Ordo for the Octave of Pentecost (May 19-26)

The notes below are designed to assist those wishing to say the Benedictine Office according to the officially approved 1962 books (noting that older books can readily be adapted to this end).

They provides notes on the variable parts of the Office only, so should be read in conjunction with the Learn to Say the Benedictine Office notes provided elsewhere on the blog.

Key to the abbreviations:

MD= Monastic Diurnal (MD, 2004 onwards editions)
AM =Antiphonale Monasticum 1934 (1995 edition).
LR=Liber Responsorialis (downloadable from CC Watershed) and the Nocturnale Romanum.
LH=Liber Hymnarius, 1983
SupAM=Supplement to the Antiphonale Monasticum published by Clear Creek.

THE ORDO

Sunday 20 May - Pentecost Sunday, Class I with Class I Octave

Matins: Invitatory antiphon, hymn, antiphons, psalms, Gospel and twelve readings and responsories of the feast, LR 107 ff

Lauds: Antiphons etc of the feast, MD 396*/AM 520 ff; festal psalms of Sunday

Prime to None: Antiphons etc of the feast, MD 400*/AM 523; at Terce, hymn Veni Creator

Vespers: All as for I Vespers except for the Magnificat antiphon, MD 402-3*/AM 524-5

Monday 21 May – Whit Monday, Class I

Matins: Two nocturns, with invitatory antiphon, hymn, psalms and antiphons as for Nocturns I &II of Sunday with three readings of the day are of the day OR Invitatory and hymn of the feast with psalms of the day

Lauds to Vespers: As for Pentecost Sunday, including the psalms, except the Canticle antiphons and collect, MD 403*/AM 525-6; at Terce, hymn Veni Creator

Tuesday 22 May – Whit Tuesday, Class I

Matins: As for Sunday omitting Nocturn III, with three readings OR Invitatory and hymn of the feast with psalms of the day

Lauds to Vespers: As for Pentecost Sunday except the Canticle antiphons and collect, MD 403-4*/AM 527

Wednesday 23 May – Ember Wednesday, Class I

Matins: Invitatory and hymn of the feast; psalms of the Wednesday under one antiphon of the feast; readings of the day

Lauds to Vespers: As for Pentecost Sunday except the Canticle antiphons and collect, MD 404-5*/.AM 528

Thursday 24 May - Whit Thursday, Class I [Note in Australia, Our Lady Help of Christians is transferred to next Monday in the traditional calendar]

Matins: Invitatory and hymn of the feast; psalms of the Thursday under one antiphon of the feast; readings of the day

Lauds to Vespers: As for Pentecost Sunday except the Canticle antiphons and collect, MD 405*/AM 529-30

Friday 25 May – Ember Friday, Class I

[St Gregory VII is not celebrated in the Office this year]

Matins: Invitatory and hymn of the feast; psalms of the Friday under one antiphon of the feast; readings of the day

Lauds to Vespers: As for Pentecost Sunday except the Canticle antiphons and collect, MD 405-6*/AM 530

Saturday 26 May – Ember Saturday, Class I

[St Augustine is not celebrated in the Office this year]

Matins: Invitatory and hymn of the feast; psalms of the Saturday under one antiphon of the feast; readings of the day

Lauds to None: As for Pentecost Sunday except the Benedictus antiphon and collect, MD 406-7*/AM 531

TIME AFTER PENTECOST (THROUGHOUT THE YEAR)

I Vespers of the Most Holy Trinity, MD 407*/AM 532 ff (Sunday psalms with antiphons and rest of the feast; no commemoration of the Sunday)

**Compline: Marian Antiphon Salve Regina from henceforward

Ordo notes for the week after the Ascension (May 13-19, 2018)

The notes below are designed to assist those wishing to say the Benedictine Office according to the officially approved 1962 books (noting that older books can readily be adapted to this end).

They provides notes on the variable parts of the Office only, so should be read in conjunction with the Learn to Say the Benedictine Office notes provided elsewhere on the blog.

Ascensiontide

In the pre-1962 calendar there was an 'octave' of the Ascension; the remnants of the octave can be found in the 'Ordinary' of Ascensiontide, the rubrics of which you can read up on here.

Key to the abbreviations:

MD= Monastic Diurnal (MD, 2004 onwards editions)
AM =Antiphonale Monasticum 1934 (1995 edition).
LR=Liber Responsorialis (downloadable from CC Watershed) and the Nocturnale Romanum.
LH=Liber Hymnarius, 1983
SupAM=Supplement to the Antiphonale Monasticum published by Clear Creek.

THE ORDO

Sunday 13 May – Sunday after the Ascension, Class II

[Note: The feast of St Robert Bellarmine is not marked in the Office this year]

Matins: Invitatory antiphon, hymn, antiphons, Gospel and readings for the Sunday

Lauds: Festal psalms with three antiphons (alleluia - canticle - alleluia); chapter etc from MD 389*/AM 513 ff

Prime to None: Antiphons, etc from MD 391*/AM 514 ff

Vespers: Psalms of Sunday under one antiphon; chapter and hymn of Lauds; responsory and Magnificat antiphon, MD 393*/AM 515

Monday 14 May – Class IV, St Pachomius, Memorial [EF: Commemoration of St Boniface]

Matins:  Ordinary of Ascensiontide, viz Invitatory Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia; hymn Aeterne Rex altissime (LH 82); versicles, short reading (Heb 6:18-20), short responsory (Dominus in caelo) and chapter (Eph 2:6-7) of the season

Lauds to Vespers: Ordinary of the Ascension, MD 386*, that is:

Lauds and Vespers: chapter, Conresuscitavit (Eph 2:6-7) with short responsory, hymn, versicle and canticle antiphons of Ascension, AM 510&512

Terce to None: versicles of the Ascension with chapters Eph 2:6-7 at Terce; Eph 1:20-21 at Sext; and Eph 1:22-3 at None

For the commemoration at Lauds, MD [147-8]; SupAnt 74

Tuesday 15 May – Class IV [EF: St John Baptist de la Salle; Ben Confed: St. Pacomius, abbot - Optional Memorial

Ordinary of the Ascension, MD 386* ff

Wednesday 16 May – Class IV [EF: St Ubald]

Ordinary of the Ascension, MD 386* ff

Thursday 17 May - Class IV [EF: St Pascal Baylon, Class III]

Ordinary of the Ascension, MD 386* ff

Friday 18 May - Class IV [EF: St Venantius]

Ordinary of the Ascension, MD 386* ff

Saturday 19 May - Whitsun Eve (Vigil of the Pentecost), Class I

Matins: Ordinary of Ascensiontide but with three readings and responsories of the day

Lauds to None: Ordinary of the Ascension, MD 386*

PENTECOST

I Vespers of Pentecost, MD 393*/AM 517 ff (Sunday psalms with antiphons and rest of the feast)

Rogation days in the lead up to the feast of the Ascension

Monday to Wednesday this week are 'rogation', or 'asking' days.

Rogation days in history

Traditionally these are days of prayer (particularly in the form of a procession accompanied by a sung litany of the saints), and fasting.

The three 'minor' rogation days before Ascension date back to the fifth century, instituted originally by Bishop Mammertus of Vienne (c470).  The practice quickly spread throughout Gaul and Burgundy - the Council of Orleans in 510 ordered their use for example.  Rogation days were not adopted in Rome, though, until the early ninth century.

Their key purpose is to appease God's anger at man's transgressions, to ask protection in calamities, and to obtain a good and bountiful harvest.

Rogation days in the Office

You can find the litany and prayers appropriately used with them in the Monastic Diurnal at pg (200) and the full chants in the Processionale Monasticum.  If said privately, it is usually done after Lauds.

In earlier versions of the Monastic Office, the Rogations were marked as follows:

• On Monday  there were three readings at Matins (from St Ambrose on the value of prayer at set times, and always) and a collect specific to the rogation day (set out below), I Vespers was of the votive office of St Benedict;
• On Tuesday the Votive Office of St Benedict was said; and
• On Wednesday the Office had three readings (from St Augustine) and a special collect.

In the 1962 monastic version, though, only the Wednesday readings and collect have survived (under the rubric of the Vigil of the Ascension).  I can only presume that this is one of several unfortunate early manifestations in the Office of the modern resurgence of the heresies of presumed universal salvation (we all go to heaven; there is no-one hell) and rejection of the value of intercessory prayer.

The Monday readings in particular though, are rather lovely and important ones, and so I have put up them up on the Lectio Divina Notes Blog for your consideration.

Orémus Praesta quaesumus omnipotens Deus: ut qui in afflictione nostra de tua pietate confidimus; contra adversa omnia tua semper protectione muniamur. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. R. Amen.

24 Let us pray. Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that we who in our tribulation are yet of good cheer because of thy loving-kindness, may find thee mighty to save from all dangers. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

St Honoratus of Arles (May 5)

Saint Honorat or Saint Honoré (c. 350 – January 6, 429) was an early Archbishop of Arles, who was also an Abbot of Lérins Abbey.

It is believed that he was born in the north of Gaul and that he belonged to a consular Roman family. Honoratus received an outstanding education. Converted to Christianity with his brother Venantius, he embarked with him from Marseilles about 368, under the guidance of a holy person named Caprasius, to visit the holy places of Palestine and the lauræ of Syria and Egypt. But the death of Venantius, occurring suddenly at Methone, Achaia, prevented the pious travellers from going further.

They returned to Gaul through Italy, and, after having stopped at Rome, Honoratus went on into Provence and, encouraged by Leontius, bishop of Fréjus, took up his abode in the wild Lérins Island today called the Île Saint-Honorat, with the intention of living there in solitude.

Numerous disciples soon gathered around Honoratus, including Lupus of Troyes, Eucherius of Lyon, and Hilary of Arles. Thus was founded the Monastery of Lérins, which has enjoyed so great a celebrity status and which was, during the 5th and 6th centuries, a nursery for illustrious bishops and remarkable ecclesiastical writers. His Rule of Life was chiefly borrowed from that of St. Pachomius. It is believed St. Patrick trained there for his missionary work in Ireland.

St Honoratus's reputation for sanctity throughout the southeastern portion of Gaul was such that in 426 after the assassination of Patroclus, Archbishop of Arles, he was summoned from his solitude to succeed to the government of the diocese, which the Arian and Manichaean heresies had greatly disturbed. He appears to have succeeded in re-establishing order and orthodoxy.

St John Cassian, who had visited his monastery, dedicated to him several of his Conferences.

Ordo for the fifth week after Easter (May 6-12)

The notes below are designed to assist those wishing to say the Benedictine Office according to the officially approved 1962 books (noting that older books can readily be adapted to this end).

They provides notes on the variable parts of the Office only, so should be read in conjunction with the Learn to Say the Benedictine Office notes provided elsewhere on the blog.

Eastertide

You can find notes on the rubrics for Eastertide here.

This week marks the feast of the Ascension though, and from Friday onwards, the texts are those of the Ascensiontide season

Key to the abbreviations:

MD= Monastic Diurnal (MD, 2004 onwards editions)
AM =Antiphonale Monasticum 1934 (1995 edition).
LR=Liber Responsorialis (downloadable from CC Watershed) and the Nocturnale Romanum.
LH=Liber Hymnarius, 1983
SupAM=Supplement to the Antiphonale Monasticum published by Clear Creek.
ff= and following pages

THE ORDO

Sunday 6 May – Fifth Sunday after Easter, Class II

Matins: Invitatory (Surrexit Dominus), hymn (Rex sempiterne), Gospel, twelve readings and responsories of the Sunday

Lauds: (Three) Antiphons for Eastertide with festal psalms for Eastertide, rest from MD 373*/AM 499 ff

Prime to None: Antiphons of Eastertide, Sunday psalms; Terce to None:  chapter verse, versicle and collect, MD 373-4*/AM 500 ff

Vespers: Psalms of Sunday under one antiphon; chapter of Lauds; responsory and hymn, MD 354*/AM 466; Magnificat antiphon, MD 375*/AM 501

Monday 7 May – Class IV (Rogation Day) [EF: St Stanislaus, Class III]

Ordinary of Eastertide, MD 346*/AM 466 ff; canticle antiphons for Lauds and Vespers (Monday in the fifth week after Easter), MD 375*/AM 501-2; collect, MD 373-4*/AM 500

Tuesday 8 May – Class IV (Rogation Day)

Ordinary of Eastertide; canticle antiphons for Lauds and Vespers, MD 375-6*/AM 503; collect, MD 373-4*/AM 500

Wednesday 9 May – Vigil of the Ascension, Class II; Commemoration of St Gregory Nazianzen

Matins: All as for the Ordinary of Eastertide except for the three readings and responsories of the day

Lauds to None: all as for ordinary of Paschaltide; collect, MD 373-4*/AM 504; at Lauds, versicle and Benedictus antiphon MD 376*/AM 503-4; commemoration of St Gregory, MD (63)&[141]/AM 905

ASCENSIONTIDE

I Vespers of the Ascension, see MD 376*/AM 505 ff

Thursday 10 May - The Ascension of Our Lord, Class I

Matins: Invitatory, hymn, antiphons, psalms, Gospel, twelve readings and responsories of the feast, LR 94 ff

Lauds: Festal psalms with proper antiphons and texts of the feast, MD 379*/AM 508 ff

Prime to None: Antiphons etc of the feast, MD 382-3*/AM 511

Vespers: as for I Vespers, with Magnificat antiphon, MD 383*/AM 512

Friday 11 May - SS Philip and James, Class II [Ben. Confed: St. Odo, St. Maiolus, St. Odilo, St. Hugh and Blessed Peter the Venerable, abbots of Cluny – Memorial]

Matins: All from the Common of Apostles during Eastertide (LR 162), except for readings and responsories, of the feast

Lauds to Vespers: Antiphons and canticle antiphons of the feast, MD [142]/AM 893 ff, rest from the Common of Apostles in Eastertide, MD (23) ff.  At Lauds and Vespers, festal psalms.

Saturday 12 May – Our Lady on Saturday, Class IV; SS Nereus, Archilleus and Pancras, memorial [EF: Class III, and Domitilla]

Matins: Office of our Lady in Eastertide with reading for Saturday 2 in May

Lauds to None: Office of Our Lady, MD (134)/718 ff; note that the antiphons and versicles for Prime to None should have alleluias added to them; for the commemoration at Lauds, MD [146]/AM 905

I Vespers of the Sunday after the Ascension, MD 388*/AM 513 (Note antiphon is Alleluia…)

St Catherine of Siena (April 30)

St Catherine rates only a memorial in the 1963 calendar, a grave injustice in my view for this important doctor of the Church.

In any case, here are the readings for her feast from Matins in the Roman Office from Divinum Officium:

This Katharine was a maiden of Sienna, and was born of godly parents, (in the year 1347.) She took the habit of the Third Order of St Dominick. Her fasts were most severe, and the austerity of her life wonderful. It was discovered that on some occasions she took no food at all from Ash Wednesday till Ascension Day, receiving all needful strength by taking the Holy Communion. She was engaged oftentimes in a wrestling with devils, and was sorely tried by them with divers assaults : she was consumed by fevers, and suffered likewise from other diseases. Great and holy was the name of Katharine, and sick folk, and such as were vexed with evil spirits, were brought to her from all quarters. Through the Name of Christ, she had command over sickness and fever, and forced the foul spirits to leave the bodies of the tormented.

While she dwelt at Pisa, on a certain Lord's Day, after she had received the Living Bread Which came down from heaven, she was in the spirit; and saw the Lord nailed to the Cross advancing towards her. There was a great light round about Him, and five rays of light streaming from the five marks of the Wounds in His Feet, and Hands, and Side, which smote her upon the five corresponding places in her body. When Katharine perceived this vision, she besought the Lord that no marks might become manifest upon her flesh, and straightway the five beams of light changed from the colour of blood into that of gold, and touched in the form of pure light her feet, and hands, and side. At this moment the agony which she felt was so piercing, that she believed that if God had not lessened it, she would have died. Thus the Lord in His great love for her, gave her this great grace, in a new and twofold manner, namely, that she felt all the pain of the wounds, but without there being any bloody marks to meet the gaze of men. This was the account given by the handmaiden of God to her Confessor, Raymund, and it is for this reason that when the godly wishes of the faithful lead them to make pictures of the blessed Katharine, they paint her with golden rays of light proceeding from those five places in her body which correspond to the five places wherein our Lord was wounded by the nails and spear.

While she dwelt at Pisa, on a certain Lord's Day, after she had received the Living Bread Which came down from heaven, she was in the spirit; and saw the Lord nailed to the Cross advancing towards her. There was a great light round about Him, and five rays of light streaming from the five marks of the Wounds in His Feet, and Hands, and Side, which smote her upon the five corresponding places in her body. When Katharine perceived this vision, she besought the Lord that no marks might become manifest upon her flesh, and straightway the five beams of light changed from the colour of blood into that of gold, and touched in the form of pure light her feet, and hands, and side. At this moment the agony which she felt was so piercing, that she believed that if God had not lessened it, she would have died. Thus the Lord in His great love for her, gave her this great grace, in a new and twofold manner, namely, that she felt all the pain of the wounds, but without there being any bloody marks to meet the gaze of men. This was the account given by the handmaiden of God to her Confessor, Raymund, and it is for this reason that when the godly wishes of the faithful lead them to make pictures of the blessed Katharine, they paint her with golden rays of light proceeding from those five places in her body which correspond to the five places wherein our Lord was wounded by the nails and spear.

And if you would, please  say a prayer for me on my name day!

Ordo for the fourth week after Easter (April 29-May 5)

The notes below are designed to assist those wishing to say the Benedictine Office according to the officially approved 1962 books (noting that older books can readily be adapted to this end).

Resources for the Benedictine Office

The Ordo notes below assume you already have a good grasp of how to use the books for this form of the Office.  Accordingly, they are designed to be used in conjunction with a number of related resources for this blog that you may wish to explore:

1.  Learn to say the Benedictine Office notes:  A comprehensive set of notes on how to say and sing the Office according to the 1962 rubrics and calendar can be found on the Learn the Benedictine Office Blog, starting with a general introduction to this form of the Office.  A guide to them can be found on the Learn to Say the Benedictine Office page on this blog.

2.  Notes on the psalms:  Notes on the psalm in the context of the Benedictine Office, focusing on the commentaries of the Fathers and Theologians, and including a selection of translations, as well as a literal word by word translation of many verses, can be found on the Psallam Domino Blog.

3.  Readings and responsories for Matins: Translations of the readings and responsories for Matins arranged as for the Benedictine Office can be found on the Lectio Divina Notes Blog.

4.  Chants for Matins: Notes on the responsories  and other chants for Matins, including sources for the chants, and links to recordings of them where available, can be found on the Benedictine Responsory Blog.

5. Books and other online resources for the Benedictine Office: Links to other resources for the Office, including podcasts and recordings of the Office being sung, downloadable books for the Office and so forth can be found on the Office Resources page on this blog.

6.  The Ordo:  An Ordo provides details of the things that are different to the standard texts for the Office each day, such as the collects (which change at least each week for the hours other than Prime and Compline), seasonal texts, feasts and special days.  This blog provides weekly Ordo notes (which you can have emailed to you by using the subscribe box on the blog) and the notes organised by month.  Many monasteries also produce Ordos for use by their Oblates.

Eastertide

You can find notes on the rubrics for Eastertide here.

Key to the abbreviations:

MD= Monastic Diurnal (MD, 2004 onwards editions)
AM =Antiphonale Monasticum 1934 (1995 edition).
LR=Liber Responsorialis (downloadable from CC Watershed) and the Nocturnale Romanum.
LH=Liber Hymnarius, 1983
SupAM=Supplement to the Antiphonale Monasticum published by Clear Creek
ff= and following pages

THE ORDO

Sunday 29 April – Fourth Sunday after Easter, Class II

[The feasts of SS Odo, Majolus, Odilo and Hugh are not marked in the Office this year.]

Matins: Invitatory (Surrexit Dominus), hymn (Rex sempiterne), Gospel, twelve readings and responsories of the Sunday

Lauds: (Three) Antiphons for Eastertide with festal psalms for Eastertide, rest from MD 368*/AM 493 ff

Prime: Antiphon of Eastertide, rest as in the psalter 

Terce to None: Antiphons of Eastertide; chapter verse, versicle and collect from MD 368*/AM 494 ff

Vespers: Psalms of Sunday under one antiphon; chapter of Lauds; responsory and hymn from ordinary of Easter; Magnificat antiphon, MD 370*/AM 495

Monday April 30 – Class IV; St Catherine of Siena, Memorial [EF: Class III]

Ordinary of Eastertide, MD 346*/AM 466 ff; canticle antiphons for Lauds and Vespers, MD 370*/495-6; collect, MD 368*/AM 494; for the commemoration, MD [121-2]/AM 882

I Vespers of St Joseph the Worker, MD [123]/AM 883 ff

Tuesday 1 May – St Joseph the Worker, Class I

Note choice of Offices: MD [126] ff or [133] ff

Matins: All of the feast with twelve readings and responsories – Invitatory and hymn, LH 370-1

Lauds: Festal psalms, antiphons and other texts for the feast

Prime to None: Antiphons etc of the feast

Vespers: Psalms from the Common of Apostles, rest of the feast

Wednesday 2 May – St Athanasius, Class III

Matins: Invitatory and hymn of a confessor bishop (LR 190-1); one reading of the feast; psalms and antiphons of the day

Lauds and Vespers: Psalms and antiphons of the day, rest from Common of a Confessor Bishop, MD (84)/AM 659, except collect, MD [138]/AM 896 and Magnificat antiphon (of a Doctor), MD (74)/AM 665

Prime to None: Antiphons etc from the Common, MD [138]

Thursday 3 May – SS Alexander, Eventius and Theodolus, memorial [in some places: Finding of Holy Cross]

For finding of Holy Cross: LR 437/AM 896

Ordinary of Eastertide; canticle antiphons for Lauds and Vespers (Thursday in fourth week after the Octave of Easter), MD 371*/AM 497-8; collect, MD 368*/AM 494; for the commemoration at Lauds, MD [138-9]

Friday 4 May - Class IV; St Monica, memorial [EF: Class III]

Ordinary of Eastertide; canticle antiphons for Lauds and Vespers, MD 371*/AM 498; collect for the fourth week after Easter, MD 368*/AM 494; for the commemoration, MD [139-40]/AM 903

Saturday 5 May – Our Lady on Saturday, Class IV; St Pius V, memorial [EF: Class III]

Matins: Office of our Lady in Eastertide with reading for Saturday 1 in May

Lauds to None: Office of Our Lady, MD (134)/718 ff; note that the antiphons and versicles for Prime to None should have alleluias added to them; for the commemoration at Lauds, MD [140]/903

I Vespers of Fifth Sunday after Easter, MD 372*/AM 499 ff