Colebrook Again

As I live closer to Colebrook than Hobart, I drove to St Patrick's Church again this Sunday, though earlier in the day, as the monks (I mean, Fr Prior and the pre-postulants) planned to sing Terce at 9:45 am, followed by their sung Mass at 10 am, and, as it transpired, the office of Sext a little before noon. 

Being able to join in their solemn, public worship by attending both those Little Hours was a great privilege, as was participating in the supernatural joy of the Missa cantata for the First Sunday of Lent, most fitly adorned by their singing of its magnificent Gregorian propers, all taken from Psalm 90 (the only concession to their small numbers being the psalm-toning of the even verses of the Tract, which even so lasted about six minutes), not to mention the chanting of Mass XVII and Credo I. I was able to join confidently in the Ordinary, all the responses and also the Introit, which shares its melody with that of Trinity Sunday, whose chant I learnt long years ago.

Please do join in prayer that the monastic community of Notre Dame Priory finds its permanent home soon. St Joseph, pray for us.

Second Nocturn

In the late pre-Conciliar period, Sunday Matins had its number of lessons reduced from nine to three; the three Scriptural lessons of the first Nocturn were retained (the third lesson being united to the second), but – foolishly – of the three homiletic lessons of the third Nocturn, commenting upon the Gospel of the day, only the first was retained (and, as it was oft but introductory to the main import of the commentary, this truncated passage is generally uninformative); and, worst of all, the Patristic lessons of the second Nocturn were completely omitted. 

It is doubtless in reaction to this too-radical reduction in the lessons read at Matins that the Council Fathers decreed that "The hour… shall be made up of fewer psalms and longer readings" (Sacrosanctum concilium, 89, c) and likewise ordered that "Readings excerpted from the works of the fathers, doctors, and ecclesiastical writers shall be better selected" (Sacrosanctum concilium, 92, b).

Having said Matins of this, the last Sunday of the Church's year, I thought to see what the former readings of the second Nocturn were; and, turning first to a Monastic Breviary (having the same lessons, though with the first of them divided into two, since in the Benedictine Office Sunday Matins has not nine but twelve readings), then to a handy online translation after I had enjoyed the rich Latin translating the author's Greek, I thought to post this sobering passage, intended since it was written over 1600 years ago to act as an antidote to sin, by turning our thoughts to that most just and strict judgement we all of us shall face, when we depart this world:

Sermo sancti Basilii Magni in Psalmum trigesimum tertium. 

Cum te appetitus invaserit peccandi, velim cogites horribile illud et intolerabile Christi tribunal, in quo præsidebit judex in alto et excelso throno; astabit autem omnis creatura, ad gloriosum illius conspectum contremiscens. Adducendi etiam nos sumus singuli, eorum quae in vita gesserimus rationem reddituri. 

Mox illis, qui multa mala in vita perpetrarint, terribiles quidam et deformes assistent angeli, igneos vultus præ se ferentes atque ignem spirantes, ea re propositi et voluntatis acerbitatem ostendentes, nocti vultu similes, propter mærorem et odium in humanum genus.

Ad hæc cogites profundum barathrum, inextricabiles tenebras, ignem carentem splendore, urendi quidem vim habentem, sed privatum lumine: deinde vermium genus venenum immittens, et carnem vorans, inexplebiliter edens neque umquam saturitatem sentiens, intolerabiles dolores corrosione ipsa infigens: postremo, quod suppliciorum omnium gravissimum est, opprobrium illud et confusionem sempiternam. Hæc time, et hoc timore correptus animam a peccatorum concupiscentia tamquam freno quodam reprime.

Hunc timorem Domini se docturum propheta promisit. Docere autem non simpliciter promisit, sed eos, qui eum audire voluerint: non eos, qui longius prolapsi sunt, sed qui salutem appetentes accurrunt: non alienos a promissionibus, sed ex baptismate filiorum adoptionis verbo ipsi conciliatos atque conjunctos. Propterea, Venite, inquit, hoc est, per bona opera accedite ad me, filii, quippe qui per regenerationem filii lucis effici digni facti estis: audite, qui aures cordis habetis apertas; timorem Domini docebo vos [Ps. 33, 12]: illum scilicet, quem paulo ante oratione nostra descripsimus. 

