May 2023

The Ordo notes for May for the Benedictine Office according to the 1962  monastic calendar and rubrics are set out below.

Note that you can obtain more detailed notes by purchasing the full Ordo from Lulu.

You can also find detailed instructions on how to say the Benedictine Office using the Monastic Diurnal published by St Michael's Abbey Press (or the Antiphonale Monasticum or Breviarium Monasticum) here.

The Office this month

Texts of the season

The season is currently Eastertide, and the Ordinary texts for the season are set out in the 'of time section of your Office book.  After the feast of the Ascension on May 18 the Ordinary changes to those for Ascensiontide.

May 1 and the feast of St Joseph

May 1 is designated as the feast of St Joseph the Worker in the 1962 calendar, however as this feast now looks very outdated, many monasteries have adopted the option to say instead the Office of the former Solemnity of St Joseph (previously said on the Wednesday of the second week after the Octave of Easter).  

The texts for the Solemnity of St Joseph can be found at page [130] and following in the Monastic Diurnal; page 883 in the Antiphonale; and page 992 and following in the new Nocturnale Monasticum.

The former Solemnity also had an octave, with three patristic readings each day at Matins.

May 3: Finding of Holy Cross

A number of monasteries have also revived the Feast of the finding of Holy Cross, on May 3, for which see page 896 of the Antiphonale and 998 in the Nocturnale.

The texts for the day hours are the same as for the feast of the Exaltation of Holy Cross on September 14, which can be found at page [265] and following in the Monastic Diurnal, with the exception of the canticle antiphons and collect (which you can find on Divinum Officium).

May 6: St John before the Lateran Gate

The feast of St Joh is another secondary feast suppressed in the 1962 calendar, but being revived in a number of places.  The necessary texts and chants for it can be found in the Antiphonale from page 904.

Octave of the Ascension

The most important twentieth century calendar change affecting this period was the suppression of the Octave of the Ascension.  

The texts previously used are mostly preserved as the 'Ordinary of Ascensiontide' however where the former Octave is celebrated, on weekdays up until Wednesday: at Matins, there are three Patristic readings of the Octave; and at Lauds to Vespers, all is as for the feast. 

On the Friday after the Octave, the Office is said as for the Sunday within the Octave (ie as per the ‘Office in Ascensiontide’ 1962 rubrics) unless displaced by a Class I or II feast (in which case the Octave is commemorated).

MAY 2023

Monday 1 May – St Joseph the Worker, Class I [Previously: SS Philip and James] 

MD [126] ff or MD [133] ff. 

Tuesday 2 May – St Athanasius, Class III 

MD [138]/AM 896. 

Wednesday 3 May – Class IV; SS Alexander, Eventius and Theodolus, Memorial [Previously: Finding of Holy Cross] 

Canticle antiphons, MD 366*/AM 491; collect, MD 362*/AM 488; for the commemoration at Lauds, MD [138-9]/AM 902.

Thursday 4 May – Class IV; St Monica, Memorial [EF: Class III] 

Canticle antiphons, MD 366*/AM 492; for the commemoration at Lauds, MD [139-40]/AM 903. 

Friday 5 May – Class IV; St Pius V, Memorial [EF: Class III] 

Canticle antiphons, MD 366-7*/AM 492&489; for the commemoration at Lauds, MD [140]/AM 903. 

Saturday 6 May – Class IV; Saturday of Our Lady [Previously: St John before the Latin Gate; Canada: St François de Laval, Class III]

Office of Our Lady in Eastertide, MD (135)/AM 718-9; 1 Vespers of the Fourth Sunday in Eastertide, MD 367*/AM 493 ff. 

Sunday 7 May – Fourth Sunday after Easter, Class II

MD 368*/AM 493 ff. 

Monday 8 May – Class IV 

Ordinary of Eastertide, MD 346*/AM 466 ff; canticle antiphons for Lauds and Vespers, MD 370*/AM 495-6; collect, MD 368*/AM 494. 

Tuesday 9 May – St Gregory Nazianzen, Class III 

MD [141]/AM 905. 

