Neo-Gallican Thanksgiving

If it ain't Baroque...

Browsing online through the dozens of Neo-Gallican Breviaries produced in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (as one does), I was struck by the common appearance therein, not of the usual prayers of thanksgiving after Mass as in the traditional Roman Missal and Breviary, but of a different Gratiarum Actio post Missam, evidently composed in the eighteenth century (one surmises, by the revisers who compiled the famous 1736 Paris Breviary).

It principally consists of three psalms: Ps 22, Dominus regit me (a.k.a. "The Lord is my shepherd"); Ps 33, Benedicam Dominum in omni tempore ("I shall bless the Lord at all times"); and Ps 102 Benedic, anima mea, Domino, et omnia ("Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me").  These are accompanied with a suitable antiphon, being the Magnificat antiphon for 1st Vespers of Corpus Christi, O quam suavis est (which, incidentally, has the same tune as the great anthem to St Dominic, O lumen Ecclesiæ).

To this psalmody are added preces consisting of the usual threefold Kyrie, Lord's Prayer and versicles, followed by five collects (taken from the Gelasian Sacramentary and other sources) and a final, longer prayer, evidently for priests alone, taken from the 4th book of The Imitation of Christ, chapter 11.  In some French Breviaries, above all the Lyonnaise, to all this is prefixed the Te Deum for good measure.

I am still working on the English of the collects, but I find these psalms at least to be good to say in thanksgiving after Holy Communion, and indeed used this little Latin office (in length, about the same as one of the Little Hours), both with and without Te Deum to begin with, after Communion at morning Mass yester-day and to-day.

GRATIARUM ACTIO POST MISSAM.

Te Deum laudámus: * te Dominum confitémur.

Te ætérnum Patrem, * omnis terra venerátur.

Tibi omnes Ángeli, * tibi Cæli et universæ Potestátes:

Tibi Chérubim et Séraphim * incessábili voce proclámant:

Sanctus: Sanctus: Sanctus * Dóminus Deus Sábaoth.

Pleni sunt cæli et terra * majestátis glóriæ tuæ.

Te gloriósus * Apóstolorum chorus,

Te Prophetárum * laudábilis númerus,

Te Mártyrum candidátus * laudat exércitus.

Te per orbem terrárum * sancta confitétur Ecclésia:

Patrem * imménsæ majestátis;

Venerándum tuum verum * et unícum Fílium;

Sanctum quoque * Paráclitum Spíritum.

Tu Rex glóriæ, * Christe.

Tu Patris * sempitérnus es Fílius.

Tu, ad liberándum susceptúrus hóminem, * non horruísti Vírginis úterum.

Tu, devícto mortis acúleo, * aperuísti credéntibus regna cælórum.

Tu ad déxteram Dei sedes, * in glória Pátris.

Judex créderis * esse ventúrus.

Sequens versus dicitur flexis genibus

Te ergo quæsumus, tuis famúlis subveni, * quos pretióso sánguine redemísti.

Ætérna fac cum Sanctis tuis * in glória numerári.

Salvum fac pópulum tuum, Dómine, * et bénedic heréditati tuæ.

Et rege eos, * et extólle illos usque in ætérnum.

Per síngulos dies * benedícimus te;

Et laudámus nomen tuum in sæculum, * et in sæculum sæculi.

Dignáre, Dómine, die isto * sine peccáto nos custodíre.

Miserére nostri, Dómine, * miserére nostri.

Fiat misericórdia tua, Dómine, super nos, * quemádmodum sperávimus in te.

In te, Dómine, sperávi: * non confúndar in ætérnum.

Ps. 22.

Dominus regit me, et nihil mihi deerit: * in loco pascuæ ibi me collocavit.

Super aquam refectionis educavit me: * animam meam convertit.

Deduxit me super semitas justitiæ, * propter nomen suum.

Nam, et si ambulavero in medio umbræ mortis, non timebo mala: * quoniam tu mecum es.

Virga tua, et baculus tuus: * ipsa me consolata sunt.

Parasti in conspectu meo mensam, * adversus eos, qui tribulant me.

Impinguasti in oleo caput meum: * et calix meus inebrians quam præclarus est!

Et misericordia tua subsequetur me * omnibus diebus vitæ meæ:

Et ut inhabitem in domo Domini, * in longitudinem dierum.
Gloria Patri, et Filio: * et Spiritui Sancto.
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper: * et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

Ps. 33.

