Brush up your rubrics: Prime

Today in this quick revision series I want to look at Prime.

Why you should say Prime!

Prime is the ideal hour for beginners in my view, a much better place to start than Lauds, because it is very straightforward to say.  But more importantly, it is an ideal hour to say as preparation for the day's work.

Prime is less familiar to many people coming from the modern Liturgy of the Hours, since Vatican II abolished it for the Roman (but not monastic) Office, largely as far as I can gather in the interest of shortening the length of the Office, and its perceived duplication of Lauds.

In the Benedictine Office though it is extremely important structurally and theologically, so it is a great shame in my view, that so many monasteries have followed the Roman Office and suppressed it.  So let me take this opportunity to say why I think they should revert to tradition on this front and why you should embrace this hour yourself.

The Lord's call for labourers at the first hour of the day: First, St Benedict uses the image of the labourer in the vineyard in the prologue to the Rule, calling out for workers:

And the Lord, seeking his workman among the multitudes to whom he thus crieth, saith again: What man is he that desireth life and would fain see good days?

The image of us as God's labourers, above all in the Opus Dei, is a key one in the Rule I think, and several of the early commentaries on the Office, most notably Cassian, linked the times for the day hours with the times the master seeks out workers for his vineyard in the marketplace in St Matthew 20:

The kingdom of heaven is like to an householder, who went out early in the morning [primo mane] to hire labourers into his vineyard. And having agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

Prime then, stands for the first of the hours at which the Master calls for his faithful to join his cause.

Christ aleph and tau: Secondly, the hour is foundational, teaching us that Christ is both first and last, alpha and omega, or, in the Hebrew alphabet, aleph and tau.  On the first day of the week, Sunday, Prime actually starts with the stanza of Psalm 118 in which each line starts with the letter aleph in the Hebrew.  And the last psalm of Prime on Saturday, Psalm 19, is about the triumph of Christ the King.  It is noteworthy then, that the hour also consists of exactly 22 'psalms' (St Benedict counts each stanza of Psalm 118 as a separate psalm), the same number as the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

Through and with Christ:  The importance of 'preferring nothing to Christ' is also reinforced by the two beatitudes that feature in this hour.  Psalm 1 (Beatus vir) on Monday can be interpreted as presenting us with the image of Christ the perfect man, who invites us to choose his path, and meditate on his law day and night.  The opening verse of Psalm 118, said on Sunday, which is both the first day of the week (of creation) and last day of the week (the eighth day, of the Resurrection), can be interpreted as Christ leading the many (Beati immaculati in via) who have persevered in his way into heaven.

Prime  in the Rule:The psalms set for the hour are extremely important ones too - Psalms 1 and 2 (Monday) are generally regarded as introductions to the whole psalter and centre on the Incarnation and Passion.   There are strong links between the psalms of Prime with several of the other key themes of the Rule, such as God's constant scrutiny of us, and our proper focus on entering heaven; several of the psalms set for this hour are quoted extensively in the Rule.

The rubrics - key tips

There are a few key things to keep in mind in saying Prime with the aid of the Diurnal.

Opening and closing sections:  The Diurnal only includes the opening and closing sections of Prime once, for Monday Prime, but these are in fact said each day.

So the hour always starts with the standard opening prayer for the day hours, Deus in Adjutorium...

This is then always followed by the hymn, Iam Lucis Orto Sidere (the sole exception is during the Sacred Triduum).

And Prime always has the same chapter (though note that older books provide an alternative one for use on some days), versicle and concluding prayers.

The collect of Prime is always the same, asking for God's protection for us during the day, so even if you don't actually say the full hour it is perhaps worth adding this one to your routine:

O Lord, our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who has safely brought us to the beginning of this day: defend us by thy mighty power; and grant that this day we not fall into sin, but that all our words, thoughts and works may be directed to doing what is righteous in thy sight. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Psalms and antiphons: The middle section of Prime consists of an antiphon said before and after the three psalms of the day of the week.

