St Benedict on Tuesday - Matins readings for November and Lauds in the Votive Office

This is once again a Tuesday unimpeded by feasts so in days of yore a Votive Office of St Benedict would have been said.

Even if you don't wish to say a devotional Office of the saint it is certainly salutary, I think, to make some extra devotion to St Benedict on Tuesdays in keeping with this beautiful tradition.

And hopefully at least some people will find it interesting to know something more of the liturgical traditions of the Order.

St Benedict and a good death

In previous posts I've described Vespers (said the night before) and Matins, so today I want to focus on Lauds.

But first, it is worth noting that the Matins readings for theVotive  Office in November were, appropriately for the season, on the death of St Benedict, as described in Chapter 37 of the Life of St Benedict by St Gregory the Great.  You can find the translation set out as it is in the older breviaries (ie pre-1911) over at my Lectio Divina blog.

St Benedict, by virtue of his edifying death, propped up in Church by two of his monks, is regarded as the patron of a good death, and it seems to me well worth meditating on this chapter given that this conception of the good death is so deeply counter-cultural to our times.

You might also want to consider adding to your prayers, if you don't already say it, the daily prayer to St Benedict for a happy death:

V. Intercede for us, O holy Father Benedict. R. And obtain for us the grace of a happy death.

O holy Father, St. Benedict, blessed by God both in grace and in name, who, while standing in prayer, with hands raised to heaven, didst most happily yield thy angelic spirit into the hands of thy Creator, and hast promised zealously to defend against all the snares of the enemy in the last struggle of death, those who shall daily remind thee of thy glorious departure and heavenly joys; protect me, I beseech thee, O glorious Father, this day and every day, by thy holy blessings, that I may never be separated from our dear Lord, from the society of thyself, and of all the blessed. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen."

Votive Office of St Benedict - Lauds

At Lauds the antiphons, chapter, responsory and hymn of the Office were those of the Feast of St Benedict on March 21 (Fuit vir etc).

The Benedictus antiphon, however, was:

O beati viri Benedicti sancta praeconia, o inaestimabilis dilectio caritatis, quidum saeculi pompam contempsit, aeternae vitae coniunctus est.

O blessed man

The collect was, as for the other hours:

The collect is:

Excita Domine, in Ecclesia tua Spiritum, cui beatus Pater noster Benedictus Abbas servivit; ut eodem nos repleti studeamus amare quod docuit.  Per Dominum...in unitate ejusdem Spiritus.

(Raise up, O Lord, in thy Church, the Spirit wherewith our holy Father Benedict was animated: that, filled with the same,  we may strive to love what he loved, and to practise what he taught.  Through Christ...)

The recording of the hymn below differs from the version in the 1934 antiphonale, but is worth listening to nonetheless.

November 8: The Four Crowned Martyrs, Memorial

The 'four crowned martyrs' - named in the Roman martyrology as Severus, Severian, Carpophorus and Victorinus - soldiers who were beaten to death with leaden scourges under the Emperor Diocletian for refusing to sacrifice to the gods. 

Ancient custom combines their celebration with five other martyrs under Diocletian, Claudius, Nicostatus, Symphorian, Castorius and Simplicius, stone masons who refused to make graven images under the same Emperor around 305 AD.

Brush up your rubrics: Getting ready for Advent - Matins

Continuing this little series on getting ready for Advent, today a quick look at Matins during Advent.

Matins during Advent

Matins during Advent is actually fairly straightforward - although there are some seasonal texts, unlike the day hours, Matins doesn't become more complicated in the second half of Advent!

The key changes are that:

• instead of the daily invitatory verses that are normally used with Psalm 94, there are two seasonal ones; 
• the hymn  (Verbum supernum) is of the season rather than the day of the week; 
• on Sundays there are antiphons for the season;
• the versicles at the end of the first Nocturn are of the season; 
• there are three readings each day, generally from Isaiah; 
• the final chapter is of the season; and 
• on Sundays the third Nocturn canticles are of the season.

If you are using a breviary to say Matins, all of this is set out in the Ordinary (pgs 14-15 of Volume 1 for the 1963 edition of the breviary).  It is also nicely set out in the new Nocturnal Monasticum at page 14.

If you are using the Clear Creek booklet, however, not all of these texts are included, so I'll point you to sources for the missing parts.

Invitatory and hymn

The invitatory verse up until the third Sunday of Advent is the same as the Roman Office, viz:

 Regem venturum Dominum * Venite adoremus.

The Lord, the King who is to come * O come, let us adore Him.

Note though that there are a couple of different versions of the chant around; the monastic one can be found in the Liber Hymnarius (pg 146).  

