Dominican Little Office: Memorials at Lauds and Vespers

A correspondent asked quite some time ago about the commemorations, or memorials, traditionally made in the Dominican Rite Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary (which I have posted previously in full, according to the text in force in 1962, and therefore the one declared still usable by the terms of Summorum pontificum).  These were suppressed sometime between 1956 (the date of my Dominican Diurnal, which has them) and 1962 (the date of my Dominican Breviary, which doesn't).  They were four in number:

1. Of Holy Father Dominic;
2. Of the Saints of the Order of Preachers;
3. Of All Saints;
4. For Peace.

For the benefit of interested parties, here they are in their Latin originals – note the rhyming antiphons, very mediæval indeed, and the fact that the antiphons and versicles for the first two memorials vary between Lauds and Vespers:

MEMORIALS AT LAUDS AND VESPERS

Ad Mem. S. P. Dominici in Laudibus Aña.  Benedictus Redemptor omnium, qui saluti providens hominum mundo dedit sanctum Dominicum.

In Laudibus V/.  Lex Dei ejus in corde ipsius.

R/.  Et non supplantabuntur gressus ejus.

Ad Mem. S. P. Dominici in Vesperis Aña.  Magne Pater sancte Dominice, mortis hora nos tecum suscipe, et hic semper nos pie respice.

In Vesperis V/.  Os justi meditabitur sapientiam.

R/.  Et lingua ejus loquetur judicium.

Or.  Deus, qui Ecclesiam tuam beati Dominici Confessoris tui, Patris nostri, illuminare dignatus es meritis et doctrinis: concede ut ejus intercessione temporalibus non destituatur auxiliis, et spiritualibus semper proficiat incrementis.  Per Christum Dominum nostrum.  R/.  Amen.

Ad Mem. Sanctorum Ordinis Prædicatorum in Laudibus Aña.  O quam felix gloria semper est Sanctorum, quam præclara merita sunt Prædicatorum, quorum verbo et opere mundus decoratur, eorumque munere mens consolidatur!

In Laudibus V/.  Exsultabunt Sancti in gloria.

R/.  Lætabuntur in cubilibus suis.

Ad Mem. Sanctorum Ordinis Prædicatorum in Vesperis Aña.  Christi pia gratia Sanctos sublimavit, quos Patris Dominici Ordo propagavit.  Nos eorum meritis petimus juvari, atque suis precibus Deo commendari.

In Vesperis V/.  Sapientiam Sanctorum narrent populi.

R/.  Et laudem eorum nuntiet ecclesia.

Or.  Concede, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus, ut ad meliorem vitam Sanctorum Ordinis nostri exempla nos provocent: quatenus, quorum memoriam agimus, etiam actus imitemur.  Per Christum Dominum nostrum.  R/.  Amen.

Ad Mem. omnium Sanctorum Aña. Sancti Dei omnes intercedere dignemini pro nostra omniumque salute.

V/.  Orate pro nobis, omnes Sancti Dei.

R/.  Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.

Or.  Tribue, quæsumus, Domine, omnes Sanctos tuos jugiter pro nobis orare, et eos clementer exaudire digneris.  Per Christum Dominum nostrum.  R/.  Amen.

Ad Mem. de Pace Aña. Da pacem, Domine, in diebus nostris, quia non est alius qui pugnet pro nobis, nisi tu Deus noster.

V/.  Fiat pax in virtute tua.

R/.  Et abundantia in turribus tuis.

Or.  Deus, a quo sancta desideria, recta consilia, et justa sunt opera, da servis tuis illam, quam mundus dare non potest, pacem: ut et corda nostra mandatis tuis dedita, et, hostium sublata formidine, tempora sint tua protectione tranquilla.  Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum.  R/.  Amen.

In prole mater, in partu virgo

Over at the latest website of Sentire cum Ecclesia (whereby David Schütz appears to be on the way to as many instantiations as Doctor Who), yours truly has been intervening in a big way in the discussion about what is meant by Our Lady's virginity in partu, attempting to defend the traditional doctrine thereof.  

(Warning: this topic is sometimes discussed with too much expatiation of details that really require a holy reserve.)

With the Church, we pray in honour of the Ever-Virgin (from the Dominican Little Office of Our Lady):

Dignare me laudare te, Virgo sacrata: da mihi virtutem contra hostes tuos.

(Vouchsafe me to praise thee, sacred Virgin: give to me strength against thine enemies.)

— Antiphon at Prime

In prole mater, in partu virgo, gaude et lætare, Virgo Mater Domini.

(In offspring a mother, in birthgiving a virgin, rejoice and be glad, Virgin Mother of the Lord.)

— Antiphon at Sext

Beata mater, et intacta virgo, gloriosa Regina mundi, intercede pro nobis ad Dominum.

(Blessed Mother, and intact Virgin, glorious Queen of the world, intercede for us with the Lord.)

— Antiphon at None

Post partum, Virgo, inviolata permansisti: Dei Genetrix, intercede pro nobis.

(After childbirth, O Virgin, thou didst remain inviolate: Mother of God, intercede for us.)

— Antiphon at Lauds

Rubrical Query – II: An Answer

Eureka!  I have found it: in a pre-Pius X Dominican Breviary, it is noted that the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary is said before all the Hours of the Daily Office (whereas in the Roman Breviary, it is said after the Little Hours, and before the Martyrology at Prime), except that Compline of the Blessed Virgin is said after the blessing at the end of Compline of the Day, immediately before the Salve Regina, omitting therefore its usual final Ave.  (The Cistercian practice was the same.)

As I prefer to use the Dominican Breviary for sundry reasons, I can, if I wish, thus combine Compline of the Day with Compline of Our Lady, without having to repeat the Marian anthem &c.  Much better.

I must also thank Rubricarius for his help.

Rubrical Query

If one says Compline, and wishes to add Compline of Our Lady (from her Little Office), does one first say the Marian anthem &c. at the end of Compline, and then add Compline de Beata, or does one interpolate the latter after the blessing and before the Marian anthem?

I came to think this may be the case because Compline of the Little Office, when given as an appendix in a Breviary, was given with neither a final blessing nor Marian anthem until the 1962 edition – yet did appear with such when printed as a standalone devotion.  This made me surmise that when the two Complines were said one after the other, the blessing and Marian anthem of the daily Office supplied for its little sibling as well.  It would certainly seem strange, strictly following the '62 rules, to sing Salve Regina twice in close succession...

I recently found that in the Carmelite Breviary, the following rubric appears after the blessing: Statim dicitur Completorium de beata Virgine, si dicendum sit, quo dicto (vel si dicendum non sit) data benedictione, statim dicitur Antiphona Salve Regina...  [It would appear to me that the second parenthesis is misplaced, and should have been after benedictione.]

Therefore, at least in the Carmelite Rite, Our Lady's Compline is interpolated between Compline of the day and the Marian anthem following.

However, the Roman and other Breviaries make no such note, and indeed have a seemingly contrary rubric to the effect that, after the Benedicamus Domino, Fidelium animæ is not said, but rather the blessing and Marian anthem follow immediately.

