IHS: Greek or Latin?

Assuming you aren't celebrating the newly created solemnity of (this year) Eleventh Day (aka 'Epiphany Sunday') you are probably celebrating the feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, popularly represented in the Christogram IHS (if you are facing an Epiphany Sunday, you probably celebrated the novus ordo version of the feast of the Holy Name on Friday).

But are the origins of the abbreviation?

I have to say I had assumed it was Latin, but at Mass this morning our priest suggested it was from the Greek.

A little digging suggests that the case can be made for either language.

Latin origins?

The 1919 Catholic Encyclopedia gives it a Latin origin, saying:

"The emblem or monogram representing the Holy Name of Jesus consists of the three letters: IHS. In the Middle Ages the Name of Jesus was written: IHESUS; the monogram contains the first and last letter of the Holy Name. It is first found on a gold coin of the eight century: DN IHS CHS REX REGNANTIUM (The Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings)."

This sounds very plausible to me, particularly as the abbreviation was popularised in the West in the fourteenth century (its first known appearance in written text is in the English Vision of Piers the Plowman).

The Encyclopedia entry goes on to explain some 'bacronyms' propagated by the Jesuits (who else!) and others:

"Some erroneously say that the three letters are the initials of: "Jesus Hominum Salvator" (Jesus Saviour of Men). The Jesuits made this monogram the emblem of their Society, adding a cross over the H and three nails under it. Consequently a new explanation of the emblem was invented, pretending that the nails originally were a "V", and that the monogram stands for "In Hoc Signo Vinces" (In This Sign you shall Conquer), the words which, according to a legendary account, Constantine saw in the heavens under the Sign of the Cross before the battle at the Milvian bridge (312)."

Nonetheless, some modern sources do propose Greek origins for the letters.

The Greek explanation

In particular, the Wikipedia, citing three recent authors, claims that:

"In Eastern Christianity, the most widely used Christogram is a four-letter abbreviation, ΙϹΧϹ — a traditional abbreviation of the Greek words for "Jesus Christ" (i.e., the first and last letters of each of the words ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ — written "ΙΗϹΟΥϹ ΧΡΙϹΤΟϹ" with the lunate sigma "Ϲ" common in medieval Greek). On icons, this Christogram may be split: "ΙϹ" on the left of the image and "ΧϹ" on the right, most often with a bar above the letters (see titlos), indicating that it is a sacred name. It is sometimes rendered as "ΙϹΧϹ ΝΙΚΑ", meaning "Jesus Christ Conquers." "ΙϹΧϹ" may also be seen inscribed on the Ichthys. In the traditional icon of Christ Pantokrator, Christ's right hand is shown in a pose that represents the letters ΙϹ, Χ, and Ϲ....In the Latin-speaking Christianity of medieval Western Europe (and so among Catholics and many Protestants today), the most common Christogram became "IHS" or "IHC", denoting the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus, iota-eta-sigma, or ΙΗΣ...Because the Latin-alphabet letters I and J were not systematically distinguished until the 17th century, "JHS" and "JHC" are equivalent to "IHS" and "IHC"."

Second Sunday after the Nativity (aka Most Holy Name of Jesus)

This Sunday (or January 2 if there is no suitable Sunday) has been celebrated as the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus since the sixteenth century.

In the 1962  revamp of the Benedictine calendar, however, this was replaced by liturgical wreckovators, by the 'Second Sunday of the Nativity', complete with new texts.  The 1962 Roman Missal however remained unchanged, leading to an odd disjunction between the Benedictine Use and the Roman.  The wreckovators did try again temporarily succeed in their aims with respect to the Roman rite: the 1970 Missal made the feast optional only.  But it was restored in the 2002 calendar (albeit this year on January 3 rather than the Sunday, which has, in most places become Epiphany Sunday aka Eleventh Day!).

Accordingly, the omission of the feast in the Benedictine 'traditional' calendar of 1962-3 is anomalous.  If you attend a Roman EF, or your monastery includes the older feast in its calendar, and so want to celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, you can find the (Latin) texts in the Antiphonale Monasticum, at pages 276 ff.  Alternatively you could either use this to say the Office devotionally, or say the Office according to the Roman Breviary (Divinum Officium has the text).

Either way, Vespers on Sunday is for the following feast of the Epiphany, as Nativitytide officially finishes at None on Sunday this year, though of course the season of Epiphany is still part of the broader Christmas season.

Readings at Matins

The readings for Matins this Sunday (according to the 1962 Benedictine Breviary) are as follows:

Nocturn I: Romans 1-11 (note that reading 3 for January 5 is split in two to make four readings, and responsories are for the Sunday)
Nocturn II: Sermon of St Augustine
Nocturn III: Sermon of St Jerome on Matthew 9:2
Gospel: Mt 2:19-23

The Office this week in summary

Sunday 5 January –  Second Sunday after the Nativity, Class II [EF: Most Holy Name of Jesus]
Monday 6 January – Epiphany of Our Lord, Class I
Tuesday 7 January – Class IV
Wednesday 8 January – Class IV
Thursday 9 January – Class IV
Friday 10 January – Class IV; St Paul the First Hermit, memorial
Saturday 11 January – Saturday of Our Lady (Sat 2 of Jan) [EF: Commemoration of St Hyginus]

Lectio Divina Options

I've previously suggested on this blog that doing at least some lectio divina each day should surely be a key part of our daily spiritual regime.  St Benedict, after all, prescribes a balanced regime based on prayer (the Office), sacred reading (lectio divina), and work.

As his followers, we should, accordingly endeavour to maintain a balance between each of these appropriate to our state in life: more hours of work if we are laypeople than a monk would do, and less prayer and reading, but still some of each of these.

But when it comes to lectio divina, what should we take as our text?  Let me suggest a few options for your consideration for the new year.

Option 1: Study the psalms

For followers of St Benedict, knowing the psalms is surely the first priority.  St Benedict enjoins the study of the psalms twice in his Rule - once as a use for the gap between Matins and Lauds, and a second time in his discussion of the daily horarium.

Why?

The psalms are of course the backbone of his Office, their repetition each each week so crucial that the lessons are to be dropped if necessary, rather than the psalms be omitted or Lauds started late!  Yet the saint never actually explains why they are so important; rather  he just assumes we know that the psalms are the most quoted book of the Old Testament in the New, and long considered to contain the entire Bible in summary, poetic form.

Finding a good modern commentary on the psalms is not easy however.  Accordingly, I started putting together my own notes which you can find over at my blog Psallam Domino.  The posts there are intended to assist those wishing to use the psalms for lectio divina; to help understand them better in the context of the interpretations provided by the Magisterium, Fathers and Theologians; and to assist in learning to pray them in Latin.  The focus is very much on the context of the Benedictine form of the Divine Office.

Option 2: Systematic reading of the Gospels

A second option is to spread the reading of the Gospels over a year, taking one for each quarter.  The Gospels are obviously the most important books of the Bible for any Christian to be familiar with, so well worth the effort.  And there are any number of commentaries available to assist this task.  A good starting point is the Catena Aurea of St Thomas, providing an anthology of patristic commentaries for our consideration.

I've previously provided notes as prompts for lectio here on St John's Gospel, but for those interested, I've set up a separate blog Lectio Divina Notes so I can gauge better just how much interest (if any!) there is in these posts.  I plan to take here, looking at St Matthew's Gospel this quarter.

Option 3: (Rest of the) Bible in a year

Another option worth considering is systematically reading the rest of the Bible.

If you are feeling ambitious, a while back, a monk posted a suggested two possible reading plans for the Bible in a year over at New Liturgical Movement.  But if you are not a monk with several hours a day to devote to the task, you could devise a plan to spread your reading over two  or three years!

Option 4: The texts of the Sunday cycle

Another obvious option is to use the lectionary and propers used at the Mass.  If you normally attend the 1970 Missal Mass, there is so much material provided in the lectionary that you will have to select what to look at  - one obvious option being the epistles for each day.

In the traditional Mass the obvious option is to look at all the proper texts for the Sunday (and perhaps the texts of the other major feasts and seasons) - that is the Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Epistle, Gospel, Offertory and Communio - over a week.  The Church has, for centuries, selected out these texts as crucial to our instruction, repeating them year after year so that we can have them practically memorised, so exploring them in more depth for ourselves makes a great deal of sense.

The Sunday Gospels of course can easily take up two or three days in this regime, if one studies them with the aid of patristic sources such as using the excellent Sunday Sermons of the Fathers volumes.  And if the psalm verses or other text in the propers are too sparse or repetitive, it is no great problem to consider the whole psalm or chapter from which the text is taken.

(Cross-posted from Lectio Divina Notes)

Giving thanks for the year past: Te Deum Laudamus

Durer

There is a plenary indulgence to be gained if you participate in the public recitation of the Te Deum as thanksgiving on the last day of the year.  If said privately, it is a partial indulgence.  You can find the text here.



Remember too, that there is another plenary indulgence to be gained (under the normal conditions) for the public recitation of the Veni Creator on the first day of January.

Octave of the Nativity (aka Circumcision of Our Lord aka Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God)

New Year's Day is of course the Octave Day of Christmas.

At Matins in the Benedictine Office the readings are as follows:

Nocturn I: Romans 4:1-17
Nocturn II: Sermon of Pope St Leo
Nocturn III: Homily of St Ambrose
Gospel: Luke 2:21

Here are the third Nocturn readings:

(Reading 9): So the Child is circumcised. This is the Child of Whom it is said Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given. Made under the law to redeem them that were under the law. To present Him to the Lord.  In my Commentary on Isaiah I have already explained what is meant by being presented to the Lord in Jerusalem, and therefore I will not enter into the subject again. He that is circumcised in heart gaineth the protection of God, for the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous.

(Reading 10): Ye will see that as all the ceremonies of the old law were types of realities in the new, so the circumcision of the body signified the cleansing of the heart from the guilt of sin.  But since the body and mind of man remain yet infected with a proneness' to sin, the circumcision of the eighth day is also a type of that complete cleansing from sin which we shall have at the resurrection. This ceremony was also performed in obedience to the commandment of God: Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy unto the Lord. These words were written with especial reference to the delivery of the Blessed Virgin.

(Reading 11): Truly He That opened her womb was holy, for He was altogether without spot, and we may gather that the law was written specially for Him from the words of the Angel That Holy Thing Which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God.Among all that are born of women the Lord Jesus Christ stood alone in holiness. Fresh from His immaculate Birth, He felt no contagion from human corruption, and His heavenly Majesty drove it away.

(Reading 12): If we are to follow the letter and say that every male that openeth the womb is holy, how shall we explain that so many have been unrighteous? Was Ahab holy? Were the false prophets holy? Were they holy on whom Elijah justly called down fire from heaven? But He to Whom the sacred commandment of the law of God is mystically directed is the Holy One of Israel; Who also alone hath opened the secret womb of His holy Virgin-bride the Church, filling her with a sinless fruitfulness to give birth to Christian souls.

Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity

Giotto: Presentation in the Temple

This Sunday is the Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity.

Matins readings

At Matins in the traditional Benedictine Office the readings are as follows:

Nocturn I: Romans 1:1-19
Nocturn II: Sermon of Pope St Leo
Nocturn III: Homily of St Ambrose
Gospel: Luke 2: 33-40

The Benedictine Office this week in summary

Up until (and including) Wednesday, the Office is of the Octave of Christmas. From Wednesday, the 'Ordinary of nativitytide' is used.

Sunday 29 December – Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity, Class II [in some places, St Thomas Beckett, Class I]

Monday 30 December – Sixth Day within the Octave of the Nativity, Class II (First nocturn readings are from a homily of St Ambrose)

Tuesday 31 December – Seventh Day within the Octave of the Nativity, Class II; commemoration of St Sylvester I (Readings from a Homily of St Leo)

Wednesday January 1 – Octave of the Nativity, Class I

Thursday January 2 – Class IV [**in some places, St Thomas of Canterbury] (Readings: Romans 5:1-12)

Friday January 3 - Class IV (Readings: Romans 6:1-18)

Saturday January 4 – Our Lady on Saturday; St Titus, memorial (Romans 7: 1-9; third reading of Our Lady)

St Thomas a Becket

In some countries today is the feast of St Thomas Becket, murdered in 1170 over a dispute over the rights of the Church with King Henry II.

Feast of the Holy Innocents

Today is the feast of the Holy Innocents.  The first Nocturn readings at Matins in the Benedictine Office are from Jeremiah 31: 15-23, while the Gospel is St Matthew 2:13-18.

The Second Nocturn readings are from a sermon of St Caesarius (sometimes ascribed to St Augustine, as it is over at the Divinum Officium website where you can also find the third Nocturn readings by St Jerome):

(Reading 5): Dearly beloved brethren, today we keep the birthday of those children, who, as we are informed by the Gospel, were massacred by the savage King Herod. Therefore let earth rejoice with exceeding joy, for she is the mother of these heavenly soldiers, and of this numerous host. The love of the vile Herod could never have crowned these blessed ones as hath his hatred.

(Reading 6): For the Church testifieth by this holy solemnity, that whereas iniquity did specially abound against these little saints, so much the more were heavenly blessings poured out upon them.Blessed art thou, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, which hast suffered the cruelty of King Herod in the slaughter of thy children; who art found worthy to offer at once to God a whole white-robed army of guileless martyrs!

(Reading 7): Surely, it is well to keep their birthday, even that blessed birthday which gave them from earth to heaven, more blessed than the day that brought them out of their mother's womb. Scarcely had they entered on the life that now is, when they obtained that glorious life which is to come.

(Reading 8): We praise the death of other martyrs because it was the crowning act of an undaunted and persistent testimony; but these were crowned at once. He That maketh an end to this present life, gave to them at its very gates that eternal blessedness which we hope for at its close. They whom the wickedness of Herod tore from their mothers' breasts are rightfully called the flowers of martyrdom; hardly had these buds of the Church shown their heads above the soil, in the winter of unbelief, when the frost of persecution nipped them.