The Vigil of the Nativity of the Virgin

The origin of the feast of the Virgin Mary’s Nativity is a matter of speculation, and the reason for the choice of date is unknown. It was celebrated at Constantinople by the 530s, when St Romanus the Melodist composed a hymn for it; by the seventh century, it had passed to the West, and Pope St Sergius I (687-701) decreed that it be should celebrated with a procession from the church of St Adrian (who shares his feast day with the Birth of the Virgin) to St Mary Major. It would seem, however, that it was rather slower to be accepted than the other early Marian feasts, the Purification, Annunciation and Assumption, since it is not mentioned in some important early liturgical books. Thus we find it included in the oldest manuscript of the Gelasian Sacramentary in roughly 750 A.D., but missing from the calendar in some later books. The liturgical commentators of the High Middle Ages such as Sicard of Cremona and William Durandus were aware that it was of later institution.

The Nativity of the Virgin, by Pietro Lorenzetti, 1335-42; originally painted for one of the side-altars of the Cathedral of Siena, now in the Cathedral Museum.

By the time the feast was universally accepted, the Roman Rite had mostly ceased to institute vigils for “new” celebrations; this holds true even for the medieval feast par excellence, Corpus Christi. Thus, the Nativity of the Virgin was only kept with a vigil in a limited number of places, and never at Rome itself. This vigil would have consisted of a fast on the day before the feast, accompanied by a Mass in violet after None, and without the Gloria in excelsis, Alleluia or Creed. As it generally the case with later additions, there is not a complete uniformity in the liturgical texts of these Masses from one church to another, but in most places, they were taken from the daily votive Mass of the Virgin or the vigil of the Assumption.

In the Ambrosian Rite, however, the feast is kept with such a vigil, as a feast of particular importance, the titular feast of the cathedral of Milan. On the façade over the central door is a large plaque with the two words “Mariae Nascenti - To Mary as She is born.”

On both the vigil and feast, the Ambrosian Mass reads a lesson which very cleverly links two Biblical passages traditionally associated with the Virgin Mary, the sixth chapter of the Song of Songs, and the twenty-fourth of Ecclesiasticus.

“Thus sayeth Wisdom: Song 6, 8-9 She is the only one of her mother, the chosen of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and declared her most blessed: the queens and concubines, and they praised her. Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array? Sir. 24, 24-28 I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits. For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb. My memory is unto everlasting generations.”

At the Mass of the vigil, the following Confractorium is sung; this is the antiphon that accompanies the Fraction rite, which is done immediately after the Canon, before the Lord’s Prayer.

Beatus ille venter qui te portavit, Christe, et beata ubera quæ te lactaverunt Dominum, et Salvatorem mundi, qui pro salute generis humani carnem assumere dignatus es. ~ Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, o Christ, and blessed are the breasts that nursed Thee, the Lord and Savior of the world, Who for the salvation of the human race deigned to take on the flesh. (In the video below, this is the third piece, beginning at 1:10.)

In the same Mass, the Transitorium (the equivalent of the Roman Communio) was borrowed from the repertoire of processional chants used on the feast of the Purification, the first Marian feast to be accepted by the Ambrosian Rite in the post-Carolingian period. In this video, we hear it sung as part of that procession in the cathedral itself, starting at 1:22.

Magnificamus te, Dei Genitrix; quia ex te natus est Christus salvans omnes, qui te glorificant. Sancta Domina, Dei Genitrix, sanctificationes tuas transmitte nobis. ~ We magnify Thee, Mother of God, because from Thee was born Christ, who saveth all that glory Thee. Holy Lady, Mother of God, impart Thy sanctity to us.

The Byzantine tradition distinguishes twelve feasts, eight of Our Lord and four of Our Lady, as “Great Feasts”, with Easter in a category of its own as the Feast of Feasts. Whether by design or coincidence, the first of these in the liturgical year, which begins on September 1st, is the Birth of the Virgin, which is also the first historically. The Twelve Feasts also each have a Fore-feast, the Roman equivalent of a vigil, and an Afterfeast; the latter are like the octaves of the Roman Rite, but vary in length, and that of the Virgin’s Nativity is only 4 days long, ending on September 12th. A Fore-feast is a full liturgical day, and so unlike Roman vigils, which run from Matins to None, it begins at Vespers of the day which precedes it, in this case, on the evening of September 6th. Here is a selection of some of the hymns sung at that Vespers, followed by the proper hymns of the Divine Liturgy of the Forefeast on September 7th.

An icon of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, painted by Adrianoupolitis Konstantinos in the middle of the 18th century, now in the Benaki Museum in Athens. (Public domain image from Wikipedia.)

