost equal in length, and have so arranged +matters that the frequent recitation of every psalm, and the possible +and probable recitation of every psalm, once every week, is now an +accomplished fact; and the old and much-sought-after ideal--the weekly +recitation of the whole Psalter--is of world-wide practice. + +On the publication of the new Psalter, Pope Pius announced that a +commission would undertake a complete revision of the Breviary, a matter +of great importance and one which must demand long years of care and +study to accomplish. A member of the committee which re-arranged the +Psalter, Monsignor Piacenza, tells us that such revision must embrace:-- + +1. A reform of the calendar and the drafting of rules for the admission +of feasts into the calendar of the universal Church; + +2. The critical revision and correction of the historic and patristic +texts; + +3. The removal of spurious patristic texts; + +4. The remodelling of the rubrics; + +5. The institution of a new form of common office for confessors and for +virgins to facilitate the lessening of the number of feasts of saints, +without diminishing the honour due to them (Burton and Myers, _op. +cit._, p. 144). + +We may sum up, then, all that has been said in this long section by +stating that from Apostolic times there was public prayer, thrice daily. +The Jewish converts, having the psalms committed to memory needed not, +nor could they have in those bookless days, a psalter script. In the +third century, morning, evening, and night offices are mentioned. +Compline was in existence in the time of St. Benedict. "From the seventh +century onwards, ecclesiastical writers, papal decrees and conciliar +decrees recognise the eight parts of the office, which we have seen took +shape during the sixth century, and regard their recitation by priests +and monks as enjoined by positive law. During this period, or at least +at its commencement, Lauds and Vespers alone had a clearly defined +structure and followed a definite arrangement. As far as we can see, St. +Gregory arranged the little hours for Sunday only, and their arrangement +for week days was left to the care of the bishops and metropolitans, or +even of abbots. This was also the case, in many instances, with regard +to Matins, for the number of psalms to be recited thereat was not +definitely fixed. As regards the little hours--Prime, Terce, Sext, None +and Compline--the freedom of the competent ecclesiastical authorities +was as yet unconfined by canonical restrictions. Chrodegang (766) was +first to follow the usages of the Benedictines of the Roman Basilica, +in prescribing for secular clergy the celebration at Prime of the +_officium Capituli_ (_i.e._, the reunion in the chapter for +reading the rule or, on certain days, the writings and homilies of the +Fathers). The rest of the chapter--_i.e._, all that follows the +_confiteor_ in Prime as a preparation for the work of the day, +seems to have been composed in the ninth century.... Under Charlemagne +and his successors variations in the canonical hours completely +disappeared" (Baudot, _op. cit._, pp. 63-65). + +On this foundation was built up the Office, to which additions were +made, and of which reforms were effected, up to our own time. + +"For us, traditional liturgy is represented by the Roman Breviary of +Urban VIII., a book which constitutes for us a Vulgate of the Roman +Office.... The thing which renders this Vulgate of 1632 precious to us +is that, thanks to the wisdom of Paul IV., Pius V., and Clement VIII., +the differences between it and the Breviary of the Roman Curia of the +thirteenth century are mere differences of detail: the substantial +identity of the two is beyond dispute. The Breviary of Urban VIII. is +the lineal descendant of the Breviary of Innocent III. And the latter in +its turn is the legitimate descendant of the Roman canonical Office, as +it was celebrated in the basilica of St. Peter at the end of the eighth +century, such as it had gradually come to be in the course of the +seventh and eighth centuries, a genuinely Roman combination of various +elements, some of them Roman and some not, but of which some, at all +events, go back to the very beginnings of the Catholic religion" +(Battifol, _op. cit._, p. 353). + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +EXCELLENCE OF THE ROMAN BREVIARY--THE ESTEEM + WHICH WE SHOULD HAVE FOR THE BOOK ITSELF. + +The Roman Breviary is excellent, firstly, in itself; and, secondly, in +comparison with all other breviaries. + +It is excellent in itself, in its antiquity, for in substance it goes +back to the first ages of Christianity. It is excellent, in its author, +for it has been constructed and imposed as an obligation by the supreme +pontiffs, the vicars of Jesus Christ, the supreme pastors of the whole +Church. It is excellent, in its perpetuity, for it has come down to us +through all the ages without fundamental change. It is excellent in its +universality, in its doctrine, in the efficacy of its prayer, the +official prayer of the Church. It is excellent in the matter of which it +is built up, being composed of Sacred Scripture, the words of the +Fathers and the lives of God's saints. It is excellent in its style and +in its form for the parts of each hour; the antiphons, psalms, +canticles, hymns, versicles, follow one another in splendid harmony. + +The opinions and praises of the saints who dwelt on this matter of the +Breviary would fill a volume. Every priest has met with many such +eulogies in his reading. Newman's words are very striking. "There is," +he wrote, "so much of excellence and beauty in the services of the +Breviary, that were it skilfully set before the Protestants, by +Romanistic controversialists, as the book of devotions received by +their communion, it would undoubtedly raise a prejudice in their +favour, if he were ignorant of the case and but ordinarily candid and +unprejudiced.... In a word, it will be attempted to wrest a weapon out +of our adversaries' hands, who have in this, as in many other instances, +appropriated to themselves a treasure" (Newman, _Tracts for the +Times_, No. 275, _The Roman Breviary_). This tract raised a +storm amongst Newman's fellow Protestants. All the old Protestant +objections against the Breviary and its recitation (See Bellarmine, +_Controv_. iii., _de bonis operibus de oratione_ i., i. clx.) +were re-published in a revised and embittered form. What a change has +come amongst non-Catholics! Hundreds of Anglican clergymen are reading +daily with attention and devotion the once hated and despised prayer +book, the Roman Breviary. How old Bellarmine would wonder if he saw +modern England with its hundreds of parsons reading their _Hours_! +How he would wonder to read "The Band of Hope" (1915), an address +delivered by an Anglican clergyman to a society of London clergymen. +It includes a rule of life beginning, "Every day we say our Mass and +our Office." (_Cf_. R. Knox's _Spiritual Aeneid_, p. 102.) + +The Roman Breviary is excellent, too, in comparison with every other +breviary (e.g., Aberdeen, Sarum, Gallican). For none of these can show +the antiquity, the authority, the doctrine, the sublime matter, the +beautiful order, which the Roman Breviary presents. It was for these +reasons that the emperors, Pepin (714-768), Charlemagne (742-814), +Charles the Bald (823-888), adapted the Roman rite (Gueranger, +_Institutiones Liturgiques_, tom. i.). And Grandicolas (1772), an +erudite liturgist, but a prominent Gallican with no love for Roman +rites, declared that the Roman Breviary stands in relation to other +breviaries as the Roman Church stands in relation to all other Christian +bodies, first and superior in every way (_Com. Hist. in Brev. Rom._, +cap. 2). St. Francis De Sales applied to his Breviary the words of St. +Augustine on the Psalter, "_Psalterium meum, gaudium meum._" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +THE CONTENTS OF THE BREVIARY. + + +SECTION I. + +The title of the Breviary is, BREVIARIUM ROMANUM EX DECRETO SACROSANCTI +CONCILII TRIDENTINI RESTITUTUM S. PII V. PONTIFICIS MAXIMI JUSSU EDITUM, +ALIORUMQUE PONTIFICIUM, CURA RECOGNITUM PII PAPAE X., AUCTORITATE +REFORMATUM. This work is divided into four parts, the first part being +called _Pars Hiemalis_, the winter part; the second part, _Pars +Verna_, the spring part; the third part, _Pars Aestiva_, the +summer part; and the fourth part, the _Pars Autumnalis_, the autumn +part. + +The Church, guided by the Holy Ghost, has drawn up these volumes of +liturgical prayer, so that for each season, even for each day, her +official prayer may be suited to the time, to different degrees of +solemnity and of rite, and so that it may be fixed and determined, yet +having great beauty in its wonderful unity and variety. Hence, nothing +in her official prayer is left to chance, nothing is left to the +selection or caprice of the individual who recites this prayer; all is +foreseen, everything is in order, every tittle has a reason for its +existence and its place in the liturgy, and represents the end and the +intentions of the Church. For, every part of the Roman Breviary is +stamped with the wisdom, the zeal and the piety of the Church, which +presents it, as an offering all suitable for and worthy of God's honour +and glory. + +Considering, then, the Breviary as a liturgical book, we find that the +Divine Office has four general divisions, corresponding to the divisions +of our Lord's life. First, from Advent to Septuagesima; second, from +Septuagesima to Easter; third, from Easter to Pentecost; fourth, from +Pentecost to Advent. These divisions correspond also to the divisions of +the year, winter, spring, summer and autumn. + +The end and object of the Office are to invite us to join in the +infinite praise which the Son of God rendered to His Father during His +life, and which He renders still in Heaven and in the Tabernacle. +"_Domine in unione illius divinae intentionis qua ipse in terris laudes +Deo persolvisti, has tibi Horas persolvo,_" "O Lord, in union with that +divine intention wherewith Thou whilst here on earth Thyself didst +praise God, I offer these Hours to Thee." The life of Christ is divided +into four principal divisions: first, His birth, circumcision, epiphany, +presentation; second, His public life and His death; third, His +resurrection, ascension, and descent of the Holy Ghost; fourth, His +mystic life in the Church and in Heaven. Hence arise the four general +divisions of the Divine Office:-- + +_First General Division which begins the Church's year_. From Advent +to Septuagesima:--The birth of the Saviour preceded by His life in Mary's +womb, and by the four weeks of Advent, representing (it is said) the +passing of the four thousand years, and embracing the mysteries of the +Holy Infancy, Circumcision, Epiphany, Holy Name of Jesus, and the +Presentation. + +_Second General Division, from Septuagesima till Easter_:--The death +of Christ preceded by the events of His public life, His fasting, +temptation, preaching, miracles, passion and death. + +_Third General Division, from Easter to Pentecost_:--The +Resurrection, the Ascension, Pentecost. + +_Fourth General Division, from Pentecost till Advent_, the +termination of the Church's year. The mystic life of Christ in the +Church, which will end on the Judgment Day. + +These divisions make up the four parts of the Roman Breviary. + +The first part, _Pars Prima_, contains the Pontifical Bull, +_Quod a nobis_, of Pope Pius V. (1568). It states:--1. That the +cause of the new edition was to remove the regrettable variety in the +public liturgy. 2. It recalls the labours of Pope Paul IV., Pius IV., +and Pius V. for the same end. 3. It announces the abolition of the +too-abbreviated Breviary of Quignonez and of all those which have not, +for two hundred years preceding 1568, an authentic approbation or a +lawful custom. 4. It gives permission to those using such breviaries +to adopt the Roman Breviary. 5. It withdraws all privileges in respect +to other breviaries. 6. It declares the Roman Breviary obligatory on all +except those mentioned (_vide 3, supra_). 7. Even bishops are +forbidden to make the smallest change in the new Breviary. 8. The +recitation of offices from other breviaries does not fulfil the +obligation of those bound to breviary recitation. 9. Bishops are +requested to introduce the new Breviary. 10. The Pope suppressed the +obligation of reciting on certain days the little Office of the Blessed +Virgin, the Office of the Dead, the Penitential and the Gradual Psalms, +11. But he recommends their recitation on certain fixed days and grants +an indulgence for the practice. 12. Where the custom of reciting the +little Office, in choir, exists, it should be retained. 13. The +appointment of the time for the adoption of the Breviary is obligatory. +14. Prohibition, under pain of excommunication, is made against those +who print, distribute or receive copies of this Breviary without lawful +authority. 15. The authentic publication and obligation of the Bull. + +The second document in the _Pars Prima_ of the Roman Breviary is +the Bull _Divino Afflatu_, issued by Pope Pius X, on 1st November, +1911. It tells us:-- + +1. That the psalms were composed under divine inspiration, and that it +is well known that from the beginning of the Church they were used not +only to foster the piety of the faithful, who offered "the sacrifice of +praise to God, that is to say, the fruit of lips confessing to His name" +(Heb. xiii. 15), but--that retaining the custom of the Old Law--they +held a conspicuous place in both the liturgy and Divine Office of the +New Law. He quotes St. Basil, who calls psalmody the voice of the infant +Church, and Urban VIII., who calls psalmody the daughter of hymnody +which is chanted before the throne of God in Heaven. Two quotations from +St. Athanasius and St. Augustine, in praise of psalmody, are added. + +2. In the Psalms there is a certain wonderful power which arouses in +souls a zeal for all virtues. Two quotations from St. Augustine are +added. One says that as it is written that all Scriptures both of the +Old and the New Testaments are divinely inspired and useful for our +instruction.... Nevertheless, the book of the Psalms is, as it were, a +very Paradise containing in itself the fruits of all the other books and +expressing them in hymns; and moreover it joins its own hymns to them +and merges them in the general song of praise. Two further quotations +from St. Augustine, in similar strain, follow. For who will be, asks the +saint, unmoved by those frequent passages in the Psalms in which are +proclaimed the immensity, the omnipotence, the infallible justice, the +goodness, the clemency of God? Or who is not moved by the prayers and +thanksgivings for benefits received by the humble and trustful +petitions, by the cries of souls sorrowing for sin, found in the Psalms? +Whom will the Psalmist not fill with admiration when he recounts the +gifts of the Divine loving kindness towards the people of Israel and all +mankind, and when he sets forth the truths of heavenly wisdom? Who, +finally, will not be inflamed with love by the carefully foreshadowed +figure of Christ, our Redeemer, whose voice St. Augustine heard in the +Psalms, either singing or sighing or rejoicing in Hope or mourning in +present sorrow? + +3. In, former ages it was decreed by Popes and Councils and by monastic +laws that the whole Psaltery should be recited weekly. Pope St. Pius +V., Pope Clement VIII., and Pope Urban VIII. in their revisions of the +Breviary ordered this weekly recitation. And even at the present time, +such would be the recitation of the Psalter had not the condition of +things changed. + +4. This arose from the multiplication of saints' offices (_officia de +sanctis_), which after the canonization of saints gradually grew to +such a huge number that very often the Dominical and Ferial Office +remained unread, and hence not a few psalms were neglected, which yet +are as the rest, as St. Ambrose says, "the benediction of the people, +the praise of God, the praise offering of the multitude, the acclamation +of all, the expression of the community, the voice of the Church, the +resounding confession of faith, the truly official devotion, the joy of +liberty, the shout of gladness, the re-echoing of joy." + +Many complaints from prudent and pious men reached the Pope about the +omission of psalms, which took away from those bound to recite the +Office not only helps, well suited for God's praises and for the +expression of their inmost souls, but also diminished that desirable +variety in prayers which is so appreciated and which so well accords +with and aids our worthy, attentive, and devout praise of God. For St. +Basil says that "in smooth uniformity the soul often grows weary and +while present is yet away, but when in psalmody and chant are changed +and varied in every hour, the fervour is renewed and its attention is +restored." + +5. This matter of the reform of the order of the psalter was brought +before the Holy See by many bishops and chiefly in the Vatican Council, +where the demand for the old custom of reciting the whole psalter +weekly was renewed, with the provision that any new arrangement should +not impose a greater onus on the clergy, now labouring more arduously in +the vineyard of the sacred ministry on account of the diminution of +toilers. These requests and wishes were repeated to Pope Pius X., and he +took up the matter cautiously, so that the honour due to the cult of the +saints should not be diminished, nor the onus on the clergy increased by +the weekly recitation of the full Psalter. Begging the help of God, the +pontiff formed a commission of learned and industrious men, who with +judgment and care carried out his wishes. The results of their labours +were submitted to the Sacred Congregation of Rites, and after careful +consideration by the members of the Congregation the matter was +submitted to the Pope, who sanctioned the new arrangement, that is, as +regards the order and the division of the Psalms, Antiphons, Versicles +and Hymns, with the rubrics and rules pertaining to the same. And the +Pope ordered an authentic edition of these new arrangements to be +prepared and issued from the Vatican Press. + +6. The arrangement of the Psalter has an intimate connection with the +Divine Office and the Liturgy; and by these new decrees regarding the +Office and the Psalms a first step in the improvement of the Breviary +and the Missal has been taken. These matters will be dealt with by a +commission of learned men which is soon to be formed. Amongst other +things that this first step established was that the recitation of the +Scripture lessons with the proper responses according to the rubrics +should receive due honour and more frequent recitation, and that in the +Liturgy the most ancient Masses of the Sundays throughout the year, +especially those of Lent, should be restored to their places. + +7. The use of the old order of Psalms found in the Roman Breviary is +abolished and interdicted from 1st January, 1913, and the use of the new +Psalter for all clergy, secular and regular, who used the Roman Breviary +as revised by Pius V., Clement VIII., Urban VIII., and Leo XIII., and +those who continue to use the old order do not satisfy their obligation. + +8. Ecclesiastical superiors are to introduce the new order of the +Psalter, and chapters are permitted to use it if the majority of the +members agree to its introduction. + +9. Establishment and declaration of the validity and efficacy of the +Bull, notwithstanding all previous apostolic constitutions and rulings, +whether general or particular. Any person infringing these papal +abolitions, revocations, etc., sins and merits God's anger. + +10. Date and place of promulgation. + + + + +SECTION II. + + +THE YEAR AND ITS PARTS. + +The Council of Trent, Sess. XXIII., c. 18, orders "_ut in disciplina +ecclesiastica clerici commodius instituantur grammaticas, cantus, +computi ecclesiastici, aliarumque bonarum artium disciplinam +discant_." The minute study of the ecclesiastical calendar is not +now so necessary for each priest, as it was centuries ago. The _Ordo +Divini Officii recitandi_, issued yearly, and prepared with great +accuracy, relieves priests of much labour and secures them from many +doubts. And the decision of the Congregation of Rites (13th January, +1899) regarding the authority of the _ordo_ gives greater security. +"_Qui probabilius judicat errare Calendarium tenetur eidem Calend. +stare, nec potest proprio inhaerere judicio quoad officium, Missam vel +colorem Paramentorum._" Of course this decision does not apply to +errors which are _openly_ and _plainly_ at variance with the +rubrics of the Missal and Breviary. However, it may be well to revise +and to recall the student days' lessons on the Church's Calendar. The +study is not an easy one, and in labouring to be brief, probably, I may +be obscure and incomplete. + +"_Annus menses habet duodecim..._" says the Breviary. The year has +twelve months, fifty-two weeks plus one day, or 365 days and almost six +hours. But these six hours make up a day every four years, and this +fourth year is called bisextile. + +In making calculations the six hours were taken as six complete hours, +and not six hours wanting some minutes. And the aggregate miscalculation +continued until the minutes added yearly, amounted to ten days and +changed the date of the spring equinox. Pope Gregory XIII. (1572-1585) +sought to remedy the error. He re-established the spring equinox to the +place fixed by the Council of Nice (787). The year had fallen ten days +in arrear from the holding of the Council until the year of the +Gregorian correction, 1582. He again fixed it to the day arranged by the +Council, the 14th of the Paschal moon. And he arranged, that such a +time-derangement should not occur again. He omitted ten full days in +October, 1582, so that the fourth day of the month was followed +immediately by the fifteenth. He determined that the secular year must +begin on 1st January, that three leap years should be omitted in every +four centuries, e.g., 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, and his arrangement has +been observed throughout nearly the whole world. + +_Quarter Tenses_ fall on the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays after +the third Sunday of Advent, after the first Sunday of Lent; after +Pentecost Sunday, and after the feast of the exaltation of the Cross. + +_The Nineteen Years' Course of the Golden Number_. This course or +cycle was invented by an Athenian astronomer about 433 B.C. It was not +exact, but was hailed with delight by the Greeks, who adorned their +temples with the key number, done in gold figures; hence the name. The +cycle of course is the revolution of nineteen years, from 1 to 19. When +this revolution or course of years is run there is a new beginning in +marking, No. 1, e.g., in the year 1577 the nineteenth number, the golden +number, was 1; the following year it was 2, and so on until in 1597 the +golden number again is 2. A table given in the Breviary shows how the +golden number may be found and a short rule for the finding of it in any +year is given. To the number of the year (e.g., 1833) add 1; then divide +the sum thus resulting by 19 and the remainder is the golden number; if +there be no remainder the golden number is 19. + + + + +EPACTS AND NEW MOONS. + +The Epact (Greek [Greek: epaktos] from [Greek: eapgo] I add) is nothing +more than the number of days by which the common solar year of 365 days +exceeds the common lunar year of 354 days. So that the epact of the +first year is 11, because the common solar year exceeds the common lunar +year by 11 days, and these added to the 11 days of the first, produce 22 +as the epact. At the end of the second year the new moon falls 22 days +sooner than in the first year. The epact of the third year is three, +because if 11 be added to the 22, the result is 33, and from this 33 we +subtract 30 days which make up a lunar embolism and the remainder gives +us 3, the epact for the year, and so on. + +In the Breviary there is a table (_alia Tabella epactarum_) +corresponding to the golden numbers from the year 1901 to the year 2000 +inclusive. To take away all doubt in the use of this table, a new table +of epacts, an example may be quoted. In the year 1901 the epact was X, +which is placed under the golden number 2; and new moons appear on the +21st January, 19th February, and 21st March.... Again, in 1911 the epact +is not marked by a number, but by an asterisk (see Table in Breviary) +which is placed under the golden number 12, and in the calendar for the +whole year will indicate the new moon on January 1st, January 31st (for +in February there is no new moon indicated in the Table; the sign [*] is +not found), on March 1st, March 31st, and on April 29th. In the year +1916 the golden number is 17 and the epact is 25 (written not in Roman +numerals but in ordinary figures), the new moons occur on 6th January, +4th February, 6th March, 4th April, etc. For when the epact is 25, +corresponding with golden numbers greater than the number 11 in the +calendar, we must take in computation the epact 25 (written in modern +figures) but where the epact corresponds with numbers less than the +number 11, in the _tabella, the epact_ XXV. in Roman numerals must be +taken in calendar countings. This change takes place with epact 25 only, +so that the computation of the lunar years may more closely respond to +the solar year. It is for this cause, too, that in six places in the +calendar two epacts, XXV. and XXIV., are given. + +The new Breviary contains a _tabella_ of Dominical letters, up to the +year 2000 A.D. It needs no comment. + +_Indiction_. Indiction was a cycle of fifteen years, the first of which +dated from the third year of the Christian era. It was usual to indicate +the number of the year in a cycle and no mention was made of the cycles +already completed. Thus, the _indictio sexta_ meant the sixth year of a +cycle and not the sixth cycle or period of fifteen years. Hence, to know +the year of indiction is useless for determining the date in old +documents of State. Indiction was instituted by Constantine in 313 for +fiscal purposes. In papal and imperial documents the name of Pope or +emperor was generally given and the regnal years noted. + +_Movable Feasts_. In virtue of the decree of the Council of Nice, in +325, Easter, on which all other movable feasts depend, must be +celebrated on the Sunday which follows immediately the fourteenth day of +the moon of the first month (in the Hebrew year), our March. Easter, +then, is the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon (i.e., the full +moon which happens upon or next after March 21st). If full moon happens +on a Sunday, Easter Sunday is the Sunday after the full moon. The matter +of the arrangement of Easter was for long a subject of very bitter +contention in the Irish and in the English Church. The Irish, clinging +tenaciously to the calendar of St. Patrick, carried it everywhere in +their missionary labours, so that the controversy was not confined to +Ireland and England. It was long and bitter, until at last the Irish +Church agreed to follow the reform. (See Healy, _Ireland's Schools and +Scholars_, p. 592; Moran, _Irish Saints in Great Britain_, "The +Conference at Whitby in 664," pp. 255-261). + +Calendar study is interesting, and many valuable contributions on this +matter have been given to us by Father Thurston, S.J., and other English +and Irish scholars. + + + + +GENERAL RUBRICS OF THE BREVIARY. + +The next document in the Breviary, Part I., has the title "Rubricae +Generates Breviarii," the general rubrics of the Breviary. They are +called _general_, as they apply to every part of the Breviary and are to +be distinguished from the rubrics dealing with the proper (_proprium_) +of the Breviary, the proper of time or of the saints. The word "rubrics" +was originally applied to the red marking lines used by carpenters on +wood, later it referred to the titles used by jurisconsults in +announcing laws, which were written in red colours. The word appears in +Church literature to refer to signs and directions as early at least as +the fourteenth century (_Cath. Encyclopedia_--word "rubrics"). + +The general rubrics are divided into thirty-seven Titles. Attention will +be given to each; of these Titles, some of which must be modified by +recent legislation. The order followed may not be the order followed in +the general rubrics as given in the Breviary, as matters treated in the +general rubrics found in the Breviary are treated under other headings +here. However, a look at the table of contents or at the index shows the +pages treating of these Titles. + + + + +TITLE I. THE DOUBLE OFFICE. + +"Consequently, the civilised peoples already in remote antiquity have +found a call to the worship of God in the changing seasons and times and +so have introduced sacred seasons. Sacred times and places are common to +all religions in general. The change of times bringing with them +corresponding changes in nature made a religious impression upon +mankind. In turn, man sanctified certain times and dedicated them to +God, and these days, thus consecrated to God, became festivals." + +The entire number of ecclesiastical holydays and seasons is codified +for us in the different Church calendars. Their contents fall into two +essentially different divisions, each possessing an entirely different +origin and history. The first division consists of festivals of our +Lord, distributed over the year, regulated and co-ordinated in +accordance with certain laws. The second division consists of +commemorations of saints in no wise connected with festivals of our Lord +or with one another. Occupying to some extent an intermediate position +between these two chief divisions come the festivals of our Blessed +Lady, which have this in common with the festivals of the saints, that +they fall on fixed days; but, on the other hand, they are to a certain +extent connected with each other and with some feasts of our Lord. This +is carried out in such a way that they are distributed throughout the +Church year and are included in each of the festal seasons (Kellner, +_Heortology_, Part I.). + +From Apostolic times the feasts of Easter, the Ascension and Pentecost +were celebrated. In the second century feasts of the Apostles were +celebrated and the cult of the Martyrs was of speedy and widespread +development. But it was not, probably, till the fourth century, that the +feasts of saints who were not martyrs were celebrated. + +_Origin of the different grades of feasts_. To-day, we find Church +festivals arranged in three grades, doubles, semi-doubles and simples, +and it is very difficult, to determine clearly and accurately the origin +and the nature of the arrangements. But from the works of scholars, who +have studied this matter, the following may be considered as a fair and +accurate summing up:-- + +In the first ages of the Church the Apostles and Martyrs only were +commemorated in public prayers and, above all, in the Mass, perhaps, by +a special prayer. Then, in time, followed the reading of a panegyric in +their honour, and later still hymns and histories of martyrdom were +added to the public recitation of the Office. Still later, there were +added the feasts of the saints with an office resembling our simple +office. Matins were entirely ferial, but had either a biography of the +saint or a long extract from the Fathers added. The other hours were as +in a Sunday office, save that these feasts had no Vesper matter. + +In still later times, the Church added to the list of names on her saint +roll, the names of saints who were honoured neither as Apostles nor as +Martyrs. For these, special Masses, offices and feasts were established. +St. Martin of Tours was the first confessor so honoured in the Western +Church. For the more important feasts, an office of nine lessons was +established and this came to be known as a semi-double office, and later +such feasts were called doubles. Hence, before the thirteenth century, +we find celebrations of simple feasts, of semi-doubles and of doubles. +And Durandus, who wrote in the thirteenth century, tells us of the +existence of doubles major and doubles minor. The Breviary of St. Pius +V., published in 1568, gives three classes of doubles: doubles of the +first class, doubles of the second class, and doubles per annum. But, in +the revision by Clement VIII. the doubles per annum were again divided +into doubles major and doubles minor. In the new Pian Breviary (1913) +doubles are divided into Primary Doubles of the First Class, Secondary +Doubles of the First Class; Primary Doubles of the Second Class, +Secondary Doubles of the Second Class, Primary Doubles Major, Secondary +Doubles Major. The list of feasts under each of these six headings may +be seen in the Breviary. + +Do double offices differ specifically from each other? No, the form is +the same in all double offices. What then is the difference between +doubles of different classes? The difference is chiefly in the +preference which is given to them in cases of concurrence or occurrence +of feasts of greater or of lesser rite. + +The word "double" (_duplex_) is derived, some authors hold, from the +ancient custom of reciting two offices or saying two Masses on the same +day--one for the current feria and one for the feast (_festa_). Other +authors say that the word is derived from the ancient practice of +chanting twice or in repetition the complete responses and versicles. +And, above all, the recitation of the full antiphons before and after +each psalm, at Matins, Lauds and Vespers, was called "duplication," and +this name, it is said, was given to the office (double, duplex) in which +the practice of duplication took place. + +It is often asked why are there different grades of feasts. Three +reasons are given by writers on liturgy. First, to mark the diversity of +merit in God's saints, their sanctity and their different degrees of +service to His Church. Second, to mark their different degrees of glory +in Heaven. "One is as the sun; another, the glory of the moon; and +another the glory of the stars. For star differs from star" (1 _Cor_.). +Third, for some special national or local reasons--e.g., patron of +a country. + +The rules laid down in the general rubrics in the new Breviary, for +doubles and semi-doubles, are left unchanged almost by the regulations +laid down by the Commission and by the _Variationes_. Their numbers were +reduced, so that there now stand in the new Breviary only seventy-five +doubles, sixty-three semi-doubles, and thirty-six movable feasts. + +A reason for the new arrangement of double feasts in the Pian Breviary +is the general one, that the Pope wished above all things the weekly +recitation of the Psalter, and to bring about this weekly recitation and +the restoration of the Sunday Office a mere rearrangement of the Psalms +was quite insufficient, and a rearrangement of the gradation of feasts +of concurrence and of occurrence was necessary. + + + + +TITLE II.--THE OFFICE OF A SEMI-DOUBLE. + +_Etymology, nature and synonyms_. The word semi-double (_semi-duplex_) +is derived from the Latin; and some writers hold that the word indicates +feasts which are of lower rank and solemnity than double feasts. Others +hold that it means simply, feasts holding a place between double feasts +and simple feasts. Most writers on liturgy hold that on some days a +double office--one of the feast and one of the feria--was held, and that +in order to shorten this double recitation there was said a composite +office, partly of the saint's office and partly of the feria; and they +say that from this practice arose the term semi-double, or half-double. + +Synonyms for the term "semi-duplex," are "non-duplex," "office of nine +lessons." + +1. The antiphons are not doubled in a semi-double office. + +2. The Sundays of the year, excepting Easter Sunday, Low Sunday, +Pentecost and Trinity, are said according to the semi-double rite. In +the new Breviaries the Psalms for Matins are only nine in number, +instead of the eighteen of the older book. + +3. The versicles, antiphons, responses, preces and suffrages of saints, +which are recited in semi-double offices, are given below under their +own titles. + + + + +TITLE III.--THE SIMPLE OFFICE. + +_Etymology, nature_ and _synonyms_. The word _simple_ comes from the +Latin _simplex_, to indicate the least solemn form of office and it is +the direct opposite in meaning to the term "double." It is synonymous +with the term so often found in liturgical works, the office of +three lessons. + +This form of office is of great antiquity, going back to the fifth +century. In the early ages of the Church and down to the fourteenth +century the simple office consisted of the ferial office with lessons, +antiphons and prayers. But in the end of the fourteenth century, simples +came to be celebrated in the same manner as semi-doubles, with nine +lessons and their nocturns, and in case of occurrence were transferred. +As a result the offices of Sunday and the ferial offices were +practically crushed out of the Breviary. The Commission of Reform +applied an easy remedy, by restoring simple feasts to their ancient +place and status. Now, they are not to be transferred; but in case of +occurrence with a feast of higher rite they are merely commemorated. + +These feasts have first Vespers only. At Matins, the nine psalms and +three lessons are said as one nocturn. The psalms in semi-double feasts +are from the Psalter under the day of the week on which the feast is +celebrated. "_In quolibet alio Festo duplici etiam major, vel semi +duplici vel simplici et in Feriis Tempore Paschali, semper dicantur +Psalmi, cum antiphonis in omnibus Horis, et versibus ad matutinum, ut in +Psalterio de occurrente hebdomadae die" (Tit, I. sec, 3. Additiones et +Variationes_). + +In commemorations in the Office, the versicle, response, antiphon and +collect of a semi-double is made _after_ the following commemorations +(if they should have a place in the recitation of the day). + +(1) Any Sunday, (2) a day within the privileged octave of the Epiphany +or Corpus Christi, (3) an octave day, (4) a great double, (5) a lesser +double. Of course the first commemoration is always of the concurring +office except it be a day within a non-privileged octave, or a simple. +In reckoning the order of precedence between feasts which occur on the +same day, lists given in _The New Psalter and its Use_, p. 108, show +that thirteen grades of feast stand before the feasts of semi-double +rite. And in the order of precedence as to Vespers, between feasts which +are in occurrence, these feasts stand in the eleventh place, being +preceded by (1) doubles of the first class of the universal Church, (2) +lesser doubles. + + + + +TITLE IV.--SUNDAY. + +We translate the Latin _Dies Dominica_ by our word Sunday, for in +English the days of the week have retained the names given to them in +Pagan times. In Irish, too, Deluain, Monday, moon's day, shows Pagan +origin of names of week days. + +The literal translation of the Latin _Dies Dominica_, the Lord's Day, is +not found in the name given to the first day of the week in any European +tongue, save Portuguese, where the days of the week hold the old +Catholic names, _domingo, secunda feira, terca feira_, etc. It is said +that the seven days of the week as they stand in numerical order were +retained and confirmed by Pope Silvester I. (314-336): "_Sabbati et +Dominici diei nomine retento, reliquos hebdomadae dies Feriarum nomine +distinctos, ut jam ante in Ecclesia vocari coeperunt appellari voluit; +quo significaretur quotidie clericos, abjecta caeterarum rerum cura, uni +Deo prorsus vocare debere" (Brev. Rom_. in VI. lect. St. Silvester Pope; +31st Dec.). + +There is no evidence of the abrogation of the Sabbath by Christ or by +His Apostles, but St. Paul declared that its observance was not binding +on Gentile converts. Accordingly, in the very early days of Christianity +the Sabbath fell more and more into the background, yet not without +leaving some traces behind it (see art. _Sonnabender_ in Kraut's +_Realenzyklop_). Among Christians the first day of the Jewish week, the +_prima Sabbati_, the present Sunday, was held in honour as the day of +our Lord's resurrection and was called the Lord's Day (Apoc. i. 10; I. +Cor, xvi. 2), This name, _dies dominica_, took the place of _dies +solis_, formerly used in Greece and in Rome. This day has many names in +the works of Christian writers. St. Ignatius, M. calls it _Regina omnium +dierum_; St. Chrysostom, _dies pacis; dies lucis_; Alcuin, _dies +sanctus; feria prima_, Baronius tells us, was another name for +our Sunday. + +The subject of the liturgical celebration of the Lord's Day has been a +great study and a problem to modern scholars. It appears that in the +first ages of the Church, Sunday was a day of solemn reunion and of +common prayer. St. Justin, in his second apology, writes that on the +Lord's Day town and country met together at an appointed place for +sacrifice, for the hearing of the word of God, for pious readings and +for common prayer. This common, prayer consisted largely in the +recitation of the Psalms, hymns and prayers, of what are called the +Sunday Office. This office was nearly always the same in psalms, in +hymns and in every part; so that Sunday after Sunday, for many years, +there was very little change in the Sunday united-prayer part of the +liturgy, although the preaching on the incidents of the life of our Lord +(Beckel, _Messe und Pascha_, p, 91), the blessings and the thanksgivings +relieved the service from monotonous sameness. + +A nocturn, a round of Psalms, was said on Saturday night by the +vigilants preparing for the Sunday services. Before the eighth century +two other short nocturns were added. This addition, which was copied +from the monastic practice, built up the three nocturn form of office +and became the model and form of the office for saints. "There is good +reason for believing that originally the Divine Office formed part of +the Mass. The _synaxis_, for which the early Christians assembled by +night, consisted of the 'breaking of bread,' preceded by the singing of +psalms and hymns, litanies and collects, readings, homilies, invocations +and canticles. This was the whole official liturgical prayer, apart, of +course, from private prayer" (Dom Cabrol, _Day Hours of the Church_, +Introduction, p. xvi). + +One of the chief objects of Pope Pius X. in his reform was the +restoration of the liturgical importance of the Sunday office, the +office of the Lord's Day, and, therefore, in its own right, superior to +the saints' feasts by which it had been displaced from its special +office, psalms and lessons. And this could only be effected by a change +in the rules of occurrence, and in Title IV. (_De Festorum occurentia_, +etc., section 2) we find the new rule for restoring Sunday offices to +their proper liturgical rights. + +In Title IV., sect, 1 (see Breviary, Additiones and Variationes) there +is no change in the old rubric. The eight Sundays of the first class +exclude every other feast. And the Sundays of the second class only give +place to a double of the first class and then are commemorated at Lauds, +Vespers and Mass, and have the ninth lesson in Matins. + +But section 2 (_Dominicis minoribus_)... goes to the root of the matter +of the new change in the rules for Sunday's liturgical office. The +ordinary Sundays ranked as semi-doubles and hence their Mass and Office +was superseded by the Mass and Office of some occurring feast. The +length of the Sunday office, in the breviaries until lately in use, made +many hearts rejoice over the occurring feast. But the almost total +omission of the ancient and beautiful Sunday Masses was a misfortune +and, in a sense, an unbecoming practice, which broke away from ancient +liturgical rule and tradition. The abbreviation of the Sunday office in +the new breviaries and the rule laid down in Title IV., sect. 2, restore +Sunday's office and Sunday's Mass to their old and proper dignity. + +The general rule laid down is that on Sundays throughout the year the +proper office of the Sunday shall always be said. The exceptions are (1) +Feasts of our Lord and their octaves, (2) Doubles of the first class, +(3) Doubles of the second class. On these days the office will be the +office of the feast, with commemoration in Lauds, Vespers and Mass. +Henceforth Sundays are divided into: + +(1) Sundays of the first class, which exclude all feasts; + +(2) Sundays of the second class, which exclude all feasts save doubles +of the first class; + +(3) The ordinary Sundays, which exclude all but doubles of the first or +second class, feasts of our Lord, and their octave days. + +The date of Easter is the pivot of Calendar construction. Before Easter +come the Sundays of Lent and Quinquagesima, Sexagesima, Septuagesima +Sundays. Septuagesima cannot fall earlier than the eighteenth day of +January, nor later than the twenty-second day of February. Hence, in +some years there are fewer "Sundays after the Epiphany" than in others, +owing to the dates of Easter and Septuagesima. The smaller the number of +Sundays after Epiphany the greater is the number of Sundays after +Pentecost. If the number of Sundays after Pentecost be twenty-five, the +twenty-fourth Sunday will have the office of the sixth Sunday after +Epiphany. If there be twenty-six Sundays after Pentecost, the +twenty-fourth Sunday will have the office of the fifth after Epiphany, +and the twenty-fifth will have that of the fifth Sunday; the +twenty-sixth will be the sixth Sunday's office. It should be remembered +that the Sunday called the twenty-fourth after Pentecost is _always_ +celebrated immediately before the first Sunday of Advent, even though it +should not be even the twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost. + + + + +TITLE V.--FERIAL OFFICE. + +_Etymology and different signification_ of the word _Feria_. The word is +derived probably from the Latin _feriari_ (to rest). Among the Romans, +the idea of a day of rest and a holy day was intimately united and +received the name of _feria_. But it was amongst the Hebrews that the +day set apart for the worship of God received the most distinctive +character as day of rest (_Heortology_, p. 2). Hence the early +Christians called the days of the week _feriae_. + +Why did the Church adopt the word _feriae_? She wished to mark the day +of the week and not to name them by their pagan name (_e.g., dies +lunae_) nor by their Jewish names (_e.g., prima sabbati_), which should +be a sort of recognition of the dead and dying synagogue. Hence she +adopted the word _feria_, to denote the Christian rest in the Lord, the +Christian peace and the abstinence from all sin, and that each and every +day should be consecrated to God. The Christian use of the word is found +in Origen (185-254) and was fully established in the time of Tertullian. + +In the time of Amalare (circa 830) the ferial office had taken a +well-defined form, Matins having twelve psalms and six antiphons. In +Lauds of every _feria_ were recited the psalms, _Miserere; Deus, Deus +meus; Deus misereatur nostri_; a canticle drawn from a prophet and +varying each day of the week (_e.g., Confitebor_, Isaias xii., for +Monday's Lauds; _Ego dixi_, Isaias xxxviii., for Tuesday's Lauds, +etc., and the two psalms _Laudate_ (148, 150) and the _Cantate_, psalm +149). In the small hours the Sunday psalms without antiphons were +recited. Vespers had daily, fixed psalms. At each hour the _Kyrie +Eleison_ and ferial _prayers_ were said on bended knees and the hours +terminated--as do the hours of Holy Week still--with _Pater Noster and +Miserere_. + +Ferias are divided into three classes, major ferias, privileged ferias +and non-privileged. Ash Wednesday and the three last days of Holy Week +are the major ferias which are privileged and exclude all feasts (_vide_ +Tit. II., sec. 2). Non-privileged feriae are the feriae of Lent and +Advent, Quarter Tense or Ember days and Rogation Monday. They take +precedence of simple feasts only. + +In the ferial office nine psalms are said, and not twelve, as in the +old order of the Breviary. The psalms found arranged in the new Breviary +for three nocturns are to be said with nine antiphons up to the versicle +of third nocturn--the versicle of the first and second being omitted +(Tit. I., sec. 7). Hence the psalms are to be said straight through +(_sine interuptione_) omitting in the first two nocturns, the versicle +and response, Pater Noster, absolutions and all pertaining to the +lessons. This simplifies things and makes the ferial office shorter than +the office of feasts. + + + + +TITLE VI.