[From] the Sermon of St Basil the Great, upon the Thirty-third Psalm.

Whenever the desire to sin cometh over thee, I would that thou couldest think of the awful and overwhelming judgment-seat of Christ. There the Judge shall sit upon a throne high and lifted up. Every creature shall stand before Him, quaking because of the glory of His presence. There are we to be led up, one by one, to give account for those things which we have done in life. 

Presently there will be found, by the sides of those who have in life wrought much evil, dreadful and hideous angels with faces of fire, and burning breath, appointed thereto, and showing their evil will, in appearance like the night, in their despair and hatred of mankind. 

Think again of the bottomless pit, the impenetrable darkness, the lightless fire, burning, but not glowing, the poisonous mass of worms, preying upon the flesh, ever feeding, and never filled, causing by their gnawing unbearable agony; lastly, the greatest punishment of all, shame and confusion for ever. Have a dread of these things, and let that dread correct thee, and be as a curb to thy mind to hold it in from the hankering after sin.

This fear of the Lord the Prophet hath promised to teach. But he hath not promised to teach it to all, but only to such as will hear him, not to such as have fallen far away, but to such as run to him, hungry for salvation, not to such as have no part in the promises, but to such as by baptism are born children of adoption, set at peace and oneness with the Word. Come, ye children, saith he, that is to say, Draw nigh unto me by good works, all ye who by the new birth have become the worthy children of light, hearken unto me, all ye who have the ears of your heart opened, I will teach you the fear of the Lord, [Ps 33:12] even the fear of that Being of Whom we have just been speaking.

As the Byzantine Liturgy sings time and again,

Christianum vitæ nostræ finem, sine dolore et dedecore, pacificam, et bonam ante terribile tribunal Christi defensionem [a Domino] petamus. — Concede, Domine.  

For a Christian, painless, unashamed, peaceful end of our life, and for a good defence before the fearsome judgment‐seat of Christ, let us beseech [the Lord]. — Grant this, O Lord. 

St Gertrude the Great

St Gertrude, mystic and prophetess, ornament of the Benedictine order, is a favourite saint of mine – would that I had relied more on her powerful prayers. I noticed to-day that her Collect in the Monastic Breviary (which has a whole proper Office for her feast) is subtly different to that in the Roman Breviary:

Monastic:

Deus, qui in purissimo corde beatæ Gertrudis Virginis tuæ jucundam tibi habitationem præparasti: ejus meritis et intercessione cordis nostri maculas clementer absterge; ut digna divinæ majestatis tuæ habitatio effici mereatur. Per...

Roman:

Deus, qui in corde beatæ Gertrudis Virginis jucundam tibi mansionem præparasti: ipsius meritis et intercessione; cordis nostri maculas clementer absterge, et ejusdem tribue gaudere consortio. Per…

I wonder which is the original, since they are obviously different versions of the same prayer; the Monastic appears to be the longer, but also to have a more unified theme as it were, so perhaps the Roman is a condensed edition.

Monastic Responsory for Advent

The Breviarium Monasticum contains 61 Matins Responsories for use during Advent (not counting two  that differ merely in their versicle); of these, the Roman Breviary contains 57, that is, all but four (and the two that appear in the former twice, with differing versicles, it contains but once).

Here is one of the "missing Responsories" enjoyed only by select Benedictines; it doesn't appear in the Office for a little while yet, as it is the fourth Matins Responsory for the 3rd Sunday of Advent, but I like the words, with their strongly eschatological flavour, and have englished the Latin as follows:

R/. Ecce veniet Dñs princeps regum terræ: * Beati, qui parati sunt occurrere illi, habebunt partem in civitate Jerusalem. V/. Veniens veniet Dñs, et non tardabit. * Beati, qui parati sunt occurrere illi, habebunt partem in civitate Jerusalem. Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto. * Beati, qui parati sunt occurrere illi, habebunt partem in civitate Jerusalem. 

R/. Behold, He shall come, the Lord, the Prince of the kings of the earth: * Blessed are they that are prepared to meet him, they shall have a place in the city Jerusalem. V/. Coming He shall come, the Lord, and shall not tarry. * Blessed are they that are prepared to meet him, they shall have a place in the city Jerusalem. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. * Blessed are they that are prepared to meet him, they shall have a place in the city Jerusalem.

