Liturgical Notes on the Vigil of Christmas

A vigil is traditionally a full liturgical day, penitential in nature, in preparation for a major feast, including the whole day’s Office from Matins to None. The Mass of a vigil is not an anticipation of the feast, but a part of the preparation for it, said after None, without Gloria in excelsis, Alleluia or the Creed; First Vespers said after Mass is then the official beginning of the feast itself.

In various medieval uses of the Roman Rite, although not in that of Rome itself, the vigil of Christmas was often extended back to include the Vespers of the preceding day, December 23rd, with the addition of a special responsory to be sung between the chapter and the hymn. (A similar custom is found in the Breviary of St. Pius V on the Epiphany, the vigil of which runs from Vespers of January 4th to None of the 5th.)

R. De illa occulta habitatione sua egressus est Filius Dei; descendit visitare et consolari omnes, qui eum de toto corde desiderabant. V. Ex Sion species decoris ejus, Deus noster manifeste veniet. Descendit. Gloria Patri. Descendit.

R. From that hidden habitation of His, the Son of God shall go forth; He hath come down to visit and console all those, who long for Him with all their heart. V. Out of Sion the loveliness of His beauty, our God shall come manifestly. He hath come down. Glory be. He hath come down.

In his curious work On the Correction of the Antiphonary, the first liturgy critic, Agobard of Lyon (ca. 780-840), says that this responsory should be rejected “with great severity”, since its “vain and presumptuous author … lyingly asserts that He visited and consoled all those who long for Him, when rather He caused those whom He deigned to visit to acknowledge and long for Him.” His opinion was not accepted, and the responsory is found in a great number of medieval antiphonaries and breviaries; in the post-Tridentine period, however, it appears to have been retained only by the Premonstratensian Order and a few local uses.

A page of the breviary according to the Use of Prague, 1502; the responsory De illa occulta is in the middle of the left column.

The Office and the Mass of the Vigil begin with almost the same words, adapted from Exodus chapter 16: “This day ye shall know that the Lord shall come, and will save us, and on the morrow ye shall see His glory.” The medieval commenter Rupert of Deutz (a man of much finer poetic sensibility than Agobard), explains the sense of this text in the liturgy of the day. Speaking first of the Office, in which these words are sung six times:

On the vigil of the Lord’s Birth, that beautiful prophecy of divine consolation is most frequently and solemnly spoken by the Church. “This day ye shall know that the Lord shall come, and on the morrow ye shall see His glory.”

And then, in reference to Introit of the Mass:

When the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, “Behold, I will rain bread from Heaven for you,” Moses and Aaron said to them, “In the evening you shall know that the Lord hath brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord.” (Exod. 16, 4 and 6-7) … (this) invites us to consider that that manna, which was given to the sons of Israel when they had come out of the land of Egypt, and were marching for the promised land, was a figure of the Word of God, which took on the flesh through the Virgin, and came to feed us that believe in Him, … The interpreter of this similitude is not just any man, but the very One who said, “I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that if any man eat of it, he may not die.” (John 6, 48-51)

The Miracle of the Manna in the Desert, by Tintoretto, 1577

The homily at Matins in the Breviary of St Pius V, is taken from St. Jerome’s commentary on the day’s Gospel, Matthew, 1, 18-21, explaining the reasons why Christ was born of a virgin.

Why was the Lord conceived not simply of a virgin, but of one espoused? First, that by the begetting of Joseph, the origin of Mary may be shown. Secondly, lest she be stoned by the Jews as an adulteress. Third, that She might have a protector as She fled to Egypt. The martyr Ignatius (of Antioch) added a fourth reason why He was conceived of one espoused, saying, “that His birth might be concealed from the devil, who would think that He was begotten not of a virgin, but of one married. “Before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.” She was found so by no other, but only by Joseph, who had already almost an husband’s privilege to know all that concerned his wife. But where it is said “Before they came together,” it followeth not that they came together afterwards; but the Scripture showeth what did not happen.

On Christmas Day itself, there are three different Masses; at Matins of Christmas, therefore, there is read in the third nocturn a brief homily on the Gospel of each of the three, the first by St Gregory the Great, the second by St Ambrose, the third by St Augustine. The inclusion of a passage of St Jerome completes the number of the four doctors of the Latin Church; between the vigil and feast, each of the four preaches to us on the Nativity of the Lord.

The Ascension of Christ, depicted in the cupola of the church of Saint John the Evangelist in Parma, Italy. In the corners are depicted the Four Evangelists, each of which is accompanied by one of the Four Doctors. St. Matthew and St. Jerome are depicted together in the lower right.

Nowadays, the most famous liturgical text of Christmas Eve is certainly the notice of the feast of Christmas from the Martyrology. In the traditional Office, the Martyrology’s entry for the following day is read at the Hour of Prime, after the first prayer. Christmas Eve is the only day on which this is done with a particular ceremony, rather than simply being sung by a reader. A priest in violet cope, accompanied by a thurifer and two candles, incenses the book, and then sings the following notice of the Christ’s Birth.

In the year from the creation of the world, when in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, five-thousand, one hundred and ninety-nine; from the Flood, two-thousand, nine hundred and fifty-seven; from the birth of Abraham two-thousand and fifteen; from Moses, and the going forth of the people of Israel out of Egypt, one-thousand five-hundred and ten; from the anointing of David as King, one-thousand and thirty-two; in the sixty-fifth week, according to the prophecy of Daniel; in the one-hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad; in the seven-hundred and fifty-second year from the foundation of the city of Rome; in the forty-second year of the reign of the Emperor Octavian Augustus; while the whole earth was at peace, in the sixth age of the world, Jesus Christ, Eternal God and Son of the Eternal Father, wishing to hallow the world by His most gracious coming, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit, nine months having passed after His conception, at Bethlehem of Juda is born of the Virgin Mary, having become Man.
The Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.

