Focusing on the Traditional Benedictine Office in accordance with the 1963 Benedictine calendar and rubrics, including the Farnborough edition of the Monastic Diurnal.
Christ with Saints Julian and Basilissa, Celsus and Marcionilla, Pompeo Batoni, 1736-8.
Today the martyrology recalls the martyrdom of St Julian and his wife Basilissa:
At Antioch, in the reign of Diocletian and Maximian, the birthday of the Saints Julian, martyr, and Basilissa, his virgin wife. Having lived in a state of virginity with her husband, she reached the end of her days in peace. But after the death by fire of a multitude of priests and ministers of the Church of Christ, who had taken refuge in his house from the severity of the persecution, Julian was ordered by the president Marcian to be tormented in many ways and executed. With him suffered Anthony, a priest, and Anastasius, whom Julian raised from the dead, and made partaker of the grace of Christ; also, Celsus, a boy, with his mother Marcionilla, seven brothers, and many others.
The feast will be of particular interest to Benedictines, because St Benedict drew heavily on their Passio in constructing chapter 4 of his Rule, on the Tools of Good Works.
The Passio Juliani et Basilissae is one of those martyrdom accounts that scholars have, in the past, tended to dismiss as more pious fiction than fact, but there almost certainly is at least some historical basis to it. Regardless, their cult was widespread quite early on, and well established by the sixth century.
The basic storyline of the Passio is that Julian was forced by his family to marry, however reached an agreement with his wife, Basilissa, that they should both preserve their virginity. They proceeded to convert their home into a hospital, and she founded a convent for women (of which she became the superior), while he undertook the direction of a large group of monks.
One of the reasons generally for dismissing the account is the early date claimed for the establishment of cenobitic monasticism. But we know that monasticism did in fact predate St Antony (St Athanaius' propaganda notwithstanding, pre-existing monasteries are actually mentioned in the Life), though it was probably not quite as formalised as the fourth or fifth century Passio suggests.
In any case, according to the Passio, Basilissa and her maidens died a holy death in advance of the Great Persecution of Diocletian, but Julian was martyred - though not before performing several miracles and converting his prosecutor's son and wife. The Passio relates that Julian predicted he would survive the initial attempt to put him to death, and when questioned on how he achieved this, proceeds to give the catechesis that the Rule draws on.
Today (January 8) is the feast of St Wulsin, who was appointed superior of the restored abbey of Westminster circa 960.
St Wulsin originally became a monk at Glastonbury, under St Dunstan, and went on to become part of the tenth century English Benedictine reform movement.
The saint was subsequently appointed as bishop of Sherborne (circa 960) and introduced a monastic chapter within his see.
He was famous for his austere life, modesty and humility, particularly reflected in his very modest pontifical regalia, which remained on display a century after his death.
This Sunday is one of those most affected by the liturgical wreckovations of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and not for the better, so I thought I would put up a little note on the various changes it has gone through.
In many places, the feast of the Epiphany is being celebrated today, creating the curious phenomenon of the 'thirteen days of Christmas' this year.
When Our Lord was twelve years old...
It is probably just as well, then that the Gospel of the day, common to the three previous versions of the Sunday (Sunday within the Octave of Epiphany, First Sunday after the Epiphany, and Feast of the Holy Family) is not used, since it emphasizes the importance of numbers in Scripture.
The text in question is St Luke 2:42-52:
And when he was twelve years old, they going up into Jerusalem, according to the custom of the feast, And having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem; and his parents knew it not. And thinking that he was in the company, they came a day's journey, and sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance. And not finding him, they returned into Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass, that, after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his wisdom and his answers. And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said to them: How is it that you sought me? did you not know, that I must be about my father's business? And they understood not the word that he spoke unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men.
St Ambrose's commentary on the Gospel, read at Matins in the traditional Office, points out the importance of Our Lord's age, and the number of days Jesus was missing:
We read that when He was twelve years old the Lord began to dispute. The number of His years was the same as the number of the Apostles whom He afterwards sent forth to preach the Faith. He Who, as touching His Manhood, was filled with wisdom and grace from God, was not careless of the parents of the same Manhood, and, after three days, was pleased to be found in the Temple : thereby foreshadowing that, after the three days of His victorious Passion, He That had been reckoned with the dead, would present Himself, living, to our faith, in His heavenly Kingship and Divine Majesty.
Numbers in Scripture
Numbers in Scripture then, translated into the liturgical traditions of the Church, are not random, to be adjusted to suit our convenience; rather they are meant to remind us of the mysteries being celebrated.
The twelve days of Christmas leading up to the great feast of the Epiphany, when we celebrate the manifestation of the Incarnation to the nations, is not a random number, but encoded message about the spread of the Gospel, of the universality of its message, and the centrality of the Incarnation.
Christ's incarnation was made known at his birth to the Magi, the shepherd's and the angels; and again manifested when he had turned twelve years old, in his teaching in the Temple.
The current fashion of 'Epiphany Sunday' and its companion 'Ascension Thursday Sunday' are, I think, classic examples of inorganic development of the liturgy which needed to be suppressed as quickly as possible.
Feast of the Holy Family
By contrast, the prior feast in the EF calendar, the Feast of the Holy Family, illustrates a more natural type of development of the liturgy. It had is origins in the seventeenth century in New France (now Canada), but was only introduced into the universal Roman calendar in 1921.
As far as I can discover, never made it into the Benedictine Calendar, though the Monastic Diurnal does provide texts for it in the supplement at the back of the book.
The feast, though, used the same Gospel as the old Sunday within the Octave of Epiphany, and thus simply provided some variety, through its antiphons, within the old Octave, relating closely to the themes of the Epiphany, in much the same way that the various feasts of the Christmas Octave do.
Octave of the Epiphany
The other major twentieth century change impacting on this Sunday was the abolition of most Octaves.
Prior to the 1950s, the Sunday was part of the Octave, reflecting the fact that the Epiphany is traditionally viewed as one of the most important feasts of the year. Indeed in many places and times, it was seen as more important than Christmas, perhaps reflecting the Eastern tradition where the nativity is celebrated as part of the feast of the Epiphany.
The extension of a feast to eight days goes back to Jewish traditions: eight people were saved in Noah's ark; boys were circumcised on the eighth day after their birth; many purification ceremonies required eight days; and many feasts were celebrated over eight days, foreshadowing Christ's Resurrection on the 'eighth day'.
The association with the number eight isn't entirely lost in the 1962 calendar, since the old Octave day of the Epiphany is still celebrated as the 'Commemoration of the Baptism of Our Lord'. Still, given that the Epiphany particularly celebrates Christ's baptism among its three main mysteries, it seems particularly unfortunate to downplay the association with the number of eight, given its strong baptismal associations (baptisteries, for example, traditionally had eight sides because of the eight saved from the Flood).
Accordingly, prior to the introduction of the feast (and in the Benedictine Office) the Sunday would have used the psalms and antiphons of the feast of the Epiphany, though with its own readings and related texts.
Most octaves, though, were abolished in the fifties, and this, unfortunately, was one of them. It is one that should, in my view, be brought back!
Plough Sunday
It is also worth noting that this Sunday was traditionally, at least in England, known as 'Plough Sunday', when blessings of the relevant implements were done in anticipation of the start of planting the crops for the year.
Here in Australia, it is of course, the wrong season for this lovely tradition, by I gather it is making a bit of a come back in Northern climes!
Today I want to focus on the parts of the Office that immediately follow the psalmody (other than the canticle and its antiphon at Lauds and Vespers and the closing prayers which we have already covered).
Lauds and Vespers - all change!
The most important thing to keep in mind when saying Lauds and Vespers during Advent is that all of the parts of the Office after the psalmody - that is the chapter, short responsory, hymn and versicle - change during Advent.
That means you have to ignore what appears in the psalter section of your Diurnal or breviary and instead use the texts found under the 'Ordinary of Advent' (Diurnal page 9* onwards; Antiphonale Monasticum page 181 onwards).
The table below summarises the impact of Advent on these two hours.
Lauds and Vespers during the
week
I&II Vespers of Sunday,
Sunday Lauds
Opening prayers
As throughout the year
Antiphons for the psalms
As throughout the year until December 17, then of the week day in the
period
Of the Sunday of Advent
Psalms
Of the day
Chapter, responsory, hymn, versicle
Ordinary of Advent
Of the Advent Sunday (mostly from the Ordinary)
Canticle antiphon
Of the Advent day or date
Canticle
As throughout the year
Closing prayers
Collect of the Advent week or day
The hymns (and hymn tones) of the season
Accordingly, this is the week to brush up (or learn) the hymns of the season, namely:
(Note the recordings I've linked to use slightly different texts to the monastic ones in some cases).
In the case of Prime, Terce to None and Compline the texts of the hymns do not change. If you are singing them though, there are special chant tones for the season:
the chant tone for the hymn, Te Lucis ante Terminum (Compline) can be found on page 183 of the Antiphonale Monasticum; and
the chant tone for Iam lucis orto at Prime is also used at Terce to None, and can be found in the Antiphonale Monasticum on page 185.
Chapter and versicles for Terce to None
The chapter and versicles of the little hours are all of Advent, but because they are the same throughout Advent they can be found both in the Ordinary of Advent section and in the psalter section.
The table below summarises the impact of Advent on Prime, Compline and Terce to None.
PART OF THE HOUR
COMPLINE
PRIME
TERCE TO NONE
Opening prayers/section
As for throughout the year
Hymn
Text as for throughout the year; chant tone of Advent, AM 183
Text as for throughout the year; chant tone of Advent, AM 185
Antiphon and psalms
Unchanged (no antiphon)
Antiphon of the week or day of Advent with psalms of the day of the week
Antiphon of the week or day of Advent with psalms of day
Chapter/short reading and versicle
As for throughout the year
For Advent, as noted in the psalter section
Closing prayers
As for throughout the year
Collect of the Advent week or day
Matins
At Matins, the Ordinary of the season includes:
the invitatory antiphon (which changes from the Third Sunday of Advent);
In the previous part of this series I talked about how the canticle antiphons and collects usually work; today I want to work on the canticle antiphons and collects of Advent.
Advent days and dates
The first thing you need to know is that during Advent, the antiphons for the Benedictus at Lauds and the Magnificat at Vespers are different each day, being either of the Advent day (eg Monday in the First week of Advent, Tuesday in the first week of Advent, etc) or of the date (unless, of course, displaced by a feast).
The trick is that between December 17 and 23, the Lauds canticle is generally (subject to two key exceptions) of the Advent day (not date), while the Vespers canticles of the Advent day are displaced by those of the date (viz the O antiphons).
So this year (2017) for example, at Lauds on Monday 18 November, the canticle is of Monday in the Third Week of Advent (Egredietur virga).
The O antiphons
At Vespers, however, you have to ignore the Magnificat antiphon set down for the Monday in the third week in your book and instead use the O antiphon of the date, O Adonai.
The Great O's as they are known, can be found in the Diurnal on page 35-6*, or in the Antiphonale on page 208-11. In other books, look after the Third Sunday of Advent.
The O antiphons are ancient indeed, known to St Benedict's contemporary Boethius, and all have essentially the same melody, so are easy to learn, and there are numerous recordings of them available on youtube.
Lauds canticles
Although Lauds mostly sticks to canticles of the Advent day, it does have some canticles of the date as well, namely for December 21 (Nolite Timere, used in the commemoration of the day as it is the feast of St Thomas) and December 23 (Ecce completa).
The table below summarises the source of the canticles between December 17 and the end of Advent - and of course don't forget that the first word of the O antiphons working backwards spells out Ero Cras - tomorrow I will come!
