The repeated psalms of the Benedictine Office - revised

A little while I ago, I noted in a post that I think St Benedict's design of his Office was a very deliberate work, a work of liturgical genius in fact, that very much reflects the spiritual agenda of the Benedictine Rule.  In particular, I suggested that his ordering of the psalter aimed at providing both horizontal and vertical unity to the Office, and reflects a deeply Christological theology of it.

Part of this agenda is reflected in the selection of the variable psalms for each day, which I think generally reflects a certain thematic unity for the particular hour, as well as a weekly cycle based around the life of Christ.   

The other key factor that gives the Benedictine a particular spiritual flavour, and helps shape a particularly Benedictine spirituality amongst those who say this form of the Office arises, I think, from the repeated psalms.

St Benedict, in his Rule, makes it clear that he wanted all of the psalms to be said every week by his monks.  The vast majority of the psalms are, of course, said but once each week.  A select few, however, are given a more privileged place in his Office.

Accordingly, I wanted to alert readers here that I've just started a series, over at my blog Psallam Domino (which is dedicated to providing notes to aid understanding the psalms, particularly in the context of the Benedictine Office), looking at the repeated psalms, and at the reasons why St Benedict may have wanted his monks to say them so often.   

I thought I would post here now, though my introductory comments on this set of psalms by way of an alert and taster for the series.  

Comments, corrections and other reactions are, as always, very welcome.

The repeated psalms

It is worthwhile, firstly, just to list out what the repeated psalms of the Benedictine Office are.

First, some individual verses (Psalm 50:16 and Psalm 69:1) are used as opening prayers for the hours, and are thus repeated every day, or even, in the case of the Deus in adjutorium verse, at almost every hour for most of the year.  

Secondly, there are eight psalms repeated every day at particular hours, namely:

•  Matins (Ps 3 & 94)
•  Lauds (Ps 66, 50, 148-150); and 
• Compline (Ps 4, 90 & 133). 

And thirdly, nine of the Gradual Psalms (Psalms 119-127) are said on five days of the week from Terce to None.

It is worth noting that the number of times each of these verses and psalms is said has a deep theological symbolism:

• O Lord open my lips (Ps 50:16) is said seven times a week at Matins and again seven times a week at Lauds.  Seven is a number symbolising completeness; fourteen is a number St Benedict uses a lot (for example in the number of psalms said daily at Matins), perhaps alluding to the grouping of the generations to Christ in the genealogy provided by St Matthew, accordingly it symbolises deliverance or salvation;
• the number eight (the repeated psalms each day) symbolises the start of the new creation initiated by Christ's Resurrection, and perhaps our recreation through Christ;
• the number nine echoes the triple invocation of Christ in the Kyrie of the Mass, and symbolises the sum and end of men's work.

History, speculation and spirituality

In the Western monastic tradition of St Benedict's time (and long after it; St Benedict's Office was slow to gain general acceptance) it was actually more common to start at Psalm 1 and say them in their Scriptural order.  St Benedict, however, evidently took is cue from alternative traditions that existed at the same time both in the East and the West, which saw certain psalms as particularly fitted to particular hours, and thought some so important as to warrant daily repetition.  Accordingly, it is reasonable to assume that the particular choices he made of repeated psalms are significant.

One popular theory is that St Benedict actually started from the ordering of the psalter used by Roman Churches of his time, adjusting it to give it more variety.  It is certainly a plausible theory, but essentially unprovable since there are no surviving Office books or psalter schemas that survive from that era.   Nonetheless, the Roman Office as it has come down to us shares at least some of the repeated psalms of the Benedictine Office in common, namely Psalm 94 at Matins; Psalms 66, 50 and 148-150 at Lauds; and Psalms 4, 90 and 133 at Compline.  The Roman Office, however, at least until it was thoroughly 'updated' under Pope St Pius X in 1911, contained far more repetitions than the Benedictine, for Psalms 118, 53 and 30 were all said daily in the older form of the Roman Office.

These differences, I would suggest, are important, for what things are or aren't regularly repeated surely help develop a particular spiritual mindset.  Some modern Benedictines, though retaining the weekly psalter, have sought to eliminate many of the repetitions, taking their permission from Chapter 18.  It seems to me, however, more consistent with the Vatican II direction to retain the patrimony of religious orders (Perfectae Caritatis 2b), to devote some consideration to just why St Benedict decided that certain psalms (and certain verses) were so important and/or so appropriate to a particular hour that they should be repeated frequently.

The comments below consider the reasons for the repetitions in the context of the particular hours in which they occur.  

Matins: A light in the darkness

"At midnight I rose to give praise to thee." (Psalm 118:62, quoted in RB 16)

St Benedict made it clear, in his Rule, that the symbolism of light and darkness were extremely important to him.  In particular, he devotes an entire chapter to the timing of the Divine Office at night (Matins, or Vigils), in order to ensure that the monks rose early enough to enable Lauds to be said at first light.   

The long night Vigil, however, in which the monk keeps watch through the darkness of the literal and metaphorical night, reflects the particular Office of the monk in dispelling the darkness on behalf of us all.  Unsurprisingly then, Matins is the workhorse of the Benedictine Office, easily the longest 'hour' of the day, almost as long,  most days of the week, as all the other hours combined due to its twelve variable psalms to be said each day.

St Benedict manages to pack a lot of symbolism though, into the repeated psalmody of the hour.  Firstly, the start of Matins marks the end of the overnight 'great silence' that starts after Compline.  How appropriate then, that the first words the monk or nun says each day is a plea for God to allow him to speak in praise of him:

16  Dómine, lábia mea apéries: * et os meum annuntiábit laudem tuam.

O Lord, you will open my lips: and my mouth shall declare your praise.

The first full psalm of the hour, Psalm 3, also includes a verse that can be taken very literally - though it also has an important spiritual meaning as we shall see  - in a reference to waking from sleep:

6  Ego dormívi, et soporátus sum: * et exsurréxi, quia Dóminus suscépit me.

I have slept and taken my rest: and I have risen up, because the Lord hath protected me

Psalm 3, though, is primarily a call to take up the spiritual warfare at the start of the new day, a reminder that the battle will not end until we are in heaven.  It is not accidental, in my view, that St Benedict's Rule also opens with a call to become spiritual warriors for Christ.

The second invitatory, Psalm 94, is a joyful invitation to worship our creator, redeemer and protector, but also contains an important warning not to put off repentance, but to respond to God’s call here and now should we here it.  It is worth noting that this psalm features heavily in the Prologue to St Benedict's Rule, so it's appearance here too, is unlikely to be a coincidence.

Lauds: The hour of light

"May God cause the light of his countenance to shine upon us" (Psalm 66)

 In the Roman Office, Lauds is very closely linked to Matins, and often said effectively as one hour.  In the Monastic Office, however, St Benedict envisages there being a break between the two hours.  In winter he envisages this break being quite long break, providing time for study of the psalms and lessons for those who needed it (RB8); in summer it is just a break for 'the necessities of nature'. The reason for the break is simple: Lauds was to be carefully timed so that it begins at first light, and thus taken in dawn.  The rising of the sun, then, symbolises the Resurrection of the Son.  So important is the connection with the time of day for this hour that St Benedict even instructs his monks to cut short the readings of Matins if necessary in order to ensure that Lauds is said at its proper time.

In keeping with this symbolism, both the psalms and the proper canticle for the hour, the Benedictus (from St Luke), link the hour symbolically to the 'almost/but not yet' time we live in - after the Coming of Our Lord, but before the Kingdom is fully realised on earth with his return in glory to judge the earth.  The hymns and psalms of Lauds focus on preparing for and rejoicing at the coming of the sun/Son, and its hymns and psalms contain many references to the dawn and the morning, and the coming light.  Overall, the flavour of the hour is one of anticipation and joy at the coming dawn. 

Lauds is the longest of the day hours in the Benedictine Office, with seven psalms and two canticles assigned to it.  The hour itself is somewhat unusual compared to the rest of the Office in that five of those psalms - Psalms 66, 50, 148, 149 and 150 - are repeated every day.  The fixed psalms are, therefore, obviously very important in setting the flavour of this hour.

The repeated psalms of Matins, I would suggest, are essentially ones of preparation, seeking to inculcate the right attitude to the coming day in us.  The repeated psalms of Lauds, though, have more of a focus on action.

The hour always starts (after the Deus in Adjutorium) with Psalm 66, a beautiful psalm asking for God's blessing to come upon us.   Psalm 66 is though, above all a prayer for the mission of the Church, the blessing requested is for our work so that 'all peoples may confess God's name'.

The second psalm, the Miserere acknowledges our sinful state, and begs God's forgiveness of our sins.  The Miserere is the most famous of the penitential psalms, and also the most beautiful, not least for its glimmers of light as it begs God to 'give us back the joy of salvation'.  But again, as well as being a call to repentance it also has a focus on mission, for example asking for the grace to 'teach thy ways to evil-doers'.

The psalmody of Lauds always ends on a joyful note, with the Laudate or ‘rejoicing’ psalms, from the very end of the psalter, which have always been interpreted by Christians as our response to the Resurrection.  The really key verse, I would suggest, comes right in the middle, in Psalm 149:6, which teaches that the mission of the faithful is twofold: firstly to worship God, and secondly to advance the Gospel in the world (the sword is the word of God, its two edges the Old and New Testaments):

6  Exaltatiónes Dei in gútture eórum: * et gládii ancípites in mánibus eórum.

6 The high praises of God shall be in their mouth: and two-edged swords in their hands:

Terce to None: the ascent of grace

One of the most distinctive features of the Benedictine Office is the use of nine of the Gradual Psalms (Psalm 119-127) at Terce to None from Tuesday to Saturday.  St Benedict's use of the Gradual Psalms is interesting, because they fit particularly well with the other psalmody of Tuesday, the first day of the week on which they are said, but also form part of the repeated framework of the day hours.

These psalms are thought to have been sung liturgically as the pilgrims ascended the fifteen steps of the Temple in Jerusalem on major feasts, as well as being pilgrim songs.  The Fathers saw them, though, as tracing the mystical ascent of the Christian in the spiritual life in imitation of Christ, who shows us how to climb Jacob’s ladder to heaven and grow in virtue.

Compline: Into great silence

Compline is the only hour in the Benedictine Office that remains the same every day (the Marian antiphon aside).  Said last thing in the evening, it teaches us how to deal with the darkness that inevitably surrounds us in this world, as well as the darkness and dangers of the literal night itself.

The structure of Compline is described in St Benedict’s Rule in Chapters 17 and 18, however over time the hour has been elaborated somewhat with the addition at the beginning of a new ‘opening section’ that includes a short reading warning of the dangers of the night and an examination of conscience and confession of sins; at the end with a Marian antiphon and prayer.   The three psalms set for it are Psalms 4, 90 and 133.  

Like Psalm 3 that opens the day, Psalm 4 contains verses that makes it particularly appropriate to the hour, indeed one that is in effect response to the verse on rising from sleep in Psalm 3:

9 In pace in idípsum * dórmiam et requiéscam;	In peace in the self same I will sleep, and I will rest
10 Quóniam tu, dómine, singuláriter in spe * constituísti me.	For you, O Lord, singularly have settled me in hope.

The psalm calls upon us to repent of the sins of the day; asks God to grant us forgiveness and the grace to do better in future; and asks for God’s blessing on our sleep.  

Psalm 90 is most commonly associated with Our Lord's temptation in the desert in the Gospels, and provides reassurance of God’s protection of the just against all the dangers that can arise.  The first section of the psalm sets out the promise of divine protection that God grants to the faithful.  It closes with words put in the mouth of God.  

One particular reason its use may have appealed to St Benedict is the allusion to God as our 'susceptor' or sustainer, upholder, a word (which also appears in Psalm 3) that was particularly important in the monastic tradition, not least for its associations with the Suscipe verse (Psalm 118:116) used in the monastic profession ceremony.  

Psalm 90 contains another verse paralleling Psalm 3 as well, on the spiritual warfare:

Ps 3: 7  Non timébo míllia pópuli circumdántis me: * exsúrge, Dómine, salvum me fac, Deus meus.

I will not fear thousands of the people, surrounding me: arise, O Lord; save me, O my God.

Ps 90: 7  Cadent a látere tuo mille, et decem míllia a dextris tuis: * ad te autem non appropinquábit.

A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand: but it shall not come near you.

The last psalm of the each day, Psalm 133 is also the last of the Gradual psalms, and at the literal level, this psalm is a summons to worship at night, and give God thanks for the blessings of the day.  Spiritually though, it points to our ultimate destination in heaven, where the worship of God never ends.   It concludes by requesting a blessing from God on us. 

In a monastery, the hour is traditionally followed by the abbot or abbess sprinkling the monks or nuns with holy water, usually while verses of Psalm 50 (from ‘Asperges me…’) are chanted.  And then the Great Silence falls, lasting until those first words of Matins are spoken again.

You can follow my series on the repeated psalms of the Office either by visiting the Masterpost for the series (which covers the material provided above, but also provides links to the notes on each of the psalms in question), or start with the post on the first of the set, Psalm 3.

***Apologies for the formatting problems with an earlier version of this post!

The liturgical genius of St Benedict: why Psalm 18 on Saturday?**

Those who have been listening to Fr Cassian Folsom's series on Praying without Ceasing will know that one of his key themes has been the need to recover the reading of the psalms as the Fathers and St Benedict would have read them, above all, Christologically.   Fr Cassian has also drawn attention to the idea that St Benedict literally interprets the Office as being about Christ: put nothing before the work of God/Put nothing before Christ.

I came across a possible solution to something that has been puzzling me yesterday, and it is a nice example, I think, that takes what Fr Cassian has been talking about just a step further.  Accordingly, I thought I would share it partly by way of encouragement to catch up with his talks if you haven't already done so; partly as a taster for some broader research on the structure of the Office I hope to share here in due course; and also to stimulate your own meditations on the Office.

Any  comments on the plausibility or otherwise of my hypotheses below will be gratefully received on or offline.

The puzzle of Prime

One of the key features of the Benedictine Office, compared to the Roman Office that St Benedict took as his starting point, is the design of Prime.  In the old Roman Office, Prime to None were the same every day, featuring Psalm 118.  St Benedict instead varies the psalms for this hour every day, using Psalms 1-2, 6-19 and four stanzas of Psalm 118.

In many ways the use of these particular psalms is an odd one on the face of it, for instead of Sunday Matins starting the week with Psalm 1, it starts seemingly in the middle of things, with Psalm 20 (though as it turns out, that psalm is particularly apt to Sunday given that the Fathers saw it as pertaining to the Resurrection; and the likewise the psalms that follow).

Once one starts looking more closely though, there are in fact several reasons why St Benedict might have chosen to highlight these particular psalms.  Dom John Fortin pointed out some years back, for example, that they seem to echo some of the key themes in the Rule [1].

Christ the fulfillment of the law?

The particular feature of the Prime psalms that I've been interested in though, is their emphasis on the law. There are, in the psalter, three psalms that deal above all with the law, known as the three 'Torah psalms', namely Psalms 1, 18 (19) and 118 (119).  All three feature at Prime one day after another: Psalm 18, which features the line 'The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul' on Saturday (the old Sabbath); four stanzas of Psalm 118, the long hymn in praise of the law, on Sunday; and Psalm 1, 'Happy the man...who meditates on the law day and night', on Monday.

The threefold repetition is surely no accident, but rather symbolises the Trinity and perfection.

But what seemed particularly puzzling to me is why St Benedict arranges things so that this little trilogy starts on Saturday.  One possible answer is suggested, I think, by yesterday's Matins readings (for Thursday in the third week of Lent).

One of the most important themes of the Fathers was the idea of Christ as the fulfilment of the law.  A nice example of how this theme plays out in Patristic Scriptural exegesis is provided by St Ambrose's comments on why the first miracles recorded in St Luke's Gospel are of Christ healing on the Sabbath.  St Ambrose comments that:

"That the Lord began to heal on the Sabbath-day showeth in a figure how that the new creation beginneth where the old creation ended. 

It showeth, moreover, that the Son of God, Who is come not to destroy the law but to fulfil the law, is not under the law, but above the law.

Neither was it by the law, but by the Word, that the world was created, as it is written "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made."

The law, then, is not destroyed, but fulfilled, in the Redemption of fallen man. Whence also the Apostle saith: "Put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."


Our hymn of praise to the law at Prime then, starts, as St Ambrose suggests on the Sabbath, to symbolise that the new creation starts where the old ends.

It continues on the 'eighth day', that celebrates the Resurrection and our redemption.

And is repeated a third time on Monday, a day I suggest that St Benedict makes a celebration of the Incarnation (most of the psalms of Matins are clearly linked to this theme by the patristic commentaries, indeed virtually the whole of the Benedictus and Magnificat can be reconstructed from lines in these psalms; moreover, Psalm 2 at Prime gives us the Introit verse for the Midnight Mass of Christmas).

It is a nice tie in that seems to me to illustrate the deeply Christological approach that St Benedict took to the design of his Office.

Christ the King

Just to reinforce that point, I should note that St Benedict actually takes the repetition of ideas further than the idea of Christ as the fulfillment of the law, for it is not just the 'Torah' psalms themselves we should look at, but also the other psalms placed with them.

In particular, on both Saturday and Monday we are also presented, in the following psalm, with the image of Christ the victorious king.  Michael Barber, in his book Singing in the Reign [2], drew attention to the similarities in content between Psalms 1 and 2 (Monday), and Psalms 18 (19) and 19 (20) (Saturday):

"Psalm 19 [18] is unique because of  its strong emphasis on wisdom.  Its role may be better understood when examined in light of Psalm 20 [19].  Together these two psalms - situated at the centre of book I - mirror Psalms 1 and 2.  Psalm 19 exalts the law of the Lord, the source of wisdom: "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple" (v. 7).  Them Psalm 20 evokes Psalm 2, speaking of the Lord's deliverance of the Davidic king from his enemies, sending support from Zion.  Thus, as in Psalms 1 and 2, wisdom is connected with the victorious Davidic king."

A similar point can be made on the similarities in content between these two sets of psalms, and the first four stanzas of Psalm 118 St Benedict uses at Sunday Prime.  Both Sunday Prime and Monday, for example, begin with a beatitude, praise the importance of the law, call for or prophesy the destruction of enemies and point to the victory 'over princes' (Ps 2; Ps 118, esp 21-23).

There is also arguably a reason why St Benedict uses Psalm 118 at Sunday Prime rather than Saturday or Monday, for on Monday, the beatitude contained in Psalm 1 'Happy the Man' is singular, referring as St Augustine insists in his commentary, to Christ himself.  Psalm 118, on the other hand, opens with a plural beatitude (Happy those who...): for Christ has opened the way to many through his Resurrection.

This particular example of a key motif in the Benedictine Office is also strongly suggestive of the linkages between the organisation of the Benedictine Office and St Benedict's spirituality more generally.

The dominant image of Christ as King certainly seems to echo through the Rule of St Benedict, for the very opening lines of the Prologue invite the monk to enlist in the army of the true King, Christ, and its an image that is repeated several times through the Rule directly (eg 42.4; 61.10), as well as underpinning the directions on how to pray (Chapter 20) and how to welcome visitors (RB 53).  A similar point can be made about the association between the Rule and the law.

The spirituality of St Benedict's Office?

Is this all too much of a stretch?  Personally I think that this example serves to illustrate the importance of looking at the psalms the way St Benedict would have, in order to unpack the true depths of meaning of his Office, and has hopefully served as a taster for a more thorough reconsideration of the design of the Benedictine Office.

Most contemporary commentators on St Benedict's Office, it has to be said, have struggled to find any systematic thematic or programmatic intent in St Benedict's psalm selections [3].  The consensus view has long been that established by Dom Adalbert de Vogue back in the 1960s, to the effect that St Benedict's changes to the old Roman Psalter were essentially minor ones, aimed primarily at giving the hours from Prime to None a little more variety. [4]  Indeed, James McKinnon summarised the received view on St Benedict's reforms of the Office as follows:

"The process was clearly not one motivated by selecting thematically appropriate psalms.  There was a measure of that only at Lauds and Compline.  Rather, the process was, in Vogues words, a "mechanistic" one, "a matter of a very modest task of arithmetic."[5]

My view is though, that a careful look at the psalms read in the light of the Fathers, as well as close examination of what actually lies behind the liturgical provisions of the Rule, will lead to a rather different conclusion.

Far from being purely mechanistic, I think St Benedict's construction of his Office was a very deliberate work indeed, with his ordering of the psalter aimed at providing both horizontal and vertical unity to it, and reflects a deeply Christological theology.

I'm certainly not the first to suggest this: there have been a few lonely voices that have hints of a deeper spirituality behind St Benedict's design of his psalter, and my comments build on this work. [6]  One key recent contribution, I think, is that of ex-Trappist turned Orthodox scholar Patrick Reardon, who has pointed to the existence of a weekly cycle in both the Orthodox and Benedictine Offices, that runs from Wednesday to Sunday each week and echoes the events of Holy Week. [7]  This cycle, he suggests, starts on Wednesday, with the betrayal of Christ by Judas (reflected in the fact that this was traditionally a fast day in the Benedictine Rule), takes in the events of the Triduum, and ends on Sunday, with a weekly mini-Easter Day celebration of the Resurrection.  All the same, he argues that the Benedictine psalter's programmatic focus is relatively limited, particularly compared to the Orthodox version.

My own view is that closer examination reveals that St Benedict's program is actually much more far reaching.  The bottom line is that in my view, far from representing a purely mechanistic process of adaptation, St Benedict's Office arguably represents a very deliberate spiritual agenda indeed.

Such an agenda does not, of course, have to be understood explicitly in order to shape a particular spirituality: as the experience of the old and new rites of the Mass suggests, an implicit theology can be a surprisingly powerful force in shaping attitudes and understandings.

Prime is of course, one of those hours that no longer exists in the horariums of most modern monasteries.  Indeed, even many monasteries that still say the entire psalter each week have abolished the hour.

Accordingly, making explicit what is implicit in St Benedict's Office may help make the case for the recovery of St Benedict's Office as part of the patrimony of his Order, as well as stimulate our own meditations on the psalms, and enhance our understanding of the Office more generally.  Accordingly, I hope you have found this 'taster' of interest.

Footnotes

[1] John D Fortin, “The Presence of God: a linguistic and thematic link between the doctrinal and liturgical sections of the Rule of Saint Benedict”, Downside Review 117 (1999) 293-308.

[2] Michael Barber, Singing in the Reign The Psalms and the Liturgy of God's Kingdom (with an introduction by Scott Hahn), Emmaus Road Publishing, 2001; pp90.

[3]  The two standard histories of the Office in general, which draw together and provide references to most of the key research on the Benedictine Office are Robert Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours in East and West The Origins of the Divine Office and its Meaning for Today, Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, rev ed, 1993, and Paul F Bradshaw, Daily Prayer in the Early Church A Study of the Origin and Early Development of the Divine Office, Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2008 reprint.

[4] For the mainstream views of the Office within the Order, see Adalbert de Vogüé, OSB, The Rule of Saint Benedict A Doctrinal and Spiritual Commentary, trans John Baptist Hasbrouck, Cistercian Publications: Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1983, pp 127-163; Timothy Fry OSB, Imogene Baker OSB, Timothy Horner OSB, Augusta Raabe OSB and Mark Sheridan OSB editors.  RB 1980. The Rule of St Benedict in Latin and English with Notes. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1981; and Terrence G. Kardong, OSB, Benedict’s Rule. A Translation and Commentary. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1996, pp209-217.

[5] James McKinnon, "The Origins of the Western Office", pp 63-73 in The Divine Office in the Middle Ages, Methodology and Source Studies, Regional Developments, Hagiography, Written in Honor of Professor Ruth Steiner, edited by Ruth Steiner, Margot Elsbeth Fassler, Rebecca Anne Baltzer, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000: 72.

[6] See for example Laszlo Dobszay,“Critical Reflections on the Bugnini Liturgy: The Divine Office”, 1983 PDF available from http://musicasacra.com/literature/

[7] Patrick Henry Reardon, Christ in the Psalms, Conciliar Press, revised 2011.  See especially pp 125-126; 181-182.  It should be noted that helpful as this book is, it needs to be treated with some care from a Catholic perspective.  I should also note that I've recently come across a reference to a book on the psalms of the Benedictine psalter by the German monk Georg Braulik, which from its blurb at least sounds promising in this context; my copy has yet to arrive however.

**Update: I've now got the Braulik book, and at first glance at least, though of academic interest at least (providing you can read German) it is less relevant than I had hoped, being concerned primarily with modern arrangements of the psalter rather than St Benedict's (though there is a chapter on the Sunday Office that may have some relevant material in it).

Praying without ceasing: St Benedict's numerical theology

If you've been listening to the excellent talks on prayer given by Fr Cassian, Prior of the monastery of Norcia, you will know that a lot of this week's talk (the second in the series) deals with the question of how we can be said to pray without ceasing in the context of the Divien Office.

Sacred numbers

Fr Cassian notes that the Fathers, including St Benedict, placed a lot of meaning on numbers.

In particular, he points out that St Benedict uses two numbers to signal completeness or totality -  praying seven times a day in the day hours, and the twelve psalms of Matins (leaving aside the two said daily) - to indicate that the Divine Office enables us to meet this Scriptural injunction.

Seven, he notes, is frequently used in Scripture to denote completeness, or continuous prayer.  And twelve is also used to indicate universality or completeness, for example in the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve apostles, the saints in the canon of the Mass and so forth.

Number of psalms in the day

By way of a possible footnote to Fr Cassian's talk for those who enjoy number symbolism, I want to suggest another way in which St Benedict uses numbers to indicate the Office's fulfillment of the requirement to pray continuously.

In particular, I want to suggest that it is not just in the number of psalms he sets for Matins that plays on sacred numerology, but also the other hours of his Office.

Fr Cassian noted St Benedict's reference to the twelve psalms of Matins (RB 10).

But note that the number of psalms said each day at Lauds (except Saturday) is seven - Psalms 66, 50, two psalms of the day, 148, 149, and 150 (RB 12-13).

The number of the psalms (provided you count as a psalm anything said under a Gloria Patri) said at Prime to None is twelve (RB 17).

And the number of psalms said at Vespers (four) and Compline (three) again adds up to seven (RB 17).

And note that in RB 17, the number of psalms is carefully discussed in groupings: Matins and Lauds (already settled); Prime to None; and Vespers and Compline.

So we have a pattern: 12 (+2), 7, 12, 7.

Of course there is a bit of fudging in this but I don't think we should be too fussed at this, but rather consider the point he is trying to make in his modelling of the basic structure of the Office.

Am I onto something or reading too much into it?!

St Benedict's liturgical code: Vespers and Compline (Feb 23/June 24/Oct 24)

Stuttgart Psalter

Today, a look at the allocation of psalms to Vespers and Compline.

Caput XVIII/III

Vespera autem cotidie quattuor psalmorum modulatione canatur. Qui psalmi incipiantur a centesimo nono usque centesimo quadragesimo septimo : exceptis his qui in diversis horis ex eis sequestrantur, id est, a centesimo septimo decimo usque centesimo vigesimo septimo, et centesimo trigesimo tertio et centesimo quadragesimo secundo; reliqui omnes in Vespera dicendi sunt. Et quia minus veniunt tres psalmi, ideo dividendi sunt qui ex numero suprascripto fortiores inveniuntur: id est, centesimus trigesimus octavus, et centesimus quadragesimus tertius, et centesimus quadragesimus quartus. Centesimus vero sextus decimus, quia parvus est, cum centesimo quinto decimo conjungatur. Digesto ergo ordine psalmorum vespertinorum, reliqua, id est lectio, responsum, hymnus, versus, vel canticum, sicut supra taxavimus impleatur. Ad Completorios vero cotidie iidem psalmi repetantur: id est, quartus, nonagesimus, et centesimus trigesimus tertius.

Ch 18/3

Vespers shall be sung every day with four psalms. Let these begin with the hundred and ninth and go on to the hundred and forty-seventh, those being omitted which are set aside for special Hours, namely, the hundred and seventeenth to the hundred and twenty-seventh, the hundred and thirty-third and the hundred and forty-second. All the rest are to be said at Vespers. And since there are three psalms too few, let the longer psalms in the above number be divided, namely, the hundred and thirty-eighth, the hundred and forty-third, and the hundred and forty-fourth. But the hundred and sixteenth psalm, being short, shall be joined to the hundred and fifteenth. The order of the vesper psalms being thus settled, let the rest of the Hour, that is to say, lesson, responsory, hymn, versicle, and canticle, be carried out as we prescribed before. At Compline let the same psalms be repeated every day: that is, the fourth, the ninetieth, and the hundred and thirty-third.

Commentary

The psalms allocated to Compline are the same every day, and the rationale for their selection is fairly obvious, so I won't go into it here.  St Benedict's arrangement of Vespers, though, takes a little more work to understand I think.

Vespers, as I’ve previously noted, has an association with Our Lord’s death, and traditionally monasteries use both lamps and incense in their Vespers rituals to symbolize this.

In terms of the psalms for the hour, it is often suggested that Vespers reverts to a running cursus of psalms. That’s true in the Roman Rite, but even a cursory look at St Benedict's prescriptions will show that isn’t really the case in the Benedictine rite.

As I've suggested previously, my view is that St Benedict is crafting the psalm allocations for programmatic effect: St Benedict is very explicit about where the psalms are to be split, and where the running cursus structure is to be ignored. Nor is the motivation to even out the length of the Office, because in fact the result of his efforts is to make some of them rather longer in length than others.

Psalm 113 on Monday (Sunday in the Roman Rite), for example, is extremely long (it is actually two psalms in the Hebrew psalter), and yet Monday actually gets an extra psalm added (albeit the shortest psalm in the psalter), adding up to a total of 53 verses to be said.  Personally I think that is because both Psalm 113 and Psalm 128 link very neatly to the themes of Our Lord's Incarnation and hidden life on earth up to and including his baptism.

This arrangement also allows Tuesday Vespers to continue the sequence of Gradual psalms started at the little hours on that day, leaving Wednesday to pick up the theme of Our Lord's betrayal by his own people (over and over in history, as well as by Judas and the priests and pharisees), resulting in the election of the gentiles (a theme also reflected in the Canticle of Hannah at Lauds).

In contrast to the length of Monday (53 verses) and Wednesday (69 verses) Vespers, Thursday, Friday and Saturday Vespers are much shorter (48, 47 and 43 verses respectively), the result of splitting psalms in two.  Sunday and Tuesday are even shorter still, at 34 and 36 verses respectively, making the decision to move Psalm 113 to Monday, and separate Psalm 128 from the other Gradual psalms even odder on the face of it.

But if you take a look at the actual content of the psalms and sections of psalms set for those days and look for the connections - for example viewing Thursday to Saturday as a weekly mini-Triduum - I think you will see why St Benedict has arranged the psalmody as he has.

Regardless of whether you agree with my view of St Benedict's programmatic intent, however, the evidence does point to the saints’ care for the construction of the hour, and reminds us, I think, of the central importance of the psalms to Benedictine spirituality.

As Abbot Lawrence of Christ in the Desert Monastery comments:

“For our spirituality, we need to have an easy familiarity with the Psalms. We need to continue to study them year after year and let them deepen in us. For Benedictine spirituality, the Psalms are the heart of the Divine Office and we need to spend our lives knowing them more and more.”

For the next part of the series, go here.

St Benedict's liturgical code: Prime (Feb 21/June 22/Oct 22)

Today's section of the Rule deals with the hour of Prime, which is no longer said in many monasteries.  That's a shame in my view!

Caput XVIII/1: Quo ordine ipsi psalmi dicendi sunt

IN PRIMIS dicatur versu: Deus in adjutorium meum intende, Domine ad adjuvandum mefestina, Gloria; inde hymnus uniuscujusque horae. Deinde prima hora, Dominica, dicenda quattuor capitula psalmi centesimi octavi decimi; reliquis vero horis, id est, Tertia, Sexta vel Nona, terna capitula suprascripti psalmi centesimi octavi decimi dicantur. Ad Primam autem secundae feriae dicantur tres psalmi, id est, primus, secundus et sextus. Et ita per singulos dies ad Primam, usque Dominicam, dicantur per ordinem terni psalmi usque nonum decimum psalmurn; ita sane, ut nonus psalmus et septimus decimus partiantur in binos. Et sic fit, ut ad Vigilias Dominica semper a vigesimo incipiatur.

Chapter 18/1 In what order the psalms are to be said

FIRST let there be said the verse: Deus in adjutorium meum intende, Domine ad adjuvandum me festina,and Gloria; then the hymn proper to each Hour.

Then at Prime on Sunday, four sections of the hundred and eighteenth psalm; and at each of the remaining hours, that is Terce, Sext, and None, three sections of the same hundred and eighteenth psalm.

At Prime on Monday let three psalms be said, namely the first, second, and sixth. And so at Prime every day until Sunday let there be said three psalms taken in their order up to the nineteenth; but let the ninth and seventeenth be each divided into two. Thus it comes about that the Night Office on Sundays will always begin with the twentieth psalm.

Commentary

Prime has of course been expunged from the modern Roman Office, but it is a beautiful and important hour in St Benedict's conception, and a good choice for laypeople pressed for time to say in the morning.

It is particularly suitable first because it is relatively straightforward in structure, varying only in its antiphons and psalms each day.  Secondly, its focus, particularly evident in the hymn and collect, is on preparation for the day. Thirdly, because the psalms selected for it have a strong instructional focus, touching on several key themes of the Rule, such as the idea that God is always watching us, to see if we are seeking him.  Finally, it is a good choice for Oblates because this is a particularly Benedictine hour: whereas St Benedict more or less takes over Roman Lauds untouched, monastic Prime seems to me to reflect a fair amount of careful crafting by the saint.

Consider for example the decision to place Psalm 1 at Monday Prime rather than Sunday Matins as in the Roman Office.  Psalm 1 is generally regarded as serving as an introduction to the whole psalter, so on the face of it, starting the liturgical week there makes sense. Moreover, the strong monastic tradition was to start at Psalm 1 and go forward in order. Nor is it really necessary to spread Psalm 118 over two days – the Roman Rite after all, gets through it all on Sunday.

But there are I think a number of reasons for the particular psalm allocations that St Benedict has made.  Let me sketch out some of them.

First, in many respects, I think St Benedict regards Monday as the start of the week, rather than Sunday so far as the Office goes.  Sunday, as the day of Resurrection, is more the culmination, led up to by a mini-Triduum celebrated in the Office each week. 

Monday's variable psalms, on the other hand, I would argue, have a strong focus on the Incarnation and Christ's hidden life on earth up to and including his baptism.  At Prime, for example, Psalm 1 presents us with the picture of the perfect man; Psalm 2 includes the verse used at the Introit at Christmas, 'Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee'; and the final verse of Psalm 6 ('Let my enemies be put to shame...') echoes the prophesies of the Benedictus and Magnificat, of the downfall of enemies, and exaltation of the humble.

Secondly, this arrangement perhaps allows some of the most important themes of the psalms allocated to Prime to be reiterated more strongly. Psalm 1 seems to me to have almost identical themes as the first section of Psalm 118 said at Sunday Prime; one can perhaps see echoes of Psalm 2 in the next two sections, and the final section set for Sunday Prime has a penitential feel (as well as containing a key verse used by St Benedict in explaining his spiritual doctrine), echoing Psalm 6, one of the penitential psalms.  The repetition of ideas over two days in a row reinforces their importance.

Thirdly, from the perspective of the overall design of the Office, starting Sunday Matins at Psalm 20 rather than Psalm 1 provides a sequence of psalms for that day that give a stronger focus on the joy of the Resurrection, for Psalm 20 is one of the ‘Royal Psalms’ that speak of the triumph of Our Lord, and many of the psalms that immediately follow it (especially Psalm 23 for example) are similarly upbeat testimonies to God’s grace and mercy.

So I take the view that St Benedict’s allocations of psalms to each day here and elsewhere reflect very deliberate decisions that give a more thematic and structured flavour to the Office, and I'll say more about this in a forthcoming series.

But in the meantime let me just note that this could just be a case of eisegesis (reading things into the text that aren't really there), rather than exegesis.  In which case, simply take this as a pious way to hear the Office!

For the next of the series, go here.

St Benedict's Liturgical Code: Sing alleluia! (Feb 18/June 19/Oct 19)

Today's section of the Rule deals with the use of the 'Alleluia', effectively a wordly sound of praise that often promoted long melismatic sections of chant in the seasons to which it is proper, making it all the more missed at those times of the year when it is not used.
Caput XV: Alleluia Quibus Temporibus Dicatur

A Sancto Pascha usque Pentecosten sine intermissione dicatur Alleluia, tarn in psalmis quam in responsoriis. A Pentecoste autem usque caput Quadragesimae omnibus noctibus cum sex posterioribus psalmis tantum ad Nocturnes dicatur. Omni vero Dominica extra Quadragesimam Cantica, Matutini, Prima, Tertia, Sexta, Nonaque cum Alleluia dicantur; Vespera vero jam antiphona. Responsoria vero numquam dicantur cum Alleluia, nisi a Pascha usque Pentecosten.

Chapter 15: At what season the alleluia is to be said

FROM the sacred feast of Easter until Pentecost, let Alleluia be said always both with the psalms and with the responsories. From Pentecost until the beginning of Lent, let it be said every night at Matins with the second six psalms only. On every Sunday out of Lent, let Alleluia be said with the canticles of Matins, and with the psalms of Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, and None; but let Vespers then have an antiphon. The responsories are never to be said with Alleluia, except from Easter to Pentecost.

Commentary

St Benedict’s liturgical seasons described in this chapter varies, of course from current practice.

In part, that’s because he wrote the Rule before St Gregory and others legislated for the ‘burial’ of the Alleluia from Septuagesima until the Easter Vigil.

In part though, it is because instead of the three week pre-Lent of the Roman Rite, monastic Lent actually started, traditionally at least, back in November if one follows the Rule’s fasting regime. For this reason presumably, Benedictines did not actually adopt Septuagesima into the calendar until quite late, in the twelfth century according to Dom Gueranger, and then only by Papal order.

Nonetheless, the spirituality behind St Benedict's injunction is worth exploring.  The word Alleluia is a rare example of a Hebrew word (technically two separate words) used as an expression of praise to God being preserved, untranslated, into the liturgy as an expression of joy. It literally means ‘praise Yah[weh]’.

In the Old Testament it appears in the psalter (Psalm 104 and 150, and in the titles for several psalms) and in the Book of Tobit. It appears only in one place in the New Testament, namely Revelation 19. Yet it is undoubtedly that chapter that earns the word its privileged place in the liturgy, since Revelation describes the heavenly liturgy of the wedding feast of the lamb that we both anticipate and echo:

“After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged on her the blood of his servants." Once more they cried, "Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever." And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who is seated on the throne, saying, "Amen. Hallelujah!" And from the throne came a voice crying, "Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great." Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready….”

Dom Delatte, in his classic commentary on the Rule, draws particular attention to that the use of the Alleluia ‘sine intermissione’ (without interruption), in contrast to its regulated use the rest of the year. The Alleluia, in other words, reminds us each day, especially on Sundays, and above all during Eastertide as St Benedict specifies, of the joy of the Resurrection.

But its absence during Lent, and indeed, its careful regulation also remind us of what Pope Benedict XVI has called the ‘already and not yet’ state of the world before the Second Coming. Many liturgists and theologians at the more liberal end of the spectrum argue, as Fr Robert Taft does in his book on the history of the Liturgy of the Hours, for example, that everything in salvation has already been fulfilled, thus Christian worship is not about us seeking to contact God or to implore his help, but is the response of the ‘already saved’.

Traditionalists will generally be more inclined towards Pope Benedict XVI’s position, expounded in his book The Spirit of the Liturgy (written before his election), that while Christian worship differs from that of the Old Testament in being open to heaven, we are still in a state of transition, the time of dawn when darkness and light intermingle, an intermediate time and space between the Old Temple sacrifices and the perfect worship of heaven. Without the Resurrection, we cannot enter heaven; but we have not ourselves entered it yet!

The presence and absence of the Alleluias in the liturgy serve, then, to remind us of the idea that our salvation is still yet to be fully realized, but must be constantly worked for with the aid of grace, using the 'tools of good works' set out in the Rule.

For the next part in this series, click here.

St Benedict's Liturgical Code: Lauds/3 (Feb 16/June 17/Oct 17)



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Today's section of the Rule deals with the conclusion of the hours of both Lauds and Vespers, and deal with the importance of the Lord's prayer.

Caput XIII/III...

Plane Agenda matutina vel vespertina non transeat aliquando nisi in ultimo per ordinem oratio dominica omnibus audientibus dicatur a priore, propter scandalorum spinas quae oriri solent, ut conventi per ipsius orationis sponsionem qua dicunt: Dimitte nobis sicut et nos dimittimus, purgent se ab hujusmodi vitio. Ceteris vero Agendis ultima pars ejus orationis dicatur, ut ab omnibus respondeatur: Sed libera nos a malo.

Chapter 13/3, continued

Of course, the Offices of Lauds and Vespers shall never be allowed to end without the superior finally reciting, in the hearing of all, the whole of the Lord's Prayer. The purpose of this is the removal of those thorns of scandal, or mutual offence, which are wont to arise in communities. For, being warned by the covenant which they make in that prayer, when they say Forgive us as we forgive, the brethren will cleanse their souls of such faults. At the other Offices, however, only the last part of that prayer shall be said aloud, so that all may answer Sed libera nos a malo.

Commentary

This instruction reminds us I think, of two important messages: firstly, the fallible nature of man, even those committed to a life of holiness; and secondly, the central importance of the Lord's Prayer.

The challenges of community life, inside and outside of monasteries!

We tend to think of monks and nuns as very holy people, and no doubt they generally are, at least relatively speaking!

Yet sanctification is a gradual process that takes a whole lifetime or more for most, as St Benedict makes clear in his Prologue and the chapter on the tools of good works, even for those who have the privilege of dwelling in a monastery!

One of the (several) reasons that I think we should take St Gregory's Life of St Benedict seriously as a source of our spirituality (for following the Rule alone is not, in my view, enough to make one a follower of St Benedict, any more than following the Rule of St Augustine – as for example the Dominicans do – makes one an Augustinian) is that it is very far from simple hagiography.  Rather, the Life is filled with tales of the weaknesses and sins of St Benedict's monks as well as much as of the zeal inspired by the saint. Nor does St Benedict himself escape entirely unscathed in this depiction, despite the justifications for some of his actions supplied by St Gregory. 

So I always wonder if St Benedict introduced the idea of the superior praying the Lord's Prayer morning and night as part of his own process of achieving forgiveness of others, particularly in relation to his first failed attempt as an abbot, where his regime was so tough and resented that the monks tried to assassinate him!

In any case, the reality is that even in the happiest of communities, the happiest of families, the happiest of workplaces, there will invariably be tensions at times. And the expression 'the fish rots from the head' is relevant here: in whatever setting, leadership from the top on this front is vital.

Probably the earliest surviving commentary on the Rule is that by Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel (born circa 760), which notes that:

"Now in this place thorns of scandal means 'angry outbursts, quarrels, dissensions, slanders, rivalries', or any of the disturbing disputes and commotions that are wont to spring up among the brothers. Morning and evening, even though the monks have peace and preserve continual charity among themselves, they should purge themselves from these things. In the morning, so that none of these faults may remain until sunset, for it is written: Let not the sun go down upon your anger; in the evening, so that a fault may not remain overnight with him until sunrise, and in the morning render the monk answerable for sins and foul in the Lord's sight." (trans David Barry OSB, Cistercian Publications, 2007)

The importance of the Lord's prayer

The role of the Lord's prayer said fervently as a means of expressing our contrition, cleansing our venial sins, and recommitting us to advancing the kingdom is one of those ideas whose centrality to Christian life I suspect we have mostly lost sight of today: how easy it is to merely say the words.

Yet in the tradition, the Our Father is an absolutely crucial prayer.

It formed the core of the regular prayer times practiced in the early Church. The first century document Didache, for example, says, "Do not pray like the hypocrites, but rather as the Lord commanded in His Gospel, like this: Our Father who art in heaven...Pray this three times each day."

The prayer generated a number of substantial commentaries from many of the Church Fathers: St Augustine's excellent exposition, for example, included in his work on the Sermon on the Mount, can be found on the New Advent Church Fathers website.

And throughout the Middle Ages it was one of the main focuses of works of catechesis for the laity.

No wonder then it is said at every hour of the Office.

In terms of its content, the Rule particularly emphasizes the covenant dimension of the prayer, as Smaragdus goes on to explain:

"So that warned, that is, won over and drawn by the covenant contained in the prayer itself, that is, by the promise contained in the Lord's prayer which says: Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors each one may forgive his brother from his heart. And thus purged, that is, cleansed from vices, let him in the morning proceed to perform the work of obedience, and in the evening celebrate the night watches. But at the other Offices, that is, in celebrating the other hours only the last part of that prayer, that is: And lead us not into temptation is to be said aloud, so that hearing it all may answer: But deliver us from evil."

Forgiveness flows from knowing God

Finally, it may seem strange that St Benedict emphasises the importance of the Lord's Prayer in the midst of this section on the structure of the Office, but once again I think the saint is trying to make sure we fully appreciate that he is building into the Office a theme that he reiterates many times in the Rule, on the importance of forgiveness.  Abbot Lawrence of Christ in the Desert Monastery comments:

"Saint Benedict makes it clear to us here and in many places of the Rule that we must make knowing God the very center of our being, or our personalities. We are not just tepid Christians, we must be Christians who are putting all of our personal energies into this new life in Jesus Christ. It seems so clear in the Gospels and in the New Testament: if we want God to forgive us, then we must always forgive others. Another challenge is to forgive before the sun sets. That is asking a lot from us, for sure. Many times we want to delay, we want time to get our own emotions back into order, we want time so that the other person knows that we are deeply offended, etc. Jesus Himself wants us to forgive immediately. Our forgiveness can never depend on whether the other person, the other monk, has acknowledged that he has offended us. Forgiveness must come from us immediately and without reserve--if we are truly following the Lord Jesus."

The next part of this series can be found here.

Liturgical Code of St Benedict: Lauds/2 (Feb 15/June 16/Oct 16)

Today's section of the Rule looks at the structure and content of Lauds on ferial days, or days throughout the week.