Just for Nice

To borrow Fr Longenecker's expression, "just for nice" I've bought online (at a rather steep price) a matching Pars Altera for the Breviarium Monasticum, Pars Prima, I obtained so cheaply just last week. The clue was that the volume first obtained was printed by Desclée in 1953, was denotated the fourth edition, and was in handsome hardback octavo size (47 by 145 by 210 mm, or about 1.9 by 5.6 by 8.3 inches). Portable? well, maybe not, but eminently suitable for reference and devotion...

Eve of the Pilgrimage... and a Real Gift

Pray for me...

To-morrow, after a full day at work, I must quickly collect my bits and pieces and rush off to the airport. Then, arriving at Tullamarine, I have to get the shuttle bus to Southern Cross Station, where I'll meet Justin. We then catch the train to Ballarat, arriving at a quarter to ten. Finally, we're to be met by some kindly volunteer who'll drive us to the pilgrim encampment at Smeaton (for the Pilgrimage itself will have begun to-morrow morning).

In the meanwhile, I've been beguiling myself with my latest acquisition - a real steal, kindly offered me below cost price by CG, an acquaintance of mine: a 1953 Breviarium Monasticum, Pars Prima (Advent to Whit Saturday), printed by Desclée. It's a large, hardback volume in excellent condition. While there seems to be not a single mark on it, the mark of its provenance is that it includes, at its end, the Proper Offices for Saints feasted in the American Cassinese Benedictine Congregation...

Next, I suppose I should obtain the matching second volume. Of buying books there is no end.

I close with a renewed request for prayers, just as I will hope to offer up my pilgrimage not just as some expiation for my sins (in union with Christ's Sacrifice, solely by the grace of His theandric merits) but in intercession for all men, and in thanksgiving to the Almighty for such great favours as He ever showers upon us. What a Pope we have been given, in this dark age; Benedict is shewing himself a most caring pastor after the Sacred Heart of the Good Shepherd, solicitous in calling home the scattered flock of our Saviour Christ. May the restoration of the Sacred Liturgy continue apace; may Christ's social Reign by our poor efforts, in His Providence, be restored - for atheism and intolerance grows apace. (Though, as a friend once said, if the worst comes to pass, at least we'll all be martyrs!)

Two blessings from Monastic Matins to finish:

A cunctis vitiis et peccatis

absolvat nos virtus sanctæ Trinitatis.

(From all vices and sins may the power of the Holy Trinity absolve us.)

In unitate Sancti Spiritus,

benedicat nos Pater et Filius.

(In the unity of the Holy Ghost, may the Father and the Son bless us.)

Baumstark's Laws of Liturgy

Anton Baumstark was a liturgical scholar of the old school, who did not believe that tinkering with the sacred cult was the proper concern of liturgists, but that on the contrary one ought be not master but student of the liturgy. (One may note in passing that Our Lord Jesus Christ is the One Liturgist - Λειτουργὸς - as Hebrews viii, 2 attests.)

Famously, he formulated two laws describing the organic evolution of the liturgy over time: first, that on the most solemn days the most ancient and sober rituals tend to be retained; second, that over time, newer liturgical developments can tend to replace by degrees older features of the divine cult. For instance, until the post-Conciliar reforms, the Divine Office of the last three days of Holy Week, and of the whole of Easter Week, was marked by a simplicity of form unchanged for many ages - no hymns were sung, no short chapters read at the Day Hours, and so forth - this being an example of his first law. Contrariwise, the ancient Roman ferial Office has over time gradually been replaced by a multiplicity of saint's days, so that the weekly cycle of ferial Vesper hymns focussing on the Six Days of Creation are hardly ever sung through in one week, being replaced by hymns for the various occurring saints from their respective Common or Proper.

