Understanding the calendar IIIB: Levels of days, Our Lady on Saturday

So far in this series on how the calendar affects the Office I've focused on the hours and days of the week.

The next step, though, is to start looking at how the weekly cycle interacts with the other cycles of the Office.

And this requires an understanding of the level and types of 'days' and feasts.

To this end, I thought it might be helpful to progressively work through the process of building an 'Ordo' or set of instructions on how to pray the Office each day.

Constructing a personal Ordo

The first thing to do in thinking about your Ordo is, as I've suggested in the last couple of posts, to start with the 'ferial' Office each day, or the Office as it is said outside of special seasons, and on days where there are no feasts or special days that affect the Office.

The starting point for a Wednesday might look something like this:

Wednesday 

Matins: All as for Wednesday in the psalter
Lauds: All as for Wednesday in the psalter
Prime: All as for Wednesday in the psalter
Terce to None:  All as for Tuesday to Saturday in the psalter
Vespers: All as for Wednesday in the psalter
Compline: All as in the psalter every day

Levels of days and feasts

In order to take account of feasts and special offices, however, you need to know that each day and feast of the year has a ranking.

The Class of a day or feast is important because where two different feasts or days clash, their respective rankings determine what texts are used.

In the 1962 calendar there are basically four levels of feasts and days:

• Class I (solemnities);
• Class II;
• Class III; and 
• Class IV (ordinary weekdays and memorials).  

For those used to the 1970 calendar, or wanting to understand how the the 1962 calendar aligns with earlier versions, the table below provides rough equivalents.

1969 (OF/NO)	1962	Pre-1962
Abolished	Memorial	Simples, 1955 commemorations
Memorial (optional or obligatory)	Class III	Greater doubles, Doubles, 1955 simples, semi-doubles
Feasts	Class II	Doubles Class II
Solemnities	Class I	Doubles Class I

The defaults

In the 1962 calendar, the default ranking of a day of the week is Class IV.

And the default ranking of Sundays is Class II.

So we can now add those rankings to our default Ordo, as follows:

Sunday - Class II

Monday - Class IV

Tuesday - Class IV

Wednesday - Class IV

Thursday – Class IV

Friday - Class IV

Saturday - Class IV

Office of Our Lady on Saturday

On Class II Sundays, and Class IV Mondays to Fridays without feasts, the standard texts for the Office (collect at hours other than Prime and Compline aside) will be those of the day of the week.

On Class IV Saturdays, however, the default is to use the Office of Our Lady on Saturday from Matins to None (the texts for the day hours can be found in the Diurnal on pages (129) and following).

The impact of the Office of Our Lady on the Office is summarised in the table below:

	Lauds (and Vespers)	Prime	Terce to None
Antiphons for the psalms	For Saturday throughout the year	Of Our Lady	Of Our Lady
Psalms	Of Saturday
Hymn	Of Our Lady	All as for Prime throughout the year	Of Terce, Sext and None throughout the year
responsory	Of Our Lady		na
chapter			Of Our Lady
versicle
collect

Accordingly, the default set of instructions for a Saturday might look like this:

Saturday Class IV - Office of Our Lady on Saturday

Matins: Invitatory antiphon, hymn, reading(s), collect and chapter of Our Lady on Saturday; psalms and antiphons of Saturday in the psalter.
Lauds: Psalms and antiphons of Saturday, rest from the Office of Our Lady on Saturday.
Prime: Antiphon of Our Lady on Saturday, rest of Saturday in the psalter.
Terce to None: Antiphon, chapter, versicle and collect of Our Lady on Saturday, rest as for Tuesday to Saturday in the psalter.
Vespers: As for Saturday in the psalter.
Compline: As in the psalter.

Note that in older sets of rubrics (still used by some monasteries), the Office of Our Lady on Saturday started on Friday night with I Vespers.

Which feast or day has priority?

In the next part of this series we will start looking at how the fixed day feasts of the calendar affect our Ordo.

Understanding the Calendar Part IIIA - Days of the week

If you are saying the Office, the first thing you have to decide is which particular 'hour' of the day you are going to say, and find the appropriate standard, fixed texts in your Office book.

Accordingly, in the last two parts of this series on the calendar I have looked briefly at the daily cycle of hours, and noted that there are some texts that for all of the hours, there are some texts that stay the same each day, regardless of feasts or seasons (a few special days apart), and not all of these are repeated each day in many Office books.

The next thing you need to know (unless you are saying Compline only) is the day of the week, since some texts change with the day.

The psalms of the day of the week

The key moving part for days of the week are the psalms, and the antiphons attached to them.

