The Penitential Psalms

If not abstaining from flesh-meat on Friday, then what? I have usually followed the advice of Paul VI to either give alms, or to pray. A redoubled focus on prayer on Friday is surely appropriate, given Our Lord's three hour agony on Calvary, when He himself prayed during His great self-offering as our High Priest and Sacrifice.

One sensible choice, then, would be to meditate on His Passion – as by reciting the Fifteen Oes of St Bridget (eminently pious prayers probably composed in mediæval England which ought be disentangled from the superstitious and unapproved promises too often linked with them under the pretext of their attribution to St Bridget of Sweden); or by praying with Our Lord Himself the Passion Psalms (Pss 21:1 to 30:6 inclusive), which mediæval authors conclude He meditated upon as He hung upon the Cross, given their first and last verses being among His Seven Last Words. So, too, attendance at Mass would unite one to the Passion of Christ (as celebrated by some, all too painfully – offer oneself up as a victim soul); as would, at a lesser level, the singing prayerfully of hymns in honour of the Passion, such as the Vexilla Regis.

But Friday is not merely the weekly commemoration of the suffering and death of the Son of God – it is moreover the time for the sons of men to smite their breasts (as once did the mocking crowd at Golgotha as shamefaced they stole away), realizing that it is our sins that impelled Jesus to shed His Blood to save us, and that we Christians who backslide do but recrucify Our Lord.

For this reason, the Penitential Psalms (beloved of St Augustine, who had them written out and affixed to the wall of his bedchamber as he lay dying during the Vandal siege of Hippo) are excellent passages to "read, mark, learn and inwardly digest". However, while praying all seven – Psalms 6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129 and 142 – is the ideal, mayhap circumstances preclude this: what then? 

Now two of the Penitential Psalms are better known (or ought be) than the others: the Miserere (Psalm 50) and the De profundis (Psalm 129), which are par excellence  the psalm-prayers of penitence and for the souls in purgatory (where repentant sinners go, ere their penance be complete). I first came across these said together as a devotion in a Monastic Breviary, which prefixed certain verses of Psalm 2, and appended the Collect for Good Friday – the whole being appointed for use while taking the discipline (a practice never to be undertaken without permission of a prudent spiritual director, be it noted!).

Since I have a good memory – which is a real help in the matter of praying the Psalms and indeed of internalizing Scripture, in the hope it may melt the hard heart and engender virtue – I long since learnt those two Psalms by heart. I customarily add to the first the "Glory be" and some preces (threefold Kyrie, Lord's Prayer, versicles and a collect for forgiveness of sins), and to the second "Eternal rest" and some more preces (versicles and the collect Fidelium for the faithful departed). It strikes me that Our Lord prayed for sinners (the living dead) as He died, that they might truly live; and that the merits of His atonement extend to Purgatory also. For this reason, when – as often – I have not the Penitential Psalms easily to hand, I can at least pray these two thereof.

A calculation demonstrates that saying the Miserere and De profundis thrice each, with the usual prayers appended, equates to the whole Seven Penitential Psalms: which I take to be a reasonable and rational measure of suitable prayer for Friday penance. Usually I pray them according to the Vulgate text, but also in English sometimes (I know them in the Grail version, from using the modern Liturgy of the Hours for years), adding these customary preces in the Latin tongue:

Preces for Psalm 50 

(after concluding with the Gloria Patri)

Kyrie, eleison. R/. Christe, eleison. Kyrie, eleison.

Pater noster, (secreto) qui es in cælis: Sanctificetur nomen tuum: Adveniat regnum tuum: Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in cælo, et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie: Et dimitte nobis debitas nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris.

V/. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem. R/. Sed libera nos a malo.

V/. Salvos fac servos tuos. R/. Deus meus, sperantes in te.

V/. Esto nobis, Domine, turris fortitudinis. R/. A facie inimici.

V/. Nihil proficiat inimicus in nobis. R/. Et filius iniquitatis non apponat nocere nobis.

