The Divine Office - Rev. E. J. Quigley
THE DIVINE OFFICE
A STUDY OF THE ROMAN BREVIARY
BY
REV. E.J. QUIGLEY
1920
PREFACE
In the studies preliminary to ordination, the greatest time and
attention must be given to the study of Dogmatic and Moral Theology.
Certain subjects, such as liturgy, are always in danger of being
shortened or of occupying a very small space in a college course. After
ordination, priests find that these subjects are things of daily and
hourly interest and importance. Who is it that does not know that the
study of the Mass and the Missal, of the Breviary, its history and its
contents are studies useful in his daily offering of sacrifice
and praise?
I hope that this book may serve as an introductory manual to the study
of the Breviary. It may be useful to junior students in colleges, in
giving them some knowledge of the Church's Hours, which they assist at
in their college choirs. It may assist them to know and love the
official prayers of the Church, and may help to form devout habits of
recitation, so that, when the obligation of the daily office is imposed
on them, they may recite it digne, attente et devote. The "texts and
intentions" may be an aid to them, and to students in Holy Orders, in
the great and glorious work of pious prayer.
Perhaps, this book may be a help to priests. It is an attempt to bring
into one handy volume many matters found in several volumes of history,
liturgy, theology, and ascetic literature. Much of it they have met
before, but some of it may be new and may enable some to pray more
fervently and to aid them in the difficult work of saying each Hour and
each part of an Hour with attention and devotion. Some of the pages may
be to them instructive, and may give them new ideas on such points as
the structure of the Hours, the Collects, the Te Deum, the Anthems of
the Blessed Virgin, etc.
No book is faultless. Of this one, I can say with the Psalmist, "I
studied that I might know this thing, it is a labour in my sight" (Psalm
72). And I can say it with St. Columban, _Totum, dicere volui in breve,
totem non potui_. In the book I quote Cardinal Bona. In his wonderful
_Rerum Liturgicarum_ (II., xx., 6) he wrote what I add as a finish,
to this preface:--
"Saepe enim volenti et conanti vel ingenii vires vel rerum antiquarum
notitia vel alia subsidia defuerunt; nec fieri potuit quin per loca
salebrosa in tenebris ambulans interdum offenderim, Cum aliquid
incautius et neglentius a me scriptum offenderit, ignoscat primum
lector, deinde amica manu corrigat et emendat et quae omisi suppleat."
E.J.Q.
ROCKCORRY, CO. MONAGHAN.
CONTENTS
PART I.
GENERAL QUESTIONS.
I. Idea of the Breviary
II. Short History of Divine praise in general,
of the Breviary in particular
III. The excellence of the Roman Breviary in
itself and in comparison with others
Respect due to the sacred volume
IV. 1. The contents of the Breviary
2. The ecclesiastical year and its parts; the
calendar
3. General Rubrics of the Breviary
Title I. The double office
" II. The office of a semi-double
" III. The office of a simple
" IV. The office of Sunday
" V. The ferial office
" VI. The office of vigils
" VII. Octaves
" VIII. Office of the Blessed Virgin for Saturdays
" IX. Commemorations
" X. The Translation of Feasts
" XI. Concurrence of office
" XII. The arrangement of the office
" XIII. Matins
" XIV. Lauds
" XV. Prime
" XVI. Terce, Sext, None
" XVII. Vespers
" XVIII. Compline
" XIX. The Invitatory
" XX. Hymns
" XXI. Antiphons
" XXII. Psalms
" XXIII. Canticles
" XXIV. Versicle and responds
" XXV. Absolutions and Benedictions
" XXVI. The Lessons
" XXVII. The responses after the lessons
" XXVIII. The short responses after the hours
" XXIX. Capitulum
" XXX. Oratio, collects
" XXXI. The Hymn Te Deum
" XXXII. Pater Noster and Ave
" XXXIII. The Apostles' Creed and the Athanasian Creed
" XXXIV. The Preces
" XXXV. The suffrages of the saints
" XXXVI. The antiphons of the Blessed Virgin
" XXXVII. The little office of the Blessed Virgin
PART II.
RULES FROM MORAL AND ASCETIC THEOLOGY FOR THE RECITATION
OF THE BREVIARY.