In his Rule, St Benedict specifies that all 150 of the psalms should be said each week, and sets out his preferred allocation of psalms to particular hours.

St Benedict makes it clear in the Rule that Sunday is always the first day of the week so far as the psalm cycle is concerned.  As Sunday always starts from I Vespers though (ie Saturday night), it also has a 'last' or eighth day character, as a special celebration of the Resurrection.

It is this allocation of psalms that forms the basis of the Diurnal (and other books used for the 1962 Office).

St Benedict actually employs three different patterns for the allocation of the psalms to hours:

• one hour, Compline, has only one set of psalms used everyday - perhaps reminding us of the unity of God, and our aim to join with this;
• three hours (Terce, Sext and None) have three sets of psalms they use across the week (for use on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays to Saturdays) -  the number perhaps highlighting the Trinitiarian focus of these hours;
• the remaining four hours (Matins, Lauds, Prime and Vespers) have a set of psalms for each day of the week.

The day of the week cycle of psalms and antiphons is generally referred to as the 'ferial' Office - but in some cases, the psalms of the day can be displaced by special psalms for feasts, on which I will say more later in the series.

The days of the week at Matins, Lauds and Vespers

The other key 'moving parts' associated with the day of the week are the hymns of Lauds and Vespers, the New Testament canticle antiphons, and the invitatory antiphons at Matins.

In particular, note that for most of the year (special seasons and feasts aside), each day of the week has a specific hymn of the day at each of these hours.

At Vespers, the hymns (Saturday aside), traditionally ascribed to St Gregory the Great, remind us of the relevant day of creation, allusions to which can also be found in the psalms of the hour for each day.

How the hour and day cycles come together: the ferial Office

If you are learning the Office, I strongly recommend focusing on learning the default or 'ferial' hourly and daily cycles - the Office as it is said on days other than feasts or during special seasons - first, before you start worrying about seasons and feasts.

These quick reference sheets for each day of the week may be of assistance:

• Sunday;
• Monday
• Tuesday;
• Wednesday;
• Thursday;
• Friday;
• Saturday.

In the next part of this series we will look at how the rankings of days impacts on the weekly cycle.

Understanding the calendar IIB - The rationale for the hours and their structure

In the last part of this series I talked a bit about the hours, and when they are properly said.

In this part, I want to explore a little more the meaning behind them, and the effect that has on the hours.

Scriptural associations with the hours

I noted in the last post that some parts of the hours remind us of the time of day at which they are said.  At Prime to None, for example, the hymns are the same each day, chosen specifically for these references.

But in choosing the texts for each of the hours, St Benedict also built on a tradition that associated the physical hour of the day with times of prayer attested to in Scripture - in some cases reflecting apostolic and later traditions, but in many cases much more ancient ones.

Lauds and Vespers, for example, almost certainly reflect the hours when incense was offered in the Temple; Terce is associated with the hour of Pentecost.

These associations were well established by St Benedict's time, laid out by writers such as SS Cyprian, Basil, Cassian and many others. 

If you keep these in mind as you pray the relevant hour (summarised in the table below), you will quickly become aware of some of the resonances built into the texts of the hours.

HOUR	WHEN SAID	WHY
Matins (Nocturns)	In the night	Rise with Christ; keeping vigil for the second coming.
Lauds	First light	In the rising of the sun we celebrate the Resurrection of the Son.  Hour at which incense offered in the Temple.
Prime	Before work starts	Parable of the labourers in the vineyard – first labourers recruited.
Terce	Mid-morning, third hour	Christ condemned to death by Pilate; hour of Pentecost.
Sext	Noon	Christ ascends the cross; apostolic tradition - St Peter prayed at this hour (Acts 10).
None	Mid-afternoon	Christ dies on the cross; apostolic tradition - SS Peter and John prayed at the temple at this hour (Acts 3).
Vespers	Early evening	Our evening sacrifice of praise (Ps 140); last of the labourers recruited at the eleventh hour.
Compline	Before bed.	Preparation for sleep/death.

The structure and fixed texts of the hours

Because each of the hours has its own particular character, reflected in its particular structure and the fixed texts used at it (such as the hymns for Prime to None), if you are learning the Office, it is a good idea to focus on learning the basic structure of an hour first.

Focus particularly on which texts for each hour don't change - you can follow the links below to get more details on this.

There are effectively three groups of hours from the perspective of what changes and what doesn't in terms of the texts of the Office:

• Compline, which, Marian antiphon of the season aside, doesn't change at all and Prime, which changes only psalms and antiphons for days of the week, feasts and seasons; 
• Terce, Sext and None which has three sets of psalms, and can change antiphons, chapters, versicles and the collect; and
• Lauds and Vespers, which retain their basic structure, but can use special texts for virtually every part of the hour (the NT canticles; and Ps 66 and the Laudates at Lauds aside). 