At the words “at Bethlehem of Juda” he raises his voice, and all kneel. The final words, “The Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh,” are sung “in the tone of the Passion” according to the Martyrology’s rubric, a reminder that the coming of Christ was also so that He might suffer, die and rise for our salvation.

In the Roman Use, the priest who has sung the Martyrology departs at the end of this notice, and those of the other Saints of December 25th are sung by another reader. In the Premonstratensian Use, however, the Breviary directs that all shall prostrate themselves and say Psalm 84 Benedixisti, followed by Kyrie, eleison, Pater noster, a versicle, and the prayers of the vigil of Christmas and the Advent Mass of the Virgin.

O God, who gladden us by the annual expectation of our redemption, grant that we who now joyfully welcome thy Only-begotten Son as our Redeemer, may also behold Him without fear when He cometh as our Judge.
O God, Who didst will that Thy Word should, by the message of an Angel, take flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, grant unto us, we beseech thee, that all we who do believe Her to be truly the Mother of God, may be helped by Her prayers before Thee.

The rubric continues thus: “Giving thanks to God, who emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, let them for a time in silence, with devout elevation of the mind, consider the grace of the divine goodness, which is so great towards man.”

With the abolition of the Hour of Prime, the liturgical use of the Martyrology has all but vanished from the post-Conciliar Rite; a new version was not published until 2001. A prominent exception is the proclamation of the notice for Christmas, which is now often read before Midnight Mass. In the following video, taken in St. Peter’s Basilica, a more-or-less official revised version of the text is sung in a special tone written for the purpose, a tone which was also widely used before the modern reform. It begins with the date according to the famously inconvenient and complicated Roman dating system, in which “December 25th” is “the eighth day before the Kalends of January”. This is followed by the phase of the moon, the nineteenth in this case.

When numberless ages had passed from the creation of the world, when in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and made man according to His image; and likewise many ages, from when after the Flood, the Most High had placed the rainbow among the clods, as a sign of His covenant and peace; in the twenty-first century from the migration of Abraham, our father in the Faith, from Ur of the Chaldees; in the thirteenth century the going forth of the people of Israel out of Egypt, led by Moses; in roughly the one-thousandth year from the anointing of David as King; in the sixty-fifth week, according to the prophecy of Daniel etc. (The rest of the text is the same as above, except for the omission of the words “in the sixth age of the world”)

St Servulus of Rome

The Dialogues of St Gregory the Great are a collection of stories and miracles of Saints whom the author knew personally, or were known by people whom he knew, written as a conversation between himself and his deacon Peter. The work was translated into Greek early on, and became very popular in the East, whence Gregory’s nickname in the Byzantine tradition, “the Dialogist.” The second book is occupied entirely by the life and deeds of St Benedict, for which it is earliest and the most important source.

In the fourteenth chapter of the fourth book, Gregory gives this touching story of a paralyzed beggar named Servulus, who was wont to spend much of his time in the portico of the basilica of St Clement in Rome. Servulus’ death, which took place on December 23rd, was witnessed by a member of the monastic community which Gregory had led prior to his papal election; this unnamed man was still alive at the time he wrote.

The façade and part of the portico of the modern basilica of St Clement, which was built in the early 12thcentury, replacings the building that Ss Gregory and Servulus would have known. (Image from Wikimedia Commons, released to the public domain by the author.) 

“… often when the souls of the elect go forth, a sweet sound of heavenly praise is wont to burst forth, so that, as they willingly listen to, they may be permitted by the soul to barely feel the dissolution of the flesh. … in that porch which leads the way to the church of the blessed Clement, there was a certain man called Servulus … who was poor in wealth, but rich in merits, and whom a long sickness had afflicted. For from the time when I first came to know him, to the end of his life he lay paralyzed What can I say, but that he could not stand, and was never able to sit up in his bed, could never put his hand to his mouth, or turn from one side to the other. His mother and brother attended and served him, and whatever he could get in alms, by their hands he bestowed upon other poor people. He could not read at all, yet he had bought for himself the books of Sacred Scripture, and taking in as guests any religious men, he eagerly had them read them to him; and thus it came about that he fully learned the Sacred Scripture in his own way. …

An engraving of St Servulus, made before 1635. Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.

He always took care in his pains to give God thanks day and night with hymns and praises, and when he knew that he was close to death, he urged all the strangers lodged in his house to rise and sing psalms with him as he awaited his departure. And as he, though dying, was singing with them, of a sudden he restrained the voices of the singers, starting them with a loud cry, and saying, ‘Be silent! Do you not hear the great praise that resound in heaven?’ And while he lay the ear of heart to those praises which he heard inwardly, his holy soul was released from the flesh, and as it went forth, so great a fragrance filled the place, that all who were present were filled with an unfathomable sweetness, and thus did they clearly learn from this that those praises had received his soul in heaven. One of our monks who is still living was present for this event, and bears witness to it with great weeping, for until they gave his body over for burial, they smelled that fragrance continually.”