From the third Sunday, the invitatory becomes:

Prope est iam Dominus * Venite adoremus.
The Lord is now near * O come, let us adore Him.

The hymn is also the same as the Roman Office, and so the text can be found at Divinum Officium.

Nocturns

The antiphons, versicles and so forth needed are generally listed in psalters, so it is just a matter of making sure you use the ones noted for Advent. Note that on week days the antiphons are as for throughout the year.  

Brush up your rubrics: Getting ready for Advent Part I - Prime and Compline in Advent

I want to offer a short series of notes and links on the Office of Advent to encourage you to start preparing now.

Advent is easily the most complex period when it comes to saying the Office, due to the mix of texts that need to be juggled for the season, week of Advent, day of the week and date.  But on the positive side, Advent also includes some of the most beautiful texts and chants in the repertoire, which are well worth learning.

Accordingly, today a look at Compline and Prime, which are relatively straightforward.

Compline

At Compline, apart from chant tones, the only change is in the Marian antiphon, which becomes Alma Redemptoris Mater.

For the psalms, the most commonly utilised chant tone is actually the one (in directum) that appears in most chant books (I haven't been able to find the other seasonal tones in a printed book - do let me know if you know of a good source for these!).  You can get a feel for it by listening to one of the archived podcasts from Le Barroux).

For the hymn tone, you can listen to Te lucis ante terminum sung to the Advent tone (page 183 in the Antiphonale Monasticum) over at Liber Hynarius.

For the Marian antiphon, on weekdays use the simple tone:



On Saturdays, Sundays and major feasts, the Solemn tone.  Here it is sung by the nuns of Argentan:

Prime

The key change to Prime is that instead of the normal antiphons for each day of the week, there are antiphons for each week of Advent (up to December 16), and then each day of the week (December 17-23).

Up to and including December 16

Up until December 16, the antiphon for Prime (except where displaced by feasts) is the first antiphon of Lauds on Sunday.

So for week I of Advent, the antiphon is In illa die; in week 2 of Advent, Ecce in nubibus caeli.

As well as under Sundays in Advent, you can also find them in the section that sets out the Ordinary of Advent, on MD 13* (right at the front of the Diurnal).

The psalms (of each day of the week), chapter, versicles and collect all stay as usual.

The text of the hymn remains unchanged (Iam lucis), but there is an Advent hymn tone to use - the tone is the same for all of the hymns from Prime to None, and you can find it in the Antiphonale Monasticum. 

December 17-23

Between December 17 and 23, there is a different antiphon for each day of the week, and you can find these on pages 37*-40*.

The antiphon for Prime is, as usual, the first antiphon of Lauds.

November 2: All Souls

The Feast of All Souls, when we especially pray for the souls in purgatory, has Benedictine origins, having been established by St. Odilo at his abbey of Cluny in 998.

He was inspired to establish the feast by a pilgrim returning from the Holy Land who was cast by a storm on a desolate island. A hermit living there told him that amid the rocks was a chasm communicating with purgatory, from which perpetually rose the groans of tortured souls. The hermit had also heard the demons complaining of the efficacy of the prayers of the faithful, and especially the monks of Cluny, in rescuing their victims. Upon returning home, the pilgrim hastened to inform the abbot of Cluny, who then set 2 November as a day of intercession on the part of his community for all the souls in purgatory.

From Cluny the custom quickly spread across Europe, and entered the universal calendar in the fourteenth century.

1 November: Feast of All Saints

Today is the feast of All Hallows, or All Saints, when we commemorate all those who have reached heaven, known or unknown.

These days a lot of communities seem to be treating it as a chance to celebrate again your own favourite canonised saint.  But personally I favour celebrating all those faithful souls that we don't know about, but who are yet saints in heaven, particularly asking those of our own ancestors and deceased relatives and friends if they be in this happy state, to pray for us.

The origins of the feast can be traced back to the consecration of the Parthenon to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs around 609, and was originally celebrated on 13 May.  The feast was moved to 1 November by Pope Gregory III (731–741) when he built an oratory in St. Peter's for the relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors, of all the just made perfect who are at rest throughout the world".

October 31: Halloween

Irish Halloween party, Daniel Maclise, 1833

Today used to be the Vigil of All Saints (aka Halloween), a night when traditionally the veil between Earth and purgatory thinned, the dead could come back to request prayers, and devils could appear to remind us of the reality of hell.

These days there are endless debates amongst Catholics infected by political correctness as to the appropriateness/catholicity of Halloween celebrations.  Personally, I'm with those who think we do need a reminder of the reality of death, demons and the workers of evil....