In the next part in this series we will start looking at how the cycle of hours changes over the days of the week.
 

Understanding the calendar Part IIA - The hours and the sanctification of time

A couple of weeks back I started a series on how the calendar for the traditional Benedictine Office works.  Apologies for the delay in continuing this, but herewith the next part.

I noted that there are five different cycles that interact to determine which texts are used in the Office, namely:

• the eight 'hours';
• the days of the week;
• the date;
• the month and 'natural' seasons; and  
• the week and season of the liturgical year, which mostly depends on the date of Easter each year.

This week some notes on the first of these.

In this post, I will mostly focus on the basics; in the next, I want to talk more about the spiritual meanings that underpin the 'hours' of the day.

The hours

The first key cycle in the Office relates to the time of day, and reflects the idea that the Office is about the sanctification of time, starting with the hours of the day and night.

The traditional Benedictine Office is made up of eight hours - Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline, and in the night, Matins.

The number of hours is not random - in St Benedict's time different forms of the Office consisted of anything from two (the Egyptian monks of Skete) to twenty-four (some Syrian monasteries, the Sleepless monks of Constantinople, and at Agaune in the Swiss Alps) separate 'hours' each day.

Rather, there is a symbolism around the number of hours said: seven often stands for completeness in Scripture, represented for example by the seven days of creation; while the number eight stands for the life to come, since the Resurrection took place 'on the eighth day'.

The proper times of day for the hours

Each of the hours is properly said at a particular time of the day.

In his Rule, St Benedict was insistent that Lauds should be said at first light, and so prays in the dawn: the rising of the sun reminds us of the rising of the Son, and our hope of rising with him.

Adjusting your prayer start time with dawn over the seasons though, isn't practical for most people these days, but it is nice when you can time it appropriately.

The other days hours - Prime, Terce, Sext and None  - are all named after particular hours of daylight  and so are ideally said around an hour after dawn, at the third hour of the day (mid-morning), noon and mid-afternoon respectively.

Vespers is normally said as the sun is setting, and Compline before bed.

The daily solar cycle and the hours

All of the hours generally include psalms, hymns or other texts that can contain explicit references to the time of day.

The psalms of Lauds, for example, are full of references to light and the dawn, while the hymns of Terce, Sext and None all refer to the hour at which they are properly said.

You don't have to be too rigid though: St Benedict indicated that the actual timing of these hours (other than Lauds) can be moved around to suit the needs of the monastery, and more than a few monasteries say some of the little hours together.

Prayer through the day and night

Still, St Benedict did cite the psalm verses, 'Seven times a day will I praise you', and 'at midnight I rose...' (Ps 118), verses which he clearly saw as having both literal and symbolic dimensions, in the Rule as the basis for his liturgical schedule.

And there is a natural flow of the hours over the course of the day that is worth keeping in mind, since each of the hours includes texts appropriate both to the particular time of day.

For many people there may be a tradeoff between sticking to the ideal time, and actually saying (any or more of) the hours at all.

But you do not have to say all (or any) of these hours, unless you are a priest or religious - for most people Prime and Compline or Lauds and Vespers (ie mornings and evening prayer) are probably enough.

If you want to say more of the psalms each day, just say them - they don't have to be recited only in the context of the Office.

And at the other extreme, if you don't have time to say all of the hours, you could try just saying the opening verse of the day hours - 'O God come to my aid, O Lord make haste to help me' - at the times when the other hours would be said in a monastery.

Can you say the hours in blocks?

In the modern rubrics, those bound to say the Office (ie priests and religious) have to say all of the hours within a twenty-four hour period.

But the individual hours don't absolutely have to be said at a particular time (out of choir).

I sometimes get asked if you can say all of the hours in one block each day (or even do a Cardinal Woolsey, and say one day's hours immediately before midnight the other immediately after, thus disposing of two days of obligation in one go!).

Well technically you can, but it seems to me to rather defeat some of the key aims of the Office, such as ensuring that we 'pray frequently' (RB 4), and inject prayer into our lives throughout the day and night.

Can you 'anticipate' the hours?

The other possible way of arranging your horarium is to 'anticipate' the hours, that is, say them earlier than they would normally be.

In the 1962 rubrics, the only hour that can be said the day before is Matins, which can be said any time from 1400 hours onwards, provided that the previous days hours have already been said (and providing some adjustments to Compline are made).