--THE OFFICE OF VIGILS. + +_Etymology, nature and synonyms_. The word _vigil_ is from the Latin +_vigilare, to keep awake, to watch_, because in old times the night +before any great event, religious or worldly, was spent in watching. +Thus, the night prior to ordination to the priesthood, the night prior +to a great battle, was spent in watching before the altar. Hence, the +word vigil came to mean the prayers said during the time of watching or +waking, preparatory to the great event. It signified, too, the fast +accompanying the watching, and lastly it came to mean the liturgical +office of Mass and Breviary fixed for the time of vigilance. In the +Roman Church it was sometimes called the nocturn or night office. The +Greeks call the vigil _profesta_, the time before the feast. + +The custom existed among the pagans, almost universally, before the time +of Christ. The Jews practised this ancient night prayer, as the +scripture in several places shows, _"in noctibus extollite manus +vestras in sancta"_ (Psalm 133). Our Saviour sanctified this use by His +example, and the early Christians were, on account of these night +assemblies, the objects of fear and dread, of admiration and of hatred. +Organised vigils lasted till the thirteenth century in some countries, +but owing to abuses and discord they became not a source of edification, +but the occasion and cause of grave scandals, and were forbidden +gradually and universally. The Church now retains for the faithful one +congregational vigil, the vigil of Christmas. Formerly, it was customary +to observe a fast on a day or night of a vigil, but that custom was +suppressed sometimes, or fell into disuse. Vigil fasts are now few. +Almost the only relic of the vigil now remaining is the Mass and Office. + +When were vigils held? In the early ages they were held only on Saturday +nights and on nights preceding great solemnities or the festivals of the +Martyrs. The early converts, if they had been pagans, knew few or no +prayer formulae, and very little of the psalms was learned by them even +in their Christian practice. But Jews who became Christians knew psalms +and hymns and prayers. So that in the early Christian vigils, there was +no attempt made at reciting the Divine Office, and the custom of such +recitation was not introduced until about 220 A.D. and was not +obligatory (Duchesne, _Christian Worship_, Chap. VIII.). + +It is difficult to speak with certainty about the hour of beginning or +the hour of ending these vigil services. Some think that the first +nocturn was said about 9 p.m. Lauds was said before sunrise and hence +was called _Laudes-matutinae_. But "after the middle of the ninth +century, we gather from contemporary documents, that the office of +vigils was, as a whole, regularly constituted and well known" (Baudot, +p.64). These vigils were held in cenacles or upper rooms of houses. +During the days of persecution these meetings were not infrequent and +were held secretly in crypts, catacombs, private houses and at martyrs' +tombs. In times of peace they were held everywhere, in churches, +monasteries, castles. + +Vigils are divided into two classes, major and minor; major vigils are +the vigils of Christmas, Epiphany and Pentecost, and they are called +privileged vigils and are celebrated as semi-doubles. The vigils of +Christmas and Pentecost are privileged vigils of the first class. The +vigil of Epiphany is a privileged vigil of the second class. All others +are minor or non-privileged vigils. + + + + +TITLE VII.-OCTAVES. + +_Etymology and nature_. The word "octave" is from the Latin _octavus_ +(eighth) because, in the early ages of Christianity, the Church +celebrated the eighth day only after the celebration of the feast +itself; not until the twelfth century was the custom of a commemoration +on each of the eight days introduced. We have, probably, an example of +this still in our Breviaries. The feast of St. Agnes is celebrated on +21st January and on 28th it is mentioned at Vespers and Lauds only, and +the name in old Roman service books is _Octavo, S. Agnetis_. The origin +of the octave is Jewish. We read in the Old Testament that God ordered +that the Feasts of Pasch and Pentecost should be celebrated for eight +days. So, too, the Feast of Tabernacles lasted for eight days, the first +and eighth days being days of special celebration and devotion. The +Christian Church adopted the method of showing great honour and glory to +the principal festivals of the Christian year, to the great saints, the +patrons of countries, dioceses, etc. But just as the calendar became +overcrowded with saints' offices, which excluded almost entirely the +Sunday and ferial offices, so, too, the additions of octaves created +confusion and further tended to the exclusion of the old liturgical use +of the Psalter and the supplanting of the Sunday and ferial offices. +Hence, in the _Motu Proprio Abhinc duos annos_, the octaves of the +calendar are divided into three great classes, privileged, common and +simple. Privileged octaves are further divided into three _orders_. +Those of the first order are the octaves of Easter and Pentecost; the +octaves of Epiphany and Corpus Christi belong to the second order, and +the octaves of the Nativity and Ascension belong to the third. The +Christmas octave admits feasts of saints, but the octaves of Epiphany, +Easter and Pentecost do not admit any feasts (Tit. V., sec, 3). A day +within an octave has a right to first Vespers, and the antiphon and +response should be from first Vespers (S.C.R., June, 1905). But the +feast of the day falling within octave has a right to first and second +Vespers. The exceptions are, when at second Vespers of St. Thomas, the +office of the octave of the Nativity to be observed on 30th December has +to be commemorated again, in octaves like octaves of Epiphany when each +day has its proper antiphon at the _Magnificat_, and again on and July +in second Vespers of Visitation the office of St. Peter and Paul is to +be commemorated. In octaves the suffrages of saints and the Athanasian +Creed are not said. When feasts of the Universal Church, which are +celebrated with an octave are perpetually transferred to the next day, +because of a perpetual impediment, according to the rubrics, the octave +day is not therefore perpetually transferred but ought to be kept as in +the Universal Church on its own day. + + + + +TITLE VIII.--OFFICE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN FOR SATURDAY. + +"_In omnibus Sabbatis per annum entra Adventum et Quadragesimam, ac nisi +Quatuor Tempora aut Vigiliae ocurrant_," etc. In all Saturdays +throughout the year, except on the Saturdays of Advent, Lent, Ember Days +or occurring Vigils, or unless a feast of nine lessons has to be said on +the Saturday, then it is laid down in the rubrics that the Office of the +Blessed Virgin should always be said with the rite of a simple office. +The rubrics of the New Psalter (Title I., sec. 6) direct, "_In officio +Sanctae Mariae in Sabbato et in festis simplicibus sic officium +persolvendum est; ad matutinum, Invitatorium et hymnus dicuntur de eodem +officio vel de iisdem Festis; Psalmi cum suis antiphonis et versu de +Feria occurente I. et II. Lectis de Feria cum Responsoriis Propriis vel +de Communi. III. vero lectio de officio vel Festo duabus lectionibus in +unum junctis si quando duae pro Festo habeatur, ad reliquas autem Horas +omnia dicuntur, prouti supra num. 5 in Festis Duplicibus expositum est_." +In the Office of the Blessed Virgin for Saturdays (Decree S.C.R., 26th +January. 1916) the antiphons and Psalms at Matins, Lauds and small Hours +are to be said from the Saturday and from the _capitulum_ onwards all is +to be taken from the office of the Blessed Virgin. + +This office is not to be confounded with the _officium parvum Beatae +Mariae._ The office _de Sabbato_ is obligatory throughout the Church. +The _officium parvum_ was only for choir use, an addition to the office +of the day. Saturday, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, is of great +antiquity, as the mention of it in the works of St. Peter Damien, St. +Bernard and Pope Benedict XIII. shows, but as to the time of its origin +or a history of its growth, little seems to be known. At first the cult +consisted in various and voluntary prayers and practices. About the +middle of the fourteenth century an office was composed for recital on +Saturdays as dedicated to the Mother of God. The office in our +Breviaries was composed by St. Pius V, (1566-1572). + + + + +TITLE IX,--COMMEMORATIONS. + +The rules laid down in the general rubrics of the Breviary for +commemorations were never very simple, and when we read the changes +brought about in _De ratione Divini officii recitandi juxta novum +Psalteri ordinem_, Titles II., III., IV., V., VI., with' the decrees of +the Congregation (January, 1912), and subsequently (_Abhinc duos Annos_) +everyone must fear to tread the maze with certainty and must often fall +back gratefully on the labours of the compilers of the _Ordo_ which he +follows. Or, perhaps, doubts may be dispelled by _The New Psalter_ +(Burton and Myers) published in 1912. The chapter on the Calendar in +that book is worth study, but needs now additions and corrections, owing +to the issue of more recent decrees. + +In the study of commemorations and translations of feasts there are two +words which have a special meaning and which, being often used in +calendar working, deserve a special note. They are "occurrence" and +"concurrence." _Occurrence_ is the conjunction of two or more offices, +which fall on the same day. It may be accidental when two movable feasts +are concerned or when a movable feast falls on a day which has a fixed +office; or it may be perpetual, when a fixed office falls on a day which +already has a fixed office. The Church does not ask the recitation of a +double or a triple office. She, by her fixed rules, prefers one out of +the two of the "occurring" offices, transfers if possible the others, or +at least commemorates them by an antiphon, versicle and prayer, and +sometimes by a ninth lesson at Matins. + +_Concurrence_ is the conjunction of two offices, which succeed one +another, so that a question arises as to which feast the Vespers belong +to; whether to the feast of the day or to the feast of the following +day, or whether the psalms should be of the feast and the remaining part +of the Vespers should be as the _Ordo_ so often notes (_a cap. de +seq._), from the _capitulum_ the office is taken from the following +feast. + +The new rubrics contain five titles which make certain modifications in +the rules hitherto observed. We thus obtain a ready made division of the +subject:-- + +(1) Of the precedence of Feasts (Title II.). +(2) Of the accidental occurrence of feasts and their translation (Title + III.). +(3) Of the perpetual occurrence of feasts and their transfer (Title V.). +(4) Of the occurrence of feasts (Title V.). +(5) Of the commemorations (Title VI.) (Myers and Burton, _op. cit._). + +The new rubrics without the aid of any commentator give pretty clear +notions of the laws of precedence, occurrence and commemoration. For +students in college these rules are expounded in detail with additions, +changes, exceptions. But for priests, long past the student stage, it is +difficult to undo the fixed liturgy lore of their student and early +priest life; and the need of such a book as _The New Psalter and its +Uses_ is, for those interested, a necessity. Even since the publication +of that book, changes have been made. For example, doubles, major or +minor and semi-doubles, which were perpetually excluded on their own day +were transferred to some fixed day. This is given in _The New Psalter +and its Uses_. But this has now been changed. In the case of feasts of +the universal Church, no translation is allowed now. But feasts proper +to a nation, diocese, order, institute or particular church may still be +transferred to a fixed day, if perpetually impeded on their own day. +Another example of necessary changes in that excellent book is in the +last paragraph of page 136 (see Decree S.C.R., June, 1912). The works of +compilers and liturgists need constant revision to keep pace with new +decisions and decrees. + +In making commemorations, the order of the commemoration as laid down in +the _Ordo_ should be followed. Elements of a commemoration are the +Antiphon of the _Benedictus_ or the _Magnificat_ with versicle and +response. These antiphons are considered most excellent, preceding as +they do the Gospel canticles (St. Luke I.). The antiphon, versicle and +prayer of the commemoration at an hour should never be repetitions of +others said in the same hour. Thus, if in the office of a confessor +pontiff having the prayer _Da quaesumus_, another confessor pontiff's +feast, commemorated in the same hour, should not have the same prayer. +About the prayer, or, as it is called, the collect, the following should +be noted: first, the commemoration is omitted if the prayer of the +office which is being recited and the prayer of the feast to be +commemorated have the same object. Thus, a feast of the Blessed Virgin, +falling within the octave of the Assumption, should not be commemorated. +Second, where a commemoration for a saint or saints of title similar to +that of the saints whose office is being said, is to be made, the +Congregation of Rites (5th May, 1736) arranged that not even the +versicles and response be repeated and that the following order be +observed:-- + +IN VESPERS-- + +1st Com. made by Antiphon and Versicle of Lauds. +2nd Com. made by Antiphon of second Vesper and Ver. of II. Nocturn. +3rd Com. made by Antiphon of I. Noct. and Vers. of III. Nocturn. + +IN LAUDS-- + +1st Com. made by Antiphon and Vers. from first Vesp. +2nd Com. made by Antiphon I. Noct., and Ver., III. Noct. +3rd Com. made by Antiphon II. Vesp., Vers., II. Noct. + +If it should happen in commemorating a day within an octave that the +versicle from the common had already been taken for the office, then the +rule is "_Sumenda est in laudibus antiphona de secundis Vesperis; et pro +secundis Vesperis antiphona de laudibus in utroque tamen casu cum v. de +primis Vesperis_" (S.C.R., 18th Dec., 1779). In the above given form +of making commemorations it may be noted that the second commemoration +in Lauds is made up from the versicles and response of Matins and not +from second Vespers, so as to avoid repeating in Lauds what was said at +Vespers (Cavalieri). + +As regards prayers in the office the reminder that the same formula must +not be repeated in the same hour may be supplemented. Because, prayers +having all words identical, save one single word, are not considered in +liturgy as different prayers (_e.g., Accendamur exemplis; instruamur +exemplis_, Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Feasts of several +martyrs). So, too, prayers which have the same form of petition (e.g., +the prayers on feast of St. Joseph and on feast of St. Mathew), are not +considered as different and must not be repeated in the same hour. But +where the petition is different, even though all the remainder of the +prayers are similar in wording, they may be repeated in the same hour. + +But what is to be done in offices where a commemoration prayer and the +prayer of the office is from the common? What must be done where the +feast is the feast of a Doctor and a commemoration of a Doctor is to be +made? What is to be done when the office of the feast is of a virgin not +a martyr, and a commemoration of a virgin not a martyr is to be made? In +the first case the prayer from the office of a confessor or Pontiff +should be said, adding to it the title of Doctor. In the other case, the +prayer _Indulgentiam_, omitting the word _martyr_, is to be said. + +The origin of these commemorations was, that the Popes in removing the +solemn celebrations of certain feasts of Apostles and Martyrs, which +were formerly of precept, provided that their _cultus_ should not be +forgotten, and that their commemoration in the office should remind +priests and the faithful of those servants of God, whom the Church +wishes ever to honour. I have said the order given for commemoration in +the _Ordo_ should be followed; but not to follow this order does not +exceed a venial sin. Even the deliberate omission of a commemoration in +Lauds or Vespers is not a violation of a grave precept. + + + + +TITLE X.--THE TRANSLATION OF FEASTS. + +When several offices fall on the same day, only one office, the one of +highest rank or most important, is said. The others are transferred or +commemorated. The last section dealt with commemorations, and now we +come to the difficult question of the translation of feasts. Title X. of +the general rubrics must be read in connection with the Apostolic +Constitution, _Divino Afflatu_ (1911) and with the _Abhinc duos +Annos_ (1913). + +Translation of a feast may mean the removal of a feast from an impeded +day to a day which is free. Thus a feast of higher rank may fall on a +feast day of a saint whose feast is of lower rank; the latter may then +be transferred. Transference is either perpetual or accidental and +temporary. The former applies to feasts which are always impeded by the +meeting with a feast of higher rite on their fixed days. A feast which +would fall on 6th January would suffer perpetual translation. This +translation bears different names in rubrics, decrees and liturgical +writings--_translatio ad diem, fixam, translatio ad diem assignatam, +mutatio, etc._ Accidental translation means occasional transference, a +transfer in one year and not in another. + +Title II., section i, of the _Divino Afflatu_ gives the characters of +preferential rank which are to be considered in occurrence, concurrence +or translation of feasts, _Ritus altior, ratio primarii aut secundarii, +Dignitas Personalis, solemnitas externa_. + +Although in the General Rubrics of the Breviary, the title _De Festorum +praestantia_ is not found, the four principles, (1)gradation of rite, +(2)classification as a primary or secondary feast, (3)personal dignity, +(4)external solemnity, are mentioned in the sixth section of Title X., +_De Translatione Festorum_, and the degrees of personal dignity are +added in the second section of Title XL, _de commemorationibus_. Before +1897 precedence, and hence transference, was settled first by the rank +of the rite (Double major, etc.); then, too, between two feasts of the +same rite, transference was settled by dignity and finally by solemnity. +But in 1897 the Sacred Congregation of Rites indicated two further notes +to be observed in the weighing of claims for transference, (1)the +classification into primary and secondary feasts, (2)the distinction +between fixed and movable feasts. This latter distinction--between fixed +and movable feasts--has been suppressed by the new legislation and some +changes made in the others. + +I. _Gradation of Feasts_ makes a distinction between doubles, +semi-doubles and simples, and distinguishes the various kinds of +doubles. The order of procedure will be--(1)Doubles of the first class, +(2)doubles of the second class, (3)greater doubles, (4)doubles, +(5)semi-doubles, (6)simples. But as the section shows (Tit. II., sec. i) +this is subject to the privileges of certain Sundays, ferias, and octave +days or even days within an octave. And hence, an ordinary Sunday, +though! only a semi-double, will take precedence of a double; and an +octave day, though only a double, takes precedence of a greater double. + +II. Classification as a primary or a secondary feast. Tables of +classification are to be found in the prefatory part of the new +Breviary, under the headings _Tres Tabellae_. They give a revised list +of feasts with their rank and rites. Some feasts are reduced from +primary to secondary rank (e.g., Feast of the Dolours); and the tables +give a new division of primary and secondary doubles and semi-doubles. + +III. Thirdly, the order of precedence among feasts will be determined by +the dignity of the person who is the special object of the office that +is to be recited. Hence, in the order set down in General Rubrics (Title +XI, _De Concurrentia officii_, sec. 2) all feasts of our Lord, other +things being equal, take precedence of the feasts of our Lady. And then, +in order, come the festivals of the angels, of St. John the Baptist, of +St. Joseph, of the Apostles and other saints. Amongst the saints who are +honoured as martyrs, confessors or virgins there is no precedence as to +personal dignity. + +IV. Lastly, there is the note of "external solemnity," which may give +precedence to one or two feasts, which are equal in the above-mentioned +matters--i.e., in Gradation I., Classification II., Precedence III. But +the main point is that only doubles of first and second class have the +right, as a rule, of transference. Transference is now rather rare. + +"From these rules it will be seen that in cases of concurrence, +occurrence, perpetual transfer or translation, precedence between two +feasts will first be decided by gradation of rite, a double of the first +class being preferred to one of the second, and so on. If the feasts are +of equal rank recourse must be had to the second test, the distinction +between primary and secondary feasts. If both happen to be primary, or +both are secondary, then precedence will be granted to the feast which +has the greater personal dignity. And if both feasts should have the +same dignity, then the fact of external solemnity would confer +precedence" (_The New Psalter and its Uses_, p. 79). For practical help, +a look at the first of the _Duae Tabellae_ is a guide to find out which +office is to be said, if more than one feast occur on the same day. + +Before discussing new offices it may be well to remember that votive +offices of all kinds, including the votive offices conceded by the +decree of July, 1883, are abolished. These offices were drastic +innovations, introduced to get rid of the very long psalm arrangement of +the ferial office. The new distribution of the psalms got rid of the +onus, and votive offices are no longer given in the Breviary. + + + + +TITLE XL--CONCURRENCE. + +_Concurrence_ is the conjunction of two offices which succeed each +other, so that the question arises to which of the two are the Vespers +of the day to be assigned. The origin of this conjunction of feasts was +by some old writers traced to the Mosaic law in which the festivals, +began in the evening, and they quote "from evening until evening you +shall celebrate your sabbaths" (_Leviticus_, xxii. 32). The effect of +concurrence may be that the whole vespers may belong to the feast of the +day or may be said entirely from, the feast of the following day; or it +may be that the psalms and antiphons belong to the preceding festival +and the rest of the office be from the succeeding feast. The General +Rubrics, Title XI, must be read now in conjunction with Titles IV., V., +and VI. of the _Additiones et Variationes ad norman Bullae "Divino +Afflatu"_. The rules for concurrence are given in Table III. of the +_Tres Tabellae_ inserted in the new Breviary (S.C.R., 23 January, 1912). +These tables supersede the tables given in the old editions of the +Breviary. The first of these two tables shows which office is to be +said, if more than one feast occur on the same day, whether perpetually +or accidentally. The second table is a guide to concurrence--_i.e._, +whether the first vespers of the following feast is to be said entirely +without reference to the preceding feast, or if second vespers of the +preceding feast is to be said entire, without reference to the +following; or, again, first vespers of the following with commemoration +of the preceding, or second vespers of the preceding with commemoration +of the following, or vespers of the more noble feast with commemoration +of the other--any of these may be the liturgical order to follow, and +the _Tabella_ makes things clear. + +The "tables" are to be used thus:--Opening the Breviary at the _I +Tabella, "Si occurrat eodem die,"_ first find the number marked in that +square in which the two feasts in question meet, and then read the +direction printed, in column on same page to left-hand side, bearing +the same number. For example: the question is about the occurrence of a +Sunday of the first class and a Double of the first class. _Double of +the first class_ stands first word of page, and _Sunday of first class_ +will be found in column beneath the rows of figures. Now the square in +which straight lines drawn from _double of first class_ and _Sunday of +first class_ meet bears the number 6, and reference to number 6 in +column of directions found on same page gives the rule, "_Officium de 2, +Translatio de I_," that is, the office must be of the Sunday of first +class and the double of the first class must be transferred according to +the rubrics. When in these brief directive notes, (1-8), mention is made +of the "first or the preceding," the reference is made to feast or +office printed in the upper part of the Table, e.g., Double of first +class. Reference to "the second" or "following" refers to feast printed +in the lower section of the Table. Where _O_ stands in a square in the +_Tabella_ it signifies that there can be no occurrence or concurrence +between feasts whose "lines" meet in that square. These two tables are +very ingeniously arranged. The lists, given in the Breviary following +these tables, give the lists of greater Sundays and Ferias, privileged +vigils, doubles of first and second class and greater doubles, and tell +whether feasts are primary or secondary. + + + + +TITLE XII.--THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE OFFICE ACCORDING + TO THE RUBRICS GIVEN ABOVE. + +If any one wish from the rubrics given in the Breviary to arrange the +office, he can see in the calendar and in the tables of movable feasts +which office he is to say on the following day. And when he has found +out the feast he determines, from the rules given, the vespers and the +other hours. + +If the office be the office of an excepted feast, the whole office is +said from the feast as it is in the Proper or Common of saints; but the +psalms of Lauds and the hours are taken from the Sunday psalms, as they +stand in the new Psaltery, At Prime the psalm _Deus in nomine_ is said +in place of _Confitemini_. Compline is said from the Sunday psalms. If +the office be the ordinary non-excepted office it is recited according +to the rule laid down in the new rubrics. Tit. I., n. 5,:-- + +"_Ad matut, invit. Hymnus, Lectiones II. et III. nocturni ac responsoria +2 et 3 nocturnorum propria vel de communi; antiphonae vero, psalmi et +versus trium nocturnorum necnon Lestiones I. Nocturni cum suis +Responsoriis de feria occurrente...."_ + +_"Ad Laudes et ad Vesperas ant. cum Psalm. de Feria; Capit. Hym. Vers. +et Antiph. ad Benedictus vel ad magnificat cum oratione aut in Proprio +aut de Communi ad Horas minores et Complet. aut cum Psalm semper dicitur +de occurrente Feria. Ad Primam pro Lectione breve legitur capit. Nonae +ex Proprio, vel de Communi. Ad Tertiam, sextam et Nonam, capit. Respons. +breve et orat. pariter sumuntur vel ex Proprio vel de Communi_." + +(Matins and the other hours are treated of in another section.) + + + + +PART II. + +RULES FROM MORAL AND ASCETIC THEOLOGY FOR THE RECITATION + OF THE BREVIARY. + +MORAL THEOLOGY GIVES THE RULES AND LAWS, WHICH MUST BE FOLLOWED FOR THE +VALID AND LICIT RECITATION OF THE HOURS. ASCETIC THEOLOGY EXPLAINS THE +MEANS, WHICH ARE TO BE USED IN THEIR FERVENT RECITATION. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +MORAL AND ASCETIC THEOLOGY. + +Q. Who are bound to recite the Divine Office? + +R. 1. Religious, that is, all those who have made + Religious Profession, in the Canonical + sense, and who are bound to Choir recitation + (Canon 610, Juris Canonici). + + 2. Clerics in Holy Orders (Canon 135, Codex). + + 3. Beneficed Clergy. + +Who are Beneficed Clergy? + +Beneficed Clergy are those who hold a Canonically erected benefice. +Canon 1409 of the _Codex Juris Canonici_ defines an ecclesiastical +benefice to be a "Juridical entity constituted or erected by competent +ecclesiastical authority, consisting of a sacred office and the right of +receiving revenues from endowments attached to the office." Hence under +this Canon, as previously three conditions are required for a benefice, +first, a sacred office, second, the right of receiving revenues from +endowment attached to that office, third, erection by ecclesiastical +authority. There never was any doubt in the many discussions on this +subject, that the work and care of a parish is a sacred office, and that +parish priests hold such an office. But the second condition mentioned +above received different interpretations. Some held that it implied a +certain amount of ecclesiastical property set aside, from the revenues +of which the holder of the benefice would derive his income. Hence the +revenues of parish priests in these Kingdoms, arising from certain and +voluntary offerings of the faithful, were not fixed revenues, did not +fulfil the conditions of "endowment," and parishes must not be regarded +as benefices. This opinion is no longer tenable. Canon 1410 says:--"The +endowment of a Benefice is constituted either by property, the ownership +of which pertains to the Juridical entity itself, or by certain and +obligatory payments of any family or moral personality, or by certain +and voluntary offerings of the faithful which appertain to the rector of +the benefice, or, as they are called stole fees, within the limits of +diocesan taxation or legitimate custom, or choral distributions, +exclusive of a third part of the same, if all the revenues of the +benefice consist of choral distributions." + +This Canon seems to make it clear that the second condition is fulfilled +in all the parishes of these Kingdoms, since to the sacred office is +attached the right of receiving revenue from the certain and voluntary +offerings of the faithful or from stole fees or from both. + +The third condition, erection by ecclesiastical authority, is qualified +by Canon 1418 which prescribes that benefices should be erected by a +legitimate document defining the place of the benefice, its endowment +and the duties and rights of the person appointed. + +This law has not an invalidating clause, hence it is not now necessary +nor ever was it necessary to have such a written document. A valid +appointment was and can be made without any writing. + +Where these three conditions are fulfilled there is a benefice, true, +real, and canonical. Normally parishes are benefices. (See _Irish +Ecclesiastical Record_, Vol. XIV., No. 623; and _Irish Theological +Quarterly_, October, 1917, p. 209.) + +Every cleric in holy orders is bound under pain of mortal sin to recite +daily the Divine Office. No General Council, no Pope, has made such a +law, but the old-established custom has grown, until it has the force of +a law (Bened. XIV., _Instructio Coptharum_). Authors are not agreed as +to the date of the first traces of this old custom. Billuart quotes the +text of the fourth Council of Carthage to prove that it existed in the +fourth century, _Clericus, qui absque corpusculi sui inequalitate +vigiliis deest, stipendiis privatus, excommunicatur_. Gavantus can find +traces of it only as late as the sixth century. Several decrees of +provincial councils regarding this custom are quoted by writers on +liturgy. However, the matter is clearly and definitely dealt with by the +General Council of Lateran (1213) and by the Bulls, _Quod a nobis_ and +_Ex proximo_, of Pope Pius V. (1571). This Pope expressly states that +wilful omission of the Divine Office is a grave sin--"_grave peccatum +intelligat se commissise_." + +The obligation of reciting the office binds those in Holy Orders, even +though they may be excommunicated, suspended, degraded or imprisoned. +The obligation binds for the first time when subdeaconship has been +conferred. Subdeacons are bound to recite "the hour" in the office of +the day, corresponding to the time of their ordination. If the +ordination is finished before nine o'clock, the sub-deacon is bound to +begin his recitation with Terce. If the ordination is held between nine +o'clock and mid-day the recitation begins with Sext. The question is +discussed by theologians if the recitation of Terce or Sext may be +lawfully and validly made before the ordination. Some authors deny that +it may be justly and lawfully done, while others, with some probability, +affirm that before ordination the debt may be paid in advance. + +Are priests bound to follow the Proper in their own diocese? + +They are, if it has been approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites +(S.R.C., 4597-4746). But a priest travelling (_peregrinus_) should +recite the office according to the calendar of the church to which he is +attached regularly, but the obligation of following the calendar of his +home church was not binding by a grave precept. A reply of the Sacred +Congregation of Rites (Nov., 1831) arranged (1) that beneficed clergy +are always bound to recite the office of their own proper church or +diocese; (2) that simple priests may read either the office as arranged +for the place they tarry in or travel in, or the office of their own +home diocese; (3) for unattached priests (_vagi_) it is the wiser order +to follow the office as laid down in their own diocese. + +Must every holder of a benefice read the Divine Office? + +Every holder is bound, under pain of mortal sin, to recite the Divine +Office daily, if the benefice be an ecclesiastical benefice fulfilling +the conditions named above. The omission of the recital of the Divine +Office by a beneficed person is a grave sin against the virtue of +religion and a grave sin against the virtue of justice. For the Church +imposes on the beneficiary the duty of the Office recital, on condition +that he may not take the fruits of his benefice if he do not recite +the Office. + +What sin is committed by the omission of a notable part of the daily +office? + +He who wilfully omits a notable part of the daily Divine Office commits +a mortal sin. A notable part of the Divine Office for any day is held by +some theologians to be the omission of one psalm in one of the small +hours, or a corresponding quantity of matter in lessons, responses, etc. +They hold that such wilful omission is a grave sin. Other theologians +hold--and their opinion is the more common and the more probable +one--that, although one psalm is a notable part of a small hour, in +relation to the whole office it is not a notable part, and its omission +is not a grave matter. These theologians hold that the wilful omission +of an entire small hour or equivalent matter (e.g., Sext, or the third +nocturn of Matins) is an omission of a notable part and cannot be +excused from grave sin. + +The omission of the entire office of a day, the seven canonical hours, +is held by some theologians to carry the guilt of seven mortal sins. +Because, there is a different precept for each hour and the omission of +each hour violates a precept. The Salamenticenses think this opinion +probable. The more common and the more correct opinion is that by such +omission only one sin is committed. And the theologians who hold this +opinion say that the recitation of the canonical hours is imposed under +one precept only, and hence there is only one obligation embracing the +seven hours. This is the opinion of St. Alphonsus (n. 148) who quotes +several authors (including Lessius, Sanchez and St. Antoninus) in +support. If a person in Holy Orders omit several hours with a +retractation, or a moral interruption in his sinful intentions, he may +commit several mortal sins, because all the omissions, which in +themselves are grave matter, may become independent of each other by the +interruption and renewal of the intention (St. Alphonsus, n. 148). + +What must a person do who has a doubt that he has omitted something in +his recitation of the office? Is he bound to make assurance doubly sure +by reciting the part of which he doubts? + +If the doubt be a positive doubt, that is, if he have good reason to +believe that he has recited it, he is not bound to anything further +regarding the part in question. For instance, if a priest remembers +having started the recitation of a lesson, and in a short time finds +himself at the end of it, and cannot be sure if he have recited it, the +presumption is in favour of the priest and of the recitation, because it +is his custom to recite completely whatever part he commences. He has, +thus, moral certainty that he has satisfied the precept, and it is not +necessary to repeat it; if the necessity for repetition be admitted in +such a case, a fruitful source of scruples is opened up. + +On the other hand, if the doubt be negative--that is to say, if a person +has no reasonable motive for believing that he has recited the full +office or the full hour, he is bound to recite the part omitted, +because in such a doubt, the precept of recitation is, as the +theologians say, "in possession." (St. Alphonsus, n. 150). + +It is not allowed to change anything nor to add anything to the daily +office without permission. The Sacred Congregation of Rites (10 June, +1690, n. 3222) replied to a query, that in saints' offices nothing is to +be added and nothing is to be changed, and this reply applies to all +sorts of offices, old and new. + + + + +THE ORDER TO BE OBSERVED IN RECITING THE DIVINE OFFICE. + +In reciting the Divine Office two points of order are to be noted: (1) +the order or arrangement of offices, (2) the order or arrangement of +Hours. The order of offices indicates which office is to be said on each +day as laid down in the calendar. The order of the Hours points out +which of the seven hours should be recited, firstly, secondly, etc., +Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, etc. It is of obligation to observe both +orders. But is it a sin to change wilfully the order of the office? It +is not, if there be a reasonable cause for the change. For instance, if +a priest cannot say the office proper to his diocese on a certain day, +but says some other approved office, the change is not a sin. But if a +priest, _ex industria_, substitute one office for another, it is _per +se_ a venial sin; but if an office be said which is very much shorter +than the calendar office, or if this changing or substituting be so +frequent as to disturb gravely the good order of the year's offices, the +sin may be (and, according to some authors, is) a mortal sin. + +It is asked whether a person fulfils his debt to the Church if he has +recited by mistake an office other than the one assigned in the calendar +of the day. Theologians teach that such a recitation fulfils the debt. +The Church does not wish to impose a second recitation, and her axiom +"_officium pro officio valet_" holds, provided always that the order of +the psalms as laid down in the new psaltery is followed. This order is +necessary always for validity. However, if the substituted office be +very much shorter than the omitted office, it is advised to equalise +them by reciting the psalms of Matins, This is a counsel and was not +laid down by theologians as an obligation. + +An office thus omitted is not to be transferred to another day (S.C.R., +June 17th, 1673). The office may be omitted altogether for that year. If +there be leisure the omitted office should be recited. This practice is +in conformity with the spirit of the liturgy and with the right order of +the calendar. The Sacred Congregation of Rites, questioned on this +matter, replied _sic debere fieri_, such should be done. If a priest +recites by mistake one day's office for another (e.g., the Tuesday +office on a Monday) he is bound to recite Tuesday's office on Tuesday +(St. Alphonsus). If, however, after a portion of the office has been +read, it is noticed that a mistake has been made in reading the calendar +or the _Ordo_, and that the office partly recited is not the office of +the current day, what is to be done? If the priest has without fault +made the mistake of reciting some office not ascribed to the current +day, he is not bound to repeat the part already recited (e.g., +Matins); it is sufficient, valid and lawful to follow the correct +office in the following Hours. The priest reciting is not bound to +repeat even part of an hour, if he finds out his mistake during the +recitation of even a small hour. And he may finish the psalm or hymn or +prayer which he was reciting when he discovered his mistake, and he may +then take up the correct office at the part or hour at which he leaves +off, or he may finish the Hour at which he was engaged. The former +solution of the difficulty seems the better, as it more accurately +agrees with the maxim, _error corrigatur ubi apprehenditur_. If the +error in the selecting of the office has been wilful, say, through gross +carelessness, and is the fault of the priest who changes a notable part +of a canonical Hour, he is obliged--the more probable opinion +teaches--to repeat the full Hour, and this obligation binds under pain +of venial sin--_i.e._, the obligation to recite the office in the +prescribed manner. + +What is a person bound to do who forgets part of an Hour--is he obliged +to repeat the full Hour? + +He is bound to recite the part forgotten only, unless the mistake be +made through gross carelessness, and unless it be a considerable part +(e.g., two nocturns); in that case he is bound under pain of venial +sin to repeat the full Hour. If a person say the same Hour (e.g., +Terce) twice, may he compensate for extra labour by the omission of an +equivalent part (e.g., None)? Such omission is unlawful; he must +recite all the Hours without omission (Scavini, 391). + +Is there an obligation to repeat the Hours in the order fixed in the +Breviary? Yes, there is such an obligation. And a person may sin +venially by the inversion of the Hours, The obligation binds _sub +veniali_ only. The inversion does not mean any grave breach of order, +which is fixed by a secondary precept and as a circumstance of light +importance. If the whole office be recited, the substance of the +office--which is the main and primary matter--is safeguarded. Several +authors argued that any inversion of the Canonical Hours, if frequent, +is a mortal sin, but the opinion which says that the inversion of the +Hours is only a venial sin is the more probable (St. Alph. 169; Gury, +77; Lehmkuhl II., 621). + +Which causes justify an inversion of the Hours? Any reasonable cause +justifies this inversion. Thus, if a friend invite a priest to joint +recitation of an Hour, and the priest have not the preceding canonical +Hours recited, he is justified in accepting the invitation and in +inverting the order of the Hours. Or if a person have a Diurnal only at +hand, he may read the day Hours, although he have not Matins for the day +read. Again, a priest may not have the lessons for Matins at hand, but +he may recite the psalms for Matins, Lauds, and add the lessons at +Matins when they are to hand (Gury, n. 78; St. Alph., n. 170). + +Is it a sin to say Matins for following day before finishing office of +current day? Some theologians answer affirmatively, because the office +of the current day should be complete before another office is begun. +Others hold that such recitation is both valid and licit, as the office +of one day and its obligation have no bond with the office of another +day, and that any reasonable cause exempts from all sin or fault (Gury, +n. 79). Not to recite the commemorations in the prescribed order set out +in the _Ordo_ is held by some theologians to be a venial sin, as they +hold that the rubric is preceptive; others hold that it is not any sin, +as they say that the rubric is directive. + + + + +ARTICLE III.--TIME OF RECITATION. + +The time fixed for the recitation of the entire office of the day is +from midnight to the midnight following, and anyone bound to recite the +Divine Office does not sin gravely if he has recited carefully the +entire office of the day between these limits of time; because, within +these limits, the substance of the obligation binding to time is +fulfilled. Of course, it is lawful in virtue of a privilege granted by +the Church to recite on the previous evening Matins and Lauds for the +following day. In the recitation the times fixed by the Church for each +hour should be observed. But the non-recital at those fixed times is +never a mortal sin and is rarely a venial sin, unless their postponement +or anticipation is without cause. + +When may a priest begin the recitation of Matins and Lauds for the +following day? There were two different replies given to this question. +One opinion stated that it was lawful to begin Matins and Lauds after 2 +o'clock, p.m., and this could be lawfully done every day in the year, +and in every land. Another opinion--and St. Alphonsus calls it +_sententia verior_--denies that such a course is lawful. The old French +Breviaries gave a _horarium_ arranging the hour of anticipation of +Matins and Lauds, so that no one should, through temerity or ignorance, +begin the anticipation before the sun had passed half way in its course +between mid-day and sunset. On January 20th the time to begin the +anticipation of hours was 2.15 p.m., but on June 8th the anticipation +was not to begin till 4 p.m. + +Nowadays, the first opinion is held almost universally. The principal +_internal_ argument for this opinion is the teaching that the +anticipation may begin from the public hour of first vespers, and these +may be recited publicly according to present-day custom at 2 p.m. +Therefore, this time, 2 o'clock p.m., is the beginning of the +ecclesiastical day, and can be taken as the time for private +anticipation of Matins and Lauds. The _external_ argument in favour of +this opinion is the authority of theologians. In 1905, the Sacred +Congregation of Rites was asked the question "_Utrum in privata +recitatione Matutinum sequentis diei incipi possit, 2da pomeriddiane_?". +The reply was, "_Consulantur probati auctores_" (_Acta Sanctae Sedis_ +XXXVII., p. 712). Now many approved authors (e.g., Lehmkuhl, II., 793; +Ballerini-Palmieri, IV. 515; Slater I., p. 609) hold that it is lawful, +privately, to anticipate Matins and Lauds at 2 o'clock, p.m. Lehmkuhl, +who previously favoured a stricter view, was compelled, in the latest +editions of his _Moral Theology_, to say of this opinion which allows +anticipation to begin at 2 o'clock, p.m.: "_Quae sententia hodie a +multis usque gravissimis viris tenetur et observatur, ut, spectata +consuetudine, extrinseca saltem probabilitas negari nequit_." We +conclude, accordingly, that always and everywhere the private +anticipation of Matins and Lauds may begin at 2 p.m. (_cf. Irish +Ecclesiastical Record_, Fifth Series, Vol. I., No. 541). + +Doubts have arisen in connection with time changes made by various +States in Europe. The various schemes of new time, of daylight saving, +of co-ordinations of time, uniformity of time all through certain +States, have given rise to doubts and queries regarding the time for +fulfilling the precept of the office and also regarding the time for +lawful anticipation of Matins and Lauds. These doubts were solved +several years ago, and now there is no longer any difficulty or anxiety +over "true time," "new time," "legal time," in relation to matters +ecclesiastical. In reply to queries, Dr. M. J. O'Donnell, in the _Irish +Ecclesiastical Record_ (Vol. III., p. 582), explains clearly this time +difficulty and its solution by the Congregation of the Council on 22nd +July, 1893. The Bishop of Trier explained to the Congregation of the +Council that owing to the State legislation in the German Empire all +public clocks should register the same time, and that this meant that in +his diocese the legal computation differs by half an hour from the mean +time. "May clerics follow the legal time in reciting the Divine Office?" +was the bishop's question. The Congregation of the Council answered by a +simple affirmative. In 1892, Greenwich time was introduced for State +purposes into all railway, postal, and Government offices in Holland. +The query was put to the Congregation of the Inquisition if the clergy +and people might, for the purpose of fast and other ecclesiastical +obligations, follow the new time, or were they obliged to retain the +true time? The reply was "_affirmative ad primam: negative ad secundam +partem_." "In a word, the constant Roman answer has been 'Do as you +please'; so far as the approval of the legal time is concerned it +confirms the conclusion of the editor of the _Acta_ (xxxii-251) that in +computing time the Church follows the rule that regulates all business +concerns in different localities.... + +"In the meantime, taking into account the conventional character of +'time' and the liberal principles of Rome in the past, we have no doubt +that everyone, priest or layman, is fully justified in following the new +time if he feels so inclined." (See _Codex Juris. Canon._, Can. 33). + +Are priests bound to recite Matins and Lauds before Mass? + +The first sentence of the _Ritus servandus in celebratione Missae_ in +the Missal contains the clause "_saltem Malutino cum Laudibus +absoluto_," The word _saltem_ indicates that the Church notifies the +minimum and expects a further hour, Prime or even others of the small +hours, to be finished before Mass. But theologians hold that there is no +grave obligation for such prior-to-Mass recital, and that any reasonable +cause excuses from the obligation (Lehmkuhl II., 628). In connection +with this matter a very instructive and devotional essay in the _Irish +Ecclesiastical Record_ (Fourth Series XXXI., n. 533) by Father M. +Russell, S.J., is well worth reading. It is entitled "A Neglected +Adverb"; the adverb being _saltem_, from the clause quoted. + +At what times should the small hours be recited? Prime may be, and, +probably with more appropriateness, should be used as morning prayer and +said before Mass. Terce and Sext may be said before mid-day, or Sext and +None may be said after mid-day. Vespers should be said after mid-day. +Compline was the night prayer of the monks, who probably instituted the +hour. It should be borne in mind that the substance of the law of +recitation is fulfilled if the whole office of the day be recited before +midnight, and that the obligation for entire and complete recitation is +grave; while the recitation of the hours at set hours of the day is a +light obligation. + + + + +ARTICLE IV.