Advent responsories: Rejoice ye heavens (Responsories pt 5)

Today I want to continue my series on the history and function of the responsories of the Night Office, with a focus on the Advent set.

In each post I plan to highlight one of the responsories, but also discuss some of the context around their development, which, I should note, is a subject on which there is no consensus among musicologists and/or liturgiologists!

Rejoice ye heavens

So for our Advent focus, today's responsory is actually the second responsory for Monday in weeks 1& 2 of Advent, also used as the eighth responsory in the Benedictine Office on the First Sunday of Advent.

The text of this responsory received several polyphonic settings, including by Orlando di Lasso, and Byrd, the latter of which I've chosen for today, as it gives a wonderful sense of the joy of the season that is one of its sub-themes, along with the focus on Our Lady, and preparation for Christmas  - and the Second Coming - through repentance for sins.

The text of the respond section has been adapted from Isaiah 49:13; the verse comes from Psalm 71:7, although there are two alternative verses  associated with this respond preserved in various sources.

Here is a translation of the text showing the structure of the responsory when it is used as the last responsory of a set (as it is on the First Sunday of Advent) -  in its other uses it ends after the first repetition of the second half of the respond.

R. Læténtur / cæli, et exsúltet terra, iubiláte, montes, laudem: † quia Dóminus noster véniet, * Et páuperum suórum miserébitur. V. Oriétur in diébus eius iustítia, et abundántia pacis. R. Et páuperum suórum miserébitur. V. Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto. R. Et páuperum suórum miserébitur.

R. Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains, for our Lord will come; * And will have mercy on his afflicted. V. In his days shall righteousness flourish and abundance of peace. R. And will have mercy upon his afflicted. V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. R. And will have mercy upon his afflicted.

This text also nicely illustrates the adaptation process that is typical of responsories - while the first half of the respond follows the biblical text closely (the variants probably just reflecting different versions of the Biblical text, the second part is heavily adapted, in order to help us apply the text to its liturgical context:

Isaiah 49:13 actually reads (I've bolded the words where alternatives have been substituted into the respond):

Laudate, cæli, et exsulta, terra; jubilate, montes, laudem, quia consolatus est Dominus populum suum, et pauperum suorum miserebitur.

Stock responsories (2)

I noted in an earlier post that this repertoire of chant seems to have been preserved largely through oral transmission.  Some eighth century (and a few other, mostly non-Roman earlier) sources give incipits or even full texts for some of them, but it wasn't until the development of neumes around the mid-ninth century, that the melodies were notated. I also noted that there is evidence the number of responsories expanded substantially over time, particularly once musical notation made the transmission process easier.

Most of the expansion in the repertoire, after the eighth century at least, though, relates to specific feasts, displacing the use of the Commons, rather than those relating to the annual bible reading cycle or the seasons.  

Even now, for most of the year, for example, rather than new responsories, the Sunday responsories are said again during the week, as was the case for the responsory discussed above.

But there do also seem to have been other key sources of 'stock' responsories that could be drawn on to fill out the necessary number on Sundays and major feasts.  

Individual semi-fixed responsories 

One source was individual responsories that had some broader appropriateness, such as that relating to the patron saint of a church.  St Peter's in Rome, for example, seems to have used the responsory Petro amas me (Peter do you love me) throughout the year.  

Similarly, Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) composed the responsory Duo seraphim clamabant, (two seraphim called out, each to the other) and mandated its use as the last responsory of Sunday Matins for much of the year.

De Psalmiis responsories

A second source of 'stock' responsories seems to have been those based on the psalms, as one of the Roman 'ordines', XVI, which (probably) dates from circa 680, mentions a set of of psalm based responsories used throughout the year and for feasts.  

Unfortunately Ordo Romani XVI (and the other Ordines and other early sources), don't actually tell us which particular responsories were used this way.

In the forms of the Office that have come down to us, there are actually several groups of psalm based responsories: some are used for particular feasts (in some cases parts of sets used at other times of the year as well), but the main ones are three sets now used in conjunction with Biblical 'letters', namely Jeremiah in Holy Week; the Catholic Epistles in Eastertide; and the letters of St Paul, in Epiphanytide.

It is the last set, those used in Epiphanytide since the reorganisation of the Matins reading cycle in the eighth century, that are of especial interest, since the liturgists have long claimed them as evidence that Rome had a fixed weekly psalm cycle before St Benedict's Office.

