March 2023

 Notes on the Benedictine Office for March are set out below. 

 

MARCH 2023

Wednesday 1 March – Ember Wednesday of Lent, Class II [In Wales: St David, Class I, with a commemoration of the Ember Day] 

canticle antiphons and collects, MD 197*/AM 348. 

Thursday 2 March – Thursday in the first week of Lent, Class III

 canticle antiphons and collects of the day, MD 197-8*/AM 349-50. 

Friday 3 March – Ember Friday of Lent, Class II 

canticle antiphons and collects, MD 198-9*/AM 350-1. 

Saturday 4 March – Ember Saturday of Lent, Class II [EF: and St Casimir, Memorial] 

Benedictus antiphon and collect, MD 199*/AM 351; 1 Vespers of the Second Sunday of Lent, MD 199*/AM 351 ff. 

Sunday 5 March – Second Sunday of Lent, Class I

 MD 201*/AM 352 ff. 

Monday 6 March – Monday in the second week of Lent, Class III;SS Perpetua and Felicitas, Memorial [or Optional Class III] 

Ordinary of Lent, MD 190*/AM 338 ff; canticle antiphons and collect of the day, MD 206*/AM 355-6; for the commemoration at Lauds, MD [74]/AM 828. 

Tuesday 7 March – Tuesday in the second week of Lent, Class III; St Thomas Aquinas, Memorial [or Optional Class III] 

Canticle antiphons and collects, MD 206-7*/AM 356-7; for the commemoration at Lauds, MD [75]/AM 828-9. 

Wednesday 8 March – Wednesday in the second week of Lent, Class III [Gower: SS John of God and Camillus de Lellis, Memorial; EF: St John of God, Memorial] 

Canticle antiphons and collects, MD 207-8*/AM 357-8. 

Thursday 9 March – Thursday in the second week of Lent, Class III; St Frances of Rome, Memorial/Optional Class III 

Canticle antiphons and collects, MD 208-9*/AM 358-9; for the commemoration at Lauds, MD [75-6]/AM 830. 

Friday 10 March – Friday in the second week of Lent, Class III; The Forty Martyrs, Memorial 

Canticle antiphons and collects, MD 209-10*/AM 359-60; for the commemoration at Lauds, MD [83]/AM 835. 

Saturday 11 March – Saturday in the second week of Lent, Class III 

Matins to None: Ordinary of Lent; canticle antiphons and collects, MD 210*/360; 1 Vespers of the Third Sunday of Lent, MD 210*/AM 360 ff. 

Sunday 12 March – Third Sunday of Lent, Class I

 MD 212*/AM 361 ff. 

Monday 13 March – Monday in the third week of Lent, Class III

Ordinary of Lent, MD 190*/AM 338 ff; canticle antiphons and collects of the day, MD 217*/AM 366. 

Tuesday 14 March – Tuesday in the third week of Lent, Class III 

Ordinary of Lent; canticle antiphons and collects, MD 217-8*/AM 366-7. 

Wednesday 15 March – Wednesday in the third week of Lent, Class III 

Ordinary of Lent; canticle antiphons and collects, MD 218-9*/AM 367-8. 

Thursday 16 March – Thursday in the third week of Lent, Class III 

Ordinary of Lent; canticle antiphons and collects, MD 219-20*/AM 368-9. 

Friday 17 March – Friday in the third week of Lent, Class III [EF/Gower: St Patrick, Memorial; **In Australia and NZ; Ireland and many US dioceses: St Patrick, Class I] 

Ordinary of Lent; canticle antiphons and collects, MD 220*/AM 369-70. 

Saturday 18 March – Saturday in the third week of Lent, Class III; St Cyril, Memorial 

Canticle antiphons and collects, MD 220-1*/AM 370-1; for the commemoration at Lauds, MD [83]/AM 835; 1 Vespers of the Fourth Sunday of Lent, MD 221*/AM 371 ff.

 Sunday 19 March – Fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday), Class I

 MD 223*/AM 371 ff; at 2 Vespers, commemoration of St Joseph, MD [84]/AM 836 ff. 

