January 1: Octave Day of Christmas

Andrea Mantegna, 1461

Today is the Octave Day of Christmas (aka New Year), and one of those feasts that have gone through a few incarnations in recent years.

Traditionally, today is the Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord. The feast celebrates the first time the blood of Christ was shed, and thus the beginning of the process of the redemption of man. It also serves to demonstrate that Christ was fully human, and his obedience to Biblical law.

The Gospel for the day is one of the shortest, from Luke 2:2:

At that time, when eight days were fulfilled for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called Jesus, the name given Him by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

In the 1960 Calendar (including the Benedictine Universal Calendar), all of the traditional texts for the feast are retained, but the name is dropped in favour of the Octave Day. It is classified as a feast of Our Lord.

In the Novus Ordo calendar, the Feast was dropped altogether, and it has become the Feast of Mary, Mother of God...

December 31: Seventh day in the Octave of the Nativity; St Sylvester, Pope, memorial

van den Bossche, 1470-1500

December 31: Seventh Day in the Octave of the Nativity

December 30: Sixth Day in the Octave of the Nativity

December 29: Fifth day in the Octave of the Nativity

December 25: Christmas Day

December 24: Vigil of the Nativity, Class I

December 23: Class II

O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come and save us, O Lord our God.

December 22: Class II

O King of the nations, and their desire,
the cornerstone making both one:
Come and save the human race,
which you fashioned from clay.

A Rule for cenobites...

OK this is a bit of a rant, but I think an important one.

One of the problems in the Church today is the subversion of the idea that religious life represents a higher state of life. Under the guise of the "new monasticism" even married people today like to describe themselves as monks, or consider themselves as bound by the Rules of their Order as monks are.

To the extent that this movement encourages piety and spiritual growth it is obviously a good thing. But to the extent that it undermines the idea that religious life - even in the watered down form so often practiced in these confused and troubled times - is an objectively higher state of life, we should reject it as a dangerous subversion of the Church's traditions.

The Benedictine Rule is first and foremost a Rule for monks and nuns...

A widely disseminated commentary on the Rule for December 2 laudably encourages the saying of the hours of the Office. But in making his arguments for doing so the author gets carried away, claiming:

"the Holy Rule was written by a layman for laymen. The early men (and later, women) were lay-folk when they joined St. Benedict, not vowed Religious but beginners..."

Well no.

First, St Benedict himself was a monk not a layman: the story of his acceptance of the habit from a monk of a monastery near Subiaco appears in the Life of the saint written by St Gregory. And, leaving aside the question of whether or not St Benedict was actually a deacon, is the author of the commentary really claiming that St Benedict didn't make the vows he prescribes for his own monks in Chapter 58 of the Rule? Surely he was indeed a vowed religious!

Secondly, the Rule makes it clear several times that he is writing for "the strong race of cenobites" (ch 1), that is for those "practicising it in monasteries" (ch 73), "in the enclosure of the monastery and stability in community" (ch 4), under the authority of an abbot (ch 1).

When the postulant arrives at the gates of the monastery he is indeed a layperson and beginner. But he is seeking to become a monk or nun (and by the way, women were not later in this but contemporaneous, as St Scholastica, as well as the communities of women referred to in the Life, make clear), not seeking to continue living in the world.

The Rule of St Benedict is a great spiritual document, filled with wisdom for all. And the laity have been called to adopt the spirituality taught by St Benedict from its very beginnings as his Life makes clear: the saint provided spiritual direction to many from his cave at Subiaco; converted those living near Monte Cassino by his preaching; and attracted lay donors who provided land for new monasteries, and entrusted their sons to him for the monastery. Those early oblates often followed an exemplary asceticism too, as the story of the lay follower of St Benedict who fasted on his annual journey to visit the monastery (until tempted otherwise and called on it by the saint) demonstrates. But the call of an oblate is different to that of a monk, and we shouldn't confuse the two.

What is a monk or nun?

The profession of the evangelical counsels by a religious means poverty, chastity and obedience not just in the sense we are all required to adopt, but that special consecration which renounces all goods and all sexual activity, and promises obedience to a superior who stands in the place of Christ. In the case of Benedictines, the form of the vows is 'stability and conversion of morals' and a commitment to live' according to the Rule': "stabilitate...et conversatione morum...et obedientia...secundum Regulam Sancti Patris nostri Benedicti..."

In Vita Consecrata, Pope John Paul II stated that the superiority of the state reflects the fact that religious voluntarily gave up good things, making a total holocaust of themselves, in favor of a greater good, the pure service of God. It is this special commitment that justifies the status of religious life as a higher calling: “As a way of showing forth the Church’s holiness, it is to be recognized that the consecrated life, which mirrors Christ’s own way of life, has an objective superiority.”

Oblates

We are all called to holiness. And the promises made by a Benedictine Oblate for example represent a particularly good way of pursuing that holiness.

But an oblate is not a monk.

Canonically, the situation of an oblate is quite different to that of either a monk, or a third order member of one of the mendicant orders such as the Carmelites, Franciscans or Dominicans.

The traditional promises (not vows) made by a Benedictine oblate living in the world are to live "according to the spirit of the Rule of our Holy Father Benedict, and observe the Statutes of Oblates" (conversationem morum...ad mentem Regulae..."

In the prayers and admonitions of the American-Cassinese Congregation leading up to the promises, for example, the prospective oblate was asked if he was willing to "observe the salutary teachings of our Holy Father Benedict, according as your state of life permits..."

Religious life is, amonst its other purposes, meant to help and support the practice of the laity by providing an exemplar of holiness. Oblates are meant to share in the spiritual benefits produced by their monastery, and learn from the religious life. But oblation is not to meant to be a substitute for religious life, even in times where that religious life seems often poorly observed.

Be fervent followers of St Benedict by all means, but according to your state in life...

Some possible principles for interpreting the Benedictine Rule...

I've been pondering for some time what the appropriate principles for interpreting the Benedictine Rule might be if one approached it from the perspective of a hermeneutic of continuity, as opposed to the evident discontinuity that has largely prevailed for the last several decades. 

And I've finally been spurred into posting on this having seen a commentary which touches on some of these issues.

Let me say that these are a first draft only, and I'd very much appreciate reactions and debate on them.  If there proves to be interest, I may elaborate on each of them in subsequent posts.

May they prove of assistance at least in stimulating thought!

1. The Rule is a providential encapsulation of spirituality and legislation

That St Benedict wrote when he did, and that his Rule came to dominate Europe, was not happenstance, but rather part of God’s providential plan.

As Pope Benedict XVI has repeatedly emphasized, God works through history; the history of the Church is the history of his saints.

One can’t therefore properly read the Rule solely in terms of how it differs from other contemporary or prior Rules, or decide that certain parts are in some way contingent since they would have been different if they had been written fifty years earlier or later.  Thus, historico-critical analysis of the Rule may be interesting - but it cannot be the be all and end all of its interpretation.  And above all, it should not be pursued at the expense of the "post-history" of the use of the Rule (or parts of it). 

2. That said, the legislative aspects of the Rule can be modified

The Rule itself allows the abbot to adapt and mitigate its provisions, both to the time and place, and in order to the needs of individual monks.

Canon law and the law of the land have also overridden parts of the Rule – the procedures around the noviciate and priests for example in relation to canon law; the law of the land and corporal punishment.

And the experience of the Order over the centuries has led to the effective replacement of some of its provisions (through 'declarations' and Constitutions) in accordance with monastic custom and the history of particular monasteries or congregations – the separate kitchen and dining room for the abbot and his guests for example, number and content of meals, use of individual cells instead of a dormitory. 

In addition, the Rule itself provides detailed prescriptions in some areas, mere sketches in others.  The details have always had to be filled in through customaries, liturgical books and so forth.

In the terminology favoured by historians in relation to the period immediately after St Benedict, in practice, all monasteries today, traditionalist, conservative and liberal alike, effectively follow a "mixed Rule" of one type or another.

3. The Rule has to be read as a unified whole

St Benedict prescribed a regimen for his monks that involved a balance between the liturgy (Opus Dei), sacred reading, and work. He certainly emphasizes to the priority of the Opus Dei.

But within the context of that balance.

And within the context of the general principles of moderation and adaptation to the circumstances and place, as well as individual capacities that he reiterates throughout the Rule.

It is important too, to read the Rule against the background of the Life of St Benedict by Pope Gregory I (and see below for Pope Benedict's comments on this).  The Life is traditionally regarded as one of the foundational texts of the Order, and it provides a useful perspective on the way the life is actually to be lived.

4. The primary criterion for interpreting the Rule is how it has been understood down through history.

The Rule should be interpreted in the context of the history of the Benedictine Order, adopting a "hermeneutic of continuity".

The history of monasticism prior to St Benedict will obviously throw light on it, so will the evidence of St Benedict’s contemporaries, as well as later reactions to in the form of the traditions of other religious orders.  Interpretation of the Rule in the light of the great Franciscan or Dominican or Carmelite writers, for example, could well be of interest to members of those Orders as a way of  appropriating a spiritual classic into their tradition.  It may well also throw up insights that will be of interest to Benedictines.

But to learn how to be good Benedictines, the primary lens must surely be the Order’s own patrimony: read the great commentaries of the past on the Rule first and foremost; the great sermons; the great mystical works and so forth.

Pope Benedict XVI has put this point as follows:

“Charisms are bestowed by the Holy Spirit, who inspires founders and foundresses, and shapes Congregations with a subsequent spiritual heritage. The wondrous array of charisms proper to each Religious Institute is an extraordinary spiritual treasury. Indeed, the history of the Church is perhaps most beautifully portrayed through the history of her schools of spirituality, most of which stem from the saintly lives of founders and foundresses.”

5. The way the Rule is approached must be different for those living in community and those in the world

There is something to Dom David Knowles' proposition that the starting point for a monk in interpreting the Rule will be a presumption in favour of a literal reading of the Rule's provisions (but then allowing for changes and adaptations in the light of custom and the times); the starting point for an oblate will be a spiritual reading.

It is an obvious but perhaps often overlooked point, for example, that the Rule clearly states that it is written for monks living in a community under the authority of an abbot. Many of its concrete legislative provisions depend on the judgment of the abbot on a day-to-day basis. A lay person who thinks that he can simply be his own abbot needs to reread Chapter One of the Rule.

Thus, a lay oblate living in the world cannot be considered to be subject to the concrete legislative provisions of the Rule except to the extent that the constitutions or understandings of the community to which he made his oblation bind him (supplemented by any Rule of Life drawn up in consultation with his spiritual director).  It is the spirituality of the Rule they are committing themselves to following, and its practical requirements must be adapted to take account of the duties of state of life and the need to maintain an appropriate balance between the different elements of Benedictine life....

Pope Benedict: Five reasons for doing lectio divina....

Lectio Divina is of course central to Benedictine spirituality, with several hours a day of prayerful reading of Scripture and other spiritual texts required of monks in the Rule.

And it is also one of the central themes of Pope Benedict XVI's Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini.  Scattered through the document are the reasons why lectio is so crucial.  Here is my summation of the reasons he sets out for why we should do lectio divina.

1.  To please God by listening to him. Pope quotes Origen: “Do your reading with the intent of believing in and pleasing God.”

2.  To build the Church as a community.  "While it is a word addressed to each of us personally, it is also a word which builds community, which builds the Church...The reading of the word of God… enables us to deepen our sense of belonging to the Church, and helps us to grow in familiarity with God.”

3.  To nourish and sustain us 'on our journey of penance and conversion': through it, we grow in love and truth.

4.  In order to discern God’s will for us, and convert us: “Contemplation aims at creating within us a truly wise and discerning vision of reality, as God sees it, and at forming within us “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16).

The Pope particularly recommends lectio divina to seminarians because: “It is in the light and strength of God’s word that one’s specific vocation can be discerned and appreciated, loved and followed, and one’s proper mission carried out…”  Lay people to should be trained, he urges, “to discern God’s will through a familiarity with his word, read and studied in the Church under the guidance of her legitimate pastors.”

He goes on: "Saint Paul tells us: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect ” (12:2). The word of God appears here as a criterion for discernment: it is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12).”, and “….by nourishing the heart with thoughts of God, so that faith, as our response to the word, may become a new criterion for judging and evaluation persons and things, events and issues”….”

5.  For the spiritual benefit of others. First, to equip us to fulfill the duty of all Christians to evangelize, contributing to the Churches mission to convert the whole world to Christ. And secondly to aid the souls in purgatory through the Church's offer of indulgences for Scripture reading and certain Scripturally based prayers (such as the Office), which teach us that “to whatever degree we are united in Christ, we are united to one another, and the supernatural life of each one can be useful for the others ”

Gueranger's Manual for Oblates - Part III

I've been putting up selections from Dom Gueranger's nineteenth century manual for Oblates.  Here is the next part of Chapter 1.

"In order, therefore, to aid in the preservation and to promote the growth of the Catholic spirit, whose outward expression the foregoing pages have described, an Association has been formed, the members of which, to promote the honour of God and secure their own fidelity, will be attentive to observe the following practices:

Attend High Mass

On Sundays and Festivals they will attend, by preference, High Mass, in the churches where it is celebrated with the ecclesiastical chant and ritual.

Should they find inconvenience in communicating at a late hour, they will make their Communion previously, at an early Mass. They will attentively follow all the rites and ceremonies performed by the priests and attendants at the altar, will do their best by previous study and consideration to enter into their meaning, and thus meritoriously qualify themselves for the fuller reception of the grace implanted in them by the Holy Spirit. [Let them, so to speak, not be satisfied with merely inhaling the fragrance, but let them also gather the honey from these flowers of the garden of the Church.]

They will follow the ecclesiastical chant by the aid, if needful, of translations of the formularies, and they will avoid distracting their attention from the holy mysteries by other books of devotion, etc., which may be excellent, perhaps, at other times, but which at these moments would be harmful, by keeping them apart from the sacred Liturgy.

Attendance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the act of piety to which, of all others, they will attach the highest importance. There, wherein is renewed the Sacred Passion of Our Lord, they will offer to God the Divine Victim, in union with the Church, for the four ends of Adoration, Thanksgiving, Propitiation, and Petition. On the days when they do not communicate they will make a spiritual Communion at the moment when the priest is making the Sacramental Communion, and for this they will prepare themselves by the act of contrition and offering of themselves to God.

The Divine Office

Next to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, they will esteem nothing so much as the Divine office, by which the Church renders to God her continual homage in the canonical hours. On Sundays and festivals they will gladly be present at Vespers and Compline, and will endeavour, as far as it may be possible for them, to join with Holy Church in the chanting of her psalms and hymns. Let them be especially thankful to God if He should give them grace to take delight in the Psalter, remembering that, in the ages of faith, it was most frequently through the psalms that God was pleased to communicate with souls. They will prefer those churches in which the Divine Office is celebrated according to ecclesiastical rule, such as the cathedral or any other. Even in their private devotions they will take pleasure in using the prayers of the Church to express their needs and aspirations.

Adoration

They will earnestly desire to unite themselves to God by mental prayer; and in this they will he powerfully assisted by their union with the Church in the sacred Liturgy. The different seasons of the Church’s year will bring before them the mysteries which are the groundwork of piety and the source of the true spirit of prayer. They will often visit Our Lord in the holy Tabernacle, and will not fail to appreciate their happiness whenever they are able to be present at Benediction, to receive the blessing of the most holy Sacrament."

Question: Why does the numbering of the psalms in the Diurnal differ from my Bible?

I've had a question from a reader that I suspect puzzles many people, so I thought I'd answer it here.

The question is: Why does the numbering of psalms in the Monastic Diurnal often diverge from that in many contemporary Bibles?

On the psalm numbering, basically the problem is that there isn't really any set numbering or versification in the book of psalms, so later manuscripts have added it in for convenience sake, and there are (at least) two distinct traditions on how to divide up the psalms.

Psalm numbering

In some cases the appropriate divisions between psalms is reasonably obvious, for example because there are 'titles' to the psalms (not used for liturgical purposes).

But the split of a number of psalms differs between the 'Hebrew Bible' (Maseoretic Text manuscript tradition) which forms the basis of many modern translations (and protestant Bibles), and the Greek Septuagint (the translation made a few centuries before Christ).  In some cases the Septuagint provides different titles as well, possibly reflecting different manuscript traditions.

The 'Vulgate' of the traditional psalter basically follows the Septuagint, but most modern Bibles follow the Hebrew Bible, hence the differences in numbering.


There has been debate on which tradition is better going back to the time of St Jerome when he made his series of translations into Latin (St Jerome preferred the Hebrew base texts, but made several versions including from the Greek; St Augustine preferred the Greek).  For centuries the Church stuck with the Greek as its base text for the psalms, partly because of its Greek liturgical tradition in the Church, and partly because of the heavy use of the Septuagint by the NT writers (and the book of psalms is the most quoted of Old Testament books in the New).

The neo-Vulgate now used as the official base text for translations into the vernacular however, has adopted the Hebrew psalm numbering system, presumably for ecumenical reasons.


Aligning psalm numbers

The way it works is as follows:

Psalms numbers 1-8 and 148-150 are the same in both systems.

Vulgate 9, 10 = Hebrew 9

Vulgate 113 = Hebrew 114, 115

Vulgate 146, 147 = Hebrew 147

So for Vulgate psalms 10 – 112, add one number to get Hebrew number (ie 11-113)

So for Vulgate psalms 116-145, add one to get Hebrew number.

Verse references

Note that verse references too vary between versions - the Vulgate of the psalter has been divided up into readily singable lines, but this sometimes cuts across the natural flow of the verses, used in Bible versions intended for other purposes.

Commemoration of All Hallows Eve

Today used to be the Vigil of All Saints (aka Halloween), a night when traditionally the veil between Earth and purgatory thinned, the dead could come back to request prayers, and devils could appear to remind us of the reality of hell.  These days we are all a bit too PC for that!

And liturgically this year, All Saints doesn't even get a First Vespers, displaced by the Feast of Christ the King.  

It is however commemorated at Vespers of Sunday, so I thought a reminder on how to do that might be in order.

So after you have said the collect for the feast in the concluding prayers of Vespers, say the Magnificat antiphon, versicle and collect that would otherwise have been said at I Vespers of All Saints, that is:

• Angeli, archangeli/O ye angels...from MD [330];
• Laetamini in Domino/Be glad in the Lord... MD [330]; and
• Omnipotens sempiterne Deus/Almighty.....MD [331]

Saying the Office of the Dead

We are rapidly coming up to the month of November, traditionally a month when we especially remember and pray for the dead. 

And in the Church's hierarchy of prayer, liturgical prayer takes precedence, so I'd like to encourage my readers to consider saying the Office of the Dead for their family, friends and others, either in substitution for or in addition to their normal Office or other prayers.  Indeed, by doing so you can also gain a partial indulgence for yourself (or apply it to the souls in purgatory).

The nature of the Office of the Dead

The traditional Office of the Dead is a votive liturgical Office consisting of I Vespers, Matins and Lauds.  The texts can be found in the Monastic Diurnal or online here (the monastic and Roman versions are essentially identical).

The Office has a stark beauty: all of the usual opening and closing prayers are stripped out; each psalm ends with 'Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis' instead of the normal Gloria Patri; and the readings at Matins are from the Book of Job.

Instead of the standard Office?

Traditionally in a monastery the Office of the Dead was said at least once a month, but it was in addition to, not in substitution for the normal Office.  I've seen it claimed elsewhere that the traditional Office for the Dead can't be said by itself, but I would strongly dispute that view (save possibly for those bound to say the Office, but see below on that):

• on at least two occasions a year, namely All Souls and All Souls of the Benedictine Order the Office of the Dead is said instead of the normal Office under the traditional rubrics, so it clearly can be said separately to the standard Office;
• the other common votive liturgical Office, the Little Office of Our Lady, was similarly often said by priests and religious in the past.  Like the Office of the Dead, saying it did not displace the obligation of those bound to say the normal Roman or Benedictine Office, but was said in addition to it.  But those not bound to say the Office, such as laymen and women, could and did say the Little Office of Our Lady separately from the standard Office.   So why not the Office of the Dead?
• under modern liturgical law, the relevant hours of the Office of the Dead can be substituted for the standard Office.  Arguably, just as those bound to say the modern Office could in theory use the traditional Office but say fewer hours of it in line with modern church law, so too can we apply this provision to the traditional Office of the Dead.

Gueranger's Manual for Oblates - Part II: Chapter One

I previously posted the introduction to this Manual by Dom Gueranger, and translated into English by an anonymous secular priest.  Here now some of Chapter One, with my headings etc:

Chapter One: The nature of Oblation and the liturgical practices an oblate should adopt

"Since our Lord Jesus Christ imparts to His Faithful, by means of His Church, all the graces which He has merited by His Incarnation and Redemption, Christians ought to have nothing more at heart than to remain united to this Holy Church, which, being the Spouse of Our Saviour, is, at the same time, their Mother.

In order to increase their confidence in her, and to revive the sense of union with her which ought to be abidingly theirs, a pious Association has been formed, of persons whose aim it is to acknowledge the benefits which God confers upon us through His Church, and to cling most closely to her, in order to be more and more intimately united to her Divine Spouse.

To the members of this Association it will be evident that, the closer they keep themselves to the Mother Our Lord has given them, the safer they will be, and the more meritorious will be their works.

To this Holy Church their mind and heart will be in entire submission: always ready to accept, as matter of faith, all things that she has taught to be so, all that she teaches or will teach to be so, until the end of time.

This disposition of submission and love in regard to Holy Church will prompt them to unite with her in all works having God’s worship for their object - works which, at the same time, promote God’s glory and their own sanctification and merit.

The sacraments

The seven Sacraments whose guardianship and administration Our Lord, ere He ascended into Heaven, entrusted to His Church, will be regarded by them with the utmost reverence; and they will beware of ever confounding these operative signs of grace, instituted by Our Saviour, with any other work, resulting from the personal holiness of any created being.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the same as that of the Cross, they will esteem to be the highest means of paying honour to God, of rendering thanks to Him, of appeasing His anger, and of obtaining His aid.

As to Holy Communion, they will never isolate it in their respect and love from the oblation itself, of the Holy Sacrifice, whereby we are put in possession of this priceless treasure; they will receive it frequently, with a thankful and loving adoration, according to the intention of its Divine institutor.

Devotions

Impregnated with the teaching and practice of the Catholic Church, they will not fail to manifest a deep and tender devotion to the most holy and Immaculate Mother of God, the holy Angels, and the Saints honoured by the Church’s cultus: and, as true Catholics, they will in nowise seek to hide their veneration for sacred relics, paintings, and images, nor their esteem for pious and devout pilgrimages.

Unity with Peter

The Holy Church being, for all the Faithful, the Mother apart from whom they could not have God for their Father, they will be careful to imbue themselves with her spirit, and to be in all things of one mind with her. Hence, seeing that she is built upon Peter, the Rock whereon she was founded by her Divine Head, they will honour the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, as the Infallible Vicar of Christ upon earth, Doctor and Pastor of the whole Church of God, the divinely-appointed source of spiritual authority and of the power of the keys. For their lawful Bishop they will have the respect and submission due to the higher members of the sacred Hierarchy; they will regard as a work most pleasing to God, to aid in giving to His Church ministers who are able teachers of her doctrine, zealous for the Kingdom of Christ, and for the sanctification of souls.”

Respect for religious vows

[At this place in the manuscript the venerable Abbot of Solesmes had written, as a note for further development, “Estime de l’Etat Religieux.” The following paragraph has therefore been supplied from other of his writings.]

[The same spirit of faith will inspire them with a great respect for vows, which add new merit to a Christian’s actions. For this reason, the religious state, which is constituted by the three vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience, and finds its most complete and most ancient form and expression in the Monastic Order, will be regarded by them with especial veneration.

Moreover, with the Church, they will esteem and love, in each one of the other Religious Orders, the end for which it has been approved by the Holy See, and the good which it has already done, or which it is called upon to do.]

Christian life

Let them greatly prize their noble name of CHRISTIANS, formed from that of Christ their King, Son of God and Son of Man in unity of Person. They will glory in their surname of CATHOLICS, which distinguishes them from those who, though they may have received Baptism, have ceased to belong to the one divinely appointed Christian society of the Faithful. They will attach great value to the signs of the Catholic faith, upon which the Church has shed the benediction of which she holds the source. The holy oils, holy water, the blessed tapers of Candlemas Day, the blessed branches of Palm Sunday - all these and such like things they will hold in esteem: as regard devotions and objects of veneration, they will always prefer those which are, as it were, stamped with the Church’s seal, and bear the impress of the heavenly power she has received and which she exercises.

They will take an interest in the Feasts of the Church, in the ceremonies she employs, and even in the rubrics she observes. Every week they will ascertain under the protection of what Saint each of its days is placed. The Liturgical Calendar, with which, in the ages of faith, our forefathers were so familiar; the lives of the Saints themselves, the attributes with which the Church has from ancient times approved that they should be represented, shall be known to them; and should they have any influence on the education of the young, they will take pleasure in inculcating in their youthful charges the pious tendencies which were popular in the ages of faith.

Pious practices habitual among the Faithful will be dear to them in proportion to their having obtained the approbation of the Apostolic See; and they will have a particular confidence in indulgences, of which the use has been declared good and salutary to Christian people by the Council of Trent."

You can find the next part in this series here.

History of the Roman Office

The New Liturgical Movement website has just published the latest in its excellent series on the history of the Roman Office since 1568 by Gregory di Peppio.

Not all of the changes made were adopted in the Benedictine Office (fortunately) but many were.  In any case, it is excellent reading for anyone interested in the Office.

You can find a list of the parts in the series so far, and links to supporting material here.

Dom Gueranger on Oblates - Part I

I recently came across a Manual for Oblates written by Dom Gueranger, the founder of the Monastery of Solesmes in the nineteenth century, so I thought I'd put up some extracts from it.  It was translated into English and published by Burns and Oates.

Today, the introduction by 'a secular priest'.  The headings are mine.

The value of associations

"This is pre-eminently an age in which the principle of association and co-operation is thoroughly appreciated in all that concerns civil life and secular affairs. Throughout the world we see on all sides the rapid rise and growth of industrial, political, and literary societies... As we know, also, only too well, this is an age that has felt the power of association, not only in its beneficial and useful effects, but also in the working of evil and the spread of error...

But social perfection, or the highest form of association, is only possible in the Catholic Church through the means of the Communion of Saints, by which we participate in the life of the Mystical Body of Christ, and are made “fellow-citizens of the Saints and domestics of God, built up on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, JESUS CHRIST Himself being the chief corner-stone.”...

The object of the little work to the English translation of which these few words serve as an introduction, is to set before the Faithful a practical and, at the same time, a most ancient and well-established means of consciously and intelligently entering into and participating in the spiritual life of the Church.

The means proposed is no other than that of aggregation to the Monastic Order by the reception of the Benedictine scapular. This time honoured religious custom takes its rise and has its origin in the very cradle of the Monastic life of the West; for we find that St. Benedict himself admitted Tertullus, the father of St. Placid, to a participation in the prayers and good works of his Order; and that King Theoderet desired the same favour from St. Maurus. As early as the eighth century we find traces of this practice throughout Europe; and in the eleventh century it had become so common that whole villages might be found whose inhabitants were all aggregated to one of the great Monasteries, and even, sometimes, leading a life resembling that of the first Christians, as described in the Acts of the Apostles.

History of oblates

Persons thus aggregated to the Monastic Order were known as Oblates of St. Benedict - a name recognised by the Canon law of the Church. In the thirteenth century there sprang up the Third Order of St. Dominic and St. Francis, especially intended for persons living in the world, but constituting in themselves distinct Orders, as their name implies, with a distinct rule different from that of the First and Second Orders: whereas, amongst the Benedictines there is no Third Order, inasmuch as there is no Second; and those persons invested with the Benedictine scapular are simply aggregated to the Monastic Order of the Patriarch of the Monks of the West.

The custom, therefore, of investing persons living in the world, whether ecclesiastics or Laity, with the scapular of a monk, took its rise in the Order of St. Benedict; and the special Confraternities of the Scapulars of other Religious Orders of more recent date are but an extension of this ancient practice...

Purpose of monasticism

The chief end of the monastic institute is prayer, the prayer of the Church, which St. Benedict has called in his rule “Opus Dei,” “the work of God.” Everything else in the monk’s life must be subservient to prayer; nothing is to be preferred before it. “Opus Dei nihil praeponatur” - “Let nothing be preferred to the work of God,” writes the Saint in his rule. Prayer is the keynote, the touchstone, and the very essence of this life; and its whole spirit might be summed up in the words of the Canticle of Ezechias: “Psalmos Nostros cantabimus cunctis diebus vitae Nostrae in domo Domini” - “ We will sing our psalms all the days of our lives in the house of the Lord.”

“Wherever men believe in prayer,” wrote Father Dalgairns, in his essay on “The Spiritual Life of Mediaeval England,” “you are sure to have the monastic life in some shape or other. If they have none, they will soon cease to believe in prayer, as is fast becoming the case in all Protestant countries. Wherever the Christian idea is strong, men who are by their position necessarily involved in the strife of the world, will be glad to know that men and women who are separated from its turmoils and its sins are offering prayers to God for them.”

A real appreciation of the value of prayer is surely a need of the present age, when a veiled Pelagianism seems to have invaded the minds of so many Christians, making them trust too much to human means and natural activity, and not enough to the help that comes from God. The spirit of the age is opposed to the supernatural, and tends to exalt and make much of the natural aspects of Christianity...

Monasticism in the English tradition

For the Anglo-Saxon race, Christianity is coeval with Monasticism and the Benedictine life. The Benedictine Order has a special historical claim upon the affections and gratitude of the English people. St. Gregory the Great, the Apostle of England, was a Benedictine monk, and the first Archbishop of Canterbury was the Prior of the Benedictine Monastery of St. Andrew, founded by St. Gregory in his own paternal home, called in after times the Church of SS. Andrew and Gregory on the Coelian Hill.

The first companions of St. Augustine of Canterbury, who became the first English bishops, were all monks from that Roman Monastery; so that the great English Church was not only, in the first instance, an “Italian Mission” sent by an Italian Pope, but a Benedictine Mission also sent by a Benedictine Pope.

Moreover, in no other country, perhaps, has the monastic life entered into the Hierarchical life of the Church so completely as it did in England, from the first introduction of Christianity to the overthrow of the true religion in the land under Henry VIII. and Elizabeth. All the Cathedral Chapters (save five served by secular clergy, and one by Augustinian Canons) were composed of Benedictine monks, to whom the Bishop stood in place of Abbot, there being a Cathedral Prior to rule the Monastery attached to the Cathedral.

All the Archbishops of Canterbury were professed monks except three, of whom one was the glorious Martyr to the liberties of the Church - St. Thomas a Beckett, the patron Saint of the English secular clergy who, though not a professed monk, was aggregated to the Order on his nomination to the See of Canterbury, and who always wore the Benedictine habit, which was found on his dead body under his Archiepiscopal vestments, after the scene of his martyrdom in the Chapel of St. Benedict in Canterbury Cathedral.

Monasticism as the bulwark of the Church

The monasteries have ever been the citadels and strongholds of the Christian life, as well as the cities of refuge for the people of God in Christian times. The names of the great saviours of the Christian Commonwealth during the Early and Middle Ages are the names of monks, such as St. Gregory the Great, St. Gregory VII. (better known as Hildebrand), St. Peter Damian, and that host of illustrious Saints, the list of whose names alone would fill a page. It was the corruption of worldly society that gave rise to the monastic life, and led great Saints like St. Benedict to fly for protection and safety in the first instance to the monasteries as to “the mountains whence help cometh.”

It is for the same reason that the Institute of the Oblates of St. Benedict is proposed to the Faithful living in the world, as an antidote to the evil communications of the world, with their lowering and corrupting influences, and as a powerful means by which the tone and atmosphere of the Gospel of Jesus Christ may be diffused, and make itself felt in our lives. It is, in fact, a practical way of helping ourselves anew to that “salt of the earth” which constitutes the main social characteristic and distinction of the Christian life."

You can find Part II in this series here.

Collect for the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost

Fr Zulsdorf's usual interesting and helpful analysis of this week's collect is available over at his blog.  Fr Z argues that the collect probably dates from the time of St Leo the Great (pope from 440-461).

Some extracts:

"...There is a marvelous clausula at the end, a standard rhythmic ending much favored in classical oratory to delight the ear of listeners and add power to periodic sentences: efficáciter cónsequámúr. Say it aloud, with attention to force and length of the syllables. I also like the nice synchesis (ABAB) structure, fideliter petimus, efficaciter consequamur (adverb verb adverb verb). There is a good example of hyperbaton, the separation of linked elements, in piis Ecclesiae tuae precibus, where piis and precibus, datives, go together. Also interesting is how two imperatives bracket the central section: adesto … praesta.


All these little elements show how finely sculpted this prayer is, how different it is from the way people would have spoken in every day discourse in the streets and homes of ancient Rome and elsewhere. There may have been a shift in the ancient Roman Church from Greek to Latin for liturgical prayer, but that Latin was not the vernacular, the commonly spoken language of the day. It was highly stylized and many of the words were actually images from Scripture or terms from Stoic and Neoplatonic philosophy.


As we have explained many times, pietas, when applied to man, is "dutifulness" and when used of God is "mercy" though retaining overtones of His fidelity to His own promises. The crammed Lewis & Short Dictionary has a lengthy entry for auctor, to be brief let's call it "creator" or "cause" or "author". Auctor appears fairly often in our Roman prayers, paired up with terms such as saeculi as in "creator of the cosmos", and omnium ("of all things"), lucis ("of light"), pacis ("of peace"), salutis ("of salvation"), vitae ("of life"). Today it is with pietatis...


We find it first of all in the Vulgate of Psalm 45: "Our God is our refuge and strength: (Deus noster refugium et virtus) a helper in troubles, which have found us exceedingly." This type of invocation of God is common in the Psalms, and therefore our earliest prayers for Mass. Very ancient Roman Collects often follow the Hebrew manner of first invoking God by some characteristic and then petitioning Him in light of that title....


LITERAL TRANSLATION:


O God, our refuge and strength:
be present to the devout prayers of Your Church,
O author of godliness, and grant:
that, we may efficaciously attain what we faithfully seek..."

Do go read the whole piece.

SS Maurus and Placid OSB: October 5

SS Maurus and Placid were both offered to St Benedict as child oblates, to be brought up in monastic life, at the same time.  St Gregory's Life describes a number of incidents relating to them both:

 Ch3 : SS Maurus and Placid are brought to the monastery, Maurus old enough to be St Benedict’s assistant, but Placid still very young.


 Ch 4: St Maurus sees the demon plaguing a monk of one of St Benedict’s monasteries, although the superior of the community cannot;

 Ch 5: St Benedict finds a miraculous spring of water for the monastery after a night in prayer with the boy Placid

 Ch 6: St Maurus retrieves a lost tool from the bottom of the lake;

 Ch 7: how St Maurus walked on water (pictured above);

 Ch 8: St Benedict rebukes St Maurus for rejoicing at the death of a priest enemy of St Benedict who had died.

St Maurus in particular was an extremely popular saint in the middle ages, but, like so much of the Church's tradition, he has fallen a victim of the search for the 'real historical' saint, as well as the vexed debate over the early spread of the Rule of St Benedict.

Traditionally, St Maurus was thought to have founded the monastery of Glanfeuil Abbey in France, which certainly fits with the known early spread of the Rule to that country; St Placid was traditionally believed to have been martyred.

October 2: Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels

The concept of guardian angels being assigned to guard people, countries and more has clear roots in the Old Testament.  Psalm 90, for example, said daily in the Benedictine Office at Compline, says: "No evil shall befall you, nor shall affliction come near your tent, for to His Angels God has given command about you, that they guard you in all your ways. Upon their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone."


But there are three key New Testament texts that provide the basis for much of the Catholic teaching on the subject, namely:

• Matthew 18:10, Jesus says of children: "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven" 
• Hebrews 1:14 when speaking of angels, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?"
• Acts 12:12-15, in reference to St Peter being escorted out of prison by his angel.

The Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels entered the general calendar in the seventeenth century.

Fourth Saturday and Sunday of September: the Book of Judith

At Matins this Sunday the readings start the book of Judith, one of the deutero-canonical books that have always been part of the Catholic tradition, but were rejected by protestants because they were excluded from the Jewish canon towards the end of the first century AD (along with a number of other books probably excluded because they supported the claims of Christianity too strongly).  Yet the historicity and canonicity of the Book of Judith in early Christianity was never disputed: a quote from it can be found as early as the 1st century AD First Epistle of Clement.


The Wikipedia summarises the book thus:

"The story revolves around Judith, a daring and beautiful widow, who is upset with her Jewish countrymen for not trusting God to deliver them from their foreign conquerors. She goes with her loyal maid to the camp of the enemy general, Holofernes, with whom she slowly ingratiates herself, promising him information on the Israelites. Gaining his trust, she is allowed access to his tent one night as he lies in a drunken stupor. She decapitates him, then takes his head back to her fearful countrymen. The Assyrians, having lost their leader, disperse, and Israel is saved. Though she is courted by many, she remains unmarried for the rest of her life."

For Catholics, Judith can be seen as a type of Our Lady, hence the Magnificat antiphon for Saturday (I Vespers of Sunday) this week says:

" O Adonai, Lord God, great and wonderful, who didst give salvation by the hand of a woman: hear the prayers of Thy servants."

Ember Days

This week the traditional liturgy features the September Ember Days on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.  Ember Days broadly mark the changing of the seasons, and are traditionally days of fast and abstinence "to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy".

The masses for these days are more elaborate than the usual, especially on Saturday, where there are several readings.  In the Office, there is a collect for each Ember Day, which is traditionally said kneeling.

The Golden Legend instructs us on the reasons for Ember Days:

"The fasting of the Quatretemps, called in English Ember days, the Pope Calixtus ordained them. And this fast is kept four times in the year, and for divers reasons.

For the first time, which is in March, is hot and moist. The second, in summer, is hot and dry. The third, in harvest, is cold and dry. The fourth in winter is cold and moist. Then let us fast in March which is printemps for to repress the heat of the flesh boiling, and to quench luxury or to temper it. In summer we ought to fast to the end that we chastise the burning and ardour of avarice. In harvest for to repress the drought of pride, and in winter for to chastise the coldness of untruth and of malice.

The second reason why we fast four times; for these fastings here begin in March in the first week of the Lent, to the end that vices wax dry in us, for they may not all be quenched; or because that we cast them away, and the boughs and herbs of virtues may grow in us. And in summer also, in the Whitsun week, for then cometh the Holy Ghost, and therefore we ought to be fervent and esprised in the love of the Holy Ghost. They be fasted also in September tofore Michaelmas, and these be the third fastings, because that in this time the fruits be gathered and we should render to God the fruits of good works. In December they be also, and they be the fourth fastings, and in this time the herbs die, and we ought to be mortified to the world.

The third reason is for to ensue the Jews. For the Jews fasted four times in the year, that is to wit, tofore Easter, tofore Whitsunside, tofore the setting of the tabernacle in the temple in September, and tofore the dedication of the temple in December.

The fourth reason is because the man is composed of four elements touching the body, and of three virtues or powers in his soul: that is to wit, the understanding, the will, and the mind. To this then that this fasting may attemper in us four times in the year, at each time we fast three days, to the end that the number of four may be reported to the body, and the number of three to the soul. These be the reasons of Master Beleth.

The fifth reason, as saith John Damascenus: in March and in printemps the blood groweth and augmenteth, and in summer coler, in September melancholy, and in winter phlegm. Then we fast in March for to attemper and depress the blood of concupiscence disordinate, for sanguine of his nature is full of fleshly concupiscence. In summer we fast because that coler should be lessened and refrained, of which cometh wrath. And then is he full naturally of ire. In harvest we fast for to refrain melancholy. The melancholious man naturally is cold, covetous and heavy. In winter we fast for to daunt and to make feeble the phlegm of lightness and forgetting, for such is he that is phlegmatic.