Who are bound to say the office?
Must every holder of a benefice read the office?
What sin is committed by the omission of a notable part?
What sins are committed by the omission of the whole office?
What must a person do who has a doubt about omissions?
Does a person, who recites by mistake, an office other than that
prescribed fulfil his obligation?
What causes justify an inversion of the hours?
Is it a sin to say Matins of following day before finishing Compline
of the current day?
What is the time fixed for recitation of the Office?
When may a priest begin the recitation of Matins and Lauds for the
following day?
What is true time as regards recitation of the office?
Are priests bound to recite Matins and Lauds before Mass?
At what time should the little hours be said?
Where should the office be recited?
What kind of verbal pronunciation should be attended to?
May the recitation be interrupted?
May Matins be separated from Lauds without cause?
Is intention required in reading the hours?
Is attention required? external? internal? superficial attention,
literal attention?
Opinions of theologians on necessary attention.
Distractions, voluntary and involuntary.
Does a person reciting the hours sin, if he have distractions?
Causes excusing from reading the hours.
Scruples and the direction of the scrupulous.
ART. I. RULES FOB PIOUS RECITATION OF HOURS.
1. The words read.
2. To whom we speak.
3. We pray in the name of the church.
4. Our associates on earth.
5. The purpose of our prayer.
6. It gives glory to God and draws down his blessings.
7. It brings help to those who recite it fervently.
ART. II. THE MEANS TO ADOPT OF PIOUS RECITATION.
A. _Before Recitation_.
1. Purify conscience.
2. Mortification of passions.
3. Guarding the senses.
4. Knowledge of the work that is to be done.
B. THE IMMEDIATE PREPARATION FOR THE RECITATION.
1. Reading the Ordo Recitandi officium.
2. To recollect ourselves.
3. To invoke God's aid.
4. To unite ourselves with Christ.
5. (a) Christ our model in prayer.
(b) Our prayers to be offered through him.
(c) Church wishes this and practices it ever.
(d) Lives of saints show how they united with Christ in prayer.
(e) Remembrance of the sublime work we engage in.
(f) To propose general, special and particular intentions.
ART. III. AIDS DURING THE RECITATION OF THE HOURS.
(a) Suitable place.
(b) Respectful and devout attitude.
(c) Slow, deliberate pronunciation.
(d) Distractions.
(e) To apply the mind to what is read.
(f) To read without critical judgments.
(g) To think of Christ's Passion.
(h) To think of the presence of God and of our Angel Guardian.
ART. IV. AFTER SAYING THE OFFICE.
1. Thanks to God.
2. Ask his pardon for faults.
3. Say the _Sacro-sanctae_.
4. The Sacro-sanctae.
PART III
THE CANONICAL HOURS.
CHAPTER I.--MATINS (TITLE XIII).
Parts Pater Noster and Ave (Title XXXII)
Credo (Title XXXIII)
Domine labia mea--Deus in
Invitatory (Title XIX)
Hymns (Title XX)
Antiphons (Title XXI)
Psalms (Title XXII)
Canticles
Replies of Biblical Commission on Psalms
Versicles and responds (Title XXIV)
Absolutions and blessings (Title XXV)
Lessons (Title XXIV)
Responses (Title XXIV)
Rubrics and Symbolism
Te Deum (Title XXXI)
Texts and Intentions
CHAPTER II.--LAUDS AND PRIME TITLES (XIV AND XV).
Lauds.
Etymology, Definition, Symbolism, Origin, Antiquity.
Reasons for Hour, Structure, Rubrics
Antiphons, Capitulum (Title XXX)
Benedictus
Oratio, Collect (Title XXX)
Rubrics and explanation of Rubrics
Texts and Intentions
Prime.
Etymology, Origin, Contents, Structure
Athanasian Creed (Title XXXIII)
Reasons for the Morning Hour and Rubrics
Preces (Title XXXIV), Confiteor
Structure and Short Lesson
Texts and Intentions
CHAPTER III.--TERCE, SEXT, NONE (TITLE XVI).
Terce.
Etymology, Structure, Antiquity.
Reasons for Hour
Texts and intentions
Sext.
Etymology, structure, antiquity
Reasons for Hour
Texts and intentions
None.
Etymology, structure, antiquity
Reasons for Hour
Texts and intentions
CHAPTER IV.--VESPERS AND COMPLINE PAGE (TITLE XVII-XVIII).
Vespers.
Etymology, structure, antiquity.
Reasons for Hour
Texts and intentions
Compline.
Etymology, structure, antiquity
Reasons for Hour
Suffrages of the Saints (Title VII)
Anthems of Blessed Virgin
Texts and intentions
The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin (Title XXVII)
PART IV.
HEORTOLOGY.
CHAPTER I.--A. PROPER OF THE TIME.
Advent
Christmas
St. Stephen; St. John; Circumcision; Epiphany;
Septuagesima; Lent; Easter and Paschal Times;
Ascension; Whit Sunday; Trinity Sunday
B. PROPER OF THE SAINTS.
December; January; February; March; May;
June; July; August; October; November
ROGATION DAYS AND LITANIES
NOTE A. Breviary Hymns.
NOTE B. Particular Examen.
NOTE C. Bibliography.
PART I.
GENERAL QUESTIONS.
THE DIVINE OFFICE
CHAPTER I.
IDEA OF THE BREVIARY.
_Etymology_.--The word, Breviary, comes from an old Latin word,
_Breviarium_, an abridgment, a compendium. The name was given to
the Divine Office, because it is an abridgment or abstract made from
holy scripture, the writings of the Fathers, the lives of the Saints.
The word had various meanings assigned to it by early Christian writers,
but the title, Breviary, as it is employed to-day--that is, a book
containing the entire canonical office--appears to date from the
eleventh century. Probably it was first used in this sense to denote
the abridgment made by Pope Saint Gregory VII. (1013-1085), about the
year 1080.
_Definition_.--The Breviary may be defined as "the collection of
vocal prayers established by the Church, which must be recited daily by
persons deputed for that purpose."
_Explanation of the Definition_.--"Prayers," this word includes not
only the prayers properly so called, but also, the whole matter of the
divine office. "Vocal," the Church orders the vocal recitation, the
pronunciation of each word. "Established by the Church," to distinguish
the official prayers of obligation from those which the faithful may
choose according to their taste. "Which must be recited," for the
recitation is strictly obligatory. "Daily," the Church has fixed these
prayers for every day of the year, and even for certain hours of the
day. "By persons deputed for that purpose," therefore, persons in holy
orders recite these prayers not in their own name, but as
representatives of the universal Church.
_Different Names for the Breviary_.--This book which is, with us,
commonly called the Breviary, has borne and still bears different names,
amongst both Latins and Greeks.
Amongst the Latins, the recitation of the Breviary was called the Office
(_officium_), that is, the duty, the function, the office; because
it is, _par excellence_, the duty, function and office of persons
consecrated to God. This is the oldest and most universal name for the
Breviary and its recitation. It was called, too, the Divine Office
(_officium divinum_), because it has God for its principal object
and is recited by persons consecrated to God. It is called the
ecclesiastical office (_officium ecclesiasticum_), because it was
instituted by the Church. Other names were, _Opus Dei; Agenda; Pensum
servitutis; Horae; Horae Canonicae_.
Which books were employed in olden times in reciting the Office?
Before the eleventh century the prayers of the Divine Office were not
all contained in one book, as they are now in the Breviary, which is an
abridgment or compendium of several books. The recitation of the Office
required the Psaltery, the Lectionary, the Book of Homilies, the
Legendary, the Antiphonarium, the Hymnal, the Book of Collects, the
Martyrology, the Rubrics. The Psaltery contained the psalms; the
Lectionary (thirteenth century) contained the lessons of the first and
second nocturn; the Book of Homilies, the homilies of the Fathers; the
Legendary (before the thirteenth century), the lives of the saints read
on their feast days. The Hymnal contained hymns; the Book of Collects,
prayers, collects and chapters; the Martyrology contained the names with
brief lives of the martyrs; the Rubrics, the rules to be followed in the
recitation of the Office. To-day, we have traces of this ancient custom
in our different choir books, the Psalter, the Gradual, the
Antiphonarium. There were not standard editions of these old books, and
great diversities of use and text were in existence.
