Category Archives: Daily Office

Monthly Psalms Cycle on Festivals

I’m a big fan of the monthly psalm cycle in the BCP. Those would be the headings that mention a day and “morning” or “evening” in the BCP Psalms. I  see it as a nice expansion of the point Benedict makes in RB 18.24-5 (paraphrasing here): If our holy Fathers could say all the psalms every day, at least we lazy monks can do it every week. By extension if the monks can do it every week, we distracted laity can certainly manage it once a month…

But what to do when we hit major festivals? Read the Psalms in course as usual or read something special—like switching to the psalms identified in the Daily Office lectionary? This question was brought to my mind again yesterday when I prayed the Morning Office for the Conception of the BVM from the breviary. It seemed rather ironic on the feast of a conception to read Ps 38 with the following lines:

For my loins are filled with a sore disease, *
and there is no whole part in my body.

Now, I’m the first to argue that we just need to let the cycles take their courses and to see what passages the Holy Spirit brings together through no deliberate will of our own—but, c’mon…

I’ve been reconsidering the answer suggested by the Order of the Holy Cross’s A Monastic Diurnal which uses a set festal psalter arrangement for first class feasts which it defines (pre-’79 remember) as the Feasts of Our Lord in sections 1 through 3 and a few major saints (though not all apostles). Their scheme looks like this:

First Vespers: Pss 96, 97, 98, 99, 148 [largely the YHWH MLK psalms]

Matins: Pss 24, 29, 72, 93, 100

Second Vespers: Pss 110, 111, 112, 113, 150

This has the additional bonus of giving a set number of 5 psalms for these offices, nicely matching up with the traditional number of psalm antiphons so all of them can be appreciated (when utilized).

What do you think?

New Online Breviary: Beta Test Version

Christopher has said on occasion that it’s one thing to advocate for liturgical renewal; it’s another entirely to actually do something about it.

In the spirit of actually doing something, I’m introducing for trial use a new online resource for praying the Daily Office. Named St Bede’s Breviary, it is firmly rooted in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, especially as read through catholic tradition. I’ll say more about this in the coming days but here are a few notes:

  • It differs from other online prayer options specifically in terms of options. You may select from Rite I or II, use one of (currently) three liturgical kalendars, and vary the amount of material and additions as your time and inclinations allow.
  • The other difference from other sites is that it is an integrated full-text office meaning that everything is on one page. No clicking between various windows.
  • M has confirmed that it is crackberry accessible. (No word on other telephony devices…)
  • It is still in the beta testing phase which means that there are glitches. Some I’m aware of and am working as time allows; others will only appear in the course of regular use. So—it’s not perfect.
  • It’s also not static. Meaning, not only can bugs be fixed (unlike in paper breviaries) I’m also open to introducing new options and such as long as they remain in line with the fundamental mandate of the project—a breviary rooted in the ’79 BCP read in continuity with catholic tradition.

Here’s a key point: While I’ve used the word “I” a couple of times, I’m going to carefully qualify it. While I’ve done the PHP coding and worked up the current state of the MySQL tables, this has, from its inception a while back, been a community effort.  In particular bls and Fr. Chris did a tremendous amount of work in terms of both content and technical conceptualization. bls in particular was the mastermind behind the drupal-based version that ran for a while on a host provided by Fr. Chris. Unfortunately my host doesn’t offer drupal support on Windows servers concerning which I’m greatly annoyed… In short, this wouldn’t be possible without them. (And bls, I want to revisit some of your original design ideas too—I’ll shoot you a note…)

Christopher, Brian M, Scott, Mother M, Paul Goings, and others offered support and suggestions, sometimes only in the form of answering seemingly random questions about office minutae.

I’d like to keep it that way too. If you use this, please let me know what can or should be done to make it better or more user friendly.

So, without further ado: St Bede’s Breviary.

An Open Letter to Bishop Alexander

…is my latest piece up at the Cafe.

It’s a plea for the new hymnal—study for which was authorized by General Convention—to include a full complement of Office hymns, and to identify them as such. Too, it’s time for a new translation into contemporary English and I’m urging that, like the Prayer Book itself, these be released into the public domain.

We are the heirs of a long and profound liturgical tradition. We must remain good stewards of these riches.

Office Hymns in the 1982 Hymnal

Frequent readers here know that the breviary hymns are always a topic on low boil. I’ve posted on their function and importance here and have also discussed what the “traditional” hymns are here within a larger discussion of that troubled term.

Today’s post is a purely informational one that identifies hymns used in the Western Church as Office hymns that appear in the 1982 Hymnal. Thus, several different uses are represented here and I’ve not split them out. I’m going to organize them seasonally for ease of use. (Hymns for the Little Hours appear at the bottom.)