V/. Domine, non secundum peccata nostra facias nobis. R/. Neque secundum iniquitates nostras retribuas nobis.

V/. Mitte nobis, Domine, auxilium de sancto. R/. Et de Sion tuere nos.

V/. Domine, exaudi orationem meam. R/. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.

Oremus.

Or. Deus, cui proprium est misereri semper et parcere: suscipe deprecationem nostram; ut nos, et omnes famulos tuos, quos delictorum catena constringit, miseratio tuæ pietatis clementer absolvat. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. R/. Amen.

Preces for Psalm 129 

(after concluding with Réquiem ætérnam dona eis, Dómine: et lux perpétua lúceat eis.)

V/. A porta inferi. R/. Érue, Dómine, ánimas eórum.

V/. Dómine, exáudi oratiónem meam. R/. Et clamor meus ad te véniat.

Orémus.

Or. Fidélium, Deus, ómnium cónditor et redémptor, animábus famulorum famularúmque tuárum remissiónem cunctórum tríbue peccatórum: ut indulgéntiam, quam semper optavérunt, piis supplicatiónibus consequántur. Qui vivis et regnas per omnia sæcula sæculorum. R/. Amen.

V/. Requiéscant in pace. R/. Amen.

Dominican Rite Preces (1962)

In the Dominican Rite Breviary of 1962 – which (in the spirit and letter of Summorum Pontificum) is the right edition to use if the Extraordinary Form be preferred (whatever our personal preferences for the Ambrosian Rite before the reforms of St Charles Borromeo!) – the preces, consisting simply of a threefold Kyrie and a Pater noster, are read on all ferial days outside of Christmastide and Eastertide, at Lauds, Terce, Sext, None, and Vespers.

The relevant rubrick is clear:

S) De precibus 

240 (260).  Preces dicuntur in Officio feriali extra tempus natalicium et paschale, ad Laudes, Tertiam, Sextam, Nonam et Vesperas.

It goes without saying that, at all these Hours, the preces (when used) are read immediately before the Dominus vobiscum (or Domine exaudi) and Oremus that precede the Collect.

Furthermore, at all Hours – unlike the Roman and Benedictine practice at Lauds and Vespers – the Lord's Prayer is not wholly said aloud, but only the opening words Pater noster, and the last two phrases, as a versicle and response: Et ne nos inducas in tentationem.  R/.  Sed libera nos a malo.  The intervenient words are said "secretly", in a low voice.  Of old, rubricists used to delight in pointing to this and the silence of the Canon as remnants of the disciplina arcani, whereby the arcane mysteries of our Most Holy Faith were hid away from the straining ears of unbelievers...

One of the reasons, apart from the convenience of using a true pocketbook Diurnal, that I currently prefer the Dominican Office is that the preces are used far more often than in the Roman 1962 Breviary, which restricts them to ferial Wednesdays and Fridays of Advent and Lent, plus the odd Vigil or Ember Saturday.

After all, the preces are the older conclusion of the Hours: as a mediæval writer records, at the Lateran Basilica of old time the Hours ended simply with the Lord's Prayer, without even a Collect.  It seems that for a time, if a priest were present, he would give the salutation and a collect, but a layman, or a monk not in holy orders, would simply use the Pater noster as the prayer of prayers.  Similarly, the Kyrie is probably a relic of a longer, Eastern-style litany.

In the gradual disappearance of the Lord's Prayer in favour of a Collect may be seen one of Baumstark's laws of liturgical development in action: a simple ritual act or prayer A, next has added to it a new subsidiary ceremony or chant b; over time, this adjunct grows in complexity or importance, so from Ab the sum of both parts becomes AB, each now being of equal note; as time goes on, the first, the original element A decreases in importance to a, and may even vanish entirely save at certain times*: so the progression is from AB to aB and even to (a)B, or to B alone.  

(*Baumstark's second law comes into play here: older forms of rite are preserved at the most solemn and hallowed times of year - hence Tenebræ, being Matins and Lauds of the Paschal Triduum, preserved the sober and simple forms of the primitive Office, without hymns for instance.  This second law accounts for the preservation of preces on ferial days, which in a sense are older and more primitive than the later multiplication of saint's days and special feasts.)