-OF THE PLACE OF RECITATION AND THE ATTITUDE + 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 +sound produced, he must be careful to form with his lips every syllable. +This must be done, not necessarily in a throaty way. The formation of +the words clearly with the lips suffices. But writers on this point +emphasise the importance of audible recitation as a preventive of +slurred, mutilated Latinity, which often leads to careless, or even +invalid recitation. They note, too, that the reading with the eye +merely, is a habit which readers bring from the reading of other books +to their reading of the Breviary. German authors dwell at length on the +fact that many priests, very early in their career, contract the habit +of faulty vocalisation of liturgy, and that they never seem to notice +their fault, or at least never seem to attempt an amendment. These +authors attribute the defect to sub-voce recitation and recommend +audible recitation, long and frequent audible recitation, to all priests +reading their hours. + +[Footnote A: The privilege of mental recitation was granted to the Friar +Minor by Pope Leo X. and Pius V., but it is probable that the privilege +was withdrawn by Pope Gregory XV. in 1622, in his letter _Romanus +Pontifex_; and Urban VIII., 1635, withdrew all privileges granted _vivae +vocis oraculo_. The text of the document granting the privilege is +obscurely worded. Still, several theologians of repute maintain that the +privilege still exists and extends to the whole office. This is taught +by the Salaraenticenses, _De hor. can. cap._ 3, n. 55; Tamburini, +Rodriguez, etc., others opposed this view of the privilege existing +after Pope Urban's letter _Alias_. This privilege extends to secular +priests who are Franciscan tertiaries, if it exists at all.] + +Can a priest fulfil his obligation by reciting the office with a +companion? Yes, he can, for such recitation is the Church's ideal; and +the priest who says his part (alternate verses, etc.), as in choir, +fulfils his obligation, even when his companion is a layman or an +inattentive person. In such recitation a priest should be careful (1) +that his recitation be of alternate verses, (2) that the verse +recitation be successive and not simultaneous, (3) that the verses, +etc., chanted by one companion (or by one choir) be heard by the other +companion or choir. There is no necessity for a priest at such +recitation to say one verse in a loud voice and to say his companion's +verses in a low, inaudible voice. Some priests do this with distressing +results. Imperfect vocal recitation often leads to doubts and scruples +in old age when remedies either cannot be applied or prove useless. + +Those who recite the office in choir are bound by the rubrics concerning +kneeling, sitting, standing, etc. Secondly, they are bound to observe +the rules of the liturgy, especially the rule as to the stop in each +verse at the asterisk mark. Thirdly, they are bound to recite clearly +and distinctly; but even if they cannot hear distinctly the alternate +choir, or even if they recite in a low voice, they fulfil the obligation +of recitation; and canons are bound at Cathedral offices to sing and +chant or to lose their manual distributions and the fruits of their +prebends. If a person reciting his office with a companion or in a choir +does not understand the words recited by his companion or by the choir, +he is not bound at the end to repeat the part which he did not +understand, because such a person has the intention of offering prayer +and praise to God, and that intention suffices. Moreover, the Church's +precept of reciting the office should he interpreted benignly, otherwise +it must give rise to many scruples; for, companions in recitation, then, +always, should be anxious as to the duty of repetition or the +non-fulfilled duty of complete recitation. + +Pronunciation of the words of the office should be _integral_. That is, +the words and syllables are to be repeated fully without mutilation or +abbreviation. Hence, if mutilation of the words occur to such an extent +that the sense or meaning of the words is notably changed, mortal sin +may be committed. But if the mutilation be small in quantity there is +only a venial sin committed, and often no sin at all may be committed, +as the mutilation of words or syllables may be quite involuntary, or may +be done inadvertently, or may arise from an inveterate habit very +difficult to correct, and in the attempt to cure it time and patience +may have been spent (St. Alph., 164-165). This bad habit, if it extend +over a large portion of the recitation and destroy notably the sense of +the words, may bind _sub gravi_ to repetition, as this fault or habit +affects the very substance of recitation. Priests seldom are bound to +such a repetition, as the mutilation is not destructive to the sense of +a notable part of the office and hence does not affect the substance of +the obligation to vocal recital. St. Alphonsus holds (n. 165), that the +obligation is fulfilled as long as the meaning is not destroyed, _quando +servatur aliqua significatio verborum_. + +Pronunciation should be _continuous_. That is, the recitation of each +hour should be continuous, non-interrupted, and every notable stoppage +or break in the recitation of a canonical hour is a venial sin, if there +be no excusing cause for such an interruption. Any reasonable cause for +interruption (e.g., to obey a bell call, to see a parishioner who +calls, to hear a confession) excuses from all fault (St. Alph., n. 168). + +If the recital of the office for any canonical hour be interrupted, +should the whole hour be repeated? Some theologians say that it should +be repeated. But the more probable opinion denies that there is any such +obligation; it holds that the union of the prayers prescribed by the +Church is not broken, as each psalm, each lesson, each prayer, has a +complete signification and they are united sufficiently in one round of +prayer by the intention formed of continuing the Hour, or even by the +actual continuation. Gury states that a priest interrupting the office +between the verses of a psalm is not bound to repeat the entire psalm on +resuming the recitation, as he says each verse has its own +signification. + +May Matins be said separately from Lauds without any excusing cause? +Yes, for it was the practice of the early Church to say these parts of +the liturgy at times separated by intervals. But if Matins be said +separately, without Lauds following immediately. _Pater Noster_ with +Dominus Vobiscum and the prayer of the day should be said at the end of +the _Te Deum_, If Lauds follow Matins immediately the _Pater_ and _Ave_ +should not be said, for the Congregation (same decree) says "_Laudes +incohandas ut in Psalterio_," but in the Psalter the _Pater_ and _Ave_ +are not assigned for the beginning of Lauds. + +A notable time may elapse between the nocturns of Matins without any +excusing cause. In the early Church intervals occurred between each +nocturn. Some authors state that an interval of three hours between two +nocturns is quite lawful, even when there be no cause for the delay. +With a reasonable cause the interval may last as long as the excusing +cause requires. + + + + +ARTICLE VI.--INTENTION AND ATTENTION. + +The valid recitation of the Divine Office requires that the priest +should have in his mind an intention of praying, for the Divine Office +is a true and real prayer, not a mere vocal exercise. Hence, a priest +reading his office as a mere study or as a means of remembering the +words of the psalms does not validly recite his office (St. Alph., n. +176). Now, what sort of intention is best and what sort of intention is +necessary? An actual, explicit intention which states expressly when the +Breviary is opened, "I intend to pray," is the best intention. The +devout recital of the prayer "_Aperi Domine_" expresses well the best +form of the actual, explicit intentions of those reciting the office. +But such an express, actual intention is not necessary; a virtual +intention, which finds expression in the opening of the Breviary to +recite the office, suffices. The mere opening of the book, the finding +out of the office, the arrangement of the book markers, are ample +evidence of the existence of a virtual intention quite sufficient for +the valid recitation of the office. St. Alphonsus writes, "_Imo puto +semper adesse exercite, intentionem actualem implendi officium_" (n. +176). This question of intention gives great trouble to the timid and +scrupulous, whose doubts and difficulties seem hard to solve. The common +sense and common practice in everyday affairs seem to desert some people +when they prepare to read the canonical hours. For, who has not seen the +nervous, pious, anxious cleric, stupidly labouring to acquire even a +sufficient intention before beginning his hours? + +Attention in reading the hours is a much more discussed and much more +difficult mental effort. It means the application of the mind to the +thing in which we are engaged. When we listen to a conversation or when +we write a letter the mind is fixed and attentive to the matter spoken +or written. Intention is an act of the will; attention is an act of the +understanding. + +Attention may be either external or internal. External attention is +attention of such a kind that it excludes every exterior action +physically incompatible with the recitation of the office--e.g., to +write or type a letter, to listen attentively to those conversing, are +acts incompatible with the simultaneous recitation of the office. But +walking, poking a fire, looking for the lessons, whilst reciting from +memory all the time, are not incompatible with the external attention +required in office recital; because such acts do not require mental +effort which could count as a serious disturbing element. However, in +this matter of external attention no rule can be formulated for all +Breviary readers; for what may lightly disturb and distract one reader +may have no effect on another, and yet may seriously disturb the +recitation of another (St. Alph., n. 176). External attention is +necessary for the valid recitation of the office. + +Internal attention is application or advertence of the mind. Is such +internal attention, such deliberate application or mental advertence +necessary for the valid recitation of the office? + +There are two opinions on this matter, two replies to the question. +According to one opinion, and this is the more common and the more +probable one, internal attention is required for the valid recitation of +the Hours. 1. Because the Divine Office is a prayer, but there can be no +true or real prayer without internal attention, for prayer is defined as +an elevation of the soul to God, but if there be no internal attention, +there is no elevation of the soul to God, and no prayer. 2. Our Lord +complained of those who had external attention at prayer, but lacked +internal attention or advertence, "This people honour me with their +lips, but their heart is far from me" (St. Matt. xv.). 3. The Church +appears to demand internal attention at prayer, for although she has not +given any positive precept dealing with this kind of attention, she does +the same thing when she commands that the recitation of the Divine +Office take the form of prayer for God's honour, and this recitation of +words cannot be true prayer without internal attention. 4. The Council +of Trent seems to exact this attention when it wishes that the Divine +Office be said reverently, distinctly and devoutly, reverenter, +distincte, devote. 5. If no internal attention be required in reciting +the Hours, it is difficult to see how voluntary distractions are +forbidden by Divine Law. + +This is the opinion held by Cajetan (1496-1534), Sa (1530-1596), Azor +(1539-1603), Sanchez (1550-1610), Roncaglai (1677-1737), Concina +(1687-1756), and St. Alphonsus, the great Doctor of prayer (1696-1787). + +According to the other opinion, external attention suffices always and +ever to satisfy substantially the obligation of reading the office and +for the avoidance of mortal sin which invalid recitation entails. For, + +(1) To pray is to speak to God, to trust in Him, to manifest to Him the +wishes and wants of the soul; but this can be done by a person who has +voluntary distractions of mind, just as a man can read to his king an +address, setting forth the thanks and requests of his subjects, although +the reader's mind is far from dwelling on the words or the meaning of +the sentences before his eyes. But he is careful to read all the words +in a clear, intelligible manner. Now the theologians who maintain this +opinion say that, _a fortiori_, this method of reading the Hours should +be valid; for, in the reading the priest acts principally in the name of +the Church, as her minister, and offers up prayers to God in her name, +and they say that the irreverence of the servant does not render the +prayer of the Church unpleasing to Him, + +(2) He who makes a vow, and resolves to do a certain act, fulfils his +vow, even when fulfilling it he acts with voluntary distractions; so, a +pari, with the recitation of the office, + +(3) The administration of the sacraments--even the administration of +Extreme Unction, the form of which is a prayer--with full voluntary +distractions is valid; so, too, should be the recital of +Breviary prayers. + +(4) In the other opinion it is hard to see how, if voluntary +distractions destroy the substance of prayer, involuntary distractions +do not produce similar effect, and hence, there can be no prayer if +there be distraction of any kind. + +This opinion was held by Lugo (1583-1660), Gobat (1600-1679), Sporer +(1609-1683), St. Antonnius (1389-1459), and other eminent men. It is +quoted by St. Alphonsus, as _satis probabilis_. Of it, Lehmkuhl writes, +"Quae ad substantiam divini officii dicamus satis probabiliter +sufficere cum intentione orandi observasse attentionem externam" +(II. 635). + +What are the divisions or kinds of internal attention? + +I. Objectively they are (1) spiritual attention, (2) literal attention, +(3) superficial or material attention. Spiritual attention is that +advertence of soul which tends towards God, the Term of all prayer, when +the soul meditates on the power, wisdom, goodness of God, on the +Passion, on the Mother of God, on God's saints. Literal attention is +that which strives to lay hold of the meaning of the words said in the +office. Superficial attention is that advertence of soul which applies +itself to the correct recitation of the words, avoiding errors of +pronunciation, mutilation, transposition, etc., etc. + +II. Subjectively, virtual attention suffices; habitual is divided into +actual and interpretative. Actual attention is that which exists at the +moment--e.g., the attention paid by a pupil to a question put by a +teacher. Virtual attention is attention which was once actual, but is +not such at the time spoken of, but which lives virtually. Habitual is +attention which once was actual, which does not remain in act, but which +was not retracted. Interpretative attention is that which never existed +at all, but which would have existed if the agent had adverted. + +Which kind of internal attention is required in the reading of the +Office? I. Objectively, material, or superficial attention is necessary, +since the Breviary is a vocal prayer, and therefore it is necessary to +pronounce distinctly all the words of the day's office and to observe +the rubrics. But this suffices; it is not necessary that a priest +reciting his Hours should carefully notice each word, it is sufficient +to have general and moral attention to recite every part well, and with +the intention of praying, "Sed sufficere moralem et generalem qua quis +curet bene omnia dicere cum intentione orandi" (St. Alphonsus). + +Hence, objectively, neither attention, which is called spiritual, +because it is not easy to attain, nor the literal attention, which +religious who do not understand Latin strive after, is needed for valid +recitation. By this, it is not meant to convey that spiritual attention +is not very excellent and very commendable and praiseworthy. + +Subjectively, virtual attention suffices; habitual does not suffice, +neither does interpretative. Best of all is actual attention, but it is +not necessary, because it is not always within the power of mortals. + +This want of internal attention is called mental distraction. +Theologians distinguish two kinds of distractions, voluntary and +involuntary. Voluntary distractions are thoughts which the mind freely +and directly embraces to the exclusion of pious thoughts which should +occupy it in prayer, of which the office is a high form; or they may be +thoughts which arise from previous laziness, thoughtlessness, +pre-occupation or some engrossing worldly affair. Involuntary +distractions are those which come unbidden and unsought to the mind, are +neither placed directly, nor by their causes, by the person at prayer. + +Does a person reciting the Hours sin if he have distractions? + +If the distractions be involuntary there is no sin. But if the +distractions be voluntary there is sin, But, unless the mind be +altogether filled with distractions, not thinking of God, of prayer, of +the words or of the meaning, and unless the distractions are _fully +voluntary_ and _reflective_ during a notable part of the office, there +is no mortal sin. Hence, St. Alphonsus, the great Doctor of Prayer, +wrote, "_ut dicatur aliquis officio non satisfacere, non solum +requiritur ut voluntarie se distrahat, sed etiam ut plene advertat se +distrahi, nam alias iste, licet sponte se divertat non tamen sponte se +divertit a recitatione_" (St. Alphonsus, n. 177). Therefore, before a +person accuse himself of not satisfying the precept of recitation, on +account of inattention or distractions, he must be able to affirm +positively (1)that he was wilfully distracted, (2)he must have noticed +not only his distraction and mental occupation by vain thoughts, but he +must have noticed _also_ that he was distracted in his recitation; (3)he +must be able to state positively that the intention, resolution or +desire to recite piously, which he made at the beginning of his prayer, +was revoked with full advertence and that it did not exist either +actually or virtually during the time of distraction in his recitation. +Seldom, indeed, are these conditions fulfilled, and seldom are there +gravely sinful distractions. + +This subject of attention in prayer, in the official prayer of the +Church, is important. Long and learned disputes about its nature and +requirements occupied great thinkers in times long gone by. To-day +theologians argue on different sides; and anxiety, serious, painful and +life-long, reigns in the souls of many who struggle to recite the +office, _digne, attente ac devote_. + + + + +ARTICLE VII.-CAUSES WHICH EXCUSE FROM READING THE OFFICE. + +Authors generally give six causes which excuse a person from saying the +Hours: lawful dispensation, important work, grave illness, grave fear, +blindness, want of a Breviary. They are recorded in the +well-known lines:-- + +"Quem Papa dispenset multus labor opprimit aeger Qui timet aut occulus, +officioque caret." + +1. The obligation of reading the Office is imposed by the Church and the +Pope can dispense in it even without cause. Bishops can give temporary +dispensations. + +2. A grave occupation excuses from the whole or from a part of the +Office. Thus, missioners giving missions or parish retreats are excused +from the whole Office; so, too, are priest combatants in the battle +line; but when in rest camps they are bound to say the Hours. A priest +engaged in saying his Office, if he receive an urgent call to a dying +person may not have time to finish his Office before midnight. He is +exempt from the part of the Office omitted and does not sin by the +omission. The proposition claiming exemption from the Office for those +engaged in great studies was condemned by Pope Alexander VII. The +biographers of Lamennais trace the beginning of his downfall to his +exemption from his daily Office. + +A difficulty arises sometimes as regards the full or partial or +non-exemption of those who foresee that serious occupation which cannot +be neglected must arise to prevent the recitation of the Hours. In such +cases priests are bound to recite the Office, or as much of it as +possible, within the limits of the current day. In doing this they may +anticipate the times fixed for the recitation of the small Hours, and +they may anticipate Vespers and Compline by reciting them in the +forenoon. If a priest foresees that he may not be able to recite Matins +for next day he is not bound to anticipate, as there is no obligation to +anticipation; the obligation is "recital between midnight and midnight." +It is becoming to anticipate, if possible, so that the Office may be +full and entire. If before midnight there be a cessation from necessary +professional work (e.g., hearing confessions), a priest is bound to +finish his Office for the day or to say as much of it as time allows. +If, however, there be time merely to take a necessary meal before +midnight (e.g., to prepare for a late Mass on next day, Sunday), and +not time to eat and to recite, the obligation of saying the +Hours ceases. + +A grave illness exempts from the saying of the canonical Hours. Hence, +those seriously ill, those who fear the saying of the Office may upset +them in their weak state, and convalescents from a serious illness, are +excused from saying the Hours. In this matter the advice of a spiritual +or a medical adviser should be faithfully carried out by patients. St. +Alphonsus teaches that invalids and convalescents may be allowed to say +Mass and yet not be bound to say the Office, as the saying of Mass does +not fatigue them so much as the saying of the Office (St. Alphonsus, +n. 155). + +A grave fear exempts from the saying of the Office. A priest amongst +furious persecutors of the Church should be excused from any recitation +of his Hours which he fears may draw on him cruel or severe punishments. + +Blindness makes the recitation of the Office a physical impossibility. +Even very defective sight, although not total blindness, exempts from +the obligation of saying the Office. In all such cases a formal +declaration of exemption should be sought. Some theologians hold that +such priests, if they have committed to memory a notable part of the +psalms, should repeat that part from memory. The new psaltery makes such +memorising an extremely difficult feat and no obligation for such a +repetition from memory can be imposed. + +Want of a Breviary excuses from the recitation of the Office. For +example, if a priest setting out on a long journey forgets to take his +Breviary or leaves it in a railway carriage, and cannot procure another, +or cannot procure another without, great inconvenience, he is exempt +from the obligation of his Office; and the omission being involuntary is +sinless. The wilful casting away of a Breviary, as an excuse for not +being able to read the Office, is gravely sinful; and unless the sinful +desire be retracted there may be question of many mortal sins of wilful +omission to fulfil the obligation, as the omissions are then wilful in +cause. Priests travelling are unable sometimes to recite the proper +Office of the day, as their Breviaries lack something (e.g., the +proper prayer or the lessons of the second nocturn). The Sacred +Congregation of Rites (December, 1854) decided "_Sacerdos peregre +profectus cui molesti difficiliorque esset officii recitatio cui et +pauca desunt in libro officii praesentis, nempe oratio et legenda, +valet de communi absque obligatione propria deinde ad supplementum +recitandi... atque ita servari mandavit_." The psalms as arranged +in the new psalter must always be said for a valid recitation of the +Office (_v. Divino Afflatu_). + +What is a priest bound to do, who from a grave cause cannot find time to +recite the whole Office but only a part of it? + +St. Alphonsus gives the rule, "If you can recite a part equivalent to a +small Hour, you are bound to do so under pain of mortal sin. But if you +cannot read or repeat a part equivalent to a small Hour, you are bound +to nothing, as a part so small--less than a small Hour--taken +separately, is considered inappreciable for the end the Church's law of +recitation has in view." + + + + +ARTICLE VIII.--THE DIRECTION OF THE SCRUPULOUS. + +Persons who are scrupulous about the recitation of the Hours should have +help from their confessors, who should deal specifically with any of the +scruples which arise in the daily task. Scruples generally concern the +necessary intention, the necessary attention, pronunciation, and the +time necessary for a good and faithful recitation of the canonical +Hours. How should a confessor deal with scruples about intention? A +confessor should tell a cleric, scrupulous in this point, that his fear +is groundless and that by the very act of taking up his Breviary he +expresses his intention of praying, of saying his Hours; that it is not +necessary that such intention be actual or reflexive, it is sufficient +if it be virtual, and that such an intention _does_ exist every time one +opens the Breviary to say his Hours. The saying slowly and deliberately +the prayer "_Aperi Domine_" is a great aid to the scrupulous in forming +a right intention and in dispelling their vain fears. + +Clerics troubled about attention are helped and comforted by their +confessor repeating to them what they well know themselves, about +voluntary and involuntary distractions, and the telling of the anxious +ones that this very anxiety and anguish show that their fear of losing +attention in their prayer is a true and real sign of its existence. In +dealing with scruples about vocal and integral pronunciation a confessor +should advise that no stopping should be made in the saying of the +psalms, etc., but that the recitation should be continued quietly, +without restraining the voice, without impatience, and without scrutiny +of the pronunciation of the part said, "God is a father, full of +goodness, not an exacting taskmaster, and He is more honoured by +moderate care than by a disturbing solicitude." Above all things, a +confessor should remember that it is important to forbid scrupulous +persons to repeat the whole or even the part of an Hour. An effort +should be made by him to tranquilise the troubled soul with the +principle that the precepts of the Church do not bind him to repeat the +Hours with such inconvenience as leads to bodily and mental illness. The +Church is our mother and does not wish her children to be troubled and +solicitous, but to pray in peace. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SOME RULES OF ASCETIC THEOLOGY FOR THE PIOUS RECITATION OF THE BREVIARY. + +There are many reasons why we should recite the Divine Office devoutly, +for (1) the words which we read are holy; (2) He to Whom we speak is +God; (3) we speak in the name of Holy Church; (4) we are the associates +of thousands on earth and in heaven who sing God's praises; (5) the +purpose of our prayer is sublime; (6) it gives glory to God and draws +down His grace and mercy on His Church; (7) and, finally, the recitation +of the Office brings help and strength to those who repeat it fervently. + +And, firstly, let us see what are the words of the Office. They are the +words of God or of His Church. In the psalms, scripture lessons, gospel +extracts, responses and antiphons, we have God's inspired word. In the +prayers, sermons, homilies, hymns, and often in the responses and +antiphons, as the Church is guided and assisted by the Holy Ghost, it +may be, in a sense, true to say that these her words are divine. For +what is more worthy of respect than the word of God? St. Augustine says +that it is no less worthy of respect than the body of Jesus Christ. _Non +minus est verbum Dei quam corpus Christi_ (Sermon 300). How very careful +should we be to treat the word of God with respect, worthily, +attentively, and devoutly (_digne, attente ac devote_). + +(2) To whom do we speak in our daily service of prayer? We speak to our +Master, Whose very special work we are doing in offering up the great +prayer. His adorable eyes are fixed upon us at this sacred duty. He +listens to us, He reads our thoughts. He judges our intentions, our +efforts and their fulfilment. He is the King of kings, the Almighty God. +Mindful of His presence and majesty should we not try earnestly to bless +His Holy name and to free our hearts from vain, evil and wandering +thoughts? We pray _ad benedicendum nomen sanctum tuum; munda quoque cor +meum ab omnibus vanis perversis et alienis cogitationibus_. + +(3) In whose name do we speak? It is a great honour to be an ambassador +for a great king and a mighty kingdom, guarding the interests of the +fatherland in a foreign land. The priest is always such an ambassador. +"For Christ, we are ambassadors," says St. Paul. In this work of daily +recitation of the Office, we are ambassadors, not of some petty king or +tiny state, but we represent the entire Church, the well-beloved spouse +of Christ, to whose prayer He ever hearkens. _Sonet vox tua in auribus +meis; vox enim tua dulcis est_ (Canticle of Canticles, ii. 14). And St. +Bernard says "_Sacerdos publica persona et totius Ecclesie os_." Hence, +every priest is the ambassador of Christ and of His Church, the guardian +of His interests. And as it is the duty of ambassadors to study +carefully, to watch and further the interests of the kings whom they +represent, it is a priest's duty to study carefully and further the +interests of Christ's Church by the devout fulfilment of the great daily +duty, the recitation of the Divine Office. History brands as traitors +those ambassadors who through ignorance of the language of the foreign +court, or through want of vigilant attention, allow the interests of +their royal masters to suffer. What a punishment awaits the days and +years of ignorant, careless or inattentive fulfilment of the great +official work of a priest--the Divine Office. + +Who are a priest's associates in this work? They are the thousands of +priests and religious throughout the world who say the Hours, and who +send up daily and nightly the great prayer of praise and thanksgiving to +God. _Secundum nomen tuum, sic et laus tua in fines terrae_ (ps. 47, v. +ii). _Dies diei eructat verbum et nox nocti indicat scientiam_ (ps. 18, +v. 3). In this holy work of reciting the Hours, we are united with the +angels and saints in heaven in honouring our common Creator; for, the +Church herself reminds us of this ineffable honour in the hymn for the +dedication of the Church:-- + + "Sed ilia sedes Coelitum + Semper resultat laudibus + Dumque trinum el unicum + Jugi canore jungimur + Almae Sionis aemuli." + + "That house on high--it ever rings + With praises of the King of kings; + For ever there, on harps divine, + They hymn th' eternal One and Trine + We, here below, the strain prolong;, + And faintly echo Sion's song." + +What are the ends for which the Office is said? (a) To glorify God, (b) +to help holy Church, and (c) to sanctify ourselves. + +(a) "To glorify God," that is, to adore His infinite majesty, to thank +Him for his innumerable and constant blessings, to satisfy His justice +in expiating the sins of the world and to beg His grace and mercy. The +ends for which the Office are said are the same as those for which Mass +is offered, for the Office is the supplement of the Mass (Tronson). + +(b) "To help holy Church." The Church militant has many and great needs. +It is her mission to extend the Kingdom of Christ, and to do this great +work she needs freedom from hostile laws, strength and courage to +withstand tyrants and persecution, unity and peace amongst her children +and pastors, zeal in her ministers and recruits for her militant forces. +To obtain these results the Church relies very much on the devout +recitation of the Office. Doubtless, it is for these purposes that the +Church has confided to the care of her chosen ministers this public +official prayer and has laid no such obligation on the laity. St. +Alphonsus did not hesitate to say that if priests and religious said the +Office as they should say it, the Church should not be in the deplorable +state that it then was in. This Doctor of the Church adds "that by +devout saying of the Office many sinners could be drawn from the slavery +of the devil and many souls would love God with more fervour." The wants +of the Church are greater now than they were ever before. Each +devoutly-said Hour draws down God's blessing on His Church. What a vast +number of blessings come from a life of daily recitation offered +worthily, attentively and devoutly (_digne, attente, ac devote_). + +(c) "The benefit of the person who recites the Hours." The third end for +which the canonical Hours are offered is for the benefit of the person +who recites them. St. Alphonsus wrote, "If they said the Office as they +ought, priests themselves should not be always the same, always +imperfect, prone to anger, greedy, attached to self-interest and to +vanities.... But if they recited the Office, not as they say it with +distractions and irreverences, but with devotion and recollection, +uniting the affections of the heart with so many petitions which they +present to God, they should certainly not be so weak as they are, but +would acquire fervour and strength to resist all temptations and to lead +a life worthy of priests." + +Another blessing springs from the attentive recitation of the +Breviary--viz., the daily withdrawal from the world and its cares which +must be banished from the soul which speaks with God. For, as St. +Alphonsus writes, the saying of the Hours devoutly, gives occasion to +pious souls to elicit many acts of virtue, acts of faith, of hope, of +charity, of humility, etc. For one psalm, says the saint, moves all the +powers of the soul and causes us to elicit a hundred acts. And in the +Breviary are found the most beautiful formulae of adoration and praise, +the psalms above all other parts of the Office being wonderfully rich in +magnificent praise of God's attributes. Where can such sublime forms of +prayer and praise be found as in Psalms, 8, 9, 17, 18, 21, 23, 28, 29, +33, 45, 46, 49, 54--to name but a few? + +Finally, the attentive recitation of the Breviary is a source of light +and of grace and of merit. How many lights in prayer spring from these +divine words; how many maxims enter the soul, how many beautiful prayers +are said, and if they be well said, they would obtain for priests +treasures of grace, according to Christ's infallible promise, "Ask and +you shall receive"? A person can merit several degrees of glory by one +devout recitation of the Office, what an abundance of merit may be +gained by the devout recitations in a life of twenty, thirty or forty +years! And it was this thought of lost opportunities and of the great +treasures within the reach of priests, which caused St. Alphonsus when +an old man, to study the Breviary psalms and to write his +well-known work. + +Nor was St. Alphonsus alone in his opinion of the great means of +sanctification which the Breviary affords to priests. St. Joseph of +Cupertino (1603-1663) was asked by Monsignor Claver, Bishop of Potenza, +to point out a means for the greater sanctification of the priests of +his diocese. The saint replied, "Monsignor, if you wish to sanctify your +priests strive to procure two things for them, that they say the Office +piously and that they say Mass with fervour. Nothing more is necessary +to ensure their salvation" (_Life of St. Joseph Cupertino_ by Bernini). +The words of the wonderful Franciscan, whose life was a marvel of piety, +were repeated a century later by St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1671-1751) +and are often quoted as his own. + +In every age of the Church earnest souls drew great sweetness and +consolation from reading the psalms or from reading the canonical Hours. +Writers dealing with this part of priestly work quote the words of +eminent servants of God, They quote St. Augustine, St. Gregory +Nazianzan, St. Bernard, St. Catherine of Bologna, St. Philip Neri, St. +Francis De Sales and St. Alphonsus. It would make this section of this +book too long to quote the words of these saints. But the words of St. +Francis De Sales seem to have a special force. "Sometimes I am so +low-spirited," wrote the Saint, "by business and events, that I do not +know where to turn nor at what end to begin: but during the Office +nothing annoys me, I have not even distractions, I imagine that I am in +heaven singing with the angels the praises of my Creator; and on leaving +the choir I find often that the mighty problems which had given me +trouble are cleared away and, solved in an Instant." Biographies of +God's servants record many great favours bestowed on priests who recite +the Breviary piously. Cardinal Bona, recording a vision vouchsafed to +St. Bernard, tells how the saint saw an angel beside each choir monk, +recording his disposition of soul. Some angels wrote in letters of gold, +others in letters of silver, others in ink, others in water, and others +held their pens but wrote nothing. Our Lord explained to the saint the +meaning of the vision; the writing in gold typified charity and the +fervour of the recitation; the writing in silver denoted devotion but +little charity or fervour; the words in ink-writing signified careful +attention to the full verbal recitation but to little else; the words +written in water meant distraction and little attention to the meaning +or to the words; and the angels who wrote nothing watched the insolence +of those who were voluntarily distracted. The vision has furnished the +theme of much pious writing and a theme for Christian painters. It shows +how God watches over the daily work of priests, while His angels record +in golden or silvern letters the work of pious recitation, or perhaps +hold their pens at rest. + +What means should be used to promote pious recitation? + + + + +ARTICLE II.--THE MEANS TO ADOPT FOR THE PIOUS RECITATION OF THE BREVIARY. + +A.--THE MEANS TO ADOPT BEFORE THE RECITATION. + +Preparation is necessary before beginning every prayer, for the Holy +Ghost says, "Before prayer prepare thy soul, and be not as a man that +tempteth God" (Ecclesias. 18. 23). This preparation necessary before +other prayers is above all necessary before the recitation of the Divine +Office, which is the greatest of all prayers. Two kinds of preparation +are necessary, the remote and the proximate. + +The remote preparation demands the removal of all obstacles which impede +prayer, and the greatest of all prayers, the Church's official prayer. +The chief or capital obstacles which impede or prevent a pious +recitation of the Breviary are: sin, the passions, the absorbing +thoughts of creatures and the ignorance of the Divine Office. And the +means to remove these obstacles are to purify the conscience, science, +to mortify the passions, to guard the sense and to have an intelligent +knowledge of the duty and requirements of a proper fulfilment of the +daily task of the saying of the Canonical Hours. + +The first means is to purify the conscience from sin, for sin hinders +prayer. But what effect has sin on the recitation of the Office? The +Office is a prayer, an elevation of the soul to God, and as all writers +on ascetics teach, sin is a chain that binds us to earth; it is, says +St. Francis, as birdlime which impedes the soul in its flight upwards. +Prayer is a conversation with God, but a soul loving sin cannot converse +with God; "_Peccatores Deus non audit_" (St. John, ix. 31). Prayer is an +intimate union with God, but a soul resting in sin can have no intimate +union with God; there can be no intimate union between light and +darkness, between sanctity and sin, between good and evil; in a word, +between Christ and Belial. _Quae participatio, quae societas lucis ad +tenebras? Quae conventio Christi el Belial?_ + +The second means of procuring fervent prayer is the mortification of the +passions. It is not enough to secure fervour in prayer that our souls +should be free from sin; we must struggle to master our passions. This +point is important--for a soul upset by its passions, anger, pride, +etc., cannot with fervour recite the Hours, for it cannot converse with +God, it cannot elevate itself to God, it can have no true union with +God. It cannot converse with God, for God will not converse with an +unmortified soul for three reasons. First, He will not speak if there be +no one to listen, for the Holy Ghost tells us "Where there is no +hearing, pour not out words" (Eccli. xxxii. 6). God wishes a soul in +converse with Him to be calm and still, for God is not in the earthquake +(3 Kings, xix. ii.). Again, even if God speaks to an unmortified soul, +it cannot hear Him as the passions fix its attention on worldly matters. +And even when such a soul tries to listen and to understand, the +passions surging and warring drown all sound and sense of holy things. +For, "the animal man perceiveth not these things that are of the spirit +of God, for it is foolishness to him and he cannot understand, because +it is spiritually examined" (I. Cor. ii. 14). The human soul cannot truly +unite itself to God if the passions are not conquered, because by their +very nature they are opposed to God and hence inspire estrangement from, +and disgust for, holy things. + +Thirdly, the senses must be guarded. Our five senses can impede the +recitation of the Office because they present to our souls images of the +things which occupy them, and they can draw our will towards the +pleasures which correspond with these objects. It is necessary for the +worthy, attentive and devout saying of the Office that each sense be +guarded. The sense of sight should be guarded from gazing at objects at +hand, persons, books, landscape, etc. The sense of hearing should be +guarded in flying from the company of evil speakers, calumniators, +detractors, those who speak of worldly affairs or who give evil counsel. +It is necessary, too, to guard the tongue from evil speech. "I have set +a guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against me" (Psalm 38, 2); +and it is well to guard against too frequent or too long conversations, +which fill the soul with thoughts disturbing to a prayerful disposition. +The sense of touch should likewise be guarded, for St. Thomas says that +the sense of touch is the maintenance of the other senses (1 P. q. 76, +a. 75). And when the foundations of a house commence to fall asunder, +the walls, the frame and the roof totter and fall. So it is with the +senses; when the sense of touch is disturbed the other senses quickly +complete the ruin. + +What knowledge is needed for the valid and for the licit recitation of +the Hours? Must the person know the meaning of the words read? No such +knowledge is necessary, for God hears the prayer of the ignorant and +illiterate and of the babes. To the chief priests and scribes, who +hearing the children crying out the Saviour's praise in the temple, +Christ said "Yea, have you not read 'Out of the mouths of infants and +sucklings thou hast perfected praise'" (St. Matth. xxi. 15-16), St. +Augustine defended from the sneers of the learned, those who prayed to +God in rude and barbarous words, or words which they did not understand. +"_Noverint non esse vocem ad aures Dei nisi animi affectum_" (_De +Catech._ Rud. C.I.). The Church has bound religious, both men and women, +to say the Office in choir, even though they may not understand Latin. +Nevertheless, it is highly desirable that those who understand Latin +should understand what they read daily in the Breviary. God, the Church, +the practice of the saints, our own intelligence, our spiritual +advantage, demand that every priest should read with knowledge so that +with more certainty he may read attentively and devoutly. + +For (1) the Holy Ghost warns us to sing wisely, _Psallite sapienter_ +(Ps. 46.8); (2) that priests may sing wisely, may say the daily Office +piously is the reason and end of liturgical studies of the psalms and of +the Breviary in theological colleges; (3) the saints who wrote so +piously and so learnedly on the psalms and on psalmody are for ever +impressing this matter of intelligent recitation. St. Augustine wrote, +"_Et quare dicta sunt, nisi ut sciantur? Quare sonuerunt nisi ut +audiantur? Quare audita sunt nisi ut intelligantur_" (Tract xxxi. in +Joan). Again, commenting on psalm 146, he writes, "David teaches that we +sing wisely; let us not seek the mere sound for the ear, but a light for +the soul." St. Thomas Aquinas commenting on "For I pray in a tongue, my +spirit prayeth, but my understanding is without fruit" (I. Cor. xiv. 14) +wrote "_Constat quod plus lucratur qui orat. Nam, ille qui intelligit +reficitur quantum ad intellectum et quantum ad affectum; sed mens ejus +qui non intelligit est sine fructu refectionis_." And (4) our own +intellect tells us that the Breviary should be read intelligently and +devoutly. One of the ends of the Church in imposing the Divine Office as +an obligation is, that by honouring the holy mysteries, or the holy +memories of the saints, we may raise our hearts and souls to God, as St. +Paul wishes us, "May the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be +of one mind towards one another according to Jesus Christ, that with one +mind and one mouth you may glorify God" (Rom. xv. 5-6), an effect that +cannot be produced by the recital of words which are not understood. It +is almost impossible to avoid very grave distractions and to sustain +attention if there be not a good knowledge of the matter and form of the +Hours recited. + +It seems irrational that, priests should spend daily more than an hour +reading words that they understand not at all, or very imperfectly; and +that the beautiful and sublime thought and language of the book of +psalms, which are admired by all educated men, should be, to those who +read them every day for years, nothing but a tinkling cymbal, _vox et +praeterea nihil_. This is often the case even with priests who practise +piously and methodically mental prayer. And yet nowhere are such +beautiful acts of faith and confidence in God's power expressed as in +the Psalms (e.g., 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 16, 19, 25, 27, 30, 34, 43, 54, +55, 56, etc.); no more sublime expressions of praise exist than in the +Psalms 8, 9, 17, 18, 20, 21, etc. Time spent in studying the history of +the Breviary, the structure and the growth of the contents of each Hour, +the meanings of the prayers and hymns, is time well spent. + + + + +B.--THE IMMEDIATE PREPARATION FOR THE RECITATION OF THE HOURS. + +First. It is necessary to foresee from the reading of the _Ordo_ what is +to be said, and to mark all the psalms, lessons, responses, antiphons +and prayers. By this practice, St. Bonaventure says, all is recited and +recited in order. _Libri et alia necessaria ad officium praeparantur et +legenda studiose ante praevisa, quando et quomodo sint dicenda +dicuntur_ (Intit. Novit, p. I., c. 4). Unless this matter be arranged +before the prayer, _Aperi_ is begun, a priest is certain to suffer from +distractions, to run the risk of violating the rubrics and to lose some +of the spiritual profit which arises from preparation. This point of +preparation is attended to by all thoughtful priests and it was ever the +practice of the great students and lovers of liturgy. + +Second. It is necessary to recollect ourselves. This is simply to draw +off from profane thoughts the mind and the heart, and to apply them to +the sublime work of conversing with God, which we do in the Divine +Office. This recollecting of our wandering thoughts before prayer is +impressed on us by Holy Scripture, by the example of the saints, and by +our own common sense. Holy Scripture warns us "Before prayer prepare thy +soul and be not as a man that tempteth God" (Ecclus. 18. 23). And as +typical of the preparation made by saintly priests, the example of St. +Charles Borromeo may be mentioned. The saint always spent a quarter of +an hour in preparatory prayer before beginning the Church's official +prayer. The Venerable John D'Avila made the same practice general +amongst his disciples. This holy man narrates, how one day he met a +priest of the Society of Jesus, who asked him to recite the Hours with +him, and that before beginning their prayer the Jesuit fell on his +knees, saying, "There are some who speak of saying the Office as if it +were a trifle. Come, they say, let us say our Hours together, and so +immediately begin. This is showing very little appreciation for so holy +a duty, for it well merits a few moments at least of recollection" +(Bacquez). Our own common sense tells us not to rush heedlessly to begin +any important work. To converse with God is a work of sublime importance +which needs preparation, so that it may be done attentively. + +Third. We must invoke God's aid by prayer. No prayer is more suitable +than the prayer given as a preparatory prayer in the Breviary, "_Aperi, +Domine, os meum_ ... Open Thou, O Lord, my mouth to bless Thy holy name; +cleanse my heart from vain, evil and wandering thoughts; enlighten my +understanding, inflame my will, that so I may worthily, attentively and +devoutly recite this Office and deserve to be heard in the presence of +Thy Divine Majesty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. O Lord, in union with +that divine intention wherewith Thou whilst here on earth didst Thyself +praise God, I offer these Hours to Thee." + +Fourth. To unite ourselves with Jesus Christ. In the prefatory prayer +"_Aperi, Domine_," we say "_Domine, in unione_," etc. In Baptism, +Christians are united to Jesus, to His life, to His spirit. He is the +Head of the Church and we are its members. And this union should be a +real, explicit, vivifying union when we fulfil our ministry of social +prayer. This union with Christ is sought for by Himself, by the +Apostles, by the Church, and is practised ever by God's saints. The +words of the prayer should be reduced to action. + +1. Christ our model in all things is our model in prayer, and so He +teaches us that when we pray we must say "Our Father, Who art in +Heaven," that is, to use His very words and sentiments. And this desire +of our Lord, that souls should be united to Him in prayer, has often +been manifested by Him to His saints. To St. Gertrude He said, "My +daughter, behold My Heart; look upon It in future as supplying your own +defects. When you would pray, ask It to help you to give My Father the +homage you owe Him. I shall be ever ready to second you as soon as you +call Me to your aid." St. Bernard, schooled in this practice by the Holy +Ghost, knew all its sweetness: "David," he says, "rejoiced of old to +have found his heart to pray to his Master and his God--_Invenit servus +tuus cor tuum ut oraret te oratione hac_ (II. Kings viii. 27). And I, +that I may pray, have found the heart of my King and my Brother, of my +sweet Saviour; shall I not then also pray? Yes, certainly, for I am, +too, happy, as I have, if not the Heart of Jesus in place of mine, at +least have I mine in that of Jesus" (Bacquez, p. 191). + +2. St. Paul recommends us to offer our prayers through Jesus Christ. "By +him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise always to God, that +is to say, the fruit of lips confessing to His name" (Heb. xiii. 15). + +3. The Church wishes this union with Christ and mentions it several +times in her prayers, _Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum_. She +expresses her wish in the preparatory prayer, _Aperi, Domine_; she +wishes the words and sentiments of the psalms to be applied to Jesus, +the Saviour, whom David typified, and to whom the psalms in great +number relate. And in the frequent repetition of the _Pater Noster_, we +speak Christ's sentiments and words. + +4. The lives of the saints furnish many examples and precepts of this +union with Christ in our prayer. To the examples of St. Gertrude and St. +Bernard many others can be added. Several such examples are quoted by +Bacquez in his work on the Office. + +5. The remembrance of the sublime work of the Office should aid in its +fervent recitation. Priests should remember the words of St. Alphonsus: +"After the sacrifice of the Mass the Church possesses no treasure so +great as the Divine Office." "It is God's Church, the Spouse of Christ, +who has done me the honour of choosing me for this great work--me, in +preference to a hundred others. She puts into my hand her holy book of +heavenly language, and asks me to read its words before God, to unite +with the angels and saints in honouring God." + +6. To propose some particular intention before the recitation of the +Hours begins, and to renew it during the recitation is an excellent +means of guarding against distractions and mechanical routine. It +sustains during the prayer the fervour with which it was begun. St. +Bonaventure said to priests "Give _great_ attention to the signs +(_i.e._, to the directions, about kneeling, standing, sign of cross, +etc.), _greater_ attention to the words, and the _greatest_ attention to +the (particular) intention." + +But what intention ought we to have? + +We should have general intentions and particular intentions. We must +have the general intentions of the Church, whose ambassadors we are. We +must pray that God be known and adored, loved and thanked and praised. +We must pray that the Church have freedom, that she may be exalted, that +the kingdom of Christ may spread and flourish, that the Pope and clergy +of the world may be blessed and guided by God, that holy souls may be +confirmed in virtue and that sinners may be converted. + +We should have also some particular intentions in reading our Hours. +Thus, we may pray to obtain a more lively faith, a greater hope, a more +ardent charity, greater meekness and humility, greater patience, +detachment from the world, greater fraternal charity, help in keeping +vows--in a word, an increase of virtues, especially those in which we +may have great wants. Again, a priest may and should beg God to help him +and guide him by his light and grace, in doubts, in trouble, in crosses, +in his daily work as a priest, in his parish, in his schools, in his +college. Particularly and fervently should a priest pray for success in +his religious instruction in school, in church, in the pulpit. For St. +Augustine tells us that success in this matter depends more on prayer +than on preaching (_De Doc. Christ., Lib_. 4, chap. 15). And at every +Hour a priest should pray for a happy death. + +Before saying his Hours, a priest may form a special intention of +praying for others, his superiors, his parents, his brothers and +sisters, his benefactors, his friends, his enemies, for those who have +asked for prayers, for some one in sorrow, for some one in sin, for a +soul in purgatory. Of course, these prayers benefit the priest who +offers them, for as St. Gregory the Great said so well, "_Plus enim pro +se valere preces suas efficit qui has et pro aliis impendit_" (Moral +II. 25). + + + + +AIDS DURING THE RECITATION. + +I. A suitable place should be selected. The Psalmist sang "_In omni loco +dominationis ejus, benedic, anima mea, Domino_" (Ps. 102, 22). Our Lord +wishes us to pray always; St. Paul says (I. Tim. ii.) that we should +pray in every place, and theologians teach that a priest may validly and +licitly say his Hours walking in the fields, in his room, or in any +suitable place. The most suitable place is the church. For it is a house +of prayer (St. Matt. xxi. 43), and the Holy Ghost asks us to go there to +pray, "_in templo ejus omnes dicent gloriam_" (Ps. 28, 9). The Apostles, +going to the temple to pray at the sixth and at the ninth hour, show us +how suitable is the place holier than the temple--the church. The +practice of the saints impresses on us the suitability of the church for +the Church's official prayer. In the life of every modern saint we find +recommended and practised the saying of the Hours at the altar. Perhaps, +the example which is best known to missionary priests, is the example of +the Cure d'Ars, who in the early days of his priestly life always said +his Breviary kneeling in the sanctuary. His parishioners liked from time +to time to slip into the church to watch him. "Often," says an +eye-witness, "he paused while praying, his looks fixed on the +Tabernacle, with eyes in which were painted so lively a faith that one +might suppose our Lord was visible to his gaze. Later, his church being +continually filled with an attentive crowd following his least +movements, he took pains to avoid everything that might excite their +admiration. Yet still, he might be frequently found, after a long day +passed in the sacred tribunal, reciting his Hours on his knees, either +in the sacristy or in a corner of the choir, a few steps from the altar; +so strong was the attraction that drew him to unite his prayer to that +of our Lord, so great was the love and respect inspired by the presence +and infinite majesty of his Divine Master" (_Life of Cure d'Ars_, +by Monnin). + +Every priest must feel that the church benches, or the sanctuary, with +their silence, their every part awakening and reminding the soul that +this is the house of God, this is the gate of Heaven, are places most +suitable for prayer and are great aids to fervent prayer. The thought of +the presence of Christ with His adoring angels, to whose songs of praise +the priest should unite himself, should help wonderfully in the devout +recitation of the Hours. St. Alphonsus recommends that priests saying +the Breviary should say it before a crucifix or before a statue or +picture of the Blessed Virgin, so that gazing from time to time on these +holy objects may foster or renew pious thoughts. + +II. A great aid to pious recitation of the Hours is to take up a +respectful position. The Office is a prayer, an elevation of the soul to +God, and should be treated as such; and as everyone knows, the union of +soul and body is such that in vocal prayer both are employed. If the +body take up a lazy or unbecoming position in prayer, it is an insult +to God to Whom prayer is offered, and is a certain source of distraction +and faulty prayer. Habit does much in this matter, and where a priest +labours to correct an inclination to take up a too comfortable position +in saying his Hours, he is striving to pray well. + +Priests, young and old, say writers on this point, should be vigilant in +this aid to fervent prayer. The well-known words of St. Teresa +recommending a comfortable attitude in prayer do not clash with this +doctrine. In the _Selva_, St. Alphonsus writes: "It is related that +while two religious recited Matins a devil appeared, caused an +intolerable stench, and through mockery said, 'To the prayer which you +offer such incense is suited'--_ad talem orationem tale debetur +incensum_." + +Which attitude is the best? Seeing the examples of the saints, St. +Charles Borromeo, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Francis de Sales, St. John de +la Salle, the Cure d'Ars, and of many other saintly men, the best +attitude in reciting the Hours is kneeling. Other saints accustomed +themselves to recite their Hours standing, with head uncovered. Others +followed, in private recitation, all the positions--sitting, kneeling, +standing--required in choir. The practice is said to aid in banishing +distractions, and contributes greatly to attention and devotion. Of +course, in private recitation no one is bound to any of these practices. +But they have proved useful to many in practising devout prayer. +Everyone is bound to pray with fervour, and a respectful attitude is a +big help towards that end. + +Slow, deliberate pronunciation is another aid to the fervent saying of +the Hours of the Breviary. The lives of saintly men show their practice +in this matter. Knowing that they were the ambassadors of the Church in +presenting her praise, thanks and wants to God, they read with care and +attention. From their slow and deliberate reading of the holy words, +their souls drew out the sublime thoughts and sentiments which their +lips expressed. In rapid reading, the mind and heart have not time to +think well on the meaning of the words and of the sentiments, and hence, +no holy thoughts fill the soul, no acts of virtue are elicited, no +prayer of petition is offered, no holy resolutions are formed. Indeed, +very often--to quote the words of a venerable author--priests seem to +say with their lips and to express by their rapid reading, not _Deus in +adjutorium meum intende_, O God, make haste to help me! but _Domine ad +festinandum me adjuva_--"O God, help me to hasten?" Wise old Rodriguez +advises readers of spiritual books to observe a hen drinking and to +imitate her slow and deliberate sipping, by reading in small quantities, +with pauses. Sometimes priests acquire the habit of hurried reading, +quite unconsciously, and afterwards labour hard, and in vain, too, to +correct it. It is important for beginners in the Breviary to go at a +slow pace, as the trot and the gallop are fatal to good and pious +recitation. Sometimes priests excuse this hurried reading, as they wish +to save time! Why do priests wish to save time? "For study," some may +say; but the obligation of the Divine Office precedes all obligations of +study, and its devout recitation is of far greater importance to the +priest and to the Church than is any other or every other study. Some +priests gallop through the Hours, to gain time for other ministerial +work, they say. But they forget that the primary work--after the +celebration of Mass--and the _most important work_ of a priest, is the +great official prayer of the Church. Who amongst priests leads the life +of ceaseless toil which the Cure d'Ars led? And we have read how he said +his Hours. St. Francis Xavier found time to preach to his many +neophytes, to teach them, to baptize them, and yet he did not use the +permission given him to shorten his Breviary prayer. He read the whole +Office daily and added to it prayers to obtain the grace of better +attention and devotion. + +Sometimes the reading of the Hours is hurried for a motive less +praiseworthy than the motives of study or of priestly work. _Producitur +somnus, producitur mensa, produncuntur confabulationes, lusus, nugae +nugarum; solius supremae Magestratis, cultus summa qua potest celeritate +deproperatur_ (Kugler, _De Spiritu Eccles_.), "On this, God complained +one day to St. Bridget, saying that some priests lose so much time every +day in conversing with friends on worldly affairs; and afterwards, in +conversing with Him, while they recite the Office, they are so hurried +that they dishonour Him more than they glorify Him" (St. Alphonsus, +_Selva_). In the hurried reading of the Office, time, a few minutes +perhaps, is gained, but what is lost? Does the loss of all the lights +and graces and blessings of the Office compensate for the time gained? +It is important that all who read the Breviary hurriedly, or who may be +tempted to acquire the habit, should weigh well the words read therein +(Friday's Vespers) "_Labor labiorum ipsorum operiet eos; cadent super +eos carbones_" (Ps. 139). "The labour of their lips shall overwhelm +them; burning coals shall fall upon them." + +To acquire this important habit, the practice of reading at a slow pace +the words of the Breviary, authors suggest several little hints. One is, +never to start reading the Hours unless there be _ample_ time for +finishing the Hour or Hours intended to be then and there read. The +practice of squeezing the small Hours into scraps of time (e.g., in +the intervals between hearing confessions in the confessional, at a +session) is fatal to careful and pious reading. Another hint is, to read +everything, every word (_e.g., Pater Noster, Ave, Credo_), and to repeat +nothing from memory, because the printed words meeting the eyes and the +spoken words reaching the ears help to fix the attention and there is +less risk of their passing unnoticed. This was the practice of St. +Charles Borromeo. St. Philip Neri never recited from memory even in +saying the small Hours. St. Vincent de Paul always spent a great time in +saying his Breviary. His intense fervour was helped by his careful +reading of every word, and this practice of keeping his eyes fixed +steadily on the printed matter of the book he recommended to his +congregation of priests. Some holy priests maintained that they could +recite from memory with greater fervour than from the reading of the +pages of the Breviary; but the practice is not one for the many. Another +hint to help pious recitation is to _earnestly wish_ to say the Office +worthily, attentively and devoutly. This wish must bring up before the +mind the thought of how displeasing to God and how great is the daily +loss--not to speak of a lifetime's loss-to the soul of a priest who +prays carelessly, tepidly and mechanically. But in spite of all +precautions, it may be noticed during the recitation of the Hours that, +without our own fault, the words are said too quickly. It is advised, +then, to pause and to say mentally what the Venerable Boudon was wont to +say to his soul in similar circumstances: "To punish and mortify thee, I +will go more slowly; I will devote to my office to-day a longer time" +(Bacquez). + +IV. To prevent distractions and to banish them are no easy matters. It +is impossible to avoid all distractions. Involuntary distractions do not +hinder merit; still it is important that an effort be made to diminish +and repress the quality of such disturbing elements in prayer. + +First of all, we can never totally avoid all distractions, nor can we +entirely and completely remove them when they enter our souls. The human +soul cannot pray for any notable time without distraction. The greatest +saints knew this well. St. Augustine wrote, "_Vult se tenere ut stet, et +quodammodo fugit a se nec invenit cancellos quibus se includat_" (in +Psalm 95). St. Thomas wrote "_Vix unum Pater noster potest homo dicere +quin mens ad alia fertur_." The author of the _Imitation of Christ_ +wrote, "For I confess truly that I am accustomed to be very much +distracted. For oftentimes I am not there where I am bodily standing or +sitting, but am rather there where my thoughts carry me" (Bk. iii. c. +48). The same writer wrote, "And I, a wretch and the vilest of men.... I +can hardly spend one half hour as I ought." St. Teresa wrote, "I am not +less distracted than you are during Office, and try to think that it +arises from weakness of head. Do not fear to think so, too. Does not our +Lord know, that when we perform this duty we would wish to do it with +the greatest possible attention?" + +After reading these words we can understand how prayer offered up with +involuntary distractions is true, holy prayer. St. Thomas tells us +"_Dicendum quod in spiritu et veritate orat, qui ex instinctu spiritus +ad orandum accedit, etiamsi ex aliqua infirmitate mens postmodum +evagetur.... Evagatio vero mentis quae fit praeter propositum orationis +fructum non tollat_" (2.2. q. 83, a. 13). + +Nevertheless, every effort should be made to avoid and to banish +distractions. The ways of doing this are given in all treatises on +prayer. Every priest knows them well. There are negative means and +positive means. The negative means consist in withdrawing the senses and +the powers of the soul from everything disturbing the soul's converse +with God; in guarding against any too absorbing interest in worldly +affairs, so that the mind is unmanageable and cannot be fixed on sacred +things. St. Francis of Assisi, working at a piece of furniture before +saying Terce, was, during the saying of that hour disturbed by the +thought of his manual work. When he re-entered his cell he took the bit +of work and threw it in the fire saying, "I wish to sacrifice to the +Lord the thing which hindered my prayer to Him." + +The positive means of avoiding and of banishing distractions are given +above; they are to read slowly, to read every word, to read in a +becoming position, to observe choir directions, to give ample time to +each Hour. Another rule given by writers on the pious recitation of the +Office, is to pause at certain places in the psalms to renew attention +and elicit affections. Some authors recommend such pauses at the end of +the invitatory, at the end of each hymn, or after each _Gloria_. "Study +well the _Gloria Patri_," said St. Francis of Assisi, "for in it you +find the substance of the scriptures." + +V. To apply the mind to what is read is another help to pious +recitation. It seems to be a useless repetition of an obvious fact that +to apply the mind to the prayers read, helps to ward off and to drive +away distractions. Such a practice is natural for a person of +intelligence, and the Church wishes and expects such intelligent and +heartfelt prayer. God said to the Jewish priests what applies to the +Christian priesthood, too: "And now, O ye priests, this commandment is +to you, if you will not hear, if you will not lay it to heart to give +glory to My name, saith the Lord of Hosts, I will curse your blessings, +because you have not laid it to heart" (Mal. ii. 1-2). Christ complained +about the Jewish people who honoured Him with their lips, but had their +hearts far from Him. And God's great servants realized this fully. St. +Paul said, "And he that speaketh by a tongue (the gift of speaking +strange tongues) let him pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a +tongue my spirit prayeth, _but my understanding is without fruit_. What +is it then? I will pray with the spirit. I will pray also with the +understanding. I will sing with the spirit, I will sing also with the +understanding" (I. Cor. xiv. 13-15). St. Gregory the Great said that +true prayer consists not only in the articulation of the words, but also +in the attention of the heart; for to obtain the divine graces our good +desires have greater efficacy than mere words (_Moral, lib_. 22. _cap_. +13). Peter de Blois wrote of the priests of his time, "_Labia sunt in +canticis et animus in patinis_! Their lips are in the psalms, but their +heart is in the dishes!" (_Selva_). "_Age quod agis_," says the +_Imitation of Christ_. + +VI. It is advisable not to dwell on the literary excellence of the +Breviary during the recitation of the Office. It is a useful thing that +priests should recognise the authorship of the psalms recited, their +probable dates, the circumstances of their composition, the sublimity of +their thought, the peculiarity of their Hebrew style, the rhythm and +poetry of the Hebrews. But the _dwelling_ on these thoughts leads to +distractions. Again, some priests, like the clerics of the Renaissance +and post-Renaissance times, despise and dislike the Breviary for its +alleged barbarous style. These unworthy and foolish sentiments are met +with, very rarely. They are opposed to the priestly spirit, which should +love and respect the Scripture extracts, God's inspired words. The +homilies from the Fathers are well chosen, and suitable for the greatest +prayer and for the greatest prayerbook the world has ever known. The +hymns are the wonder and study of scholars of every religion. St. +Augustine, after his conversion even, felt a repugnance for the holy +Scriptures as unequal to Cicero in form. But in his mature age and +considered judgment, the saint reversed his judgment; "_non habent_," he +wrote of the Pagan classics, "_illae paginae vultum pietatis, lacrymas +confessionis spiritum contribulatum cor contritum et humiliatum_" +(Confess. Bk. 7, c. 21). + +VII. To think of Christ's Passion is another aid to good Breviary +recitation. We have seen in the theological part of this book (page 4) +the seven principal stages of the Passion which correspond with the +seven principal parts of the Office. And this devout thought on some +scene of the Passion is recommended by all writers on the Divine Office, +as an easy and very profitable means and aid to attentive and devout +saying of the Hours. It is a means practised by thousands of priests. + +St. Bonaventure recommended that at each Hour some thought of the +mysteries of the life and death of Christ should be held in mind. Thus, +Matins, the night Office, might be offered up in honour of the birth and +infancy of Christ; Lauds, in honour of His resurrection; Terce, in +honour of the coming of the Holy Ghost; None, in memory of Christ's +death; Vespers, in thanksgiving for the Eucharist. + +VIII. To remember the presence of God, of our angel guardian, and of the +demons, is a practice recommended by writers on recitation of the Office +in or out of choir. This thought of the presence of God was one of the +aids recommended by St. Benedict to his religious, to aid their devout +fulfilment of the great work of reciting their Hours worthily, +attentively, and devoutly. Centuries after St. Benedict's death we find +St. Bonaventure repeating this advice to his novices. Blessed Peter +Faber, S.J., to make his Breviary prayer more fervent, used to picture +to himself the presence of his guardian angel at his side recording his +pious and holy thoughts, and the demon recording his distractions. +"Dearly beloved priest," wrote St. Alphonsus, "when you take the +Breviary in your hand, imagine that an angel stands on one side to +register your merits in the Book of Life if you say the Office with +devotion, and on the other a devil who, if you recite it with +distraction, writes your faults in the book of death. With this thought +excite yourself to say the Office with the greatest possible devotion. +Endeavour, then, not only at the beginning of the Office, but also at +the beginning of each psalm, to renew your attention, that you may be +able to excite in your heart all the sentiments that you shall read" +(_Selva_). + + + + +ARTICLE IV.--AFTER SAYING THE DIVINE OFFICE. + +1. Give God thanks for His goodness in permitting us to join in the +great work, for hearing our prayer, and for His helps and graces during +its duration. + +2. Ask God's pardon for faults committed in the course of this prayer of +His Church. + +3. Devoutly recite the "_Sacro-sanctae et Individuae Trinitati_ ... +Amen. V. _Beata viscera_....R. _Et beata ubera_...." This prayer, which +is generally printed in Breviaries immediately before the Psalter, is to +be said kneeling, where this is physically possible. This is necessary +in order to gain the indulgence granted by Pope Pius X. to all persons +obliged to recite the Divine Office. It is not of obligation and its +omission is not sinful. It forms no part of the obligatory Office. "It +must be said kneeling, but at the request of Cardinal Asquini, Prefect +of the Congregation of Indulgences, Pope Pius IX. was pleased to make +one exception (July 12, 1865) in favour of persons who were not able to +say it kneeling--_infirmitatis tantum causa_. Hence, travellers or +persons on a journey are not exempted, for they can say it kneeling at +the end of the journey. It is sufficient to say the '_Sacro-sanctae_' +once only, that is, at the end of Compline, with the intention of +obtaining pardon of all the defects a person may have been guilty of in +saying the entire Office. Yet it may be repeated after each Hour, e.g., +after Matins, and Lauds, after the small Hours and after Compline; in +each case one would thereby get forgiveness for the faults committed +during the part of the Office recited. This explanation has been given +by the Holy Father (Pius IX.) himself. The usage amongst the chapters at +Rome, as at St. Peter's, St. Mary's, etc., is to recite it every time +they leave the choir" (Maurel, S.J., _Le chretien e claire sur la nature +et l'usage des Indulgences_). The beauty and sublimity of this prayer is +not always appreciated. Its translation here may inspire fresh thoughts +of fervour. "To the most holy and undivided Trinity, to the humanity of +our Lord Jesus Christ crucified, to the fruitful virginity of the most +glorious Mary ever a Virgin, and to the company of all the saints, be +given by every creature eternal praise, honour, power and glory, and to +us the remission of all our sins. Amen. Blessed be the womb of the +Virgin Mary, which bore the Son of the Eternal Father. And blessed be +the breasts which gave suck to Christ, our Lord." + +In connection with this prayer an interesting question is discussed in +the _Irish Ecclesiastical Record_ (No. 540. December, 1912). Is this +prayer merely a sacramental? Has it an indulgence attached to it at all? +The querist quotes _The new Raccolta_, in answering the second part of +his query but wishes to know if it be an indulgence how it produces its +effects. "For either the defects committed in reading the Divine Office +are voluntary or involuntary. If voluntary they are sins and +consequently cannot be touched by an indulgence; if involuntary they are +not sinful and therefore stand in no need of an indulgence." In a very +long reply Dr. John M. Harty sums up, "For our part we adhere to the +view which says that the efficacy of the privilege annexed by Leo X. and +Pius X. to the _Sacro-sanctae_ is derived from an indulgence. At the +same time we think that these prayers are also sacramentals, since they +are official prayers of the Church. Under this aspect, they obtain the +ordinary benefits which are attached to sacramentals, and, accordingly +lead to a remission of sin and temporal punishment by means of sorrow +and satisfaction, which are elicited under the influence of the +abundant graces given by God, through the intercession of the Church. +They also placate God, so as to render Him willing to grant His favours +even though defects exist in the recitation of the Office.... Though +these defects are not produced _ex opere operato_, they nevertheless are +real, and are an encouragement to priests, whose human frailty prevents +the perfect performance even of the most sacred functions of their +priestly office." + + + + +PART III + +THE CANONICAL HOURS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +MATINS. + +_Etymology_. The word _Matins_ is derived from _Matuta_, the Latin name +for the Greek goddess of morning. The word used in the Roman Breviary is +_matutinum (i.e., tempus)_. It is the old name for Lauds, _Laudes +matutinae_. The word was also used to denote the office of Vigils. +Hence, the word was used in three senses, to denote the nocturns and +lauds, to denote Lauds only and to denote the vigil office. In +liturgical study the word was confusing, and sometimes it is the context +only which gives the author's meaning. This, the principal Hour of the +Church's public prayer, was, in the early days of Christianity, said at +night, and was called _Nocturnum_ and _Vigiliae_. + +_Origin_. The night office of vigils dates from the very earliest days +of Christianity. It derived its name from the vigils or night watches of +the soldiers, who divided the night, from six o'clock in the evening to +six o'clock in the morning, into four watches of three hours each. The +nightly meetings of the Christians came to be called by the name +_vigils_, but the meetings were not begun at the stated hours of +military vigil and did not finish with them. Why these meetings of +Christians were held at night, and in what their religious exercises +consisted in, both in matter and form, is an unsolved problem. But it is +certain that they resembled the services of the Jewish synagogue in the +readings from Scripture, psalm-singing and prayers, and differed from +those services by having readings from the Gospels, the Epistles, and +from non-canonical books, such as the Epistle of St. Clement. The +Eucharistic service always formed part of them. Indeed, the very name, +Synagogue was given to these assemblies of Christians, as we see from +the Pastor of Hermes. In their common prayer, they faced towards the +East, as the Jews did towards Jerusalem. They had precentors and +janitors as in the Jewish rites. Their services consisted of the +readings from the Mosaic law, from Gospels and Epistles, exposition of +Scripture, a set sermon, long and fervent "blessings" or thanksgiving +and psalms. Before there were any written gospels to read, we gather +that the reading of the Old Law, of the Prophets and the Psalms, was +followed by a set sermon on the life and death of Christ (Bickel, _Messe +und Pascha,_ p, 91). From St. Basil (fourth century) it is concluded +that two choirs sang the Psalms. Cassian writes that the monks of the +fifth century celebrated the Night Office with twelve psalms and +readings from the Old and the New Testaments. Hence, "we find the same +elements repeated, the psalms generally chanted in the form of +responses, that is to say, by one or more cantors, the choir repeating +one verse which served as a response, alternately with the verses of the +psalms, which were sung by the cantors, readings taken from the Old and +the New Testaments and, later on, from the works of the Fathers and +Doctors; litanies, supplications, prayers for divers members of the +Church, clergy, faithful, neophytes and catechumens; for emperors, +travellers; the sick; and generally for all the necessities of the +Church, and even for Jews and for heretics. It is quite easy to find +these essentials in our modern Matins" (Dom Cabrol, _Cath. +Encyclopedia_, art. "Matins"). + +Matins on account of its length and position in the Breviary is the most +important part of the daily Office. And, on account of the variety and +beauty of its elements, is considered the most remarkable. + +The prayer _Pater Noster_ begins the Office. It is the Lord's +prayer, _divina institutions formata_, when Christ told His +Apostles "_Sic vos orabitis_" (St. Matt. vi. 9). It is the most +excellent of all prayers, being most excellent in its author, its form, +its depth of meaning, its effects. The prayer consists of a preface, +"Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, +Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And in the body of the +prayer are seven petitions--three for the honour and glory of God, in +and by ourselves, and four for our own wants, spiritual and temporal. +Very excellent matter on the greatest of prayers is to be found in the +_Catechism of the Council of Trent_ (translation, Duffy, Dublin) +and in _A Lapide_ (St. Matt. vi.). Writers on liturgy say that the +recitation of the _Pater Noster_ as the opening prayer of Matins +was _not obligatory_ until the beginning of the twelfth century. It +is said that the monks were wont to say a _Pater Noster_ at each +altar in the church before entering their stalls for Office recitation. +This practice delayed the beginning of the Office in choir, and a rule +was made that those who wished to say this prayer must say it in their +stalls, in a low tone. Of course, in the Breviary of Pius V. (1568) this +practice became obligatory on each person bound to read the Hours. + +_Ave Maria_. This is a leading prayer amongst the great prayers of the +Mass and the Office. It, too, is excellent in its authors, its form +(clear, short devotional), in motive (in honouring Mary, Mother of God, +and in begging her intercession). It is divided into three parts, the +words of the angel, of St. Elizabeth and of the Church, Devout thoughts +on this prayer have been penned by countless clients of Mary in every +age. Priests are familiar with many such writings, great and small, but +_A Lapide_ (St. Luke I.) bears reading and re-reading. The prayer, as it +stands in the Breviary to-day, is not of very ancient date. "In point of +fact there is little or no trace of the Hail Mary as an accepted +devotional formula before 1050.... To understand the developments of the +devotion, it is important to grasp the fact that the _Ave Maria_ was +merely a form of greeting. It was, therefore, long customary to +accompany the words with some external gesture of homage, a genuflexion, +or at least an inclination of the head.... In the time of St. Louis the +_Ave Maria_ ended with the words _benedictus fructus ventris tui_: it +has since been extended by the introduction both of the Holy Name and of +a clause of petition.... We meet the _Ave_ as we know it now, printed in +the Breviary of the Camaldolese monks and in that of the Order de +Mercede C. 1514. ... The official recognition of the _Ave Maria_ in its +complete form, though foreshadowed in the Catechism of the Council of +Trent, was finally given in the Roman Breviary of 1568" (Father +Thurston, S.J., _Cath. Encyclopedia_, art. "Hail Mary.") + +_Credo_. The Apostles' Creed is placed at the beginning of Matins, +because Matins is the beginning of the whole Office, and faith is the +beginning, the _principium_ of every supernatural work. St. Paul teaches +us that it is necessary for us to stir up our faith when we approach +God, "For he that cometh to God must believe that He is." In reciting +the Creed we should think of the sublime truths of our faith, and our +hearts should feel, what our lips say, "For with the heart we believe +unto justice; but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" +(Rom. x. 10). We should remember too, that this formula of faith comes +to us from Apostolic times and that it has been repeated millions of +times by saints and martyrs; their sentiments of belief, of confidence +in God and love of God should be ours. + +_Domine labia mea aperies_. The practice of this beautiful invocation +dates from the time of St. Benedict (480-553). In his Office it stood +after the words _Deus in adjutorium_. These words _Domine labia mea +aperies_, taken from the Psalm _Miserere_, remind us of God purifying +the lips of Isaias His prophet with a burning coal, of how God opened +the lips of Zachary to bless God and to prophesy. "And immediately his +mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke blessing God" (St. +Luke, i. 64). Very appropriately, does the priest reciting the Divine +Office ask God to open his lips, to fortify his conscience, to touch +his heart. + +_Deus in adjutorium_. These words, the opening words of Psalm 69, were +always and everywhere used by the monks of old, says Cassian, who called +this short prayer the formula of piety, the continual prayer. The Church +repeats it often in her Office. St. John Climacus says it is the great +cry of petition for help to triumph over our invisible enemy, who wishes +to distract us and to mar our prayer. It should be said with humility +and with confidence in God. In repeating these holy words we make the +sign of the Cross; for, all grace comes from the sacrifice of the Cross; +and besides, it is a holy and an ancient practice to begin all good +works with the sacred sign. + +_Gloria Patri_. This little prayer indicates the purpose and end of the +recitation of the Office, the glory of the Holy Trinity. "Bring to the +Lord glory and honour; bring to the Lord glory to His name" (Psalm 28). +The many repetitions of this formula in the Church liturgy shows the +great honour which she pays to it, and the trust she places in its +efficacy. It was especially loved by St. Francis of Assisi, who said +that it contained all wisdom. + +This form of doxology, "Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the +Holy Ghost," was adopted to repel Arianism, by giving to the faithful a +compact theological formula by which they could end every dispute. Some +authors quote St. Ephrem (circa 363) as the originator of this much-used +prayer. The form would seem to be of Syrian origin, translated into +Greek and later into Latin (Dom Cambrol, _Dictionnaire d' Archeologie +Chretienne_, I., 2282, _et seq.,_ word Antienne, Liturgie; _Month_, +May, 1910). + +_Invitatory_. _Venite Adoremus_.... The cry of the Church calling on all +to adore and praise God, Who has done all for us, Who is the Great +Shepherd, and we, the sheep of His fold, should not harden our hearts as +did the ungrateful Jews. We should pray for all, Catholics, infidels +and sinners. + +"A message from the saints. Let us imagine, like St. Stephen at his +martyrdom, we are privileged to see the heavens opened, and before our +eyes the City of God, with its twelve gates all of pearl, and its +streets of pure gold, as it were transparent glass, is laid bare, and +that we see the angels in their legions, and the redeemed of the Lord +around the throne of God. Thousands of thousands are ministering to +Him," as St. John tells us, "and ten thousand times a hundred thousand +stand before Him," and we hear the voice of God, as the noise of many +waters in company with that great multitude which no man can number, out +of every tribe and nation, clothed in white robes, with palms in their +hands, coming into Sion with praise, with everlasting joy upon their +heads, for from their eyes God has wiped away all tears, and sorrow and +mourning have fled away. + +"There are the white-robed army of Martyrs, holy Confessors, too, men of +renown in their generation, and Virgins, the Spouses of Christ: there +are those who have come through great tribulation, who once, perchance, +were far from God, but have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb +and are now numbered among the people of God, sitting in the beauty of +peace and in the tabernacle of confidence and in wealthy rest. Let us +bring them all before us in vision. They have overcome the beast and are +standing by the sea of glass, having the harps of God; the Prince of +Pastors has appeared to them and they have received a never-failing +crown of glory and by the Lamb of God they have been led to fountains of +the waters of life." Let us listen as they sing their canticle to God, +"Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts, who is and who was and who is to +come"; let us listen as they sing to us, for we are fellow citizens with +them, and where they are we also must be if we remain faithful to the +end. What do they sing, "O come let us praise the Lord with joy; let us +joyfully sing to God, our Saviour" (_Sing ye to the Lord_, pp. +94-95--Rev. R. Eaton). + +The authorship of this psalm--which is said daily in Matins--is +attributed to David in the Septuagint and Vulgate. Its Latin form in the +invitatory differs slightly from the Vulgate text. The Breviary retains +here the text of St. Jerome's revision and the Vulgate contains the +second and more correct revision. + +_Hymns_. The hymn is an answer to the invitation given to us in the +invitatory, to praise God and to rejoice with Him. It is a song of joy +and praise. Hymns were introduced into the Divine Office in the Eastern +Church before the time of St. Ambrose (340-397). To combat the Arians, +who spread their errors by verse set to popular airs, St. Ambrose, it is +said, introduced public liturgical hymn-singing in his church in Milan, +and his example was followed gradually through the Western Church. (See +Note A, _infra_.) + +The final stanza of a Breviary hymn is called the doxology ([Greek: +doxa] praise, [Greek: logos] speech), a speaking of praise. Hymns which +have the final stanza proper, the _Ave Maris stella_, Lauds hymn of the +Blessed Sacrament, Matins hymn for several Martyrs, the first Vesper +hymn of the Office of Holy Cross, and the Vesper hymns of St. Venantius +and St. John Cantius, never change the wording of the stanza. + +But, _where the metre of the hymn_ admits such a change as possible in +the last stanza. + +(a) From Christmas to Epiphany _Jesu tibi sit gloria, Qui natus es de +Virgine_ is inserted in all hymns, even on saints' offices. + +(b) From Epiphany till end of its octave, _Jesu tibi sit gloria, Qui +apparuisti gentibus_. + +(c) From Low Sunday till Ascension Thursday, on Pentecost Sunday and its +octave, all hymns end in _Deo Patri sit gloria, Et Filio qui a mortuis_. + +This is the ending for all hymns of saints' feasts in Paschal times, +excepting those hymns mentioned above. + +(d) From Ascension to Pentecost (except in the hymn _Salutis humanae +Sator_) the doxology is _Jesu tibi sit gloria, Qui victor in +coelum redis_. + +(e) Feast of Transfiguration has _Jesu, tibi sit gloria, Qui te revelas +parvulis_. + +In all other hymns the doxology is read as it is printed in the +Breviary. + +_Antiphons_. Antiphon, coming from Greek words meaning a re-echoing of +the sound, is a chant performed alternately by two choirs, and was used +in pagan drama, long before the Christian era. At what date it was +introduced into Church liturgy it is difficult to determine. Some say it +was introduced by St. Ignatius, second Bishop of Antioch. It is certain +that it was used by bishops and priests to attract, retain and teach the +faithful during the Arian heresy. In church music, the lector ceased to +recite the psalm as a solo and the faithful divided into two choirs, +united in the refrain _Gloria Patri_. + +With us, the antiphon generally is a verse or verses from Scripture, +recited before and after each psalm. "The verse which serves as the +antiphon text contains the fundamental thought of the psalm to which it +is sung and indicates the point of view from which it is to be +understood. In other words, it gives the key to the liturgical and +mystical meaning of the psalm, with regard to the feast on which it +occurs" (_Cath. Encycl._, art. "Antiphon"). + +_Psalms._ In the Breviary, before the recent reform, twelve psalms were +recited in the first nocturn of Sundays and on ferias. This recitation +of twelve psalms was, Cassian tells us, caused by the apparition of an +angel, who appeared to the monks and sang at one session twelve psalms, +terminating with _Alleluia_. The event was mentioned at the Council of +Tours, In the new reform, nine psalms are recited at Matins; they +should, the old writers on liturgy tell us, remind us of the nine choirs +of angels who without ceasing sing God's praise. + +In the new Psalter, the Psalms have been divided into two large +divisions, Psalms I.--CVIII. being assigned to the night Office, Matins; +and Psalms CIX.--CL. for the day Offices, Lauds to Compline. From this +latter division has been made:-- + +(1) a selection of psalms suitable by their character and meaning to +Lauds (_vide infra_, psalms at Lauds); + +(2) a selection of psalms suitable to Compline; + +(3) the psalms long used in the small Hours of Sunday's Office; + +(4) the first psalms assigned by Pope Pius V. to Prime on Monday, +Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. + +The remaining psalms are divided into seven groups, in simple numerical +order. The psalms of Matins generally come first, and are followed +immediately by the groups of psalms for the day Hours. + +In the new Breviary, seven new canticles are added to the ten, which +stood in the older book. The ten taken from the old and from the new +Testament are _Audite coeli_ (Deut., chap. 32) in Lauds for Saturday; +_Benedicite_ (Daniel, chap. 3) Sunday's Lauds; _Cantemus_ (Exod., chap. +15) Thursday's Lauds; _Confitebor_ (Isaias, chap. 12) Monday's Lauds; +_Domine audivi_ (Habacuc, chap. 3) Friday's Lauds; _Ego dixi_ (Isaias, +chap. 38) Tuesday's Lauds; _Exultavit_ (I. Kings, chap 2) Wednesday's +Lauds. From the new Testament we have _Benedictus, Magnificat, Nunc +dimittis_. To these are now added _Audite verbum_ (Jeremias, chap. 31), +_Benedictus es_ (I. Paralip., chap. 29), _Benedictus es_ (Daniel, chap. +3), _Hymnum cantemus_ (Judith, chap. 16), _Magnus es_ (Tobias, chap. +13), _Miserere nostri_ (Ecclus. 