Benedicam Dominum in omni tempore: * semper laus ejus in ore meo.

In Domino laudabitur anima mea: * audiant mansueti, et lætentur.

Magnificate Dominum mecum: * et exaltemus nomen ejus in idipsum.

Exquisivi Dominum, et exaudivit me: * et ex omnibus tribulationibus meis eripuit me.

Accedite ad eum, et illuminamini: * et facies vestræ non confundentur.

Iste pauper clamavit, et Dominus exaudivit eum: * et de omnibus tribulationibus ejus salvavit eum.

Immittet Angelus Domini in circuitu timentium eum: * et eripiet eos.

Gustate, et videte quoniam suavis est Dominus: * beatus vir, qui sperat in eo.

Timete Dominum, omnes sancti ejus: * quoniam non est inopia timentibus eum.

Divites eguerunt et esurierunt: * inquirentes autem Dominum non minuentur omni bono.

Venite, filii, audite me: * timorem Domini docebo vos.

Quis est homo qui vult vitam: * diligit dies videre bonos?

Prohibe linguam tuam a malo: * et labia tua ne loquantur dolum.

Diverte a malo, et fac bonum: * inquire pacem, et persequere eam.

Oculi Domini super justos: * et aures ejus in preces eorum.

Vultus autem Domini super facientes mala: * ut perdat de terra memoriam eorum.

Clamaverunt justi, et Dominus exaudivit eos: * et ex omnibus tribulationibus eorum liberavit eos.

Juxta est Dominus iis, qui tribulato sunt corde: * et humiles spiritu salvabit.

Multæ tribulationes justorum: * et de omnibus his liberabit eos Dominus.

Custodit Dominus omnia ossa eorum: * unum ex his non conteretur.

Mors peccatorum pessima: * et qui oderunt justum, delinquent.

Redimet Dominus animas servorum suorum: * et non delinquent omnes qui sperant in eo.

Gloria Patri, et Filio: * et Spiritui Sancto.

Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper: * et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

Ps. 102.

Benedic, anima mea, Domino: * et omnia, quæ intra me sunt, nomini sancto ejus.

Benedic, anima mea, Domino: * et noli oblivisci omnes retributiones ejus.

Qui propitiatur omnibus iniquitatibus tuis: * qui sanat omnes infirmitates tuas.

Qui redimit de interitu vitam tuam: * qui coronat te in misericordia et miserationibus.

Qui replet in bonis desiderium tuum: * renovabitur ut aquilæ juventus tua:

Faciens misericordias Dominus: * et judicium omnibus injuriam patientibus.

Notas fecit vias suas Moysi, * filiis Israël voluntates suas.

Miserator, et misericors Dominus: * longanimis, et multum misericors.

Non in perpetuum irascetur: * neque in æternum comminabitur.

Non secundum peccata nostra fecit nobis: * neque secundum iniquitates nostras retribuit nobis.

Quoniam secundum altitudinem cæli a terra: * corroboravit misericordiam suam super timentes se.

Quantum distat ortus ab occidente: * longe fecit a nobis iniquitates nostras.

Quomodo miseretur pater filiorum, misertus est Dominus timentibus se: * quoniam ipse cognovit figmentum nostrum.

Recordatus est quoniam pulvis sumus: * homo, sicut fœnum dies ejus, tamquam flos agri sic efflorebit.

Quoniam spiritus pertransibit in illo, et non subsistet: * et non cognoscet amplius locum suum.

Misericordia autem Domini ab æterno, * et usque in æternum super timentes eum.

Et justitia illius in filios filiorum, * his qui servant testamentum ejus:

Et memores sunt mandatorum ipsius, * ad faciendum ea.

Dominus in cælo paravit sedem suam: * et regnum ipsius omnibus dominabitur.

Benedicite Domino, omnes Angeli ejus: * potentes virtute, facientes verbum illius, ad audiendam vocem sermonum ejus.

Benedicite Domino, omnes virtutes ejus: * ministri ejus, qui facitis voluntatem ejus.

Benedicite Domino, omnia opera ejus: * in omni loco dominationis ejus, benedic, anima mea, Domino.

Gloria Patri, et Filio: * et Spiritui Sancto.

Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper: * et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

Aña. O quam suavis est, Domine, Spiritus tuus! qui, ut dulcedinem tuam in filios demonstrares, pane suavissimo de cœlo præstito, esurientes reples bonis, divites dimittens inanes. Sap. 12 et 16. Luc. 1.

Preces.

Kyrie, eleison. Christe, eleison. Kyrie, eleison.

Pater noster secreto usque ad

V/. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem:

R/. Sed libera nos a malo.

V/. Memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum misericors et miserator Dominus:

R/. Escam dedit timentibus se. Ps. 110.

V/. Quid est homo, quod memor es ejus?

R/. Aut filius hominis, quoniam visitas eum? Ps. 8.

V/. Sicut adipe et pinguedine repleatur anima mea;

R/. Et labiis exsultationis laudabit os meum. Ps. 62.

V/. Non nobis, Domine, non nobis;

R/. Sed nomini tuo da gloriam. Ps. 113.

V/. Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum, in pace;

R/. Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum. Luc. 2.

V/. Domine, exaudi orationem meam;

R/. Et clamor meus ad te veniat. Ps. 101.

Oremus. (Sacr. Gelas. &c.)

Visita, quæsumus, Domine, familiam tuam: et corda sacris dicata mysteriis pervigili tuere pietate; ut remedia salutis æternæ, quæ te miserante percipiunt, te protegente custodiant.

Quæsumus, Domine, Deus noster, ut quos divina tribuis participatione gaudere, humanis non sinas subjacere periculis.

Cognoscimus, Domine, tuæ circa nos clementiæ largitatem: et ideo fiducialius imploramus, ut quos pascere non desinis immeritos, et digne tibi servire perficias, et donis uberioribus prosequaris.

Majestatem tuam, Domine, suppliciter exoramus, ne perire patiaris quibus tanta remedia providisti; sed cum divini frequentatione mysterii crescat nostræ salutis effectus.

Actiones nostras, quæsumus, Domine, aspirando præveni, et adjuvando prosequere; ut cuncta nostra oratio et operatio a te semper incipiat, et per te cœpta finiatur.

[Adjuvet nos gratia tua, omnipotens Deus; ut qui officium sacerdotale suscepimus, digne ac devote tibi in omni puritate et conscientia bona famulari valeamus: et si non possumus in tanta innocentia vitæ conversari ut debemus, concede nobis tamen digne flere mala quæ gessimus, et in spiritu humilitatis, ac bonæ voluntatis proposito tibi ferventius de cetero deservire; (Imit. Christi. IV. xi, 8.)] Per Christum Dominum nostrum. R/. Amen.

The last prayer, being directly from the Imitation of Christ, I now quote from an old translation:

Assist us with Thy grace, O Almighty God, that we who have taken upon us the priestly office, may be able to converse worthily and devoutly with Thee in all purity and good conscience. And if we are not able to have our conversation in such innocency of life as we ought, yet grant unto us worthily to lament the sins which we have committed, and in the spirit of humility and full purpose of a good will, to serve Thee more earnestly for the future.

Additional O Antiphons

Medieval breviaries had various additional O-antiphons, all - in my opinion - of inferior form and content to the original seven.

The Parisian Breviary (1735) had nine of these Antiphons, beginning the cycle on the 15th of December, and interpolating two new ones, which I consider to be well-formed and of appropriate structure:

20th December - O Sancte Sanctorum

O Sancte sanctorum, speculum sine macula Dei majestatis, et imago bonitatis illius: veni ut deleatur iniquitas, et adducatur justitia sempiterna.

(O Holy of Holies, the spotless mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness: come and blot out iniquity, and bring in everlasting righteousness.)

Sources:

• …speculum sine macula Dei majestatis, et imago bonitatis illius. (Sap 7:26b-c)

• Septuaginta hebdomades abbreviatæ sunt super populum tuum et super urbem sanctam tuam, ut consummetur prævaricatio, et finem accipiat peccatum, et deleatur iniquitas, et adducatur justitia sempiterna, et impleatur visio et prophetia, et ungatur Sanctus sanctorum. (Dan 9:24)
  

23rd December - O Pastor Israël

O Pastor Israël, et dominator in domo David, cujus egressus ab initio, a diebus æternitatis: veni ut pascas populum tuum in fortitudine, et regnes in justitia et judicio. 

(O Shepherd of Israel and ruler of the house of David, whose goings forth have been from of old, from ancient days: come and feed thy people in the strength of the Lord, and reign in judgment and righteousness.)