During the Sacred Triduum, however, where Tenebrae includes both matins and Lauds, most places claim the benefit of long established custom, and celebrate both hours the night before.

The rationale for the time of the hours?

I'll say more on the rationale for saying the hours at their proper times next post.

In the meantime, comments and questions are welcome - do let me know if there is something you would particularly like me to cover.

Understanding the calendar for the office Pt 1 - Why are the Saturday Magnificat antiphons in a different place to the Sunday ones?!

Every year around this time the Diurnal (and other Office books) do something that seems quite inconvenient: it places the variable texts for Saturday Vespers (ie I Vespers of Sunday) in different places, so you have to go to one page for the Magnificat antiphon, another for the collect.

So why does it do that?

I thought this might be a good place to both answer that question, and explain more broadly the different cycles of the calendar that determine what is said at each hour and day.

Why do Saturdays and Sundays after Pentecost have different places in the Diurnal?

Going back to Saturday Vespers, for a moment though, the short answer is that from August, the Scriptural cycle for the first Nocturn of Matins, to which the Magnificat antiphon generally refers, shifts from being dependent on the number of Sundays after Pentecost, to dependent on the calendar month.

The collect though, continues to depend on the number of the Sunday after Pentecost.

As the number of Sundays between Easter and the first Sunday of August differs each year, the Saturday Magnificat antiphons and collects do not always line up.

There can never be less than three Sundays after Pentecost and before August though, so although the Diurnal puts the collects in a separate place from the Second Sunday after Pentecost onwards, other Office books, such as the breviary and the Antiphonale Monasticum, make the split at that point.

All too complex?

Let's go back to first principles!

The cycles in the Office

The key to understanding how the Office works is to appreciate that there are essentially six different cycles at work in the Office, consisting of:

• the hours, each of which have some fixed texts generally said every day at that particular hour;
• the day of the week, which dictates changes to either the psalms and a few other texts (antiphons, responsories), and in some cases the chants used (for example the hymn tune used for Compline changes on Saturdays and Sundays);
• the date - feasts which have fixed dates;
• the month.  There are days and offices that are fixed to particular days of the week in particular calendar months (such as Matins readings for the Office of Our Lady on Saturday, the September Ember Days and Matins reading from August to November); 
• the week and season of the liturgical year, which mostly depends on the date of Easter each year; and 
• 'winter' and  'summer', which dictate the number of readings said at Matins on ferial weekdays (three from November to Easter; one the rest of the year), and which hymns are used at Matins and Lauds (and chant tones at Vespers) are used, with the switch occurring in October. 

Each of these cycles can contribute to what is said each day, with a set of rules dictating which ones take precedence.

In the next post in this series I will start looking at how these cycles work and interact.

Rogation days in the lead up to the feast of the Ascension

Monday to Wednesday this week are 'rogation', or 'asking' days.

Rogation days in history

Traditionally these are days of prayer (particularly in the form of a procession accompanied by a sung litany of the saints), and fasting.

The three 'minor' rogation days before Ascension date back to the fifth century, instituted originally by Bishop Mammertus of Vienne (c470).  The practice quickly spread throughout Gaul and Burgundy - the Council of Orleans in 510 ordered their use for example.  Rogation days were not adopted in Rome, though, until the early ninth century.

Their key purpose is to appease God's anger at man's transgressions, to ask protection in calamities, and to obtain a good and bountiful harvest.

Rogation days in the Office

You can find the litany and prayers appropriately used with them in the Monastic Diurnal at pg (200) and the full chants in the Processionale Monasticum.  If said privately, it is usually done after Lauds.

In earlier versions of the Monastic Office, the Rogations were marked as follows:

• On Monday  there were three readings at Matins (from St Ambrose on the value of prayer at set times, and always) and a collect specific to the rogation day (set out below), I Vespers was of the votive office of St Benedict;
• On Tuesday the Votive Office of St Benedict was said; and
• On Wednesday the Office had three readings (from St Augustine) and a special collect.

In the 1962 monastic version, though, only the Wednesday readings and collect have survived (under the rubric of the Vigil of the Ascension).  I can only presume that this is one of several unfortunate early manifestations in the Office of the modern resurgence of the heresies of presumed universal salvation (we all go to heaven; there is no-one hell) and rejection of the value of intercessory prayer.

The Monday readings in particular though, are rather lovely and important ones, and so I have put up them up on the Lectio Divina Notes Blog for your consideration.

Orémus Praesta quaesumus omnipotens Deus: ut qui in afflictione nostra de tua pietate confidimus; contra adversa omnia tua semper protectione muniamur. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. R. Amen.