In Thy nativity, o Immaculate one, rays of joy dawned upon the minds of the whole world, foretelling to all the sun of Glory, Christ our God; for Thou were shown to be the mediatrix of true gladness and grace.

The glory of this Thy forefeast, o Immaculate one, foretells to all peoples the good deeds wrought by Thy favor; for Thou art the source of their present gladness, and the cause of the joy that shall come to us, the delight of divine happiness.

The maiden in whom God dwelt and pure Mother of God, the glory of prophets, the daughter of David, today is born of Joachim and the prudent Anne, and in Her birth, overthrows the curse of Adam that was against us.

Theotokion The multitudes of the Angels in heaven and the race of men upon the earth bless Thy all-venerable Nativity, a all-holy and pure Virgin, since Thou became the Mother of the Creator of all things, Christ our God. Ceasa Thou not, we pray, to supplicate Him for us, who after God, place our hopes in Thee, all-praised and undefiled Mother of God.

At the Divine Liturgy, the Troparion From the root of Jesse and from the loins of David, the godly child Mary is born to us today. Therefore, all creation rejoices and is renewed, together with heaven and earth rejoice. Praise Her, ye families of the nations; Joachim is gladdened, and Anna cries out in celebration: The barren woman gives birth to the Mother of God and the Sustainer of our Life.

The Kontakion Today, the Virgin and Mother of God Mary, the inviolate bridal chamber of the heavenly bridegroom, is born from a barren woman according to the divine plan to be made ready as the chariot of God’s Word; even for this was she predestined, the gateway of God, and truly the Mother of Life.

Arranging the Breviary for the Rest of the Liturgical Year

This is our annual posting on one of the discrepancies between the traditional arrangement of the Roman Breviary and the new rubrics of 1960; this year, the first such discrepancy appears at Vespers on Saturday evening of this week. In some years, including this one, it also moves the September Ember Days one week forward from their traditional place.

One of the changes made to the Breviary in the revision of 1960 regards the arrangement of the months from August to November.

The first Sunday of each of these months is the day on which the Church begins to read a new set of Scriptural books at Matins, with their accompanying responsories, and Magnificat antiphons at Saturday Vespers. These readings are part of a system which goes back to the sixth century: in August, the books of Wisdom are read; in September, Job, Tobias, Judith and Esther; in October the books of the Maccabees; in November, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the twelve minor Prophets. (September is actually divided into two sets of readings, Job having a different set of responsories from the other three books.)

Folio 98v of the antiphonary of Compiègne, 860-77 AD. At the top of the page are three antiphons taken from the book of Job for Saturday Vespers, the first and second of which (Cum audisset Job and In omnibus his) are found in the Breviary of St Pius V and subsequent revisions thereof. These are followed by responsories and antiphons from the book of Tobias, and responsories from the book of Judith. (Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des Manuscrits. Latin 17436)

The “first Sunday” of each of these months is traditionally that which occurs closest to the first calendar day of the month, even if that day occurs within the end of the previous month. This year, for example, the first Sunday “of September” is actually August 30th, the Sunday closest to the first day of September.

In the 1960 revision, however, the first Sunday of the months from August to November is always that which occurs first within the calendar month. According to this system, the first Sunday of September is the 6th this year.

The Ember days of September, (which are older than this system), are celebrated within the third week of that month. In the traditional arrangement, this means that they always begin with the Wednesday after the Exaltation of the Cross. However, in the 1960 rubrics, the third week of September is determined differently, and they can be therefore be pushed forward a week, as they are this year. So in the traditional arrangement, they are on Sept. 16, 18 and 19; according to the 1960 rubrics, on Sept. 23, 25 and 26.

This change also accounts for one of the many peculiarities of the 1960 Breviary, the fact that November has four weeks, which are called the First, Third, Fourth and Fifth. According to the older calculation, November has five weeks when the 5th of the month is a Sunday. (This is also the arrangement that has the shortest possible Advent of three weeks and one day.) According to the newer calculation, November may have three or four weeks, but never five. In order to accommodate the new system, one of the weeks had to be removed; the second week of November was chosen, to maintain the tradition that at least a bit of each of the Prophets would continue to be read in the Breviary. However, in some years, November only has three weeks, and the first one is also omitted, but this is not the case this year.