Baumstark's second law was well-explained by Jungmann, when considering the place of the Lord's Prayer, preces and Collect in the Divine Office. (I write here not of Matins, which was not generally read apart from Lauds - its union with the latter being the ideal, as even its name suggests.) According to mediæval testimony, at the Lateran Basilica the Lord's Prayer was said at the end of each Hour of the Office, with no collect at all appended. It is conjectured that this was the case especially if no priest were present (note here that monks, such as those who sang the Office at the Lateran, were originally unordained), and that in the remote past the Lord's Prayer was the normal conclusion of each Hour - a Collect proper to the day or time being added, at first to give greater solemnity, and then more and more often, so the Lord's Prayer became in the nature of a preface to it. (As the priest first said Dominus vobiscum before the Collect, the Collect itself savoured of things sacerdotal, and was only by degrees, it is argued, accepted as right for a layperson to say: and then it is prefixed with Domine exaudi instead.) The Benedictine and Dominican Breviaries still retain this characteristic pattern of Pater before Collect at the Day Hours.

However, in these, and in the Roman Breviary when the Lord's Prayer still rarely makes an appearance, the Pater noster is always preceded by a threefold Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison. It is thought that this - like the Kyrie at Mass - was once a full litany (as in the Byzantine Rite), but over time was abbreviated to this simple form (St Benedict in his Rule terms it a litany). This litany before the Pater noster disappeared, only to be replaced, apparently under Celtic influence, with suffrages or preces recited after it - originally, these were a series of petitions, each followed by a versicle and response (usually from the psalms), but over time were reduced to a dialogic pattern of versicles and responses.

The Carthusian Breviary retained these long preces at all Hours; but outside that austere Order, it was felt increasingly that preces were not so appropriate to feast days, and so were restricted to ferias in various Breviaries, then were cut down in length (especially at the Little Hours), then were restricted to penitential days, and acquired a penitential sense - since one knelt to pray them, days when they were said were termed "kneeling days". By the mid-twentieth century, the Roman Breviary was being shortened by "simplification of the rubrics" - and the preces at the Little Hours, including the longer and more specialized ones at Prime and Compline, were finally abolished, while Lauds and Vespers only kept their preces on most Ember Days, plus ferial Wednesdays and Fridays of Advent and Lent. In the Roman Breviary, moreover, the Lord's Prayer, from being the original concluding prayer of prayers, had become considered as but part of these preces - and so was in essence discarded altogether from its ancient place.

In the Little Office of Our Lady (itself a pious addition to the daily Office, that became as it were a separate spin-off more suited to lay use because of its relative brevity, simplicity and devotional quality), until the last pre-Conciliar reforms what survived before the Collect of each Hour was not the Lord's Prayer at all, but rather the threefold Kyrie that itself had been a later preface to the Pater noster.

In a separate development, for long centuries (until the last changes under John XXIII before the Council) a Pater and later an Ave had been said as a preparation before each Hour (also a Credo at some Hours), and a Pater with versicle after it... and this, from being a pious custom lifting up the mind to God (as St Ignatius analogously directs before meditation) beforehand, and prolonging the official liturgical prayer, became a fixed devotion, part of the Office. The Lord's Prayer having disappeared from its first place in the Hours, it reappeared elsewhere, finally almost being removed entirely. (In the modern Divine Office, which in many ways represents a decided break with the traditional, organic development of the liturgy, the Lord's Prayer is said aloud, after some intercessions, and before the Collect, but at Lauds and Vespers only, for somewhat artificial reasons.)

As Jungmann summarizes Baumstark's second law, A becomes Ab, Ab becomes AB, this becomes (A)B and finally B alone remains - A being the original liturgical prayer, first b then B being the addition to it that gradually expands in importance until it takes its place entirely.

Another example of this law is the way that, while the more conservative Roman Rite Divine Office still largely consists of the recitation of the psalms, in the Byzantine Rite, the various Canons and divers troparia, kontakia and whatnot - liturgical hymns, of great dogmatic value - have so multiplied that it is they, not the psalms, that are the chief feature of the Hours: indeed, usually the kathisma(ta) or portion(s) of the psalms appointed are very hurriedly recited in monotone by a reader even in monasteries, so that the massed choirs can then break forth in magnificent chanting of the ecclesiastical compositions that now have pride of place; and in parish celebrations, very often the psalms to be recited are drastically pruned and abbreviated, being overshadowed by the more recent and popular elements of the services.

Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum

Spiritual aerobics: walking up and down and up and down and up and down the stairs here at home, reading Matins.  Told you I was crazy.