36), _Vere tu es Deus_ (Isaias, chap. +45). (_Cf. The New Psalter_, Burton and Myers, pp. 51-52). + +"The psalms retain the accentuation of the Latin words, which was +inserted at the request of Pius V. in the Reformed Breviary of 1568; and +also the asterisk, which was introduced to mark the division of the +verses of the Psalms in Urban VIII.'s Reform in 1632." The verse +division of the psalms do not, in the Breviary, always coincide with +those of the Vulgate--e.g., Psalm X.:-- + +PSALTER VULGATE + +Dominus in templo sancto suo Dominus in templo sancto suo +Dominus in coelo sedes ejus Dominus in coela sedes ejus: +(v.4). Oculi ejus in pauperem respsiciunt; + palpebrae ejus + interrogant filios hominum + (verse 5). + +The present verse divisions of the Vulgate were introduced by a +Calvinistic printer of Geneva, who used them in an edition of the Greek +new Testament published in 1561. Formerly, biblical chapters were, for +sake of reference, divided into seven sections denoted by letters of the +alphabet a, b, c, etc. In the older breviaries, the reference to the +little lesson at Compline stood, I. Pet. v.c. The new Breviary has +adopted the modern form of reference, and we now read I. Pet. v. 8-9. It +is sometimes confusing to find reference made to the psalms by +non-Catholic writers. This arises from the different method of numbering +which is used by them. In the Greek version of the old Testament--the +septuagent--the Psalter is arranged differently from the Hebrew. Psalms +9 and 10 are counted as one and so are Psalms 114 and 115, but 116 and +117 are divided into two, leaving the complete number 150, as in the +Hebrew version. The Vulgate and the Douay version follow the Greek, and +Psalm 9 contains 21 verses, not 38 as in the English Authorised Version. +The English revised version follows the numbering of the Vulgate. + +"Our Latin version of the Psalms is that of the old Itala; it was not +made directly on the Hebrew original ... it is then a translation (the +Greek). By the time of St. Jerome, it had become very faulty, owing to +the very many transcriptions which had been made of it; and this great +scholar revised it, about 383 A.D., on the request of Pope Damascus. His +corrections were not very numerous, because, he feared to upset, by too +many changes, the habits of the faithful, most of whom knew the psalms +by heart. This first version is known as the Roman Psalter. It was soon +deemed insufficient. St. Jerome once more set to work between 387 and +391, and published a second edition, more carefully and more extensively +corrected, of the Italic version of the Psalms; it is called the +_Gallican Psalter_, because it was adopted by the churches of Gaul. When +he, later on, translated the Old Testament from the Hebrew, he published +his third edition of the Psalms, the _Hebraic Psalter_. This version was +a good one, but the faithful were so familiar with the old Itala psalter +that the Church, in her wisdom, thought best to keep it in the editions +of the Vulgate according to the Gallican form.... Our official version +of the psalms is then in many ways defective. It is frequently +incorrect and barbarous in style, obscure in places, and even fails at +times to give the exact sense of the original. Although our Vulgate is +not perfect, it possesses admirable strength and conciseness, joined to +an agreeable savour which gives it the greatest value and causes the +words of the sacred singers, under this form of the Latin spoken by the +people, to strike the mind and become engraved upon the memory much +better than if they were clothed in all the elegance of a modern tongue" +(Vigouroux; _Manuel Biblique_, tom. ii., 663-664). + +The following replies by the Biblical Commission (May, 1910) may not be +deemed out of place:-- + +I. Whether the appellations, Psalms of David, Hymns of David, Davidical +Psaltery, employed in the old collections and in the Councils themselves +to designate the Book of the one hundred and fifty Psalms of the Old +Testament, as well as the opinion of many Fathers and Doctors who held +that absolutely all the psalms of the Psaltery are to be ascribed to +David alone, have so much force that David must be regarded as the sole +author of the entire Psaltery? + +ANSWER: In the negative. + +II. Whether it may rightly be argued from the concordance of the Hebrew +text with the Alexandrine Greek text and other ancient versions, that +the titles prefixed to the Hebrew text are older than the version known +as the Septuagint, and that therefore they have been derived if not from +the authors themselves of the Psalms at least from the ancient Judaic +tradition? + +ANSWER: In the affirmative. + +III. Whether the said titles of the Psalms, as witnesses of Judaic +tradition, may be prudently called into question when there is no grave +argument against their genuineness? + +ANSWER: In the negative. + +IV. Whether, considering the not unfrequent testimonies of the Sacred +Scripture concerning the natural skill of David, illumined by the gift +of the Holy Ghost, in the composition of religious canticles, the +institutions laid down by him for the liturgical chant of the Psalms, +the attribution to him of Psalms made both in the Old and New Testament +and in the very inscriptions which have been prefixed to the Psalms from +antiquity, and in addition to all this the agreement of the Jews and the +Fathers and Doctors of the Church, it can be prudently denied that David +is the principal author of the canticles of the Psaltery, or that it can +be affirmed that only a few of the canticles are to be attributed to the +Royal Psalmist? + +ANSWER: In the negative to both parts. + +V. Whether, specifically, the Davidical origin can be denied of those +psalms which both in the Old and the New Testament are cited expressly +under the name of David, among which are specially to be reckoned Psalm +II., "Quare fremuerunt gentes"; Psalm XV., "Conserva me Domine"; Psalm +XVII., "Diligam te, Domine fortitudo mea"; Psalm XXXI., "Beati quorum +remissae sunt iniquitates"; Psalm LXVIII., "Salvum me fac, Deus"; Psalm +CIX., "Dixit Dominus Domino meo"? + +ANSWER: In the negative. + +VI. Whether it is possible to admit the opinion of those who hold that +among the Psalms of the Psaltery there are some, either of David or of +other authors which on account of liturgical or musical reasons, the +carelessness of amanuenses or other unknown causes, have been divided or +united; and also that there are other Psalms such as the "Miserere mei, +Deus," which in order that they might be better adapted to the +historical circumstances or solemnities of the Jewish people have been +slightly revised or modified, by the omission or addition of a versicle +or two saving, however, the inspiration of the whole sacred text? + +ANSWER: In the affirmative to both parts. + +VII. Whether the opinion can with probability be maintained of those +among more recent writers who have endeavoured to show from merely +internal indications or an inaccurate interpretation of the sacred text +that not a few of the psalms were composed after the time of Esdras and +Nehemias, or even after the time of the Macchabees? + +ANSWER: In the negative. + +VIII. Whether from the manifold testimonies of the Sacred Books of the +New Testament, and the unanimous agreement of the Fathers, as well as +from the admission of the writers of the Jewish people, several +prophetic and Messianic psalms are to be recognised, as prophesying +concerning the coming kingdom, priesthood, passion, death and +resurrection of the future Redeemer; and that therefore the opinion is +to be absolutely rejected of those who, perverting the prophetic and +Messianic character of the Psalms, twist these same prophecies +regarding Christ into merely a prediction regarding the future lot of +the chosen people? + +ANSWER: In the affirmative to both parts. + +On May 1, 1910, in an audience graciously granted to both Most Reverend +Consultors Secretaries His Holiness approved the foregoing answers and +ordered that they be published. + +Rome, May 1, 1910. + +PULCRANUS VIGOUROUX, P.S.S. + +LAURENTIUS JANSSENS, O.S.B. + +Consultors Secretaries. + + +The Psalms were always dear to the hearts of Christians. Our Lord died +with the words of a psalm on His sacred lips: "Into thy hands I commend +my spirit" (Psalm 30, v. 6). Millions of dying Christians have repeated +His great prayer. On the Church's very birthday, when St. Peter preached +the first Christian sermon, he had three texts and two of them were from +the Psalms (Acts II.). To an educated and rigid Pharisee like St. Paul +they were a treasure house of teaching. To the early Christians the +Psalms were a prayer book, for there was no Christian literature. It was +twenty-five years after the Ascension before the first books of the New +Testament were written. Hence St. Paul and St. James tell their fellow +Christians to use the Psalms in worship (Ephesians, v. 19; Colos. iii. +16; I. St. James 5-13). Some of the greatest of the early Christian +writers and saints, Origen, St. Athanasius, Hilary of Poitiers, St. +Ambrose, St. Chrysostom, Bede, and St. Augustine all studied the psalms +deeply and wrote learned commentaries on them. The works of later saints +abound in happy and beautiful quotations from these religious poems. +With them, too, as with those holy people of whom St. Chrysostom wrote, +"David is first, last and midst." For many years no priest was ordained +who could not recite the whole Psalter without the aid of a book, This +veneration of the inspired words deserves respect and imitation. The +learned Calmet (1672-1757) writing of the universal esteem and study of +the Psalms, said that then there existed more than a thousand +commentaries on them. Since then, the number has been doubled; so great +and universal is the reverence and esteem in which this book of +Scripture is held. To conclude this very long note on the Psalms I quote +the quaint words of a mediaeval poet. It shows how the saints of old +found their Master in the songs of His great ancestor:-- + + Rithmis et sensu verborum consociatum + Psalterium Jesu, sic est opus hoc vocitatum, + Qui legit intente, quocunque dolore prematur, + Sentiet inde bonum, dolor ejus et alleviatur; + Ergo pius legat hoc ejus sub amore libenter, + Cujus ibi Nomen scriptum videt esse frequenter. + +_Versicle and respond_ are placed after the psalms and before the +lessons to rouse the attention which is necessary before all prayer, and +the lessons are a noble form of prayer. These little prayers are of very +ancient origin and were dealt with by Alcuin (735-804) in his recension +of the Gregorian books for use in Gaul. His pupil, Amalare, also studied +them, so that a meaning should be found in what was sung, and that the +truncated repetitions should be avoided. He retained what was +traditional and ancient, introduced versicles and responds taken from +ancient Roman books and from books belonging to Metz, selected passages +from the Gospels which seem to fit in with the antiphons and added them +to what he found in the Roman books, made alterations in the order here +and there and gave completion to the whole by adding some offices for +saints' days proper to the Church of Metz (Baudot, _The Roman Breviary_, +p. 88). Amalare had been administrator of the diocese of Lyons during +the exile of Agobard the Archbishop. The latter, with learning and +bitterness, attacked the reforms of Amalare, but, "in spite of all, the +reform of Amalare held its ground in Metz, and then in the greater +number of the churches north of the Alps" (Baudot, _op. cit._). Much of +the work of Amalare stands in our Breviary. + +_Pater Noster_ is said to beg from God, light and grace to understand +the doctrine contained in the lessons. In choir, a part of the Pater +Noster is said in common and in a loud voice to recall the Communion +of saints. + +_Absolutions and Blessings_. "The custom of giving a blessing before the +lections was already in existence in the fourth century. The ruler of +the choir, who gave it in the beginning, gave also the signal for the +termination of the lesson by the words, 'Tu autem' (scil, desine or +cessa), to which the reader responded 'Domine miserere nobis,' while the +choir answered _Deo gratias_. In the palace of Aix-la-Chapeile, it was +by knocking, and not by the words _Tu autem_, that the Emperor +Charlemagne gave the signal for the conclusion of the lections, while +the lector recited himself, _Tu autem, Domine miserere nobis_. The +_Rituale Ecclesiae Dunelmensis_, containing fragments of the Roman +liturgy from the end of the seventh to the ninth and tenth centuries, +includes forms of blessing for the different festivals, sometimes three, +sometimes nine. In the latter case each lesson was provided with its own +form of blessing, which correspond with the mystery commemorated by the +festival. The absolutions, _Exaudi Domine_ and _A vinculis peccatorum_ +did not appear until the succeeding period" (Baudot, _op. cit._, p. 74). + +In offices of three and of nine lessons, the lessons are preceded by the +absolutions and blessings as they stand in the ordinarium, except in the +Office for the Dead and Tenebrae Offices when they are not said. The +Absolution is said immediately after the Pater Noster which follows the +versicle and response under the third, sixth or ninth psalm. The first +benediction is said immediately after it, and the second and third at +the conclusion of the responses after each lesson and in reply to the +words Jube Domine benedicere. The three words are to be said (when only +one person recites the office) before the short Lesson at Prime +and Compline. + +In an office of nine lessons, the absolutions and benedictions in the +first two nocturns do not vary; but in the third nocturns the eighth +benediction may be, if the office is of a saint, Cujus festum, or if of +two or more saints, Quorum (vel quarum) festum. The ninth may be _Ad +societatem_ or, if the ninth lesson be a gospel extract with homily, +_Per evangelica_. + +In offices of three lessons the Absolution Exaudi is said on Monday and +Thursday; Ipsius, on Tuesday and Friday; A vinculis, on Wednesday and +Saturday. But the benedictions vary. Thus, when a gospel extract and a +homily are read, the three benedictions are Evangelica, Divinum, Ad +societatem. When with the three lessons, no gospel extract is read, the +benedictions are Benedictione, Unigenitus, Spiritus Sancti. In an office +of a saint or saints, where the total number of lessons to be said is +three (e.g., the Office of SS. Abdon et Sennen, 30 July), where first +two lessons are from Scripture occurring and last lesson gives lives of +these saints, the benedictions are, Ille nos, Cujus (vel Quorum aut +Quarum) festum, Ad societatem. + +_Lessons._ In the early days of Christendom, the Divine Office consisted +in the singing of psalms, the reading of portions of Sacred Scripture +and the saying of prayers. The principle of continuous reading of the +books of the Bible bears an early date. Later were added readings from +the acts of the martyrs, and later still, readings from the homilies of +the Fathers. Till the seventh century the ferial Office had no lessons +and the Sunday Office had only three, all taken from the Bible, which +was read in its entirety, yearly. In the seventh century, ferial Offices +received three lessons. About the time of St. Gregory, (died 604) the +Office for Matins was divided into three parts or nocturns, each having +lessons. The lessons for the second and third nocturns were not taken +from the Bible, but from the works of the Fathers. These extracts were +collected in book form--the _homilaria_. The collection of extracts made +by Paul the deacon (730-797) and used by Charles the Great (742-814) in +his kingdom, form the foundation of the collected extracts in our +Breviaries. The scripture lessons in our Breviaries are generally known +as "the scripture occurring," and are so arranged that each book of +scripture is begun at least, except the books, Josue, Judges, Ruth, +Paralipomenon and the Canticle of Canticles. Quignonez arranged in his +reform that the whole Bible should be read yearly. But his book was +withdrawn by Pope Paul IV. in 1558. + +Although the ecclesiastical year begins with Advent, the beginnings of +the Bible are not read till March. Hence, we begin the lessons from +Genesis, after Septuagesima Sunday, and not, as we should naturally +expect, at Advent, the beginning of the ecclesiastical year. The order +in which the Scripture lessons are read does not follow the order in +which the books of the Bible stand in the sacred volume. Thus, the Acts +of the Apostles begin on the Monday after Low Sunday and are read for a +fortnight; The Apocalypse begins on the third Sunday after Easter and is +read for a week; then the Epistle of St. James begins, and so on, with +special regard to the feasts of the time, rather than to the order of +the books of the Bible. + +The lessons of the second nocturn are generally commemorative of a saint +or some episode of a saint's life. They have been much, and often +ignorantly criticised, even by priests. The science of hagiology is a +very wide and far-reaching one, which demands knowledge and reverence. +Priests wishing to study its elements may read with pleasure and profit +and wonder _The Legends of the Saints_, by Pere H. Delehaye, S.J., +Bollandist (Longmans, 3s. 6d.). "Has Lectiones secundi Nocturni ex +Historiis sanctorum, quas nunc habemus recognitas fuisse a doctissimis +Cardinalibus Bellarmino et Baronio, qui rejecerunt ea omnia, quae jure +merito in dubium revocari poterant et approbatus sub Clemente VIII." +(Gavantus). And Merati adds "quod aliqua qua controversia erant utpote +alicujus aliquam haberent probabilitatem, ideo rejecta non fuerant sed +retenta eo modo quo erant cum falsitatis argui non possent, quamvis +fortasse opposita sententia sit a pluribus recepta" (Merati, _Obser. ad +Gavant_, sec. v., chap. xii., nn. 10 and 16). The words of these learned +men and the writings of the learned Bollandist mentioned above are +worthy of consideration, as sometimes priests are puzzled about the +truth and accuracy of the incidents recorded in those lessons of the +second nocturn. They should be treated with reverence. The ignorant +flippancy of a priest in an article (in a very secular periodical) on +St. Expeditus gave great pain to Catholics and gave material for years +to come to scoffing bigots. + +"Legends, _i.e._, narratives, were based upon documents of the nature +described above, and worked up by later writers, either for the purpose +of edification or from the point of view of the historian. The writings, +however, differ endlessly as to their value, according to the knowledge +and authority possessed by the writers, and according to their nearness +to the events described. There were many martyrs whose sufferings were +recorded in no acta or passiones, but were imprinted on the memory of +men and became part of the traditions handed down in the community, +until they were finally committed to writing. The later this took place +the worse for the authenticity. For it was then that anachronisms, +alterations in titles, changes in the persons and other similar +historical errors could more easily creep into the narrative, as we know +in fact they have done in many instances. The historical sense was +unfortunately lacking to the Franks and Byzantines, as well as all idea +of sound criticism. + +"A false kind of patriotism and national pride often go along with +credulity, so that we find here and there in literature of this kind, +even downright fabrication. After the introduction of printing, by which +literature became more widely diffused, and comparative criticism was +rendered possible, it at once became evident among Catholics that error +was mixed with truth and that a sifting of the one from the other was +necessary, and, in many cases, possible" (Kellner, _Heorlology_, pp. +209-210). "It was not the intention of the Church or of the compilers +and authors of the service books to claim historical authority for their +statements. And so, the Popes themselves have directed many emendations +to be made in the legends of the Breviary, although many others still +remain to be effected" (Dom Baumer, _Histoire Du Breviare Roman_). Cf. +Dom Cabrol, _Le Reforme du Breviare_, pp. 61-63. + +_Responsories._ (Title XXVII.). In the new Breviary the responsories to +the lessons have been restored to their place of honour. They are of +ancient origin, but "how they came to have a place in the Divine Office, +who was responsible for their composition, what was the process of +development until they reached their present form, are questions upon +which liturgical writers are not quite agreed" (Rev. M. Eaton, _Irish +Eccles. Record_, January, 1915). Amalare of Metz found them fully formed +and placed. The rule of St. Benedict, written about 530 A.D., mentions +them as a recognised part of Matins. In solemn vigils, in the early +Church, the congregation took part in the psalm singing, and hence we +find _psalmi responsorii_ mentioned, and we still have a typical +instance in the Invitatory Psalm of our Office. Probably, some similar +practice existed in the readings from Sacred Scripture. "At those +primitive vigils, then, after the reading of the Sacred Scripture, the +responsory was given by the precentor and the assembled faithful took up +the words and chanted them forth in the same simple melody. Next, a +verse was sung frequently echoing the same sentiment, and the choir +again, as in the _psalmi responsorii_, repeated the refrain or the +responsorii proper. Frequently other verses were added according to the +dignity of the festivals, and after each the faithful struck in with the +original refrain.... At first those responsories would probably have +been extempore ... left to the genius or to the inspiration of the +individual chanter, but gradually, by a survival of the fittest, the +most beautiful ones became stereotyped and spread throughout several +churches.... Later they were carefully collected, arranged and codified +by St. Gregory or one of his predecessors and passed into all the books +of liturgy" (Rev. M. Eaton, _loc. cit._). Monsignor Battifol (_History +of the Roman Breviary_, Eng, trans., p. 78) says that these parts of the +liturgy, in beauty and eloquence rival the chorus dialogues of Greek +drama, and quotes as an example the _Aspiciens a longe_ from the first +Sunday of Advent. + +_Rubrics._ The responsories, as a rule, are said after each lesson of +Matins. When the _Te Deum_ is said after the ninth lesson, there are +only eight responsories. At the end of the third, sixth and eighth +lesson the _Gloria Patri_ with a repetition of part of the responsory is +said. It is said in the second responsory in offices of three lessons +only. In Passiontide the _Gloria Patri_ is not said, but the responsory +is repeated _ab initio_. In the Requiem Office _Gloria Patri_ is +replaced by "_requiem aeternam_." In the Sundays of Advent, Sundays +after Septuagesima until Palm Sunday, and in the triduum before Easter, +there are nine responsories recited. + +Perhaps an explanation of the rubric may not be useless. The asterisk +(*) indicates the part which should be repeated first after the verse +and immediately after the _Gloria Patri_. The _Gloria Patri_ should be +said to include the word _sancto_, and _sicut erat_ should not be said. +Some responsories have two or three asterisks, and then the repetitions +should be made from one asterisk to another and not as far as the verse +ending. Examples may be seen in the responsories for the first Sunday +of Advent and in the _Libera nos_ of the Requiem Office. The +responsories of the Requiem Office--which is almost the only Office +which missionary priests have an opportunity of reciting in choir--are +highly praised for their beauty of thought and expression. They were +compiled by Maurice de Sully (circa 1196), Bishop of Paris. + +_Symbolism of the Rubric._ The responsories are placed after the +lessons, the old writers on liturgy say, to excite attention and +devotion, to thank God for the instruction given in the lessons, to make +us realise and practise what has been read and to teach us that "Blessed +are they who hear the word of God and keep it." Again, those writers +knew why the chanter said only one verse and the worshippers replied in +chorus--to show that all their souls were united and free from schism. + +_Te Deum_ (Title XXXI.). _Author._ In the Breviary prior to the reform +of Pius X., this hymn was printed under the words "Hymnus SS. Ambrosii +et Augustini." However, "no one thinks now of attributing this canto to +either St. Ambrose or St. Augustine" (Battifol, _op. cit._, p. 110). +Formerly, it was piously believed to have been composed and sung by +these saints on the evening of Augustine's baptism. The question of the +authorship of this hymn has led to much study and much controversy. Some +scholars attribute it to St. Hilary, others to Sisebut, a Benedictine; +others to Nicetas, Bishop of Treves, in the year 527. To-day, the +opinion of the learned Benedictine, Dom. Morin--who follows the readings +of the Irish manuscripts--that the hymn was written by Nicetas of +Remesiana (circa 400 A.D.), is the most probable. This opinion has been +criticised by several Continental scholars (V. _Cath. Encly_., art. +"Te Deum"). + +_Rubrics_. The Te Deum is always said at the end of Matins, unless in +Matins of Feast of Holy Innocents, of Sundays of Advent, and from +Septuagesima to Palm Sunday, and ferias outside Eastertide (from Low +Sunday to Ascension Day). + +_The Structure of the Hymn_. In this wonderful composition, there are +probably two hymns connected, and followed by a set of versicles and. +responses, which might be used with any similar hymn. It is probable +that the first hymn (_Te Deum ... Paraclitum Spiritum_), lines 1 to 13 of +Te Deum are older than the second part, which was written probably as a +sequel to the early hymn. The rhythm of the hymn is very beautiful, +being free from abruptness and monotony. Students of poetry may note +that seven lines have the exact hexameter ending, if scanned +accentually, as voce proclamant; Deus sabbaoth, etc. Seven have two +dactyls, as laudabilis numerus, laudat exercitus; one ends with +spondees, apostolorum chorus. The other six lines have a less +regular ending. + +This hymn of praise to the Blessed Trinity is divided into two parts and +seems to be modelled on the lines of the Psalm 148, _Laudate Dominum de +coelis_ (see Sunday Lauds I.). The verses 1 to 6 of the hymn, like the +opening verses of the psalm, record the worship and adoration of the +angels. The second part of the hymn records the worship of human beings +living or dead--Apostles, Prophets, Martyrs. The second hymn, _Tu Rex +gloriae Christi_, etc., is a prayer to Christ, the God Incarnate, the +Redeemer now in Glory, to aid His servants and to aid them to be of the +number of His saints in everlasting glory. + +The third part of the hymn, vv. 22-29 (_Salvum fac_ ... _in aeternum_) +is considered by scholars to be simply versicles, responses and prayers; +the verses 22-23 (Salvum fac... usque in aeternum). being the versicle, +and verses 24-25 (Per singulos dies... saeculi), verse 2 of Psalm 144 +being the response before the beautiful verses of prayer "Dignare Domine +die isto sine peccato nos custodire," etc. "Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep +us this day from sin; O Lord, have mercy on us," etc., etc. + +This hymn has a special interest for Irish priests, as the Irish +recensions of it, found in the Bangor Antiphoner (to be seen in the +Library of Trinity College, Dublin) are of the greatest value to +scholars engaged in critical study. They date from the tenth century, +and give Nicetas as the author. The wording in the old Irish Antiphoner +differs in some verses from the text given in our Breviary. Thus, in +verse 6, the Bangor text has, _universa_ before the word _terra_; again, +in verse 18, the Breviary reads "_Tu ad deteram Dei sedes_," Bangor, and +probably more correctly, reads _sedens_. Verses 26-29, "_Dignare +Domine_... _confundar in aeternum_" are not found in the Irish book. +Those who wish to study these old Irish MSS. may receive great help from +Warren's _Bangor Antiphoner_ (II., pp.83-91) and light comes too from +Julian's _Dictionary of Hymnology_ (pp. 1120-1121). + + +SOME TEXTS AND INTENTIONS WHICH MAY HELP TOWARDS THE WORTHY RECITATION + OF MATINS (_vide_ pages 4, 120). + + "Matutina ligat Christum qui crimina purgat." + "Although I should die with Thee, I will not deny Thee." + "And in like manner also said they all." + "Pray, lest you enter into temptation," + "And being in agony He prayed the longer." + "Friend, whereunto art thou come?--" + "And they holding Jesus led Him away"--the Garden. + "Art thou one of His disciples?" + "My kingdom is not of this world"--Before the High Priest. + +_General Intentions_:-Exaltation of the Church; the Pope; the Mission to +the heathen; Christian nations; the conversion of the heretics, infidels +and sinners; the Catholic laity; the Catholic priesthood. + +_Personal Intentions_:-Lively faith; a greater hope; ardent charity. + +_Special Intentions_:-For parents; for benefactors; for those in sorrow; +dying sinners; deceased priests of Ireland; for the conversion of +England; for vocations to the priesthood. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +LAUDS. + +_Etymology, Definition, Symbolism_. The word "Lauds" is derived from the +Latin _laus_, praise. It is applied to this Hour, as it is _par +excellence_, the hour in which God's praises are chanted by His Church. +This Hour succeeds Matins and precedes Prime. The name is said to have +been given to this Hour on account of the last three Psalms, which +formerly formed part of the Office. In these Psalms, 148, 149, 150, the +word _Laudate_ recurs several times. Before the eighth century the Hour +was called "Matutinum," or morning Office, and sometimes it was called +_Gallicinum_ or _Galli cantus_ from being recited at cock-crow. This is +the Office of daybreak and hence its symbolism is of Christ's +resurrection. "Christ, the light of the world, rose from the tomb on +Easter morning, like a radiant sun, trampling over darkness and shedding +His brightness upon the earth. The hymns, psalms, antiphons and +versicles of Lauds, all proclaim the mystery of Christ's Resurrection, +and the light which enlightens our souls. The reform of the Psalter in +1911 has not always preserved this liturgical idea; nevertheless, the +character of the Office has not been altered. Lauds remains the true +morning prayer, which hails in the rising sun, the image of Christ +triumphant--consecrates to Him the opening day. No other morning prayer +is comparable to this" (Dom. F. Cabrol, _The Day Hours of the Church_, +London, 1910). + +_Antiquity_. The Christians, in their night vigils, followed the pious +practices of the Jews, as to prayers at dead of night and at dawn, +Hence, the Hour, Lauds is of great antiquity, coming, perhaps, from +Apostolic times. It is found well established in the very earliest +accounts of Christian liturgy. + +The old writers on liturgy loved to dwell on pious congruities and +parallelisms. They ask the questions, why did the early Christians pray +at dawn and why is the practice continued? They answer at great length, +I will try to summarise their holy themes. The early Christians prayed +at dawn, 1. that in the New Law the figures of the Old may be fulfilled; +2. to honour the risen Saviour and to remind us of our resurrection; 3. +to glorify Jesus typified by the physical light. "I am the Light of the +world" (St. John, viii. 12); 4. because at dawn, after rest, body and +soul are refreshed and ready to devote all their powers to God, free +from distractions and noise. Each dawn, revealing God's wondrous work, +should hear God's praises in the most sublime words ever uttered, the +Psalms (e.g., _Dominus regnavit, Jubilate Deo_, etc., etc.); +5. because God seems more disposed to hear prayers made at that hour. For, +He has said, "Yet if thou wilt arise early to God and wilt beseech the +Almighty... He will presently awake unto thee and make the dwelling of thy +justice peaceable" (Job, viii. 5-6). "I love them that love me; and +they that in the morning early watch for me shall find me" (Proverbs +viii. 17). + +_Structure_. If Lauds succeeds Matins immediately, _Pater Noster_ and +_Ave Maria_ are omitted, and the Hour begins with _Deus in adjutorium_. +At these words it is a practice but not an obligation to make the sign +of the cross from head to breast (see Vespers, _infra_). Then the Gloria +Patri, Sicut erat, Amen, Alleluia are said before the antiphons and +psalms. But if a notable delay--say, of ten minutes' duration--be made +between the end of Matins and the start of Lauds, the _Pater Noster_ and +_Ave Maria_ begin Lauds. After the psalms, comes the Capitulum, the +Hymn, Versicle and Response, antiphon to Benedictus, Canticle +_Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel, Gloria Patri, Sicut erat_, Antiphon to +Benedictus repeated, _Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo, Oremus_, +collect, commemorations preceded by versicle, response and _Oremus_ +before each. Then _Dominus vobiscum_, _Et cum spiritu tuo_, _Benedicamus +Domino, Deo Gratias, Fidelium animae, Amen_. If another Hour do not +succeed immediately, _Pater Noster_ (said silently), _Dominus det nobis_ +(with a sign of the cross) _suam pacem, Et vitam aeternam_. _Amen_. Then +is said the antiphon of the Blessed Virgin, Alma Redemptoris or Ave +Regina, or Regina Coeli, or Salve Regina, according to the part of the +ecclesiastical year for which each is assigned, with _versicle, +response, oremus, collect, Divinum auxilium_.... Amen. + +_Rubrics_. In the paragraphs dealing with the structure of this hour is +given the rule for saying _Pater Noster_ and _Ave_, The Psalms for +Lauds in the new Breviary follow these rules:-- + +_General Rule_: Psalms of the current day. + +_Exception_: Sunday Psalms on the excepted Feasts. + +In applying the general rule to Sundays and week days, it will be seen +that the Psalter contains two sets of Psalms for Lauds. The use of the +two sets is as follows:-- + +_Sundays_: + (i) Throughout the year: first set of Psalms. + + (ii) Sundays from Septuagesima to Easter: second set of Psalms. + + +_Ferias_: The first set of Psalms is to be used on:-- + + (i) Ferias throughout the year, not including those in Advent, + Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima weeks. + + (ii) Ferias in Paschal time. + + (iii) Feasts at any season of the year. + + (iv) Vigils of Christmas and Epiphany. + + +The second set of Psalms is to be used on:-- + + (i) Ferias of Advent. + + (ii) Ferias from Septuagesima to Wednesday in Holy Week, inclusive. + + (iii) Vigils (common) outside Paschal time, when the Office of Vigil + is said (_New Psalter and Its Uses_, p. 188). + +On Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, the Psalms of the +Feria are to be said. But the Canticle of Moses (Deut, 33) is not said +on Holy Saturday. + +_Antiphons_. As a general rule antiphons of the current day of the week +are to be said. + +_Exceptions_. (1) On excepted Feasts, (2) non-excepted Feasts which have +proper antiphons, (3) Holy Week has special antiphons, (4) Six ferias +before Christmas have special antiphons. + +In Paschal time, all psalms and the canticles are recited under one +antiphon. + +Antiphon of Benedictus (1) Sunday antiphons are proper. (2) Ferias +throughout the year have antiphons of current feria. But Ferias in +Advent, and in Lent, in Passiontide, Paschal time and September Ember +days have proper antiphons. (3) Feasts have antiphons from proper or +from common. + +_Capitulum_ (Title XXIX.). _Etymology, meaning and synonyms_. + +The word _capitulum_ comes from the Latin, and means a little chapter, a +heading, a beginning, an abridgment, because this little chapter is a +little lesson, a brief extract from Sacred Scripture, the head or the +beginning of the Epistle of the Mass of the Feast (Gavantus, Bona). It +is found in every Hour, except Matins. It is known by other names, the +summarium, collectio, collatio, lectio brevis, epistoletto, lectiuncula, +Versiculus brevis. + +_Antiquity_. Some authors hold that this usage of reading a brief +extract from Sacred Scripture is of Jewish origin. For, the Jews were +accustomed to interpose brief readings from Scripture prose in their +psalm chanting service. The _capitulum_ is found in Christian services +of the fourth century; and St. Ambrose (340-397) is said to have +instituted the _capitula_ of Terce, Sext and None. This new practice +spread quickly and several councils recommended or ordered the +usage--e.g., the Council of Agde In 506 A.D. + +_Remarks._ The _Capitulum_ is said always except from Holy Thursday to +the Vespers of Saturday preceding Low Sunday, and in Requiem Offices. In +Compline it is said after the Hymn. + +The _Capitulum_ of Lauds is ordinarily taken from the beginning of the +Epistle of the Mass of the day of the feast. Sext and None generally +have their _capitula_ drawn from the middle and end of the same Epistle +extract. Terce has generally the same words for the _Capitulum_, as +Vespers and Lauds, because it is the grandest and most sublime of the +little Hours. The _Capitulum_ is said without a blessing being sought, +because it is (in choir) read by the Hebdomadarius, who there represents +the person of Christ, just as the _Capitulum_ does too, and for Whom it +would not be consonant to ask a blessing. It concludes without _Tu +autem_, because these words are correlative of _Jube_. And since it is +such a short lesson it is easy to recite it without fault or sin, the +more so as it is read by the Hebdomadarius, who should be advanced in +perfection. It is short, whilst the lessons of Matins, the night Office, +are long, because the day is specially given to toil and the night to +contemplation. During the recital of this little lesson all turn to the +altar through respect for Christ, figured by the _Capitulum_. Sometimes +the words of the _Capitulum_ are from the Itala version and not from +the Vulgate. + +_Psalms and Canticles of Lauds_. The Office of Lauds now consists of +four Psalms and a canticle, followed by a little chapter, a hymn, +versicle, antiphon, of Benedictus, the canticle, Benedictus and prayer. +One of the characteristics of Lauds is the canticle taken from the Old +Testament. Fourteen canticles taken from the Old Testament now find a +place in our Breviaries. Formerly, only seven canticles from the Old +Testament were given in the Psaltery (cf. _supra_, p. 149). + +"If, according to the new distribution of the Psalter, the Psalms for +Lauds do not refer so directly to the symbolism of sunrise, they are +nevertheless more varied and are generally well chosen. The canticles +inserted among the Psalms have also been changed. The whole selection is +worthy of note. It contains, besides those given in the former +arrangement of the Psalter, others which are very beautiful and +admirably prayerful. + +"The hymns for Lauds, all ancient and varying with the seasons, form a +fine collection. Their theme is one: the rising of the sun as a symbol +of Christ's resurrection, and the crowing of the cock, which arouses the +sluggish and calls all to work. Some of these hymns are of considerable +poetical merit: that for Sunday, _Aeterne Rerum conditor_, is a little +masterpiece. + +"The 'Benedictus' corresponds with the _Magnificat_ of Vespers. Both are +sung with the same solemnity and are of the same importance; they form +as it were the culminating point of their respective Hours, and for +feast days the altar is incensed while they are chanted. + +"The 'Benedictus' or Canticle of Zachary recalls the Precursor's mission +of proclaiming the Messiah and the new alliance. It is altogether +appropriate to the Office of daybreak, as ushering in the dawn of a new +era. The closing verse speaks of the light which the announcement of the +Messiah shed upon the nations 'sitting in darkness and in the shadow of +death'" (Dom Cabrol, Introduction to _Day Hours of the Church_). + +"This Canticle of Zachary (St. Luke i. 68-79) naturally falls into two +parts. The first (verses 68 to 75, 'Benedictus Dominus ... diebus +nostris') is a song of thanksgiving for the fulfilment of the Messianic +hopes of the Jews, to which is given a Christian sentiment. The power, +which was of old in the family of David for the defence of the nation, +is being restored, and in a higher and more spiritual sense. The Jews +mourning under the Roman yoke prayed for deliverance through the house +of David. The 'deliverance,' a powerful salvation ('cornu salutis +nobis') was at hand so that the Jews were seeing the fulfilment of God's +promise made to Abraham, and this deliverance, this salvation was such +that 'we may serve Him without fear in holiness and justice, all our +days' (St. Luke i. 75). + +"The second part of the canticle (verses 76-80, 'Et tu puer ... ad +dirigendos pedes nostros') is an address by Zachary to his own son, who +was to take an important part in the scheme of the powerful salvation +and deliverance by the Messiah. This canticle is known as the canticle +of joyous hope, hence its use at funerals at the moment of interment, +when words of thanksgiving for the Redemption are specially in place as +an expression of Christian hope" (_Catholic Encyclopedia_, art. +"Benedictus"). + +_Oratio_ (Title XXX.). The word _oratio_ has various meanings. In the +liturgy it is translated by the word "collect." The word "collect" means +either that the priest who celebrates Mass collects in a short form the +needs, the thanksgivings and the praises of the people, to offer them up +to God; or most probably "the original meaning seems to have been this: +it was used for the service held at a certain church on the days when +there was a station held somewhere else. The people gathered together +and became a collection at the first church; after certain prayers had +been said they went in procession to the station church. Just before +they started, the celebrant said a prayer, the _oratio ad collectam_ +(_ad collectionem populi_), the name would then be the same as _oratio +super populum_, a title that still remains in our Missal, in Lent, for +instance, after the Post-Communion. This prayer, the collect, would be +repeated at the beginning of Mass at the station itself. Later writers +find other meanings for the name. Innocent III. says that in this prayer +the priest collects all the prayers of the faithful" (_De Sacr. Altar. +Mystic_. ii., 2). See also Benedict XIV. (_De SS. Missae Sacr_. ii., +5,--Dr. A. Fortescue, _Cath. Encyl_., art. "collect"). + +_Antiquity of collects_. No one can say with certainty who the +composers of the collects were. All admit the antiquity of these +compositions. In the fourth century certain collects were believed to +come from apostolic times; indeed, the collects read in the Mass on Good +Friday, for Gentiles, Jews, heretics, schismatics, catechumens and +infidels bear intrinsic notes of their antiquity. Other liturgical +collects show that they were composed in the days of persecution. Others +show their ages by their accurate expression of Catholic doctrine +against, and their supplications for, heretics, Manicheans, Sabbelians, +Arians, Pelagians and Nestorians. St, Jerome in his Life of St. Hilarion +(291-371) writes, "Sacras Scriptures memoriter tenens, post orationes et +psalmos quasi Deo praesente recitabat." It is said that St. Gelasius (d. +496), St. Ambrose (d. 397), St, Gregory the Great (d. 604) composed +collects and corrected existing ones. The authorship and the period of +composition of many of the Breviary collects are matters of doubt and +difficulty. Even the date of the introduction of collects into the +Divine Office is doubtful. In the early Christian Church there seems to +have been one and only one prayer, the _Pater Noster_, in liturgical +use. St. Benedict laid it down in his rule that there should be none +other. It is generally held by students of liturgy that the collects +were originally used in Mass only and were introduced into the Office at +a time much later than their introduction into the Mass books. + +In the Masses for Holy Week we see the collects in their oldest existing +form. The rite of the Mass has been shortened at all other seasons, and +there remains now only the greeting, _Oremus_, and the collect itself. +The _Oremus_ did not refer immediately to the collect, but rather to the +silent prayer that went before it. This also explains the shortness of +the older collects. They are not the prayer itself, but its conclusion. +One short sentence summed up the petitions of the people. It is only +since the original meaning of the collect has been forgotten that it has +become itself a long petition with various references and clauses +(compare the collects for the Sundays after Pentecost with those of +modern feasts)--(_Cath. Encyl._, art. "Collects"). + +The following examples which are not extreme, may help to make clear and +emphatic the matter of the shortness of the old and the length of the +new collects. + +"Protector in te sperantium, Deus, sine quo nihil est validum, nihil est +sanctum: multiplica super nos misericordiam tuam; ut te rectore, te +duce, sic transeamus per bona temporalia, ut non amittamus aeterna. +Per Dominum." + +_Translation_--"O God, the Protector of all that hope in Thee, without +Whom nothing is sure, nothing is holy, bountifully bestow on us, Thy +mercy, that Thou being our ruler and our guide, we may so pass through +temporal blessings that we lose not the eternal. Through our Lord ..." +(Collect for third Sunday after Pentecost.) + +"Omnipotens et misericors Deus qui beatam Joannam Franciscam tuo amore +succensam admirabili spiritus fortitudine per omnes vitae semitas in via +perfectionis donasti, quique per illam illustrare Ecclesiam tuam nova +prole voluisti: ejus meritis et precibus concede ut qui infirmitatis +nostrae conscii de tua virtute confidimus coelestis gratiae auxilio, +cuncta nobis adversantia vicamus. Per Dominum ..." + +_Translation_-"Almighty and merciful God Who inflaming blessed Jane +Frances with love, didst endow her with a marvellous fortitude of spirit +to pursue the way of perfection In all the paths of life, and wast +pleased through her to enrich Thy Church with a new offspring, grant by +her merits and intercession that we, who, knowing our own weakness, +trust in Thy strength, may by the help of Thy heavenly grace overcome +all things that oppose us. Through our Lord" (Collect of St. Jane +Frances Fremiot De Chantal, August 21). + +_Rubrics_. In Vespers and Lauds the collect is said after the antiphons +of the _Magnificat_ and _Benedictus_, unless the _Preces_ (q.v.) are to +be said in these hours. Then the _Preces_ are said after the antiphons, +and the collects follow after them immediately. The collect of a ferial +Office is found in Office of the previous Sunday, except in ferias of +Lent and Rogation days which have special and proper collects. + +At Prime and the other Hours the collect is said after the little +respond, unless the _Preces_ be recited. They precede the collect. At +Compline the collect is said after the antiphon _Salva nos_ if the +_Preces_ be not recited. + +At Prime and Compline the collects of the Psalter are never changed +except during the last three days of Holy Week. In this triduum, in all +hours up to and including None on Holy Saturday the collect is said +after the Psalm _Miserere_. + +Before reciting the collect in the Office, everyone in deacon's orders +or in priesthood says _Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo_, and this +is said even if the Office be said privately. All others reciting the +Office say _Domine exaudi orationem meam. Et clamor meus ad te veniat_. +Then the word _Oremus_ is prefixed to the recitation of the collect, and +at the end, _Amen_ is said. If there be only one collect, the _Dominus +vobiscum_ or the _Domine exaudi_ with the responses _Et cum spiritu tuo; +Et clamor meus ad te veniat_ is repeated after the _Amen_. But if there +be more than one collect, before each is said its corresponding antiphon +and versicle and also the word, _Oremus_. After the last collect is +said, the _Dominus vobiscum_ and _Et cum spiritu tuo_ are repeated. Then +we add _Benedicamus Domino; Deo Gratias, Fidelium animae_.... This +latter verse is not a constant sequel to the _Benedicamus_, as we see in +Prime, where the verse _Pretiosa_ succeeds it; and again in Compline it +is succeeded by _Benedicat et custodiet_. The concluding words of the +prayers or collects vary. If the prayer is addressed to God the Father, +the concluding words are _Per Dominum_ (see the collects given above). +If the prayer be addressed to God the Son, the concluding words are _Qui +vivis et regnas_--e.g., Deus qui in tuae caritatis exemplum ad fidelium +redemptionem .... Qui vivis et regnas (Collect for St. Peter Nolasco's +feast, 3ist January). If in the beginning of the prayer mention is made +of God the Son, the ending should be _Per eundem, e.g.,_ Domine Deus +noster? qui, beatae Brigittae per Filium tuurn unigenitum secreta +coelestia revelasti; ... Per eundem Dominum (collect for feast, 8th +October). But if the mention of God the Son is made near the end of the +collect, the ending is _Qui tecum vivit et regnal, e.g._, "Famulorum +tuorum, quaesumus, Domine.... Genitricis Filii tui Domini nostri +intercessione salvemur: Qui tecum vivit et regnat" (collect of +Assumption, 15th August). If the name of the Holy Ghost occur in the +prayer, the conclusion is, _In unitate ejusdem Spiritus sancti, e.g._, +"Deus, qui hodierna die corda ... in eodem spiritu recta ... _in imitate +ejusdem Spiritus_" (collect: for Pentecost Sunday). + +The following lines, giving the rules for terminations, are well known +and are useful, as a help to the memory:-- + + _Per Dominum_ dicas, si Patrem quilibet oras + Si Christum memores, _Per eundem_, dicere debes + Si loqueris Christo, _Qui vivis_ scire memento; + _Qui tecum_, si sit collectae finisin ipso + Si Flamen memores _ejusdem_ die prope finem + +When there are several collects an ending or conclusion is added to the +first and last only. _Dominus vobiscum_ is said before the first collect +only, but each collect is preceded by the word _Oremus_, unless in the +Office for the Dead. + +_Explanation of the Rubric_. Where a feast is transferred either +occasionally or always and its collect contains words such as _Hanc +diem, hodiernom diem_, it is not allowed to change the wording, without +permission of the Congregation of Rites (S.R.C., 7th September, 1916). + +If the collect of a commemoration be of the same form as the prayer of +the feast, the former is taken from the common of saints, in +proper place. + +_Dominus vobiscum_. This salutation is of great antiquity. It was the +greeting of Booz to his harvestmen (Ruth, ii. 4). The prophet used the +selfsame salutation to Azas. And the Angel Gabriel expressed the same +idea, _Dominns tecum_, to the Blessed Virgin. It was blessed and +honoured by our Lord Himself, when to His apostles he said "Ecce ego +vobiscum sum omnibus diebus" (St. Matt. 28. 