Monday 20 March – St Joseph, Class I (transferred) 

MD [87]/AM 841 ff, with a commemoration of the Lent day at Lauds only, MD 227-8*/AM 376 and a commemoration of St Benedict at Vespers, MD [91]/AM 847 ff. 

Tuesday 21 March – St Benedict, Class I

 MD [94]/AM 851 ff with a commemoration of the Lent day at Lauds and Vespers, MD 228-9*/AM 377. 

Wednesday 22 March – Wednesday in the fourth week of Lent, Class III 

Ordinary of Lent; canticle antiphons and collects, MD 229-30*/AM 378-9. 

Thursday 23 March – Thursday in the fourth week of Lent, Class III 

Ordinary of Lent; canticle antiphons and collects, MD 230*/AM 379-80. 

Friday 24 March – Friday in the fourth week of Lent, Class III [EF/Gower: St Gabriel, Memorial/Optional Class III] 

Matins to None: Ordinary of Lent; canticle antiphons and collects, MD 230-1*/AM 380-1; 1 Vespers of the Annunciation, MD [100]/AM 858 ff with a commemoration of the Lent day, MD 230-1*/AM 380-1. 

Saturday 25 March – Annunciation of the BVM, Class I 

MD [102]/AM 861 ff; with a commemoration of the Lent day at Lauds, MD 231-2*/AM 381 and of Passion Sunday at Vespers, MD 232*/AM 387 ff.

 Sunday 26 March – (First) Passion Sunday, Class I 

MD 234*/AM 388 ff. 

Monday 27 March – Monday in (First) Passion Week, Class III; St John Damascene, Memorial 

Ordinary of Passiontide, MD 240*/AM 385 ff; canticle antiphons and collects of the day, MD 246-7*/AM 393; for the commemoration, MD [106-7]/AM 866.

 Tuesday 28 March – Tuesday in Passion Week, Class III [EF: St John of Capistran, Class III] 

Ordinary of Passiontide, MD 240*/AM 382 ff; canticle antiphons and collects, MD 247-8*/AM 394-5. 

Wednesday 29 March – Wednesday in Passion Week, Class III 

Ordinary of Passiontide, MD 240*/AM 382 ff; canticle antiphons and collects, MD 248-9*/AM 395-6. 

Thursday 30 March – Thursday in Passion Week, Class III 

Ordinary of Passiontide, MD 240*/AM 382 ff; canticle antiphons and collects, MD 249-50*/AM 396-7. 

Friday 31 March – Friday in Passion Week, Class III [EF: Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Memorial]

 Ordinary of Passiontide, MD 240*/AM 382 ff; canticle antiphons and collects, MD 250-2*/AM 397-8. 

Rubrics for Lent proper

Just a reminder that from Monday (following the First Sunday of Lent), the Ordinary is of Lent, and the necessary texts for it can be found in the 'of time' section of your Office book.

The Office in Lent

The key points to note are that:

• The antiphons, hymns (at Matins, Lauds and Vespers) and other texts on weekdays are those of the 'ordinary of Lent', to be found in the 'of time' section of Office books (MB 367/MD 190* ff);
• At Lauds and Vespers, the chapters, hymns, responsory and versicle of the Ordinary of Lent replace those in the psalter section, and the canticle antiphons are proper for each day;
• At Prime the antiphon is of Lent;
• At Terce to None the antiphon and chapter is of the season of Lent;
• Each day there are two sets of collects: the first for use from Matins to None; the second for Vespers; and
• When a feast displaces the Lent texts, a commemoration of the day is made at both Lauds and Vespers using the relevant canticle antiphon, versicle of the season and hour, and the collect of the hour of the Lent day.

Class III feasts during Lent: the pre-1962 option

Another key point to note is an important change made in the 1962 rubrics for the Roman breviary, namely reducing all Class III feasts in Lent to commemorations. This was, however, reversed on an optional basis in the decree Cum Sanctissima, at least for selected feasts.

In the Benedictine Office, this change seems to have been made much earlier (it is marked in the 1930 breviary), but it does mean we rarely if ever get to celebrate the feasts of some important saints.

Accordingly, in the Ordo I've given the instructions as per the 1962 rules (ie a commemoration at Lauds only, made by adding the Antiphon, versicle and collect of the feast after the collect of the day, and simply noted the option.