24 Let us pray. Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that we who in our tribulation are yet of good cheer because of thy loving-kindness, may find thee mighty to save from all dangers. 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.

St Honoratus of Arles (May 5)

Saint Honorat or Saint Honoré (c. 350 – January 6, 429) was an early Archbishop of Arles, who was also an Abbot of Lérins Abbey.

It is believed that he was born in the north of Gaul and that he belonged to a consular Roman family. Honoratus received an outstanding education. Converted to Christianity with his brother Venantius, he embarked with him from Marseilles about 368, under the guidance of a holy person named Caprasius, to visit the holy places of Palestine and the lauræ of Syria and Egypt. But the death of Venantius, occurring suddenly at Methone, Achaia, prevented the pious travellers from going further.

They returned to Gaul through Italy, and, after having stopped at Rome, Honoratus went on into Provence and, encouraged by Leontius, bishop of Fréjus, took up his abode in the wild Lérins Island today called the Île Saint-Honorat, with the intention of living there in solitude.

Numerous disciples soon gathered around Honoratus, including Lupus of Troyes, Eucherius of Lyon, and Hilary of Arles. Thus was founded the Monastery of Lérins, which has enjoyed so great a celebrity status and which was, during the 5th and 6th centuries, a nursery for illustrious bishops and remarkable ecclesiastical writers. His Rule of Life was chiefly borrowed from that of St. Pachomius. It is believed St. Patrick trained there for his missionary work in Ireland.

St Honoratus's reputation for sanctity throughout the southeastern portion of Gaul was such that in 426 after the assassination of Patroclus, Archbishop of Arles, he was summoned from his solitude to succeed to the government of the diocese, which the Arian and Manichaean heresies had greatly disturbed. He appears to have succeeded in re-establishing order and orthodoxy.

St John Cassian, who had visited his monastery, dedicated to him several of his Conferences.

St Catherine of Siena (April 30)

St Catherine rates only a memorial in the 1963 calendar, a grave injustice in my view for this important doctor of the Church.

In any case, here are the readings for her feast from Matins in the Roman Office from Divinum Officium:

This Katharine was a maiden of Sienna, and was born of godly parents, (in the year 1347.) She took the habit of the Third Order of St Dominick. Her fasts were most severe, and the austerity of her life wonderful. It was discovered that on some occasions she took no food at all from Ash Wednesday till Ascension Day, receiving all needful strength by taking the Holy Communion. She was engaged oftentimes in a wrestling with devils, and was sorely tried by them with divers assaults : she was consumed by fevers, and suffered likewise from other diseases. Great and holy was the name of Katharine, and sick folk, and such as were vexed with evil spirits, were brought to her from all quarters. Through the Name of Christ, she had command over sickness and fever, and forced the foul spirits to leave the bodies of the tormented.

While she dwelt at Pisa, on a certain Lord's Day, after she had received the Living Bread Which came down from heaven, she was in the spirit; and saw the Lord nailed to the Cross advancing towards her. There was a great light round about Him, and five rays of light streaming from the five marks of the Wounds in His Feet, and Hands, and Side, which smote her upon the five corresponding places in her body. When Katharine perceived this vision, she besought the Lord that no marks might become manifest upon her flesh, and straightway the five beams of light changed from the colour of blood into that of gold, and touched in the form of pure light her feet, and hands, and side. At this moment the agony which she felt was so piercing, that she believed that if God had not lessened it, she would have died. Thus the Lord in His great love for her, gave her this great grace, in a new and twofold manner, namely, that she felt all the pain of the wounds, but without there being any bloody marks to meet the gaze of men. This was the account given by the handmaiden of God to her Confessor, Raymund, and it is for this reason that when the godly wishes of the faithful lead them to make pictures of the blessed Katharine, they paint her with golden rays of light proceeding from those five places in her body which correspond to the five places wherein our Lord was wounded by the nails and spear.

While she dwelt at Pisa, on a certain Lord's Day, after she had received the Living Bread Which came down from heaven, she was in the spirit; and saw the Lord nailed to the Cross advancing towards her. There was a great light round about Him, and five rays of light streaming from the five marks of the Wounds in His Feet, and Hands, and Side, which smote her upon the five corresponding places in her body. When Katharine perceived this vision, she besought the Lord that no marks might become manifest upon her flesh, and straightway the five beams of light changed from the colour of blood into that of gold, and touched in the form of pure light her feet, and hands, and side. At this moment the agony which she felt was so piercing, that she believed that if God had not lessened it, she would have died. Thus the Lord in His great love for her, gave her this great grace, in a new and twofold manner, namely, that she felt all the pain of the wounds, but without there being any bloody marks to meet the gaze of men. This was the account given by the handmaiden of God to her Confessor, Raymund, and it is for this reason that when the godly wishes of the faithful lead them to make pictures of the blessed Katharine, they paint her with golden rays of light proceeding from those five places in her body which correspond to the five places wherein our Lord was wounded by the nails and spear.

