Psallite Sapienter: Dormition Eve Procession

“And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps.” (Sophonias 1:12a) – therefore, on Dormition Eve, the 14^th of August, after the Mass of the Dormition, that renowned, great and most soporific torchlit nocturnal procession of the Sleeping Virgin is held in each Dorter (or Dormitory) of the Order of the Dormition, each truly being an ecclesiola, the whole Church (the true Jerusalem) in miniature.

Preceded by thurifer, crucifer and cerifers, fares forth the reclining statue of the Virgen dormida (as the Spanish say) on her sacred bier all bestrewn with fairest flowers (as is the church, as are all the cloisters, even the very cemetery), the whole carried by laybrothers as is their special duty and privilege, the contemplative canons themselves accompanying their Lady, the Virgin of Virgins, in their hands candles.

Almost* alone among all religious Orders, the Dormitionist still remains faithful to the command of Pope St Sergius (687-701), he who introduced the Agnus Dei at the Mass, by continuing to hold a great procession on this, the Eve of the "Day of the Great Lady" as the Hungarians term it – a magnificent procession held in the evening and night at Rome, from his age down to the second part of the sixteenth century, when alas it fell into disuse.

[*The Carmelite Rite, itself all but extinct, maintained this procession – so I suppose the Carmelite Monks in Wyoming still do.]

All process as if sleepwalking (some as if the walking dead), for it is accounted an especial grace among Dormitionists to be so suitably abstracted. The Queen of Heaven herself is borne along upon her bed, as it is written, “In my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loveth.” (Cant. 3:1a)

The canons sing from memory, quite unconsciously, producing a most unearthly sound. The laybrothers, resisting the unworthy urge to groan under the weight of the hefty bier, unite or rather resign themselves to the solemn plainchant, if not to the Cross that is religious life, or at length take refuge in the somniferous Rosary. Does not such a peregrination all too aptly represent the Christian journey through this dark world?

The procession wends its weary way all through the House. With the Most Holy Mother of God, well may we cry “In all these I sought rest” (Ecclus xxiv, 11) – just as do the Dormitionist Fathers and Brothers. Again, the Spouse in the Canticle of Canticles sings “I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, and found him not. I will… go about the city… I will seek him whom my soul loveth.” (Cant. iii, 1-2). Is this not an image of the questing soul seeking God?

Out from the choir, down the nave, crying Magnificat, repeating its anthem after every verse; out and round the cloisters of the Dorter, passing each and every cell, chanting forth Memento Domine David, interspersed with that most apposite anthem "Before the couch of this Virgin sing often unto us sweet chants with solemnity"; out into the cemetery (where a station is made, at the foot of the great Cross therein) – out from the church, out to the grave, just as from the baptismal font we proceed ineluctably to the tomb.

But this is not the end! Returning whence they came, representing the Christian ascent from the dust of earth to heavenly glory, the canons noise forth Venite and its festal invitatory "Mary hath entered * Into My rest", returning to the doors of the church – symbolizing heaven – for the second station, then returning at last up the nave and into the choir singing Nunc dimittis and the anthem "I am black but beautiful... the King hath loved me, and hath brought me into His chamber", holding the final station while the statue of the Virgo dormiens is returned to her place of honour and repose in the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, just as Our Lady abides evermore with the Trinity in ceaseless rest and peace.

Immediately she has returned, Compline begins. “We magnify thee, O undefiled Mother of Christ our God, and we praise thine all-glorious Dormition.”

Now first transcribed from that rarest of rare liturgical books, the Processionale O. Dorm., are the chants of the Dormition Procession, which follow below.

At the egress from choir, processing down the nave:

Aña. Magnificamus te, intemerata Mater Chriſti Dei noſtri, et laudamus glorioſiſſimam Dormitionem tuam.

Canticum beatæ Mariæ Virginis. Lucæ 1.