They are, of course, not identified in the 1982 Hymnal which annoys me no end so I may not have identified them all. If you see any that I’ve missed, let me know in the comments and I’ll stick it in the body of the post.

Yes, I’m using the Latin names; no, that’s not an affectation. Rather, there are no hymn names in the ’82 and the first lines can and have changed between traditional and modern language adaptations/translations/paraphrases. (Same with the Latin, of course. Needless to say I’m ignoring Urban VIII’s butcheries.)

Advent

Matins: Verbum supernum prodiens (63-64)

Lauds: Vox clara (59)

Vespers: Creator alme siderum (60)

Christmas

Matins: Veni Redemptor gentium (54-55)

Lauds: A solis ortus cardine (77); Corde na­tus ex pa­ren­tis (82)

Vespers: Jesu, Redemptor omnium (85-86)

Epiphany (Octave)

Lauds: O sola magnarum urbium (127)

Vespers/Matins: Hostis Herodes impie (131-132)

Lent

Matins: Ex more docti mystica (146-147)

Lauds: O Sol salutis intimis (144)

Vespers: Audi, benigne Conditor (152)

Passiontide

Matins/Lauds: Pange lingua gloriosi (165-166)

Vespers: Vexilla Regis prodeunt (161-162)

Easter

Vespers: Ad coenam Agni providi (174, 202)

Ascensiontide

Lauds: Aeterne rex altissime (220-221)

Pentecost (Octave)

Lauds: Beata nobis gaudia (223-224)

Vespers: Veni Creator Spiritus (500-504)

Ordinary Time

Summer Sunday Matins: Nocte surgentes vigilemus (1-2)

Sunday Vespers: Lucis creator optime (27-28)

Monday Vespers: Immense caeli Conditor (32)

Saturday Vespers: O lux beata Trinitas (29-30)

BVM

Matins: Quem terra, pontus, ethera (263-264)

Apostles

Matins: Aeterna Christi munera (233-234)

Martyrs

Matins: Aeterna Christi munera (233-234)

Lauds/Vespers: Rex gloriosi martyrum (236)

Michael and All Angels

Lauds: Christe sanctorum (282-283)

Hymns of the Little Hours

Prime: Iam lucis (3-4)

Terce: Nunc Sancte (19-20)

Sext: Rector potens (21-22)

None: Rerum Deus (14-15)

Summer Compline: Te lucis (44-45)

Winter Compline: Christe qui lux (40-41)

Apocrypha in the Daily Office

In case you were wondering, the Daily Office contains:

  • Much of the first four chapters of 1 Maccabees (but none from the other 12),
  • 5 verses from 2nd Esdras,
  • Bits of Baruch 3 and 4
  • Quite a goodly selection from Ecclesiasticus,
  • Wisdom of Solomon gets some readings in there too.

Too, there are the stealth additions—Canticles 1/12, 2/13, and 14.

Canticles. Again.

I keep going back and forth on the whole canticle issue. Deirdre has a nice article at the Cafe that looks at the Song of Judith and reminds us that when singing the canticles, it’s important to learn the stories from whence they come. That is, the canticle means a lot more when you consider its proper context and how it portrays God acting through Judith.

I note (indirectly) in the comments that the Song of Judith is one of the new canticles given us by EOW. I’ve discussed these in the past—especially with Christopher—concerning whether more canticles is a better choice. Following Deirdre’s logic, more is better because we get exposed to more songs that have literary contexts that folks may then be interested to go and learn. More Bible is always good.

My fear is that more canticles mean that we we don’t learn any of them well. In order for more canticles to be better they have to be sung/read regularly and in a discernable order.

I’m also a complete stick in the mud and refuse to budge on the Benedictus (Song of Zechariah) as the invariable second canticle of morning prayer which means that there’s really only one free spot in the rotation—the canticle after the first MP reading.

Ack! Fewer, more, what’s a liturgy geek committed to Scripture to do! Perhaps the Benedictine option is the best—weave more canticles in amongst the Psalter…

Annunciation MP

Since I’ve been using Rite II for the Daily Office during Lent and wanted to kick things up a notch today, I used a catholic-minded Rite II resource—A Monastic Breviary from the Order of the Holy Cross. (Thanks again, Brian M!)

One of the things that sets this book apart from other non-Roman breviaries is that it uses fixed psalms on first class feasts and provides 5 antiphons for first class feasts and an antiphon for second class. So MP today had Pss 24, 29, 72, 93, 100 with proper antiphons. It also provides a hymn (which I recognized as one of the traditional Marian breviary hymns but I’ve been too busy/lazy to look up its Latin title) and a gospel antiphon—this one drawn directly from Scripture.

It’s a nice balance, contemporary and catholic.