20). This beautiful +salutation passed into Church liturgy at an early date, probably in +apostolic times. Its use in liturgy was mentioned at the Council of +Braga (563), and it is found in the Sacramentarium Gelasianum (sixth +century). These words are called the divine salutation. They mean that +the priest who utters them is at peace with all clergy and people and +thus wishes God to remain with them--the highest and holiest of wishes. +For the presence of God, Who is the source of every good and the author +of every best gift, is a certain pledge of divine protection and of that +peace and consolation which the world cannot give. This formula is used +even in private recitation of the Office, as the priest prays in union +with and in the name of the Church. + +The words _Et cum spiritu tuo_ add a new and further significance to the +salutation; for it is the spirit, the human soul, that prays, and when +the spirit prays in the name of the Church for her children, its work +is a work of high spiritual order, demanding the use of all the +soul's powers, + +_Oremus._ This exhortation is of very great antiquity, and in this form +is found in the liturgies of St. James and of St. Mark. In those days it +was said by the priest in a loud voice. The priest, the mediator, +following the example of the great Mediator, Christ, calls others to +join with him in prayer. St. Augustine tells us, that sometimes after +pronouncing the word _Oremus_, the priest paused for a while and the +people prayed in silence, and then the priest "collected" the united +prayers of the congregation and offered them to God, hence the name +_collect_ (St. Augustine, Epistle 107), (_cf._ Probst., _Abendl +Messe_, p. 126). + +_Invocation and Conclusion_. Prayer is addressed generally to God the +Father. This practice is in accordance with the example and doctrine of +Christ, "Father, I give Thee thanks" (St. John, xi, 41); "Amen, amen, I +say to you; if you ask the Father anything in My name, he will give it +to you" (St. John, xvi. 23). "And He taught us to say 'Our Father.'" In +the early ages of the Church, seldom was prayer addressed to God, the +Son. Innocent III. tells us that the reason for the practice was a fear +that such prayer might lead the catechumens, the Jews or the Pagans +converted to Christianity, to allege or to believe that Christians +worshipped several Gods. However, with the advent of the early heresies, +it became necessary to formulate prayers witnessing the divinity of +Christ and His equality in all things to the Father and the Holy Ghost. +In some of the great prayers of the liturgy, the three Persons of the +Holy Trinity are named to show their equality and unity of nature and +substance. Nearly all the prayers of this kind are the products of the +Church during the storms of early heresy against the divinity, nature or +personality of Christ. + +The conclusions of the prayers generally contain the words _Per Dominum +nostrum Jesum Christum_, because all graces come through Jesus Christ, +our Lord and Saviour, Who pleads, as Mediator between God and Man, as He +Himself has said, "No man cometh to the Father but by Me" (St. +John, xiv. 6). + +Hence, in every collect, we may distinguish five parts: the invocation, +the motive, the petition, the purpose, the conclusion. + +(1) The Invocation takes some form such as _Deus, Domine_. + +(2) The motive is commonly introduced by the relative _qui_; e.g., Deus, +_qui corda fidelium sancti spiritus illustratione docuisti_. + +(3) The petition, the body or centre or substance of the prayer, is +always noted for the solemn simplicity of language, which marks +liturgical prayer, e.g., _Multiplica_ super nos misericordiam tuam. + +(4) The purpose is an enforcement of the petition. It has reference, +generally, to the need of the petitions and is marked usually with the +word _ut_. "Multiplica super nos misericordiam tuam, _ut_ quae, nobis +agendis praecipis, te miserante adimplere possimus" (prayer for feast of +St. Patrick). + +(5) The _conclusion_ varies, e.g., "Per Dominum nostrum," "Per eundem +Dominum," etc. + +"Those who pay intelligent attention to the liturgical chant at High +Mass, and in particular to the chant of the celebrant, will be able to +discover for themselves that the intonations used in the singing of the +collect and the Post-Communion serve, as a rule, to mark off two at +least of the main divisions indicated. Two inflections, a greater and a +lesser, occur in the body of the prayer, the greater for the most part +coming at the close of the 'motive,' while the lessor concludes the +'petition' and produces the purpose of the prayer. When the prayers are +correctly printed, as in the authentic 'Missale Romanum,' the place of +the inflexions is indicated by a colon, 'punctum principals,' and a +semicolon, 'semi-punctum,' respectively. These steps, it will he +observed, indicate, not precisely 'breaks in the sense' (as Haberl +incorrectly says) but rather the logical divisions of the sentence, +which is not quite the same thing" (Father Lucas, S.J., _Holy Mass_, +chap, vi.). + +The question is often asked, why _Dominus vobiscum_ is said after the +collect, or prayer. Writers on liturgy reply that it is so placed +because Christ frequently used the salutation _Pax vobis_, and the +priest in public prayer holds the place of Christ, and as he, the +priest, used this formula of salvation before the collect to obtain the +spirit of prayer and the grace of God, he repeats it so that these gifts +may be retained. + +In the collects, the fatherland of the saints is rarely found, because +the saints' true home and fatherland is heaven, where they were born +again to life eternal, and their fatherland is not this valley of exile +where they spent their temporal life. Nor are their surnames given in +the collects (see the collect of St. Jane Frances Fremiot de Chantel +given on p. 180). But it is not infrequent in the collects to find +certain appellations characterising a saint or noting some special +prerogative or wonderful gift of grace. The Church's collects record the +wonderful gifts of St. John Chrysostom ("the golden-mouthed"), St. Peter +Chrysologus ("qui ob auream ejus eloquentiam Chrysologi cognomen adeptus +est") (_Rom. Brev_.). Sometimes the nation or earthly home of a saint is +given in a collect to distinguish one saint from another. This is seen +in the case of saints bearing the name of Mary, which if used absolutely +or unqualifiedly refers to the Mother of God. See the collects for St. +Mary Magdalen, St. Mary of Egypt, etc. + +The collect or prayer is placed at the end of the Hours to collect or +gather up the fruits of all the prayers that precede; to beg from God +that His grace may follow our actions as it precedes them; that the +prayer may be a shield and buckler against all temptations which may be +encountered. The prayers at Prime and at Compline never vary, to remind +us, the old writers tell us, that all our acts should be invariably +referred to God. In the early ages of the Church, all public prayers, +both in Mass and in Office were offered up by both priests and people +with outstretched arms. This practice is observed still, in a certain +way, in Mass. + +_Benedicamus_ is the prayer to thank God for all His graces. + +_Fidelium animae_. This prayer is said after every Hour, unless where +the hour is said in choir and followed immediately by Mass. It Is +omitted, too, before the Litany. + +De Precibus (Title XXXIV.). These are prayers which are said at some of +canonical Hours, before the collect or oratio. They commence with Kyrie +eleison or Pater Noster. They consist of versicles and responses and +these differ from other versicles and responses, which are generally +historic, e.g., In omnem terram exivit sonus eorum, Amavit eum Dominus +et laudavit eum. But the versicles and responses of the _preces_ are +always a call to God or an exhortation to praise God (e.g., Fiat +misericordia tua, Domine), super nos, Quemadmodum speravimus in te (see +Prime, infra, page 193). These prayers are of great antiquity, mention +of them being found in the works of Amalare (ninth century). + +They are said in some Offices in Vespers, Compline, Lauds, Prime and +Little Hours. Before the reform of the Breviary by Pope Pius X,, the +Preces at Vespers contained six short prayers and the Psalm, Miserere. +In the new Breviary nine short prayers are given in the Preces--the six +former prayers being retained and three new ones, Pro Papa; Pro +antistite; Pro benefactoribus, being added. The Miserere is omitted. The +same additions were made in Lauds and the Psalm, De Profundis omitted. + +In Prime and the Little Hours, the preces are unchanged standing in the +new Breviary as in the old. + +_Rubrics_. The Preces are recited in the Office of-- + +(1) Prime and Compline on certain days; + +(2) Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline of certain +feasts. + +The preces feriales at Lauds and Vespers are the same in structure. They +have the same structure in Terce, Sext, None, but differ in character. +The preces dominicales at Prime and Compline have a form of their own, +additions being made in the preces of Prime when said on a feria. + +1. The Preces Feriales are said at Lauds on Ferias of Lent, Advent and +Passiontide, Ember days, except Ember day at Pentecost and on Vigils +(except on Vigil of Christmas, Epiphany, Ascension, Friday after +Ascension and Vigil of Pentecost)--when the Office on those days is of +the current feria. + +2. At Prime (i) Preces Dominicales are said in all semi-doubles, +simples, Ferial Offices. + +(i) They are said at Little Hours if said at Lauds. + +(ii) At Prime, Preces Feriales are said if they have been said at Lauds. + +3. At Vespers Preces Feriales are said (1) on ferias of Advent and Lent +when office is of feria. + +4. At Compline, Preces Dominicales are said on all (i) semi-doubles, +(ii) simples, (iii) all Ferias, _unless_ at Vespers a double or an +octave was celebrated. + + + + +SOME TEXTS AND INTENTIONS WHICH MAY HELP TOWARDS THE DEVOUT + RECITATION OF LAUDS. + +1. "And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they come +to the sepulchre, the sun being now risen." + +They said to one another, "Who shall roll us back the stone from the +door of the sepulchre?" (St. Mark, xv.). + +2. "And looking, they saw the stone rolled back.... And entering the +sepulchre they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a +white robe; and they were astonished. Who sayeth to them, Be not +affrighted; you seek Jesus of Nazareth Who was crucified. He is risen, +He is not here" (St. Mark, xv.). + +3. "Behold Jesus sayeth to her (Magdalen) 'Woman, why weepest thou?'" + +4. "Behold Jesus met them (the women) saying to them 'All hail.'" + +(5) "See my hands and feet, that it is I myself, handle and see" (St. +Luke, xxiv.). + +6. "Bring hither thy hand and put it into My side and be not faithless." + +7. "My Lord and my God" (St, John, xx.). + +_General Intentions_. The wants of the Church, peace among +nations--vocations to the priesthood--Church students--souls in +Purgatory. + +_Personal Intentions_. A glorious resurrection; fervour in saying the +Office; fervour in saying Mass; fervour in priestly work; forgiveness +of all sin. + +_Special Intentions_. For Catholic Ireland; for the conversion of +America; for peace throughout the world. + + + + +PRIME (TITLE XV.). + +_Etymology_. The name _Prime_ is derived from the Latin _prima_ because +this part of the Office was said at the first hour of the day, 6 a.m., +with us, following the old Roman distribution of the day. + +_Origin_. It was stated by some writers that this Hour was established +by St. Clement and should therefore date from almost apostolic times. +But modern writers, following the statement of Cassian, date the origin +of this Hour from about the year 382. It was believed, too, that the +monastery indicated by Cassian as the cradle of Prime was the monastery +of Bethlehem, St. Jerome's monastery. But it was probably established +not there, but in a monastery in the neighbourhood, Dair-er-Raociat +(convent of the shepherds) or in Seiar-en-Ganheim (enclosure of the +sheep). Cassian tells us the reason that led to the introduction of this +Hour. Lauds ended at dawn, and the monks retired to rest. As no other +choir work called them until Terce, at 9 a.m., some of them were +inclined to rest until that hour and to neglect the spiritual reading +and manual work laid down by their rule. To prevent this prolonged rest, +it was decided to introduce a short choir service, the recital of a few +psalms, and then the monks went to work until Terce (_Cath. +Encyclopedia_, "Prime"). + +_Contents_. Originally the matter for Prime was drawn from Lauds and was +a repetition of part of Lauds. Prime consists of two parts. The first +part consists of hymn, psalms, little chapter and collect. The prayers +and confiteor inserted before the collect and said on certain days are +adjuncts. The second part contains the Martyrology (when Prime is said +in choir) and other prayers peculiar to the Hour. "The reason for this +divergence may be traced to the fact that Prime is of monastic +institution and the second portion, which is said in the chapter house, +has reference to monastic customs. The Martyrology and Necrology having +been read, prayers were said for the dead recommended to the Community, +as benefactors, friends, patrons, protectors, etc. Then followed a +special prayer in preparation for manual labour of the day, and a +chapter of the rule was read, on which the Abbot briefly commented or +else gave some admonition to the Community. This monastic character will +be easily recognised by a glance at the formulas used. The prayer, +'Sancta Maria et omnes sancti' forms a natural conclusion, to the +reading of the Martyrology, The 'Deus in adjutorium,' the 'Pater Noster' +with accompanying versicles, and the collect, are the prayers before +manual labour: 'Respice,' etc., Look, O Lord, upon Thy servants and upon +Thy works... and direct Thou the work of our hands. 'Dirige et +sanctificare,' etc., 'Vouchsafe to direct and sanctify our senses, words +and actions,' etc. Whilst the 'Dominus nos benedicat' and the 'Fidelium +animae' are the conclusion of the prayers for the dead" (Dom Cabrol, +Introduction to the _Day Hours of the Church_). + +_Structure_:-i. Pater, Ave, Credo, silently. 2. Deus in adjutorium. ... +Domine ad adjuvandum .. with sign of the cross, Gloria Patri. ... Sicut +erat. ... 3. Hymn, _fam lucis_. 4. Antiphon, first words only. 5. Psalms +for the Sunday or feria as rubrics direct, with the Athanasian Creed if +it be ordered, then the antiphon in full. 6. Regi saeculorum ... or, +Pacem et veritatem. ... Deo Gratias, Christie, Fili Dei vivi.... 7. +Preces, if they are ordered in the Office of the Day, Preces Dominicales +or Preces feriales as rubrics direct. These include versicles, +responses, confiteor, misereatur... indulgentiam... versicles responses. +8. Dominus vobiscum. Et cum spiritu tuo. Oremus, Domine Deus..... Amen. +Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo. 9. Benedicamus Domino, Deo +Gratias. 10. In choir, the martyrology is here read, 11. Pretiosa... +mors.... 12. Sancta Maria et omnes Sancti.... 13. Thrice, Deus in +adjutorium meum intende, Domine ad adjuvandum... without the sign of +cross, Gloria Patri.... Sicut erat. 14. Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison, +Kyrie Eleison, Pater Noster, qui es in coelis... (in silence). Et ne nos +inducas in tentationem. Sed libera nos a malo. 15. Respice in servos +tuos.... Et sit splendor....16. Gloria Patri.... Sicut erat....Oremus, +Dirigere et sanctificare.... l7. Jube, Domine.... Deus et actus +nostros....Amen. 18. Lectio brevis, which in feast offices is the +Capitulum from None. 19. Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domine (with sign +of cross on forehead, breast and shoulders); Qui fecit....20. +Benedicite, Deus; Domine nos benedicat...in pace, Amen. To the lectio +brevis at Prime, Tu autem Domine, miserere nobis, is added. + +_The Athanasian Creed_. In the Roman Breviary prior to the reform of +1911, the title given to the formula of faith was Symbolum S. Athanasi. +In the new Breviaries the title stands Symbolum Athanasianum. Why was +the change made? + +During the past two hundred years the authorship of this formula has +led to great discussion and its reading has led to much bitter and +heated controversy in Anglican and Protestant churches. Many contended +for its retention in Protestant services and many rejoiced at its +partial exclusion, its truncated revision and clamoured for its +rejection everywhere from service. Controversy led to the study of its +origin. In 1872 a Protestant author, Ffoulkes, maintained that it was +not composed by St. Athanasius (296-373) but by Paulinus of Aquileia +(A.D. 800). But the literature of the age of Charlemagne proves that +this creed had at the beginning of the ninth century an antiquity of at +least more than a century (Ommaney, _History and Structure of the +Athanasian Creed_, Oxford, 1897). Scholars, basing their opinions on +words found in the _Expositio Fidei Fortunati_, date the origin of +this symbol from the fifth century. It contains certain expressions +which a writer subsequent to the Council of Chalcedon (451) would have +been most unlikely to employ, and omits certain expressions which such a +writer would have been most unlikely to omit. However, it is likely that +the creed dates from the fifth century. Who its author was, is quite +doubtful. It was not St. Athanasius, it may have been St. Hilary of +Aries, or St. Vincent of Lerins, or some local bishop in southern +France, "But let us only suppose that the real author was some local +bishop--or the theologian employed by some local bishop--and that it was +composed in the first instance for purely local use in some district of +southern France--then does not the difficulty disappear, and are not +the facts of its silent and gradual adoption suitably explained? Not +coming from an author of wide reputation, it would not at first have +attracted much attention and would have been used only in the locality +of its origin; from there its use would have spread to neighbouring +districts; as it got more known it would have been more widely adopted, +and the compactness and lucidity of its statements, and the +enthusiasm-inspiring character of its style would have contributed to +make it highly prized wherever it was known. Then would come speculation +as to its authorship, and what wonder if in uncritical times an +Athanasian authorship was first guessed, then confidently affirmed and +believed?" (Father Sydney F. Smith, S.J., _The Month_, October, 1904). + +This opinion is only one of several held by Catholic scholars. Dom Morin +holds strongly, and gives very good reasons for his view, that it was +written by Martin of Braga between the years 550 and 580. It was +written, he says, for the people of Galicia in Spain, who had been +recently converted from Arianism (_Journal of Theological Studies_, +April, 1911). It was adopted into Gallican liturgy and office about 980, +and in the Roman office only when the Curial Breviary was adopted. + +"The liturgical use of the Athanasian Creed was Frankish in origin +(ninth century) and spread through the influence of the Cluniac reform +(tenth century), but only found its way to Rome in the Supplementary +prayers in the twelfth and thirteenth century" (Burton and Myers, _op. +cit_., p. 51). + +_Rubrics_. Athanasian Creed, to be said (1) Trinity Sunday, (2) Sundays +after Epiphany, (3) Sundays after Pentecost unless there be in (2) and +(3) the commemoration of a double, or of an octave. + +Why is prayer offered at this first hour of the day? + +Writers on liturgy answer, 1st to offer to God the first fruits of our +day, of our work, of our devotion, following in this the example of +Christ, Who from His first entry into the world offered Himself to His +Father for the salvation of mankind. 2d To beg of Him to keep us safe +during the day, 3d To beg of Him to keep us free from sin, "ut in +diurnis actibus nos servet a nocentibus." + + "May God in all our words and deeds + Keep us from harm this day. + May He in love retain us still, + From tones of strife and words of ill, + And wrap around and close our eyes + To earth's absorbing vanities. + May wrath and thoughts that gender shame + Ne'er in our breasts abide. + And painful abstinences tame + Of wanton flesh, the pride" (Hymn at Prime). + +_Rubrics_. The Office of Prime begins in choir with the silent +recitation of _Pater Noster, Ave, Credo_. Then, if in choir (aloud) Deus +in adjutorium. ... Domine ad adjirvandum. ... Gloria Patri.... Alleluia, +or Laus tibi.... Then the hymn _fam lucis_ is said. The antiphon for the +day is said as far as the asterisk (*), then the Psalms of the day's +Office as arranged in the new Pian Psaltery, according to the day of the +week, except on some special feasts, when the Psalms at Prime are the +Sunday psalms. When the _ordo recitandi_ marks an Office as _officium +solemne_ (an excepted feast), the psalms at Lauds and Hours are the +Sunday psalms; and at Prime the psalm _Deus in nomine tuo_ (Psalm 53) +takes the place of Psalm _Confitemini_ (Psalm 117). At Prime, and at the +small Hours, Terce, Sext, None, only one antiphon is said. It is said in +full at the end of the last Psalm in each Hour. + +The Capitulum, the little Responsory, _Christe_, _Fili Dei vivi_ ... is +then said. In this responsory the versicle _Qui sedes ad dexteram +Patris_ is sometimes changed, e.g., in paschal time it is, _Qui +surrexisti a mortuis_. + +The manner of reciting this responsory is sometimes not correctly +understood, owing, perhaps, to its printed form in some Breviaries. The +normal method is to repeat the _whole_ response, then say the versicle, +and then the second portion of the response; then the _Gloria Patri el +Filio et Spiritui Sancto, without the Sicut erat_, is said, and the +response repeated. The versicle _Exsurge_ and the response _Et libera_ +are then said. This is the method of recitation in all the small Hours +and at Compline. + +After this responsory, if the Office be of double rite or be an Office +within an octave, or on the vigil of Epiphany or on Friday or Saturday +after Ascension, or on a Sunday on which a double is commemorated, or an +octave is celebrated, or on a semi-double feast within an octave, +_Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo_, and the prayer _Dominus Deus +omnipotens_ is said. But if the Office be not any of these mentioned +just now, the responsory is followed by the _Preces_. + +_Preces_ (Title XXXIV.) In the Breviary there are two sets of preces, +the Preces Dominicales for Sunday and the Preces Feriales for ferial +Offices. These ferial preces of Prime differ from the ferial preces of +Lauds, and are said in Prime when the ferial preces are said in Lauds, +That is, on the ferias of Advent, Lent, Passiontide, Ember days and +Vigils. The ferial preces of Lauds are found in the Breviary, +immediately after the second set of Psalms for ferial Lauds and after +the short responsory in the psalm arrangements for the days of the week. +(See Lauds, _supra_, p. 188.) + +These prayers were introduced at a very early stage of Christian +liturgy. St. Isidore writes that they come from Greek liturgy and the +opening words _Kyrie eleison_ seem to indicate remnants of an old +litany. Formerly they were read oftener during the liturgical year than +we now are called on to repeat them. They are sometimes referred to as +the _preces flebiles_, tearful prayers, because they are said in times +of penance, and are formed to excite tears. In choir recitation they are +said kneeling. When the preces or the preces feriales are said the sign +of the cross is made from the forehead to the breast, at the words +_Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini_. Then the Confiteor is said. + +The Confiteor was from an early date a prayer said privately as a +preparation for Mass. It is found in several forms; _Confiteor Deo, +beatae Mariae, omnibus sanctis et vobis_ (Sarum Missal), but since the +time of St. Pius V. (1566-1572) our present form alone was followed and +allowed (S. R. C., 13th February, 1666). If the Office be recited +privately or with one or two companions, the _confiteor_ is said once +only and simultaneously in the preces, and the words _vobis fratribus_ +and _vos fratres_, which priests say in the opening prayer of Mass are +omitted. It should be remarked, too, that the _Misereatur_ and +_Indulgentiam_ have not in this location _vestri, vestris, vos,_ but +_nostri, nostris, nos_. Sometimes errors in this part of the recitation +of the Office are unnoticed, and this pronoun error makes the formula +meaningless. + +After the _Indulgentiam_ come the concluding versicles of the preces, +Dignare ... sine peccato ... miserere ... miserere ... Fiat ... +Quemadmodum ... Domine ... Et ... Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo, +and the prayer _Domine Deus Omnipotens_ ... Amen. ... Dominus vobiscum, +Et cum spiritu tuo. ... Benedicamus Domino, Deo gratias. If the Office +be said in choir, the martyrology is read at this part of Prime. The +reading of the martyrology is not of obligation in private recitation of +the Office; but the reading of it was highly recommended, even in +private recitation, by Pope Gregory XIII. (14th January, 1584; see his +words in the beginning of the Martyrology). + +Then are said, Pretiosa ... mors ... sancta Maria ... Deus in +adjutorium... Domine ad adjuvandum (both the latter being repeated +thrice) ... Gloria Patri ... Sicut erat ... Kyrie eleison ... Christe +eleison ... Kyrie eleison ... Pater Noster (silently) until words "Et +ne nos" ... Sed libera ... Respice ... Et sit ... Gloria Patri ... Sicut +erat ... Oremus, Dirigere et ... Amen, Jube Domine ... Dies et +actus ... Amen. + +The short lesson which, on all feasts, is the same as the chapter which +is said at None will be found in the proper or common, under that Hour, +The new Psalter and new rubrics made no change in this matter. Hence, +for example, on the feast of SS. Peter and Paul the short lesson at end +of Prime is taken from None of the feast, "Et Petrus ad se reversus"; +the short lesson for Prime on the feast of St. Aloysius is "Lex Dei +ejus" and not the short lesson printed in the Psalter under the +day's Office. + +On all Sundays and week days it varies according to the season. Thus-- + +1. From the 14th January until the first Saturday in Lent, from Monday +to Wednesday in Trinity week, from the Friday after the octave of Corpus +Christi until the Saturday before Advent, the short lesson is "Dominus +autem" (II. Thess. iii.), + +2. From the first Sunday of Advent until the 23rd December inclusive it +is "Domine miserere" (Isaias xxxiii,). + +3. From the first Sunday of Lent until the Saturday before Passion +Sunday inclusive it is "Quaerite Dominum" (Isaias iv.). + +4. From Passion Sunday until Wednesday in Holy Week it is "Faciem meam" +(Isaias, 1.), + +5. From Easter Sunday to the Vigil of Ascension inclusive, the short +lesson is "Si consurrexists" (Coloss. iii.). + +At the end of the short lesson the words "Tu autem Domine, miserere +nobis; Deo gratias" are added, and after these words are said +"Adjutorium nostrum ... Qui fecit ... Benedicite Deus" and the Blessing, +"Dominus nos benedicat ... requiescant in pace, Amen." Then _Pater +Noster_ is said silently, unless another Hour is to follow immediately. + + + + +TEXTS AND INTENTIONS FOR PIOUS RECITATION OF PRIME. + +1. "Herod and his army set him at nought" (St. Luke, c. 25). + +2. "Not this man, but Barrabas. Crucify Him." + +3. "I find no cause in Him. I will chastise Him and let Him go" (St. +Luke). + +4. "But Jesus he delivered up to their will" (St. Luke, c. 23). + +5. "Shall I crucify your King?," (St. John, 19). + +_General Intentions_. The Pope and his intentions; the propagation of +the Faith; the priesthood; the Catholic laity; Catholic Missions in the +East; Catholic Europe. + +_Personal Intentions_. The spirit of meekness and humility; greater +devotion to the Eucharist; greater love of the Blessed Virgin; the +priestly vows. + +_Special Intentions_. For our friends; for the sick and sorrowful; for +the Church in Scotland; for our enemies; for the priesthood of America. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +TERCE, SEXT, NONE (TITLE XVI.). + +TERCE. + +_Etymology._ The word Terce comes from the Latin word _tertia (hora)_, +third. Because this little Hour was said at the third hour of the Roman +day, that is, about 9 o'clock in the forenoon, + +_Structure._ It consists of Pater Noster, Ave, Deus in adjutorium, +Gloria Patri ... Sicut erat ... Amen, Alleluia, Hymn, opening words of +the antiphon, the three psalms, antiphon in full, capitulum, response, +Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo, Oremus, collect, Dominus vobiscum, +Et cum spiritu tuo, Benedicamus ... Deo gratias, Fidelium animae.... +Amen. And Pater Noster is said silently if another Hour is not begun +immediately. + +Terce is called the golden Hour, _hora aurea_, because at this time of +the day, the third Hour, the Holy Ghost, who is typified by gold, +descended on the apostles. It is called sometimes the sacred Hour (_hora +sacra_) because in conventional churches it is recited immediately +before Holy Mass. It is the most solemn of all the small Hours. + +_Antiquity._ The custom of praying at these three hours, terce, sext and +none, is very ancient. It was in use amongst the devout Jews, and the +early converts to Christianity retained the practice. The Apostolic +Constitutions contain the words "Preces etiam vestras facite +hora tertia." + +Why does the Church wish us to pray at the third hour? + +The question is asked by liturgists of olden times. Their replies are:-- + +1. to remind us of the hour when our Saviour was condemned (St. Mark, c. +15). + +2. to remind us of the hour at which the Holy Ghost descended on the +Church. + +3. as the Church's hymn tells us that at this hour of the day when men +are engrossed in worldly affairs, they especially need God's help, + + "Come, Holy Ghost, Who ever One, + Reignest with Father and with Son. + It is the hour, our souls possess + With Thy full flood of holiness. + Let flesh and heart and lips and mind + Sound forth our witness to mankind. + And love light up our mortal frame + Till others catch the living flame, + Now to the Father, to the Son, + And to the Spirit, Three in One, + Be praise and thanks and glory given, + By men on earth, by saints in heaven. Amen." + + (Translation by Cardinal Newman of St. Ambrose's + hymn, _Nunc sancte_). + + + + +TEXTS AND INTENTIONS FOR PIOUS RECITATION OF TERCE. + +1. "Therefore, Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him." + +2. "And the soldiers plaiting a crown of thorns put it on His head; and +they put on Him a purple garment." + +3. "And they came to Him and said, 'Hail, King of the Jews,' and they +gave Him blows" (St. John). + +4. "Jesus, therefore, came forth bearing the crown of thorns and the +purple garment, and he (Pilate) sayeth to them 'Behold the Man!'" + +_General Intentions._ The Pope's Intentions; the conversion of heretics; +the conversion of the Jews. + +_Personal Intentions._ Devotion to the Holy Ghost; devotion to the +Passion. + +_Special Intentions._ Vocations in America and Australia; for the Irish +people throughout the world; for the souls of our deceased penitents. + + + + +SEXT. + +_Etymology_. The word Sext comes from the Latin word _sexta, (hora)_, +the sixth hour, because the little Hour should be said at what was the +sixth hour of the Roman day, about mid-day with us. + +_Structure._ The structure of this hour is similar to that given in +Terce above, the hymn, antiphon, psalms, little chapter and responses +differing, but the order and form being similar in both. + +_Antiquity._ The Psalmist wrote, "Vespere et mane et meridie narrabo et +annuntiabo, et exaudiet vocem meam" (Ps. 54). This practice of devout +Jews was maintained by the early Christians and in the Acts of the +Apostles we read, "Ascendit Petrus in superiora ut oraret circam horam +sextam" (Acts x, 9). At this hour, the Christians met for public, +joint prayer. + +Why does the Church wish us to pray at the sixth hour of the day? + +1. Because at this hour Christ instructed the Samaritan woman, the type +of the Gentiles; and He promised to give the living water, springing up +unto life everlasting, which was His blood, poured out on Calvary at the +sixth hour. + +2. Because at this sixth hour Christ was raised on the cross for our +salvation and it is right and just, daily, to remember Him and His great +love for us. Besides, it is to realise His words "And if I be lifted up +from the earth, I will draw all things to myself" (St. John xii. 32). +And the Church, in the opening words of Sext for Sunday, impresses this +idea on us "Deficit in salutare meum anima mea," "My soul hath fainted +after thy salvation" (Ps. 118). + +3. To ask God to grant us health and peace of heart, as the hymn for +Sext sings:-- + + "O God, Who canst not change nor fail, + Guiding the hours as they go by, + Brightening with beam the morning pale, + And burning in the midnight sky, + Quench Thou the fires of hate and strife, + The wasting fever of the heart; + From perils guard our feeble life, + And to our souls Thy grace impart. + Grant this, O Father, only Son, + And Holy Ghost, God of Grace, + To whom all glory, Three in One, + Be given in every time and place--Amen." + + (Translation by Cardinal Newman of St. Ambrose's + hymn, _Rector potens_). + + + + +TEXTS AND INTENTIONS FOR THE PIOUS RECITATION OF SEXT. + +1. "And they took Jesus, and after they had mocked Him, they took off +the purple from Him and put His own garments on Him and led Him out to +crucify Him" (St. Mark, c. 15). + +2. "Bearing His own cross, Jesus went forth to that place called +Calvary." + +3. "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but for yourselves." + +_General Intentions._ The wants of the Church; for peace and goodwill +amongst all States and peoples; for the Pope; for Church students. + +_Personal Intentions._ For patience; for fraternal charity; for the love +of the practice of mortification. + +_Special Intentions._ For Catholic schools; for increase in number of +daily communicants; for the success of catechists and their work. + + + + +NONE. + +_Etymology._ The word _None_ comes from the Latin word _nona_, ninth +(_hora nona_), because this part of the Office was said at the ninth +hour of the Roman day, that is, about three o'clock in our modern day. + +_Antiquity._ This hour was set apart in Apostolic times for joint +prayer, "Now Peter and John went up into the Temple at the ninth hour of +prayer" (Acts iii. 1). + +_Structure._ See note under this head at Terce. + +Why does the Church desire prayer at the ninth hour? + +1. In this she follows the example of her Founder, Christ, Who prayed at +the ninth hour. "At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, +saying 'Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabacthani?' which is, being interpreted, 'My +God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?'" (St. Mark xv. 34). + +2. That ninth hour was the long-wished-for and long-watched-for hour +when reconciliation between earth and heaven was complete. + +3. To beg from God light and grace, especially towards the end of life, +for the day's decline in the afternoon is a figure of the waning of +spiritual and corporal life. The hymn for None expresses this:-- + + "O God, unchangeable and true, + Of all the light and power, + Dispensing light in silence through + Each successive hour; + Lord, brighten our declining day, + That it may never wane + Till death, when all things round decay, + Brings back the morn again. + This grace on Thy redeemed confer, + Father, Co-equal Son, + And Holy Ghost, the Comforter, + Eternal Three in One--Amen." + (St. Ambrose's hymn, translated by Cardinal + Newman). + + + + +TEXTS AND INTENTIONS TO AID THE PIOUS RECITATION OF NONE. + +1. "Come down from the cross" (St. Matthew, c. 27). + +2. "Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy Kingdom" (St. +Matthew, c. 23). + +3. "My God, my God, why has Thou forsaken me?" (St. Matthew, c. 27). + +_General Intentions_. All the intentions of the Sacred Heart; the +conversion of Britain; the Church in America. + +_Personal Intentions_. Fervour in preparation for Mass; fervour in +thanksgiving after Mass; fidelity to professional duties and studies. + +_Special Intentions_. The temporal welfare of Ireland; to beg a blessing +on her priests; to beg a blessing on her Church students; to beg a +blessing on her Catholic laity; to beg a blessing on her +elementary schools. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +VESPERS AND COMPLINE. + +_Etymology_. The word _vespers_ comes directly from the Latin _Vesper_; +_Vespera_ or _Espera_ was a name given to the star Venus, which rising +in the evening was a call to prayer. This Hour is recited after None and +before Compline. In structure, it resembles Lauds, Pater Noster, Ave, +Gloria, Five Psalms with antiphons, Capitulum, Hymn, Versicle, antiphon, +Magnificat, antiphon and collect. + +It had several synonymous names. It was called _Duodecima Hora_ +(Antiphonary of Bangor), because it was said at the twelfth hour of the +day, six o'clock, or, perhaps, the name came from the twelve psalms +which made up the Hour in some churches. It was known, too, by the names +_Lucernarium, hora lucernalis_, the hour of the candles; because at this +hour a number of candles were lighted, not only to shed light but for +symbolic purposes. It was sometimes referred to as _hora incensi_, from +the custom of burning incense at this evening service, and sometimes it +is called _gratiarum actio_ (St. Isidore), because it gives thanks to +God for the graces given during the day. It came to mean not the evening +Hour, but the sunset Hour. And in the sixth century it was celebrated +before daylight had gone and before there was any need for artificial +light. In the fourth century it was recited by torchlight. + +_Antiquity_. The Jews honoured God by special and solemn evening +service. Their feasts by God's command began in the evening. "From +evening unto evening you shall celebrate your sabbaths" (Lev. xxiii, +32). And David sang "Evening and morning and at noon I will speak and +declare" (Psalm 54:32). The eariy Christians faithfully followed +the practice. + +"In the sixth century, the order of Psalms, etc., in Vespers differed +little from the Vespers in our modern Breviaries. Long before the sixth +century there were evening Offices in various forms. Its existence in +the fourth century is also confirmed by St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. +Basil, St. Ephraem ... Before the fourth century we find allusions to +the evening prayer in the early Fathers, Clement I. of Rome, St. +Ignatius, St. Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, the Canons of +St. Hippolytus, St. Cyprian (for texts see Baumer-Biron; 1. c.t. 20 seq. +73-74, 76, 78)"--(Dorn Cabrol, _Cath. Ency._, art "Vespers"). + +Why do we offer up public prayer in the evening? The old liturgists +reply:-- + +1. To imitate the devout Christians of apostolic times. + +2. To honour Jesus, the true Sun of the world, Who hid Himself at His +Incarnation, and in His life, and Whose glory was hidden in His Passion. + +3. To thank Christ for the Eucharist, which He instituted in the evening +of His earthly life, ... "and they prepared the Pasch. But when it was +evening (vespere autem) He sat down with His twelve disciples" (St. +Matthew, xxvi. 20). At this vesper meeting He gave to priests the power +to offer the sacrifice of the Mass, to change bread and wine into His +body and blood. At this vesper service, too, Christ and His apostles +celebrated the divine praises, "Hymno dicto" (St. Matthew xxvi. 30). + +4. In the evening our Lord's body was taken down from the cross. + +5. At the approach of evening Christ appeared to His disciples at Emmaus +and revealed to them His divinity. "Stay with us because it is towards +evening (_advesperascit_) and He went in with them. He took bread and +blessed and brake and gave it to them and their eyes were opened and +they knew Him" (St. Luke xxiv. 29-30). At Vespers we thank God for the +Eucharist. + +The hymns at Vespers date for the most part from the sixth century. They +are of great beauty and have the peculiar characteristic of telling of +the days of creation. Thus St. Gregory's (?) fine hymn, _Lucis Creator +optime_, in Sunday's Vespers, refers to the creation of light; Monday's +hymn, _Immense coeli Creator_, refers to the separation of land and +water; Wednesday's hymn (written probably by St. Ambrose), _Coeli Deus +sanctissime_, refers to the creation of the sun and moon; the hymns for +Thursday's vespers, _Magnae Deus potentiae_, refers to the creation of +fish and birds; Friday's hymn, _Hominis superne conditor_ (St. Gregory), +refers to the creation of the beasts of the earth; Saturday's hymn (St. +Ambrose) is an exception, as it refers to the Trinity. All these hymns +have been beautifully translated into English and the text and +translations repay study. + +Sunday's hymn, _Lucis Creator optime_, stands thus in translation:-- + + "O blest Creator of the light, + Who makest the day with radiance bright, + And o'er the forming world didst call + The light from chaos first of all. + + Whose wisdom joined in sweet array + The morn and eve and named them day, + Night comes with all its darkening fears; + Regard Thy people's prayers and tears, + + Lest sunk in sin, and whelmed with strife, + They lose the gift of endless life; + While thinking--but the thoughts of time, + They weave new chains of woe and crime. + + But grant them grace that they may strain + The heavenly gate and prize to gain; + Each harmful lure aside to cast, + And purge away each error past. + + O Father, that we ask be done, + Through Jesus Christ, Thine only Son; + Who, with the Holy Ghost and Thee, + Doth live and reign eternally. Amen." + + (Translation by Dr. J.M. Neale). + +_Structure._ Vespers, in structure, resembles Lauds and consists of five +Psalms. It begins with Pater Noster, Ave (said silently), Deus in +adjutorium,... Domine ad adjuvandum.... Gloria Patri.... Sicut erat. +Alleluia or Laus tibi.... Antiphon begun only if the feast be not +double; if feast be a double the antiphon is said in full before and +after each psalm. If feast be a semi-double or simple the antiphon is +intoned at the beginning and is said in full at end of each psalm and +then only. Then are said Capitulum, Deo gratias, Hymn, versicle and +response, antiphon to Magnificat, the canticle Magnificat, Gloria +Patri.... Sicut erat.... Dominus vobiscum.... Et cum spiritu tuo, +Oremus, collect, commemoration if any made by versicle and response and +antiphon of Magnificat proper to commemoration with collect, Dominus +vobiscum, Et cum.... Benedicamus Domino; Deo gratias, Fidelium +animae.... Amen. If Compline be not said immediately after Vespers, +Pater Noster is added. + +At the opening words of the _Magnificat_, _Nunc Dimittis_ and +_Benedictus_, it is a practice with many priests to make the sign of the +cross from forehead to breast, as at _Deus in adjutorium_ (_cf._ +Ceremoniale Epis. lib. II. i. 14). This custom, where it exists, should +be preserved (S.R.C., April, 1867). + +Writers on liturgy tell us that the number of Psalms in Vespers have a +symbolic meaning, typifying the five wounds of the Saviour, the last of +which, the wound in the side, was inflicted on the evening of Good +Friday, and the others, as the Church says in the hymn _Vergente mundi +vespere_, at the waning of the day of the Old Law, before the dawn of +salvation (Honorius of Autun, circa 1130). Other writers say that these +five psalms should produce acts of contrition for the sins committed +during the day, by the five senses; and that they should be for us, +morally, what the five lighted lamps were for the wise virgins in the +Gospel parable (Amalare of Metz, circa 850). + +_Magnificat._ Author. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the author of this +canticle. "The witness of the codices and of the Fathers is practically +unanimous for the Vulgate reading: 'Et ait Maria,' but apart from this, +the attribution of the _Magnificat_ to Elizabeth would in St. Luke's +context be highly abnormal" (Dr. H. T. Henry, _Cath. Encyc_., word, +_Magnificat_)--The Roman Breviary entitles it _Canticum Beatae Marine +Virginis_. + +It is divided by commentators into three parts (St. Luke 1, vv. 46-49; +50-53; 54-55). It "is in many places very similar in thought and phrase +to the Canticle of Anna (I. Kings ii. 1-10) and to various psalms (Ps. +33, vv. 3-4; Ps. 39, v. 9; Ps. 70, v. 9; Ps. 125, vv. 2-3; Ps. 110, v. +9; Ps. 97, v. 1; Ps. 117, v. 16; Ps. 32, v. 10; Ps. 92, v. 7; Ps. 33, v. +11; Ps. 97, v-3; Ps. 131, v. 11). Similarities are found in Hab. c. III. +v. 18; Mal. c. III. v. 12; Job. c. 5, v. 11; Is, c. 41, v. 8; Is. c. +149, v. 3, and Gen. c. 17, v. 19. Steeped thus in scriptural thought and +Phraseology, summing up in its inspired ecstasy the economy of God with +His chosen people, indicating the fulfilment of olden prophecy, and +prophesying anew until end of time, the Magnificat is the crown of the +Old Testament singing, the last canticle of the Old and the first of the +New Testament. It is an ecstasy of praise for the inestimable favour +bestowed by God on the Virgin, for the mercies shown to Israel, and for +the fulfilment of the promises made to Abraham and the patriarchs" (Dr. +Henry, _loc. cit_.). + +It is found universally in the ancient liturgies and affords a proof of +the apostolic and universal praise of the Blessed Virgin. Durandus +(thirteenth century) gives some reasons for the assignment of the +Magnificat to Vespers. Because Vespers is the grandest liturgical Hour; +because Mary probably arrived at the house of Elizabeth in the evening; +because it was in the moral evening of the world that Mary consented to +be the Mother of God; because she is the star of the sea, etc. The +following interesting reason for the use of the Magnificat at Vespers is +given by St. Bede (works 5, 306). "It comes to pass, by the bounty of +the Lord, that if we were at all times to meditate upon the acts and +sayings of the Blessed Virgin, the observance of chastity and the works +of virtue will always continue with us. For, the excellent and salutary +custom has grown up in Holy Church that all shall sing her hymn (the +Magnificat) every day with the Vesper Psalms, in order that the +recalling of the Lord's incarnation, by this means, may the oftener +incite the souls of the faithful to devotion and that the consideration +of the example set by His Mother may confirm them in the stability of +virtue. And it is meet that this should be done at Vespers, so that the +mind wearied in the course of the day, and distracted by various +opinions, may, at the approach of the season of quiet, collect itself in +oneness of meditation and through the wholesome reminder may hasten to +cleanse itself, by the prayers and tears of the night, from everything +useless or harmful which it had contracted by the business of the day." + +_Suffrages of the Saints_. (Title XXXV.) In Sec.2 of rubrics of the new +Breviary we read, "Deinceps, quando facienda erunt suffragia sanctorum, +unum fiet suffragium, juxta formulam propositam in Ordinario novi +Psalterii." Thus were abolished the old formulae of suffrages and a new +one inserted. + +Antiphon Beata Dei Genitrix.... V. Mitificavit .... R. Et exaudivit.... +Oremus, A cunctis.... + +This will be said at Lauds and Vespers outside Paschal time (1) on all +Sundays and ferias, (2) on semi-doubles and simples, except (_a_) in +Advent and Passiontide, (_b_) when there is a commemoration of a double, +a day within an octave. In Paschal time the Commemoration is of +the Cross. + +In this prayer the names of the Holy Angels and of St. John the Baptist, +if they be titulars, are inserted before the name of St. Joseph. At the +letter N. in the prayer, the name of the titular saint of the particular +church should be inserted; but churches dedicated by the title of a +mystery (e.g., the Ascension) are not to be named in this prayer +(S.R.C., March, 1912). + + + + +TEXTS AND INTENTIONS TO AID THE PIOUS RECITATION OF VESPERS. + +1. "Woman, behold thy Son; Behold Thy mother" (St. John, c. 19), + +2. "I thirst" (St. John, c. 19). + +3. "And they, putting a sponge full of vinegar about hyssop, put it to +His mouth" (St. John, c. 19). + +_General Intentions_. The conversion of sinners; the wants of the +Church; those in death agony; spread of Eucharistic devotion; daily +Communion; priest adorers; reparation for bad Communions; reparation for +impieties and irreverences towards the Eucharist. + +_Personal Intentions_. Regularity in visits to Blessed Sacrament; +Fervour in Mass and in administering Holy Communion; a happy death; true +and deep devotion to Mary. + +_Special Intentions_. The Irish Daily Mass Crusade; Total Abstinence; +devotion to the Passion; devotion to the agonising Heart of Jesus. + + + + +COMPLINE. + +_Etymology and synonym_. The word compline comes from the Latin word +_complere_, to complete, to finish, because this Hour completes or +finishes the day Hours of the Office. It bore several names, _Completa_ +(St. Isidore), _Initium noctis_ (St. Columbanus), _Prima noctis hora_ +(St. Fructeux). + +_Antiquity_. The origin of this Hour has given rise to a great deal of +controversy. Both Baumer and Battifol in their histories of the Breviary +attribute the origin of this Hour to St. Benedict (480-543). Other +scholars attribute its origin to St. Basil, and hence date it from the +fourth century. It is admitted that before the time of St. Basil, Bishop +of Caesarea (370-379) this Hour was in existence. Some hold that St. +Basil established the Hour in the East and St. Benedict in the West. The +latter certainly invested the Hour with the liturgical character and +arrangement which were preserved by the Benedictines and adapted by the +Roman Church. The Compline of the Roman Church is more ornate and solemn +than the liturgy assigned to this Hour by St. Benedict, which was very +simple. The addition of the response _In manus tuas Domine_, the _Nunc +dimittis_ and its anthem of the Blessed Virgin make this Hour one of +great beauty. + +_Structure_, The structure of the Hour seems to point to its monastic +origin, "The reader begins, 'Pray, Father, a blessing' (jube, domne +benedicere); the blessing, 'The Lord Almighty grant us a quiet night and +a perfect end. Amen.' 'Noctem quietam....' Then follows a short lesson, +which the Father Abbot gave to his monks. 'Brethren, be sober and watch; +because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about, +seeking whom he may devour, whom resist ye, strong in faith. But Thou, O +Lord, have mercy on us.' And the monks answer 'Thanks be to God.' +'Fratres sobrii estote et vigilate....' Then the _Pater Noster_ +(silently), and the presiding priest, who was the Abbot or his deputy, +said the confiteor and the choir answered _Misereatur_.... 