And if you would, please  say a prayer for me on my name day!

Getting ready for Lent 2018

This week marks the start of Lent, with Ash Wednesday, so it is time to start preparing if you haven't already.

The Office from Ash Wednesday to the Saturday before the first Sunday of Lent

Although Lent starts on Ash Wednesday, this period was something of a later add-on to Lent to make up the correct number of days (given that Sundays are not counted for fasting and other purposes).

The liturgy does intensify, with special canticle antiphons each day at both Lauds and Vespers, and two collects each day (the one listed as for Lauds is also used at Matins and Terce to None; the other is for Vespers) but the rest of the Office at Lauds to Vespers remains that of  'throughout the year'.

This is, though, a good time to start practicing the Office hymns for Lent, and read through the rubrics for Lent.

The Rule on the observance of Lent

This is a good time, I think, to reread Chapter 49 of the Rule of St Benedict, on the observance of Lent.  Take a look also at chapters 41 and 48.

I've also written a couple of posts drawing out its application which you can find here:

• on sacred reading during Lent (read a book right through);
• refrain from sin and apply ourselves to prayer;
• fasting and abstinence.

Suggestions for something extra by way of prayer...

If you are looking for something extra by way of prayer for Lent, consider these suggestions:

• add an extra hour of the Office to your normal prayer regime;
• read through the Matins readings each day.  The are generally patristic readings on the Gospel used at the EF Mass of the day, and you can find them on the Lectio Divina Notes Blog;
• pray the penitential psalms.  If you would like to explore them in more depth, you can follow my Lenten series on them;
• pray the Gradual psalms.  Again I have previously provided notes on these in a Lenten series;
• pray Psalm 118.  The link takes to you to my notes on them, with a post for each day of Lent;
• work through the psalms of Holy Week Tenebrae.

From the martyrology: Conversion of St Paul; St Poppo OSB (Jan 25)

1467 Polish

Today in the Extraordinary Form, Ordinary Form and traditional Benedictine Office we celebrate the famous conversion of St Paul:

"The conversion of St. Paul the Apostle, which occurred in the second year after the Ascension of our Lord."

Bamberg, Church of SS Peter and George

The martyrology also mentions, however, St Poppo, an eleventh century monastic reformer:

"At Marchiennes in France, St. Poppo, priest and abbot, renowned for his miracles."

St Poppo had a colourful life, as the Catholic Encyclopedia chronicles:

"Abbot, born 977; died at Marchiennes, 25 January, 1048. He belonged to a noble family of Flanders; his parents were Tizekinus and Adalwif. About the year 1000 he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with two others of his countrymen. Soon after this he also went on a pilgrimage to Rome. He was about to marry a lady of noble family, when an impressive experience led him to seek another mode of life. As he was journeying late at night a flame burst forth over his head and his lance radiated a brilliant light. He believed this to be an illumination of the Holy Spirit, and soon after, 1005, he entered the monastery of St. Thierry at Reims."

He was appointed to head a number of monasteries to aid their reform in the spirit of Cluny, working under the guidance of St Richard of Saint-Vannes.

SS Timothy and Suranus, Abbot (Jan 24)

Today in the Office we celebrate in the Office the feast of St Timothy, of whom the martyrology says:

"At Ephesus, St. Timothy, disciple of the apostle St. Paul, who ordained him bishop of that city.  After many labours for Christ, he was stoned for rebuking those who offered sacrifices to Diana, and shortly after went peacefully to his rest in the Lord."

But also mentioned is St Suranus:

"Also, blessed Suranus, abbot, who lived in the time of the Lombards."

The saint is mentioned in Book I of St Gregory's Dialogues:

"At such time as I yet lived in the Monastery, I understood by the relation of certain religious men, that in the time of the Lombards, in this very province called Sura and not far off, there was an holy Abbot called Suranus, who bestowed upon certain prisoners, which had escaped their hands, all such things as he had in his Monastery: and when he had given away in alms all his own apparel, and whatsoever he could find either in the monks' cells or in the yards, and nothing was left: suddenly the Lombards came thither, took him prisoner, and demanded where his gold was: and when he told them that he had nothing, they carried him to an hill hard by, where there was a mighty great wood in which a certain prisoner that ran away from them had hid himself in an hollow tree. There one of the Lombards, drawing out his sword, slew the foresaid venerable Abbot, whose body as it fell to the ground, suddenly all the hill together with the wood did shake, as though the earth by that trembling had said, that it could not bear the weight of his holiness and virtue."