Lauds
Vespers
Dec 17
Of the Advent day (2017: Third Sunday of Advent)
O Sapientia
Dec 18
Of the Advent day (2017: Monday in the third week of Advent)
O Adonai
Dec 19
Of the Advent day (2017: Tuesday wk III)
O Radix Iesse
Dec 20
Of the Advent day (2017: Ember Wednesday of Advent)
O Clavis David
Dec 21
Of the Advent day (St Thomas – for the commemoration of the Advent
Day, Nolite Timere)
O Oriens
Dec 22
Of the Advent day (2017: Ember Friday of Advent)
O Rex gentium
Dec 23
Of the date – Ecce completa est
O Emmanuel
Dec 24
Of the Vigil of the Nativity
Of I Vespers of the Nativity
The collects
The collects for Advent follow the normal pattern, generally being of the Sunday each week (except at Prime and Compline).
The key exception is the three Ember days (Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in the third week of Advent), which each have their own collect.
I want to continue my series on getting ready for Advent today with a look at the antiphons for the Benedictus (Lauds) and Magnificat (Vespers), as well as the collects, work in the Office more generally. In the next part I'll focus in on the peculiarities of the Advent set.
The normal pattern of canticle antiphons and collects
On normal days (Class IV ferias and Sundays) throughout the year, the antiphons for the two New Testament canticles follow the following pattern:
at Saturday Vespers, the Magnificat antiphon is of the following Sunday, and usually reflects the first Nocturn Scriptural readings of Sunday Matins;
on Sundays the two canticle antiphons usually refer to the Gospels said at (EF) Mass that day (and also read at Matins);
on weekdays, the canticle antiphons are of the particular weekday, and are the same throughout the year and so included in the psalter section of the Diurnal, breviary and Antiphonale.
The collects
The Saturday and Sunday canticle antiphons throughout the year are found in the 'temporale' section of the Diurnal and other Office books along with the Sunday collect. The table below summarises where the collects are taken from. It shows that the Sunday collect is usually used from Saturday Vespers until Vespers the following Friday at all hours except Prime and Compline (which have their own fixed collects used throughout the year).
On Saturdays (or Friday Vespers if you are following the Le Barroux rubrics, which still includes Vespers of the Office of Our Lady, abolished in the 1962 rubrics), the normal weekly collect is displaced by that for the Office of Our Lady on Saturday.
Collects during the
year (outside of Advent and Lent etc)
DAY AND HOUR
THE COLLECT IS OF…
NOTES
Saturday Vespers
Of the following Sunday
Unless displaced by a feast
Sunday Matins & Lauds, Terce to Vespers
Of the Sunday
Unless displaced by a Class I feast
Prime every day
Always the same – Domine Deus
omnipotens…
Subject to a few rare exceptions such as All Souls and the Triduum
Compline every day
Always the same – Visita quaesumus
Subject to a few rare exceptions such as All Souls and the Triduum
Monday to Friday Matins & Lauds, Terce to Vespers
Of the previous Sunday
Unless displaced by a feast or higher level day
Saturday Matins & Lauds, Terce to None
Collect for Office of Our Lady on Saturday
Unless displaced by a feast or higher level feast.
In some monasteries, the Office of Our Lady starts with I Vespers on
Friday night.
Where to find the antiphons and collects
Finding the canticle antiphons for Saturdays and Sundays can sometimes be a little tricky, as from the Second Sunday of Pentecost until the end of the liturgical year, they are typically on two different places in the 'temporale' (texts for the time of year).
This is because the First (and Second) Nocturn readings of Matins are not always 'attached' to the Mass cycle of Sundays of the year. Instead, they follow an ancient cycle of Scriptural readings that originally enabled the entire Bible to be read in a year, with the readings from August to November being of the Sunday of the month rather than the Sunday Mass cycle.
In the Monastic Diurnal, the Saturday Vespers antiphons can be found (under the heading I Vespers) from pages 432* onwards; those for the equivalent Sundays from page 461*.
In the Antiphonale Monasticum (AM), the Saturday antiphon sequence starts at the fourth Saturday after Penteocst, on page 575 (labelled 'Tempore post Pentecosten...antiphonae dicendae in sabbatis). The Sunday sequence starts on AM 593.