Feasts: Note that there is no 'festal' set of psalms for Prime in the Benedictine Office: the psalms are always of the day of the week.

In fact on feasts, the only thing that changes at Prime (in terms of the texts, there are different chant tones if you are singing it) is the antiphon.

Chapter: It is worth noting that in a monastery, Prime is generally followed by 'chapter', which normally includes the reading of the martyrology, the Rule, remembrance of the monastery's dead, and some prayers for the day.

This isn't included in the Diurnal, as traditionally this is said in the chapter room (hence its name), and each Congregation or monastery is free, according to the rubrics in the breviary, to use their own version of it.  But if you listen to the podcasts of Le Barroux, they use the version provided in the Antiphonale Monasticum (which can be downloaded at CC Watershed).  Many monasteries also include some preaching from the abbot at chapter, for example on the Rule (and I believe Silverstream Priory provides podcasts of some of their Prior's chapter talks).

 The key rubrics and page numbers in the Diurnal

The table below summarises the key parts of Prime, and where you can find them in the Diurnal.

PRIME	Where to find it in your book…*	RUBRICS (if possible, optional when said alone)
Opening prayers	MD 1	Stand, ☩
Hymn	MD 1-2; 146-7 (Sunday)	Sung standing, medium bow last verse
Antiphon	[It depends]	Sung standing. In choir or in a group cantor intones, rest join in at *
Psalms of the day of the week	Monday - start MD 3 Tuesday - start MD 10 Wednesday – MD 16 Thursday – MD 21 Friday - MD 25 Saturday - MD 32 Sunday- MD 146	Sit after first half of verse 1 of psalm; stand and bow for the Gloria Patri at the end of each psalm.
Antiphon	[It depends]	Stay standing.
Chapter	MD 7	Note response,  ‘Deo Gratias.
Versicle	MD 7
Closing prayers, including collect	MD 8-9	Bow for Our Father (said silently) and collect. Ends with ‘fidelium animae…’☩

* Page numbers may differ in other editions.

Brush up your rubrics: memorials/commemorations

Continuing this little 'brush up your rubrics' series in the lead up to the feast of St Benedict, today's rubrics note mainly relates to Lauds, and concerns how to mark memorials of saints, or make a 'commemoration'.

This is a subject that everyone seems to struggle with, and you need to know about, because while my Ordo does set these out, you may need to take note of a feast that is particular to your country/diocese/monastery.

What are commemorations?

Commemorations basically come up in two ways:

(1)  To mark the feast of a saint listed as 'memorial' in the Diurnal (ordinary commemorations).

This is the lowest level way that the Office takes note of a saint - the feast doesn't affect any of the hours except Lauds, and then only adds a few prayers onto the end of the hour after the collect of the week.

The Ordo for July 3 for example says: Class IV; SS Processus and Martinian, memorial.  It then points you to page [184] of the Monastic Diurnal for the texts you need for the commemoration of the saint.

(2) To mark a feast or day displaced by a higher level day 

When two feasts or days clash there are rules about which one to celebrate.  In 2017 for example, the Sunday took precedence over the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  When two feasts or special days fall on the same date, there are basically three possibilities:

• one of the feasts is transferred to the next available day.  In the 1962 calendar this only occurs with first class feasts; or
• one of the feasts or days prevails, and the other feast is not celebrated at all that year.  Third class feasts that clash with Sundays, for example, are treated this way; or
• the main Office is of one of the feasts, but a commemoration of the other is made at Lauds (as this year with the Visitation) and sometimes also Vespers (for example when a Lent day is displaced by a feast).

There are tables at the front of the Monastic Diurnal (see page xxv) that summarise the rules on which feasts take precedence, and what notice, if any, is taken of the other feast.  