For those who would like to say the three relevant feasts as Class III this year (SS Perpetua and Felicity and St Thomas Aquinas, which both ranked as duplex, and arguably St Frances of Rome, previously a duplex, but reduced to a memorial in the Benedictine, but not Roman, calendar in the twentieth century), I will provide the rubrics later in the week.

Feast of St Gregory the Great

The other oddity this year is that becasue the feast of St Gregory the Great falls on a Sunday, under the 1962 rubrics, his feast is not marked at all in the Office this year.

Given the importance of the saint for Benedictines, this seems to me to be a bizzare outcome. Accordingly, one could reasonably, I think, consider adopting the pre-1962 practice of transferring the feast to the next available day, viz Monday March 13, and I have provided rubrics for this option.

Nocturnale Monasticum: Review

I noted a few days back that a new Nocturnale Monasticum has been released, so thought it might be useful to provide a short review of it.

What it is

The Nocturnale is a joint a joint project of Le Barroux and La Garde monasteries, and essentially provides the sections of the 1963 Monastic Breviary that relate to the Night Office (Matins).

There are two versions - Latin only (one volume), or Latin-French (three volumes).  I'm going to look at the Latin only volume here.

Is it for you?

Before I look at the book itself, let me just say a few things about who its target audience is.

This tome is a wonderful gift to monastic communities who use the 1962 Office and Mass, as well as those who want to say the full Benedictine Office in Latin, since the corresponding two volume breviary is long out of print, extremely difficult to get hold of, and very very expensive when you do find a copy.

For laypeople who use the breviary though, keep in mind that Benedictine Matins is extremely long (depending on the day and season, and whether you say or sing it, it can amount to around the same amount of time again as all the day hours combined, or even more).  So unless you have a lot of spare time, stick to the Diurnal!

Secondly, keep in mind also that it is entirely in Latin.  But if you really do want to tackle Matins, there are other resources around which could help support you using it, such as:

• the Latin-English  Matins Psalter published by Clear Creek; 
• English translations of many of the Patristic readings; and 
• Divinum Officium.
  

Thirdly, and most importantly from my perspective, this book is not, alas, the equivalent of the Antiphonale Monasticum, in that it provides the texts only (aside from an appendix with Te Deum, Te Decet Laus and final blessings).

Contents

The Nocturnale is divided into four sections: Ordinary, Temporale, Psalter, Commons, Sanctorale and Matins of the Dead.

The material is essentially identical to that contained in the 1963 breviary save for some (sensible) reordering of the material, and use of the calendar specific to the Le Barroux group of monasteries.

As Le Barroux includes all of the feasts of the Benedictine General Calendar, as well as quite a few Roman ones as well as some local feasts, the sanctorale is quite rich, including, for example, a few important feasts often now added back by monasteries such as the Most Holy Name of Jesus (Jan 2/Sunday between Circumcision and Epiphany), Finding of Holy Cross (3 May) and Most Precious Blood (1 July).

In a few cases it makes particular choices among options about feasts, but few will quibble with them: St Agnes, for example is Class II, although in the General Calendar it is listed as Class III for monasteries of men; and May 1 is the Solemnity of St Joseph rather than St Joseph the Worker!

Layout and presentation

The print size and layout of the text is, in my view, excellent.  The print size isn't quite as large as Psautier Monastique, but the difference is small, and the type face contrasts well with the yellow colour of the page, working well for my poor eyes!

There are also some sensible reorganisations of the material designed to reduce the number of page turns, such as providing a summary listing of all the Invitatories for days, seasons and Commons in the Ordinary upfront, including some of the texts for Our Lady on Saturday in the psalter section, and moving the canticles for throughout the year to the fromt of the Sunday Nocturn II section. 

Although there is no rubrics section, so you will need to work your way through the notes on the Learn Matins blog, and use an Ordo in conjunction with it, there are clear and useful rubrical prompts throughout.

Physical presentation

The book is well bound, and looks like it will stand up to being propped open on a stand well.

The pages look quite tough, so should stand up better than my poor rather battered breviary!