Wednesday 10 May – Class IV; SS Gordian and Epimachis, Memorial [EF: St Antonius, Class III] 

Canticle antiphons, MD 371*/AM 497. 

Thursday 11 May – SS Philip and James, Class II [Benedictine Confederation: SS Odo, Maiolus, Odilo, Hugh and Blessed Peter the Venerable, Memorial] 

MD [142]/AM 893 ff. 

Friday 12 May – Class IV; SS Nereus, Archilleus and Pancras, Memorial [EF: Class III] 

Canticle antiphons, MD 371-2*/AM 498/495; for the commemoration at Lauds, MD [146]/AM 905. 

Saturday 13 May – Class IV; Our Lady on Saturday; St Robert Bellarmine, Memorial [EF: Class III; Previously: Commemoration of Martyrs and Other Saints whose relics are in churches of the Benedictine Order] 

Office of Our Lady in Eastertide, MD (135)/AM 718-9; for the commemoration at Lauds, MD [147]/AM 909; 1 Vespers of the Fifth Sunday after Easter, MD 372*/AM 499 ff. 

Sunday 14 May – Fifth Sunday after Easter, Class II

MD 373*/AM 499 ff. 

Monday 15 May – Class IV; Rogation Day [EF: St John Baptist de la Salle, Class III; Benedictine Confederation: St Pacomius, Optional Memorial] 

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

Tuesday 16 May – Class IV; Rogation Day [EF: St Ubald, Class III] 

Canticle antiphons, MD 375-6*/AM 503. 

Wednesday 17 May – Vigil of the Ascension, Class II; Rogation Day [EF: St Pascal Baylon, Memorial] 

MD 376*/AM 503-4; 1 Vespers of the Ascension, MD 376*/AM 505 ff. 

Thursday 18 May – The Ascension of Our Lord, Class I [Previously: with a Privileged Octave of the third order] 

MD 379*/AM 508 ff. 

Friday 19 May – Class IV; St Peter Celestine, Memorial [EF: Class III; Benedictine Confederation, St Celestine, Optional Memorial; **In some places: St Dunstan, Class III] 

MD 383*/AM 509 ff; for the commemoration at Lauds, MD [148-9]/AM 911. 

In some monasteries: Vespers of Our Lady on Saturday. 

Saturday 20 May – Class IV; Saturday of Our Lady [EF: St Bernardine of Siena, Class III; Gower: Our Lady, Queen of the Apostles, Class I] 

Office of Our Lady on Saturday, MD (130-1)/AM 714; 1 Vespers of the Sunday after the Ascension, MD 388-9*/AM 513-4. 

Sunday 21 May – Sunday after the Ascension (Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension), Class II

 MD 389*/AM 513 ff. 

Monday 22 May – Class IV 

Ordinary of the Ascension, MD 383*/AM 509 ff with collect, MD 386*/AM 514. 

Tuesday 23 May – Class IV 

Wednesday 24 May – Class IV [In Australia and New Zealand and other places: **Our Lady Help of Christians, Class I] 

Thursday 25 May – St Gregory VII, Class III [Previously: Octave Day of the Ascension] 

MD [149]/AM 912. 

Friday 26 May – St Augustine OSB, Class III [EF: St Philip Neri, Class III] 

MD [150]/AM 913. 

Saturday 27 May – Vigil of the Pentecost, Class I 

MD 386*/AM 514; 1 Vespers of Pentecost, MD 393*/AM 517 ff. 

Sunday 28 May – Pentecost Sunday, Class I with Class I Octave

 MD 396*/AM 520 ff. 

Monday 29 May – Pentecost Monday, Class I [OF: Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church] 

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

Tuesday 30 May – Pentecost Tuesday, Class I 

Canticle antiphons and collect, MD 403-4*/AM 527. 

Wednesday 31 May – Ember Wednesday of Pentecost, Class I 

Canticle antiphons and collect, MD 404-5*/AM 528.

 

St Mellitus (d. 624) and the early cult of St Benedict

April 24 is the feast of St Mellitus, first bishop of London, and third Archbishop of Canterbury, on whom I've written previously.  