Because of time constraints, I usually say Matins (if at all) out of due order: before work, I say Lauds and Prime (asking for a blessing the day and my actions), perhaps fit in Terce and/or Sext at breaks, but in any case get them and None done by mid- to late-afternoon (I hope)... Vespers is said in the evening, then Compline to complete the day.  Or at least that is my general aim...

I must note that to me, Wednesday Matins are very beautiful because of their sublime (and not overly long) psalmody: Psalms 44 (Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum - a royal epithalamium, the song of David's love for his wife the queen, of God's love for Israel, of Jesus' love for His Mother, for His Church, for the Christian soul), 45 ("God is for us a refuge and strength"), 47 ("Great is the Lord and exceedingly to be praised"), 48 ("Hear this, all ye nations"), 49 ("The God of gods, the Lord, has spoken and summoned the earth") and 50 - the incomparable Miserere.  (Psalm 46, which would fit in the midst of these, is read at Lauds on Mondays - "All nations, clap your hands... psallite sapienter...")  Since to-day is the feast of a canonized queen who, widowed, took the habit as a holy religious, how fitting to sing Psalm 44 at the opening of her Office!

While my Latin is by no means perfect, I know these psalms well, having prayed them for many years in English in the modern Divine Office (let us say that some psalms aren't quite so well-recalled)...

Friends, such as Terra, prefer to pray the Benedictine Breviary, wherein Psalm 44 is instead the last of the twelve psalms at Monday Matins (or "Vigils"), while on Tuesdays at Matins the following psalms are prayed: the six Psalms 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51 in the First Nocturn, and another six, Psalms 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58 in the Second Nocturn.  Phew!  (And Psalm 50 makes its appearance as the second psalm daily at Lauds.)  

It is considered that St Benedict based his arrangement of the weekly cursus of psalms on that then current at Rome, making various changes here and there, while the Roman arrangement endured until the minor reform of St Pius V (who removed Psalms 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25 from Sunday Prime, and redistributed them among the other weekdays - until his day, Sunday Prime had nine psalms!) and the major reform of St Pius X (who decreed that each psalm - with the exception of the Venite, Psalm 94, and at penitential times the Miserere, Psalm 50 - was to be assigned but one Hour at week at which it was to be said, thus cutting back substantially on the length of the Office). 

Before 1912, the Roman Breviary, too, had twelve psalms at Matins - this number allegedly goes back to the Egyptian Fathers of the Desert, who received a response from an angel to their question of the proper number of psalms for the night office.  To this day, their lineal descendants, the Copts, pray in their Office an astonishing number of psalms every day, but they have a cheeky way of speeding up their devotions: one monk says the first of the psalms appointed, another the second, and so on - all together saying their respective psalms at once!

Whatever of this, the psalms for Wednesday Matins in the 1962 Breviary were previously included in the twelve said at Tuesday Matins until 1912: Psalms 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, and 51 - for Psalm 50 was instead said every day at ferial Lauds (and when this happens in the 1962 Breviary on Wednesdays, as in Lent, Psalm 50 is dropped from that day's Matins).

Te decet laus

The Te decet laus is a short doxology that I use in my prayers fairly commonly; in the West, it is known only in the Monastic Rite, where it is used at Matins, after the Te Deum, followed by the Gospel of the day (with response Amen), have been chanted - it is as it were an ascription of praise to the Trinity for the Holy Gospel.  In the Byzantine East, on the other hand, the Te decet laus is used extensively; at Matins (Lauds), Vespers and Compline, it occurs at the very end of the collection of psalm verses normally prayed following on the Greek recension of the Gloria in excelsis (although at festal Matins the Te decet laus is not used), or as a separate prayer, called the Kataxiôson after its first word (familiar in the West as Dignare Domine die isto/nocte ista...).

Herewith, the Te decet laus, first in its (original) Greek, and then in its Latin version:

Σοὶ πρέπει αἶνος, σοὶ πρέπει ὕμνος, σοὶ δόξα πρέπει, τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ Υἱῷ καὶ τῷ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τους αἰῶνας των αἰώνων. Ἀμήν. 

(To you praise is due, to you song is due, to you glory is due, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and for ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.)

Te decet laus, te decet hymnus, tibi gloria: Deo Patri et Filio cum Sancto Spiritu in sæcula sæculorum.  Amen.