1 Magnificat * anima mea Dominum;

Aña. Magnificamus te…

2 Et exſultavit ſpiritus meus * in Deo, ſalutari meo,

Aña. Magnificamus te…

3 Quia reſpexit humilitatem ancillæ ſuæ: * ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes,

Aña. Magnificamus te…

4 Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens eſt, * et ſanctum nomen ejus,

Aña. Magnificamus te…

5 Et miſericordia ejus a progenie in progenies * timentibus eum.

Aña. Magnificamus te…

6 Fecit potentiam in brachio ſuo, * diſperſit ſuperbos mente cordis ſui.

Aña. Magnificamus te…

7 Depoſuit potentes de ſede, * et exaltavit humiles.

Aña. Magnificamus te…

8 Eſurientes implevit bonis, * et divites dimiſit inanes.

Aña. Magnificamus te…

9 Suſcepit Iſraël, puerum ſuum, * recordatus miſericordiæ ſuæ,

Aña. Magnificamus te…

10 Sicut locutus eſt ad patres noſtros, * Abraham et ſemini ejus in ſæcula.

Aña. Magnificamus te…

11 Gloria Patri et Filio * et Spiritui Sancto.

Aña. Magnificamus te…

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

Aña. Magnificamus te…

Processing around the Dorter:

Aña. Ante thorum hujus Virginis, frequentate nobis dulcia cantica dramatis.

Pſalmus 131.

1 Memento, Domine, David, * et omnis manſuetudinis ejus:

Aña. Ante thorum…

2 Sicut juravit Domino, * votum vovit Deo Jacob:

Aña. Ante thorum…

3 Si introiero in tabernaculum domus meæ, * ſi aſcendero in lectum ſtrati mei:

Aña. Ante thorum…

4 Si dedero ſomnum oculis meis, * et palpebris meis dormitationem:

Aña. Ante thorum…

5 Et requiem temporibus meis: donec inveniam locum Domino, * tabernaculum Deo Jacob.

Aña. Ante thorum…

6 Ecce audivimus eam in Ephrata: * invenimus eam in campis ſilvæ.

Aña. Ante thorum…

7 Introibimus in tabernaculum ejus: * adorabimus in loco ubi ſteterunt pedes ejus.

Aña. Ante thorum…

8 Surge, Domine, in requiem tuam, * tu et arca ſanctificationis tuæ.

Aña. Ante thorum…

9 Sacerdotes tui induantur juſtitiam: * et ſancti tui exſultent.

Aña. Ante thorum…

10 Propter David, ſervum tuum, * non avertas faciem Chriſti tui.

Aña. Ante thorum…

11 Juravit Dominus David veritatem, et non frustrabitur eam: * De fructu ventris tui ponam ſuper ſedem tuam.

Aña. Ante thorum…

12 Si cuſtodierint filii tui teſtamentum meum, * et teſtimonia mea hæc quæ docebo eos:

Aña. Ante thorum…

13 Et filii eorum uſque in ſæculum, * ſedebunt ſuper ſedem tuam.

Aña. Ante thorum…

14 Quoniam elegit Dominus Sion: * elegit eam in habitationem ſibi.

Aña. Ante thorum…

15 Hæc requies mea in ſæculum ſæculi: * hic habitabo, quoniam elegi eam.

Aña. Ante thorum…

16 Viduam ejus benedicens benedicam: * pauperes ejus ſaturabo panibus.

Aña. Ante thorum…

17 Sacerdotes ejus induam ſalutari: * et ſancti ejus exſultatione exſultabunt.

Aña. Ante thorum…

18 Illuc producam cornu David, * paravi lucernam Chriſto meo.

Aña. Ante thorum…

19 Inimicos ejus induam confuſione: * ſuper ipſum autem efflorebit ſanctificatio mea.

Aña. Ante thorum…

20 Gloria Patri et Filio * et Spiritui Sancto.

Aña. Ante thorum…

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

Aña. Ante thorum…

At the first Station, before the Cross in the Cemetery:

Eccli. 24, 11b. 12. 15a

R/. viii. In omnibus requiem quæſivi. Tunc præcepit, et dixit mihi Creator omnium: * Et qui creavit me, requievit in tabernaculo meo. V/. Et ſic in Sion firmata ſum, et in civitate ſanctificata ſimiliter requievi. * Et qui creavit me, requievit in tabernaculo meo.

V/. O beatiſſima dormitio.

R/. Glorioſiſſimæ Deiparæ.

Oremus.

Or. Concede nobis, quæſumus, omnipotens Deus, ad beatæ Mariæ ſemper virginis requiem æternam pertingere: de cujus nos veneranda Dormitione tribuis annua ſolemnitate gaudere. Per Chriſtum Dominum noſtrum. R/. Amen.

Returning from the Cemetery to the Church: