Saints and feasts of December

Herewith a few quick notes on the Office for the month, and some calendar comparisons.

Advent

We are once again in the season of Advent, the complex of the period of the year so far as the Office is concerned, so do keep a close eye on your Ordo!

The main thing to keep in mind for the next few weeks is that the antiphons for Prime to None are of the week, while at all the other hours, most of the texts are of the season  - that means that at Lauds and Vespers, after the psalms are said, you need to use the texts at the front of your Diurnal instead of the chapter, hymn and so forth in the psalter section of your book.

 Feasts of the month

The table below compares the calendars for the Benedictine and Roman Office for various dates, and provides links to notes on the saints celebrated. 

1953 vs 1960

For those interested in the earlier calendar, several of the changes made (reduction in rank of the feasts of SS Ambrose and Lucy; abolition of the octave of the Immaculate Conception) were clearly aimed at making the length of Matins more manageable, since in the Benedictine Office, unlike the Roman, three Nocturn feasts are about double the length of ferial Office.  

Feasts generally do not change the length of the day hours, and are celebrated more or less the same way at them more or less regardless of what their rank is (the key differences generally are between Class III feasts without their own antiphons, and those that use their own antiphons or those from the Common).  

But feasts do have a huge impact on Benedictine Matins, already the longest hour of the day (and significantly longer than post 1911 Roman festal and ferial Matins) since they add three extra canticles (as the third Nocturn) and nine extra readings and responsories.

In the pre-1911 Roman Office Office, by contrast, feasts (and typically days within an octave), at least in the post-Trent books, amount to around half the length of the 'ferial' Office. And so, in the interest of avoiding to ever having to say the ferial office, feasts multiplied.  

These work avoidance calendar changes were, alas, foisted on the Benedictine Office as well, even though they had the opposite effect to the Roman schema, until the tidy-up of the calendar in 1960.

It should also be noted that a lot of the extra material (such as the third nocturn readings and responsories for the feasts of SS Ambrose and Lucy) is taken from the Common, so is not unique to these particular feasts.

Date	1960 Benedictine	1962 Roman (where different from the Benedictine)	1953 Benedictine (where different to 1960; ranks are rough equivalents only)	Ben Confed/ 2025 Roman (where extra/different)	Other
1					Blessed Richard, Hugo, John and companions
2	St Peter Chrysologus, Memorial	St Bibiana	St Peter Chrysologus, Class III
3	St Francis Xavier, Memorial
4		St Peter Chrysologus, Class III; St Barbara, Memorial		St John Damascene (see MD 27 March)	Illation of the Relics of St Benedict
5		St Sabbas		St Sabbas
6	St Nicholas, Memorial	St Nicholas, Class III
7	St Ambrose, Class III (not marked in 2025)		St Ambrose, Class II
8	Immaculate Conception, Class I
9			Octave of the immaculate Conception		St Juan Diego
10		St Melchiadis, Memorial	Octave of the immaculate Conception		Blessed Mark Barworth, John Roberts and Companions
11	St Damasus, Memorial	St Damasus, Class III	Octave of the immaculate Conception
12			Octave of the immaculate Conception	St Jane Frances de Chantal (EF : 21 August)	Our Lady of Guardeloupe
13	St Lucy, Class III		St Lucy, Class II; Octave of the immaculate Conception
14			Octave of the immaculate Conception	St John of the Cross (see MD 24 November)
15			Octave of the immaculate Conception
16		St Eusebius, Class III
17	2025: Ember Day At Vespers: O Sapientia
18	At Vespers: O Adonai
19	2025: Ember Day At Vespers: O Radix Iesse
20	2025: Ember Day At Vespers: O Clavis David		Vigil of St Thomas
21	St Thomas, Class II (not marked in 2025). At Vespers: O Oriens			St Peter Canisius (dee MD 27 April)
22	At Vespers: O Rex genetium
23	At Vespers: O Emmanuel
24	Vigil of the Nativity, Class I
25	Nativity of Our Lord, Class I
26	St Stephen; Octave of the Nativity
27	St John; Octave of the Nativity
28	Holy Innocents; Octave of the Nativity
29	Octave of the Nativity	St Thomas Becket, Memorial	St Thomas Becket, Memorial	St Thomas Becket
30	Octave of the Nativity
31	Octave of the Nativity; St Sylvester, Memorial