Previously, the rules for when to use them had been more complicated, and also slightly longer preces (including a versicle or two and the Apostles' Creed) had been appointed for Prime and Compline, which were said daily except on Sundays, feasts of Double rank or higher, and within solemn Octaves; while I regret that those were suppressed, there is nothing to stop one reading them pro pia devotione, after the relevant Hour, if time permits...

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For the record, at Prime the Dominican Rite preces were as follows: Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.  Pater noster... Et ne nos... Sed libera nos... then the last two verses of Psalm 118:

V/.  Vivet anima mea et laudabit te.
R/.  Et judicia tua adjuvabunt me.
V/.  Erravi sicut ovis quæ periit.
R/.  Quære servum tuum, Domine, quia mandata tua non sum oblitus.

Following this, Credo in Deum was said aloud, then the rest secretly until the end, done as versicle and response: Carnis resurrectionem.  R/.  Vitam æternam.  Amen.

Finally, the very ancient nonscriptural Dignare Domine die isto was employed as a concluding versicle.

At Dominican Rite Compline, all was done the same, except that there was only one versicle between the Lord's Prayer and the Creed – V/.  In pace in idipsum.  R/.  Dormiam et requiescam. – and of course the last versicle was modified appropriately to be Dignare Domine nocte ista.

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.

Three Notes

I value going for a coffee on Saturday mornings after Confession; I sit and read the papers.

Two articles in this morning's The Weekend Australian were of interest, especially given their juxtaposition above and below each other: an article about Oscar Wilde as a struggling believer, plus one about the imminent breakdown of relations between the Anglican 'Communion' and the Episcopalians in the U.S. - the same issue of (im)morality bedevilled that playwright then as bedevils that ecclesial body now.

Wilde was received into the Church on his deathbed (and many other fin de siècle decadents became Catholics too), while too many Anglicans, lured by mirages, wander ever further into the desert of infidelity: "we are all of us in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars". How wickedly true for the newspaper to quote another bon mot of Wilde, so applicable to the woes of the C. of E. and its revolting offspring: "the Catholic Church is for saints and sinners only - for respectable people, the Anglican church will do." ROTFL!

On a slightly different note, I was struck by a line in Our Lady's Hours at Sext: Benefac, Domine, bonis et rectis corde (Ps 124:4) - "Do good, Lord, to the good and the upright of heart". This, I now recall, is the response the Paris Breviary used in place of the Roman Retribuere dignare, Domine, omnibus nobis bona facientibus, propter nomen tuum, vitam æternam. Amen. As the matching versicle in both editions suggests, Oremus pro benefactoribus nostris.

Dominican Preces at Tenebræ

The Friars Preachers retain - even for use in the modern Office, in place of the intercessions at Lauds - a once-widespread mediæval addition to Tenebræ: a set of preces, approximating to a farced or troped Kyrie plus the Christus factus est, which last alone (sung to the melody used for it at Mass) the Roman Office has an antiphon before the collect Respice.  Hence, where the Roman has but the singing of Christus factus est (all kneeling), the Dominican has:

Initially, a threefold Kyrie, thus - two of the Friars standing before the altar step sing:

Kyrie, eleison.

The choir (all facing the altar) respond:

Kyrie, eleison.

The two Friars repeat:

Kyrie, eleison.

Thereupon another pair of Friars, standing in the midst of the choir (that is, out between the two parallel lines of choir stalls), sing, in Latin, not Greek:

Domine, miserere.

And the choir responds:

Christus Dominus factus est obediens usque ad mortem.

Secondly and medially, a threefold Christe with verses is intoned - the pair before the altar step sing:

V/.  Qui passurus advenisti propter nos.

(But on Good Friday only, instead they sing:

(V/.  Agno miti basia cui lupus dedit venenosa.)

The choir:

Christe, eleison.

The two before the altar again:

V/.  Qui, expansis in cruce manibus, traxisti omnia ad te sæcula.