Extra Nocturns for the Little Office

I continue to pray Placebo, Dirige and/or Exsultabunt – Vespers, Matins and Lauds of the Dead.  Alongside this, this week, I have had yet more consolation from singing the praises of the Blessed Virgin in her own Little Office.  This morning, it being her day of the week, I prefaced these devotions with some supererogatory items: some extra canticles and psalms in her honour.  

What psalms, what canticles?  The three psalms used in honour of Our Lady at Monastic Matins (which has twelve psalms, not just the nine to which the Roman Matins has been restricted for a hundred years) but not included in the Little Office – Ps 47, Magnus Dominus; Ps 84, Benedixisti Domine (used at Prime of Our Lady in the Roman Use, but not at all in the Dominican); and Ps 98, Dominus regnavit – and three canticles, the two latter being taken from the third Nocturn of Monastic Matins, while the first comes from Ambrosian Matins of Our Lady – the Canticle of Anna (I Kings ii, 1-10), Exsultavit cor meum; the Canticle of Ecclesiasticus (Ecclus xxxix, 17-21), Obaudite me; and the Canticle of Isaias (Is. lxi, 10-11 and lxii, 1-7), Gaudens gaudebo.

Interestingly, and conveniently, these two sets of three have each about the same number of verses as has each existing Nocturn, on average, of Matins of Our Lady; so, pro pia devotione, these could be substituted for the usual psalmody of a Nocturn.

Herewith, accompanied with antiphons, are these select and sacred hymns, inspired by the Holy Ghost Who illapsed upon the Virgin, filling her with unspeakable grace and conceiving within her the Word, making Him Flesh for our salvation; may they give joy to devout clients of the Mother of God:

MARIAN CANTICLES, AMBROSIAN & BENEDICTINE [36 vv.]

Aña 1.  Ave, Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu inter mulieres.  Ecce ancilla Domini: fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.  (S. Luc. i, 28b & 38a)

CANTICUM ANNÆ – I Reg. 2, 1-10 [16 vv.]

Exsultavit cor meum in Domino, * et exaltatum est cornu meum in Deo meo;

Dilatatum est os meum super inimicos meos, * quia lætata sum in salutari tuo.

Non est sanctus, ut est Dominus, † neque enim est alius extra te, * et non est fortis sicut Deus noster.

Nolite multiplicare loqui sublimia * gloriantes;

Recedant vetera de ore vestro; † quia Deus scientiarum, Dominus est, * et ipsi præparantur cogitationes.

Arcus fortium superatus est, * et infirmi accincti sunt robore.

Repleti prius, pro panibus se locaverunt, * et famelici saturati sunt.

Donec sterilis peperit plurimos, * et quæ multos habebat filios, infirmata est.

Dominus mortificat et vivificat, * deducit ad inferos et reducit.

Dominus pauperem facit et ditat; * humiliat et sublevat.

Suscitat de pulvere egenum, * et de stercore elevat pauperem,

Ut sedeat cum principibus, * et solium gloriæ teneat.

Domini enim sunt cardines terræ, * et posuit super eos orbem.

Pedes sanctorum suorum servabit, † et impii in tenebris conticescent, * quia non in fortitudine sua roborabitur vir.

Dominum formidabunt adversarii ejus, * et super ipsos in cælis tonabit;

Dominus judicabit fines terræ, † et dabit imperium regi suo, * et sublimabit cornu christi sui.

Aña 1.  Ave, Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu inter mulieres.  Ecce ancilla Domini: fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.  (S. Luc. i, 28b & 38a)

Aña 2.  Hortus conclusus es, Dei Genitrix, hortus conclusus, fons signatus: surge, propera, amica mea, et veni!  (Cf. Cant. iv, 12; ii, 10b)

CANTICUM ECCLESIASTICI – Cap. 39, 17-21 [5 vv.]

Obaudite me, divini fructus, * et quasi rosa plantata super rivos aquarum fructificate.

Quasi Libanus * odorem suavitatis habete.

Florete flores quasi lilium, et date odorem, † et frondete in gratiam; et collaudate canticum, * et benedicite Dominum in operibus suis.

Date nomini ejus magnificentiam, † et confitemini illi in voce labiorum vestrorum, * et in canticis labiorum, et citharis;

Et sic dicetis in confessione: * Opera Domini universa bona valde.

Aña 2.  Hortus conclusus es, Dei Genitrix, hortus conclusus, fons signatus: surge, propera, amica mea, et veni!  (Cf. Cant. iv, 12; ii, 10b)

Aña 3.  Maria Virgo, lætare, quæ meruisti Christum portare, cæli et terræ conditorem, quia protulisti mundi Salvatorem.

CANTICUM ISAIÆ – Cap. 61, 10-11 et 62, 1-7 [15 vv.]

Gaudens gaudebo in Domino, * et exsultabit anima mea in Deo meo,

Quia induit me vestimentis salutis, * et indumento justitiæ circumdedit me,

Quasi sponsum decoratum corona, * et quasi sponsam ornatam monilibus suis.

Sicut enim terra profert germen suum, † et sicut hortus semen suum germinat, * sic Dominus Deus germinabit justitiam, et laudem coram universis gentibus.

Propter Sion non tacebo, et propter Jerusalem non quiescam, † donec egrediatur ut splendor justus ejus, * et salvator ejus ut lampas accendatur.

Et videbunt gentes justum tuum, * et cuncti reges inclytum tuum;

Et vocabitur tibi nomen novum, * quod os Domini nominabit.

Et eris corona gloriæ in manu Domini, * et diadema regni in manu Dei tui.

Non vocaberis ultra Derelicta, * et terra tua non vocabitur amplius Desolata;

Sed vocaberis Voluntas mea in ea, *et terra tua inhabitata,

Quia complacuit Domino in te; * et terra tua inhabitabitur.

Habitabit enim juvenis cum virgine, * et habitabunt in te filii tui;

Et gaudebit sponsus super sponsam, * et gaudebit super te Deus tuus.

Super muros tuos, Jerusalem, constitui custodes;  * tota die et tota nocte in perpetuum non tacebunt.

Qui reminiscimini Domini, ne taceatis, † et ne detis silentium ei, * donec stabiliat et donec ponat Jerusalem laudem in terra.

Aña 3.  Maria Virgo, lætare, quæ meruisti Christum portare, cæli et terræ conditorem, quia protulisti mundi Salvatorem.

MARIAN PSALMS FROM THE MONASTIC BREVIARY [37 vv.]

Aña 1.  Favus distillans labia tua, Sponsa, mel et lac sub lingua tua: et odor vestimentorum tuorum sicut odor thuris.  (Cant. iv, 11)

PSALMUS 47 [13 vv.]

Magnus Dominus et laudabilis nimis, * in civitate Dei nostri, in monte sancto ejus.

Fundatur exsultatione universæ terræ mons Sion; * latera aquilonis, civitas regis magni.

Deus in domibus ejus cognoscetur, * cum suscipiet eam.

Quoniam ecce reges terræ congregati sunt, * convenerunt in unum.