The tables basically reflect the principle that whether a day is commemorated at Lauds only, or at both Lauds and Vespers, is whether it is a 'privileged' commemoration (first class feasts; Sundays; Octave of Christmas; September Ember Days; Lent, Advent and Passiontide days; Major Litanies) or not.

How many commemorations?

It is also worth knowing that there are rules about how many commemorations can be said on a particular day.  

On first class feasts, for example, only one commemoration is permitted, and then only if it is a 'privileged' commemoration.

On normal Sundays (Class II), only one commemoration is permitted, of either a first or second class feast.

On second class days, one privileged and one ordinary commemoration can be said.

On third or fourth class days, two commemorations can be made.

Where there is a clash, the highest ranking commemoration(s) are used, and any others are dropped for that year. 

How to make a commemoration

Commemorations are said immediately after the collect in the closing prayers of the hour.  They normally consist of (in this order):

• an antiphon (either for the Benedictus if the commemoration is at Lauds, or for the Magnificat at Vespers);
• the short verse and response, or versicle that would have been said before it at Lauds or Vespers;
• and a prayer (collect). 

For the memorial of saints, the Diurnal sets all these out in the correct order, so you really just need to say what's there.  On other days you might need to pull these three texts out from amongst the others for the day or feast.

If you are singing the Office, the Antiphonale Monasticum includes a section providing the chants for commemorations from the Common of Saints starting at page 735.

The key exception to the 'how to make a commemoration' rules is feasts of SS Peter and Paul, but we've just passed the most recent of these, so hopefully you followed the instructions in your Diurnal!

Brush up your rubrics - Lauds

We are coming up to the feast of St Benedict on July 11 so don't forget the Novena to St Benedict!

And by way of a lead in to the feast, I've been getting a few comments on the blog of late that suggest a little reminder on the structure of the hours and key page numbers might be helpful, so herewith the first one on Lauds.

I'm not sure Lauds is really the best place to start, since it is the most complicated of all the hours (if you are a beginner, I strongly recommend starting with Prime and Compline, as these are the most straightforward with the fewest moving parts, make a nice morning and evening prayer, and provide a good way into learning the Office).  Nonetheless, I'll take the hours in order.

Comments on ways to improve these summaries and make them more user friendly, or particular questions you would like to see covered, are welcome.

Fixed vs variable parts of the hour

The first thing you need to be clear on, I think, is which parts of the hour can and cannot change with the seasons or particular feasts.  The table below summarises the various elements of Lauds in its three main versions - Sundays, feasts and weekdays.

For Sundays during the year, the key things to note are that:

• the canticle antiphon and collect are always of the particular Sunday;
• the hymn used depends on the season - there is a winter (Aeterne rerum Conditor) and summer (Ecce Iam Noctis) version; and
• although the Diurnal provides the 'festal' psalms under Sunday, these are only used on a few specified Sundays - the normal psalms of Sunday, as set out below are Psalms 50, 117 and 62.

For weekdays, the reason the table gets a bit messy is that some lower level feasts don't use the 'festal' psalms, but do change other elements of the hour (including, on occasion, the antiphons), and seasonal texts displace those 'of the day of the week' for large chunks of the year.  

But on most days of the week after Pentecost (ie ones that are not feasts) the psalms, antiphons (including for the Benedictus), chapter, responsory etc are fixed for the particular day of the week  - the only thing that changes is the collect, which is of the week.