Some possible sources:

• Qui regis [pascis – 1945] Israël, intende… (Ps 79(80):2(1)a)

• …ex te mihi egredietur qui sit dominator in Israël, et egressus ejus ab initio, a diebus æternitatis. (Mic 5:2c-e)

• ...et relicta est gens perpauca, et princeps in domo David. (Ecclus 48:17)

• ...et erexit cornu salutis nobis in domo David pueri sui... (Lc 1:69)

• Et stabit, et pascet in fortitudine Domini… (Mic 5:4a)

• Et suscitabo super eas pastorem unum qui pascat eas, servum meum David: ipse pascet eas, et ipse erit eis in pastorem. (Ezech 34:23)

• Et scient quia ego Dominus Deus eorum cum eis, et ipsi populus meus domus Israël, ait Dominus Deus. (Ezech 34:30)

• Pasce populum tuum in virga tua, gregem hæreditatis tuæ, habitantes solos, in saltu, in medio Carmeli. Pascentur Basan et Galaad juxta dies antiquos. (Mic 7:14)

• Ecce in justitia regnabit rex, et principes in judicio præerunt. (Is 32:1)
  

Breviary Tidbits

Having been looking in Breviaries lately, one of my strange habits, I came across these Neo-Gallican little chapters for Prime and Compline, different to the Roman ones, in various French Breviaries of old:

1.  At Prime:

Breviarium Parisiense 

For you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord.  Walk then as children of the light; for the fruit of the light is in all goodness, and justice, and truth; proving what is well pleasing to God.  

(Ephesians v, 8-10)

...or this, from a Neo-Gallican Monastic Breviary:

Breviarium monasticum juxta regulam s. patris Benedicti, ad usum Congregationis ss. Vitoni et Hydulphi Ad usum congregationis SS. Vitoni et Hydulphi. Pars Hyemalis-Autumnalis. By Benedictines

See, brethren, how you walk circumspectly: not as unwise, but as wise: redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

(Ephesians v, 15-16)

2.  At Compline:

Breviarium Parisiense 

All you are the children of light, and children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness; therefore, let us not sleep, as others do; but let us watch, and be sober.

(I Thessalonians v, 5-6)

Good texts to chew over...

A Neo-Gallican Advent

In translation at least - I'm not competent to comment on Latin poetry, but I have heard such Neo-Gallican works of the eighteenth century condemned as "frigid" - I rather like the output of Charles Coffin (1676-1749), sometime rector of the University of Paris (see his engraving here; and, if you read French, something about him here), then acclaimed a considerable Latin poet, and considered by some saintly, but who died without benefit of the last rites because of embroilment in the Jansenist controversy.  His hymns were used, somewhat controversially, to replace age-old compositions in the new Paris Breviary of 1736, and thence were quarried by High Church Anglicans in the nineteenth century, such as John Chandler, who translated his Advent hymns, alongside many others, in 1836.

Below I gave his Matins hymn, Instantis Adventum Dei, Englished as "The coming of our God" by R. Campbell et al., which is also available in many other versions; here I subjoin, first, his other well-known hymn, Jordanis oras prævia, which we sing as "On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry" (not to be confused with "On Jordan's Bank the Baptists cry", which would refer to ululating American Protestants from the Southern States on some fundamentalist pilgrimage!), and then two other lesser-known ones, for Vespers and Compline (since the latter in the Paris Breviary had seasonal hymns, just as in various Breviaries of religious orders).  It must be noted that only recourse to the Breviarium Parisiense, Pars Hiemalis, together with my recent serendipitous find (again via Google Books) of John Chandler's The Hymns of the Primitive Church, yielded up their Latin originals and the versions of some of them.

Jordanis oras prævia

Vox ecce Baptistæ quatit:

Præconis ad grandes sonos

Ignavus abscedat sopor. 

Au[c]toris adventum sui

Tellus, et æther, et mare

Prægestiente sentiunt

Et jam salutant gaudio. 

Mundemus et nos pectora:

Deo propinquanti viam

Sternamus; et dignam domum 

Tanto paremus hospiti.

Tu nostra, tu, Jesu, salus;

Tu robur et solatium:

Arens ut herba, te sine

Mortale tabescit genus. 

Ægris salutarem manum

Extende: prostratos leva:

Ostende vultum, jam suus

Mundo reflorescet decor. 