Reading the O Antiphons Forward

It is a well-known fact that the first letters of the seven titles with which the O antiphons begin, when read in reverse order, form an acrostic, ERO CRAS, Latin for “tomorrow I shall be.” The order in which they are sung, however, is not purely casual, nor arranged solely for the sake of the acrostic; it also forms a catechesis on the history of salvation in Christ. They also contain certain allusions to the liturgical texts of Christmas Day, which are made with great subtlety, in a manner very typical of Advent.

“O Sapientia” refers to the eternal pre-existence of the Word, and His role in creation, an idea of which the Church Fathers often speak. St Paul calls Christ “the wisdom of God” in 1 Corinthians 1, 24; the antiphon says that Wisdom “came forth from the mouth of the Most High”, i.e. it is spoken, like the Word. St Hilary of Poitier writes in his book On the Trinity, 3, 21, commenting on the figure of Wisdom who speaks in Proverbs 8, “There is with God Wisdom, begotten before the worlds; and not only present with Him, but setting in order, for it was with Him, setting them in order. Mark this work of setting in order, or arranging. The Father, by His commands, is the Cause; the Son, by His execution of the things commanded, sets in order.”

An icon of Holy Wisdom, ca. 1670. The figure of Wisdom is painted red in accordance with a well-known, although now archaic, feature of the Slavic languages, that the word “ krasni” means both “red” and “beautiful.”

The words of this antiphon “fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia – mightily and sweetly ordering all things” are taken from Wisdom 8, 1, the conclusion of a passage (7, 21 – 8, 2) in which the author lists the attributes of Wisdom: “the worker of all things … holy, one, … having all power, overseeing all things, and containing all spirits … more active than all active things: and reacheth everywhere by reason of her purity. … a certain pure emanation of the glory of the almighty God … the brightness of eternal light, and the unspotted mirror of God’s majesty, and the image of his goodness.” Catholic Biblical commentaries rightly note that these words are similar to the beginning of the Epistle to the Hebrews, which describes the Son of God as the “brightness of His glory, and the figure of His substance, and upholding all things by the word of His power.” This latter passage (Hebrews 1, 1-12) is the Epistle of the third Mass of Christmas, the one which speaks particularly of the eternal birth of the Son from the Father; the Gospel with which is it paired, the Prologue of St John, tells us of the Word whose Incarnation is revealed in the Nativity.

“O Adonai” speaks of Christ as the one who appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and gave him the Law on Mount Sinai; “Adonai”, Hebrew for “My Lord”, is the word which Jews, when reading the Bible, say in place of the Divine Name YHWH that was revealed to Moses in Exodus 3. The prayer to “come to redeem us with arm extended” refers to God’s own words when speaking to Moses in Exodus 6, 6, “I am the Lord who will bring you out from the work-prison of the Egyptians, and will deliver you from bondage: and redeem you with a high arm, and great judgments,” as well as the canticle which Moses sings after the crossing of the Red Sea, “Let fear and dread fall upon them, (i.e. upon the Egyptians) in the greatness of thy arm.” (Exod. 15, 16)

Moses and the Burning Bush, by Nicholas Froment, 1476, in the Cathedrale Saint Sauveur in Aix-en-Provence. The artist is here inspired by one of the Lauds antiphons of the feast of the Circumcision: “The bush which Moses saw unburnt, we acknowledge as Thy praiseworthy virginity; Mother of God, intercede for us.” This also refers to the Law of Moses, in obedience to which Christ was circumcised on the eighth day after His birth.

“O Radix Jesse” quotes two chapters of the prophet Isaiah (11 and 52) which are cited by St Paul in Romans 15, although the citations are not exactly the same. (After the Psalms, Isaiah is the Old Testament book most often quoted in the New.) This antiphon and its predecessor demonstrate that in the Old Testament, both the Law and the Prophets bear witness to the coming of Christ, just as Moses and Elijah appeared to either side of Him at the Transfiguration, the former as the representative of the Law, the latter of the Prophets. The Lord Himself taught this to His disciples: “These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me.” (Luke 24, 44) St Leo the Great, in a homily on the Transfiguration (51, 4; PL 54, 331B), says that in the preaching of the Word, “the pages of the two covenants agree with each other; and the splendor of the present glory shows manifestly and clearly Him whom the signs that went before Him had promised under the veil of mysteries.”

The O antiphons do not explicitly mention the Incarnation, to which the whole season of Advent is dedicated; nor do they anticipate the birth of Christ, which is celebrated at Christmas. Likewise, it would also be out of keeping with the joyful nature of the season to work in any explicit reference to Christ’s passion and death; instead, these are spoken of obliquely in the fourth and fifth antiphons.

“O Clavis David – o key of David” and the term that follows, “scepter of the house of Israel” refer to the Angel Gabriel’s words to the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation, that Her Son would be given the seat of David, and rule in the house of Jacob, whose other name is Israel. (Genesis 32, 28) Where the antiphon prays that Christ may come “to lead out the prisoner from the house of the prison, and him that sitteth in the darkness and the shadow of death”, the prisoner is Adam, the forefather of the human race, and by inference, all the just who died before the death and resurrection of Christ had opened the gates of heaven, and thus remained “in darkness and the shadow of death.” Note in the image below how Christ at the Harrowing of Hell is shown holding the Cross, which is suggestive of a key in its form. Behind, the locks and bars of the Limbo of the Fathers are broken. Of course, the Harrowing of Hell is necessarily preceding by the passion and death of Christ, which in turn are necessarily preceded by the Incarnation. This text also looks forward to the reading of Isaiah 9, 1-6 at Christmas Matins: “The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light: to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen.”