The psalmody at Lauds	Sunday	Festal	Weekday
Opening prayers	Fixed
Psalm 66	Fixed
Antiphon:	Variable (normally alleluia)
Psalm 50+ Gloria	Fixed	Psalm 92+variable antiphon	Fixed +variable antiphon (normally of the day)
Psalm+Gloria	Psalm 117	Psalm 99+variable antiphon	Of the day +variable antiphon (normally of the day)
Psalm+Gloria	Psalm 62	Psalm 62+variable antiphon	Of the day +variable antiphon (normally of the day)
Antiphon	Variable (normally alleluia)
Antiphon for the canticle	Variable (normally Tres Pueri)	Variable	Variable - Of the day of the week unless displaced by feast or season
OT Canticle	Benedicite Domino (no Gloria)	[Festal] canticle of the day of the week with Gloria	Ferial or festal canticle of the day of the week  with Gloria
Antiphon	Variable (normally Alleluia)	Of the feast	Of the day of the week or feast
Ps 148+149+150+Gloria	Fixed
Antiphon	Variable (normally of the day unless displaced by feast or season)
Chapter	Variable (normally of the day of the week, unless displaced by feast or season)
Responsory	Variable (normally of the day of the week, unless displaced by feast or season)
Hymn	Variable – summer winter and seasons	Of the feast	Of the day of the week or season
versicle	Variable (normally of the day of the week, unless displaced by feast or season)
Antiphon for the Benedictus	Variable – of the Sunday of the year, day of the week or feast/season
Benedictus	Fixed
Antiphon	Variable
Closing prayers	Fixed
-          Collect	Of the Sunday	Of the feast	Of the Sunday or day
-          Commemoration (if applicable)	Of the feast	Of the feast or day (ie Lent or Advent days)	Of the feast or day

Where to put your ribbons

Before you start the hour, I suggest putting a ribbon on the pages you will need.  The table below summarises the key elements of the hour; you will need to supplement this though with the page numbers provided in the weekly ordo for the collects and texts for any feasts/commemorations, etc.

LAUDS	‘Default’ texts
Opening prayers – Deus…	MD 1
Psalm 66 – Deus miseratur…	MD 38, 58
Antiphons	of day of the week or feast/season
Antiphon(s), Psalm 50; 2 variable psalms; OT canticle; Laudate psalms Ps 148-150	Sunday, MD 39 Festal (for feasts), MD 44 Monday - MD 59 Tuesday - start MD 76 Wednesday – MD 89 Thursday – MD 102 Friday - MD 118 Saturday - MD 133
Chapter	See in psalter as above or for season/feast
Short Responsory	See in psalter as above or for season/feast
Hymn	Of the day of the week (pg nos above) or feast/season
Versicle	See in psalter as above or for season/feast
Antiphon for the Benedictus	Of the day of the week/feast/season [on Sundays, of the week of the liturgical year]
Benedictus	MD 56, 73
Antiphon for the Benedictus	M-S of the day of the week; Sun of the week in the calendar
Closing prayers	MD 57
-          Collect	Of the week of the liturgical year or day/feast
-          Commemoration of the saint or day	Canticle antiphon, versicle and collect said immediately after the collect of the day

Hope this helps!

Have a question about the Benedictine Office?

Just to let you know that if you have questions about the Ordo, or want to discuss the Benedictine Office, the best way to do this is to join the facebook group called Traditional Benedictine Office.

This is where you can ask questions and seek help from others in the group (including me), discuss aspects of the Benedictine Office, or suggest topics for me to blog on.

In addition, of course my assorted blogs provide notes you can refer to:

(1) The Ordo - each Saturday (Australian time) the weekly Ordo is scheduled to appear on this blog, but you can also find the full year's Ordo, together with more detailed notes on the Office in particular seasons, and feasts that occur each month here.

(2) For notes on the rubrics - try the Learn to say the Office page of this blog.  For notes on how to say Matins, go here.

(3) For advice on books and other sources of help, try the resources page of this blog.

(4) For help understanding the psalms in the context of the Benedictine Office, try the Psallam Domino Blog.

(5) For Matins readings - Lectio Divina Notes Blog provides translations of the readings and responsories for major feasts (and lower level days depending on how much time I have and availability of the texts online).

Where available, the readings are generally scheduled to appear on the blog at 2.30pm Australian Eastern Standard Time the day before the relevant day.  If this timing doesn't work for me, let me know.