It is slightly larger than the Antiphonale Monasticum, measuring about 22cm*15cm*5.5cm, and comes in at 1236 pages (compared to around 1289).

But it is significantly heavier, at 1.5 kgs, so will be hard to hold for an hour or two through Matins.

I really hope they will consider printing the psalter section in a separate volume at some point in the near future, as I think as it stands, it would be more practical to use it for the readings only, and use a separate psalter book, which is a shame as the layout is very nice.

It doesn't contain any ribbons though.

A plea for English and the chants...

This is a great book, and a wonderful first step in supporting Matins.

But I really hope it is only the first stage in this project, and the next one will be to provide the chants for Matins.  

I realise most communities recto tono Matins, but its chant repertoire, particularly the responsories, is the richest in the Office, and they really deserve to be revived in my view.

Personally I have a collection of a lot of plastic folders, with cut and paste printouts of things such as the Ordinary chants mostly from Peter Sandhofe's draft Monastic Psalter, psalms downloaded from one of the online psalm pointing aps, and listings of books and page numbers for responsories. I  do hope a day will come when all this is available in a well edited equivalent of the Antiphonale!

And of course, for English speakers, a widely available Latin-English version of Matins would be nice... 

Where to buy...

You can purchase the book through the Le Barroux online bookshop

Rubrics for Ash Wednesday to Saturday before the First Sunday of Lent

I thought it might be timely to post a reminder that although  Ash Wednesday marks the official start of Lent, the Office continues to be said as during the season of Septuagesima, with the following modifications:

• there are Patristic readings at Matins; 

• there are canticle antiphons for Lauds as well as Vespers each day of the week; and

• two collects are provided for each day, the first used from Matins to None (omitting Prime), the second at Vespers only.

Getting ready for Lent!

 Lent is almost upon us, and so it is time to work out what penances you will be undertaking.

St Benedict, you will recall, set up a spiritual regime based on three main planks:

• fasting (chapter 41 of the Rule);
• spiritual reading (chapter 48); and
• extra prayers and austerity (chapter 49).

Can I suggest as part of this, that you consider engaging more deeply with the psalms as part of your Lenten practice?

The psalms as a key to the spiritual life

The book of Psalms is the Church's prayerbook, and the psalms have always played a key role in the spiritual life of the Church, in part because its contents cover prayers for virtually every occasion; in part because they teach a rich set of doctrines, constituting in effect a summary of all the rest of Scripture; and in part because they contain prophesies, both of what was to come in the New Testament, and of what is still to come.

For this reason, they are traditionally the very core of most forms of monastic life.    

Monks were traditionally expected to learn the psalter by heart, a process that often took several years.  

They then continued to engage with the psalms in several ways, such as:

• chanting selected psalms at each of the several 'hours' of the Office each day;
• use of individual verses associated with particular rituals, for example in blessings for meals;
• meditative recitation of some or all of the psalms (the psalter in order, or the Gradual or Penitential psalms for example); and
• lectio divina on the psalms.

Laypeople, of course, will not generally have the time or desire to do all that monks do. Still, engaging in some of these practices at least a little can, I think, be spiritually rewarding for everyone.

So if you don't say the Office at all or regularly, let me encourage you to up your game this Lent, and consider saying some of the psalms each day through Lent, committing to study them, or saying more of the Office than you usually would.

Some options to consider

If you already say some of the Office, perhaps you could say an additional hour?

Or perhaps commit to saying some or all of Psalm 118, the longest, but in my view, also the most beautiful of the Psalms; or perhaps the Penitential or Gradual Psalms?

An alternative is to consider is studying some of the psalms in more detail.  

If you usually say the Office in English, for example, you could decide to learn to say it in Latin for example, or read a good commentary on them such as that of St Augustine.

For those interested in getting a crib for the Latin as well as digging into the meaning of the psalms in more depth, I've previously done several Lenten series, looking at Psalms 118, the Gradual psalms, the Penitential Psalms, and the psalms of Tenebrae.  

This year I plan to resume my series of verse by verse notes on the psalms over at Psallam Domino Blog, looking at Psalms 139 and 140 (Thursday Vespers), so please do consider taking a look at that too.