My own view is that the particular organisation of them in the Office as we know it is more likely to be a product of the eighth century reforms than witness to the earlier organisation of the psalter.  

But to understand the debate, we need first, I think, to look at the history of the Matins readings cycle in Rome, and some of the possible sources for the responsories, on which more anon.

Book alert: Monastic psalter with psalm pointing

 

Psalterium Monasticum: horae diurnae

I want to alert readings to a wonderful new resource, a Psalterium Monasticum designed to help you sing the Office by 'pointing' the psalms, put together and published by the monks of Chavagnes-en-Paillers (aka The Community of Our Lady of Glastonbury).  

The book details are:

Dom Bede Rowe, Psalterium Monasticum: Horae Diurnae, 2023; $US18 for the paperback version; $US22.23 for the hardback), available from Amazon (search in your country's Amazon version to minimise postage costs).

To use it, you will need to download the explanation of the pointing system from the monk's website - they also offer a convenient two page summary of the monastic psalm tones and their endings.

The book will be a key resource for anyone who wants to sing or already sings the Benedictine Office  - and that should be everyone - the Office is intended to be sung, not said, after all!

What the book provides

In essence, the new Psalter sets out 'pointed' versions (ie the text of the psalms with embedded cues for where to change note when chanting it) of the Latin text of the psalms for the day hours. 

It has been designed to supplement the Antiphonale Monasticum of 1934, and so follows the same ordering of the text, and provides the page number for the corresponding page in the Antiphonale.

In essence, if you want to sing the Office, the Antiphonale gives you the chants for the fixed parts of the hours, hymns, antiphons and so forth.  

When it comes to the psalm though, it just tells you which of the several psalm tones and many endings for those tones to use - you then have to apply that psalm tone to the particular psalm being said, and the Antiphonale doesn't give you any help with this. This book fills that gap.  

It therefore includes a complete version of the psalms of the psalter section of the Antiphonale, along with a selection of other psalms needed for particular feasts (such as Christmas, the Triduum, Commons, and so forth).

So if you want to sing Prime on Monday for example, you go to page 1 of the Antiphonale for the hymn, antiphon and other texts, but then turn to the Psalterium for the pointed versions of the psalms.

Universal psalm pointing

There is, it has to be said, a bit of a learning curve involved in the particular system (universal psalm pointing) used in this book, but the learning curve is not a steep one, and once mastered, it is extremely powerful tool indeed.

In general, psalm pointing provides a series of cues (such as bolding and italics) in the text of the verses of the psalm that tell you when to change note for each of psalm chant tones and endings (there are eight basic tones, but several others used at various times in the monastic office, and each chant tone can have a number of different endings).

Most traditional Office books offering pointed psalms (such as the Liber Usualis and assorted older Benedictine books for Vespers) point the psalms for each chant tone and ending individually.  Indeed, there are a couple of excellent psalm tone generators available online that will automatically generate pointed psalms for any particular psalm tone and ending variant that I've long relied on.

This book, however, lets us in on something entirely new to me at least - what appears to be some 'secret monk business' (possibly secret newer office business, in which case this is a wonderful case of 'mutually enrichment!) - namely a 'universal' pointing system that provides one set of pointing for a verse that can be used to sing all of the different psalm tones and endings.

The system uses four different cues - bolding, italics, upper case and a circumflex (^) - but which ones you pay attention to and how depends on the particular psalm tone and ending of the psalm being sung.

The monks have put up an explanation of the system on their website - I hope though, that a version of this will be included in the next edition of the book, as it is not self-evident, and I haven't been able to find anything online that explains the system (or even much that mentions its existence!).

How it works

Consider for example, the first verse of Psalm 1 as it appears in the new Psalter:

Beátus vir, qui non ábiit in consílio impiórum, † et in via peccatôrum non stetit, * et in cáthedra pestiléntiâe non sedit :

To use the universal pointing, you need a key which tells you which of the markings in the psalm to take note of, and how.

For the first half of the psalm (up to the asterix), for example, the flex indicated by the dagger sign aside, some psalm tones (I, III, VII and tonus irregularis) have two change points from the reciting note, so you change on the two bolded syllables. 

For a second group of psalm tones (II and V), the change note occurs at the second bolded syllable, so you simply ignore the first bold.