The sixth reason is for the printemps is likened to the air, the summer to fire, harvest to the earth, and the winter to water. Then we fast in March to the end that the air of pride be attempered to us. In summer the fire of concupiscence and of avarice. In September the earth of coldness and of the darkness of ignorance. In winter the water of lightness and inconstancy.

The seventh reason is because that March is reported to infancy, summer to youth, September to steadfast age and virtuous, and winter to ancienty or old age. We fast then in March that we may be in the infancy of innocency. In summer for to be young by virtue and constancy. In harvest that we may be ripe by attemperance. In winter that we may be ancient and old by prudence and honest life, or at least that we may be satisfied to God of that which in these four seasons we have offended him.

The eighth reason is of Master William of Auxerre. We fast, saith he, in these four times of the year to the end that we make amends for all that we have failed in all these four times, and they be done in three days each time, to the end that we satisfy in one day that which we have failed in a month; and that which is the fourth day, that is Wednesday, is the day in which our Lord was betrayed of Judas; and the Friday because our Lord was crucified; and the Saturday because he lay in the sepulchre, and the apostles were sore of heart and in great sorrow. "

11 September: SS Protus and Hyacinth, Martyrs, Memorial

Butler's Lives of the Saints offers this on these two early martyrs:

"THE SAINTS whose victory the church commemorates on this day are honoured among the most illustrious martyrs that ennobled Rome with their blood, when the emperors of the world attempted, with the whole weight of their power, to crush the little flock of Christ.

Their epitaph, among the works of Pope Damasus, calls them brothers, and informs us that Hyacinthus sustained the first conflict, but that Protus obtained his crown before him....Their martyrdom, and that of Eugenia, is placed in these acts under Valerian, in 257....

What words can we find sufficiently to extol the heroic virtue and invincible fortitude of the martyrs! They stood out against the fury of those tyrants whose arms had subdued the most distant nations; to whose yoke almost the whole known world was subject, and whose power both kings and people revered. They, standing alone, without any preparation of war, appeared undaunted in the presence of those proud conquerors, who seemed to think that the very earth ought to bend under their feet. Armed with virtue and divine grace, they were an over-match for all the powers of the world and hell; they fought with wild beasts, fires, and swords; with intrepidity and wonderful cheerfulness they braved the most cruel torments, and by humility, patience, meekness, and constancy, baffled all enemies, and triumphed over men and devils. How glorious was the victory of such an invincible virtue! Having before our eyes the examples of so many holy saints, are we yet so dastardly as to shrink under temptations, or to lose patience under the most ordinary trials?"

The Catholic Encyclopedia adds that the grave of St. Hyacinth was found undisturbed in 1845, in a crypt of the above- mentioned catacomb. "It was a small square niche in which lay the ashes and pieces of burned bone wrapped in the remains of costly stuffs.  Evidently the saint had been burnt; most probably both martyrs had suffered death by fire. The niche was closed by a marble slab similar to that used to close a loculus, and bearing the original Latin inscription that confirmed the date in the old Roman Martyrology."

When noon really is noon...

One of the things I like about the traditional Office compared to the new is the constant reminder of nature's cycles - the four Ember Days around the change of the seasons (the Spring one is coming up soon), the differences between the winter and summer Benedictine Office, and the reminders of the time of day in many of the hymns for example.

Awareness of these changing cycles is one of the things we tend to lose in the modern world where most people spend 90% of their day inside, so it is nice to get the occasional prompt to look out the window!

Of course these days, monasteries don't really adjust the start time of Lauds each day to coincide with first light as St Benedict instructs in his Rule: to do so would be utterly impractical.  In late antiquity and the medieval period the day and night were divided into twelve equal hours based on the length of the solar day - so a day 'hour' was longer in summer, shorter in winter.  Today of course, the length of an hour these days is fixed regardless of the time of sunrise and sunset.

Still, if you do have some flexibility in your day, it is nice to be able to adjust the time you say your prayers a little to take note of the shifting seasons.

Right now where I live 'solar noon' actually coincides with actual noon for a few days, giving extra meaning to that phrase about the noonday heat (Et ignibus meridiem) in the hymn for Sext.  And in a few weeks, the length of the day will actually be exactly twelve hours, so the old Roman hour will equal the length of our modern ones - so if one said Prime an hour after sunrise, it really will be the same length of hour as those medieval monks used (well for a day or two anyway!).

For us moderns used to rising at a fixed hour each day, the idea of adjusting everything to the length of the light is hard to imagine.

But if you want to either work out such a schedule for yourself, or at least say the hours at the official times for those few days of the year when the two time systems align, take a look at the schedule of solar noon in time and date.com.

Saturday 4 September I Vespers/Sunday 5 September

The Magnificat antiphon at I Vespers refers to the book of Job: chapter 1:1-11 is read at Matins.

The Benedictus and Magnificat antiphons for Sunday refer to the Gospel, Luke 7:11-16, the raising of the son of the widow of Naim.

Quick Reference Sheet for the Traditional Benedictine Office - Saturday

Summary notes for use in conjunction with the 'How to Say the Office' series - page references are to the psalter section of the Farnborough Monastic Diurnal.

THE OFFICE FOR SATURDAY OF OUR LADY (CLASS IV SATURDAYS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR) (see below for Class III feasts and above)

Saturday Lauds

• Opening prayers and Psalm 66 as for Monday, MD 58-59;
• Then go to MD 133; use festal canticle (MD 138);
• Chapter, responsory, hymn, versicle and Benedictus antiphon for Our Lady from MD (130) for throughout the year, or as per the season;
• Benedictus from the card, or MD 73;
• Concluding prayers as for Monday, MD 75;
• Collect for Our Lady on Saturday (MD (131) or as per season), see Ordo; if there is a commemoration (memorial), the relevant texts are said immediately after the collect of the day.

Saturday Prime

• Opening prayer and hymn, MD 1-2;
• Antiphon (before and after psalms) for Our Lady on Saturday (MD (131) or for the season);
• Psalms MD 32-37;
• Chapter, versicle and concluding prayers MD 7-9.
Saturday Terce

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Nunc Sancte MD 183;
• Starts MD 183 (opening prayer as per MD 1);
• Antiphon of Our Lady on Saturday (MD (132) or for the season);
• Psalms MD 184-186;
• Chapter and versicle of Our Lady on Saturday (MD (132) or season);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of Office of Our Lady on Saturday.
Saturday Sext

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Rector potens MD 190;
• Antiphon of Our Lady on Saturday (MD (132) or season);
• Psalms MD 191-193;
• Chapter and versicle of Our Lady on Saturday (MD (132) or season);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of Our Lady on Saturday.

Saturday None

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Rerum Deus, MD 196-7;
• Antiphon (said before and after psalms) of Our Lady on Saturday (MD (132) or as per season);
• Psalms MD 198-199;
• Chapter and versicle of Our Lady on Saturday (MD 132-133 or as per season);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of Our Lady on Saturday.

I Vespers of Sunday (Saturday Vespers) – Evening prayer

Note: on some Sundays and feasts, the antiphons, psalms, chapter, hymn etc may be specific to the feast – see Ordo.

• Starts MD 249;
• Antiphon for the Magnificat (MD 209) is particular to the day, for the correct page number see the Ordo;
• Magnificat MD 209-210 or from card;
• Concluding prayers MD 210 (from Kyrie) or MD 255-256;
• Collect of the following Sunday (or feast), see Ordo.

Saturday (and every day) Compline (before sleeping)

• Starts MD 257;
• Choose the Marian antiphon to conclude according to the season (throughout the year it is Salve Regina, MD 268).

SATURDAY ON CLASS III OR ABOVE FEASTS

Saturday Lauds

Note: On some feasts, the festal psalms (under Sunday in the psalter) may be used – see Ordo.

• Opening prayers and Psalm 66 as for Monday, MD 58-59;
• Then go to MD 133; use festal (MD 138) canticle;
• Antiphons, chapter, responsory, hymn, versicle and Benedictus antiphon from MD (130) for the feast, Common, day or season, as per Ordo;
• Benedictus from the card, or MD 73;
• Concluding prayers as for Monday, MD 75;
• Collect of the feast, see Ordo; if there is a commemoration (memorial), the relevant texts are said immediately after the collect of the day.