Qui Liberator advenis,

Fili, tibi laus maxima

Cum Patre et almo Spiritu

In sempiterna saecula.  Amen.

On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry 

Announces that the Lord is nigh: 

Come then and hearken, for he brings 

Glad tidings from the King of kings. 

E'en now the air, the sea, the land 

Feel that their Maker is at hand; 

The very elements rejoice, 

And welcome Him with cheerful voice. 

Then cleansed be every Christian breast, 

And furnished for so great a Guest! 

Yea! let us each our hearts prepare 

For Christ to come and enter there. 

For Thou art our salvation, Lord, 

Our refuge and our great reward, 

Without Thy grace our souls must fade,

And wither like a flower decayed.

Stretch forth Thine hand, to heal our sore, 

And make us rise, to fall no more; 

Once more upon Thy people shine, 

And fill the world with love divine. 

To Him, Who left the throne of Heaven 

To save mankind, all praise be given: 

Like praise be to the Father done, 

And Holy Spirit, Three in One.

– tr. John Chandler.

I have only just tracked down Coffin's Vesper hymn, and I think I know why it didn't prove so popular as its brothers already quoted: it's rather grim, and does sound a bit Jansenist (albeit remaining quite orthodox!)  - here it is, again in a version by Chandler (which manages to telescope two stanzas into one, BTW):

Statuta decreto Dei 

Tandem propinquant tempora: 

Emptus tot annorum mora 

Affulget e cœlo dies. 

Patris nefando crimine 

Proles jacebat saucia:

In mortis umbra conditum 

Sedebat humanum genus. 

Morti secundæ debitos 

Et sempiternis ignibus 

Horrenda justi judicis 

Manebat expectatio.

Heu! quis ruinæ tam gravis 

Sarcire damna; quæ manus 

Afferre tam grandi queat 

Parem medelam vulneri?

Tu, Christe, tu solus tuo 

Delapsus e throno Deus, 

Imagini potes tuæ 

Formam decusque reddere. 

Rorate, cœli, desuper,

Justumque fœcundo sinu 

Complexa tellus, perdito 

Orbi salutem germinet. 

Sit sempiterna laus tibi,

Verbum Patris factum caro, 

Cum Patre, cumque Spiritu 

Nunc, et per omne sæculum. Amen.

The rolling years at length fulfil, 

The counsels of th' Eternal will; 

More precious for the long delay, 

Shines forth from heaven the joyful day. 

Since Adam fell, his sinful race 

Lay sunk in ruin and disgrace; 

In shade of night forlorn they sate, 

And waited for their awful fate. 

Alas! and who can undertake 

Amends for man's offence to make? 

Where can a remedy be found 

Sufficient for so sore a wound? 

Thou, Jesu Christ, yea, Thou alone, 

Descending from Thy Father's throne, 

The heavenly likeness canst restore, 

God's image, which at first we bore. 

Send Him, ye heavens, from above, 

That so the earth, with grateful love,

May th' everlasting seed embrace 

The Saviour of our long-lost race.

All praise and glory we afford, 

To Jesus, the incarnate Word: 

And God the Father we adore, 

And Holy Ghost, for evermore.

Finally, an old copy of Hymns Ancient and Modern yielded up this translation, made by the compilers thereof in 1861, of Coffin's Compline hymn for Advent, "suitable for a late evening service":

When shades of night around us close,
And weary limbs in sleep repose,
The faithful soul awake may be,
And longing sigh, O Lord, to Thee.

Thou true Desire of nations, hear,
Thou Word of God, Thou Saviour dear;
In pity heed our humble cries,
And bid at length the fallen rise.

O come, Redeemer, come and free
Thine own from guilt and misery;
The gates of Heav’n again unfold,
Which Adam’s sin had closed of old.

All praise, eternal Son, to Thee,
Whose advent sets Thy people free,
Whom with the Father we adore
And Holy Ghost forevermore.

In noctis umbra desides
Dum somnus artus occupat,
Ad te, Deus, fidelibus
Mens excubat suspiriis.

Desiderate gentibus,
Verbum Patris, mundi salus,
Audi preces gementium,
Tandemque lapsos excita.

Adsis, Redemptor, et tuæ
Plebis relaxans crimina,
Adæ scelus quas clauserat,
Reclude cœlestes domos.

