In the Benedictine Divine Office, there is normally a short responsory after the chapter of both Vespers and Lauds, just like those found at the minor Hours in the Roman Office. At First Vespers of major feasts, this may be replaced with one of the long responsories from Matins; this is not obligatory, however, which is why these responsories are included in an appendix in the monastic antiphonal, but not noted in the breviary. For the feast of the dedication of a church, the responsory is the second from Matins, Fundata est. This recording of it by the Latvian ensemble Schola Cantorum Riga makes excellent use of a drone with the Gregorian music.
The standard hymn for both Vespers of a dedication feast, Urbs Jerusalem beata, is the work of an unknown author of the Carolingian era, the later 8th century or first part of the 9th, when such feasts first began to be kept. It is traditionally split into two parts, with the second (beginning with the strophe Angularis fundamentum) sung at Lauds. Both parts were drastically changed in Urban VIII’s revision of the hymns, and very much for the worse; the post-Conciliar Liturgy of the Hours has restored the original version, with almost none of the typical cack-handed emendations.
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| The hymn Urbs Jerusalem Beata in the first edition of the breviary of St Pius V; the typographer incorrectly placed the red letters marking the beginning of a new strophe after each 4 verses (as is typical of the great majority of hymns), rather than after every 6 as the meter should require. |
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| The translation by the great John Mason Neale. |
A setting in alternating Gregorian and polyphony by the Franco-flemish composer Guillaume Dufay (1397-1474).
The antiphon for the Magnificat: Sanctificávit Dóminus tabernáculum suum: quia haec est domus Dei, in qua invocábitur nomen ejus, de quo scriptum est: Et erit nomen meum ibi, dicit Dóminus. (The Lord hath sanctified His Tabernacle; for this is the house of God, wherein His Name shall be invoke, of which it is written, And my Name shall be there, saith the Lord.)This year, at first Vespers of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, a commemoration is made of the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany (resumed), with this antiphon taken from the Sunday Gospel, Matthew 13, 24-30. This antiphon is also in mode 1g, and is quite similar to the one that precedes it. (This video cannot be played on a site on which it is embedded; click to open it on YouTube in a separate tab.)
Aña Collígite primum zizania, et alligáte ea in fascículos ad comburendum: tríticum autem congregáte in hórreum meum, dicit Dóminus. (Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them into bundles to burn; but gather the wheat into my barn, saith the Lord.)
Finally, we take leave of the feast of All Saints with a commemoration of Second Vespers of the Octave day.
Aña O quam gloriósum est regnum in quo cum Christo gaudent omnes Sancti, amicti stolis albis sequuntur Agnum quocumque íerit! (O how glorious is the kingdom in which all the Saints rejoice with Christ; clothed in white robes, they follow the Lamb wherever he goeth!)