'May Almighty +God have mercy upon thee and forgive thee thy sins, and bring thee to +life everlasting.' The choir then repeats the Confiteor and the priest +replies 'Misereatur vestri....' 'May Almighty God have mercy upon you, +forgive you your sins and bring you to life everlasting.'" Of course, in +private recitation, or where two or three recite the Office, these +prayers are said only once, and in the Confiteor, _tibi pater_ and _te +pater_ are omitted, and _nostri, nostris, nos, nostrorum, nobis_, are +said in the Misereatur and Indulgentiam. + +Then the _Converte nos Deus.... At averte iram tuam.... Deus in +adjutorium.... Domine ad adjuvandum.... Gloria Patri_.... Antiphon +(begun only) and three psalms, which vary, are said, _Gloria +Patri_.... _Sicut erat_... being said at the end of each. _In +manus tuas_... is said twice. _Redemisti nos_. ... _Commendo +spiritum meum_; _Custodi nos_ ... _sub umbra_.... _Salva +nos_; _Nunc dimittis_.... _Gloria Patri, Salva nos Domine +vigilantes, custodi nos_... _pace_. (Preces are said here if +rubric orders; i.e., _Kyrie eleison, Christie eleison_... _ad te +veniat_); _Dominus vobiscum, Et cum_.... _Benedicamus Domino, +Deo gratias_; _Benedicat et custodiat nos omnipotens_. Amen; +then the anthem of the Blessed Virgin, _Alma Redemptoris Mater_ +(from Saturday before first Sunday of Advent to the feast of the +Purification, inclusive) with its antiphon; in Advent, _Angelus +Domini_, response, _Et concepit_, Oremus and prayer, _Gratiam +tuam_, or with antiphon (after Advent) _Post partum_... and +response, _Dei genetrix, Oremus, Deus qui salutis_. After the +Purification, until Holy Thursday the anthem is _Ave regina +coelorum_, with versicle _Dignare me_ ..., _Da mihi_, Oremus, +_Concedemisericors_. From Holy Saturday until Saturday after +Pentecost, the anthem is _Regina coeli_ with versicle, _Gaude_... and +response, _Quia surrexit_.... _Oremus_ and prayer, _Deus qui per +resurrectionem_. From Holy Trinity Sunday to the Saturday before +Advent, the antiphon is _Salve Regina_ with versicle, _Ora pro +nobis_... response, _Ut digni, Oremus_ and prayer, _Omnipotens +semipeterne Deus_. Then the versicle _Divinum auxilium_.... Amen. +_Pater Noster, Ave, Credo_, in silence, are said. The _Sacro-sanctae_ +is added (see pp. 133-135). + +The study of the component parts of this Hour are of great interest. +After the Abbot had given his blessing and begged of God to grant the +two-fold favour of a quiet night and a good death, a monk read from Holy +Scripture, and when a suitable portion was read, or at the end of a +Scripture chapter or theme, the Abbot said, "Tu autem," and the reader +"Tu autem, Domine, miserere nobis." This was to ask God to pardon faults +both of reader in his reading and of monks, who, perhaps, were drowsy +and inattentive. The Abbot terminated the exercise by the _Adjutorium +nostrum_ (the _Pater Noster_ is of more recent introduction). Monks who +were absent substituted for the Scripture lesson which they had missed, +the pithy extract from St. Peter, "Fratres; sobrii estote," which we now +read. The whole company of monks and their abbot then proceeded to the +chapel where each made his examination of conscience, and at a sign from +the abbot, the monks, two by two, in a subdued tone of voice, said the +_Confiteor, Misereatur, Indulgentiam_ and _Converte nos_. Gavantus and +Merati hold that the _Converte nos_ does not belong to this introductory +matter, but formed part of Compline proper. This prayer is very +beautiful: "Convert us, O God, our Saviour. And turn away Thine anger +from us. Incline unto my aid, O God; O Lord, make haste to help us. +Glory be to the Father,... Praise be to God." + +The new arrangement of the Psalter did not retain the old traditional +psalms, 4, 90, 133, in Compline, except for Sundays and solemn feasts. +But the selection of psalms accords well with the idea of the +hour--night prayer--and with the other prayers, which go to make up the +close of the Office of the day. The hymn, _Te lucis_, so chastely +simple, has ever been admired. Its ideas suit so admirably for the +prayer before sleep and for reminding us of sleep and her sister death +and the solemn petition made to God to be our guardian and defence in +the solemn hour of death, are simply and solemnly set out in this daily +hymn. How beautiful it reads in Father Caswall's translation:-- + + "Now with the fast departing light, + Maker of all, we ask of Thee + Of Thy great mercy, through the night, + Our guardian and defence to be. + + Far off let idle visions fly, + No phantom of the night molest: + Curb Thou our raging enemy, + That we in chaste repose may rest. + + Father of mercies! hear our cry; + Hear us, O sole-begotten Son! + Who, with the Holy Ghost most high, + Reignest while endless ages run." + +In Passiontide, the Breviary gives us the last verse, Deo Patri, and the +translation renders it:-- + + "To Thee, Who dead again dost live, + All glory, Jesus, ever be, + Praise to the Father, infinite, + And Holy Ghost eternally." + +_Little Chapter_. This is a beautiful call to our Lord to remind Him, as +it were, that we are His own, that we bear His name. In this invocation +we express our confidence in Him and ask Him not to abandon us, but to +dwell with us. "But Thou, O Lord, art among us, and Thy holy name is +invoked upon us; forsake us not, O Lord our God"; and for past +protection the Church adds to their invocation, taken from the prophet +Jeremias, the words of gratitude, "Thanks be to God." + +_The Response_. "In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum... nos." +"Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. Into Thy hands I commend +my spirit. For Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord God of Truth. I commend my +spirit. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. +Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. Keep us, O Lord, as the +apple of Thine eye. Protect us under the shadow of Thy wings." No more +sublime prayer exists in the liturgy than this response, which the +Church orders us to say nightly. She wishes, in its daily recital, to +prepare us for death, by reminding us of the sentiments and words of our +dying Lord on the cross, "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit" (Ps. 30, +v. 6), and by asking Him Who redeemed us on the bitter tree, to keep us +safe as the apple of His eye and to protect us "under the shadow of His +wings" (Ps. 40, v, 6). These solemn words of our dying Saviour have +been, in all ages, and in all lands, the death prayer of many of those +whom He redeemed, with the great price. St. Stephen, the proto-martyr, +prayed "Lord Jesus receive my spirit." "Into Thy hands I commend my +spirit," prayed St. Basil in his death agony. "Into Thy hands I commend +my spirit," prayed thousands of God's servants, heroes and heroines, +e.g., Savanarola, Columbus, Father Southwell, the martyr Mary, Queen of +Scots, and countless other servants of God. + +_Nunc Dimittis_. The canticle _Nunc dimittis_ is the last in historical +sequence of the three great canticles of the New Testament. It was +spoken at the presentation of Christ, by Simeon, "This man was just and +devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was in +him. And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should +not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. And he came by +the spirit into the temple. And when His parents brought the child Jesus +to do for him according to the custom of the law. He also took Him in +his arms and blessed God and said 'Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O +Lord, according to thy word in peace....'" (St. Luke ii. 29-33). This +sublime canticle uttered by the holy old man at the close of his days is +placed fittingly in the priest's Office at the close of the day. It +breathes his thanks, expresses his love and his wish to die, having seen +the Saviour. + +Before the canticle are said the opening words of the antiphon, "Salva +nos"; and it is repeated in full at the end. "Save us, O Lord, while we +are awake, and guard us when we sleep, that we may watch with Christ and +rest in peace." + +The prayers, Kyrie eleison, Christie eleison, etc., are said always +except when a double office or a day within an octave has been +commemorated at Vespers. The prayer, _Visita quaesumus_ is found in +Breviaries of the thirteenth century and was introduced probably by the +Friars Minor. The words _habitationem istam_ are said to indicate that +it is a prayer not only for the chapel of the friars, but for their +dwellings on journeys. It was said in choir by the abbot or presiding +priest. Like all prayers for Compline it begs God to drive far away the +snares of the enemy; it begs Him to let His angels dwell in that house +to keep the dwellers therein, in peace; and finally, it begs Him to "let +Thy blessing be always upon us. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, +Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, +world without end. Amen." + +After the Dominus vobiscum and its response, the abbot or presiding +priest gave the solemn blessing "Benedicat et custodiet..., May the +Almighty and merciful Lord, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, +bless and preserve us. Amen." + +Then one of the anthems of the Blessed Virgin Mary is said. From the +Saturday before Advent until the feast of the Purification, inclusive, +is said the anthem "Alma Redemptoris Mater"; translated by Father +Caswall, it reads:-- + + "Mother of Christ, hear Thou thy people's cry, + Star of the deep and portal of the sky, + Mother of Him who Thee from nothing made, + Sinking we strive and call to Thee for aid. + Oh, by that joy which Gabriel brought to Thee, + Thou Virgin first and last, let us Thy mercy see." + +The Latin hexameters are attributed to Hermanus (circa 1054). It has +been translated by several poets great and small, and is well known in +Newman's translation, "Kindly Mother of the Redeemer." It was a popular +hymn in Norman Ireland and in Catholic England, as we see in Chaucer's +"Prioress's Tale." After this anthem are said its versicle, response, +and prayer _Oremus, Gratiam tuam quaesumus_. + +From the first Vespers of the Nativity, the versicle, response and +prayer said are "Post partum ...; Dei Genetrix.... Oremus, Deus qui +salutis." ... From the end of Compline on February 2nd until Holy +Thursday exclusive the antiphon is "Ave Regina coelorum." It appears to +be of monastic origin, and St. Jerome attributes it to St. Ephraem. Its +expressions are borrowed from the works of St. Ephraem, of St. +Athanasius and of other doctors, and its theme is Mary, as Queen of +Heaven, the dawn of our salvation, and an extolling of her beauty. + +From Compline of Holy Saturday, inclusive, until None of the Saturday +after the feast of Pentecost, inclusive, the "Regina coeli" is said. It +is a very old composition, but its author is unknown. Some authors +attribute it to St. Gregory the Great (590-604). Others, following a +venerable tradition, say that the three first lines were the composition +of angels, and the fourth, Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia, was added by +Pope Gregory. The legend tells us that when in the year 596 Rome was +desolated by the plague, Pope Gregory the Great exhorted his people to +penance and prayer, and carrying in his hands the picture of the Blessed +Virgin, said to be painted by St. Luke, he led them in procession to the +church, Afa Coeli, on Easter morn. When the procession was passing +Adrian's Mole, angel voices were heard chanting the Regina Coeli, and +the Pope astonished and rejoiced added the words "Ora pro nobis Deum, +Alleluia," and immediately a shining angel appeared and sheathed his +sword, the plague ceased on that very day (Gueranger, _Liturgical +Year_, "Paschal Time," Part I., p. iii; Duffy, Dublin). Attempts at +translation have been indifferent. + +From the first Vespers of the feast of the Most Hoiy Trinity to the None +of the Saturday before Advent, the Salve Regina is said. The authorship +was assigned to St. Bernard (1091-1153). But scholars reject this +theory. It is assigned to Petrus de Monsoro (circa 1000) and to +Adehemar, but the claims of both are doubtful. In 1220 the general +chapter of Cluny ordered its daily chanting before the high altar, after +the Capitulum. The use of the anthem at Compline was begun by the +Dominicans about 1221 and the practice spread rapidly. It was introduced +into the "modernised." Franciscan Breviary in the thirteenth century. +The Carthusians sing it daily at Vespers; the Cistercians sing it after +Compline, and the Carmelites say it after every Hour of the Office. It +is said after every low Mass throughout the world. It was especially +obnoxious to Luther, who several times denounced it, as did the +Jansenists also. It is recorded in the lives of several saints that the +Blessed Virgin, to show her love for this beautiful prayer, showed to +them her Son, at the moment they said "Et Jesum ... nobis post hoc +exilium ostende." + +Speaking of these antiphons of the Blessed Virgin, Battifol, in his +_History of the Roman Breviary_ (English ed.), writes: "We owe a just +debt of gratitude to those who gave us the antiphons of the Blessed +Virgin ... four exquisite compositions, though in style enfeebled by +sentimentality." + +After the antiphon of the Blessed Virgin the versicle and response are +said. Then Oremus and prayer "Omnipotens sempiterne Deus ... Divinum +auxilium ... Amen," are said. Then the Pater Noster, Ave and Credo are +said silently, and this finishes the Hour. The prayer Sacro-sanctae et +individuae.... V. Beata viscera ... R. Et beata ubera ... Pater Noster +and Ave are generally added though not of obligation. They are to be +said kneeling. The reading of this well-known and oft-repeated prayer, +in its English translation, may bring fresh and fervent thoughts to +priests, for it is a sublime prayer:-- + + "To the most holy and undivided Trinity, to the + humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified, to the + fruitful virginity of the most glorious Mary ever a + Virgin, and to the company of all the saints, be + given by every creature, eternal praise, honour, + power and glory, and to us the remission of all our + sins. Amen. Blessed be the womb of the Virgin + Mary, which bore the Son of the Eternal Father. + And blessed be the breasts which gave suck to + Christ our Lord." + + + + +TEXT AND INTENTIONS TO AID THE PIOUS RECITATION OF COMPLINE. + +1. "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." + +2. "It is finished." + +3. "For this Thou hast redeemed us, O God of truth." + +_General Intentions._ The spread of the faith; the Pope; the Church in +France and in Spain; for the Church in Australia. + +_Personal Intentions._ A happy death; fervour in administering the last +sacraments; devotion to St. Joseph, patron of a happy death. + +_Special Intentions,_ For the sick poor of Ireland; for persons dying +without the last sacraments; for those dying all alone; for +dying sinners. + + + +THE LITTLE OFFICE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN, (TITLE XXXVII.). + +_Origin._ This Office dates from the eighth century at least. Pope +Gregory II. (715-731) and Pope Gregory III. (731-741) ordered the monks +to say this little Office in addition to their great Office. The +practice was observed by St. John Damascene (676-787) and by St. Peter +Damien (1007-1072).This usage was confined to monasteries only. At the +end of the eleventh century the practice became almost universal. Pope +Urban II. (1088-1099) besought the special aid of the Blessed Virgin in +his crusade against the Turks and recommended all clerics to recite the +little Office. Provincial councils prescribed its use and some canonists +held it to be obligatory. However, the Bull _Quod a nobis_ of Pope Pius +V. (9 July, 1568) removed all obligation of the private recital of this +Office, but he exhorted all to continue the practice and granted +indulgences for its recitation. + + + + +PART IV. + + +NOTES ON SOME FEASTS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +PROPER OF THE TIME. + +ADVENT. + +_Advent_ (Latin, _advenire_, to come to) is a period beginning with the +Sunday nearest to the Feast of St. Andrew (November 30) and embracing +four Sundays. In the early Church there was a divergence of date and +practice in Advent celebration. Thus, in France it began on St. Martin's +Day (11 November) and ended with Christmas, France kept Advent with +tri-weekly fasts. Rome did not, in very early days, observe the Advent +fasts, but maintained the shorter period, containing only four Sundays. +(Father Thurston, _The Month_, No. 498). + +Several authors stated that this period of preparation for the +celebration of Christ's birthday was instituted by Gregory the Great. It +is now traceable to the fourth century in France; in Rome it was of +later date. The Church, as is seen in the Advent Offices in the +Breviary, instituted this part of the liturgical year to honour and to +recall the two comings of Christ--His first coming in human form at +Bethlehem, as Saviour; and His second coming, as Judge of all mankind. +In her liturgy she expresses repeatedly both sentiments, a sentiment of +joy and a sentiment of sorrow. The former she expresses by her +_alleluias_ and the latter by her omission of the _Te Deum_ and by her +recital of the ferial prayers, the prayers of tears and grief. + +In the Advent Offices are many phrases which were fulfilled at the +Incarnation: "Rorate coeli desuper et nubes pluant Justum; O Adonai, +veni ad redimendum nos; Emitte Agnum, Domine, Dominatorum terrae; +Orietur sicut sol Salvator mundi et descendet in uterum Virginis." +Centuries have passed since the Saviour came, and yet the Church wishes +us to repeat the sublime prayers and prophecies which associate +themselves with the coming of the Word made Flesh, and by our repetition +to be animated with the ardent longings of olden days; and that by them +we may awaken our faith, our hope, our charity, and obtain and augment +God's grace in our souls. + +_Rubrics_. The first Sunday of Advent has the invitatory hymn and the +rest of the Office proper. The lessons are from Isaias, the prophet of +the Incarnation. The first response to the lesson is unique in the +Breviary for it has three verses (see p. 164). These three verses are +spoken in the names of the holy people who lived before the law, during +the law, and after the law. The Gloria Patri is added to honour the Holy +Trinity, who has at length sent the long-watched-for Messias (Durandus). +And the response is repeated from the beginning because the second +coming of Christ is watched for, by His faithful (Honorius d'Autun). The +_Te Deum_ is not said, in order thereby to mark the sad thought of the +second coming of Christ, then our judge. + +_Lessons_. From the first Sunday of Advent until the first Sunday of +August the lessons of the first and second nocturns are given in the +Breviary in the Proprium de Tempore, after the Psaltery. The lessons of +third nocturn for same period are given after those of second nocturn. +The suffrages are not said in Advent. In Advent the lectio brevis is +"Domine miserere." In Sunday Matins special versicles are given. The +preces are said at Lauds and Vespers in ferias of Advent and at the +small Hours; preces are said, too, if they be said at Lauds. + +The great antiphons are the antiphons of the Magnificat which begin on +the 17th December. They are sometimes called the great O's, or the O +antiphons, as each begins with this letter. They begin "O Sapientia, +quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti ..." and continue "O Adonai, O radix +Jesse," etc.... They are the most beautiful antiphons in the liturgy, +expressing the prayers and ardent hopes for the coming Saviour. They +have formed the subjects of study for poets, scholars and liturgists, +ancient and modern. It is asked why these antiphons introduce the +Magnificat and not the Benedictus. And liturgists reply: Because the +Incarnation was of Mary, and hence these heralds of the Infant King more +appropriately introduce Mary's canticle rather than that of Zachary. And +the old liturgists add that these antiphons are said at Vespers, the +evening Hour, because the Messias was expected and watched for in the +world's evening. They tell us, too, why there are seven great antiphons. +They are to excite our piety during this octave preparatory to the +birthday of Christ. This number seven typifies the seven gifts of the +Holy Ghost; it represents the seven miseries of mankind, ignorance, +eternal punishment, the slavery of the devil, sin, gloom and exile from +our fatherland, which is Heaven. And those wonderful men of mediaeval +days tell us why we have need of a Teacher, O Sapientia; of a Redeemer, +O Adonai; of a Liberator, O Radix Jesse; of a Guardian, O Clavis David; +of a brilliant Instructor, O Oriens; of a Saviour to bring us, Gentiles, +back to our Great Father, God; O Rex gentium; a Herald to the Jews. +Honorius of Autun tells that these antiphons refer to the seven gifts of +the Holy Ghost and are arranged in the well-known order in which these +gifts are always arranged in works of piety. He says that Christ came in +the Spirit of Wisdom, O Sapientia, that in the word "Adonai" is +indicated that Christ redeemed us in the Spirit of Understanding. He +says, too, that the antiphon "O Radix" signifies the sign of the cross, +and that Christ redeemed us in the Spirit of Counsel. "O Clavis" +indicates that Christ opened Heaven and closed Hell in the Spirit of +Strength or Fortitude. "O Orient" shows forth Christ enlightening us in +the Spirit of Knowledge. "Rex gentiam" points out the holy King who +saved men by the Spirit of Piety. "O Emanuel" refers to Christ coming in +the Spirit of Fear, but giving us also the Law of Love. + +These antiphons have formed the theme of the oldest Christian poem in +Europe--Cynewulf's "Christ," a work which is the admiration of modern +scholars. They were celebrated with great pomp and joy in monastic life, +the monks carrying their congruous symbolism into their recitation. For, +to the gardener-monk was assigned, the chanting of "O Radix Jesse," and +to the cellarer-monk, the "O clavis David"--typifying their work of +root-growing and key keeping. (See _The Month_, No. 489; _The Irish +Ecclesiastical Record_, December, 1918). + +_Christmas. Antiquity._ "It was formerly taken for granted that Christ +had actually been born on this day, and, accordingly, the learned were +of opinion that the Church had observed it from the beginning, as the +day of His birth. Even at the present day it will be dfficult for many +to give up this idea. But there is no Christmas among the Christan +feasts enumerated by Tertullian ([died] 220), Origen (185-254), and the +recently published Testament of Jesus Christ. On the contrary, there is +clear proof that even in the fourth and fifth centuries it was unknown +in some parts of the Church, where its introduction, at a later period, +can be proved historically" (_vide_ Kellner, _op. cit._, pp. 127-158). + +Christmas is one of the great festivals. In Rome there were two night +Offices. The first, celebrated at nightfall in the Papal chapel, begins +with the antiphon of the first psalm in the nocturn. It has nine lessons +and the _Te Deum_. About midnight a more solemn Office began, this time +with the invitatory and psalm _Venite_. The first of these Offices +became the Office of the vigil. + +In the Office of Christmas Day the lessons are read without the title of +the book (Isaias) from which they are taken, because their author's name +was so often repeated during the Advent that each one knew their source, +or because at Christmas God speaks to us by His Son, rather than by His +prophet. In the first response the Gloria Patri is said, to thank God +for the great favour He has bestowed on us--His Son, the Christ. In the +third nocturn, _Alleluia_ is added to the antiphons, because the third +nocturn typifies the time of grace, in which we should express the joy +that is ours in the birth of the Saviour. In this nocturn, too, are +given three Gospel extracts, corresponding with the Gospels in the Mass +of Christmas. Matins are separated from Lauds by the first Mass because, +it is said at midnight, and Lauds is a day Office. At Prime the versicle +of the little response is _Qui natus est_. + +_Rubrics_. Christmas is a primary double of the First Class. The third +of the new _Tres Tabellae_ (S.C.R., January, 1912) in the new Breviaries +gives the rules for concurrence of Vespers in the Octave of Christmas. + +_Feast of St. Stephen_. The worship of St. Stephen may be said to be as +old as the Church herself, since St. Paul gave him the title of Martyr +of Christ (Acts XXII. 20). His name is to be found in the earliest +liturgical sources, e.g., the Arian martyrology belonging to about 360 +and in all calendars, ancient and modern, excepting the Coptic. His +cultus received great impulse from the discovery of his relics at Kaphar +Gamala, on the shore of Lake Genesareth, and the wonderful miracles +wrought by them, A basilica in his honour was erected, in Rome in the +fourth century. + +_St. John the Apostle_. The commemoration of St. John on the 27th +December was formerly united with that of St. James the Less. In time, +St. John's feast only was celebrated on this date, and such was the +case as early as the time of Bede. + +_The Circumcision._ This festival was originally called _Octava Domini_, +and hence it may be inferred that it was not an independent festival and +passed unnoticed if it fell on a week day. Thus, in the _Homilarium_ of +Charlemagne (786) it is referred to by this name. But very shortly after +this, the name which we now use for the festival of the 1st January was +used in Rome, and spread through the Church. In the early days of +Christianity the first day of the civil year was given over to +rejoicings, dancing, feasting and rioting. And these abuses lingered in +France, though stripped of their pagan character, until the later middle +ages. A remnant of them is found in the so-called Feast of Fools, which +was held in churches, and which mocked several religious customs and +ceremonies. These feasts lasted till the middle of the fifteenth century. + +_Epiphany_. The name is derived from a Greek verb employed to describe +the dawn, and the adjective derived from the Greek verb was applied in +classic Greek, to the appearances of the gods bringing help to men. In +Christian liturgy, the feast was instituted to celebrate the appearance, +the manifestation of Christ, to the Gentiles, in the persons of the +Magi. In later times, there were added to this commemoration of Christ's +manifestation to the Gentiles, two further commemorations of his +wonderful showings of His divine mission, viz., His manifestation in His +baptism in the Jordan, a manifestation to the Jews, and His miracle at +Cana, a showing forth to His friends and disciples. This feast is of +early origin. Suarez thinks it should be attributed to the Apostles (_De +Relig_. L.2. ch.5, n.9); and Benedict XIV. held that it was established +by the infant Church at Rome to draw off the Christians from the profane +and sinful revelry which marked the pagan feast of this date. However, +these statements are hardly accurate. "With regard to the antiquity and +spread of the feast, it was unknown in North Africa during the third +century, for Tertullian makes no reference to it; and even in the time +of St. Augustine, it was rejected by the Donatists as an oriental +novelty. In Origen's time, at least, it was not generally observed as a +festival in Alexandria, since he does not reckon it as such. For Rome, +evidence is wanting for the earliest times, but since the daughter +Church of Africa knew nothing--of the festival at first, it may be +inferred that originally it was not kept at Rome, but was introduced +there in course of time. In Spain it was a feast-day in 380, in Gaul in +361 ..." (Kellner, _op. cit._, p.172). + +In the antiphons for the Magnificat and the Benedictus it may be noticed +that the three manifestations are given not in the same order. "This day +is the Church united to the Heavenly Spouse, for Christ, in the Jordan, +washes away her sins; the Magi run to the royal nuptials with their +gifts, and the guests of the feast are gladdened by the water changed +into wine" (Ant. of Benedictus). The Magi, seeing the star, said to +each other: "This is the sign of the King: let us go and seek him, and +offer him gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh" (Ant. of Magnificat, 1st +Vesp.), "We celebrate a festival adorned by three miracles: this day, a +star led the Magi to the manger; this day water was changed into wine at +the marriage feast; this day Christ vouchsafed to be baptised by John, +in the Jordan of our salvation" (Ant. of Magnificat, 2nd Vesp.). Now, +the baptism is the special event commemorated by the Easterns on this +feast, and on account of its connection with the baptism, this feast +has, amongst the Greeks, the secondary title of the feast of lights. +And, in Ireland (Synodus II., St. Patricii, can. 20), contrary to the +ancient custom of the Church, solemn baptism was administered on this +feast day. This subject of the baptism forms the only theme of the +ancient sermons bearing on this feast. On the other hand, the visit of +the Magi is the sole event commemorated by St. Augustine in his six +sermons delivered on this feast day. The third event, the marriage +feast, is of later commemoration; and Maximus of Turin doubted if they +all actually happened on the same day. + +The Octave to the feast dates from the eighth century. It was customary +on this date, in the Eastern Church, to read publicly the epistola +festalis of the Patriarch of Alexandria arranging the date of Easter and +the practice was ordered by the fourth Council of Orleans in 541. + +In Epiphany the invitatory is not said in the beginning of Matins, in +order, say the liturgists, not to repeat the inquiry made by Herod from +the scribes about the birthplace of Christ, an inquiry and invitation +inspired by hatred and anger. The invitatory is omitted, they tell us, +that we, like the Magi, may come to Christ, without other than a silent +invitation. Teachers of olden time used to urge those who were slow to +believe to imitate the Magi. But, the invitatory is not quite omitted. +It is read in the third nocturn, which typifies the law of grace, in +which the Apostles and their successors invite all to praise and worship +God. The psalms of the feast are taken from the psalms of each day of +the week, but chiefly from Friday's psalms, perhaps because the Magi's +visit was on that day. + + + + +SEPTUAGESIMA. + +"During the age of the persecutions it was scarcely possible for +Christians to observe any other festival than Sunday, and so it is not +surprising that the two writers who have occasion to speak of the +institution of the festivals of the Church, mention only Easter and +Pentecost, both of which fall on a Sunday. To these Christmas was added +in the fourth century and Epiphany somewhat earlier. These chief +festivals, along with others soon added to their number, formed the +elements for the organisation of a festal system in the Church, as +centres round which the lesser festivals grouped themselves. The last +step of importance, however, in the development of the Church's year was +to connect these chief festivals with one another, so as to make them +parts of a whole. The Sundays afforded a convenient means for effecting +this. They were associated with the festal character of the nearest +feast and were connected with it as links in a chain. The way for this +development had been prepared by the season of preparation for Easter, +and the Sundays in the fifty days between Easter and Pentecost-- +Quinquagesima--were marked with the festal character with which +antiquity invested the whole period. All that was needed was, first of +all, to connect Christmas, Easter and Pentecost; and, in the second +place, the institution of a season of preparation before Christmas. This +was accomplished between the sixth, and the eighth centuries. + +"During the first six centuries the ordinary Sundays of the year had +neither liturgical position or character, since they were not even +enumerated. There was a sort of _commune dominicarum, i.e._, a number of +Masses existed from which one could be chosen at will for each Sunday. +To these Sundays, which were called simply _dominicae quotidianae_, +those after Epiphany and Pentecost belonged. + +"They numbered altogether twenty-nine or thirty, according as the +calendar gave fifty-two or fifty-three Sundays in the year.... The +smaller number of these, six at most, come between Epiphany and +Septuagesima, but the larger, twenty-three to twenty-eight, between Whit +Sunday and Advent. The variation depends on the date of Easter. There is +no historical circumstance forthcoming to give these a specially festal +character. ..." (Kellner, _op. cit_., pp. 176, _et seq_.). + +Septuagesima Sunday comes nine weeks before Easter. It cannot come +before the 18th January, nor after the 22nd February. It is the first +day of a period of mourning and penance, preparatory to the great +penitential period of Lent. On the Saturday preceding Septuagesima two +_alleluias_ are added to the Benedicamus and Deo Gratias, to intimate +that the period of rejoicing in the Saviour's birth has passed. Violet, +the penitential colour, is used at Mass, and the chapters in Genesis +recording the fall of Adam, warn man to think well, to humble himself +and to do penance. Every part of the Office, the lessons, antiphons and +hymns, bear the notes of mourning and penance. + + +LENT. + +_Lent_.--The Teutonic word, _Lent_, originally meant the spring season. +It has come to mean the forty days preceding Easter. Scholars used to +maintain that this season of penance was of apostolic origin; but, +modern scholars noting the diversity of practice and the diversity of +duration in different churches and the Easter controversy, hold that it +is not of apostolic origin, and that it dates from the third century or +even from the fourth century. It is not mentioned in the Didascalia +(circa 250 A.D.), but was enjoined by St. Athanasius upon his flock +in 331. + + +EASTER AND PASCHAL TIME. + +Easter is the chief festival of Christendom, the first and oldest of all +festivals, the basis on which the Church's year is built, the connecting +link with the festivals of the old covenant and the central point on +which depends the date of the other movable feasts. Some of the very +early Christian writers call it feast of feasts (festum festorum). + +The English word Easter is from _Eastre_, the goddess of spring. In the +liturgy we never find the word _Pascha_, always the words _dominica +resurrectionsis_. Pascha has no connection with the Greek [Greek: +Pascho], but is the Aramaic form of _pesach_. + +Some points regarding this festival are to be noted, its antiquity, its +connection with Jewish feasts and Christian feasts, its preparation, +character and duration. + +_Antiquity_. No mention of this feast is in the _Didache_, in Justin's +Dialogue with Trypho, or in his apologies. But in the year 198 A.D. an +exchange of letters between Pope Victor, Bishop Narcissus of Jerusalem, +Polycrates of Ephesus, shows that the feast had been for years in +existence. Many references are found in Tertullian and writers of his +time to this festival. + +_Connection of the Christian Festival with the Jewish_. "The connection +between the Christian and the Jewish feasts is both historical and +ideal--historical because our Lord's death happened on the 15th Nisan, +the first day of the Jewish feast; ideal, because what took place had +been prefigured in the Old Testament by types, of which itself was the +antitype. The Jewish rites and ceremonies (Exodus XII.) are referred to +in the prophecies of the Messias. Thus, Isaias calls Him the Lamb chosen +by God, who bears the iniquities of others. The Baptist called Jesus, +the Lamb of God. The Evangelist refers to the typical character of the +Passover rites, when he applies, 'a bone of it shall not be broken' +(Exod. XII. 46), to Christ on the Cross. Justin and Tertullian see in +the Christian sacrifice the fulfilment of the imperfect sacrifices of +the old law. Hence, there is no doubt that the Jewish Passover was +taken over into Christianity. Thereby its typical ceremonies found their +due fulfilment. + +"To the real and historical connection between Easter and the Passover +is due the explanation of a striking peculiarity in the Church's year, +viz., the moveable feasts of which Easter is the starting point. Easter +falls on no fixed date, because the Jewish 15th Nisan, unlike the dates +of the Julian and Gregorian Calendars, varied year by year. + +"The preparation for Easter was the Lenten fasts. The fare on fast days +consisted of water and soup made with flour; fruit and oil and bread +were also eaten. The catechumens also fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays. +Among the faithful there were some who ate nothing from their repast on +Sunday until the following Saturday, e.g., for five days, and who all +the year round took only one meal a day. Others abstained in Lent from +all food for two consecutive days, but others fasted by taking nothing +to eat all day, until the evening" (Kellner, _op. cit._, p. 93). + +The Easter celebrations were in the early ages chiefly noted for the +great and solemn ceremonies of baptism conferred on a large number of +catechumens, with solemn procession from the baptistry to the cathedral. +The Easter Octave celebrates by festivals the supper at Emmaus, the +appearance of our Lord (St. Luke xxiv.), His appearance by the sea (St. +John xxi. 1-14), His appearance to Magdalen (St. John xx. 11-18), His +appearance on the mountain (St. Matthew xxviii. 16-20), and His +appearance just after He had risen (St. John xx, 1-9), + + +THE ASCENSION. + +This day was kept as a festival in very early times, although it is not +mentioned in the lists of Church festivals given by Tertullian (+220), +nor by Origen (185-254). St. Augustine (354-430) (Epist. ad Januarium, +54, c.l.) attributes the institution of this festival to an apostolic +ordinance or the injunction of a general council. But neither can be +proved. But the festival dates from the days of the early Church, and as +it was natural that the concluding act of our Saviour's life should be +remembered and honoured, the celebration of the feast of His Ascension +spread widely and rapidly. The feast was noted for the solemn +processions held, to imitate and to commemorate our Lord's leading of +the Apostles out of the city to the Mount of Olives. + + +WHIT SUNDAY. + +Pentecost or Whit Sunday extends back to the early days of the Church. +From Tertullian, it is plain that the festival was well known and long +established. In the _Peregrinatio Silviae_, we read a detailed account +of how the feast was kept in Jerusalem at her visit (385-388). "On the +night before Whitsunday the vigil was celebrated in the church of the +Anastasis, at which the bishop, according to the usual custom in +Jerusalem on Sundays, read the Gospel of the Resurrection, and the +customary psalmody was performed. At dawn, all the people proceeded to +the principal church (Martyrium) where a sermon was preached and Mass +celebrated. About the third hour, when the psalmody was finished, the +people singing accompanied the bishop to Sion. There, the passage from +the Acts of the Apostles describing the descent of the Holy Ghost was +read, and a second Mass was celebrated; after which the psalmody was +resumed. Afterwards, the archdeacon invited the people to assemble in +the 'Eleona,' from whence a procession was made to the summit of the +Mount of Olives. Here, psalms and antiphons were sung, the Gospel was +read and the blessing given. After this, the people descended again into +the 'Eleona,' where Vespers were sung, and then, with the bishop at +their head, proceeded in a solemn procession, with singing, back to the +principal church, which was reached towards 8 p.m. At the city gate the +procession was met by torch bearers, who accompanied it to the +Martyrium. Here, as well as in the Anastasias, to which the people +proceeded in turn, and in the chapel of the Holy Cross, the usual +prayers, hymns and blessings took place, so that the festival did not +conclude until midnight." (Kellner, _op. cit._, pp. 112-113). In most +churches, the principal services were solemn baptism and processions. In +some places it was customary to scatter roses from the roof of the +church, to recall the miracle of Pentecost. In France, trumpets were +blown in church, in memory of the great wind which accompanied the Holy +Spirit's descent. + + +TRINITY SUNDAY. + +The first Sunday after Pentecost, for centuries, was not called Trinity +Sunday. Pope Alexander II. (circa 1073) was questioned about a feast in +honour of the Holy Trinity and he replied that it was not the Roman +custom to set apart any particular day in honour of the Trinity, which +was honoured many times daily in the psalmody, by the _Gloria Patri_. +But an Office and Mass, dating from a hundred years earlier than this +Pope's time, were in use in the Netherlands and afterwards in England, +Germany and France; and in 1260 were spread far and wide. In 1334, Pope +John XXII. ordered uniformity and general observance of this feast on +the Sunday after Pentecost. The Office in our Breviaries dates from the +time of Pius V. It is beautiful and sublime in matter and in form. +Whether this is a new Office or a blending of some ancient offices, is a +matter of dispute. Baillet, _Les Vies des Saints_ (Tom ix. c. 2, 158) +thinks it a new Office. But Binterim, _Die Kirchichle Heortology_, Part +I., 265, and Baumer-Biron, _Histoire du Breviaire_, 298, take a +different view. The Roman rite follows the older form of enumeration, +second Sunday after Easter and so forth, and not first Sunday after +Trinity. The latter form of enumeration is adopted in the Anglican +church service books. + + +THE PROPER OF THE SAINTS. + +_December. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception._ The discussion of +the question of this feast lasted for more than a thousand years. A +feast of the Conception was celebrated in the Eastern Church in the +early part of the eighth century and was celebrated on the 9th December +(Kellner, _Heortology_, p. 242, _et seq._). The feast was celebrated in +England before the Norman Conquest (1066) (Bishop, _On the Origins of +Feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary_, London, 1904). + +But there is an earlier codex than those mentioned by Bishop, and from +it, it is argued that the feast is of Irish origin. In a metrical +calendar, which is reasonably referred to the time of Alfred the Great +(871-901), there is the line "Concipitur Virgo maria cognomine senio"; +and this calendar exhibits, says Father Thurston, S.J., "most +unmistakable signs of the influence of an Irish character." It was +written, Dr. Whitely Stokes believed, by an Irishman in the ninth +century or thereabouts. The script appears to him to be "old Irish, +rather than Anglo-Saxon, and the large numbers of commemorations of +Irish saints and the accuracy with which the names are spelt, point to +an Irish origin." This calendar places the feast of our Lady's +Conception on the 2nd May. In the metrical calendar of Oengus, the feast +is assigned to the 3rd May, and in his _Leabhar Breac_, the scribe adds +the Latin note, "Feir mar Muire et reliqua, _i.e._, inceptio ejus ut +alii putant--sed in februo mense vel in Martio facta est illa, quae post +VII. menses nata est, ut innaratur--vel quae libet alia feria ejus." +Again, in the martyrology of Tallaght, from which Gorman, a later +martyrologist, says that Oengus, the Culdee, drew his materials, is +found under date May 3rd, a mention of the celebration of the Conception +of Mary. This evidence seems to show--although it is not perfectly +conclusive--that the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was +celebrated in the Irish Church in the ninth and tenth centuries, but not +on the 8th December (see Father Thurston, S.J., _The Month_, May and +June, 1904; Father Doncoeur, S.J., _Revue d'histoire ecclesiastique_, +Louvain, 1907, p. 278, et seq.; Baudot, _The Roman Breviary_, pp. +253-255; Kellner, _op. cit._). + +It is to be regretted that even in the new Breviary the lessons for the +second nocturn of this feast are taken from the composition, _Cogitis +me_, falsely attributed to St. Jerome, and rejected by critics, from the +days of Baronius, as spurious (Baudot, _op. cit._, p. 236). + +_February. The Purification._ Candlemas. According to the Gospel +narrative, Mary fulfilled the commands of the Law (Lev. XII. 2-8), and +on the fortieth day brought the prescribed offering to the Temple, where +she met Simeon and Anna. + +The first reference found in Christian writers to this festival is found +in the famous _Peregrinatio Sylviae_, the diary of a Spanish lady who +visited Jerusalem about 385-388. She tells us that the day began with a +solemn procession, followed by a sermon on St. Luke II. 22 seqq., and a +Mass. It had not yet a name, but was called the fortieth day after the +Epiphany; and this naming shows that at Jerusalem the Epiphany was +regarded as the day of Christ's birth. The lady's words show that the +feast was not then observed in her own country. The feast was observed +in Rome in 542; and Pope Sergius I. (687-701) ordered a procession on +this festival. The opinion that is so often met with in pious books, +that this feast with its procession of candlebearers was established by +the Church to replace the riot and revels of the Pagan _Lupercalia_, is +now rejected by scholars. For, processions, with or without lights, were +so common amongst Pagans and Christians that any connection between +these two feasts is negligible. + +_March. St. Joseph_. In the Western Church the cultus of St. Joseph is +not found in any calendar before the ninth century, although numerous +traces of the esteem and veneration paid to him by individuals are +found. The public cultus of St. Joseph was introduced by the private +devotions of great servants of God, such as St. Bernard, St. Gertrude, +St. Bridget of Sweden, John Gerson, St. Bernardine of Sienna, and other +Franciscan preachers. The spread of the devotion in several countries +led Pope Sixtus IV. (1471-1484) to introduce St. Joseph's feast, as a +simplex, having only one lesson. Clement XI. (1700-1721) changed it into +a feast of nine lessons. Two centuries previously the feast is found in +Breviaries under date 19th March. + +_The Annunciation_. Devotion to the Mother of God was continued by the +apostles after the death of her Son. Fervent and widespread devotion is +traceable in the Church's early days, but the organising of our Lady's +feasts was a work of some time and difficulty. A great difficulty was +the fear of blasphemy from pagans, and of error amongst pagan converts, +so trained in myths and genealogies of the gods. Then the festivals +commemorating the facts of the life, death and resurrection were +primarily commemorative of the Redeemer and secondarily of His Mother. +Long before the institution of her feast, the cultus of Mary was almost +universal. The feast of the Annunciation falls on the 25th March with +us. Its date depends entirely on the date of Christmas, but the birth of +Christ was not always placed in calendars on the 25th December. + +In early days the feasts of martyrs and other saints were not celebrated +in Lent, and hence this feast of the Blessed Virgin was set down in some +calendars as transferred, and was celebrated in Advent. In Spain, it was +celebrated eight days before Christmas. In the East, the feast was +generally celebrated on the 25th March, and gradually this date was +fixed, and was sanctioned by several councils in the eleventh century. + +_May. The Finding of the Holy Cross_. The history of the finding of the +true cross by St. Helena is well known. The Alexandrine Chronicle gives +the day as the 14th September, 320. This September feast of the holy +cross is of earlier origin than the feast of May. The latter was +established to commemorate the act of the emperor in 629, when he +brought back to Jerusalem the true cross, from the Persian conquerors. +On 3rd May, he handed it over to the Patriarch Zacharias, and, strange +to say, this festival of May spread rapidly in the Western Church, +whilst in the East only one feast, (the September one), of the finding +of the cross was celebrated for centuries. In Milan, for instance, the +September feast was received in the eleventh century, whilst the May +feast was rooted in the Western Church very many years before that time. + +The antiphons and hymns of this Office are, it is said, amongst the +most beautiful and sublime prayers of our liturgy. + +_The Apparition of St. Michael_. The cultus of the holy angels is of +Jewish origin and existed in the Christian Church from the beginning. In +St. Paul's Epistle to the Colossians (modern _Khonus on the Lycus_) he +speaks of this devotion and of the attempts of a Gnostic sect to spread +false doctrines on this point (Col. ii, 18). Although the evil wrought +was long lived, true devotion to the angels was practised in Colossae +and there the Archangel Michael appeared. In honour of this apparition, +the festival of St. Michael in September was established. Devotion to +the Archangel was of very early date in Rome and in the Western Church +generally. Masses in his honour are found in the oldest Roman +Sacramentary (483-492); and in these he is mentioned by name in prayers +and prefaces. The May feast was instituted in the sixth century, to +commemorate a second apparition near Sipontum on Monte Gargano, which +took place on the 8th May, 520. + +_June 29. Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul_. There always has been a +constant tradition in Rome that these two saints suffered martyrdom on +the same day, 29th June, and it is only natural that this day should be +kept with great devotion and solemnity at Rome. In the East, feasts in +honour of these martyrs were held at different seasons, Christmas, +February and Epiphany. The day was kept in many places as a solemn +holiday, servile works being prohibited. But in Rome, devotion was +closely connected with the date and with the exact places of martyrdom. +"Owing to the distance which separated the two churches of the apostles +from each other, it was most fatiguing to celebrate Mass at both places, +and so in course of time the festival was divided into two parts, and +the Mass in honour of St. Paul took place on the 3Oth June." + +_July. The Visitation_. This feast was probably originated by the +Franciscans in the thirteenth century. It certainly was preached and +spread by their zeal. It is mentioned amongst Franciscan records bearing +date 1263. It was kept in different places at different dates. In Paris +it was kept in April. In 1850 Pius IX. raised this feast to the rank of +a double of the second class, to thank God for having, on this day, 2nd +July, freed Rome from the revolutionary yoke. + +_Feast of St. Mary Magdalen_. Commentators on Sacred Scripture are not +agreed whether Mary of Magdala was the sister of Lazarus or whether +there were two or three Marys connected with our Lord--Mary the sister +of Lazarus, Mary of Magdala, and Mary the sinner named in St. Luke's +Gospel vii. 27. The Roman liturgy seems to favour the opinion that Mary +of Magdala was the sister of Lazarus, and that she was a sinner and was +possessed by seven devils. The history of Mary Magdalen after our Lord's +death has been written, with large and varied additions of adventure, by +pious mediaevalists. In the Western Church, traces of the saint's cultus +are met with in Bede and his contemporaries. But devotion far and wide +begins with mediaeval times. The many legends which have grown up +around her name and history have so obscured historic truth that the +Breviary gives no historic lessons on her feast day, but gives as a +lesson part of a homily from St. Gregory. Some of the legends may be +found in the Office of St. Martha (July, 29th). + +_August. The Assumption._ "In all probability this is the earliest of +our Lady's festivals" (Kellner, _op. cit._, p. 235). Early writers +mention the Garden of Gethsemani as the place of Mary's burial and the +third year--some say the twelfth year--after our Lord's death as the +year of her death. St. John Damascene relying on the writings of +Euthymius tells us what we know of the Assumption. He tells that the +wife of the Emperor Marcian (450-457) wished to transfer our Lady's +relics from Jerusalem to Constantinople and was informed by Juvenal, +Bishop of Jerusalem, that such relics were not in Jerusalem. The Blessed +Mother had been buried there, in the Garden of Gethsemani, in the +presence of the Apostles, Thomas alone being absent. On his arrival he +wished to venerate the Mother of God; the tomb was opened for him, but +nothing was found save the linen grave-clothes, which gave forth a sweet +perfume. The Apostles concluded that Christ had taken to Heaven the body +which had borne Him. The Emperor Maurice ordered the date, the 15th +August, long and widely recognised, to be the date of this annual +festival. However, some churches celebrated it on other dates. In the +Gothico-Gallic missal of the eighth century, the feast is fixed for the +18th January. The festival was called sometimes _dormitio Mariae, +pausatio Mariae_. It was celebrated in Rome at the end of the seventh +century, but how long it had been in existence there, and in the West +generally before that time, no one can say. + +_Feast of the Name of Mary._ This feast owes its origin to the devotion +of the faithful and was first authorised by the Pope in 1513. It was +extended to the universal calendar in 1683, on the occasion of the +deliverance of Vienna from the Turks. + +Over the derivation and meaning of the name _Maria_ much scholarship and +conjecture have been lavished. It is said to mean (1) _stella maris_ +(Eusebius); (2) lady, from the Syrian _Martha_ (St. John Damascene); +this is the Breviary meaning, but the Breviary uses the first meaning, +_stella maris_, too; (3) stately, imposing one (Bardenhewer); (4) from +the Egyptian, _merijom_, friend of water, bride of the sea (Macke). + +_October. Feast of the Holy Rosary._ It is not necessary to speak of the +origin of the Rosary. This feast was established by Gregory XIII. in +1573, as a thanksgiving for the victory of Lepanto (October, 1571). +Clement XI. extended the feast to all Christendom in consequence of the +victory gained at Peterwarden by Prince Eugene in 1716. + +_November. Feast of all Saints._ This feast was "instituted to honour +all the saints, known and unknown, and, according to Urban IV., to +supply any deficiencies in the faithful's celebration of saints' feasts +during the year. In the early days, the Christians were accustomed to +solemnize the anniversary of a martyr's death for Christ, at the place +of martyrdom. The neighbouring dioceses began to interchange feasts, to +transfer them and to divide them, and to join in a common feast; ... +frequently groups of martyrs suffered on the same day, which naturally +led to a joint commemoration. In the persecution of Diocletian the +number of martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be +assigned to each. But the Church, feeling that every martyr should be +venerated, appointed a common day for all. The first trace of it we find +in Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost. ... At first only martyrs and +St. John the Baptist were honoured by a special day. Other saints were +added gradually, and increased in number when a general process of +canonization was established; still, as early as 411 there is in the +Chaldean calendar a 'commemoratio Confessorum' for the Friday after +Easter. ... Gregory IV. (827-844) extended the celebration on 1st +November to the entire Church" (_Cath. Ency._, art, "All Souls"). + +_Feast of All Souls_, "The theological basis for the feast is the +doctrine that the souls, which, on departing from the body are not +perfectly cleansed from venial sins, or have not fully atoned for past +transgressions, are debarred from the Beatific Vision, and that the +faithful on earth can help them by prayers, almsdeeds, and especially by +the holy sacrifice of the Mass. In the early days of Christianity the +names of the departed brethren were entered in the diptychs. Later, in +the sixth century, it was customary in Benedictine monasteries to hold a +commemoration of the deceased members at Whitsuntide, In Spain, there +was such a day before Sexagesima or before Pentecost, at the time of St. +Isidore (d. 636). In Germany, there existed (according to the testimony +of Widukind, Abbot of Corvey, c. 980) a time-honoured ceremony of +praying for the dead on 1st October. This was accepted and sanctified by +the Church" (_Cath. Ency._, art. "All Souls"). + +The psalms and lessons of this Office are especially well chosen, and +the responses to the lessons--said to be the work of Maurice de Sully +(d. 1196)--are greatly admired by liturgical experts. + +It may be noted here, that, in the recitation of this Office, which is, +for most priests, the only choral recitation of liturgy, care should be +taken to select the proper nocturn or nocturns. "In the general rubrics +of the Breviary (Tit. XIX. n. 2) it is stated that the invitatory is not +to be said in _Officio Defunctorum_ per annum, excepto die +Commemorationis omnium fidelium defunctorum, ac in die obitus seu +depositionis defuncti et quandocunque dicuntur tres nocturni. When, +therefore, only one nocturn is recited, the invitatory is to be omitted +except on the dies obitus seu depositionis." In this latter case, even +though the body is not present--for some special reason, such as +contagious disease--the invitatory is not to be omitted. + +"On any other occasion, no matter how solemn or privileged, such as the +seventh, thirtieth, or anniversary day, when only one nocturn is +recited, the invitatory must not be included. This is clear, not only +from the rubrics of the Breviary and Ritual (Tit. VI., cap. IV.) but +also from certain answers of the Congregation of Rites" (_Irish Eccles. +Record_, December, 1913). + +Dom Baudot's _The Roman Breviary_ gives in an appendix, pp. 239-252, +"tables showing the date at which each saint was inserted in the Roman +Breviary, the rank given to his festival, and the variations it has +undergone. It is often difficult to give precise dates." + + +ROGATION DAYS, EMBER DAYS AND LITANIES. + +"Litanies were solemn supplications instituted to implore the blessing +of Heaven on the fruits of the earth. It was customary to recite them in +the spring, that is, the season of late frosts, so much dreaded by the +cultivators of the soil.... The people marched in procession to the +spot, chanting the while that dialogue prayer which we call a litany, +elaborated, according to circumstances, into a long series of +invocations, addressed to God and to angels and saints." + +"The day set apart for this purpose at Rome was the 25th April, a +traditional date, being that on which the ancient Romans celebrated the +festival of the Robigalia.... + +"The most ancient authority for this ceremony is a formulary for +convoking it, found in the Register of St. Gregory the Great, which must +have been used in the first instance in the year 598" (Duchesne, +_Christian Worship_, chap, viii., n. 9). + +Ember days, a corruption from Latin Quatuor Tempora (four times). "The +purpose of their introduction, besides the general one intended by all +prayer and fasting, was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach +men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy. The +immediate occasion was the practice of the heathens of Rome. The Romans +were originally given to agriculture and their native god belonged to +the same class. At the beginning of the time for seeding and harvesting +religious ceremonies were performed to implore the help of their +deities; in June for a bountiful harvest, in September for a rich +vintage, and in December for the seeding.... The Church when converting +heathen nations has always tried to sanctify any practice which could be +utilised for a good purpose." The fasts were fixed by the Church before +the time of Callixtus (217-222). The spread of the observance of Ember +days was slow; but they were fixed definitely and the fast prescribed +for the whole Church by Gregory VII. (1073-1085). (_Cf. Catholic +Encyclopedia_, word, Ember Days; Duchesne _Christian Worship_, chap, +viii.; Dom Morin _Revue Benedictine_, L'Origine des Quatre Temps, 1897, +pp. 330-347.) + + +NOTE A. + +THE BREVIARY HYMNS. + +Of all the many and varied branches of Christian art, there is none +which offers to the researches of criticism a field so extensive as does +the hymnography of the Roman Breviary. No other source of liturgical +study, if we except the antiphonarium, has received such attention from +studious men. But never, in any age, did this study receive such careful +treatment and give rise to such patient and laborious research as in +our own. (Pimont, _Les hymnes du Breviare Romain_, Introduction.) + +In this note, an attempt will be made to define a hymn, to tell of the +introduction of hymns into the Roman Breviary, and to note briefly the +character of these hymns. + +St. Augustine, commenting on Psalm 122, defined a hymn as a song with +praise of God, cantus est cum laude Dei. It may, however, be more +strictly defined as a spiritual song, a religious lyric (v. _Cath, +Ency._, art. "Hymn"). + +In the early Christian assemblies great use was made of the psalms and +canticles in their congregational singing. St. Paul wrote: "Speaking to +yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual canticles, singing and +making melody in your hearts to the Lord" (Ephes. v. 18) "...teaching +and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual canticles, +singing in grace in your hearts to God" (Col. iii. 16). The Jesuit, +Father Arevalo, in his _Hymodia Hispanica_, cites many witnesses, such +as Clement of Alexandria, the Apostolic Constitutions, Pliny the +younger, to prove that hymns were used in the first and second +centuries. But a much-debated question is, whether those hymns were +really made part of the Office, as hymns stand there to-day. Some +scholars deny that they were; others assert that they were certainly +part of the Church's Office. All agree that they were certainly in use +formally and substantially in the Office in the third and fourth +centuries in the Eastern and in the Western Church. The Council of +Antioch (269-270) wrote to the Pope that Paul of Samosate had +suppressed some canticles recently composed in honour of Jesus Christ. +St. Dionysius of Alexandria composed some hymns, to win over an erring +bishop. In the fourth century the Council of Laodicea spoke of the +introduction of some hymns, which were not approved; and St. Basil tells +us that hymns were in universal use in the Eastern Church. + +In the Western Church, St. Hilary of Potiers (370) composed a hymn book +for his church. Its existence is known from the words of St. Jerome. St. +Augustine states that St. Ambrose (340-397), shut up with his people in +the church in Milan by the persecutors, occupied his flock by their +singing of hymns which he himself had composed, and some of which are in +our Breviaries. The Church of Milan certainly had hymns in its Office +and in its Office books then, for St. Paulinus in his life of St. +Augustine wrote: "Hoc in tempore, primum antiphonae, hymni ac vigilae in +Ecclesia Mediolanensi celebrari coeperunt; cujus celebritatis devotio +usque in hodiernam diem, non solum, in Ecclesia Mediolanensi verum per +omnes pene Occidentis provincias manet." + +But the question arises, when did Rome introduce hymns into her liturgy? +The learned Jesuit, Father Arevalo, held that the Roman Office had hymns +as an integral part from the time of St. Ambrose, and he called the +opinion of those who held that they were of later introduction an +inveterate error, _errorem inveteratum (Hymnodia Hispanica_ XVIII., n. +95). The introduction of antiphonal chanting was introduced into Rome at +the time of St. Ambrose and liturgical hymn singing, too, was +introduced about the same time. This we know from the Milanese priest +Paulinus, St. Augustine, Pope Celestine I., and Faustus, Bishop of Riez. +But formal, official and systematic hymnody was not introduced in Rome +until centuries after the death of St. Ambrose. Mabillon (Suppl. ad IV. +lib de div. off. Amalarii, t. 11) and Tomasi (In annot, ad Resp. et +antip. Rom. Ecc.) place the date of the introduction of hymns into the +Roman liturgy, in the eleventh or twelfth centuries. But scholars now +agree that hymns were formally recognised in the liturgy of Rome in the +latter half of the ninth century. "To judge of what Amalare of Metz +says, there was no sign of it at the beginning of the ninth century, but +from the middle of the same century onwards hymns must have been +introduced into the Office used by the Churches of the Frankish empire, +and shortly afterwards in Rome" (Baudot, _op. cit._, pp. 67-68). Wilfrid +Strabo agrees with Amalare. Rabanus Maurus testifies that hymns were in +general usage in the second part of the ninth century. (Migne, Pat. Lat. +clx. 159, cxiv. 956). This is the opinion of Gueranger, Pimont, Blume +and Baumer. + +Dom Gueranger explains why Rome, the mother and mistress of all the +churches, did not adopt the practice of hymn chanting in her liturgy for +centuries; why she did not precede or quickly follow the Eastern and +many parts of the Western Church in this matter of liturgical hymns. +"The Church," he says, "did not wish to alter by religious songs the +simplicity, or the meaning, of her great liturgical prayer. Nor did she +wish to adopt quickly any innovation in her liturgy or discipline" +(_Inst. Liturg._ I. 1, pp. 170-171). + +No part of the Church's liturgy has met with such persistent, abusive, +and often ignorant criticism as her hymns have received. + +The renaissance clerics, the Gallicans, the Jansenists, and the +Protestants poured forth volumes of hostile and unmerited criticism on +the matter and form of Rome's sacred songs. Becichemus, rector of the +Academy of Pavia in the sixteenth century, in his introduction to the +work of Ferreri, wrote of the hymns: "sunt omnes fere mendosi, inepti, +barbarie refecti, nulla pedum ratione nullo syllabarum mensu +compositi.... Ut ad risum eruditos concinent, et ad contemptum +ecclesiastici ritus vel literatos sacerdotes inducant.... Literatos +dixi: nam ceteri qui sunt sacri patrimonii helluones, sine scientia, +sine sapientia, satis habent, ut dracones stare juxta arcam Domini." The +remarks of the rector recall the saying of Lactantius, "literati non +habent fidem." Ferreri, who had been commissioned by Pope Clement to +revise and correct the Breviary hymns, wrote in his dedication epistle: +"I have given all my care to this collection of new hymns, because +learned priests and friends of good Latinity who are now obliged to +praise God in a barbarous style, are exposed to laugh and to despise +holy things." Santeuil (1630-1697) characterised the Breviary hymns as +the product of ignorance, the disgrace of the Latin language, the +disreputable relics of the early ages, the result of lunacy. + +Violent attack leads to violent defence. Both are generally born of +ignorance, a partizan spirit, and exaggeration. Pious Catholic defenders +write that the Roman Breviary has hymns far superior to the classic +lyrics of ancient Rome; that they have an inimitable style; that they +are far superior to Horatian poetry; that there is nothing to compare +with their style and beauty in pagan classics, Indeed, zeal has led some +holy men to censure Pope Leo X., Clement VII., and. Urban VIII. for +their attempts to correct these compositions, which they hold to have +been perfect. + +Truth seems to hold the place of the golden mean between the bitter +critics and the over zealous defenders of our Breviary hymns. The +following propositions, drawn from Father Barnard's _Cours De Liturgie +Romaine_, may be taken as a fair and accurate statement of the views of +scholars, views which may be safely held by all students of this portion +of liturgy. + +_First Proposition_:--Many of the hymns of the Roman Breviary have not +the elegance of the Odes of Horace, of the hymns of Santeuil and +of Coffin. + +Proof:-(1) The holy Fathers had outlined in a rough sketch rather than +perfected their hymns (Pope Urban VIII., Bull Quamvis, 17th June, 1644). + +(2) Speaking of the new Hymnal of Ferreri, Pope Clement VIII. says that +the new work could only add to the splendour of worship and help to the +common interest, implying that the new hymns helped religion by their +accuracy and grace of correct poetic forms. + +(3) Pimont, the author of a classic work on the Breviary Hymns, in a +number of comments, notes the crudities of the Breviary hymns, even in +their revised forms. Thus, in the hymn for Prime, he notes apparent +ruggedness. He passes similar comments on the hymns assigned to the +little hours. + +(4) Bacquez states that all the hymns do not join beauty of expression +to the merit of the thought expressed, and that a certain number lack +style and good prosody. + +These opinions should not be extended to all, nor even to very many of +the Breviary hymns. All serious critics agree about the beauty of such +hymns as the _Aeterne rerum Conditor_, the _Somno refectis artubus, +Splendor Aeternae gloriae, Verbum supernum prodiens_, and a good number +of others. + +The greater part of the Breviary Hymns are composed according to the +rules of prosody, and their form is lyric, the popular form of Latin +song, which preceded in Italy the prosodical system borrowed from the +Greeks, and used by the classic pagan poets. The critics of the +Renaissance period are very loud and very wrathful over the form of +these hymns. Some of them accuse St. Ambrose, Prudentius and Gregory the +Great of gross ignorance of the rules of Latin verse and, what to the +critics was worse, ignorance of the ways of pagan classical models. But, +was the rhymed, tonic accented lyric, which was to be sung by all sorts +and conditions of men, in public, such an outrageous literary sin? Was +it ignorance or prudence that guided the early hymn writers in their +adoption of popular poetic form? It is not certain by any means that the +early hymn writers wished to copy or adopt the classic forms of the +Augustinian age. Nor is it clear that such men of genius as St. Ambrose, +Prudentius, St. Gregory the Great, were ignorant of the rules and models +of the best Latin poets. It seems that they did not wish to follow them. +They wilfully and designedly adopted the popular lyric forms, so that +they might give to their flocks in popular and easily remembered forms, +prayers and formulas of faith. + +_Second Proposition_:-The Breviary hymns have the principal elements of +poetic beauty. + +Briefly, these elements are sublimity of thought, beauty of sentiment, +aptness of expression, unction of form. In these matters the Breviary +hymns are not inferior to the classic poetry of paganism, nor to the +much-belauded beauties of the Gallican Breviary hymns (_vide_ Bacquez, +_Le Saint Office_, notes vi. and viii. in finem). + +The composition of the hymns is in perfect harmony with the end for +which they are intended, that is, liturgical prayer, chanted prayer. +Their phrases do not display the vain and superfluous literary glitter +of the much-lauded Gallican hymns, but their accents go out from the +sanctuary and live in the hearts of the people. Their language is, like +the thought and expression of the psalms, the word of a soul praying to +God and adoring Him in fervour, in simplicity, and in faith. Of the +piety and expression of the French hymns, Foinard, an ardent apostle of +the French liturgical novelties, wrote: "Il ne parait pas que ce soit +l'onction qui domine dans les nouveaux Breviaries; on y a la verite, +travaille beaucoup pour l'esprit; mais il semole qu' on n'y a pas +travaille autant pour le coeur." Letourneux, the fierce Jansenist, wrote +to the Breviary-poet, Santeuil, his co-worker: "Vous faites fumer +l'encens; mais c'est un feu estranger qui brule dans l'ensenoir. La +vanite fait en vous ce que la charite devrait faire." And the Catholic +De Maistre, so famed for his fair-minded criticisms, wrote of the new +hymn-makers' works: "They make a certain noise in the ear, but they +never breathe prayer, because their writers were all alone (_i.e._, +unaided by the grace and guidance of the Holy Spirit) when they composed +them." Of the Roman Breviary hymns he wrote: "They always pray and +excite the soul to prayer." "Train your hearts to attention, and hear +all their prayers. You will in them see the true religion, as clearly as +you see the sunbeams." + +_Fourth Proposition_:--The characteristic of the Roman Breviary hymns is +to express with lively sentiments and with unction the noble ideas and +beautiful sentiments of the supernatural order, in a simple manner, +without prosodical pretension, yet having ever a true rhythm which +sometimes vies with better compositions. + +The characteristic mentioned in this proposition, which comes as a +corollary from the three preceding propositions, is one which is clearly +noted in our Breviary hymns. For by their very position in the Breviary, +side by side with the Psalms, Scripture extracts and words of the +Fathers, the Church shows her esteem and her use of these lyrics of +prayer and praise. Again, the Church's mind is shown by her retention of +her hymns in her liturgy, notwithstanding the many efforts made to +substitute a new hymnal. Up to the sixteenth century these Breviary +hymns were universally esteemed. They were admired by St. Augustine. +They are quoted and praised by St. Thomas in his Summa. Deays the +Carthusian {1402-1471} wrote a beautiful commentary on them. Amongst all +priests, secular and regular, the hymns were venerated and loved. +Although there were many men of genius in every age and in every part of +the Christian Church, the hymns escaped until the renaissance under Leo +X. (1475-1521). + +The lovers of everything classic and pagan were pained and exasperated +at the venerable simplicity, the lack of prosody, the vagueness and +crudity of the wording of the liturgical hymns. In 1531, Wimpheling, a +priest of the diocese of Spire, produced a work, _Himni de tempore et de +sanctis_ ... _secundum legem carminis diligenter emendati_. Leo X., +yielding to his own taste and the wishes of the learned innovators who +were ardent students of pagan antiquity, commissioned Ferreri to compose +a new hymnal for liturgical use. His book was allowed for liturgical +use, but was not prescribed. It omitted all the old hymns sanctioned by +the Church for centuries, and sung with fervour by thousands down the +ages. "There are found in the work of Ferreri," wrote Dom Gueranger, +"all the images and all the allusions to pagan beliefs and usages which +we find in Horace. Sometimes, it is only fair to say, his hymns are +beautiful and simple ... but they follow generally and too servilely the +pagan models ... but they are the work of strong and clear inspiration, +which under the mask of classic diction shows itself in every part." +(_Inst. Liturg._ t. I., p. 370.) During the reign of Pope Paul III. new +hymnals were issued, but the Breviary hymns were not removed. St. Pius +V. in his reform of the Breviary did not touch the Breviary hymns. +Clement VIII. in his reform added new hymns but did not remove nor +retouch the old ones. This work remained for Pope Urban VIII. +(1623-1644). + +Urban VIII., Maffeo Barberini, was a poet of no mean rank. Before his +election to the papacy, he was a recognised lover of classical +literature and an adept in following classic themes and classic forms. +Our Breviaries contain some few of his compositions and they show +correctness of form, poetic merit, and piety. They are the hymns, +_Martinae celebri, Tu natale solum_ (January 20); _Nullis te genitor, +Regali solio fortis_ (April 13). His great desire was the correction of +the Breviary hymns. This work of correction was not beyond the personal +power of the Pope himself, if we judge him by his hymns. His views are +expressed in the Bull _Divinam Psalmodiam_, issued to promulgate the +corrected hymns. It found a place in all copies of the Roman Breviary in +the last century. To carry out the corrections outlined by the Pope, +four Jesuits were appointed, and whether the result of the corrections +is the Pope's or the Jesuits' is a highly and hotly disputed point. +First of all, the task set to the Jesuits was a very difficult one, and +one demanding much prudence as well as learning. It may seem to us that +to begin the correction, mutilation and reconstruction of the works and +words of men so great in church history and liturgy as Prudentius, +Sedulius, St. Ambrose, St. Paulinus, was a work of rashness, a sort of +sacrilege, attempting to remodel the glowing piety of their poems to the +pattern of Horace's verse. But the Jesuits had got their commands and +they were bound to obey. They were chosen on account of their classical +scholarship, which was kept sharp by their daily teaching in college, +and they were specially bound by a vow of loyal obedience to Papal +orders. "It is only fair to give them the credit that out of respect for +the wishes of Urban VIII, they treated these ancient compositions with +extreme reserve and, while they made some impressions clearer, they +maintained the primitive unction in a large number of passages" (Baudot, +_op. cit._, p. 185). + +They corrected more than nine hundred false quantities found scattered +through the Breviary, 58 in the psalter per hebdomadam, 359 in the +proper de Tempore, 283 in the proper of Saints, and 252 in the common of +Saints. They changed the opening words of more than thirty hymns. Some +hymns were untouched--e.g., the three hymns of the Blessed Sacrament, +the _Ave Maris Stella_, which is rhythmic prose, not verse, and the hymn +of the Angels, which was sufficiently perfect. The metre of three hymns, +_Tibi Christe splendor Patris_, and the _Urbs Jerusalem_ and _Angularis +fundamentum_ were changed. + +The Jesuits have been censured very bitterly for their work of +correction. Perhaps they merited some censure, but surely they did not +merit the censures heaped on them by hostile critics like Thiers, Henri +Valois, and the Franciscan, Cavalli. They answered their critics +splendidly and triumphantly by the works of Father Arevalo, S.J. But the +wordy war lasts to the present day. Students who wish to see the +unrevised and the revised hymnal of Urban VIII. may consult Daniel's +_Thesaurus hymnologicus_ for examples. Other examples are given in +Monsignor Battifol's work, and others in Dom Baudot's. If the reader +read in the Breviary, the hymn _Te lucis ante terminum_, he may note a +difference in that, the revised form, and this, the unrevised:-- + + Te lucis ante terminum, + Rerum Creator poscimus, + Ut solita clementia + Sis praesul ad custodiam. + + Praesta pater omnipotens + Per Jesum Christum Dominum + Qui tecum in perpetuum regnat + Cum Sancto Spiritu + +Again, see Lauds for Passion Sunday, _Lustra sex_, second verse, +unrevised reads:-- + + Hic acetum fel arundo + Sputa clavi lancea + Mite corpus perforator + Sanguis unda profluit + Terra, pontus, astra, mundus + Quo lavantur flumine. + +_Iste Confessor_, unrevised reads:-- + + Iste confessor domini sacratus + Festa plebs cujus celebrat per orbem + Hodie laetus meruit secreta + Scandere coeli. + + Qui Pius, prudens humilis judicus, + Sobrius, castus fuit et quietus + Vita dum praesens vegetavit ejus + Corporis artus. + +The imitation of Breviary hymns has for centuries formed a notable part +of sacred Latin poetry. A great amount of Latin poetry dealing with +sacred themes finds no place in Missal or Breviary. Every nation has +ancient Latin hymns, generally modelled on the then existing liturgical +models; and these hymns are found in national hymnals and in works +dealing with Christian antiquities, but they find no place in modern +liturgy. Thus the Latin poetry of the ancient Irish Church is formed for +private and not choral use. The oldest purely rhythmical Latin hymn is +that of St. Sechnall (1448), "Audite omnes amantes Deum, sancta merita." +But neither it, nor any other of the old Latin hymns by Irish writers, +finds place in the Breviary. Collections of Latin hymns by Irish writers +of early Christian Ireland are to be found in Todd's _Book of Hymns of +the Ancient Irish Church_ (Dublin, 1885-1891); the _Irish Liber +Hymnorum_ (London, 1898), the _Antiphonary of Bangor_ (Warren's Edition, +London, 1893). + +One of the most difficult works for a scholar to attempt and to carry +out to his satisfaction is the translation of prose or poetry into +another language. The work of translating the Latin of the Roman +Breviary into English was attempted and completed years ago. The work +was great and creditable, but not renowned as a feat of translation. The +hymns of the Breviary have been translated by several authors in every +country of Christendom, and with different degrees of success. The study +of the Breviary hymns is a highly interesting one, and when it is +supported by the different efforts of different translators, it yields +new delights, and new beauties are discovered in verses which are +sometimes said too rapidly for earnest thought and attention. In the +list of books given in the bibliography below, there are given the names +of books of translated hymns. Any one of them is of great interest. + + + + +NOTE B. + +PARTICULAR EXAMEN ON THE RECITATION OF THE DIVINE OFFICE. + +I. How preparation for saying the Hours is to be made:-- + +(a) Have we before commencing to recite the Breviary made a fervent act +of faith in the presence of God and in the sovereign majesty of Him to +Whom we are going to speak? + +Have we endeavoured to purify our hearts by an act of contrition, in +order that we may escape the terrible reproach which God addresses to +the sinner--"to the sinner God hath said, 'Why dost thou declare my +justices and take away covenant in thy mouth?'" (Psalm 49, v.16)? + +Have we taken particular care to clear off from our souls everything +which can distract us, and above all others these things to which we are +attracted and to which our minds may return during our prayer? + +"Ante debes facere quod ait propheta: scopebam spiritum meum donec +incalescat spiritus tuus ex devota meditatione et affectum et +desiderium concipiat" (D. Gerhard Zutp. de spir. Ascen.). "Studeat +oratione devota et recollectione animi interna divinum praevenire +officium" (St. Bona. spec, di., p.2, c.7). + +Have we recollected ourselves and remained silent for a time, +particularly when passing from study or from a secular business, in +order to banish vain or worldly thoughts, and to make ourselves ready to +receive the Holy Ghost? + +Have we united ourselves to Jesus Christ, Who is the perfect praise of +God, the Father? Have we united ourselves in spirit to the Church, in +whose name we are going to praise God? "In unione orationum ac meritorum +Christi Jesu gratiam ad officium debite persolvendum petat" (St. +Bona. _ibid_.) + +Have we begged the Holy Ghost by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin +and the saints, whose offices we read, that we may be allowed to join +our praises to those which they give God? + +Have we always formed intentions general and particular, not forgetting +to form intentions embracing the intentions of Christ and His Church? + +Have we adopted some pious thought prior to our reading, so that +distractions may be excluded and fervour fostered during our recitation? +Have we chosen suitable time and place to pray? + +Have we taken pains to mark the places in the Breviary and looked over +the rubrics? Has not negligence in these matters caused innumerable +distractions? + +II. Dispositions which we should have in saying the Office:-- + +Let us find out with what dispositions we recite the Divine Office, and +if we say it in the manner in which the Church wishes it to be said, +digne, attente, ac devote. (Orat. rec. ante offic.). + +1. Have we considered well that God is present and that we speak to Him? +Do we look on ourselves as instruments which need to be animated with +God's holy spirit in order to bless His holy name? Have we said the +Office with all the respect and all the veneration which His almighty +majesty calls for? Cum timore et humilitate, tanquam Deo visibiliter +presente, psallant (S. Bona, spec, discip., p. 1, c. 15). + +2. In order to say it attentively have we taken great pains to put away +all kinds of distractions? + +"Munda cor meum ab omnibus vanis perversis et alienis cogitationibus" +(_ibid._). + +Have we rejected even good thoughts which were unsuitable for the time +of recitation, and above all have we banished idle or indifferent ones? + +Have we tried, following the example of the saints, to excite in +ourselves the different sentiments expressed by the Psalms, or to dwell +on some perfection of God, or on some mystery of our Lord, or on some +virtue of the saint whose office we read? Have we piously dwelt on +these, or on some other subject proper to the Church's season or +according to our needs? + +"Si orat psalmus, orate; si gemit, gemite; si gratulatur, gaudete; si +timet, timete" (St. Aug. in Ps. 30). + +In order to say the Office devoutly, have we said it with love, having +our hearts and souls fully alive to the advantages and the excellence +and the beauties of the Divine Office? + +Have we said it with fervour, abandoning ourselves to a good emotion, to +holy affections, and to joyous transports, which the Holy Ghost usually +works in fervent souls? Have we done this work with joy, taking a +peculiar pleasure in this holy labour, recognising the great honour it +is to be a partaker in the songs of praise offered to God by the +heavenly company, whose hosts are filled with His glory? + +III. How we must keep watch over ourselves in reading the Office:-- + +Let us examine ourselves to find out if in reading the Breviary we keep +the rules of good recitation, as laid down by the saints--Distincte, +integre, continue, reverenter, ordinate (St. Bonav., spec. discip. p. +1, c. 16). + +1. _Distincte_, Do we recite distinctly, observing the ordinary pause at +the middle and at the end of each verse, not hurrying the one on the +other? Do we articulate every word, not adopting a careless or too +speedy pronunciation? + +"Non in gutture vel inter dentes, seu deglutiendo et syncopando +dictiones vel verba" (Con. Basil, sess. 22). + +2. _Integre_. Do we say the Office in its entirety, being scrupulously +careful not to omit the smallest part, and taking great care that a part +that we should wish or try to say by heart shall not slip out of our +recitation altogether or be mutilated? + +"Integre, ut de dicendis nihil omittant" (St. Bona., spec, discip., +p. 1). + +3. Continue. Do we say our Hours without interruption? Do we love this +holy exercise? Or do we easily interrupt our prayer on any trifling +pretext, and on the first opportunity? + +"Interruptiones in eo non fiant, nisi urgente necessitate" (_ibid_.). + +4. _Ordinate_. Do we say our Office with order, that is, order both in +substance (not substituting one Office for another) and in manner, +according to the rubrics arranging the several hours? + +"_Ordinate in substantia, tempore et modo_" (St. Bona. spec., _ibid_.). + +5. Have we said our Hours piously, with all the modesty and all the +reverence which so holy an action demands? With becoming attitude, not +lying prone, not crossing our legs; without saluting or speaking to +those passing by? + +"In officio curando magnopere reverentia et honestas, cum ubique sit +eadem cui tune loquimur et adstamus Deitas et majestas" (_ibid_.). (From +_Examens Particulers sur l'Office Divin_, par M. Tronson). + + + + +NOTE C. + +BIBLIOGRAPHY. + +Priests are provided in their text-books of College days with reliable +guides dealing directly and indirectly with liturgy. Hence, some of the +books quoted here may already be favourites with many readers; but, +perhaps, some books in the list may be brought to the notice of +students of liturgy for the first time, and may be useful in introducing +priests and church students to easy, pleasant paths in liturgical +studies. The prices quoted may be useful to book-buyers, + +1. Dom Gueranger, _The Liturgical Year_ (1895, Duffy, Dublin, 16 vols. +£3 9s.)--This work is a favourite with all lovers of liturgy, It studies +and comments on the Church's liturgy day by day, week by week. It gives +readers of the Missal and the Breviary a new interest and an additional +fervour in their daily prayers. It is a standard work and holds its own +wonderfully against all competitors. + +2. _Cours De Liturgie Romaine Le Breviare_, L'abbe Bernard, Sulpician +(Paris. 1887, 2 vols, 7 francs). This is a text-book written with great +care, showing fine scholarship and deep piety. It is the work of a +skilled teacher. + +3. _Le Breviare Romain, Commente_ par L'abbe Maugere. Paris. 1887, 6 +francs.--A very concise and useful work, which I have used often in +compiling my book. + +4. The articles in the _Catholic Encyclopedia_, on the Breviary and +liturgy generally. + +5. Duchesne, _Christian Worship_ (London. 1904. 10s.). Very readable and +serviceable to students of early Church history. + +6. Battifol, _History of the Roman Breviary_. (London, 1912. 15s.) + +7. Biron-Baumer, _Histoire du Breviaire_. (Paris. 2 vols. 11 francs.) + +8. Baudot, _The Roman Breviary_ (London. Cath. Truth Society. Price +4s.6d.) + +Monsignor Battifol's book is well and favourably known. It is in +English, and has had a large circulation. It received searching and +severe criticism from Dom Baumer, the author of _Geschichte des +Breviers_. Baumer's work (translated into French by Biron) is a work +showing wonderful industry, learning and critical acumen. The great +German Benedictine was aided in several parts of his work by Mr. E. +Bishop, the English liturgiologist, who intended to translate the work +into English. Dom Baudot's book gives in concise form the results of the +labours of Battifol and Baumer. The book is readable, accurate, and is +excellent value for the price. + +9. _The Calendar_. The introductory matter given in the Breviary +suffices for the wants of the ordinary student of liturgy. But those who +wish for an exhaustive study of times and seasons may safely read +_Kalendarium Manuale_, Pars I. _Festa immobilia_, Editio secunda; price +9 lire; and Pars. II. _Festa Mobilia_, price 13 lire, by Rev. N. Nilles, +S.J. Calendar study is highly interesting, and the articles in the +_Catholic Encyclopedia_ and Father Thurston's articles in the _Month_ on +Calendar affairs are always instructive. + +_The New Psalter_ (Myers and Burton. London. 1915. 3s.6d.) is a very +useful and practical help to the understanding and application of the +new rubrics. I have quoted several times from its pages, + +_Heortology_, a History of Christian Festivals from their Origin to the +Present Day, by Dr. Kellner, Professor of Catholic Theology in Bonn, is +a translation of a text-book written for German students preparing to +pass Government examinations. It is a fine book, and if a student of +liturgy knew its contents well he would have no poor knowledge of this +and, incidentally, of other questions of liturgy. Gueranger, Duchesne +and Kellner constitute the beginnings of a student's liturgical library +(London, Keegan, Paul. 1908. Price 10s. 6d.). An excellent little volume +by Father McKee, dealing with the same subject, is published by Catholic +Truth Society, London, 2s, 6d. It is introductory and elementary. + +10. Thousands of works on the Psalms have been published. But any priest +or student who studies Steenkiste's work on the Psalms learns nearly all +that is needed to recite his psalms digne, attente ac devote. His work +is a mine of useful, pious, and, in the main, accurate comment on the +inspired text. Breviary students studying this commentary need little +else to help them to admire, to understand and to use their psalmody in +a prayerful manner. Steenkiste, _Liber Psalmorum_ (3 vols, Bruges. 1886. +Price 15s.). + +_The New Psalter of the Roman Breviary_, by Fillon, S.S. (London, +Herder. 1915. Price 6s.). + +Father Fillon was consultor to the Biblical Commission. His notes are +short and useful to those who, having studied the psalms, can recall +their meaning by a few brief hints. Its comments are too brief, but it +gives the Latin text, English translation, notes on psalms and newly +added canticles, and is arranged in the order in which they stand in the +Pian psaltery. + +_Sing Ye to the Lord_, by Rev. R. Eaton (London, Catholic Truth +Society. 2 vols. 4s. each). + +In these books the leading idea or ideas of the Psalms are taken up, and +beautiful explanations and spiritual readings given. The books are +delightful reading, and give Breviary readers, old and young, fresh +thoughts on psalms which through familiarity and constant repetition may +have lost some of their pious meaning and prayerfulness. + +Books of Scripture commentary by non-Catholic writers should be read +with caution, and often ecclesiastical permission for their perusal must +be sought. Neale and Littledale's _Commentary on the Psalms_ (6 vols. +London. 1867) is a compilation by two Anglican scholars, from the +commentators of the Middle Ages. The wonderful piety of these men of +old, saints and scholars, their beautiful comments, their glowing +fervour, and above all their knowledge and love of the Bible text, +surprise us all. Sometimes, of course, these mediaevalists run into +far-fetched, outlandish comments, but the compilers give always the +comments of the Masters, St. Thomas, St. Bede, etc. + +Very many metrical arrangements of the Psalms by non-Catholic authors +exist in English. Most of these metrical efforts are very poor, +unreliable in giving the sense, and awkward and ungainly in poetic +forms. An interesting book is Prothero's _Psalms in Human Life_. The +author was a Protestant, hence his numbering of the Psalms may at first +sight be confusing, + +Sermons fresh and beautiful, full of unction, and full of texts, sublime +and practical, are to be found in the Psalms. A work, little known in +our islands, is Monsignor Doublet's fine work, _Psaumes etudies en vue +de la Predication_ (3 vols. 8th Edition. 12s.). + +A charming booklet, dealing chiefly with the Psalms as prayers, is +Rolland Gosselin's _Prieres et Meditations bibliques_ (Paris. 1917. +Bauchesne. 3s.). + +_10. Hymns._ Immense labour has been devoted to the study of Latin +sacred poetry. The _Analecta Hymnica_ in 60 huge volumes testifies to +the learning and zeal of its Jesuit authors. Ordinary mortals content +themselves with lesser works, such as Pimont's _Hymnes du Breviare +Romain_ (Paris Poussielgne. 2 vols, 12-1/2 francs), or with _La Poesie +du Breviaire, Les Hymns_, by l'abbe C. Albin. Price 6 francs. The +opinions and judgments in neither book are infallible; and some of +Pimont's findings have been roughly criticised and sometimes rejected. +But both books give good, sound knowledge of Breviary hymns and thus +help to make their recitation a pious and a rational exercise, not a +mechanical, soulless labour. + +Translation of poetry has ever been a study and a pastime. Every cleric +is familiar with the prose translations which aided his boyhood's +labours in rendering the poetry of Horace and Euripides into modern +speech. But prose efforts are one thing, and poetical efforts are +another, and just as many have laboured to present Virgil and Homer in +modern language, in metre, in rhyme, in rhythm; so, many poets and +verse-makers, in different ages and in different climes, have laboured +to turn into modern poetic form and into their own national tongue the +poems of the Breviary. The Breviary hymns have met with several good, +kind, translating poets; but very often they have been rudely handled by +well-meaning verse builders. Passing over in charitable silence the +indifferent efforts of those people, it may interest some students of +the Breviary to read the efforts of well-known authors to translate the +liturgy, its anthems, responses, collects, hymns, into good English. + +(1) _The Day Hours of the Church_.--A translation of the Horae Diurnae, +with the psalms, etc., arranged according to the reform of Pope Pius X. +This is a good book, giving in parallel columns on the same page, Latin +and English translations. It includes the very best hymn translations by +Catholic authors, John Dryden, Cardinal Newman, Father Caswall, etc. +(Burns & Gates. 8s.). This book is intended for the use of the laity, +and, owing to the strict regulations issued for the printing of the new +Roman Breviary, this book may not lawfully be used to replace the +Breviarium Romanum. But, as it is a complete translation of the little +Hours of the Church, it is a very useful aid to the attentive and devout +recitation of the Hours. A look at its pages before each hour's +recitation, or a glance to see the meaning of some verse of psalm or +hymn will repay anyone. It is a wonderfully careful production, has a +beautiful _format_, and is good value at the price marked. + +(2) _Annus Sanctus_, by Orby Shipley (Burns & Oates. 1884). This book +contains the work of many Catholic translators, and their translations +of Breviary hymns vary in merit. It contains a good introduction, the +translations attributed to Dryden, and it gives some things which are +always interesting, the efforts of several minds, poets and +verse-makers, to render the same Latin hymn into English verse. It +includes verses from several Irishmen. + +(3) _Hymns from the Roman Breviary_, translated (Catholic Truth Society, +London. Price 1s. 6d). A good selection from Catholic and non-Catholic +translators. The translations of Dr. Neale, Anglican--held to be +superior in fidelity and in poetic form to that of any English +translator--are given in this booklet. Neale's _Collected Hymns_ (Hodder +& Stoughton, 6s.) are useful for translators and composers of vernacular +hymns. But his work is, I think, over-rated. + +(4) Other translations of Breviary hymns are found in the collections of +hymns used in Anglican churches: _Hymns, Ancient and Modern; The English +Hymnal; The Hymner from the Sarum Breviary_ (Plain-song and Mediaeval +Society, London); _Songs of Sion_, by Woodward, etc. + +For advanced study of liturgy, Dom Cabrol's _Dictionaire D'Archeologie +Chrietienne Et Liturgie_ (Paris: Letouzey et Ane) is indispensable. Its +study delights and consoles those who possess it. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Divine Office, by Rev. E. J. 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