St Valentine (Memorial, Feb 14)

St Valentine is one of a small band of martyrs (along with St Thomas More) who died not least in the defence of the Christian conception of marriage.  Accordingly, a saint to whom we might particularly ask help for those who are attempting to defend the institution once again today.

Martyred during the reign of Claudius II, the saint was arrested and imprisoned upon being caught marrying Christian couples and otherwise aiding Christians who were at the time being persecuted by Claudius in Rome.

Here is a reading previously used in the Office for his feast, from St Augustine:

The illustrious day whereon the blessed Martyr Valentin conquered, doth this day come round to us again and as the Church doth rejoice with him in his glory, so doth she set before us his footsteps to be followed. For if we suffer, we shall also reign with him. In his glorious battle we have two things chiefly to consider the hardened cruelty of the tormentor, and the unconquered patience of the Martyr the cruelty of the tormentor, that we may abhor it; the patience of the Martyr, that we may imitate it. Hear what the Psalmist saith, complaining against sin: "Fret not thyself because of the evil-doers, for they shall soon dry up like the grass." But touching the patience which is to be shown against the evil-doers, hear the word wherewith the Apostle moveth us Ye have need of patience, that ye may receive the promise. 

Fr Cassian Folsom OSB conferences on prayer

An alert just in case you missed it - to a series of talks given by Fr Cassian Folsom, Prior of St Benedict's Monastery, Norcia, Italy, on praying without ceasing.   The talks were originally given as a retreat at Still Water Monastery, MA.

The first talk, on the desert Father tradition on praying without ceasing, is available online now from the monastery's website, which also contains further information on them.  A new part in the series of ten will be released each Friday until just before Holy Week.

Feast of St Scholastica OSB (Feb 10, Class I/II)

The Second Nocturn readings for the feast of St Scholastica are from St Gregory's Dialogues, Book II, chapters 33-34:

(Reading 5): The worshipful Scholastica, the sister of our Father Benedict, was hallowed unto the Lord Almighty from a child. Her custom was to come to see her brother once every year. And when she came, the man of God went down unto her, not far from the gate, but, as it were, within the borders of his monastery. And there was a day when she came, as her custom was, and her worshipful brother went down to her, and his disciples with him. Then they passed the whole day together, praising God, and speaking one to the other of spiritual things. And when the night came, they brake bread together. And while they were yet at table, and conversed together on spiritual things, the hour was late. Then the holy woman his sister besought him, saying Leave me not, I pray thee, this night, but let us speak even until morning of the gladness of the eternal life. He answered her: What is it that thou sayest, my sister? I can by no means remain out of my cell. Now the firmament was so clear that there were no clouds in the sky. 

(Reading 6): Then the holy nun, when she had heard the words of her brother, that he would not abide with her, clasped her hands on the table, and laid her face on her hands, and besought the Lord Almighty. And it came to pass that when she lifted up her head from the table, there were great thunderings and lightnings, and a flood of rain, insomuch that neither the worshipful Benedict nor the brethren that were with him could move as much as a foot over the threshold of the place where they sat. Now when the holy woman laid her head in her hands upon the table, she wept bitterly, and as she wept, the clearness of the sky was turned to a tempest. As she prayed, immediately the flood followed. And the time was so, that she lifted up her head when it thundered, and when she had lifted up her head, the rain came. 

(Reading 7): When the man of God saw that he could not return to his monastery, because of the lightnings, and thunderings, and the great rain, he was sorrowful and grieved, saying Almighty God forgive thee, my sister; what is this that thou hast done? She answered him Behold, I besought thee, and thou wouldest not hear; I besought my God, and He hath heard me; if, therefore, thou wilt, go forth, leave me alone, and go thy way to thy monastery. But he could not, and so he tarried in the same place, not willingly, but of necessity. And so it came to pass that they slept not all that night, but fed one another with discourse on spiritual things.

(Reading 8):And when the morning was come, the worshipful woman arose, and went unto her own cell, and the man of God went back to his monastery. And, behold, after three days he was sitting in his cell, and he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and saw the soul of his sister, delivered from the body, fly to heaven in a bodily shape like a dove. Wherefore he rejoiced because of the glory that was revealed in her, and gave thanks to Almighty God in hymns and praises, and made known to the brethren that she was dead. He commanded them also to go and take up her body, and bring it to his monastery, and lay it in the grave which he had made ready for himself. Whereby it came to pass that they twain who had ever been of one mind in the Lord, even in death were not divided.

St Romuald OSB

Today's saint, St Romuald, founded the Camaldolese Congregation of Benedictines.  Here is the Matins reading on him:

Romuald was born of a noble family of Ravenna, his father's name being Sergius. As a young man, he withdrew to the neighboring monastery of Classis to lead a life of penance. There, fired with great eagerness for the love of God and encouraged by an apparition of St. Apollinaris, he became a monk. He exercised himself un-wearyingly in fasting and prayer, and such joy showed on his face that it gladdened all those who saw him. Burning with desire for martyrdom, he set out for Pannonia, but was taken ill and forced to return. He became the founder of the Order of Camaldolese monks, whom he had seen in a vision as Angels mounting a ladder that reached up to heaven. When he had reached the age of a hundred and twenty, having served God in the greatest austerity for a hundred of those years, he at length made his way to Him in the Year of salvation 1027, and was buried with honor in the church of his Order at Fabriano.