(But on Good Friday:

(V/.  Vita in ligno moritur, infernus et mors lugens spoliatur.)

The choir:

Christe, eleison.

The two before the altar a third time:

V/.  Qui prophetice prompsisti: Ero mors tua, o mors!

(On Good Friday instead:

(V/.  Te qui vinciri voluisti, nosque a mortis vinculis eripuisti.)

The choir again:

Christe, eleison.

Then the brethren in medio chori:

Domine, miserere.

And immediately the choir reprise:

Christus Dominus factus est obediens usque ad mortem.

Lastly, a final threefold Kyrie - the two standing before the altar sing:

Kyrie, eleison.

The choir respond:

Kyrie, eleison.

The two before the altar repeat:

Kyrie, eleison.

Next the pair of Friars standing in the midst of the choir sing:

Domine, miserere.

And the choir responds for the third time with:

Christus Dominus factus est obediens usque ad mortem.

Last of all, the brethren before the altar sing in a high voice:

Mortem autem crucis.

And all prostrate themselves.  (The silent Lord's Prayer and the Collect follow as in the Roman Rite.)

The chant for this ceremony is most impressive, and very moving:

First Feria of Advent

It was good to have Monday as a feria - it gave me a chance to familiarize myself with the Advent Office, with its special antiphons, little chapters, responds, and so forth, and its use of Lauds II (beginning with the Miserere).  I calculate that this year the ferial Office will be used 12 days out of the 25, and the Lauds and Vesper preces on 7 of them (but are they said on the Vigil of Christmas, which falls on a Wednesday?)...

Fr Rowe must have had similar thoughts, for he offered up Mass of the feria, that is, a repeat of the Sunday Mass, but for the omission of the Alleluia and its verse.  Since the Gloria is otherwise said on all Sundays and feasts outside of Advent, Septuagesimatide and Lent, its absence remains striking.

Pray the Preces

Aside from the Ember Days, and ferial Wednesdays and Fridays of Advent and Lent, the '62 Breviary omits the Preces, that is, a series of intercessions (largely drawn from the Psalms) used at Lauds and Vespers; and it utterly omits the former Preces at Prime and Compline, and also the abbreviated Preces used at Terce, Sext and None (comprising the initial Kyrie and Pater, plus the last three versicles only of those appointed for the cardinal Hours; the Carthusians do not abbreviate thus, but recite the full Preces of Lauds and Vespers at the Little Hours also).  

Now, when using the Roman Breviary I make it my practice pro opportunitate to say some or all of these prayers as an optional add-on extra, as it were, seeing as how there is a duty - urged on us by the Apostle, as being "good and agreeable in the sight of God our Saviour" - to make intercession for all men, for rulers and those in authority, "that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all piety and worthy behaviour," so that all may be brought to know the truth and be saved (cf. I Tim. ii, 1f).

Indeed, without these, the Roman Breviary may seem somewhat lacking in focussed intercession, excepting the second part of Prime, the capitular office - though of course, in its magnificent weekly cycle of Psalms above all, but also in hymns, versicles of Scripture and incomparable Collects, the Prayer of Holy Mother Church does ever beseech God for His aid.

These intercessions - specially recommended by the Church on the Ember Days, occurring at present, by her own liturgical tradition - I recommend to all, together with the Litanies of the Saints, so here are some links to them:

• Preces of Lauds and Vespers;
• Preces of Prime;
• Preces of Compline;
  
• Litanies of the Saints.
  

Vigil of St John Baptist

Owing to pressure of events I didn't blog this yesterday as intended...

Yesterday was the Vigil of the Nativity of St John the Baptist (Midwinter's Eve, in other words): I was surprised to find that Lauds I, not Lauds II, was appointed, and that the Preces were not said: it turned out that they had been snipped out from Vigils, once called "kneeling days" after the Preces said thereon, in one of the last pre-Conciliar reforms, or rather impoverishments, of the Office. So I tacked on all the omitted bits as devotions after the Hours instead. One curious feature of the Vigil Office: the Lessons at Matins are proper, but the responsories are ferial.