For tones IV and VI, the note change occurs two syllables before the second bolded syllable, while in the Tonus Peregrinus, you change on the syllable with the cirumflex.

A similar set of cues for each tone is used for the second half of the psalm.

Easy to use

That might all sound a bit complicated, but in fact provided you have the key to the psalm tones  you want to sing, I have found that with a bit of practice, it is actually fairly straightforward to use.

Some of the psalm tones are much easier than others in the universal system (counting back a syllable or two from bolded syllables, for example, takes more effort than simply changing on the relevant symbol).

But after testing it out for a few of the hours, I've found that it quickly becomes normal and with time would become automatic.

The power of the system

And the learning time you put in upfront is worth it for the incredible power of the system: instead of having to leaf through several pages of a book or print out a separate page for each of the ten main chant tones and thirty eight or so possible endings, one set of pointing in combination with the key for each tone will do the job.

That certainly makes it worth the effort to learn the system.

It also means that this book can be a relatively small, relatively slim volume, instead of a massive tome like the Liber Usualis!

Singing the Office

Psalm pointing, I would suggest, is important for all levels of those who sing the Office, from absolute beginner to seasoned monk or nun, so I strongly urge you to buy it.

Psalm pointing is pretty much essential for absolute beginners learning to sing the psalms in chant.

But it is also extremely helpful for the more advanced singer, particularly for days where the standard antiphons (and thus chant tones) are not used, such as feasts and in particular seasons; and useful even to those who know the psalms and psalm tones very well indeed, as a way of avoiding those inevitable slipups that occur from time to time.

It will be particularly useful for monastic communities.

The book also contains, by way of introduction, the relevant sections of the Rule of St Benedict in Latin) dealing with the office, a useful reminder that the version of the Office being used is one that actually follows the Rule rather than more recent experimentation; as well as a longer version of the psalm tones and endings.

I highly recommend buying this, the Chavagnes (Glastonbury) monks have done a great service for us all here.

The feast of St Ambrose and the recycling of responsories (Responsories Pt 4)

Late antique mosaic in St.Ambrogio church in Milan
Source: Wiki commons

St Ambrose

Today is the feast of St Ambrose, a wonderful saint, who Pope Benedict XVI, in a  General Audience you can read here credited with the introduction of lectio divina to the West.

One of his key works to this end is his commentary on Psalm 118, which has as its base a translation and adaption of Origen's (now lost except in the form of catena extracts) commentary on the longest of the psalms, which had also been translated into Latin (with some amendments) independently by St Hilary of Poitiers a few decades earlier.  

St Ambrose's commentary though, is some four times larger than St Hilary's version, expanded by instruction on lectio divina; its links to contemplation through an embedded commentary on the Song of Songs; as well as an extended discussion of humility that may have influenced the ordering of the twelve steps of humility in the Rule as well as the organisation of  Psalm 118 in the Benedictine Office (1). 

The responsories and memory

I hope to come back to St Ambrose's influence on St Benedict in due course, but today I want to continue my discussion of the responsory repertoire of Matins, picking up from the point I made yesterday about it being a largely oral repertoire for several centuries.

One of the key questions for the responsories is, what strategies did monks use to maintain the repertoire?

Memorising

Most people's memories in late antiquity were, of course, much better trained than ours.  Monks for example, were expected to memorise the entire psalter and be able to sing it from memory.  

But then as now, some found it much easier to do than others.  There are two nice saint's stories that draw out just how major an undertaking this could be.   Many monks could learn the psalter in a year or so.  St Alexander the Sleepless, however, a Syrian monk who eventually ended up in Constantinople, and famous for the perpetual liturgy he established there, which involved shifts of monks,  apparently took seven years to learn the psalter, because, his biographer tells us, he insisted on knowing their meanings as he learnt them (2).

Similarly, when the seventh century Northumbrian monk (later bishop) St Wilfrid decided to make a pilgrimage to Rome, he first headed for Kent, where he spent a year relearning the psalter according to the version in use in Rome, as he had previously learnt St Jerome's other translation (3).

Collective memory

Even with this effort though, it is unlikely that all monks learnt all of the responsories.