_Divisions of the Divine Office_.--How is the daily Office divided?
The Office is divided into the night Office and the day Office. The
night Office is so called because it was originally recited at night.
It embraces three nocturns and Lauds. The day Office embraces Prime,
Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline.
_Parts or Hours of the Office_.--How many parts or hours go to make
up the Office? Rome counts seven, and seven only; and this is the number
commonly counted by liturgists and theologians. They reckon Matins and
Lauds as one hour.
The old writers on liturgy ask the question: "Why has the Church
reckoned seven hours only?" Their replies are summarised well by
Newman: "In subsequent times the hours of prayer were gradually
developed from the three or (with midnight) the four seasons above
enumerated to seven, viz.:--by the addition of Prime (the first hour),
Vespers (the evening), and Compline (bedtime) according to the words of
the Psalm--'Seven times a day do I praise thee, because of thy righteous
judgments.' Other pious and instructive reasons existed, or have since
been perceived, for this number. It was a memorial of the seven days of
creation; it was an honour done to the seven petitions given us by our
Lord in His prayer; it was a mode of pleading for the influence of that
Spirit, who is revealed to us as sevenfold; on the other hand, it was a
preservative against those seven evil spirits which are apt to return to
the exorcised soul, more wicked than he who has been driven out of it;
and it was a fit remedy of those successive falls which, scripture says,
happen to the 'just man' daily." (_Tracts for the Times_, No. 75.
"On the Roman Breviary.")
"Matutina ligat Christum qui crimina purgat,
Prima replet sputis. Causam dat Tertia mortis.
Sexta cruci nectit. Latus ejus Nona bipertit.
Vespera deponit. Tumulo completa reponit.
Haec sunt septenis propter quae psallimus horas."
"At Matins bound; at Prime reviled;
Condemned to death at Tierce;
Nailed to the Cross at Sext; at None
His blessed Side they pierce.
They take him down at Vesper-tide;
In grave at Compline lay,
Who thenceforth bids His Church observe
The sevenfold hours alway."
(_Gloss. Cap. I. De Missa_)
Thus, this old author connects the seven hours with the scenes of the
Passion. Another author finds in the hours a reminder and a warning that
we should devote every stage of our lives to God. For the seven
canonical hours, he writes, bear a striking resemblance to the seven
ages of man.
_Matins_, the night office, typifies the pre-natal stage of life.
_Lauds_, the office of dawn, seems to resemble the beginnings of
childhood. _Prime_ recalls to him youth. _Terce_, recited when
the sun is high in the heavens shedding brilliant light, symbolises
early manhood with its strength and glory. _Sext_ typifies mature
age. _None_, recited when the sun is declining, suggests man in his
middle age. _Vespers_ reminds all of decrepit age gliding gently
down to the grave. _Compline_, night prayer said before sleep,
should remind us of the great night, death.
CHAPTER II.
SHORT HISTORY OF DIVINE PRAISE IN GENERAL
AND OF THE BREVIARY IN PARTICULAR.
From all eternity the Godhead was praised with ineffable praise by the
Trinity--the three divine Persons. The angels from the first moment of
the creation sang God's praises. _Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus
Deus, Sabaoth. Plena est omnis terra gloria ejus_ (Isaias vi. 3).
Cardinal Bona writes that Adam and Eve blessed and praised God, their
Creator. For God created the first human beings, and "created in them
the knowledge of the Spirit of God that they might praise the name which
He has sanctified and glory in His wondrous acts" (Ecclesiasticus xvii.
6-8), Every page of the Old Testament tells how the chosen race
worshipped God. We read of the sacrifices of Cain, Abel, Enoch, Noe; of
the familiar intercourse which the great patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob had with God. Recorded, too, are the solemn songs and prayers of
Moses thanking God for His guidance in the freedom from the slavery of
Egypt (Exodus xv.). David, under God's inspiration, composed those noble
songs of praise, the Psalms, and organised choirs for their rendering.
He sings "Evening and morning and at noon I will speak and declare and
He shall hear my voice" (Psalm 54, v. 18); "I rose at midnight to give
praise to Thee" (Psalm 118, v. 162); "Seven times a day I have given
praise to Thee" (Psalm 118, v. 164).