Advent and the other exceptions
The key exceptions to the patterns described above are:
feasts, where the canticle of the feast will normally displace the canticle antiphon and collect that would otherwise be said (except at Prime and Compline);
some special feasts through the year when the Benedictine Office is displaced by the Roman (such as during the Sacred Triduum and on All Souls) which affect Prime and Compline;
higher level 'days', such as the four sets of Ember Days during the year, which have their own collects; and
In the last part of this series aimed at preparing for Advent I gave a bit of an overview on the antiphons, and ended on where to find them in your Office book.
Today I want to say a bit more about their use in general, as well as cover the antiphons for the particularly tricky period of Advent between December 17 and 23.
The Lauds antiphons as the core
The first thing to keep in mind not only for Advent, but also for feasts and seasons throughout the year is that 'core' set of antiphons are usually those for Lauds.
During the first part of Advent for example, the antiphons for Sunday Lauds are also used (omitting the fourth) at I Vespers of Sunday (ie Saturday Vespers) and at Prime to None.
So during the first week of Lent, the antiphon 'In illa die' is the first antiphon sung for Advent, at Saturday Vespers (MD 1*/AM 187), is repeated at Lauds (MD 4*), and then used at Prime throughout the week (MD 6*).
Which antiphon at which hour?
Office books will sometimes simply refer to you the antiphons of Lauds (or in the case of Prime, just expect you to know!), without spelling out which is for which hour.
An important example of this is the antiphons used between December 17 and 23, which can be found on page 37* of the Monastic Diurnal, or page 212 of the Antiphonale Monasticum.
In these cases, the basic principle you need to remember is that on feasts and during Advent, the antiphon for Prime is the first antiphon of Lauds (either of the feast itself or from the Common of the type of feast or saint); the second antiphon of Lauds is used at Terce; the third antiphon of Lauds is used at Sext; and the fifth is used at None. The table below provides a summary.
Hour of the Office
Antiphon for the hour
Notes
Prime
1st antiphon of Lauds
The antiphon is the only thing that changes at this hour for most feasts
and seasons
Terce
2nd of Lauds
Chapter, versicle and collect (but not hymn or psalms) also change
for seasons and feasts
Sext
3rd of Lauds
None
5th of Lauds
(Sunday) Vespers
1st of Lauds=1st of Vespers
2nd of Lauds=2nd of Vespers
3rd of Lauds=3rd of Vespers
5th of Lauds=4th of Vespers
Some feasts have their own sets of Vespers antiphons.
Psalms and chapter, responsory and rest of texts other than canticle may
change for feasts and seasons.
Compline
No antiphons used with psalms
The antiphons for December 17 to 23
The most important application of this during Advent is the special sets of antiphons for the day of the week during the second part of Advent.
As noted earlier, from December 17 onwards, Advent becomes much more intense, with antiphons for the day of the week.
In 2017, December 17 is a Sunday, so the antiphons are for the (Third) Sunday of Advent. On Monday December 18, though, you use the set for Monday (or feria secunda in the Antiphonale or a breviary).
That means 'Ecce veniet Dominus' to start Lauds, Prime and Vespers.
Note that these antiphons are used with the normal psalms that are said on the particular day of the week.
Antiphons at weekday Lauds and Vespers during Advent
The other key point to note is that while Lauds and I&II Vespers of Sunday use the antiphons for the first week of Advent, on weekdays in the first part of Advent, the antiphons (and psalms) at Lauds and Vespers are just the usual ones used throughout the year.
It is only from December 17 onwards that the Advent psalms are used at all the hours.
Antiphons for Matins
For those who say Matins, there is one set of Advent antiphons, noted in the psalter, for use on Sundays during Advent; the normal antiphons are used on all other days.
Want to learn to sing the Advent antiphons by ear?
And for those wanting to sing the Office, a very useful resource to be aware of is the archive function of the site the Chant of Le Barroux - provided you know the date of the relevant feast from last year, you can retrieve many of the hours there.
So if you can't read music (or even if you can but want to check you are doing it correctly), just go to the recording for the relevant date last year (try here for the First Sunday of Advent in 2022) and go over it until you know the antiphons for the first week.
Note however that Le Barroux generally sings the antiphons and psalms 'recto tono' at Lauds, so start with Vespers for this purpose.