**UPDATE**

I was wrong: Lauds II is the correct Hour to use on a Vigil; my bad.

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In the evening, having arrived early at the Pro., I led the Rosary for once, and served Fr's Mass - always a privilege. Being a Vigil, the vestments were purple, there was no Gloria nor Alleluia. Using the Common Preface for so great a saint seemed a bit infra dig. There was no Ite, either, but Benedicamus Domino.

Preces for the Holy Name

Here's something I found last year, I think: the modern Liturgia Horarum has the following preces for Vespers of 2nd January and Lauds of 3rd January, obviously alluding to the (then-suppressed) Feast of the Holy Name, and based upon the Litanies thereof:

Deus, multifariam loquens patribus nostris in prophetis, novissime locutus est nobis in Filio suo.  Ejus misericordiam imploremus, dicentes: Kyrie, eleison.

Pro Ecclesia tua sancta, – ut filii tui fideliter fortiterque confiteantur nomen Salvatoris.  Kyrie, eleison.  

Pro evangelizantibus, – ut operarii a te missi cum omni fiducia prædicent gentibus nomen Salvatoris.  Kyrie, eleison.

Pro fratribus nostris infirmis, – ut sanitatem obtineant invocantes nomen Salvatoris.  Kyrie, eleison.

Pro christianis persecutioni obnoxiis, – ut injurias patienter sustineant propter nomen Salvatoris.  Kyrie, eleison.

Pro fratribus nostris, qui culpa hominum obierunt, – ut tua misericordia vitam consequantur.  Kyrie, eleison.

Redemptorem nostrum, Filium Dei, qui homo factus est, ut hominem renovaret, lætanter invocemus, dicentes: Esto nobiscum, Emmanuel.  

Jesu, Fili Dei vivi, splendor Patris, lux æterna, rex gloriæ, sol justitiæ, fili Virginis Mariæ, – incarnationis tuæ gloria diem hunc illumina.  Esto nobiscum, Emmanuel.

Jesu, admirabilis consiliarius, Deus fortis, pater futuri sæculi, princeps pacis, – humanitatis tuæ sanctitate viam nostram dirige.  Esto...

Jesu, omnipotens, patiens, obœdiens, mitis et humilis corde, – omnibus mansuetudinis potentiam manifesta.  Esto...

Jesu, pater pauperum, fidelium tuorum gloria, pastor bone, lux vera, infinita sapientia, immensa bonitas, via et vita nostra, – spiritum paupertatis Ecclesiæ tuæ concede.  Esto...

To the last intercession I would append my own (cf. IGLH, n. 188 – Licet tamen... quasdam intentiones addere particulares):

Jesu, amator castitatis, amator noster, Deus pacis, auctor vitæ, exemplar virtutum, zelator animarum, Deus noster, refugium nostrum, – da nobis tuam pacem, et vitam æternam.  Esto...

Jesu, gaudium Angelorum, rex Patriarcharum, magister Apostolorum, doctor Evangelistarum, fortitudo Martyrum, lumen Confessorum, puritas Virginum, corona Sanctorum omnium, – precibus et meritis eorum perducas nos ad societatem civium supernorum.  Esto...

Furthermore, thumbing back thro' vol. I of the Lit. Hor. turns up much of the rest of the Litanies of the Holy Name turned into intercessions at Vespers for the 26th of December (which is not of St Stephen a capitulo, unlike in the older Breviary):

Verbum Dei, quod, in nobis habitando, salutis perpetuæ tramitem reseravit, deprecemur et sincera humilitate rogemus: Ab omni malo, libera nos, Domine.

Per mysterium incarnationis tuæ, per nativitatem et infantiam tuam, – per totam vitam tuam Patri dicatam: Ab omni malo, libera nos, Domine.

Per labores tuos, per prædicationes et itinera tua, per conversationem tuam inter peccatores:

Per agoniam et passionem tuam, per crucem et desolationem tuam, – per angustias tuas, per mortem et sepulturam tuam: Ab...

