Lent Pt 2 - the rubrics for Passiontide week I

As noted in an earlier post on the rubrics for Lent, Lent in the Benedictine Office actually encompasses a number of quite diverse sets of rubrics:

• Ash Wednesday to first Vespers of the First Sunday of Lent, when the Office basically stays as if it were still Septuagesimatide;
• First Sunday of Lent up until first Vespers of First Passion Sunday - the rubrics of Lent;
• Passiontide (First Passion Sunday to Palm Sunday); and
• Holy Week (up until the Easter Vigil).

The notes here cover the Passiontide week I, that is, from First Passion Sunday to Palm Sunday.

 The Ordinary of the Office during Passiontide

The Ordinary of the ferial Office, used from the Monday after First Passion Sunday, in Lent is set out in the Farnborough edition of the Monastic Diurnal at MD 240*ff.

For those saying Matins (not in the Diurnal):

• the invitatory antiphon is for the season (Hodie si vocem Domini audieritis)
• the hymn is for the season of Lent and is the same each day (Pange lingua);
• the readings during the week are usually patristic sermons, relating to the Gospel of the Mass set for that day;
• the chapter verse for Nocturn II is for the season (Jer 11:18-19).

At Prime to None:

• the antiphons, chapters and versicles are of the season of Passiontide, and can be found in the psalter section;
• the collect for Terce to None is the same as for Lauds of that day;

At Lauds and Vespers:

• chapters, hymns, etc of the season replace those in the psalter section;
• the responsories omit the Gloria Patri, instead repeating the opening verse;
• the canticle antiphons are proper for each day. They generally reflect the (EF) Gospel for the day; and
• there is a specific collect for both Lauds and Vespers each day.

It is also important to be aware that when a feast displaces the Lent texts, a commemoration of the day is made at both Lauds and Vespers using the respective collects, canticle antiphon and versicle that occurs before the relevant canticle at that hour.