The final part of my 'quick guide' series, this time for the 'eighth' or first hour of the Office, Matins.
And as this hour has become rather more accessible of late, I'll say a little more about this hour than the others.
This first post provides a bit of an overview.
When is Matins said?
Matins is given a lot of different names in the Benedictine Rule, such as Vigils, the Night Office, Nocturns and variants on these.
But they all basically point to the same thing - this is the Office that is said in the middle of the night, or rather, as St Benedict specified, the 'eighth hour' of the night, which translates to around 3-3.30 am depending on the season (since the 'hours' of the night refer strictly to hours of darkness) and your location.
In reality of course the start time for the hour has varied considerably over time - some monasteries do it at midnight, some early in the morning, and some (despite the best efforts of assorted reformers at various points in time) anticipate it the night before.
Who should say Matins?
Benedictine Matins is not something to be embarked on lightly.
With fourteen psalms on weekdays, as well as readings, and a much longer structure for Sundays, it is by far the longest of the hours even on ordinary days, and on feasts becomes longer still.
So saying the full hour is probably something to save until you retire or have a lot of time on your hands!
But if you are an early riser, you could for example, start by just saying the opening section of the hour, which includes two fixed psalms very appropriate to the start of the day, and then perhaps build up by adding a two or four week rotation of its variable psalms.
What books can you use for Matins?
Matins is not contained in the Monastic Diurnal (as Diurnal refers to the day hours), so you will need to buy another book or books for it if you want to say it.
A few years ago, it was almost impossible to find books for Matins according to the 1960 rubrics and calendar; these days we are spoiled for choices!
For the key texts of Matins, your basic choices are:
1. The 1963 Monastic Breviary (Latin only).
Has everything you need for the hour (and all of the others), in reasonably compact form, comes in two volumes, with a nice supplement of older feasts.
2. Gower set of Latin-English Matin's books.
Has everything you need at a very reasonable price, and the obvious choice if you need help understanding the Latin. But be warned: it takes a bit of effort to work out where to find the various texts you need (but I'll provide some help with that in subsequent posts).
3. Volume 1 of the Brignoles Nocturnale (the psalter).
If you want to sing the hour (as you should!), this is the book you will need, giving you not only the basic texts of the psalter, but also the chants for the ferial and seasonal invitatory antiphons, hymns, antiphons for the psalms each day, and so forth. It is Latin only, and Volumes 2 (the temporale) and 3 (sanctorale) are still to come, but there is enough in this one to get you started.
4. Le Barroux's Nocturnale Monasticum (available in Latin only or French-Latin versions).
Nicely laid out and well-organized in a nice large print that is excellent for putting on a choir stand, but not very portable or easy to use if you are just holding it in your hands.
5. Clear Creek's Latin-English Matins Psalter.
Doesn't provide the variable texts of the hour (such as the readings, texts for feasts, seasons etc), but still a very useful starting point for learning the basic structure of the hour and the psalms.
Others
There are a number of other books I've previously suggested as supplements for Matins, or have often been used for the hour in the absence of anything better (such as Monastic Breviary Matins) but the options above are the better choices in my view.
The structure of Matins
As the table below illustrates, Matins basically consists of an introductory section, consisting of an opening verse repeated three times (O Lord open my lips that I may proclaim your praise), two invitatory psalms, and a hymn; followed by either two or three 'nocturns' each made up of psalms or canticles, and readings and responsories.
Table 1: The structure of Matins
SECTION | |
OPENING (INVITATORY) | Same elements everyday – opening prayer, Ps 3, Ps 94 (with verse), hymn |
NOCTURN I | Six psalms with antiphon(s) Versicle, Our Father, absolution Blessing, reading and responsory (1,3 or 4 sets) |
NOCTURN II | Six psalms with antiphon(s) Versicle, Our Father, absolution Blessing, reading and responsory *4 |
NOCTURN III Sundays and major feasts only | Three OT canticles under one antiphon Versicle, Our Father, absolution Blessing, reading and responsory *4 |
CONCLUDING SECTION | Weekdays and minor feasts: Chapter and versicle |
CLOSING PRAYERS | Collect only (Sundays) or standard concluding prayers |
On ordinary weekdays in summer (Easter to the end of October) Matins has only a short reading and short responsory of the day of the week in the first Nocturn, and the second Nocturn is followed by a short chapter and versicle before the normal conclusion to the hour.
On 'winter' weekdays Nocturn I has three readings and responsories.
The third structure, used for Sundays and major feasts, consists of three Nocturns, the third consisting of three canticles. Each nocturn has four readings and responsories, as well as the Te Deum reading of the Gospel, and another short hymn, the Te decet laus.
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