(Thou art worthy of praise, thou art worthy of hymn[s], to Thee be glory: to God the Father and the Son with the Holy Ghost, world without end.  Amen.)

Pretty obviously the Scriptural allusion is to Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion, et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem (Ps 64:2), well-known to Catholics as the verse of the Introit of the Requiem Mass: "A hymn, O God, becometh Thee in Sion, and a vow shall be paid unto Thee in Jerusalem: O hear my prayer, all flesh shall come to thee " (continuing with the third verse).

Monastic versus Roman Day Hours

I've been exercised about the pros and cons of the Monastic Office compared to the Roman - and of course, the one thing we all want to know about is, Which is longer?

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

(Not having mine own copy of the Breviarium Monasticum, I made use of Google Books for the purposes of making certain comparisons.)

Well, the short answer is, the Psalmody of the Day Hours of the Monastic Breviary is about 4% longer on average, but of course the Monastic Office lacks certain elements of the Roman - it has only two short responsories a day as against five, no Nunc dimittis at Compline, and, at least in the Farnborough Abbey edition, there is no Officium Capituli at the end of Prime.  On the other hand, it does have Kyrie and Pater noster at every Hour, which is much to be desiderated.  So overall the two are roughly the same length within the limits of this rough measurement.

Short answer to question: The two are each just about as long as the other. 

The longer answer is that the devil is in the detail!  

For a start, Monastic Lauds is almost twice as long as the Roman, and no wonder: every day it consists of Psalms 66 and 50, then two variable psalms and an Old Testament canticle (on Saturday, the canticle is so long it's broken into two, and only one psalm accompanies it), and then Psalms 148, 149 and 150 sub una Gloria Patri, for a total of seven psalms and a canticle.  Prime, on the other hand, is exactly the same length in both rites, despite having quite different psalms allotted to it.  Still, of the 289 psalm verses on average in the Monastic Diurnal's psalmody each day, 148 of them - half - are got through at Lauds and Prime, which makes their recitation rather daunting!  (I try and say Roman Lauds and Prime before work; I doubt I'd be able to if I used their Benedictine equivalents.)

The Rule of St Benedict wisely provides that Terce, Sext and None be short; they are in fact each only about two-thirds as long as the comparable Roman Hours.  What a relief after Lauds...

As for Vespers and Compline, Roman or Monastic, their length is almost the same. 

My final reflection: while Traddies do tend to deprecate the psalter reform of Pope St Pius X, he did make it possible to get through all 150 psalms in the week* - which remains no mean feat even with the '62 Breviary, I can assure anyone: you need to devote an hour a day at least to it! - and did so by using each psalm only once, rather than repeating psalms on different days (as is done at Lauds, the Little Hours and Compline in the Monastic Breviary, and as was done even more in the pre-1912 Roman Breviary, which included such fatiguing joys as praying the whole of Psalm 118 every day).  As a result, even if one only prays the Day Hours of the Roman Breviary, one is exposed to 115 of the psalms, over three-quarters of the total - whereas, because of its repetitions, the Benedictine Diurnal only includes 72 psalms, just less than half of the Psalter.

*Recall what the Holy Patriarch St Benedict said in his Rule (chapter xviii):

We especially impress this, that, if this distribution of the psalms should perchance displease anyone, he arrange them if he thinketh another better, by all means seeing to it that the whole Psalter of one hundred and fifty psalms be said every week, and that it always start again from the beginning at Matins on Sunday; because those monks show too lax a service in their devotion who in the course of a week chant less than the whole Psalter with its customary canticles; since we read, that our holy forefathers promptly fulfilled in one day what we lukewarm monks should, please God, perform at least in a week.

What then of the Night Office?  (Which is called Matins, rather misleadingly, in the Roman, and Vigils in the Monastic terminology: both contain one or more Nocturns.)