Ipsi videntes, sic admirati sunt, † conturbati sunt, commoti sunt; * tremor apprehendit eos.

Ibi dolores ut parturientis: * in spiritu vehementi conteres naves Tharsis.

Sicut audivimus, sic vidimus in civitate Domini virtutum, † in civitate Dei nostri: * Deus fundavit eam in æternum.

Suscepimus, Deus, misericordiam tuam, * in medio templi tui.

Secundum nomen tuum, Deus, sic et laus tua in fines terræ: * justitia plena est dextera tua.

Lætetur mons Sion, et exsultent filiæ Judæ, * propter judicia tua, Domine.

Circumdate Sion, et complectimini eam; * narrate in turribus ejus.

Ponite corda vestra in virtute ejus, * et distribuite domos ejus, ut enarretis in progenie altera.

Quoniam hic est Deus, Deus noster in æternum, et in sæculum sæculi: * ipse reget nos in sæcula.

Aña 1.  Favus distillans labia tua, Sponsa, mel et lac sub lingua tua: et odor vestimentorum tuorum sicut odor thuris.  (Cant. iv, 11)

Aña 2.  Fons hortorum, puteus aquarum viventium, quæ fluunt impetu de Libano.  (Cant. iv, 15)

PSALMUS 84 [14 vv.]

Benedixisti, Domine, terram tuam, * avertisti captivitatem Jacob.

Remisisti iniquitatem plebis tuæ, * operuisti omnia peccata eorum.

Mitigasti omnem iram tuam, * avertisti ab ira indignationis tuæ.

Converte nos, Deus salutaris noster, * et averte iram tuam a nobis.

Numquid in æternum irasceris nobis? * aut extendes iram tuam a generatione in generationem?

Deus, tu conversus vivificabis nos, * et plebs tua lætabitur in te.

Ostende nobis, Domine, misericordiam tuam, * et salutare tuum da nobis.

Audiam, quid loquatur in me Dominus Deus, * quoniam loquetur pacem in plebem suam.

Et super sanctos suos, * et in eos qui convertuntur ad cor.

Verumtamen prope timentes eum salutare ipsius, * ut inhabitet gloria in terra nostra.

Misericordia et veritas obviaverunt sibi; * justitia et pax osculatæ sunt.

Veritas de terra orta est, * et justitia de cælo prospexit.

Etenim Dominus dabit benignitatem, * et terra nostra dabit fructum suum.

Justitia ante eum ambulabit, * et ponet in via gressus suos.

Aña 2.  Fons hortorum, puteus aquarum viventium, quæ fluunt impetu de Libano.  (Cant. iv, 15)

Aña 3.  Descendi in hortum nucum, ut viderem poma convallium, et inspicerem, si floruisset vinea, et germinassent mala punica, alleluja.  (Cant. vi, 10)

PSALMUS 98 [10 vv.]

Dominus regnavit: irascantur populi; * qui sedet super cherubim, moveatur terra.

Dominus in Sion magnus, * et excelsus super omnes populos.

Confiteantur nomini tuo magno, † quoniam terribile et sanctum est, * et honor regis judicium diligit.

Tu parasti directiones; * judicium et justitiam in Jacob tu fecisti.

Exaltate Dominum Deum nostrum, † et adorate scabellum pedum ejus, * quoniam sanctum est.

Moyses et Aaron in sacerdotibus ejus, * et Samuel inter eos, qui invocant nomen ejus;

Invocabant Dominum, et ipse exaudiebat eos; * in columna nubis loquebatur ad eos.

Custodiebant testimonia ejus, * et præceptum quod dedit illis.

Domine Deus noster, tu exaudiebas eos; † Deus, tu propitius fuisti eis, * et ulciscens in omnes adinventiones eorum.

Exaltate Dominum Deum nostrum, † et adorate in monte sancto ejus, * quoniam sanctus Dominus Deus noster.

Aña 3.  Descendi in hortum nucum, ut viderem poma convallium, et inspicerem, si floruisset vinea, et germinassent mala punica, alleluja.  (Cant. vi, 10)

Joy

Having felt rather low, and dealt with stress at work, I have nonetheless had access to joy – I've been praying some of the Hours of Our Lady according to the Dominican Rite.  Compline last night, then the Little Hours to-day...

The psalms therein, particularly the Gradual Psalms, are old friends; and prayers and petitions to Our Lady are always very consoling.  

I recall a quaint old quotation: When all other aid faileth, Mary helpeth.

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.

The Holy Ghost in the Little Office

Of course, as in the Great Office, in every doxology for all psalms, canticles and hymns, in the internal doxology of the Te Deum, as well as in the conclusion of every collect, the Holy Ghost is worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son; but strangely He, the Third Person of the Trinity, is otherwise hardly mentioned in the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, despite the obvious fact that she conceived "by the Holy Ghost" (traditionally, the Apostles' Creed, which states this, is said after Compline) - to which the Matins hymn and the collect of the Salve Regina make allusion: Fœcunda Sancto Spiritu; Spiritu Sancto coöperante. (The Benedictus antiphon names Our Lady also as sacrarium Spiritus Sancti.)

Isn't it strange that in none of the collects of the Hours is the Holy Ghost directly mentioned in the body of the prayer?

There are a few extra mentions of Him in Advent (in the second Responsory and third Lesson of Matins - Spiritus Sanctus superveniet in te; in the capitulum used at Lauds, Terce and Vespers - et requiescet super eum Spiritus Domini; in the Gospel canticle antiphon at Lauds, Vespers and Compline - Spiritus Sanctus in te descendet; in the versicle at None - Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto), but by no means many.

To remedy this state of affairs, I add pro pia devotione some extras before and after: as once was the first stanza of the hymn at all the Little Hours, I preface Prime through to None, and Compline, with the first stanza of the Veni Creator Spiritus; and just recently I have begun to add, before the Commemoration of the Saints at the end of Lauds and Vespers (which I append to these, despite its removal in about 1960), a Commemoration of the Holy Ghost, with the usual Veni Sancte Spiritus, Emitte Spiritum tuum, and Collect Deus cui omne cor patet (so dear to St Philip, himself a notable vessel of the Holy Ghost, and a prayer he recommended to his Oratorians to read at Mass).

Triple Vespers

It seemed right that this Friday evening, as penance and devotion both, to read Vespers of Our Lady (since I use her Little Office), then Vespers of the day - that is, of the Holy Guardian Angels - and then straightaway (after the Benedicamus Domino) Vespers of the Dead, in suffrage for the many who have perished in natural disasters this week.

Having read back-to-back these prayers, it was interesting to reflect on something of all three Vespers: for a start, their psalms: Pss 109, 112, 121, 126 and 147 (as for feasts of the Virgin); Pss 109, 110, 111, 112 and 137 (the Sunday psalms, but for the last, which is proper for feasts of Angels on account of its second verse); and Pss 114, 119, 120, 129 and 137 (as appointed when praying for the deceased) - three of which I'd read at the Little Hours of the Little Office.