St Agnes (January 21)



Zenobi Strozzi, c1448-9

From the 1962 Roman Martyrology:

"At Rome, the passion of St. Agnes, virgin, who under Symphronius, governor of the city, was thrown into the fire, but after it was extinguished by her prayers, she was slain with the sword.  Of her, St. Jerome writes: "Agnes is praised in the writings and by the tongues of all nations, especially in the churches.  She overcame the weakness of her age, conquered the cruelty of the tyrant, and consecrated her chastity by martyrdom."

The mystery of the numbers Part II - The Second Sunday after Epiphany and the 'de psalmiis' responsories

Annunciation Cathedral (Jerusalem) : Fresco of Marriage at Cana.
photo by See The Holy Land

Last week I suggested that the Gospel for the Sunday within the former Octave of the Epiphany, on our Lord's teaching in the Temple at the age of twelve, relates to the idea of the twelve days of Christmas.

This week the Gospel is the story of the wedding at Cana, and it too includes some important number symbolism which I want to look at, particularly focusing on some possible links between the the six water jars of the Gospel, and the first of the Matins responsories for this Sunday, and whose text comes from Psalm 6.

In the twentieth century it was proposed that the core of the psalm based responsories used in this period actually represent a set of proto-responsories that were originally used throughout the year, and their ordering through the week was thought to attest to an earlier version of the Roman Office psalm cursus. [1]

I want to suggest that in fact these responsories were chosen, probably in the late seventh or eighth century, for their links to the season and the readings used in them.  So today, a bit of a taster for my theory, looking at the first of the set.

When does Epiphanytide end?

In both the Roman and Benedictine Offices, the 'ordinary' of the Office reverts, this week, to 'time throughout the year (aside for the Marion cycles at Compline, and in the Office of Our Lady on Saturday).

As Gregory DiPippo has pointed out over at New Liturgical Movement, however, in a useful post on when the Christmas season ends, the Gospels over the next few Sundays (as well, it should be noted, as the Propers at Mass) all continue to reflect the key themes encapsulated in the feast of the Epiphany.

This Sunday for example, the Gospel is the miracle performed at the wedding at Cana, one of the three events explicitly commemorated in the feast as a public 'manifestation of Christ's glory':

And the third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to the marriage.  And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come.  His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye. 

Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three measures apiece. Jesus saith to them: Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.  And Jesus saith to them: Draw out now, and carry to the chief steward of the feast. And they carried it.  And when the chief steward had tasted the water made wine, and knew not whence it was, but the waiters knew who had drawn the water; the chief steward calleth the bridegroom,  And saith to him: Every man at first setteth forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse. But thou hast kept the good wine until now. 

This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee; and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

The wedding and the Christmas season

There is a lovely sermon on this Gospel by St Bede, which explains the mystical significance of the wedding, and its links to the Nativity:

Christ descended from heaven to earth in order to connect the Church to himself in spiritual love.  His nuptial chamber was the womb of his Incorrupt mother...and from their he came forth like a bridegroom to join the Church to himself. [2]

St Bede also nicely links together the whole of the greater Christmas season:

As the sixth age of the world began, the Lord appeared in the flesh [Christmas]; on the eighth day after his nativity he was circumcised in accordance with the law [Octave of Christmas]; on the thirty-third day after this he was brought to the temple and the offerings stipulated by the law were made for him. [Feast of the Purification].  

The water jars transformed into wine at the wedding at Cana, he goes on to explain, represent 'knowledge of sacred scripture, which both cleanses its hearers from the stain of sin and gives [them] drink from the font of holy cognition', they contain 'the saving waters of the scriptures'.

And that there of six of them, he suggests, refers to the six ages of the world (from St Augustine - the first from Adam to Noah; the second from the Flood to Abraham; and so forth).  Each of these eras, he suggests both foreshadows and is transformed for us by Christ: the Flood becomes baptism for example.

But the piece of number symbolism that I particularly draw you attention to is the link he makes between the number of jars and baptism on the 'eighth day':

Behold, the sixth hyria [water jar] [is] for cleansing the contagion of sin, for giving drink from the joys of life, and for bringing cleaner flowing waters to others.  But in the circumcision of the eighth day you may understand baptism, which has redeemed us from the death of our sins into the mystery of the Lord's resurrection. 

The Matins responsories: Psalm 6

It seems to me that this symbolism helps explain the choice of the Psalm used in the first Matins responsory for this Sunday, Domine ne in ira tua.