The Sundays of the rest of the liturgical year, according to the traditional system:

August 30 – the 1st Sunday of September (XIV Sunday after Pentecost)
September 6 – the 2nd Sunday of September (XV after Pentecost)
September 13 – the 3rd Sunday of September (XVI after Pentecost); Ember week
September 20 – the 4th Sunday of September (XVII after Pentecost)
September 27 – the 5th Sunday of September (XVIII after Pentecost)

October 4 – the 1st Sunday of October (XIX after Pentecost)
October 11 – the 2nd Sunday of October (XX after Pentecost; commemorated on the feast of the Maternity of the Virgin Mary)
October 18 – the 3rd Sunday of October (XXI after Pentecost; commemorated on the feast of St Luke the Evangelist)
October 25 – the 4th Sunday of October (XXII after Pentecost, commemorated on the feast of Christ the King)

November 1 – the 1st Sunday of November (XXIII after Pentecost; commemorated on the feast of All Saints)
November 8 – the 3rd Sunday of November (V after Epiphany resumed)
November 15 – the 4th Sunday of November (VI after Epiphany resumed)
November 22 – the 5th Sunday of November (XXIV and last after Pentecost)

The Sundays of the rest of the liturgical year, according to the 1960 system:

August 30 – the 5th Sunday of August (XIV Sunday after Pentecost)

September 6 – the 1st Sunday of September (XV after Pentecost)
September 13 – the 2nd Sunday of September (XVI after Pentecost)
September 20 – the 3rd Sunday of September (XVII after Pentecost); Ember week
September 27 – the 4th Sunday of September (XVIII after Pentecost)

October 4 – the 1st Sunday of October (XIX after Pentecost)
October 11 – the 2nd Sunday of October (XX after Pentecost)
October 18 – the 3rd Sunday of October (XXI after Pentecost)

October 25 – the 4th Sunday of October (XXII after Pentecost, omitted on the feast of Christ the King)

November 1 – the 1st Sunday of November (XXIII after Pentecost, commemorated on the feast of All Saints)
November 8 – the 3rd Sunday of November (V after Epiphany resumed)
November 15 – the 4th Sunday of November (VI after Epiphany resumed)
November 22 – the 5th Sunday of November (XXIV and last after Pentecost)

The calculation of the Sundays after Pentecost also calls for a note here. (The discrepancies between the Missals of St Pius V and St John XXIII are very slight in this regard.)

The number of Sundays “after Pentecost” assigned to the Missal is 24, but the actual number varies between 23 and 28. The “24th” is always celebrated on the last Sunday before Advent. If there are more than 24, the gap between the 23rd and 24th is filled with the Sundays after Epiphany that had no place at the beginning of the year. The prayers and readings of those Sundays are inserted into the Mass of the 23rd Sunday (i.e., the set of Gregorian propers.) The Breviary homily on the Sunday Gospel and the concomitant antiphons of the Benedictus and Magnificat also carry over in the Office. This year, the Fifth and Sixth Sundays after Epiphany are celebrated between the 23rd and 24th after Pentecost.

If this all seems a little complicated, bear in mind that the oldest arrangement of the Mass lectionary that we know of was even more so. The oldest lectionary of the Roman Rite, a manuscript now in Wurzburg, Germany, dates to ca. 700, and represents the system used at Rome about 50 years earlier. It has a very disorganized and incomplete set of readings for the period after Pentecost; the Sundays are counted as 2 after Pentecost, 7 after Ss Peter and Paul, 5 after St Lawrence, and 6 after St Cyprian, a total of only 20. There are also ten Sundays after Epiphany, even though Septuagesima is also noted in the manuscript, and the largest number of Sundays that can occur between Epiphany and Septuagesima is only six.

Durandus on the Office of Vespers (Part 2): the Magnificat

This excerpt from William Durandus’ Rationale Divinorum Officium (V, 9) on the office of Vespers continues on from the section which I posted yesterday. As is his wont from time to time, our friend is more than a little prolix and obscure here, so this is to no small degree a paraphrase.

The Magnificat is said every day, so that the memory of the Lord’s incarnation may more frequently inspire the minds of the faithful in the work of God, in the teaching of those who lead them, and to the devout completion of our work. For the canticle itself are signifies thoughts, just as the psalms indicated works. Therefore, if we diligently and often recall the deeds and words of the blessed Mary, the observance of chastity and the virtue of our work will persevere in us, in imitation of her. …

One of my favorite settings of the Magnificat, in alternative chant and polyphony, by the Netherlandish composer Alexander Agricola (1446 ca. - 1506).

Bede says that the custom of the singing the canticle of the Virgin Mary at the evening office in particular, rather than at some other office, took hold for various reasons. First, because it was in the evening of the world that she, by her singular assent, came to help the world that was lost, and bore the Lord. Second, because through it, constant remembrance is made of the incarnation, which took place at the evening of the world. Third, because she herself is the star of the sea, which in the evening of this world received the light for our sake, just as the evening star from which the evening office takes its name starts to shine at the beginning of the night. Fourth, so that our mind, tired out during the day by various thoughts, may remember the words of the Mother of God as quiet comes upon us in the nighttime, and thus, whatever we have encountered that is useless or harmful over the course of the day may be completely cleansed away through her intersection by our prayers and tears.

This canticle is the exultation of those who labor, whose spirit exalts in the Lord, because He who is mighty has done great things for them and his mercy is forever. To represent this exultation, lamps are lit at Vespers, and especially for this canticle, because it is taken from the Gospel, and so that we, being the company of the five wise young women (Matt. 25, 1-13), may run with the lamps of good works after the odor of the ointments of the Blessed Virgin (Song 1, 3), entering with her into the joy of our Lord. And because our works do not shine forth in our lamps unless they are informed with charity, therefore the canticle is closed with an antiphon, by which is symbolized charity. …

The Wise and Foolish Virgins, ca. 1600-20, by the Flemish artist Pieter Lisaert (1574-1603)

The Office of the Dead begins with Vespers, but does not have second Vespers, to indicate that this office will have its end when the souls of the saved, delivered from every pain, shall enjoy eternal blessedness. But the Saints, of whose glorification in the soul the Church is already certain, have first and second vespers if nine readings are said on their feast (at Matins). The first Vespers represent the glorification of the soul which is already received, the second represent the glorification of the body which they will receive, and which will have no end.

St Macrina the Younger, and the Phos Hilaron

In the Byzantine Rite, today is the feast of St Macrina (327 ca. – 379), the older sister of Ss Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa. She is traditionally given the epithet “the Younger” to distinguish her from their sainted paternal grandmother, who was a disciple of St Gregory the Wonderworker. Their parents, Basil the Elder and Emmelia, their brother Peter, bishop of Sebaste, and another brother named Naucratius are all also Saints, and all but the last of them are named in the Roman Martyrology. (right: an 11th-century fresco of St Macrina in the cathedral of Holy Wisdom in Kyiv, Ukraine; public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

Her brother Gregory wrote two works about her, one, a general account of her life, and the other, a work titled “A Dialogue on the Soul and the Resurrection.” The latter is modeled on Plato’s Phaedo, the account of Socrates’ conversation on the nature of the soul with a student of that name, which takes place as he is in prison and awaiting execution. St Gregory’s work is cast as a conversation which he had with Macrina as she lay on her deathbed, and it says a great deal about what a change Christianity had brought to the world that the protagonist of a philosophical work of this kind could be a woman. (The same change is also evidenced by the participation of St Augustine’s mother St Monica, who was rather less educated than Macrina, in his Cassiciacum Dialogues.)

When she was young, her father had arranged a marriage for Macrina, but her fiancé died before the wedding could take place, and she decided that she preferred to not marry, and dedicate her life entirely to Christ. (That a woman could make such a choice at all is also a very significant change from the pagan world.) Not long after, the elder Basil died, and she devoted her life to caring for her mother, and assisting her in raising the younger children. Together with several other women, they withdrew to a country estate owned by their family, and lived as a religious community. Naucratius had renounced a promising career as a rhetorician in order to live nearby in solitude and poverty, and take care of the local poor, but in 357, he and a servant were both killed in a hunting accident. This profoundly upset their mother Emmelia, and St Gregory shows us Macrina as her mother’s chief support in her grief.

“…then above all, the sublime and exalted soul of the young girl made itself manifest, because her nature also experienced its own suffering; for it was… her most beloved brother, who had been snatched away by death … Nevertheless, she rose above nature, and by means of her own reasoned reflections she lifted her mother up together with her and placed her beyond suffering, guiding her to patience and courage by her own example.”

St Gregory’s description of Macrina’s death, six-and-a-half months after St Basil’s, is particularly beautiful, and contains a famous reference to the hymn Phos Hilaron. (Basil himself mentions the use of this hymn as already a long-standing custom in their time.)

“Most of the day had already passed and the sun was starting to set. … the more (Macrina) neared her departure, the more she contemplated the beauty of the bridegroom and longed to rush impulsively to her beloved. She no longer spoke to us who were present, but to that One alone upon whom she held her eyes intently. … Meanwhile, evening had come on and a light had been brought in. At once Macrina opened her eyes wide, directed their attention to the gleam of light, and made it clear that she also wished to say the evening prayer of thanksgiving; but as her voice failed her, she realized her desire in her heart… When she had completed the prayer of thanksgiving and, by bringing her hand to her face for the sign of the cross, had indicated that she had finished her prayer, she took a strong, deep breath, and with that she died.”