Although (probably) not a Benedictine himself, he has some particular interest from a Benedictine perspective for his promotion of the cult of St Benedict in the 'Chronicon Melliti', a version of the Chronicle compiled by Isidore of Seville (d 636).

St Mellitus

St Mellitus was part of the group of clergy sent by St Gregory the Great to augment the mission to Anglo-Saxon England in 601.  

He was initially appointed as bishop of London, but regime change there lead to his exile to Merovingian Gaul, and although he eventually returned to England, he did not return to London, but instead worked in the kingdom of Kent, where he eventually succeeded Archbishop Lawrence as Archbishop of Canterbury.  

He is best known, though, as the recipient of a letter from St Gregory the Great on missionary strategy that was preserved in St Bede's Ecclesiastical History. 

According to St Bede, St Mellitus was of noble birth.  A papal register described him as an abbot of Frankia; various letters describe him as an abbot, but modern historians have suggested that this designation may have been just a courtesy title, conferred to make him the leader of the missionary group. 

He was credited with one miracle in his life time, diverting a fire, and thus saving the Church building at Canterbury in 623.  His cult was established early but was only ever local.  Nonetheless, his feast is still celebrated on this date in a number of English dioceses.

The Chronicle

St Mellitus' particular interest from a Benedictine perspective though, lies in the edits and additions he made to Isidore of Seville's Chronicle, in particular, his addition of entries on St Gregory the Great and St Benedict to its lists of illustrious people.

The (on the face of it convincing) identification of bishop Mellitus as the author of the edits to Isidore's chronicle is fairly recent, coming in a paper by Luciano Cuppo (originally given at a 2010 conference, and since published in John S. Ott and Trpimir Vedriš, eds., Saintly Bishops and Bishops' Saints. (Series Colloquia 2.) Zagreb: Hagiotheca, 2012). 

And that means that the comments made in it on St Benedict must date from between 615 (when the first edition of Isidore's Chronicle was completed) and St Mellitus' death in 624.

Accordingly, assuming the attribution is correct, the references to St Benedict in the Chronicle provide some of the earliest attestations to the importance of St Benedict outside of St Gregory's Dialogues, and are all the more important because they are clearly independent of St Gregory's work.

St Benedict as the illustrious father of monks

This particular edition of the Chronicle, according to Cuppo, provides two references to St Benedict. 

The first gives the date of his death as 526, a much earlier than the traditional date of c542, and incompatible with the timing of several of incidents recorded in St Gregory's Life of the saint. 

Cuppo is inclined to give Mellitus more weight than Gregory's account, but given recent work supporting the historicity of St Gregory's work, although attractive from some perspectives (it would settle the question of the priority of the Rule over that of the Master for one thing!) I'm inclined to disagree: for one thing, Gregory clearly cites his sources and clearly made deep inquiries about St Benedict's life and teaching.

The far more important and significant reference though is 'at that same time [565 - 578] Abbot Benedict, father of monks, was held in high esteem throughout Campania, Apulia, and the Roman province [ie Provence].'

Cuppo doesn't go into this, but St Gregory's Life mentions one other Italian foundation (Terracina) and also provides a possible link to Provence in the form of the friendship between St Benedict and Abbot Servandus, whose monastery had been founded by the then Governor of Provence, Liberius, who had in turn been saved by a miracle effected by St Caesarius of Arles (for more on this monastery Elizabeth Fentress et al, Walls and Memory. The Abbey of San Sabastiano at Alatri..., Brepols 2005).

Have we come full circle yet?

It has often been claimed, over the last several decades, that Benedictine monasticism was essentially a Carolingian invention.   

Benedictine monasticism, so the revisionist storyline went, essentially died with St Benedict; St Gregory was not a Benedictine, but rather, assuming he wrote the Life at all (which they doubted), concerned with promoting homegrown saints and a particular type of spirituality rather than the Benedictine Rule as such.

But the evidence for something closer to the older, more traditional account (though perhaps a more nuanced one) of the spread of Benedictinism is steadily accumulating, and every little piece helps add to the picture.