Per resurrectionem et ascensionem tuam, per donationem Spiritus Sancti, per gaudia et gloriam tuam æternam, – fratres nostros, jam defunctos, libera, Domine.  Ab...

Again, I would add before the last petition, as is allowable:

Per sanctissimæ Eucharistiæ institutionem tuam: Ab omni malo, libera nos, Domine.

Our Lady of Guadalupe; Preces (Old and New)

Though (in the 1962 Breviary) this is a feria, I could not let this day pass without praising Our Lady of Guadalupe, Empress of the Americas, Mother of the True God, who appeared in Mexico in 1531 to St Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, impressing her sacred image on his tilma, that frail rough garment of cactus fibre, in a manner inexplicable to science, and which has survived fire and acid and a bomb to remain over 470 years later the great miraculous image of the Americas; and who by her wondrous manifestation so moved all hearts as to convert the peoples of the New World to Christ.  The modern second readings (in Latin and Spanish) for the feasts of St Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe are available from the website of the Basilica of Guadalupe.

If you want a stunning piece of music to play in Our Lady's honour, I thoroughly recommend Chanticleer's CD of Matins of Our Lady of Guadalupe, including powerful Mexican Baroque settings of responsories and hymns by Ignatio de Jerusalem (1707-1769), and two thrilling paraliturgical villancicos by Manuel de Zumaya (c.1678-1755).  It even has the three historical lessons from the proper Office of Our Lady of Guadalupe, as approved by Benedict XIV, that great Pope (see here for these lessons); who, upon seeing a faithful copy of the Holy Tilma, exclaimed Non fecit taliter omni nationi - "She hath not wrought thusly in every nation" (cf. Ps 147:9).  Unfortunately I didn't bring this CD with me, nor uploaded it to my iPod.  :-(

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Since today is a feria here in Australia, I had a different pleasure while saying Matins and Lauds: to kneel and pray the preces.  These are fine prayers, and I wish they were in the Office every day, as they always were in the Traditional Benedictine, and often in the Dominican Breviary (as a Kyrie and Pater noster before the collect at each Hour).  It was unfortunate that the breviary reform of 1955 cut down on the Matins lessons and preces; I understand many traditionally minded clergy (such as those under Bishop Rifan in the Apostolic Administration in Campos) still read these, on the principle that one can hardly be criticised for saying more of the Office than is strictly required.  

As it is, I have taken up – and thoroughly recommend – the traditional practice of saying a Pater and Ave before each Hour (except at Lauds if joined to Matins, nor at Compline, when one says them afterward), and a Pater afterward if no other Hour is to be said straightaway (one also says a Credo before Matins, before Prime, and after Compline).  This helps one get ready for prayer, and guards one's heart from running off heedlessly afterwards: St Ignatius Loyola encourages this when he recommends, prior to making meditation, that one lift one's heart up to God "for the space of a Pater noster".

One of the things I most miss from the new Office is the absence of intercessions before the collect of Lauds and Vespers.  Though they are rather paraphrased than translated into English, even so they are rich, and in the Latin quite excellent.  Earlier I decided to read this morning's intercessions from the new Office:

Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, fratres carissimi, exoremus, qui in sua misericordia nos visitat, lætamque vocem iteremus: Veni, Domine Jesu.

Qui de sinu Patris egressus, venisti ut carnis nostræ vestimentum indueres, – libera quod perierat naturæ vitiatæ contagio.

Qui venturus, in electis agnosceris gloriosus, – nunc veniens, in peccatoribus clemens semper et pius inveniaris.

Gloriantes in laude tua, Christe Domine, – visita nos in salutari tuo.

Qui nos jam eduxisti in lucem per fidem, – fac nos justitia tua pro dignis operibus tibi placitos.

Pater noster...

Omnipotens Deus, qui nos præcipis iter Christo Domino præparare, concede propitius, ut nullis infirmitatibus fatigemur, qui cælestis medici consolantem præsentiam sustinemus.  Per Dominum...

Must go to Mass now!