Dixit Dominus (Ps 109), that grand mysterious messianic psalm, is read in honour of the Incarnate Lord, both on feasts of His Mother, and on well-nigh all important feasts, for He is Lord of all. Laudate pueri Dominum (Ps 112) reminds us that the Lord looks down to lift up the lowly, and to gladden the childless with children - hence the Marian dimension; while in allusion to the angels, He it is Who cares for us, who are so lowly, via His messengers, sent from above. Interestingly, Confitebor tibi Domine (Ps 137) is used for Vespers of the Dead as well as on to-day's feast of the Guardian Angels, given its reference to the Lord regarding the lowly, not despising the works of His Hands (the Hands of the Father are the Son and the Spirit, according to the Fathers).

Posture, too, comes into all this: I customarily kneel (when praying more formally) before beginning the Hour standing (for the Deus in adjutorium), and of course bow for the Glory be's in worship of the Trinity; after the first antiphon and first half-verse, one sits for the psalmody; one rises for the little chapter and remains standing through to the end - but for the Ave maris stella, for whose first stanza one kneels. Finishing Vespers of Our Lady, one does the same for the day's Vespers (of the Holy Angels), but, for Placebo (Vespers of the Dead), one sits for the psalmody (nor are there Glory be's to bow for), rising only for the Magnificat, then kneels for the concluding prayers.

During the combined Hours, some gestures are constant: the sign of the Cross at the Deus in adjutorium and Magnificat; bowing one's head at the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary; and, by custom, bowing one's head also at the words Sanctum et terribile nomen ejus (Ps 110:9a) and Sit nomen Domini benedictum (Ps 112:2a), and, following less common practice, at et sanctum nomen ejus (fourth verse of the Magnificat) and at Sanctificetur nomen tuum (in the Lord's Prayer).

Am I niggling and wasting my time on absurdities? If this outward practice were the sum of my cares, yes! But if the posture reflect something of the heart, then external reverence reinforces the wavering flame of interior piety. I hope in blogging about "shutting the door and praying to your Father in secret" I have not lost my reward (!), but offer these thoughts in case others pray in similar ways, and may find these little points of interest.

Return to Normalcy

Back at work, with its pressures and worries, back in Tasmania (ditto), and finding that if my vices and temptations took a holiday while I did, they've come home too!

In the midst of the hustle and bustle, it was good to turn back to the opening pages of the Little Office, and at breathing spaces through the day to pray Our Lady's Hours. "When all other succour faileth, Our Lady's grace helpeth." (The Mirror of Our Lady)

Happy feast of St Matthew for yester-day: I'm afraid all I prayed all day was Compline. It is too easy to let things slide...

At least, while I was away, the Tolkien books I ordered arrived, so I've been able to read at night before bed some of his shorter works ("Smith of Wootton Major", "Leaf by Niggle", "A Secret Vice" - about the composition of new languages - and his "Valedictory Address").

The Greater Part of Our Penance

My Scottish correspondent commented some posts below, in regard to the Breviary: "Humbert of Romans said that the 'greater part of our Penance consists in the daily recitation of the Office'. Notice he says part, so it alone is not all our penance; besides, it is not only penance - it can also be a joy."

Of ourselves as sinful men (and I speak first of myself), all we deserve is penance; but the Lord deigns to console us also, such is His mercy.

I fully agree with Humbert's opinion: that's why, despite its sometimes fatiguing length, I do make it a rule to say some form of the Divine Office every day: for well over a decade, it was the modern Liturgy of the Hours; then more recently I've more and more used the 1962 Breviary; and for the past seven weeks, I have been reciting the Little Office of Our Lady (whose relative brevity turns out to fit more easily with my work commitments), to the point that much of it is becoming second nature to me.

Why the Office? Well, fundamentally it is singing the praise of God in His own words: and since this shall be our entire occupation hereafter (if we avoid hell), it is fitting to make some preparation for this in the present. Prayer is not about changing God's will, but about conforming our will to His: praying the Scriptures is of signal use in this. Add to this the holy prayers of the Church, and the remembrance of notable saints as models for us, yes, and intercessors...

Being sick at home and away from work, these last three days I've managed the full Office again, and it has been both a penance, and a joy. While I have a great and even-deeper love for the Office of the Blessed Virgin, which is hard to tear myself away from, the sombre majesty of the ferial Office in particular is important, part of the innate genius of the Roman Rite.

Matins of Fridays - with the very long Psalm 77 (in six parts), then Psalms 78, 80 and the enjoyable 82 (confounding Israel's enemies) - is penance indeed! So, too, is Friday None, as I've blogged about before: Psalm 88 is prodigiously long. Lauds is, also, with a particularly long canticle from Isaias xlv, 15-26, Vere tu es Deus absconditus, to be prayed: an important text, but fatiguing.

But there are joys, too - the Passion Psalm, Psalm 21, at Prime; several familiar Psalms at Lauds (98 and 142, both splendid, plus 84 and 147, used at Prime and Vespers of Our Lady); and the blessedly short Terce and Sext (Psalms 79, 81, 83 and 86, all beaut psalms, the last used at Matins of the Virgin) to make up for the length of the rest of the Hours.

(Wednesday, Thursday, and to-day I've prayed the Hours from Matins to None en bloc in the mid-afternoon, after 3 pm, the hour of Christ's Death on Calvary. Penance, penance...)

Madame et Monsieur Croque

After Confession this morning, I said my allotted penance (a very fitting Memorare for Our Lady's aid in the spiritual combat, and three Gloria Patri's in thanksgiving to the Trinity), lit some candles, and read Matins, Lauds and Prime of the Blessed Virgin. It was good to have the chance to do so kneeling by the sacred images, near the High Altar where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved... on my way from the confessional to the candlerack, I passed the large Crucifix, and am not ashamed to say I kissed the Feet it portrays as nailed there - for only thereby am I saved.

My Saturday morning routine consists of having a sleep-in past my usual workday waking hour, then going to confession at Church of Apostles; after that, I make my way into town, look about, and read The Australian over coffee and brunch. To-day, I was pleased to find that the café serves not only croque-monsieur ("Mister Crunch"), a French riff on a toasted ham and cheese sandwich (made with gruyere cheese and quality ham with a scattering of gherkin, between baguette slices panfried in butter, not toasted), but his partner, croque-madame ("Mrs Crunch"), which contains a fried egg as well. Very nice, especially on a cool, rainy day (the very wet weather is still continuing, after a bizarrely fine day yesterday; the Gorge remains in flood).

Making my way back to the car, on a sudden inspiration I made a return visit to church and read Terce and Sext, plus the texts of Our Lady's Mass as meditation.

(By the way, a pious custom I picked up from my former parish priest, Bp Jarrett, is to say three Glory be's after the Angelus on Saturdays, in thanksgiving to the Trinity for Our Lady's glorious privileges: I think this is a decent practice.)

Beata Dei Genetrix

Each morning at Lauds of the Blessed Virgin, the Benedictus antiphon is as follows:

Beata Dei Genitrix Maria, Virgo perpetua, templum Domini, sacrarium Spiritus Sancti:

sola sine exemplo placuisti Domino nostro Jesu Christo:

ora pro populo, interveni pro clero, intercede pro devoto femineo sexu.