The meaning of psalm numbers

First consider the significance of the number of the psalm - Psalm 6; 6 water jars.  ,

We tend to be oblivious to the significance the Fathers gave to the number of psalms, since these days every book of Scripture is divided into chapters and assigned verse numbers.

But chapter and verse numbers are in fact largely an early modern invention; originally only the psalms had 'chapter' numbers and the Fathers considered these to be part of the inspired text.  Accordingly, Patristic psalm commentaries often point to their significance in the context of the content of the psalm.  St Benedict's contemporary Cassiodorus, for example, comments that:

It is not without significance that he set the character of the penitent within the number six, which is acknowledged as perfect in the discipline of numbers.  

On the sixth day God created man; in the sixth age, the Lord Christ deigned to come into the world for the salvation of men, so that this reckoning seems to embrace both man's beginning and the absolution of his sins. [3]  

Psalm 6 is the also first of the penitential psalms, and so the emphasis St Bede places on the transformation of the water into wine as signifying the cleansing of our sins is therefore particularly appropriate, and reflected in several of the other (psalmic and non-psalmic) responsories used over this week.  Indeed, Pope Sergius I (650-701) instituted an early morning procession before Mass on the Feast of the Purification, at which black vestments were worn, to mark the end of the season.[4]

Psalm titles

The second link is the reference St Bede makes back to the eighth day, the Circumcision of Our Lord, and its baptismal associations.

Psalm 6 has the following title in the vulgate: 'In finem, in carminibus. Psalmus David. Pro octava', or 'Unto the end, in verses, a psalm for David, for the octave'.

While modern interpreters either ignore the titles altogether, or take them very literally, the Fathers devoted a great deal of consideration to their allegorical meanings.

And several Patristic commentaries, including that of the fifth century Roman monk Arnobius Junior, interpreted the reference to the 'octave' in the title of Psalm 6 as a reference to circumcision and baptism, a theme they saw reflected symbolically in the verse of Psalm 6 where the psalmist speaks of floods of tears drenching his bed each night.

The second responsory: Psalm 9

Now all of the above could be dismissed if the links to the season ended with the first responsory.

In fact, however, if we look at the responsories set for the Sundays in Epiphanytide through the lens of Patristic interpretations, similar linkages can be found for all of the responsories set for these Sundays.

Consider, for example the second of the set, which uses verses from Psalm 9.

The Vulgate gives the  title of Psalm 9 as 'In finem, pro occultis filii. Psalmus David', or  'Unto the end, for the hidden things of the Son. A psalm for David.'

St Augustine's commentary on the psalm links this very directly to the idea of the manifestation, or epiphany of Christ:

What then are the hidden things of the Son? By which expression we must first understand that there are some things of the Son manifest, from which those are distinguished which are called hidden. Wherefore since we believe two advents of the Lord, one past, which the Jews understood not: the other future, which we both hope for; and since the one which the Jews understood not, profited the Gentiles; For the hidden things of the Son is not unsuitably understood to be spoken of this advent, in which blindness in part is happened to Israel, that the fullness of the Gentiles might come in. (Enarrations on the Psalms)

That the final sentence of St Augustine's commentary on the Psalm (referencing Romans 11) also links very neatly to the first Nocturn readings of Matins during this period, which are from the Epistles of St Paul.

Indeed, as it turns out, St Augustine's commentaries on the psalms, and his extensive use of St Paul's Epistles (which were read at Matins during this period) in them, are quite central, I think, to this whole story.  But more on this anon...

References

[1]  R. Le Roux: ‘Etude de l’office dominical et férial: les répons “de psalmis” pour les matines de l’Epiphanie à la Septuagésime selon les cursus romain et monastique’, EG, vi (1963), 39–148.  The most recent version of this theory was summarised by Laszlo Dobszay in 'The Divine Office in History', in T&T Clark Companion to Liturgy, Alcuin Reid (ed), esp pp 217-9.

[2]  This and subsequent quotes are from Homily 1.14 in Bede the Venerable, Homilies on the Gospels, Book I, translation by Lawrence T Martin and David Hurst, Cistercian Studies 110, 1991).

[3] Cassiodorus: Explanation of the Psalms, vol 1, trans P G Walsh, Ancient Christian Writers series, 1991.

[4] Ordo Romani I

SS Julian and Basilissa (January 9)

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.

St Wulsin, bishop of Sherborne (died c1002)

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.

You can read more about him here.

The mystery of the numbers: 'Epiphany Sunday' and other liturgical problems

A celebration of 'plough Sunday'

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!