It is said that an angel revealed to a desert Father that twelve was the appropriate number of psalms for the Night Office, and this is the number adhered to in the Monastic Nocturnal.  Be that as it may, in the Roman the number nine - no doubt in honour of the Nine Choirs of the angelic host - was settled on for feasts long ago, and since 1912 this has been the number of psalm-portions for each night.  Note how much longer Monastic Vigils must be: it must get through 78 psalms (some divided in twain) each week, and each Hour begins not just with Psalm 94, but with Psalm 3 beforehand.  Most holy, but very lengthy...  Whereas the Roman arrangement since 1912 has only had to cover 35 psalms a week, or 5 a night (again, breaking longer ones up into parts, as in the Day Hours as well), plus the prefatory Invitatory (Ps 94).

Again, I find Roman Matins quite long enough, and quail at the very idea of attempting Monastic Vigils.

Monastic Diurnal Tutorial

Aaron, Fr's stalwart server, occasional M.C., and general factotum (sorry to tease you, mate!), came round for dinner to-night.  As well as having a good chat over curry with Mike, James and myself, he had driven over for a reason: he's in process of taking up the Monastic Diurnal, and wanted some advice on the mechanics of it...

To explain - Aaron has been coming to the Pro. for the last three years or so, he told us over dinner, and from liking the solemnity, the chant and so forth, but not understanding it, he's learnt how to follow the Mass, then how to serve at it (both Low and High), and has been reading the Little Office of Our Lady daily for over a year.  Last year he did an Ignatian retreat in Sydney directed by the Flavigny monks, and at that time bought a bilingual Diurnal put out by Farnborough Abbey, which he's decided it's time to turn to using.

Now, Aaron wanted to consult with me about all this, since he knows I say the Roman Breviary, and thought I would hopefully be able to help.  I've also put him onto Terra, since she is a worthy partisan of the Monastic Office!  But in the meanwhile, we had a look at setting up the tags and working out how to operate the Diurnal.  

We had a preliminary discussion about whether it were fitting for a layman to recite the Monastic Office.  I opined that, say, if one lived near a monastery, and customarily went there for Mass and Vespers, it would seem perfectly reasonable to take up their Breviary; and if one has some association with or interest in or perhaps vocation for monasticism, then it appears good to pray their way.  While I use the Roman Breviary, I have some past connexions to the Dominicans, in fact have a set of the Dominican Breviary, and even if I am not in a Dominican parish at present, it would seem allowable to pray that edition of the Breviary.  Basically, so long as one is not being eccentric about it, to pray any form of the Divine Office is to be joining in the prayer of the Church Catholic, and surely there is no sin in taking up the Monastic rather than the Roman Office...

I must say though, compared to the Roman it seems much more complicated!  The reason I say so is that in the Roman Breviary, the Hours for each day of the week simply follow each other - Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, and so forth through to Compline, then back to Matins of the next day and so on - whereas in the Monastic Breviary (of which the Diurnal is the excerpt containing all the Day Hours, as the name suggests, but omitting the psalmody and lessons of Matins), first comes Prime for each day but Sunday, then (Matins and) Lauds for each day, then Sunday Prime, Terce, Sext and None, then Monday Terce, Sext and None, then the set Terce, Sext and None for the rest of the week, then Vespers for each day, and finally the invariable Compline.  

The reason for this is that the Monastic Office, stedfast in obedience to Holy Father Benedict who drew up its peculiar method for reciting the psalms, arranges the Hours according to the rough order of the psalms, and basically Prime Monday through to Saturday runs through the first twenty psalms, Matins (in the full edition) runs through the next eighty or so, Lauds - despite being largely fixed, and a collection of psalms from all over the Psalter - comes next as allied to Matins, the three sets of the Little Hours follow this because they are drawn from Psalm 118 and the succeeding Gradual Psalms, and finally Vespers runs over the remaining residue of the psalms; Compline is placed last as the last Hour of the day.