(Blessed Mother of God Mary, ever a Virgin, temple of the Lord, shrine of the Holy Ghost:

alone without peer thou didst please our Lord Jesus Christ:

pray for the people, intervene for the clergy, intercede for consecrated women.)

Interestingly, this Marian anthem is composed of three parts - the first is a series of Our Lady's titles; the second, a slightly expanded quotation from Sedulius (Carmen paschale, II, 69 - Sola sine exemplo placuisti femina Christo); the third, part of the prayer of Fulbert of Chartres long attributed to St Augustine (Serm. IX - ora pro populo; interveni pro clero; intercede pro devoto femineo sexu).

Sedulius also gives us the Introit for Our Lady, Salve sancta Parens (at which words the Carthusians genuflect in memory of the Incarnation): his verses were Salve, sancta parens, enixa puerpera regem, / Qui caelum terramque tenet per saecula... (Carmen paschale, II, 63f), but these the Church has expanded upon by changing the last words to regit in saecula saeculorum.

Salve, sancta parens,

enixa puerpera Regem,

qui caelum, terramque regit

in saecula saeculorum.

(Hail, holy Parent,

a woman in labour who didst bring forth the King,

Who ruleth heaven and earth

for ever and ever.)

From his abecedarian hymn A solis ortus cardine come some wonderful Christmas and Epiphany hymns, though his full text extends from the Infancy to the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. From the Carmen comes also the following lines (II, 66-68):

...quæ ventre beato
Gaudia matris habens cum virginitatis honore
Nec primam similem visa es nec habere sequentem:

(... by whose blessed womb

having the joys of a mother with the honour of virginity:

neither was one like seen before thee nor shall there be another)

These appear reused in various places in the Liturgy, such as in this antiphon sung before Christmas in some rites:

O Virgo virginum, quomodo fiet istud?

Quia nec primam similem visa es nec habere sequentem.

Filiæ Jerusalem, quid me admiramini?

Divinum est mysterium hoc quod cernitis.

(O Virgin of Virgins, how shall this be?

For neither before thee was any like thee, nor shall there be after.

Daughters of Jerusalem, why marvel ye at me?

The thing which ye behold is a divine mystery.)

As Gambero notes, Sedulius offers a synthesis and summary of all Mariology in a short passage of his Carmen (II, 63-69), parts of which have already been quoted above, parts taken up into the official Liturgy of Christ's Church:

Hail, O holy mother; you gave birth to the King

Who governs heaven and earth forever, whose

Divinity and dominion embrace everything in one eternal realm

And endure without end. In your blessed womb

You hold a mother's joy, yet you enjoy the honour of virginity.

No woman like you was seen before, nor did one appear after;

You alone, without comparison, were the woman who pleased Christ.

May the Blessed Virgin intercede for us with her Son, Who refuses nothing to His Mother in whom He is well-pleased.

Triple Vespers

The Levite Lawrence hath wrought a good work,

who by the Sign of the Cross gave sight to the blind,

and gave the treasures of the Church to the poor.

– Magnificat antiphon of 1st Vespers of St Lawrence

Having been grilled alive, defying the most impious tyrant by telling him, "I'm cooked, turn and eat!", by a surprising piece of ecclesiastical grim humour, St Lawrence is the Patron Saint of cooks: how appropriate, therefore, on this his feast ten years ago that devout Catholic Jennifer Paterson breathed her last, she of "Two Fat Ladies" fame...

I recall the amusing story about her and how she came to be a food writer and later a television personality: for years she was cook at the London offices of The Spectator, but was finally driven mad by the last-minute demands of her boss the editor ("Oh, Jennifer, we're having fifteen extra at lunch, including the Prince of Wales - they'll be here in forty-five minutes"), promptly opened the kitchen window and threw out all the crockery, which smashed in the courtyard far below - but, instead of sacking her, the editor admired her plucky spirit, and made her a writer for the magazine instead.

Famously, Paterson was a parishioner of the London Oratory, and her uncle was gentiluomo to Cardinal Hume; apparently a bequest from her helped the publication of The Catholic Hymn Book, a fine collection of hymns. I pray that St Lawrence, St Philip and the Blessed Virgin intercede for her, that she have eternal rest in Christ.

I myself am one of those people that enjoy the pleasures of the table, and also quite like reading cookbooks - in fact, providentially a new tome arrived today: Darra Goldstein's The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory [sic] Food of the Republic of Georgia. (I have hopes of travelling to Georgia in time, but unfortunately the situation there remains tense, with 30,000 Georgian refugees still unable to return to South Ossetia, still more displaced from Abkhazia, both those puppet states being propped up by the Russian military in a shameless manner: Georgia remains straitened within her narrow bounds - only just larger in area than Tasmania - with 18% of her territory under foreign occupation. It seems to me to be somewhat imprudent to travel there at present, alas.)

I think those in the know would agree with me that Georgian cuisine is underrated and not well-enough known: after all, from Poti (ancient Phasis) on the Georgian Black Sea coast (ancient Colchis, end of Jason's quest, the land of the Golden Fleece) came in the beginning the bird of Phasis - the pheasant, king of birds, Phasianus colchicus. I could go on...

But to return to St Lawrence: whenever I think of him, I recall the first portion of the antiphon quoted above - "The Levite Lawrence hath wrought a good work, / Who by the Sign of the Cross gave sight to the blind" - which is also used in shorter form both as another antiphon and as a versicle, and in longer form as the first responsory of his Matins:

R/. The Levite Lawrence hath wrought a good work,

who by the Sign of the Cross gave sight to the blind,

* and gave the treasures of the Church to the poor.

V/. He dispersed, and gave to the poor:

his justice shall abide world without end.

* And he gave the treasures of the Church to the poor.

All true miracles are gratia gratis data, ad ædificandam Ecclesiam: graces given gratis, for the building up of the Church; so it was no wonder that Lawrence the Deacon, that is, one who was a Minister and a Servant, a sacramental icon of Christ the Servant and Minister, performed a signal sign by curing the blind - most significantly, by the Sign of the Cross, that which from a ignominious gibbet has become the Sign of Salvation.

Christ gave sight to the blind, in token that He was the true and only Light of the world, and to shew that in due process of time He would bring light to them that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, by opening unto them the gate and door of salvation. The servant is not greater than his Master, but follows in His steps: St Lawrence wrought a good work, by freeing from physical blindness a man, thereby giving visible proof to the invisible realities at work, that God through His servants and ministers can not only cure the blind, but through holy Baptism bring illumination to the blind, sinladen soul: not for nothing was Baptism anciently called Photismos and the bath of enlightenment.

Christ may have healed but a few in His day, as the Gospels tell, but by His Cross He saved the dying world going down to death, rising again to be its Life. Likewise, in due measure, St Lawrence, faithful and true witness to Him Who is Faithful and True, healed one, but by his great martyrdom - so the Fathers dare to say - merited the final conversion of pagan Rome, thus bringing salvation to a great Empire of earth, so extending the rule of Christ the King.