Monks generally learned large chunks of Scripture by heart for example, but some early sources suggest that different monks in a community would learn different sections of Scripture, and then would be responsible for those particular readings in the Office.  Over time of course, greater availability of books, certainly implied by St Benedict's Rule, probably reduced the need for this.  But something similar could well have occurred with responsories, with different monks responsible for maintaining different parts of the repertoire.

The other key factor in their maintenance though, was the repurposing of  responsories for different feasts and occasions.

'Stock' responsories (1) The saints

For feasts like today's of St Ambrose, for example, there are actually no responsories specific to the saint in the Roman or Benedictine Offices even today.  Instead, the responsories linked to the feast are those of the 'Common of a confessor bishop and doctor'.

Similarly, two of today's 'Advent' responsories actually are actually also used on the feast of the Annunciation, possibly remnants of the original placement of this feast before Christmas rather than in March.

This practice of reusing responsories for different feasts is nicely attested to by a ninth century antiphoner from Prüm dating from the 860s which represents the earliest surviving Benedictine antiphoner, and which Todd Mattingly has argued is derived from a now lost exemplar that was intended to serve as a kind of how to say the Benedictine (rather than Roman) Office starter-kit, including where to source the additional responsories needed, such as from the various Commons (4).

Properization?

And unlike the Mass, where 'properization' (fixing of texts to particular feasts) seems to have largely finalised by at least the eighth century (and probably a lot earlier for many days), there seems to have been a great deal more flexibility around which responsories were used and when until quite late, probably reflecting that earlier reliance on memory and perhaps dependence on the availability of particular singers for particular chants.

The late tenth century Hartker MSS, for example, gives a choice of fourteen different responsories for the common of a confessor, for example, two more than could ever be needed.  By contrast, it only lists three responsories for the feast of All Saints.  That doesn't mean that only three responsories were said however - even in the 1960 version, the feast  has only two unique responsories; the rest are drawn from the feasts of various saints and from the commons.

All of this has important implications for the history of the Office, not least because several historians have pointed to the lack of a sufficient number of responsories in early antiphoners as a key plank for their claims that the Benedictine Office was not said in Gaul or Anglo-Saxon England until the tenth century, and that the Carolingian reforms aimed at imposing the Rule and Office on all monks were probably never fully implemented in practice (5).

But more on this anon.

Missus est angelus

In the meantime, enjoy this version of one of today's responsories, also used for the feast of the Annunciation:

R. Missus est / Gábriel Angelus ad Maríam Vírginem desponsátam Ioseph, † núntians ei verbum; et expavéscit Virgo de lúmine: † ne tímeas, María, invenísti grátiam apud Dóminum: * Ecce concípies, et páries, † et vocábitur Altíssimi Fílius. V. Dabit ei Dóminus Deus sedem David, patris eius, et regnábit in domo Iacob in ætérnum. R. Ecce concípies, et páries, † et vocábitur Altíssimi Fílius.

R. The Angel Gabriel was sent to Mary, a Virgin espoused to Joseph, to bring unto her the word of the Lord, and when the Virgin saw the light, she was afraid. Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace from the Lord. * Behold, thou shalt conceive and bring forth a son, and He shall be called the Son of the Highest. V. The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. R. Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bring forth a son, and He shall be called the Son of the Highest.

You can find a copy of the chant setting here.

Notes

1.  For a discussion of the differences between Hilary and Ambrose's translations, with comparisons to the Palestinian catena, see Isabella Image, The Human Condition in Hilary of Poitiers The Will and Original Sin between Origen and Augustine, Oxford, 2017.

2.  Translations of the Life of St Alexander the Sleepless can be found in Daniel Caner, Wandering, Begging Monks Spiritual Authority and the Promotion of Monasticism in Late Antiquity, University of California Press, 2002, pp 250 - 280 and Jean-marie Baguendard (trans), Les Moines acémètes, Vies des Saints Alexandre, Marcel et Jean Calybite, Bellefintaine, 1988.

3. Eddius Stephanus, Life of Wilfrid.  A translation by J F Webb is available in Penguin under the title the Age of Bede.  It is not clear that Wilfrid needed the entire year to relearn the psalter - his hagiographer claims he was held up in Kent in part by the need to find a satisfactory escort  and obtain royal permission for his departure.  But as Susan Rankin pointed out in 'Singing the Psalter in the Early Middle Ages' (in Daniel J Di Censo and Rebecca Maloy eds, Chant, Liturgy and the Inheritance of Rome Essays in Honour of Joseph Dyer, London 2017), it was not simply a matter of learning the variant texts, but also absorbing differences in how the psalms were divided into verses and sub-divided for pause places.