Qui liberator advenis,
Fili, tibi laus maxima
Cum Patre, cumque Spiritu
In sempiterna sæcula. Amen.

Now that these Advent hymns (four in all, one being on that earlier posting) can be compared, I think that the general theme, especially clear in those for Vespers and Compline, of Christ coming in human flesh to restore to fallen man the Divine likeness lost by Adam's sin is clear.  I would say that the generally more positive tone of the Matins and Lauds hymns propably accounts for their greater popularity as nice songs for Advent!

The Advent of Our God

The coming of our God
Our thoughts must now employ;
Then let us meet Him on the road
With songs of holy joy.

The co-eternal Son
A Maiden's offspring see;
A servant’s form Christ putteth on
To set His people free.

Daughter of Zion, rise
To greet thine infant King;
Nor let thy stubborn heart despise
The pardon He doth bring.

In glory from His throne
Again will Christ descend, 
And summon all that are His own
To joys that never end.

Let deeds of darkness fly
Before the approaching morn,
For unto sin 'tis ours to die
And serve the Virgin-born.

Our joyful praises sing
To Christ, that set us free;
Like tribute to the Father bring,
And, Holy Ghost, to Thee.

Instantis adventum Dei
Poscamus ardenti prece;
Festique munus inclytum
Præoccupemus canticis.

Æterna proles, feminæ 
Non horret includi sinu;
Fit ipse servus, ut jugo
Nos servitutis eximat.

Mansuetus et clemens venit;
Occurre festina, Sion;
Ultro tibi quam porrigit,
Ne dura pacem respuas.

Mox nube clara fulgurans
Mundi redibit arbiter,
Suique membra corporis
Cœlo triumphator vehet.

Fœtus tenebrarum, die
Cedant propinquo crimina: 

Adam reformetur vetus,
Imago succedat novi.

Qui Liberator advenis, 
Fili, tibi laus maxima
Cum Patre et almo Spiritu
In sempiterna saecula.  Amen.

– Charles Coffin (1676-1749), Matins Hymn in the Paris Breviary;
translated by R. Campbell (1814-1868, et al.

(There is another translation available at Cyberhymnal; I prefer the tune Franconia.)

Relics - III

While I have been unable to locate the Breviary Office for Holy Relics pro aliquibus locis, I have found, via Google Books, the Neo-Gallican Office of this feast, which in the Paris Breviary was celebrated on the 8th of November, the Octave Day of All Saints (see the Autumn volume of the Breviarium Parisiense, pages 493 to 500).  

As was the fashion in the eighteenth century among innovating liturgists, all the antiphons, responsories, versicles and such were taken from Holy Writ alone, and that a very fulsome and rich collection of apposite passages was assembled it must be admitted; the only Ecclesiastical compositions present were the Patristic texts for the second and third Nocturn (from St Chrysostom's 26th Homily on II Corinthians, n. 5; and St Jerome's Letter LXXV against Vigilantius), the reading of a short canon approving the cult of relics from a 1584 French provincial synod (a peculiarity of Prime according to the French diocesan breviaries), the two Office hymns O vos unanimes and Adeste sancti plurimo (by a contemporary French writer) and the collect, which is the same as the Roman.

Here's the Canon:

Breviarium Parisiense 

(We honour the Relics of the Martyrs, that God, Whose servants they are, we may adore: we honour the servants, that the honour of the servants may redound to the Lord.  For if the bones of the Martyrs pollute those who touch them, how, Elias the Prophet being dead, did he raise the dead?)

To give an idea of some modernistic notions of the compilers of the Paris Breviary, for the whole feast, at every Hour, the ferial psalms are prescribed, and there are no proper Scripture readings for the 1st Nocturn; instead, they were to be taken from the occurring lectio continua!

Here, then, are the proper Lessons (for the 2nd and 3rd Nocturns) from the Parisian Breviary for the feast of Holy Relics:

A Sermon of St John Chrysostom

[Homily 26 on II Corinthians, n. 5]

And the tombs of the servants of the Crucified are more splendid than the palaces of kings; not for the size and beauty of the buildings, (yet even in this they surpass them,) but, what is far more, in the zeal of those who frequent them. For he that wears the purple himself goes to embrace those tombs, and, laying aside his pride, stands begging the saints to be his advocates with God, and he that has the diadem implores the tent-maker and the fisherman, though dead, to be his patrons. Will you dare then, tell me, to call the Lord of these dead; whose servants even after their decease are the patrons of the kings of the world? And this one may see take place not in Rome only, but in Constantinople also. For there also Constantine the Great, his son considered he should be honoring with great honor, if he buried him in the porch of the fisherman; and what porters are to kings in their palaces, that kings are at the tomb to fisherman.