We identified salient differences between the Little Office and Roman Office on the one hand, and the Monastic on the other.  These are most pronounced at Lauds, involving Psalm 66, the Laudate psalms, the short responsory and the Lord's Prayer. Firstly, after the usual Deus in adjutorium, St Benedict has Psalm 66 sung every day in directum, since, as his Rule provides, monks arriving during this may join the choir, but those so tardy as to come even later cannot and must penance do for their fault.  Secondly, as has been done in both East and West down the ages in all rites, and was done throughout the Roman Rite until the Breviary reforms under St Pius X as implemented at the start of 1912, less than a century ago, every day in the Monastic scheme Psalms 148-150 are sung together as one as the last 'psalm' of Lauds, from whose use that Hour derives its very name and special characteristic of Divine praise.  Thirdly, unlike in the Roman Office (where they are used instead at Prime, the Little Hours, and Compline), and unlike in the Little Office (where they are not used at all), in the Monastic Breviary short responsories are sung at Lauds - and Vespers - after the little chapter (the reading) and before the hymn.  Fourthly, while in the Roman Office the Lord's Prayer is only said at Lauds and Vespers when the preces are used, and while in the Little Office only Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison was said before the Collect, in the Monastic Office both this threefold Kyrie and a Pater noster is said at every Hour prior to the Collect (the Dominican does much the same).

Monastic Compline is wholly unchanging, and famously lacks the Nunc dimittis that later came to be an integral part of the Roman version of that Hour.  Prime, apart from having different psalms appointed for each day of the week, is unchanging but for its psalm-antiphon, which makes it easy.  The Little Hours each have the same format, and each has only three sets of psalms - one for Sunday and one for Monday (covering Psalm 118 broken up into 22 octonaries), and one for the other five days (taken from the Gradual Psalms).  However, the psalm-antiphons can change, and so can the chapter, versicle and collect.  Vespers is like, in that its psalms vary each day of the week - but it only has four psalms, not the Roman five.  It is noticeably shorter than Lauds.

Since Aaron is well-practised with the Little Office, the structure of the Hours is thus familiar enough; what he has to adjust to, and what we tried to work through a bit, is finding where the relevant changeable parts are for each liturgical day.  To-day is a feria of Advent, so he has to turn to both the Ordinary of the ferias of Advent for the chapters, Lauds and Vesper responsories and hymns, and versicles, and for the Collect (taken from the Sunday) and to the exact day of Advent to obtain the proper Benedictus and Magnificat antiphons.  For St Damasus on the 11th, all he has to add is the appointed commemoration (antiphon, versicle and collect) at Lauds - which he is familiar with doing since his edition of the Little Office has a fixed commemoration at Lauds and Vespers.  For St Lucy on the 13th, proper antiphons and the rest are supplied, and he must follow the rubrics and use the Sunday psalms (and Sunday festal canticle) at Lauds, and the psalms from the Common of Virgins at Vespers.  And as for the feast of Doubting Thomas on the 21st, all that is not proper comes from the Common of Apostles out of Paschaltide.

Ah, the noble simplicity of the Divine Office...

(Thanks, mate, for letting me post a bit about this!)

Blessing of Readers

The other day I dropt off some stuff for Fr Rowe at his place, and ended up joining him for a meal before departing; now, being a busy priest, the phone hardly stopt ringing, so I ended up doing some reading to fill in the gaps in the conversation! Anyhow, it was diverting to look through an old Monastic Breviary and an even older (pre-Pius X) Carmelite Breviary - the latter having very long preces, for instance.

But this prayer from the Monastic Breviary caught my attention: it is the form for blessing the week's reader (cf. RSB chapter 38) - the opening anthem being begun by the reader himself:

Aña. + Domine, labia mea aperies, et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam. (iii)

V/. Salvum fac servum tuum.
R/. Deus meus, sperantem in se.
V/. Mitte ei, Domine, auxilium de sancto.
R/. Et de Sion tuere eum.
V/. Dominus vobiscum.
R/. Et cum spiritu tuo.

Oremus.

Aufer ab hoc famulo tuo, quæsumus, Domine, spiritum elationis et ignorantiæ: ut, repletus spiritu humilitatis et scientiæ; intellectum sacræ capiat lectionis. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. R/. Amen.

(Ant. Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall announce Thy praise. (iii)

(V/. Save Thy servant.
(R/. My God, who hopeth in Thee.
(V/. Send to him, Lord, help from the holy place.
(R/. And out of Sion defend him.
(V/. The Lord be with you.
(R/. And with thy spirit.

(Take away from this Thy servant, we beseech Thee, Lord, the spirit of elation [i.e. pride] and ignorance: that, filled with the spirit of humility and science [i.e. knowledge], his intellect may grasp the sacred lesson. Through Christ our Lord. R/. Amen.)

I think this collect in particular entirely apposite for whoso would take up the Scriptures to read therein.