4. Todd Matthew Mattingly, "Trier Stadtbibliothek 1245/597:A Ninth-Century Antiphoner and the Conciliar Origins of the Monastic Office", paper given at the Leeds Medieval Congress, July 2014.

5.  Anne Walters Robertson, The Service-Books of the Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis Images of Ritual and Music in the Middle Ages,  Oxford, 1991; Jesse Billett, The Divine Office in Anglo-Saxon England, 597-c.1000. London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 2014.

Advent responsory: The shut gate and Our Lady's perpetual virginity (Responsories Pt 3)

Source: Gregobase 

I want to continue today, my series on the Matins responsories with a look at the second responsory for Tuesday in weeks I&II of Advent, Ante multum tempus, which offers a nice example of the use of responsories as keys to interpretation of the Scriptural texts.  I also want to provide the first of a few posts looking at the history of the repertoire.

Ante multum tempus

Here is the text of the responsory, laid out as it is sung.  

R. Ante / multum tempus prophetávit Ezéchiel: Vidi portam clausam; † ecce Deus ante sæcula ex ea procedébat pro salúte mundi: * Et erat íterum clausa, demónstrans Vírginem, † quia post partum permánsit virgo. V. Porta quam vidísti, Dóminus solus transíbit per illam. R. Et erat íterum clausa, demónstrans Vírginem, † quia post partum permánsit virgo.

R. A long time ago, said Ezekiel the Prophet, I saw the gate shut: behold, God went forth from it before the ages for the salvation of the world. * And it was shut again, for it is a figure of the Virgin, in that after childbirth she remained a Virgin still. V. The Lord alone shall enter by the gate that thou savest. R. And it was shut again, for it is a figure of the Virgin, in that after childbirth she remained a Virgin still.

The text of both the respond and the verse is based on Ezekiel 44:1-2, though with some obvious non-Scriptural glossing in the second part of the respond. 

Here are the relevant verses from Ezekiel, with some of the verbal allusions to the responsory text highlighted:

Et convertit me ad viam portæ sanctuarii exterioris, quæ respiciebat ad orientem: et erat clausa. 2 Et dixit Dominus ad me: Porta hæc clausa erit: non aperietur, et vir non transibit per eam, quoniam Dominus Deus Israël ingressus est per eam: eritque clausa principi. Princeps ipse sedebit in ea, ut comedat panem coram Domino: per viam portæ vestibuli ingredietur, et per viam ejus egredietur.

And the Vulgate translation:

Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut. Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.

The interpretation of the text provided by the responsory is very conventional, reflecting a long line of exegesis on Ezekiel's text as references to Our Lady's perpetual virginity that can be found in St Ambrose, St Augustine and many other Fathers.

The doctrine itself, though, was formally defined at the Lateran Council of 649, and there is at least one other Advent responsory (which I'll come to, Bethlehem civitas) that may have come into the repertoire at this time to reflect that.

The history of responsories: oral transmission

You can find the chant for it at the top of the post, but it is worth keeping in mind that up until the tenth century (or thereabouts), as far as we know, the transmission of the responsory (and other) chants was entirely oral.

There are a few early sources that preserve the texts of responsories in different (mostly non-Roman, at least for the earliest sources) traditions, and rather more that just provide the initial words of the responsory (incipit) for the relevant season or feast, but the melodies associated with them had to be committed to memory and passed down through generations of singers.

The transmission process could be fragile at times and places: if almost the entire body of monks was wiped out by illness (as happened during St Bede the Venerable's childhood at Wearmouth-Jarrow), invasions or other factors, the sources might have to be reimported from outside.

That oral traditions could be preserved faithfully over relatively long periods, though, is attested to by the similarities in many chants from quite diverse regions when they were finally written down.  

It represents an extraordinary achievement, particularly given that the responsory repertoire is far larger than that of Mass propers. 

It has been estimated that in the seventh century, for example, there were around 200 responsories in use; the late tenth/early eleventh century (monastic) Hartker Manuscript contains around 600 responsories (annotated with neumes); but by the high middle ages the number had expanded to over 2000.  By way of comparison, the 1963 breviary contains around 800 responsories.

A Benedictine link...