But if you will compare these tombs with the royal palaces, here again the palm remains with them. For there indeed there are many who keep off, but here many who invite and draw to them rich, poor, men, women, bond, free; there, is much fear; here, pleasure unutterable. 'But,' says one, 'it is a sweet sight to look on a king covered with gold and crowned, and standing by his side, generals, commanders, captains of horse and foot, lieutenants.' Well, but this of ours is so much grander and more awful that that must be judged, compared with it, to be stage scenery and child's play. For the instant you have stepped across the threshold, at once the place sends up your thoughts to heaven, to the King above, to the army of the Angels, to the lofty throne, to the unapproachable glory.

… the bones of the saints… summon demons and put them to the torture, and loose from those bitterest of all bonds, them that are bound. What is more fearful than this tribunal? Though no one is seen, though no one piles the sides of the demon, yet are there cries, and tearings, lashes, tortures, burning tongues, because the demon cannot endure that marvellous power. And they that once wore bodies, are victorious over bodiless powers; [their] dust and bones and ashes rack those invisible natures. And therefore in truth it is that none would ever travel abroad to see the palaces of kings, but many kings and have often traveled to see this spectacle. For the Martyries of the saints exhibit outlines and symbols of the judgment to come; in that demons are scourged, men chastened and delivered. Do you see the power of saints, even dead?

A Homily of St Jerome the Priest.

[Ep. 75 adversus Vigilantium, n. 5]

It is nothing less than the relics of the martyrs which he is vexed to see covered with a costly veil, and not bound up with rags or hair-cloth, or thrown on the midden, so that Vigilantius alone […] may be worshipped. Are we, therefore guilty of sacrilege when we enter the basilicas of the Apostles? Was the Emperor Constantius [I] guilty of sacrilege when he transferred the sacred relics of Andrew, Luke, and Timothy to Constantinople? In their presence the demons cry out, and […] confess that they feel the influence of the saints. And at the present day is the Emperor Arcadius guilty of sacrilege, who after so long a time has conveyed the bones of the blessed Samuel from Judea to Thrace? Are all the bishops to be considered not only sacrilegious, but silly into the bargain, because they carried that most worthless thing, dust and ashes, wrapped in silk in golden vessel? […] You show mistrust because you think only of the dead body, and therefore blaspheme. Read the Gospel— [Matthew 22:32] “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob: He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

[n. 6]  You say, in your pamphlet, that so long as we are alive we can pray for one another; but once we die, the prayer of no person for another can be heard, and all the more because the martyrs, though they [Revelation 6:10] cry for the avenging of their blood, have never been able to obtain their request. If Apostles and martyrs while still in the body can pray for others, when they ought still to be anxious for themselves, how much more must they do so when once they have won their crowns, overcome, and triumphed? A single man, Moses, oft wins pardon from God for six hundred thousand armed men [cf. Exodus 12:37, etc.]; and [Acts 7:59-60] Stephen, the follower of his Lord and the first Christian martyr, entreats pardon for his persecutors; and when once they have entered on their life with Christ, shall they have less power than before? The Apostle Paul [Acts 27:37] says that two hundred and seventy-six souls were given to him in the ship; and when [Philippians 1:23], after his dissolution, he has begun to be with Christ, must he shut his mouth, and be unable to say a word for those who throughout the whole world have believed in his Gospel? 

[n. 8]  Does the bishop of Rome do wrong when he offers sacrifices to the Lord over the venerable bones of the dead men Peter and Paul, as we should say, but according to you, over a worthless bit of dust, and judges their tombs worthy to be Christ's altars? And not only is the bishop of one city in error, but the bishops of the whole world, who, despite […] Vigilantius, enter the basilicas of the dead, in which “a worthless bit of dust and ashes lies wrapped up in a cloth,” defiled and defiling all else. Thus, according to you, the sacred buildings are [Matthew 23:27] like the sepulchres of the Pharisees, whitened without, while within they have filthy remains, and are full of foul smells and uncleanliness. […] Oh, monster, who ought to be banished to the ends of the earth!