The Prophet Daniel, a captive in Babylon, prayed thrice daily, his face
turned to Jerusalem. The Israelites, captives in Babylon with Nehemias,
"rose up and read in the book of the Law of the Lord their God, four
times in the day, and four times they confessed and adored the Lord
their God" (II. Esdras ix. 3). Hence, the Jewish day, made up as it was
with sacrifices, libations, oblations, purifications, and public and
private prayer, was a day of prayer. In these public meetings they sang
God's praises, sang of His glory and of His mercy. Sometimes they spoke
with loving familiarity, sometimes they prayed on bended knee, sometimes
they stood and pleaded with outstretched hands, pouring out the prayers
inspired by God Himself.
In the New Law our Saviour is the model of prayer, the true adorer of
His Father. He alone can worthily adore and praise because He alone has
the necessary perfection. Night and day He set example to His followers.
He warned them to watch and pray; He taught them how to pray; He gave
them a form of prayer; He prayed in life and at death. His apostles,
trained in the practices of the synagogue, were perfected by the example
and the exhortations of Christ. This teaching and example are shown in
effect when the assembled apostles were "at the third hour of the day"
praying (Acts ii. 15); when about the sixth hour Peter went to pray
(Acts x. 9). In the Acts of Apostles we see how Peter and John went at
the ninth hour to the temple to pray. St. Paul in prison sang God's
praises at midnight, and he insists on his converts singing in their
assembly psalms and hymns (Ephes. v. 19; Col. Iii. 16; I. Cor. xiv. 26).
What form did the public prayers, which we may call the divine office,
take in the time of the Apostles? It is impossible to say. But it is
certain 10 that there were public prayers, 20 that they were offered up
daily in certain determined places and at fixed hours, 30 that these
public prayers consisted principally of the Psalms, hymns, canticles,
extracts from Sacred Scripture, the Lord's Prayer, and probably the
Creed, 40 that these public prayers varied in duration according to the
will of the bishop or master who presided.
"The weekly commemoration of Christ's resurrection, the yearly
recurrence of the memory of the great facts of Christ's life, the daily
sanctification of the hours of the day, each led the Christian to draw
upon the hours of the Psalter, and when, gradually, fixed hours for
daily prayer passed beyond the home circle and with groups of ascetics
entered the public churches, it was from the Psalter that the songs of
praise were drawn, and from the Psalms were added a series of canticles,
taken from the books of the Old and the New Testaments, and thus, long
ages before any stereotyped arrangement of the Psalms existed, assigning
particular Psalms to particular days or hours, the Psalms were feeding
the piety of the faithful and teaching men to pray" (_The New
Psalter_--Burton and Myers). In this matter of public prayer, it is
hard for us to realise the "bookless" condition of the early Christians
and their difficulties. It was twenty-five years after the Ascension
before the first books of the New Testament were written, and many years
must have elapsed before their wide diffusion; hence, in their bookless
and guideless condition the early Christians were advised to use the
Psalms in their new devotional life (Ephes. v. 19; Col. iii. 16; St.
James, v. 13).
The first clear evidence of a division of the Psalter for use in the
Western Church is found in the work of St. Benedict (480-543). He had
spent his youth near Rome, and keeping his eye on the Roman usage he
assigned the Psalms to the various canonical hours and to different days
of the week. The antiphons he drew from existing sources, and of course
the canonical hours were already in existence. In his arrangement, the
whole Psalter was read weekly, and the whole Bible, with suitable
patristic selections, was read every year. He also arranged the Sunday,
Festal and Ferial offices. For the recitation of the offices of a
saint's day, St. Benedict arranged that the Matins shall have the same
form as a Sunday office--_i.e._, three nocturns, twelve lessons and
responsories, but the psalms, antiphons and lessons are proper to each
saint. This arrangement interrupted the weekly recitation of the whole
psalter, and caused great difficulty in later times; for when the feasts
increased in number the ferial psalter fell almost into complete disuse.