Caput XIII: Privatis diebus qualiter agantur matutini

Diebus autem privatis Matutinorum sollemnitas ita agatur: id est, ut sexagesimus sextus psalmus dicatur sine antiphona, subtrahendo modice sicut Dominica, ut omnes occurrant ad quinquagesimum, qui cum antiphona dicatur. Post quem alii duo psalmi dicantur secundum consuetudinem: id est, secunda feria quintus et trigesimus quintus, tertia feria quadragesimus secundus et quinquagesimus sextus, quarta feria sexagesimus tertius et sexagesimus quartus, quinta feria octogesimus septi-mus et octogesimus nonus, sexta feria septuagesimus quintus et nonagesimus primus, sabbato autem centesimus quadragesimus secundus et canticum Deuteronomium, quod dividatur in duas Glorias. Nam ceteris diebus canticum unumquodque die suo ex prophetis, sicut psallit Ecclesia Romana, dicantur. Post haec sequantur Laudes; deinde lectio una apostoli memoriter recitanda, respon-sorium, ambrosianum, versu, canticum de 'Evangelia', litania, et completum est.

Chapter 13: How Lauds shall be said on ordinary days

On ordinary days Lauds shall be celebrated in the following manner: let the sixty-sixth psalm be said without an antiphon and somewhat slowly, as on Sunday, in order that all may assemble in time for the fiftieth, which should be said with an antiphon.

After this let two other psalms be said according to custom: that is, on Monday the fifth and thirty-fifth; on Tuesday the forty-second and fifty-sixth; on Wednesday the sixty-third and sixty-fourth; on Thursday the eighty-seventh and eighty-ninth; on Friday the seventy-fifth and ninety-first; and on Saturday the hundred and forty-second and the canticle from Deuteronomy, which must be divided into two parts.

But on the other days let there be a canticle from the prophets, each on its own day, according to the custom of the Roman church. After that let the Laudate psalms follow; then a lesson from the apostle to be said by heart, the responsory, the hymn, the versicle, the canticle from the Gospels, the Kyrie eleison, and so the end.

Commentary

The hour of Lauds is absolutely central to St Benedict's construction of the Office, reflecting two key principles, namely repetition each day of certain key psalms, and secondly (more controversially) the progression of the week according to a thematic program.

The value of repetition

These days we tend to shy away from repetition, preferring instead novelty!  Yet repetition of key messages is a central feature of St Benedict's Office.  Indeed, the fixed psalms and canticle of Lauds make up well over half of the verses said at this hour each day.

The twentieth century saw a rejection of the value of repetition in the liturgy, reflected in the reform of the Roman Breviary by Pope Pius X, and then in the reforms of the Mass of Vatican II.  But modern liturgists, following the work of people such as Dom Gerard Calvet of Le Barroux and theologian Catherine Pitstock, are starting to rediscover the importance of repetition in the process of building up and reinforcing those spiritual walls  that protect us from the enemy.  The new English translation of the Mass has even seen the reintroduction of some of those much despised repetitions.

In the case of the Benedictine Office, the fixed psalms I think, very much reflect St Benedict's core spirituality and are meant to be memorized and internalized, and repeated over and over so that they truly become automatic to our thinking. 

The hour starts each day by asking for God’s blessing and grace (Psalm 66), echoing that call in the first section of the Prologue of the Rule that before undertaking any good work, we ask God to perfect it.

In Psalm 50 we express our repentance and dependence on God, again reflecting that call to return to him from whom we have strayed from by the sloth of disobedience. 

And the hour ends in the Laudate psalms (148-150).

Abbot Lawrence of Christ in the Desert argues for the importance of this repetition:

"It is important that we notice the repetitions that occur in the Divine Office. If we follow the Divine Office exactly as it is outline in the Rule of Benedict, we will end up with praying about 279 Psalms in a week because of the repetitions…Saint Benedict knows that the Divine Office is longer because of repetitions but he still seems to like them because certain Psalms add a distinctive flavor, at least to some of the Divine Offices. Is there any value in repetition? Certainly! It is the principal element of the Divine Office because every week we repeat the same Psalms. Over many years of monastic life, we can come to know most of the Psalms by heart. Saint Benedict would have presumed that every monk would know the entire Book of Psalms by heart and probably also all of the New Testament."

Thematic progress?

St Benedict also sets out, in this chapter, the variable content of the hour, in the canticles, imported from the Roman Office, and the two variable psalms.

It is often suggested that the Benedictine Office does not have any thematic unity or underlying program.  I don't agree.  My thesis is that St Benedict has shaped the variable psalm cursus quite carefully in order to provide thematic links that flow largely from the program set up by the canticles, a view I might add, that I'm finding some support for in the medieval literature.  Note here that I am talking about the 'ferial' canticles - the festal ones are a much later addition to the Office.

I'll say more on the programmatic dimension of the Benedictine Office later in this series in the context of the rest of St Benedict's psalm cursus.  Still, I do want to suggest that St Benedict sets out these provisions for Lauds here rather than later in order to stress their centrality, their role as a key to the whole Office.  So do take a close look at those ferial canticles, and keep an ear our for the connections to (some of ) the psalms of the day for yourself! 

The Saturday ferial canticle

There is one other point worth noting in relation to the 1962 Office in particular, relating to the Saturday canticle.

St Benedict specifies it should be divided, and in the 1962 breviary, but not for some reason, the Diurnal, it is. But even in the Monastic Breviary, the canticle as it appears in the 1962 Office has been drastically cut, the victim, it would appear, of revisionist liturgical butchery: in its full form it amounts to some 65 verses. By contrast, the 27 verses included in the 1962 version don’t even take us up to the divisio point in the older version of the Office!

Reading it one can see why modernists might bulk at it, since it falls into that Old Testament of hard – but important – sayings. After chronicling the infidelity of the people, it promises judgment.

Yet the full version of the canticle has been retained (at least for some times of the year) in the traditional Roman Office, and is worth a good read or two!

The next part of this series can be found here.

St Benedict's liturgical code: Matins/1 (Feb 10/June 11/Oct 11)

circa 1405-10 Parisian Book of Hours

I want to start my series on the Benedictine Office today, with a look at the section of the Rule of St Benedict set for February 10 (as well as June 11/October 11), which deals with the hour of Matins (aka Vigils or Office of Readings in the modern Liturgy of the Hours). 

I've included the Latin, as well as the English, of the Rule both for reference purposes and because in many traditional monasteries, the Latin version is read as part of  'chapter' (traditionally said immediately after Prime), and then the vernacular translation is read at lunch or dinner. 

Caput VIII: De Officiis Divinis in Noctibus

Hiemis tempore, id est, a Kalendis Novembribus usque in Pascha, juxta considerationem rationis, octava hora noctis surgendum est, ut modice amplius de media nocte pausetur, et jam digesti surgant. Quod vero restat post Vigilias, a fratribus qui psalterii vel lectionum aliquid indigent, meditationi inserviatur. A Pascha autem usque ad supradictas Novembres, sic temperetur hora ut Vigiliarum Agenda parvissimo intervallo, quo fratres ad necessaria naturae exeant, mox Matutini, qui incipiente luce agendi sunt, subsequantur.

Chapter 8: The Divine Office at Night

In winter, that is from the first of November until Easter, prudence dictates that the brethren shall rise at the eighth hour of the night, so that their sleep may extend for a moderate space beyond midnight, and they may rise with digestion completed. Those brethren, who need a better knowledge of them, should devote the time that remains after Matins to the study of the psalms and lessons. From Easter to the aforesaid first of November, let the hour of rising be so arranged that there be a very short interval after Matins, in which the brethren may go out for the necessities of nature, to be followed at once by Lauds, which should be said at dawn. (trans J McCann)

Commentary

One of the difficulties in reading St Benedict’s liturgical code is that he just launches right in, without providing any rationale for how and why to say the Office (though some of that is set out later), and without providing much explanation for the choices he makes.  Accordingly, we need to read between the lines.