It must also be noted that St Lawrence combined in his own person, as servant of the Church of Rome, and in a sense locum tenens thereof (Pope St Sixtus II having but days before been slaughtered at the altar), both faith and good works in an heroic degree: by his miracles he gave proof positive of the power of God, and by his brave almsdeeds he gave witness to the overflowing charity that Christ preached: for as He, being rich, became poor for our sakes, that we may be made rich by His poverty, so St Lawrence, rather than hand over the Church's treasures to bulge the insatiable Imperial purse and feed the licentious luxury of the tyrant, gave rather to the poor these goods for their support, converting gold and silver into everlasting riches stored up in heaven: For inasmuch as ye have done so unto the least of My brethren, ye have done so unto Me, saith the Lord.

To celebrate his feast day, I read Vespers of Our Lady first (keeping to her Little Office as is my wont nowadays), then Vespers of St Lawrence (making my first use of the Breviary Office for some weeks), and finally Vespers of the Dead, in suffrage for the suffering souls in Purgatory, enduring purification by penitential fire (praying for all the faithful departed, including dearly departed Jennifer).

As his Collect reminds us, it is through, with, and in Christ our Lord, by His all-meritorious Passion, by His power and grace, that St Lawrence was able to overcome the dread trial of being charred and cooked on a gridion, and that we may overcome our own vices, burn and inflame they us ever so hotly:

Grant us, we beg, almighty God, to extinguish the flames of our vices, Who didst give unto blessed Lawrence to overcome the fires of his torments: through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Blessed Lawrence, Martyr of Christ, intercede for us.

43,73€

Just arrived from an antiquarian bookstore in Germany: a 1939 edition (with binding a bit loose at the front and back) of the Officium parvum Beatæ Mariæ Virginis et Officium Defunctorum, cum Psalmis Gradualibus et Pœnitentialibus ac Litaniis Sanctorum e Breviario Romano excerpta - Latin only, printed at Ratisbon. It gives all these services in full, and, for Our Lady's Hours, prints them all out for the three 'seasons' - during the year, at Advent, and after Christmas. As an added bonus, it contains the special Office for All Souls Day.

This slim little volume (16 by 10 by 1 cm) I've acquired to have the Little Office and so forth in a neat hardback pocketbook - I currently keep the 1997 Carmel Books edition (paperback, slightly thicker and less tall) in my jacket pocket, but thought I should upgrade it. What would be nice would be a Vademecum Christianum, with Little Office, divers prayers, New Testament and Imitation of Christ all-in-one, but they're rare as hens' teeth, and very expensive.

I'll look at getting this otherwise very useful volume rebound... since I paid, ummm, oh dear, AU$85.13 for it, I think I ought treat it very carefully! But for to-night I'll use it to read Vespers.

Now, to acquire a real Book of Hours - that would really cost serious money...

Commemoratio de omnibus Sanctis

(Please excuse the rather unorthodox Trinity depicted!)

One feature of the pre-1962 Little Office that I like is the Commemoration, at Lauds and Vespers, of all saints - which in a sense is a condensation into one collect (actually, two under one conclusion) of the six or so commemorations in the pre-1912 Breviary. I esteem it because it is an excellent general intercession, rather like the preces in fact; when praying Our Lady's Hours, I follow the '62 rules, but immediately after the Fidelium I then recite this Commemoration:

Aña. Sancti Dei omnes, intercedere dignemini pro nostra omniumque salute.

(All ye Saints of God, deign to intercede for our and all men's salvation.)

V/. Lætamini in Domino, et exsultate, justi.

R/. Et gloriamini omnes recti corde.

(Rejoice in the Lord, and exult, ye just.

(And glory, all ye upright of heart. - Ps. 31:11)

Oremus.

Protege, Domine, populum tuum, et Apostolorum tuorum Petri et Pauli, et aliorum Apostolorum patrocinio confidentem, perpetua defensione conserva.

Omnes Sancti tui, quæsumus, Domine, nos ubique adjuvent, ut dum eorum merita recolimus, patrocinia sentiamus: et pacem tuam nostris concede temporibus, et ab Ecclesia tua cunctam repelle nequitiam: iter, actus, et voluntates nostras, et omnium famulorum tuorum, in salutis tuæ prosperitate dispone: benefactoribus nostris sempiterna bona retribue: et omnibus fidelibus defunctis requiem æternam concede. Per Dominum...

(Protect, Lord, Thy people, and by Thy everlasting defence preserve them that trust in the patronage of Thy Apostles Peter and Paul, and the other Apostles.*

(May all Thy Saints, we beg, Lord, everywhere help us, that when we recall their merits, we may feel their patronage: both grant us peace in our times, and drive away all wickedness from Thy Church: dispose our way, acts and wills, and that of all Thy servants, in the prosperity of Thy salvation: repay our benefactors with everlasting good things: and give eternal rest to all the faithful departed. Through...)

It may be seen that these collects answer to seven petitions:

1. for the patronage of SS Peter and Paul, and all Apostles;
2. for the patronage of all Saints;
3. for peace;
4. against the enemies of Holy Church;
5. for our salvation and that of all;
6. for benefactors;
7. for the dead.

[* This first prayer I said to-day while paying a visit to the Church of the Apostles in town, with a devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and a Rosary - then lighting some candles and some more petitions entrusting all and sundry to Our Lady, ut mos est.]

Placebo and Dirge

The perfect devotion for a cold rainy Friday, after watching some horror: sitting in my study, reading Vespers, then Matins (Nocturn II) and Lauds of the Dead - what our longfathers before us called Placebo and Dirge (Dirige) from the first antiphons of these Offices. It is not for nothing that the sacred liturgy bids us pray for the dead by putting on our lips first-person cries for mercy, and the anguish of Job. "Man, born of a woman, living for a short time, is filled with many miseries..." (Job xiv, 1 - the opening of the first Lesson of Nocturn II.)

But thanks be to God! "When the fulness of time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem them who were under the law..." (Gal. iv, 4-5a) - here is the answer to the questionings of Job. The Hours of the Blessed Virgin go with the Office of the Dead very well: point counterpoint. Having read her Hours (but for Compline), the late evening hour was right for the thought of the last things.

And so, fortified, off to bed.

A Return to the Basics

Sometimes, in the spiritual life, one is well advised to return to the basics.

That is, I think, what I've been doing: remembering Our Saviour's dying words of commendation, "This is thy Mother," I have returned to a stronger Marian devotion - not that I ignored the Holy Mother of God! - and readjusted my prayer life accordingly, according to the short formula of consecration ad Jesum per Mariam: "I am all Thine, and all that I have is Thine, O most loving Jesu, through Mary, Thy Holy Mother."

[It just struck me - in the framed painting of the Madonna and Child with St Philip Neri, that I have hanging here before me, is not St Philip gesturing with one hand to me, and with the other to Jesus and Mary? Is he not recommending me to them?]