Today's particular responsory, Ante multum tempus, doesn't appear in all that many manuscripts - the Cantus database lists only sixteen, most of them allocating it to the Third Sunday of Advent.  

Nor does it appear in the Old Roman manuscripts (which are thought to represent seventh century Roman practice). 

It does, however, appear in one that has many similarities to them, suggesting it may date from the same period, and appears in a manuscript written in Rome in the eleventh century preserved in the  Biblioteca Vallicelliana, C.5.

This particular manuscript was used until 1219 by the Benedictine nuns of San Sisto  on the Via Appia.  It was then taken to the (by then Benedictine) Monastery of Sant' Eutizio in Norcia, near St Benedict's birthplace.  That monastery was originally founded in the fifth century by Abbot Spes and  St Eutychius, both monks (along with other hermits who settled near Norcia around this time whom St Benedict may well have known) displaced from Syria by heresies there, mentioned in Book III of  St Gregory's Dialogues (ch 38). 

Advent reflections: Drop down, ye heavens, from above (Responsories Pt 2)

I want to continue my series today, on the wonderful Matins repertoire of responsories, important both as a source for meditation and aid to Scriptural interpretation; but also as a source for insights on the early history of the Office.

Today, apart from looking at the responsory itself, a bit of background on their structure.

The responsories for meditation and reflection

Although I'm a keen advocate for monasteries reviving the Matins responsories where possible in chant (or polyphonic) settings, I should note that even if you just read them in text form outside of the Office, or sing them on one note in the context of the Office, I still think they have great value.

In particular, many of these texts preserve key theological concepts and themes that help us understand the meaning of the season, feast or bible book. 

Accordingly today and tomorrow I want to take a quick look at a couple of responsories for which I can't locate a recording.  

A responsory for Tuesday in the first week of Advent: Montes Israel

Today's responsory is the first of the responsories set for Tuesday in week one and two of Advent, Montes Israel, also used on the Fourth Sunday of Advent.

First of all, here's the text as it is said, with a translation:

R. Montes / Israël, ramos vestros expándite, † et floréte, et fructus fácite: * Prope est ut véniat dies Dómini. V. Roráte, cæli, désuper, et nubes pluant iustum: † aperiátur terra, et gérminet Salvatórem. R. Prope est ut véniat dies Dómini.

R. O ye mountains of Israel, shoot forth your branches and blossom and bring forth fruit. * The day of the Lord is at hand to come. V. Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down the Righteous One let the earth open, and let her bring forth the Saviour. R. The day of the Lord is at hand to come.

First, a bit of background.  The responsory, it should be noted is sung immediately after each reading of the day at Matins, 'respond' in some sense to the (ever changing) readings.

Although there are far fewer responsories than readings (typically the same set of up to eleven responsories is used from periods between a week and a month or more while the same book or set of books of the Bible is being read), in most cases the link between the responsory and the readings is fairly obvious, drawing us back to key overarching themes in the book being read, the season, or feast.

For most of the year, the texts of the respond are typically drawn from the Scriptural books being read (in December, the Matins readings are mostly from Isaiah), while the verses that then comment on it may be from the same or another biblical book, the psalms, or non-Scriptural sources.

The mountain of God in Ezekiel

The 'respond' section (marked R.), in this case is 'O ye mountains of Israel, shoot forth your branches, bloom and bring forth fruit, for the day of the Lord is at hand'  and is sung to a composed melody specific to the responsory.

As for a few other Advent responsories, today's text comes from Ezekiel (36:8), though like most responsory texts, has been adapted somewhat.  The book of Ezekiel was actually read in November rather December, so its use may possibly be a remnant of the original rather longer duration of Advent in Rome. 

That theory gains some weight from the fact that it appears in the two 'Old Roman' manuscript sources, thought to preserve the seventh century Roman Office (as well as multiple other sources: the cantus database lists 82 manuscript sources for it).