Saturday Prime

• Opening prayer and hymn, MD 1-2;
• Antiphon of the season (MD 31), day, or feast (see Ordo);
• Psalms MD 32-37;
• Chapter, versicle and concluding prayers MD 7-9.

Saturday Terce

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Nunc Sancte MD 183;
• Starts MD 183 (opening prayer as per MD 1);
• Select antiphon (said before and after psalms) for the season (MD 184), day or feast (see Ordo);
• Psalms MD 184-186;
• Chapter and versicle of season, MD 186ff, or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect for the day (see Ordo).

Saturday Sext

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Rector potens MD 190;
• Select antiphon for the season (MD 190-191), day or feast (see Ordo);
• Psalms MD 191-193;
• Chapter and versicle of season, MD 193ff, day or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect for the day (see Ordo).

Saturday None

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Rerum Deus, MD 196-7;
• Select antiphon (said before and after psalms) for the season (MD 197), day or feast (see Ordo);
• Psalms MD 198-199;
• Chapter and versicle of season (MD 200ff), day or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect for the day.

I Vespers of Sunday (Saturday Vespers) – Evening prayer
Note: Feasts, the psalms may be specific to the feast – see Ordo.

• Starts MD 249;
• Antiphon for the Magnificat (MD 209) is particular to the day, for the correct page number see the Ordo;
• Magnificat MD 209-210 or from card;
• Concluding prayers MD 210 (from Kyrie) or MD 255-256;
• Collect of the following Sunday (or feast), see Ordo.

Saturday (and every day) Compline (before sleeping)

• Starts MD 257;
• Choose the Marian antiphon to conclude according to the season (throughout the year it is Salve Regina, MD 268)

Friday 3 September: St Pius X, Pope and Confessor, 3rd class

Pope Pius X, whose feast we celebrate today, lived from 2 June 1835 to 20 August 1914, and was Pope from 1903 onwards.  He was the first pope since Pope Pius V to be canonized.

Pope St Piux X is much enamoured by traditionalists for his tough stance against modernism, promotion of traditional devotional practices and Gregorian chant, promotion of Thomism, and authored an excellent catechism. One of his most important reforms was to publish the first consolidated Code of Canon Law.

Some of his pastoral decisions however are of perhaps more debatable value: he reformed the Roman Breviary, taking it away from its previous alignment with the Benedictine; and encouraged First Communion before Confirmation, reversing the traditional order of reception of the sacraments.

A reluctant starter as Pope (the winner of the first result of the conclave was vetoed by the Emperor Franz Joseph), St Piux X had a strong Marian devotion, was considered by some to be too outspoken in his direct style and condemnations.

His charity was noteworthy: he filled the Apostolic Palace with refugees from the 1908 Messina earthquake; rejected any kind of favours for his family; his brother remained a postal clerk, his favourite nephew stayed on as village priest, and his three sisters lived together close to poverty in Rome; and often referred to his own humble origins, taking up the causes of poor people. "I was born poor, I have lived poor, and I wish to die poor."

Pope Benedict XVI gave a recent General Audience on his saintly predecessor, and its well worth a read.

Quick Reference Sheet for the Traditional Benedictine Office - Friday

Summary notes for use in conjunction with the 'How to Say the Office' series - page references are to the psalter section of the Farnborough Monastic Diurnal.

Friday Lauds

Note: on some feasts, the antiphons, chapter, hymn etc are specific to the feast and the festal psalms (under Sunday in the psalter) may be used – see Ordo.

• Opening prayers and Psalm 66 as for Monday, MD 58-59;
• Then go to MD 118;
• Select either the ferial (MD 123) or the festal (MD 126) canticle depending on season or class of day;
• Benedictus from the card, or MD 73;
• Concluding prayers as for Monday, MD 75;
• Collect of the previous Sunday or feast, see Ordo; if there is a commemoration (memorial), the relevant texts are said immediately after the collect of the day.

Friday Prime

• Opening prayer and hymn, MD 1-2;
• Antiphon (said before and after the psalms) of the season, MD 24, or see Ordo;
• Psalms MD 25-30;
• Chapter, versicle and concluding prayers MD 7-9.

Friday Terce

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Nunc Sancte MD 183;
• Select antiphon (said before and after psalms) for the season, MD 184, or feast (see Ordo);
• Psalms MD 184-186;
• Chapter and versicle of season, MDff, or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the week (from the Sunday) or day (see Ordo).

Friday Sext

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Rector potens MD 190;
• Select antiphon (said before and after psalms) for the season, MD 190-191, or feast (see Ordo);
• Psalms MD 191-193;
• Chapter and versicle of season, MDff, or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the week (from the Sunday) or day (see Ordo).

Friday None

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Rerum Deus, MD 196-7;
• Select antiphon (said before and after psalms) for the season, MD 197, or feast (see Ordo);
• Psalms MD 198-199;
• Chapter and versicle of season, MD 200ff, or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the week (from the Sunday) or day (see Ordo).

Friday Vespers

Note: on some feasts and seasons, the antiphons, psalms, chapter, hymn etc are specific to the day – see Ordo.

• Starts MD 243 (opening prayer as on MD 1);
• Antiphons for the season or day (see Ordo);
• Psalms MD 243-247;
• Magnificat MD 209-210;
• Concluding prayers MD 210-211 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the previous Sunday or feast, see Ordo.

Friday Compline

• Starts MD 256;
• Choose the Marian antiphon to conclude according to the season (throughout the year it is Salve Regina, MD 268).

Quick Reference Sheet for the Traditional Benedictine Office - Thursday

Summary notes for use in conjunction with the 'How to Say the Office' series - page references are to the psalter section of the Farnborough Monastic Diurnal.

Thursday Lauds (at first light)

Note: on some feasts, the antiphons, chapter, hymn etc are specific to the feast and the festal psalms (under Sunday in the psalter) may be used – see Ordo

• Opening prayers and Psalm 66 as for Monday, MD 58-59;
• Then go to MD 102;
• Select either the ferial (MD 108) or the festal (MD 109) canticle depending on season or class of day;
• Benedictus from the card, or MD 73;
• Concluding prayers as for Monday, MD 75;
• Collect of the previous Sunday or feast, see Ordo; if there is a commemoration (memorial), the relevant texts are said immediately after the collect of the day.

Thursday Prime (early morning)

• Opening prayer and hymn, MD 1-2;
• Antiphon (said before and after the psalms) of the season (MD 20-21) or see Ordo;
• Psalms MD 21-23;
• Chapter, versicle and concluding prayers MD 7-9.

Thursday Terce (mid-morning)

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Nunc Sancte MD 183;
• Select antiphon (said before and after psalms) for the season (MD 184) or feast (see Ordo);
• Psalms MD 184-186;
• Chapter and versicle of season (MD 186-189) or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the week (from the Sunday) or day (see Ordo).

Thursday Sext (noon)

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Rector potens MD 190;
• Select antiphon (said before and after psalms) for the season (MD 190-191) or feast (see Ordo);
• Psalms MD 191-193;
• Chapter and versicle of season (MD 193-196) or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the week (from the Sunday) or day (see Ordo).

Thursday None (mid-afternoon)

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Rerum Deus, MD 196-7;
• Select antiphon (said before and after psalms) for the season (MD 197) or feast (see Ordo);
• Psalms MD 198-199;
• Chapter and versicle of season, MD 200ff or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the week (from the Sunday) or day (see Ordo).

Thursday Vespers (early evening)

Note: on some feasts and seasons, the antiphons, psalms, chapter, hymn etc are specific to the day – see Ordo

• Starts MD 235 (opening prayer as on page 1);
• Antiphons for the season (MD 235) or day (see Ordo);
• Magnificat MD 209-210;
• Concluding prayers MD 210-11 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the Sunday (or feast) - see Ordo.

Compline (before retiring)

• Starts MD 257;
• Choose the Marian antiphon to conclude according to the season (throughout the year it is Salve Regina, MD 268).