For this reason, I feel that the daily recitation of her Little Office has borne fruit, focussing on a doable and beneficial cycle of psalms; and I resolve to be constant again in daily Rosary (something I've badly let slide) - as its Collect says, may we meditate on its mysteries, and obtain their promises. Meditation I need: the Rosary brings before one the central mysteries of our salvation. Little things, too, I aim at: not just the thrice-daily Angelus (as almost always), but a Memorare, a Sancta Maria succurre, and Our Lady's Litanies. Wearing the Scapular, carrying my Rosary with miraculous medal, trusting in the Blessed Virgin's tender care: this is right.

When all other help fails, Mary aids. "As a child has rest in its mother's arms, even so my soul."

I close with the Sancta Maria succurre miseris, since it isn't as well known as it ought be, considering how it is one of the major indulgenced Marian prayers; once attributed to St Augustine, it is now known to be part of a longer prayer by Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres; it occurs at first Vespers for sundry Marian feasts, and in mediæval times was the standard Magnificat anthem in the Hours of the Virgin:

Sancta Maria,

succurre miseris,

juva pusillanimes,

refove flebiles,

ora pro populo,

interveni pro clero,

intercede pro devoto femineo sexu.

Sentiant omnes tuum juvamen,

quicumque celebrant tuam sanctam commemorationem.

(Holy Mary,

succour the miserable,

help the fainthearted,

comfort the sorrowful,

pray for the people,

plead for the clergy,

intercede for consecrated women.

May all feel thine aid,

whosoever celebrate thy holy commemoration.)

Ecclesiasticus xxiv, 1-31

For ten days now I've been considering, at Matins of the Blessed Virgin, the lessons taken from Ecclesiasticus xxiv; just now, comparing the different recensions of the Little Office, such as the Carmelite, I have considered how (as Cardinal Bea did with his editio amplior) piously to supplement it. As a theoretical suggestion, perhaps at Our Lady's Matins, as each day the Nocturn recited is alternated (the first, on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays; the second, on Tuesdays and Fridays; the third, on Wednesdays and Saturdays), so perhaps the three Matins Lessons could have alternatives.

It so happens providentially that Ecclus xxiv, 1-24 (which Holy Church reads in praise of the Virgin - literally, Wisdom personified refers to the Book of the Law, but, as Holy Mary is perfectly conformed to God's will, she can be named Lady Wisdom, for her every behaviour can serve as a rule for Christians) can be subdivided into nine lessons (plus two verses already used as the short chapters at Vespers and Compline), so that the first three could be used on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the last three on Wednesdays and Saturdays, while the middle three, which are the existing lessons, could be kept for Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays.

I append below my suggestions, plus a Marian commentary on these texts:

Suggested Matins Lessons for Tuesdays and Fridays

Ecclus xxiv, 1-4

Sapientia laudabit animam suam, et in Deo honorabitur, et in medio populi sui gloriabitur, et in ecclesiis Altissimi aperiet os suum, et in conspectu virtutis illius gloriabitur, et in medio populi sui exaltabitur, et in plenitudine sancta admirabitur, et in multitudine electorum habebit laudem.

(Wisdom shall praise her own self, and shall be honoured in God, and shall glory in the midst of her people, and shall open her mouth in the churches of the most High, and shall glorify herself in the sight of his power, and in the midst of her own people she shall be exalted, and shall be admired in the holy assembly, and in the multitude of the elect she shall have praise.)

As Our Lady spoke by her own blessed mouth, magnifying the Lord, she indeed sang in praise of what He had wrought in her, but only so as to give God the glory and testify to the truth: and she has been ever the glory and the refuge of good Christian people, the delight of pious folk, she who is the Mother and image and peerless archetype of the Church, the mistress of all churches, admired and exalted by the faithful and ever praised: "For all generations shall call me blessed".

Ecclus xxiv, 4b-7

Et inter benedictos benedicetur, dicens: Ego ex ore Altissimi prodivi, primogenita ante omnem creaturam. Ego feci in cælis ut oriretur lumen indeficiens, et sicut nebula texi omnem terram. Ego in altissimis habitavi, et thronus meus in columna nubis.

(And among the blessed she shall be blessed, saying: I came out of the mouth of the most High, the firstborn before all creatures: I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never faileth, and as a cloud I covered all the earth: I dwelt in the highest places, and my throne is in a pillar of a cloud.)

The Holy Mother of God is indeed blessed among all women, blessed among the blessed, being sanctified and hallowed in her Immaculate Conception by the Holy Ghost, and rendered Virgin of Virgins, yea, holy among all the saints. She is the firstborn, because peerless and most beloved, daughter of God the Father, who created her as the unique fit Mother of His Onlybegotten Son: and by the same eternal decree by which the Incarnation was foreordained, so was she conceived in the Mind of God. Through her has it been effected that Christ, the Light of the world, should come down from heaven and illuminate all that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, rising as the Sun of justice that never shall set. As a cloud covers the earth and waters it, so have ever been her anxious prayers for all, that God would make alive all souls by the secret influx of grace. Assumed into heaven on high, there she dwells, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of heaven and earth, enthroned above the clouds.

Ecclus xxiv, 8-11a

Gyrum cæli circuivi sola, et profundum abyssi penetravi: in fluctibus maris ambulavi. Et in omni terra steti: et in omni populo, et in omni gente primatum habui: et omnium excellentium et humilium corda virtute calcavi.

(I alone have compassed the circuit of heaven, and have penetrated into the bottom of the deep, and have walked in the waves of the sea, and have stood in all the earth: and in every people, and in every nation I have had the chief rule: and by my power I have trodden under my feet the hearts of all the high and low.)

That is, the Blessed Virgin has been raised up to the very heights of heaven, bodily, at her Assumption, after she had plumbed the very depths of sore torment and grief when compassionating her Son's most bitter Passion at the hands of malefactors (for Scripture very often represents evil by the uproarious sea), and she stood at the foot of the Cross when her heart would break, and by her maternal intercession has served Providence by obtaining great graces for all peoples, bequeathed her by Christ: and has trodden down the proud of heart (above all, that wily serpent, Satan), while the humble-hearted have delighted to submit themselves to her most gentle suasion.

Current Matins Lessons

(to be kept for Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays)

Ecclus xxiv, 11b-13 [Matins, Lesson i]

Et in his omnibus requiem quæsivi, et in hæreditate Domini morabor. Tunc præcepit, et dixit mihi Creator omnium: et qui creavit me, requievit in tabernaculo meo. Et dixit mihi: In Jacob inhabita, et in Israël hæreditare, et in electis meis mitte radices.

(And in all these I sought rest, and I shall abide in the inheritance of the Lord. Then the creator of all things commanded, and said to me: and he that made me, rested in my tabernacle, and he said to me: Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thy inheritance in Israel, and take root in my elect.)

Our Lady, true Daughter of Sion, abode with those whose inheritance is the Lord, and in Him she ever remains and rests. The Creator of all willed that the Eternal Word take flesh in Mary, and sent a heavenly embassy, a holy angel, to announce His suit, and ask her consent: she consenting, He that made her rested in her tabernacle. Her portion was with her people, those of the covenant made with Jacob and Israel, the Chosen of God.