Feast of the Purification of Our Lady (Candlemass)

Candlemass

This Sunday we celebrate Candlemass, aka the Purification of Our Lady aka The Presentation in the Temple.  It is normally a Class II feast, but is treated as if it were Class I when it occurs on a Sunday.

The Gospel for the feast is St Luke 2:22-32 (which includes the Nunc Dimittis, the only Office canticle that rarely features in the Benedictine form of the Office), and you can find the Matins readings for it over at my Lectio Divina Blog, along with what I think is the most beautiful setting of the Nunc Dimittis, by Geoffrey Burgon for the British tv series Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

This week in the Benedictine Office

Here is a summary of the week in the Office.  You can find further details in the Ordo provided in the sidebar of the blog.

Sunday February 2 - Purification of the BVM, Class II
Monday February 3 - Class IV; St Blase, Memorial
Tuesday February 4 - Class IV [EF: ST Andrew Corsini]
Wednesday February 5 – St Agatha, Class III
Thursday February 6 - Class IV [EF: St Titus]
Friday February 7 – St Romuald, Class III
Saturday February 8 - Class IV, Saturday of Our Lady [EF: St John of Matha]

Change of seasons

Candlemass, as forty days after the birth of Jesus, marks the end of the Christmas season in the Office.

Accordingly, from Sunday, the Marian antiphon at Compline changes to Ave Regina Caelorum (you can listen to a video of Solemn Tone version of the chant, for use on Saturdays, Sundays and major feasts, below).

Commentary on the Rule of St Benedict by Hildemar (c845)

Source: Hildemar Translation Project

I just wanted to alert interested readers to the availability of a translation of one of the earliest known commentaries on the Benedictine Rule, by the ninth century monk Hildemar of Corbie, dating from around 845 AD.

Early monastic commentaries on the Rule

Early commentaries on the Rule, other than in the forms of adaptations of it in the form of the so-called 'mixed-rules' (combinations of the Benedictine Rule and assorted others) and a few early customaries are scarce, and those that do exist are generally hard to access.  There are of course some documents, such as early saints lives, surviving letters, charters and assorted pieces of ecclesiastical legislation that through some light on early Benedictine monasticism, but relatively few of these are available in translation.

That is slowly changing though.  A translation of the oldest known commentary on the Rule, by Smaragdus (ca816) was published in the Cistercian Studies series in 2007.

And now a collaborative translation of Hildemar's Commentary has been made available through the Hildemar Translation Project.  The translation is still a work in progress, but well worth a look.

Hildemar on the Opus Dei

Just by way of a taster to encourage you to go take a look, here are a few extracts from Chapter 8, On the Divine Office at Night, translated by Julian Hendrix:

"After he had discussed the mortification of the interior man and the formation of the exterior man, that is, the accomplishment of the steps [of humility], blessed Benedict now properly and agreeable adds concerning the Divine Office, because that Divine Office is pleasing to God because it is done by such men, that is, who abide in the twelve grades of humility, because just as the prophet says: Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner. [cf. Sir 15:9] And also the psalmist says: I, however, say to the sinner: why do you describe my justices and receive my covenant through your mouth [when] you truly hate discipline and have cast my words behind you? If you have seen a thief, you have run with him and you have spent your portion with adulterers. Your mouth has abounded with wickedness, and your tongue produces deceit. Sitting you spoke against your brother, and laid a scandal against your mother's son. You have done these things and I was silent. [Ps 49:16-21]

And rightly he added divine when he said concerning the office, because there are other offices, which are not divine. Obviously he added at night to separate other times, for there are the other offices of the day, i.e., those which he will discuss below. But as Isidore says, there are many kinds of offices, but the chief one is that service which is held for holy and divine matters. [Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae VI. c. 19. 1; translation from Barney et al.] But why is it called office? In his books, which he wrote On Offices, that is, On the Customs of Human Life, Blessed Ambrose speaks in this way: We think 'office' [officium] is so called, as in "finished"[efficium], but on account of the elegance of words, with one latter changed it is called "office", or certainly for the purpose of conducting those matters [page 271] which harms no one but benefits all. [Ambrose, De officiis 1, c. 8.26, CCSL 15, p. 10]...

Psalmists [psalmista] are so called from singing psalms. They sing to kindle the spirits of their audiences to compunction - although some readers also declaim in so heart-rending a way that they drive some people to sorrow and lamentation..." 

St John Bosco (Jan 31)

St John Bosco's feast is a memorial in the 1962 Benedictine Office.  Here is the Matins reading from the Roman Office:

The childhood of Don Bosco, who was born in a small village was marked both by its hardship and by his happy innocence of soul. He studied at Chieri, where in a short time he earned great praise for his brilliance and his virtue. Ordained priest, he went to Turin, where he made himself all things to all men, and undertook in particular the work of aiding poor and neglected boys. By providing them with teaching in the liberal arts and in trades and keeping them occupied on holidays, he strove with all his might to remove young people from poisonous sources of delinquency and vice. For this purpose, he established two congregations in the Church, one for men and one for women religious. He himself published many books filled with Christian wisdom. He also accomplished great things for the eternal salvation of unbelievers through the missionary enterprises of his congregations. With his mind constantly raised to God, this holy man never seemed to be terrified by threats, worn out by labors, oppressed by cares, or disturbed by adversities. He died in the year of salvation 1888 at the age of seventy-three, and was numbered among the Saints by Pope Pius XI.