Reading and reflecting on the Rule of St Benedict

In a monastery, a section from the Rule of St Benedict is traditionally read everyday at chapter - the short set of prayers after Prime.  The text has actually been divided into daily chunks to enable the requirement that novices hear the Rule in full three times in the course of a year to be fulfilled.  And today being September 1, the reading of the Rule of St Benedict starts again from the Prologue.

Reading a section of the Rule each day is a good spiritual practice for all interested in Benedictine spirituality (count it towards your spiritual reading for the day), and there are plenty of translations about. The best in book form, in my opinion, is still the one by Abbot Justin McCann (which you can buy with parallel Latin text).  But you can get a daily section of the Boyle translation delivered to your inbox through the official OSB website if that is more convenient.

If you want to dig a little into what the Rule means, you probably need to find a good commentary.  There are lots around.  But just how truly 'Benedictine', insightful or orthodox they are is a matter of debate - be wary!

An excellent starting point, recommended by most of the traditional monasteries (and many of the less traditional ones), is Dom Delatte's classic.  It is fairly detailed in places, but you can skim the parts that don't interest you, and focus in on the gems of spiritual wisdom!

In terms of contemporary commentaries available online, I would recommend that by Abbot Philip Lawrence of Christ in the Desert Monastery.

Quick Reference Sheet for Benedictine traditional Office - Wednesday

Summary notes for use as a supplement to the 'How to Say the Office' series - page references are to the psalter section of the Farnborough Monastic Diurnal.

Wednesday Lauds

Note: on some feasts, the antiphons, chapter, hymn etc are specific to the feast and the festal psalms (under Sunday in the psalter) may be used – see Ordo.

• Opening prayers and Psalm 66 as for Monday, MD 58-59;
• Then go to MD 89ff;
• Select either the ferial (MD 94) or the festal ( MD 96) canticle depending on season or class of day;
• Benedictus from the card, or MD 73;
• Concluding prayers as for Monday, MD 75;
• Collect of the previous Sunday or feast, see Ordo; if there is a commemoration (memorial), the relevant texts are said immediately after the collect of the day.

Wednesday Prime

• Opening prayer and hymn, MD 1-2;
• Antiphon (said before and after the psalms) of the season (MD 15), day or feast (see Ordo);
• Psalms MD 16-20;
• Chapter, versicle and concluding prayers MD 7-9.

Wednesday Terce

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Nunc Sancte MD 183;
• Select antiphon (said before and after psalms) for the season, MD 184, or feast (see Ordo);
• Psalms MD 184-186;
• Chapter and versicle of season, MD186ff, or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the week (from the Sunday) or day (see Ordo).

Wednesday Sext

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Rector potens MD 190;
• Select antiphon (said before and after psalms) for the season, MD 190-191, or feast (see Ordo);
• Psalms MD 191-193;
• Chapter and versicle of season, MD 193ff, or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the week (from the Sunday) or day (see Ordo).

Wednesday None

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Rerum Deus, MD 196-197;
• Select antiphon (said before and after psalms) for the season, MD 197, or feast (see Ordo);
• Psalms MD 198-199;
• Chapter and versicle of season, MD 200ff or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the week (from the Sunday) or day (see Ordo).

Wednesday Vespers

Note: on some feasts and seasons, the antiphons, psalms, chapter, hymn etc are specific to the day – see Ordo.

• Starts MD 226 (opening prayer as on MD 1);
• Antiphons for the season, MD 226, or day (see Ordo);
• Magnificat MD 209-210;
• Concluding prayers MD 210-211 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the Sunday (or feast) - see Ordo.

Compline

• Starts MD 257;
• Choose the Marian antiphon to conclude according to the season (throughout the year it is Salve Regina, page 268).

Quick reference sheet - Tuesday

Summary notes for use in conjunction with the 'How to Say the Office' series - page references are to the psalter section of the Farnborough Monastic Diurnal.

Tuesday Lauds

Note: on some feasts, the antiphons, chapter, hymn etc are specific to the feast and the festal psalms (under Sunday in the psalter) may be used – see Ordo

• Opening prayers and Psalm 66 as for Monday, MD 58-59;
• Then go to MD 76ff;
• Select either the ferial (MD 80) or the festal (MD 82) canticle depending on season or class of day;
• Benedictus from the card, or MD 73;
• Concluding prayers as for Monday, MD 75;
• Collect of the previous Sunday or feast, see Ordo; if there is a commemoration (memorial), the relevant texts are said immediately after the collect of the day.

Tuesday Prime

• Opening prayer and hymn, MD 1-2;
• Antiphon (said before and after psalms) of the season, MD 9; or day or feast (see Ordo);
• With psalms MD 10-15;
• Chapter, versicle and concluding prayers MD 7-9.

Tuesday (to Saturday) Terce

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Nunc Sancte MD 183;
• Select antiphon (said before and after psalms) for the season, MD 184, or feast (see Ordo); • Psalms MD 184-186;
• Chapter and versicle of season, MD 186ff or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the week (from the Sunday) or day (see Ordo).

Tuesday (to Saturday) Sext

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Rector potens MD 190;
• Select antiphon (said before and after psalms) for the season, MD 190-191, or feast (see Ordo);
• Psalms MD 191-193;
• Chapter and versicle of season, MD193ff, or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the week (from the Sunday) or day (see Ordo).

Tuesday (to Saturday) None

• Opening prayer (Deus…) as per MD 1;
• Hymn Rerum Deus, MD 196-197;
• Select antiphon (said before and after psalms) for the season, MD 197, or feast (see Ordo);
• Psalms MD 198-199;
• Chapter and versicle of season, MD 200ff or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the week (from the Sunday) or day (see Ordo).

Tuesday Vespers

Note: on some feasts and seasons, the antiphons, psalms, chapter, hymn etc are specific to the day – see Ordo.

• Starts MD 220 (opening prayer as on MD 1);
• Antiphons for the season or day (see ordo);
• Magnificat, MD 209-210;
• Concluding prayers MD 210-11 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the Sunday (or feast) - see Ordo.

Compline

• Starts MD 257;
• Choose the Marian antiphon to conclude according to the season (in time throughout the year it is Salve Regina, MD 268).

Quick reference card for the Benedictine Office - Monday

Summary notes for use in conjunction with the 'How to Say the Office' series - page references are to the psalter section of the Farnborough Monastic Diurnal.

Monday Matins

Not found in the Diurnal, refer to the Monastic Breviary.

Monday Lauds

Note: on some feasts, the antiphons, chapter, hymn etc are specific to the feast and the festal psalms (under Sunday in the psalter) may be used – if so the page reference will be provided in the Ordo.

• Starts MD 58;
• Select either the ferial (MD 65) or the festal (MD 66) canticle depending on season or class of day;
• Collect of the previous Sunday or feast, see Ordo; if there is a commemoration (memorial), the relevant texts are said immediately after the collect of the day.

Monday Prime

• Starts MD 1;
• Select antiphon for the season (MD 2-3) or feast (first antiphon of Lauds if not otherwise specified).

Monday Terce

• Starts MD 163 (as per full version, MD 1);
• Antiphons, chapter and versicle for the season (MD 163, 166ff) or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the week (from the Sunday) or day (see Ordo).

Monday Sext

• Starts MD 169 (as per full version page 1);
• Antiphons, chapter and versicle for the season (MD 170, 173ff) or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the week (from the Sunday) or day (see Ordo).

Monday None

• Starts MD 176 (as per full version MD 1);
• Antiphons, chapter and versicle for the season (MD177, 180ff) or feast (see Ordo);
• Closing prayers as at MD 154 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the week (from the Sunday) or day (see Ordo).

Monday Vespers

Note: on some feasts and seasons, the antiphons, psalms, chapter, hymn etc are specific to the day – if so the Ordo will provide a page reference.

• Starts MD 211 (opening prayer as on MD 1);
• Antiphons for the season (MD 212) or day (see Ordo);
• Text of the Magnificat MD 209-10;
• Concluding prayers MD 210-11 (from Kyrie);
• Collect of the Sunday (or feast) - see Ordo.

Monday Compline

• Starts MD 257;
• Choose the Marian antiphon to conclude according to the season; throughout the year it is Salve Regina, MD 268.