The first point to note is that this chapter on some of the practicalities around saying Matins (aka Vigils aka Office of Readings) reinforces that St Benedict's is a training scheme involving body, mind and soul.  There is therefore a strong continuity between this chapter and the last, which instructed his monks on how to develop and maintain an attitude of humility in mind and body at all times.

The needs of the body

In terms of the body, there is something of a pattern in the Rule of St Benedict first asserting that is regime is moderate and easy, a Rule for mere beginners - and then setting out a regime that in fact looks pretty tough to modern eyes at least. This section on the Office, with its quite long and detailed requirements is just such a case!

The reference to the “eighth hour” is to the Roman system of time keeping that divided the hours of light and darkness into equal sized hours, whose length changed with the season. Since the length of the night ‘hours’ is much shorter in summer, there is less time for study if the monks are still to get the bare six to seven hours of sleep this regime allows (supplemented by a siesta).

Further on in the Rule (particularly in Chapters 41, 42 and 48) St Benedict provides a fair amount of flexibility in arranging the times of the 'hours' of the Office to fit the needs of the monks: to enable them to eat in light, fit in the demands of work, and so forth. Although as St Benedict later states, the liturgy has absolute priority, it is not supposed to squeeze out all other considerations and duties. There is an important message in that, particularly for those not bound to the observance of the full breviary such as oblates and other laypeople!

Unlike other contemporary rules, there are no all night Vigils legislated for here, no asceticism based on sleep deprivation. St Benedict is not an extremist when it comes to asceticism, at least by the standards of his time. He specifies that the days and nights are to be arranged so that the monks get adequate sleep. Nonetheless, even seven hours sleep is only just enough for most people, particularly coupled with rising around midnight.

The needs of the soul

One of the ongoing debates about the Office is its primary purpose: is it primarily an act of worship, an act of the Church to give glory to God, or is it meant more to provide meat for the monk’s contemplation?

St Benedict’s regulations here certainly seem to reject the Eastern desert idea of the Office as an extended meditation session, with the psalms seen primarily as readings rather than prayers. Instead, St Benedict seems to put more emphasis on the pure praise of God when it comes to the Office.

He does not neglect to feed the soul in the course of this act of worship, however, using devices such as the symbolism of light and darkness in the Office.  He specifies that there should be a Vigil prayer said in the dark hours of the night, but with Lauds timed to start at first light, for example.

Nor does St Benedict neglect to mention the mind, specifying that study and meditation on the psalms and other texts of the Office to take place outside the hours of the liturgy, in times set aside for study.

The monastic character of Matins

Finally, it is useful to keep in mind that although the Office in general seems to have been something equally said by the laity, ascetics and priests in the early and medieval church, there was no expectation that the clergy and lait would say all of the hours of the Office each day.  Rather, Matins or night prayer was generally regarded as something more appropriate to religious than the laity. Even today, this view still holds in many places. Abbot Lawrence of Christ in the Desert for example argues that this hour is absolutely crucial to the monastic vocation:

“We can probably say, without much dispute, that Vigils is a defining office of the monk. The monk is a Christian who keeps vigil every day.”

For this reason then, the Monastic Diurnal aimed at Oblates and other laypeople, does not contain Matins (though for those who wish to say it there are a number of books around around to enable you to do so).

As we read these instructions on the saying of Matins then, laypeople should perhaps reflect on the sacrifices offered on our behalf by those monks and nuns who still rise in the dark and pray for the whole world on our behalf. We should consider how we can support them both financially and through our own prayers. And we can consider how we can join our prayers to theirs even if we don't have the time or knowledge to say Matins each day, for example by saying the much shorter Matins of the Little Office of Our Lady or the Office of the Dead (contained in the Diurnal), or even just a short prayer if we wake up on the dark.

For the next part in ths series, click here.

Understanding the Benedict Office: Introduction

I signalled previously that I would offer a series of posts on the 'liturgical code' contained in the Rule of St Benedict, by way of an aid to understanding the Benedictine Office better.

Today I want to provide a short introduction to the series explaining just why they are important.

The importance of the liturgical code for monks

Abbot Lawrence of the Monastery of Christ in the Desert says in his commentary on the Rule that:
"    

These Chapters, from 8 through 20, are very important for understanding life in a Benedictine     monastery. Today very few follow these chapters of the Rule, especially with regard to the structure of the Divine Office. Unless we understand them well, we will begin to lose a truly Benedictine life, which has at its heart the praying of the Divine Office. There is no way that one can follow this structure of Rule of Benedict and not be aware of the truly important place of the Divine Office in the daily life of the monk and the amount of time that Saint Benedict presumed that a monk would spend in public prayer...For our spirituality, we must reflect on whether the Divine Office is at the heart of my personal spirituality. This is a teaching of the Rule that is very important. Let us strive to keep the Divine Office central in our lives by being present, by praying and by giving ourselves generously to the demands of this type of prayer."

I certainly agree with his comments on the importance of the liturgical code for the life of a monastery.

Understand the structure of the Office  - and more

The most obvious value in studying these sections of the Rule lies in helping us understand the structure of the Benedictine Office, and to look at how the Office has evolved since St Benedict's time.

The chapters describe the eight hours that make up St Benedict's Office, their structure and content, when they are to be said, and how they should be approached.

And the number of chapters of the Rule that St Benedict devotes to the liturgy clearly signals that for the monk, the liturgy is the centrepoint of the life. 

But I think the importance of these chapters goes far beyond that.  St Benedict provides within it, I think, specific tools to aid the spiritual life.  He explicitly mentions, for example, the recitation of the Our Father by the superior each day as a means of combating scandal and division within the monastery.  The daily use of that ultimate penitential psalm, Psalm 50, at Lauds perhaps has a similar purpose.

More generally, the pattern of repetitions of the psalms and their progression through the week, is designed, in my view, to reinforce and teach the spirituality set out in the Rule more broadly.

For the laity too

The implicit lessons contained in this section of the Rule are just as important for Oblates and other followers of St Benedict as for monks in my view.

That is not to say that we should be reading them too literally.

First, in some areas the Church has amended St Benedict's prescriptions for the Office, and we are bound by this later legislation.

Secondly, I am not suggesting that laypeople should necessarily attempt the full monastic Office, far from it. Some may be able to, but the primary vocation of the Oblate is in the world, and the duties associated with that. Oblates will normally try and say some form of the Office or some hours from it on a regular basis, but they are certainly not bound to say the whole thing, particularly if to do so would be at the expense of other duties such as spending time with one's family.

There are though, I think, some important things being said in this section about the importance of the liturgy, about obedience and humility, and much more.

Following the structure of the Rule

Before I get down to the actual chapters though, I think it is worth noting that the start of the section of the Rule on the liturgy seems to start rather abruptly.  In fact, though, I think it is deeply connected to what comes immediately before it.

The first chapters of the Benedictine Rule take the reader through why we should embrace the monastic/true Christian life (the Prologue); the essentials for success, viz a genuine community, with someone in charge, but where authority is based on genuine listening (chapters 1-3); that getting to heaven requires us to undertake good works (ch 4); and that in whatever we do we must adopt the right attitudes, particularly of humility and obedience (chs 5 – 7).

The Divine Office, in my view, represents the practical application of all that has come so far in the Rule: our liturgical prayer articulates our response to God’s invitation to us all to be workers in his vineyard; it said communally, requires both speaking and listening, and is said in ways that reflect the internal hierarchy of the monastery; it is an active good work to praise God on behalf of ourselves and the whole Church; and it requires an attitude of obedience and humility to follow the prescriptions set out in the Rule.

So if you aren't familiar with the Benedictine Rule, do take the time, if you can, to have a quick read of the chapters up to Chapter 8 (they really aren't very long) by way of preparation for this series.

And once your ready, you can find the next post in the series here.