Either way, it is worth looking also at the verses that comes after the respond text in Ezekiel, as it helps us understand the meaning of the responsory:

 

 But you, mountains of Israel, must burgeon anew, and grow fruit for my own people to enjoy; their home-coming is not far off now. Watch for me, I am coming back to you; soil of you shall be ploughed and sown anew; and men, too, shall thrive on it, Israel’s full muster-roll, peopling the cities, restoring the ruins. (Knox translation)

Although the Advent responsories have arguably been selected mainly for their connection to Advent themes rather than to the book of Isaiah (which is read through December) per se, today's text does actually link quite directly (whether by accident or design), with the first reading for today from Isaiah, which is:

The word that Isaias the son of Amos saw, concerning Juda and Jerusalem. And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go, and say: Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall come forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

The verse - Rorate caeli

In terms of the standard structure of responsories, the respond is followed by a verse (marked V.) in the text for today above, which is normally sung on a more or less fixed psalm tone varying according to the mode of the respond, which is then followed by a repeat of the second half of the respond.

There are some variants on this basic pattern - Aspiciens a longe, which I posted on previously, for example, is not alone in having more than one verse, and in some cases the repeated sections start from different places, but these are rare in the modern breviary at least.

Today's verse, Rorate caeli de super, is actually does come from Isaiah (45:8), and is probably best known in its hymn form.  There are, however, many different settings of it both in responsory form (including as a respond), antiphon and more.

And for those interested in the chant version of the responsory, here it is:

Source: Stanhofe Nocturnale Romanum, via Gregobase

You can find an alternative version of the chant here.

The former feast of the Illation of the relics of St Benedict

Reliquary of St Benedict at the Monastery of Fleury
Source: Wiki Commons

In some (much) older breviaries, as I've noted in my Ordo, December 4 is marked as the feast of the Illation of the relics of St Benedict, so I thought it might be worth a brief note on what exactly the feast was about.

The short version is that while July 11 celebrates the original bringing of the relics of St Benedict to the Monastery of Fleury, December 4 celebrates the 'carrying in' of the relics of St Benedict on this date after the basilica at the Monastery of Fleury was rebuilt in 882.  Alas the 882 church no longer exists (beyond a few remnants incorporated into the later replacement version).

The feast itself (where it was said) was mostly suppressed along with many others in the late nineteenth century.  All the same, traditionally, this day marks one of the three times a year that the Life of St Benedict was read  in the monastic refectory.

The seventh century relics heist

There are essentially two competing claims to the relics of St Benedict, that of Monte Cassino, and that of Fleury (aka .Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire).

Most historians favour the claims of Fleury: on the face of it the tombs of SS Scholastica and Benedict excavated at Monte Cassino after World War II appear to be of much later construction, though there may have been some genuine remains preserved there. 

Either way, its pretty clear than enterprising group of monks from Fleury in what is now France, went on a relic raid to Monte Cassino around 672, and brought back with them what they claimed were the bodies of SS Benedict and Scholastica. 

That the Fleury monks really did go to Monte Cassino is attested to by a series of letters by Pope Vitalian (657–72), which condemned the theft, demanded that the remains be returned, and excommunicated those involved. 

The original acquisition of the relics of St Benedict is also attested to in a (likely) seventh century version of the Matryrology of St Jerome, which included the feast of the relics of St Benedict on July 11, preserved in an eighth century manuscript.

Monte Cassino in the seventh century

That monks from Gaul were able to obtain the relics reflects the sorry state of Italian monasticism at the time.  Outside of Rome and a few other major centres, monasticism seems to have been largely wiped out in the first half of the seventh century, courtesy of the Lombard invasions.  

Monte Cassino was originally destroyed around 580 (and not refounded until 717), and although Subiaco was still a vibrant centre of St Benedict's cult in St Gregory the Great's time, it too, was destroyed not long after his death, around 605.    

As a result, while there is good evidence for the continuation of Benedictine monasticism in Rome itself (most notably in the various 'Ordines Romani, describing the liturgy) Monte Cassino was largely abandoned for well over a century.

The early spread of Benedictine monasticism

In Gaul (and England), however (contrary to the claims of many modern historians), it was a different story.  

The most well-known reference to the use of the rule in Gaul is to Venerandus in 625, but there are several other explicit references to the use of the Rule in various seventh century saints lives, and perhaps most significantly of all, the major monastic centre of Lerins (not without some resistance) adopted the Benedictine rule around the middle of the seventh century.

Fleury itself  was originally founded in 631, and like a number of monasteries around that time, its charters claimed to use both 'the Rule of the most holy Benedict and lord Columbanus’.  It has been questioned in recent times, however, just to what extent, if at all, Columbanian influences persisted in these monasteries, and the Fleury relics raid only a few decades after its foundation rather supports the theory that Columbanian influence, beyond perhaps his emphasis on confession, quickly waned, replaced by the less extreme asceticism of St Benedict and others.

