Monday, January 12, 2009

Weird Vespers

Vespers this evening were weird because they were ferial Vespers of Epiphanytide (psalms of Monday, then a capitulo from the Ordinary of Epiphanytide excepting the Epiphany Magnificat antiphon Tribus miraculis, and the Collect for the 1st Sunday after Epiphany), and Compline at bedtime will be ferial Monday Compline - and this is doubly weird, because it means that the Commemoration of the Baptism of Our Lord has no first Vespers nor festal Compline!

I must say I don't like these and other like traces of the late pre-Conciliar mucking about with the Breviary; they seem to have rather impoverished the Office.

5 comments:

Kate Edwards said...

Curious indeed!

Actually the different Ordos I have for the Benedictine Use have conflicting instructions on this - my 1962 breviary (published in 1963) prescribes as you have described for the Roman Rite, while my (2004 edition of Diurnal based on 1962) and the Le Barroux Ordo sticks with the festal Office for Epiphany. I went with the later approach, it seems to make much more sense!

Seems to me this is one of those glitches that would have been sorted out in time had the 1962 breviary not been effectively suppressed (it clearly has been sorted subsequently in the Benedictine Rite, and where the Office continued to be said according to the 1962 Ordo in many places, even where the TLM was suppressed).

One might consider taking a few rubrical liberties next time around...

Joshua said...

Not obey the RUBRICS?!

Quelle horreur!

*AAARGH*

Terra has told me to disobey the rubrics!!!

(Runs about in a mad state, bashes head against wall, falls down foaming at the mouth...)

(Some time later...)

Golly.

Joshua said...

My Dominican 1962 Breviary has the following rubric:

"Sicubi hoc festum I Vesperas habeat: Omnia ut ad I Vesperas in Epiphania Domini 124, præter hic posita."

It then goes on to give the proper Magnificat antiphon "Baptizat miles Regem" and Collect "Deus cujus Unigenitus in substantia".

It appears that the issue in both cases is that the Commemoration of the Lord's Baptism is a 2nd class feast, and therefore not entitled to 1st Vespers.

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean, Joshua. I very often wish I could get my hands on an old, say, 1911 Breviary in Latin, but I don't know where to get them.

About the rubrics, though; I would opine (although I have read this elsewhere, also) that we should obey the rubrics under pain of sin, unless we know they are materially in error, even if we don't like them! ;-P

Joshua said...

Yes, I entirely agree, Mark.