St. Benedict's arrangement of the psalms and his other liturgical
regulations spread rapidly, but the Roman secular office never adopted
his arrangement of the psalms, nor his inclusion of hymns, until about
the year 1145. In some details each office shows its independent
history. It is a matter of dispute among liturgists whether Prime and
Compline were added to the Roman secular office through the influence of
the Benedictines (Baudot, _The Roman Breviary_, pp. 19-26).
The period following the death of St. Benedict in 543 is a period of
which little is known. "We repeat with Dom Baumer (vol. i., pp. 299-300)
that the fifth century, at Rome as elsewhere, was a period of great
liturgical activity, while the seventh and eighth centuries were, viewed
from this point of view, a period of decline" (Baudot, _op. cit._,
p. 53). The labours of St. Benedict probably were continued and perfected
by St. Gregory the Great (590-604). His labours are summed up by Dom
Baumer (_Histoire du Breviare_, vol. i., pp. 289, 301-303): "It is
he who collected together the prayers and liturgical usages of his
predecessors and assigned to each its proper place, and thus the liturgy
owes its present form to him. The liturgical chant also bears his name,
because through his means it reached its highest state of development.
The canonical hours and the formulary of the Mass now in use were also
carefully arranged by him." "The whole history of the Western liturgy
supports us in maintaining that these books received from the great Pope
or from one of his contemporaries a form which never afterwards
underwent any radical or essential alteration." The Roman office spread
quickly through Europe. The enthusiasm of Gregory became rooted in the
monasteries, where the monks learned and taught, with knowledge and
with zeal, his liturgical reforms. Two important reforms of monastic
practice are interesting as showing further progress in the evolution of
the Roman Breviary. St. Benedict of Aniane (751-821), the friend and
adviser of Louis the Pious, became a reformer of Benedictine rule and
practice. His rule aimed at a rigid uniformity, even in detail. And the
Council of Aix-la-Chapelle (817) helped him to establish his reforms. As
a result of the saint's exertions the Penitential Psalms and Office of
the Dead were made part of the daily monastic office. The Abbey of
Cluny, founded in 910, supplied a further reform tending to guard the
office from further accretions.
Did Hildebrand, Pope Gregory VII. (1073-1086), labour for liturgical
reform? Liturgical writers give very different replies. Monsignor
Battifol (_History of the Roman Breviary_, English edition, p. 158)
maintains that Gregory made no reform, and that "the Roman office such
as we have seen it to be in the times of Charlemagne held its ground at
Rome itself, in the customs of the basilicas, without any sensible
modification, throughout the tenth and eleventh centuries and even down
to the close of the twelfth." Dom Gueranger holds that Gregory abridged
the order of prayers and simplified the liturgy for the use of the Roman
curia. It would be difficult at the present time to ascertain accurately
the complete form of the office before this revision, but since then it
has remained almost identical with what it was at the end of the
eleventh century. Dom Baumer agrees with his Benedictine brother that
Gregory wrought for liturgical reform. Probably Pope Gregory VII.,
knowing the decadence which was manifest in liturgical exercises in Rome
during the tenth and eleventh centuries, decided to revise the old Roman
office which, although it had decayed in Rome, flourished in Germany,
France, and other countries. Hence, in his Lenten Synod, 1074, he
promulgated the rules he had already drawn up for the Regular Canons of
Rome, ordering them to return to the old Roman rite. Thus he may be
counted as a reformer, but not as an innovater nor an abridger. But his
reform fell on evil days. The great struggle between Church and State
about lay investitures had a baneful influence on liturgy, even in Rome
itself. The times seemed to call for a modernised (i.e., a shortened)
office. The "modernisers" respected the psalter, the curtailment was in
the Lectionary. The modernising spirit showed itself in the arrangement
and bulk of the office books. The Psalter, Antiphonary, Responsorial,
Bible and Book of Homilies were gradually codified. Even then, a very
large volume was the result. After a time the chant, which absorbed much
space, was removed from the volume, but the resulting volume, noticeably
smaller, was not yet small enough. In time, only the opening words of
the antiphons, responsories and versicles were printed, and to the
volume thus turned out was given the name _Breviary_. The Curial
Breviary was drawn up in this way to make it suitable for persons
engaged in outdoor pursuits and journeys. It gradually displaced the
choir office in Rome, and Rome's example was universally followed.