L'abbaye de Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire

Reflecting on Advent through the responsories: Aspiciens a longe (Responsories Pt 1)

I thought this Advent I might try to highlight one of the most neglected parts of the chant repertoire, namely the responsories of Matins.

The Matins responsories, which occur after each reading at the hour of Matins, are interesting and important from several perspectives, both in their own right, as encapsulations of the theology of and aids to interpretation of the season, saint or Scriptural text being read; as beautiful chants; and as historical evidence for the development of the Office.

I hope to touch on all those points, but above all, I want to encourage you to at least read through the texts of some of them, and ideally also listen to the chants or settings of some of them.

A neglected responsory repertoire

The responsories were a key part of the medieval Office, and many of them have polyphonic settings dating from the Renaissance and baroque periods.  

But they have long been neglected in more recent times - Solesmes, for example, has produced editions of only a small selection of the total repertoire (published originally mainly in the Liber Responsorialis).

The Nocturnale Romanum produced by Peter Sandhofe in 2001 went a long way to filling the gap, but there are a number of issues with many of his transcriptions, a problem that the Nocturnale Romanum Project is aiming to rectify.  In addition, though, as the Roman Office has fewer responsories than the Benedictine, many are still not available in published form.

Their modern neglect is understandable - singing them in full takes an average of at least five minutes apiece.  Indeed, the one below, the first responsory for the First Sunday of Advent, comes in at over nine minutes in the recording I've chosen.  

There is also a substantial learning curve associated with them - while many do draw on standard melodic structures, and the verses and doxologies do follow (mostly) pre-set forms (albeit somewhat more elaborate ones than the common psalm tones), some of the main chants are quite challenging.  And there are a lot of them to learn!

So on Sundays and feasts with twelve lessons and responsories, that's around an extra hour (even added to an already long hour of the Office in its Benedictine form.

The function of the responsories

All the same, many of them are very beautiful indeed, and they do have a proper function, both in allowing time to reflect and meditate on the content of the reading, and aiding in its interpretation.  

The texts of the responsories generally pick out key verses of the Bible book being read, or around the season or type of saint, and provide some direct (through the verse(s)) or indirect (through the musical setting) interpretative aids for it.

The Advent responsories

Advent actually has more than its fair share of responsories, possibly because the season was originally longer, stretching for six weeks until St Gregory the Great shortened the period in Rome at least.  

This first one is actually probably best known in an English setting based on Palestrina, often used in the service of lessons and carols put on by Kings College and others.  But I want to urge you to listen to at least some of the chant version, which I think has a particular charm.

R. Aspíciens / a longe, ecce video Dei poténtiam veniéntem, † et nébulam totam terram tegéntem. † Ite obviam ei, et dícite: * Núntia nobis, si tu es ipse, * Qui regnatúrus es in pópulo Israël. V. Quique terrígenæ, et fílii hóminum, † simul in unum dives et pauper. Ite obviam ei, et dícite. R. Ite obviam ei, et dícite. V. Qui regis Israël, inténde, qui dedúcis velut ovem Ioseph. R. Núntia nobis, si tu es ipse. V. Tóllite portas, príncipes, vestras, † et elevámini portæ æternáles, et introíbit Rex glóriæ. R. Qui regnatúrus es in pópulo Israël. V. Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto. R. Aspíciens a longe, ecce video Dei poténtiam veniéntem, et nébulam totam terram tegéntem. * Ite obviam ei, et dícite: * Núntia nobis, si tu es ipse, * Qui regnatúrus es in pópulo Israël.

R. I look from afar, and behold I see the power of God, coming like as a cloud to cover the land with the hosts of his people: Go ye out to meet him and say: Tell us if thou art he, * That shalt reign over God's people Israel. V. All ye that dwell in the world, all ye children of men, high and low, rich and poor, one with another. R. Go ye out to meet him and say. V. Hear, O thou Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. R. Tell us if thou art he. V. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. R. That shalt reign over God's people Israel. V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost. R. I look from afar, and behold I see the power of God, coming like as a cloud to cover the land with the hosts of his people:  Go ye out to meet him and say: Tell us if thou art he, * That shalt reign over God's people Israel.