Ecclus xxiv, 14 [Vespers, Little Chapter]

Ab initio et ante sæcula creata sum, et usque ad futurum sæculum non desinam: et in habitatione sancta coram ipso ministravi.

(From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before him.)

Before all time, God decreed that the Second Person of the Trinity would become Man, and thereby willed that Holy Mary be made the free instrument of His saving Incarnation. Never shall the Blessed Virgin die, for she reigns with Christ forever: and as her delight was to nurture her Divine Son, so evermore she delights to serve Him in heaven by doing His will, praying for sinners and the just, obtaining from Him the favours He delights to bestow through her.

Ecclus xxiv, 15-16 [Matins, Lesson ii; also used for the Little Chapters at Terce and Sext]

Et sic in Sion firmata sum, et in civitate sanctificata similiter requievi, et in Jerusalem potestas mea. Et radicavi in populo honorificato, et in parte Dei mei hæreditas illius, et in plenitudine sanctorum detentio mea.

(And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem. And I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.)

The chosen people of God were the elect company in which Holy Mary was in due process of time born of her holy righteous parents Joachim and Ann, and was brought forth among the tribes of Israel, and introduced to the Holy City, and the Temple: she, in herself the new and perfect Sion and Jerusalem, chosen to become the wondrous City of the Living God, the Holy One of Israel, to be made flesh in her womb, to be our Peace. Exalted to heaven, she dwells with all the holy children of God.

Ecclus xxiv, 17-20 [Matins, Lesson iii; verse 20 is also the Little Chapter at None]

Quasi cedrus exaltata sum in Libano, et quasi cypressus in monte Sion: quasi palma exaltata sum in Cades, et quasi plantatio rosæ in Jericho: quasi oliva speciosa in campis, et quasi platanus exaltata sum juxta aquam in plateis. Sicut cinnamomum et balsamum aromatizans odorem dedi; quasi myrrha electa dedi suavitatem odoris.

(I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree on mount Sion. I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho: as a fair olive tree in the plains, and as a plane tree by the water in the streets, was I exalted. I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aromatical balm: I yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh.)

The Virgin compares herself to stately trees and flowers, images of the righteous planted in Israel to bear goodly fruit for God – she, the humble and meek, a little one, was magnified and exalted by the Lord, growing from the tiniest into the greatest, raised up from earth to heaven, having in herself borne Heaven made a Son of earth: well may all called to be citizens of heaven shelter under her care. She is perfumed with the sweet cinnamon odour of Christ, Who is as balm, being our Healing, and as myrrh the sad spice for embalming, for in His Passion and Death he suffered all pain, yet decayed not nor corrupted, and rose triumphant the third day.

Suggested Matins Lessons for Wednesdays and Saturdays

Ecclus xxiv, 21-23

Et quasi storax, et galbanus, et ungula, et gutta, et quasi Libanus non incisus vaporavi habitationem meam, et quasi balsamum non mistum odor meus. Ego quasi terebinthus extendi ramos meos, et rami mei honoris et gratiæ. Ego quasi vitis fructificavi suavitatem odoris: et flores mei fructus honoris et honestatis.

(And I perfumed my dwelling as storax, and galbanum, and onyx, and aloes, and as the frankincense not cut, and my odour is as the purest balm. I have stretched out my branches as the turpentine tree, and my branches are of honour and grace. As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches.)

Being Immaculate, and ever avoiding all folly and sin, she kept herself beautified as a worthy tabernacle for the Incarnation of the Most High, as the precious Ark of the New Covenant, and ever maintained herself in entire purity of mind and body as a fountain enclosed, a garden compassed about, as befits one uniquely God's Mother, ever a Virgin: and in this she shews how all good Christians must strive by grace to keep pure as temples of the living God. She ever stretches forth the mantle of her maternal protection, shading fallen man from evil influences, thus honouring those born again as Christians with her gracious prayers. Holy Mary is as a plenteous vine, giving forth the sweet odour of Christ in bearing Him Who is our salvation. All her works are honourable and full of grace. As Mother and Mediatrix of grace, God's choicest blessings overflow from her into all hearts.

Ecclus xxiv, 24 [Compline, Little Chapter]

Ego mater pulchræ dilectionis, et timoris, et agnitionis, et sanctæ spei.

(I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope.)

The Holy Virgin, Queen and Mother of mercy, is our life, our sweetness, and our hope: by her perfect example, she teaches us what charity is, what holy fear, reverence and godly awe, what true knowledge is, eager adhesion to Him Who is Truth, and what wonderful hope we ought have in Him, her Son – our way, our truth and our life.

Ecclus xxiv, 25-27

In me gratia omnis viæ et veritatis: in me omnis spes vitæ et virtutis. Transite ad me, omnes qui concupiscitis me, et a generationibus meis implemini: spiritus enim meus super mel dulcis, et hæreditas mea super mel et favum.

(In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits. For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb.)

The Mother of God was filled with all grace at her Immaculate Conception, filled by the Author of grace, conceiving within her God the Son Who is the Source of all grace, ever and anon lifted by the indwelling Spirit to new heights of grace. She is graced with the way to follow Christ perfectly, with full grasp of His truth and of Him Who is Truth, and so in adherence to her example is all hope of true life and true virtue. She is Lady Wisdom, calling out in the way to whoso would find the Lord, bidding them imbibe her saving instruction and profit thereby unto life eternal. One so beautiful of face and still fairer in faith is ever to be loved and admired: by running to her, we come nigh unto God Who seats her above heaven with Himself. To be filled with her fruits is to obtain the graces God is pleased she should dispense, and above all to receive into ourselves Christ, the Blessed Fruit of her womb. Her spirit is sweet because pure and wholly graced, a nature so good and so supernaturalized as to be perfected in God. Her heritage, for those who love and follow her, is likewise richer than any lesser good.

Ecclus xxiv, 28-31

Memoria mea in generatione sæculorum. Qui edunt me, adhuc esurient, et qui bibunt me, adhuc sitient. Qui audit me non confundetur, et qui operantur in me non peccabunt: qui elucidant me, vitam æternam habebunt.

(My memory is unto everlasting generations. They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me, shall yet thirst. He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting.)

Yes, as she herself declared, inspired by the Holy Ghost as St Luke records, the memory of the Blessed Virgin shall endure for ever: for the Almighty wrought marvels in her, and therefore all generations shall bless her. Of Mary there is never enough: we receive the Blessed Eucharist, the Most Holy Flesh and Blood of Christ, from her, who gave Him birth as Man: of her we receive Christ, for Whom we ever hunger and thirst, Whose sweetness is such that we ever desire more. If we listen to Our Lady, her last words ever remind us: Do whatever He tells you. In this practice, in such a hope, we can never be confounded. Her will is entirely conformed to the Lord's: hence, to follow her is to be a true imitator of her, as she is the perfect disciple of her Son Christ – therefore, to work out our salvation as she did is never to sin. Praising her, explaining her mysteries, is but to give the glory to God Who made such a marvel as Mary, and is but to point out so sure an Advocate and model, to follow whom and to seek whose aid is surely the safe short way to life.