“O Oriens” is about the Resurrection, since “Oriens” means “the rising one.” This antiphon describes Christ as “the splendor of eternal light, the sun of justice”, which is to say, the Light and Sun that shall see no setting. Here the Church professes its hope in the future resurrection, by speaking of the “eternal light” on December 21, the day of the winter solstice and the shortest hours of daylight. It is surely not a coincidence that this is also the shortest of the O antiphons. The object of the prayer at the antiphon’s end is repeated from yesterday, but now in the plural: “come and shine upon those who sit in the darkness, and the shadow of death.” This indicates that the fruits of Christ’s passion and resurrection are to be shared with the whole of the human race in each of its members.

“O Rex gentium”, therefore, refers to the Ascension, Pentecost, and the establishment of the Church. On the feast of the Ascension, the first words of the Magnificat antiphon at Second Vespers are “O Rex gloriae”, sung in the same mode and with the same notes as the beginning of the O antiphons. These are the only two antiphons of the ancient corpus in general use throughout the Roman Rite that begin with the words “O Rex”. The word “gloriae – of glory” is substituted by “gentium – of the nations” to symbolize the nations that come into the Church, beginning with the Apostles’ preaching to nations of diverse languages at Pentecost.

Christ is then called “desideratus earum – the one desired by (the nations)”, words taken from the prophecy of Haggai 2, 8, in which God says that He will fill His house, i.e. the Church, with glory when He stirs up all nations. He is also called “lapis angularis – the corner stone”, in reference to the corner stone rejected by the builders in Psalm 117, and also to the Lauds hymn for the Dedication of a Church, “Angularis fundamentum – Christ is sent as the corner stone and foundation.”

On the morning of December 23rd, the Church sings the canticle Benedictus with the antiphon “Behold, all things are completed which were said through the Angel about the Virgin Mary.” This being so, the last O antiphon, “O Emmanuel”, addresses Christ with the name meaning “God is with us”, the name of the child whose coming was prophesied by Isaiah when he foretold that “a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son.” This also looks forward to the reading of Isaiah 9 at Christmas Matins, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.”

There follow the titles “our King and lawgiver, the expectation of the nations, and the Savior thereof.” The words “God with us, our King and Lawgiver” refer to Christ’s abiding presence in the Church and in the world, as He said to His disciples on meeting them after the Resurrection: “All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (Matt. 28, 20) In the previous antiphon, the word “desideratus – the desired (of the nations)” is a past participle, indicating that the longing of the nations for the first coming of Christ has been fulfilled. Here He is “the expectation of the nations”, the Latin word “expectatio” indicating an ongoing action, as we await the Second Coming of Christ, who “shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom shall have no end.” This returns us to a theme which has been present from the very beginning of Advent, which recalls both the First Coming of Christ in the fullness of time, and His Second Coming at the end of the world.

Christ the Savior, by El Greco, 1610-14

Pictures of Pontifical Vespers at the Pantheon in Rome

As part of a recent jubilee year pilgrimage to Rome, the Institute of the Good Shepherd celebrated Vespers in the Pantheon on December 11th, the feast of Pope St Damasus I. The main celebrant was Monsignor Valentin Miserachs Grau, a canon of the basilica of St Mary Major who has been an important figure in sacred music in Rome for many years; he was formerly the director of the choir at Mary Major, and served as dean of the Pontifical Institute for Sacred Music from 1995-2012. Once again, we are glad to share some very beautiful photos taken by our friend Don Elvir Tabaković, a former professional photographer from Croatia who is now in religious life.  

Mons Miserachs meets members of the Institute in the porch of the Pantheon.

Procession from the sacristy.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

The Altar Facing the People — A Novelty of Our Time

We continue Luisella Scrosati’s series on the orientation of Christian worship with the third part, “L’altare verso il popolo, una novità della nostra epoca,” originally published in Italian on November 23, on the website of La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, and reproduced here by permission of the editors. (Read Part 1; Part 2)

If there is one thing that emerges very clearly from the study of churches and Christian texts from the earliest centuries of the Church (see here), it is the fact that places of worship were built, with a few exceptions, on an east-west axis, with the apse mainly facing east. The altar was positioned so that the bishop and priests could offer sacrifice facing east: when the apse was on the eastern side, the ministers also faced the apse; when, less frequently, the apse faced west, they celebrated facing the front of the church, which was located on the eastern side.

What does not emerge at all from these historical reconstructions is that there ever existed a celebration “towards the people” and, consequently, an altar “towards the people.” In other words, the people were never considered the point of orientation for the public prayer of the Church, nor for the prayer of the faithful. That the Church as a hierarchically ordered people was the subject of this prayer was beyond question; but, precisely for this reason, its point of orientation was not in itself, but in God.

One could object – and in fact one does object – that “God is everywhere”, and therefore it would make no sense to physically orient prayer. But this was not at all the belief of the Christians of the early centuries, not because they did not believe in divine omnipresence, but because they were much more aware and attentive than we are in recognizing cosmic symbolism, a consequence of the creative act of eternal Wisdom, and its importance for the homo religiosus.

The sign of the sun did not leave any ancient people indifferent, not even Christians, who by then knew the full meaning of this cosmic sign, in its expression of the power of the risen Christ as well as the orientation of all human history towards the Parousia. The meaning of the orientation of prayer, and therefore of sacred buildings and altars, is certainly not understood starting from divine omnipresence, but rather from our humanity, which is located in a symbolic universe, coming from God, eternal Wisdom.

A mosaic of Christ with the attributes of Apollo, the Greco-Roman god of the sun, from the end of the 3rd or beginning of the 4th century, discovered in a mausoleum within the part of the Vatican necropolis which is now under St Peter’s basilica. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.) 

Our time finds it tremendously difficult to comprehend this truth, because our relationship with the universe has been drastically reduced to its use and consumption or, at best, to its “understanding” in purely physical-mathematical terms. The reality, however, is that worship and the cosmos meet and illuminate each other precisely in their intimate reference to the transcendence from which they derive and to which they tend. And so geographical east and the orientation of prayer come together harmoniously.

Therefore, until very recently, there has never been an altar oriented towards the people, nor would such an orientation have been understood. Even when the sacred minister was actually facing the nave, he did so because the Church faced east rather than west. The reason is elementary even for religious people and for Christians in particular: prayer is addressed to God, the sacrifice offered by the priest rises before the Most High, the altar is a sign of the altar of Heaven that stands before the divine Majesty: only God is the point of orientation of the Church’s prayer.

Therefore, the physical point of this orientation must be capable of expressing this transcendent reality, according to a universal cosmic language. And the “people” certainly do not have this characteristic. The misunderstanding of this point is now so deeply rooted that even the traditional orientation towards God/east is understood only negatively, as “turning one’s back” on the people; an interpretation that further confirms how the people have now become, for the first time in history, not only of the Church but also of religions, the focal point of worship.

From our recent article on the solemn Mass celebrated on Sunday, December 15, in the basilica of St Ambrose in Milan. 

So where does this idea of an altar facing the people come from?

The answer to this question (which will continue in the next article of the series) must first clear the field of a persistent cliché, namely that this new orientation was desired by the Second Vatican Council. In reality, it happened did many other liturgical changes: the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC), does not say a single word on this subject, neither regarding the orientation nor regarding the construction of new altars.

It was the Instruction issued by the Sacred Congregation of Rites and the Consilium for the application of the liturgical Constitution, Inter Oecumenici (September 26, 1964), that took the liberty of introducing for the first time the expression versus populum in reference to the liturgical celebration: “It is good that the main altar be detached from the wall so that it can be easily turned around and celebrated facing the people.”

It is not clear which point of SC is being applied here, since, as we said, the liturgical Constitution does not mention it at all; in any case, it can be noted that the Instruction still speaks of a possibility, not an obligation. The text was incorporated into the General Instruction of the Roman Missal and, in its edition still under study in 2000, includes the apparently restrictive addition, “which is desirable wherever possible.”

The non-obligatory nature of altars detached from the wall and of celebration facing the people had already been highlighted by the then-president of the Consilium for the application of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro, who on January 25, 1966, explained to all the presidents of the national episcopal conferences that “for a true and participatory liturgy, it is not essential that the altar be turned versus populum: in the Mass, the entire liturgy of the word is celebrated from the seat, the ambo, and the lectern, which are therefore turned toward the assembly; as far as the Eucharistic liturgy is concerned, loudspeaker systems make participation quite possible. Secondly, serious consideration should be given to artistic and architectural issues, as these elements are protected in many countries by strict civil laws.”

Said – and then denied: in all churches, the altar versus populum was in fact imposed, even leading to the abandonment and demolition of ancient altars.

The non-mandatory nature of this change also emerges from the response of September 25, 2000, from the Congregation for Divine Worship, which clarified that the indication in Inter Oecumenici “is not a mandatory form, but a suggestion.” Reflecting on how various factors may discourage making these changes, it concluded that “the position facing the assembly seems more convenient [...] without, however, excluding the other possibility.”

The rubrics of the current Roman Missal require that the priest, at the moment of the Orate, fratres, the Pax Domini, the Ecce Agnus Dei, and the Oremus that introduces the Prayer after Communion, be “facing the people” – a rubric that would make no sense if the entire celebration were necessarily already facing the people.

We can therefore observe a pattern to which we are unfortunately accustomed when it comes to liturgical reforms:

1. Vatican II does not speak of the altar and celebration versus populum;
2. the Instruction, which should simply apply the document on the liturgy, introduces the possibility;
3. Bishops and liturgists impose the obligation, prohibiting the traditional orientation, which for convenience we call ad Deum.

It goes without saying that the refrain today and then is nothing more than that of a presumed better participation of the people, so that those who defend the classical orientation can and must be opposed as “enemies of the people.” This, too, is a déjà vu of every self-respecting revolution. However, it must not lack the support of plausibility offered by science, as we shall see...

The Fourth Sunday of Advent 2025: O Oriens

Introit Isa. 45 Rorate, caeli, désuper, et nubes pluant justum: aperiátur terra, et gérminet Salvatórem. V. ibid. Et justitia oriátur simul; ego Dóminus creávi eum. Gloria Patri... Rorate. (The introit of the 4th Sunday of Advent.) 

Introit. Isa. 45 Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a Savior. V. And let justice spring up together: I the Lord have created him. Glory be... Drop down.

Note that in this recording, the Dominicans sing the introit not with the first verse of Psalm 18, as is found in the Roman Missal, but with the rest of the verse of Isaiah (45, 8.) This was a common practice with this particular introit in the Middle Ages, and is also found, e.g., in the Sarum Use.

Since it is the 21st of December, the following O Antiphon is sung at Vespers.

O Oriens, splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae: veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

O Morning Star, splendor of eternal light and sun of righteousness: Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

Mosaic of Christ the Pantocrator in Hagia Sophia, Constantinople; after 1261.

Durandus on the Ember Saturday of Advent

The following excerpts are taken from book VI, chapter 10, of William Durandus’ great commentary on the liturgy, the Rationale Divinorum Officiorum. As is usually case, I have slightly paraphrased him in a few places. It must be remembered that the Saturday Ember days are not just fast days, but also the traditional days for the conferring of all seven ranks of the Sacrament of Order.

On Saturday there are four lessons from the Old Testament (Isa. 19, 20-22; 35, 1-7; 40, 9-11; 45, 1-8) before the reading “The Angel of the Lord,” (Dan. 3, 47-51) … four, because there are four orders of those who bless God, namely, prelates, clergy, religious and laity. These does the prophet (David) enumerate, saying (Ps. 134, 19-20), “O house of Israel, bless the Lord,” this is the people; “O house of Aaron, bless the Lord,” this is the prelates; “O house of Levi, bless the Lord,” this is the ministers; “O ye who fear the Lord, bless the Lord,” through this is understood the religious. Therefore, the first reading pertains to the people, the second to the prelates, the third to the ministers, the fourth to all religious. In these readings, therefore, those who are to be ordained are instructed that, following the example of the holy fathers of the same four orders, they may bless the Lord with them, and their blessing come upon them.

The Prophet Isaiah, painted by Raphael in the basilica of St Augustine in Rome in 1512. On his scroll is written in Hebrew, from chapter 26 of his book, verses 2-3, “Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Whose mind is stayed on thee, Thou wilt keep him (in perfect peace).” The dedicatory inscription in Greek above reads “To Anne, the mother of the Virgin, to the virginal Mother of God, and to Christ the Redeemer, John Goritz” (hellenized as ‘Joannes Corycios’). Goritz, a merchant from Luxembourg, commissioned both the painting, which is on one of the pillars of the basilica, and the altar to St Anne originally located beneath it. The influence of Michelangelo, who was completing the Sistine Chapel ceiling when Raphael painted this, is very strong in this work; a famous story claims that when Goritz complained to Michelangelo about the price of it, he replied, “The knee alone is worth the price!”

Another reason why four lessons are read is that he who fasts must have the four cardinal virtues; namely, temperance, because fasting itself belongs to the temperate; prudence, for which reason the Apostle says (Rom. 12, 1), “Let your service be reasonable”. Regarding fortitude, Proverbs says (31, 17) about the strong woman, that is, the Church, “she girded her loins with strength,” since we must labor much to this end, that our flesh may be pure; and because this is a great battle, because the flesh is very corrupt, and brings forth thorns and thistles, (Gen. 3, 18) and only with much attrition is it restored to brightness like flaxen. Last is justice, of which Isaiah says, speaking of Christ in His members, “And justice shall be the girdle of his loins, and faith the girdle of his reins.”

When justice is done upon the earth, thieves depart; likewise, when justice is done by us, wicked impulses depart, and do not overcome us, even though they dwell within us. But if justice is not done, they do not depart, whence Isaiah also says, “And peace shall be the work of justice.” But faith is the girding of his reins, because as Gregory says, “The despising of earthly things restrains the billows of carnal desires.” (This is not an authentic citation of St Gregory.)

A Greek icon from the second half of the 18th century, signed by the painter, Konstantinos Adrianoupolitis, now in the Benaki Museum in Athens. The whole lower part of the image shows the episodes of the third chapter of the book of Daniel: the adoration of the Emperor Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue, and the Three Children in the Furnace. In the upper right, the representation of the Three Children follows the opening words of Psalm 136, “Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept, when we remembered Sion: on the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments.” To the left of them, and further back within the image, is the episode of Daniel in the Lion’s Den, with the Prophet Habakkuk bringing him food.

Wherefore, if you fast from the foods of the body, you must also fast from the foods of the demon, and eat the foods of the mind. And he that so fasts will not be harmed by the fire of tribulation nor the fire of the world, as the three boys were not harmed by the fire of the furnace of Babylon, and therefore there follows the reading from Daniel, “The Angel of the Lord.”

Now before this reading comes the ordination of clerics, to signify that no one rightly can come to consecration, unless first he passed through the furnace, and in the furnace bless God, according to that saying of Ecclesiasticus (27, 6) “The furnace trieth the potter’s vessels, and the trial of affliction just men.” Those who come to the sacred ministry must be tried in the furnace of many tribulations and temptations, as the Apostle says (1 Tim. 3, 10), “And let them first be tried, and so minister.” It is read for the sake of the ordinands, to signify that they must live in such a way that no fire of the king of Babylon, that is the devil, harm them, as it did not harm the three children. And there follow the blessings, that is the hymn, “Blessed art thou, o Lord,” because after the trying they are crowned, and shall be blessed by the Lord.

… At the prayer which is said after this reading, the Church does not kneel as at the prayers of the other readings … to show that it is like the three children. For Nebuchadnezzar made the statue, and forced all to adore it, but the three children with Daniel would not bend the knee before the statue. Such must they be who are to be ordained, men who do not kneel before the statue, that is, before the glory of the world.

A Wooden Model for the Cathedral of Pavia

Last week, we had two posts of Nicola de’ Grandi’s pictures of the cathedral of Pavia, Italy, and the tomb of St Syrus, the city’s first bishop. As I mentioned in the second one, the current cathedral is the result of a major rebuilding project that began in the later 15th century, and still remains technically unfinished. As a brief follow-up, here are pictures of a very beautiful and very well-preserved wooden model for that project, made between 1497 and 1501. It represents the fusion of the ideas of the original architect, Giovanni Antonio Amodeo, who planned the central nave, the external buttresses, and the external chapels, with Donatello Bramante’s design for the cupola and the large external apses. The church as it currently stands bears some resemblance to this design, but many of the model’s features were removed as the project slowly progressed.

In 1490, Leonardo da Vinci was called to Pavia to offer his opinion and advice on the project; here we see some sketched which he made in that period, one of a series of Greek-cross church designs, which were something of an obsession for the architects of that era. (Bramante would go on to be hired by Pope Julius II to rebuild St Peter’s basilica, which he planned as on a Greek-cross design, later imitated by Michelangelo, and not definitively altered until the early 17th century.) 

Another of a basilica, both in plan and prospective, based on some of the prominent church buildings in Lombardy such as the very ancient basilica of St Lawrence in Milan.

St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Sun: Sister Moon and the Stars

Lost in Translation #152

After Brother Sun, St. Francis turns to other lights in the sky:

Laudato si, mi Signore, per sora Luna e le stelle:

in celu l’ài formate clarite et pretiose et belle.

Which I translate as:

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,

in heaven you formed them bright and precious and beautiful.

In the Canticle of the Sun, Francis follows the gender of the noun in Italian to determine whether he addresses a creature as brother or sister. Objects that have a masculine noun are called “brother” and objects that have a feminine noun are called “sister.” Since luna (moon) is feminine in gender, Francis calls the moon his sister.

He also calls the moon and stars bright, precious, and beautiful. We have translated the word clarite, from which we derive the English word “clear,” as “bright,” because that is its meaning, but the word can also suggest a kind of perfection, like a diamond’s clarity. Francis, in other words, is describing the moon and stars as jewels in the sky. One wonders if the Saint is contrasting his worldview before his conversion, when he delighted in the finer things of life (like clothes and maybe jewels), to his current view of the world, now seen through the eyes of God. Saint Francis does not mention the night by name, but it is obviously implied by the nocturnal celestial objects that he wants to praise God. The night can have negative metaphorical meaning. As the deprivation of light, it can symbolize a deprivation of goodness, understanding, or grace. That is why St. John of the Cross called his period of spiritual dryness the “dark night of the soul.”

St. John of the Cross

The night can also be a frightening thing on a more practical level. The temperature drops (which in winter can be life-threatening), and the darkness not only makes it difficult to travel but provides cover for nocturnal predators like wolves and tigers and as well as human predators like highway robbers and burglars. To this day, most violent crimes, such as murder and rape, are committed at night. Add to this folklore about witches, vampires, and ghosts, and you can see why the night was so feared by our ancestors.

On the other hand, the night has also enjoyed a good reputation. The moon and stars are indeed beautiful, and in an age free of light pollution, the constellations were especially spectacular on a cloudless night. Thanks to Aristotle, ancient and medieval Europeans thought of heavenly bodies as perfect in every way, from their shape to their orbits. Contrary to a popular misconception, geocentrists took no pride in thinking of the earth as the center of the universe, for if the heavens were the realm of perfection, the earth was the realm of imperfection. If the moon is a perfect sphere, the earth is a muddy mess.

Moreover, Christian artists liked to think of the moon as a symbol of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the stars as the Saints, just as the sun was a metaphor for God. Since the moon reflects the light of the sun and has long been associated with femininity, it is the perfect symbol for the Mother who bore and perfectly reflects the Light of the world. And one medieval hymn for a saint praises the day of his death as the moment when “he moved up to the constellations” (migravit sidera).

Although Saint Francis does not allegorize the heavenly bodies, his praise of their natural qualities provides the kind of appreciation for nature that opens up to such symbolism, and it helps us move beyond the moon and the stars to the Love that moves them.

This article appeared as “Beauty of the Night” in the Messenger of St. Anthony 127:5, international edition (May 2025), p. 37. Many thanks to its editors for allowing its publication here.

A Solemn Ambrosian Mass in the Basilica of St Ambrose in Milan

This past Sunday, a solemn Mass was celebrated in the traditional Ambrosian Rite in the basilica of St Ambrose, one of the most ancient and important churches in the city of Milan, as a special occasion for the Jubilee year, by kind permission of the mitred abbot of the basilica, Mons. Carlo Faccendini. The Mass was celebrated by Mons. Francesco Braschi, and our own Nicola de’ Grandi, who has worked tirelessly for many years to preserve the Ambrosian liturgical tradition, served as the MC. Our friend Don Elvir Tabaković, a former professional photographer from Croatia who is now in religious life, was also there, and we are grateful to him for sharing these beautiful pictures with us. Ad multos annos!

The entrance procession comes from the sacristy. The Ambrosian Advent begins two week before the Roman, so this past Sunday was the fifth, rather than the third of Advent; there is no Gaudete Sunday, so the vestments are violet.

The Mass was also attended by several members of the Confraternity of the Most Blessed Sacrament from the town of Vanzaghello, about 25 miles outside Milan. 

The basilica’s 9th century apsidal mosaic was badly damaged by a bomb during World War II, but expertly reconstructed. Christ is shown with the Archangels Michael and Gabriel and the martyrs Gervasius and Protasius to either side of His throne; below are portraits of St Ambrose’s siblings, St Marcellina and Satyrus, and St Candida.

The prayers at the foot of the altar.

The first incensation of the altar. An Ambrosian thurible has no cover, so it is swung in wide arcs to keep the contents inside by centrifugal force.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

The Orientation of Ancient Churches

We continue with the second part of Luisella Scrosati’s series on the orientation of Christian worship, “L’orientamento delle chiese antiche”, published in Italian on November 16 in La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, and reproduced here in translation with the kind permission of the editors. (Read Part 1.)

Prayer directed towards the east. The altar oriented towards the east. The priest standing before the divine Majesty, positioned in front of the altar and facing east.

Martin Wallraff, a Protestant professor of ancient church history at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, in his monograph Christus verus sol. Sonnenverehrung und Christentum in der Spätantike [Christ, the True Sun. Sun Worship and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 2001] summarized the importance of the orientation of prayer in the early centuries of Christianity:

Christians pray facing east. This principle was taken for granted throughout the early Church. Evidence of this is widely scattered throughout time and space. Nowhere is there any trace of Christianity without this tradition or with the custom of praying in a different direction.

This characteristic, so evident, which structures both personal and collective prayer, and so universally widespread, could not fail to determine the criterion of orientation in the construction of churches, which had to favor and almost embody this posture.

And in fact, the churches of antiquity, whatever their shape, were built on an east-west axis, so that the apse, near which the altar was placed, was usually located to the east. Sometimes, the apse could be placed to the west, but even in this case, the priest still celebrated facing east, thus turning his gaze in front of him, towards the facade of the church.

Problems in applying this fundamental orientation could arise especially when churches were built in urban contexts where existing streets “forced” the orientation of the building, or when secular buildings were converted into Christian places of worship. In these situations, it is quite obvious and understandable that the east-west orientation was not strictly adhered to. However, these are exceptions to the rule, due to contingent and insurmountable causes.

Baptisteries also followed the east-west axis, with the apse (when present) mainly facing east. In this case, the orientation served not so much for prayer as for the confession of faith. Before receiving the sacramental baptism, the catechumen had to confess his faith facing Christ (east), leaving behind the decadent world (west) of sin and paganism.

The eastward facing baptistery of St John in the Lateran in Rome, photographed by William Henry Goodyear (1846-1923); from the Brooklyn Museum archives via Wikimedia Commons.

Monsignor Stefan Heid (Altar and Church. Principles of Liturgy from Early Christianity, 2023) presents a broad overview of churches in different geographical areas of ancient Christianity, focusing precisely on their orientation. When we look at the Byzantine world, and more generally at the Eastern world, including the churches of Syria, Palestine, and Transjordan, the evidence that the church and prayer faced east is overwhelming.

In general, the buildings were structured in such a way that the faithful were already oriented towards the east, while the bishop’s chair and the presbyters’ seats were adjacent to the apse, thus facing west. This location has misled many, leading them to believe that the celebration took place facing the people. But this is a rather gross misunderstanding. In reality, the chair and seats were oriented towards the ambo or bema, which was usually located near the presbytery, in the center.

The building was therefore structured as follows: moving from west (entrance) to east, we find the nave, the ambo (which was not a simple lectern but a structure with steps), the presbytery with the altar, the apse with the episcopal chair and the seats of the presbyters. Therefore, during the singing of the pericopes taken from the Holy Scriptures, the bishop and priests faced the ambo (and therefore also looked towards the nave); but when the sacrificial part of the Divine Liturgy began, they descended to the altar, placing themselves in front of it, on its western side, and looked towards the apse, to the east.

It is interesting to note that there is evidence that, at this moment, the deacon exhorted the faithful to stand up and look to the east. This would give rise to the introductory dialogue of the Preface, in which we are urged to lift up our hearts (and therefore to stand upright) and turn them ad Dóminum, to the Lord, which in the liturgical context undoubtedly means towards the east. The exhortation to stand up was addressed to everyone, while the exhortation to turn towards the east was mainly addressed to those who, during the singing of the Word of God, sat along the perimeter walls, thus looking towards the interior of the nave. From that moment on, every member of the congregation, together with the sacred ministers and the bishop, had to look towards Christ—that is, towards the east.

Confirming this, many churches have a rather narrow space between the altar and the apse, while the space between the altar and the iconostasis is wider. Also noteworthy is the presence of a cross in the apse dome, indicating the point of orientation of the celebrant’s gaze, or the presence of a slab on the floor, on the west side of the altar, indicating the site of the celebrant while he was at the altar, or a mosaic carpet that was to be seen from west to east. However, there is no archaeological evidence for celebration towards the people.

Archaeological evidence is rarer in Western churches, due to the fact that there are few examples of altars dating back to the early centuries of the Church. However, where such evidence does exist, as in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Grado or in that of San Vitale in Ravenna, it attests to the apse being located to the east and the altar being placed very close to the apse wall, a sign that the celebrant was located on the opposite side of the altar, which was more spacious, facing the apse.

No less significant than archaeological evidence is St. Ambrose’s commentary on Psalm 118, in which he compares the Christian to a sacred building and states:

If, therefore, you have the building of God within you and your windows are always open to the east, behold, the Word comes. Behold, it stands upright behind that wall [...], behold, it looks inside, through your windows. (Commentary on Psalm 118, Vau, 19)

Ambrose is suggesting a spiritual interpretation based on an established fact and common experience: in the church, the windows are open to the east so that the eyes of the rising Sun, Christ the Lord, can look through them and meet the eyes of his faithful, who are oriented toward him.