The Phos Hilaron is still sung every day at Vespers in the Byzantine Rite. In this first video, it is sung in Greek at the Iveron Monastery on Mt Athos.

“Φῶς ἱλαρὸν ἁγίας δόξης ἀθανάτου Πατρός, οὐρανίου, ἁγίου, μάκαρος, Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ, ἐλθόντες ἐπὶ τὴν ἡλίου δύσιν, ἰδόντες φῶς ἑσπερινόν, ὑμνοῦμεν Πατέρα, Υἱόν, καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, Θεόν. Ἄξιόν σε ἐν πᾶσι καιροῖς ὑμνεῖσθαι φωναῖς αἰσίαις, Υἱὲ Θεοῦ, ζωὴν ὁ διδούς· διὸ ὁ κόσμος σὲ δοξάζει. – O gladsome Light of the holy glory of the immortal Father, the Heavenly, the Holy, the Blessed, o Jesus Christ, having come to the setting of the sun, having seen the evening light, we praise the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, God. Worthy it is at all times to praise Thee with fitting voices, o Son of God, Giver of Life, for which the world glorifies Thee.”

A polyphonic setting in Church Slavonic by the composer Artemy Vedel (1767-1808).

Свѣте тихїй свѧтыѧ славы, безсмертнагω Отца небеснагω, свѧтагω блаженнагω, Іисусе христе: пришедше на западъ солнца, видѣвше свѣтъ вечернїй, поемъ Отца, Сына, и Свѧтагω Духа, Бога. достоинъ єси во всѧ времена пѣтъ бити гласы преподобными, Сыне Божїй, животъ даѧй: тѣмже міръ тѧ славитъ.

Durandus on Saturday Vespers (Part 1)

The following excerpts are taken from William Durandus’ great liturgical commentary, the Rationale Divinorum Officium, book V (which treats of the Divine Office), chapter 9, on Vespers. I have titled it “on Saturday Vespers” because the psalms of Saturday Vespers (143-147, in the traditional arrangement before St Pius X’s reform) are the only ones which he comments on specifically. The part noted * between two red stars * is from the prologue of this same book V, which Durandus himself cites in that place.

At the evening hour, the Church symbolizes the first coming of the Lord, which took place “as the world was coming to its evening” (a citation of the Vespers hymn of Advent, Conditor alme siderum), that is, in the last age. In this regard, it renders thanks to God by singing, according to what the Apostle says, “We are those upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1 Cor. 10, 11) Furthermore, Christ was taken down from the cross in the evening, and in the same hour, at the Last Supper, He instituted the sacrament of His body and blood, and washed the feet of the disciples, and manifested himself to the disciples on the road to Emmaus in the likeness of a pilgrim at the breaking of the bread. Rightly therefore does the Catholic Church give thanks to Christ at this hour.

The Deposition of Christ from the Cross, 1634, by the workshop of Rembrandt van Rijn.

Of course, … the office of the following day begins at Vespers, because the evening service, that is the canonical hour, is the first office, according to the custom established by the prophet Ezra, * who taught the people of Israel, when they had return from the Babylonian captivity, to praise God four times in the night and four times in the day. Therefore the evening office belongs to the night, * and for this reason it is named after the evening star (Vesper), which rises at the beginning of the night. …

At this hour, the Church says five psalms, first of all because of the five wounds of Christ, who offered a sacrifice for us in the evening of the world; secondly, for correction, namely, so that we may weep over and ask for forgiveness of our sins, which are committed during the day through the five bodily sense, and come in unto according to what Jeremiah says (9, 21), “death has come in through our windows.” For who is there who does not fall and is not taken by the sense of sight? Thirdly, through the five psalms the Church strengthens itself against the tribulations of the night; for this hour indicates the weeping of them for whom the Sun of justice (Mal. 4, 2) set, and of this it is said (Ps. 29, 6), “In the evening shall weeping abide.” This weeping will last until the morning, that is until the sun which had fallen for sinners will rise upon the faithful, according to the same Psalm, “And in the morning (shall abide) rejoicing. For the same cause also do we strike the breasts with five fingers. …

The psalms are sung according to the meaning of the day; and behold, on the seventh day, that is on Saturday, because of the resurrection which follows, the Office treats of victory and the praise of God which follows victory. Therefore, the first Psalm “Blessed be God” (143) is literally about David’s victory over Goliath (according to its title in the Septuagint and Vulgate), but according to the spiritual sense, it treats of the victory by which we overcome the devil. And since after that victory, it remains only to praise the Lord through whom we have won it, there follow four psalms which are about praise. In the first, the Church sets forth praise: “I will exalt thee, o Lord”; in the second, she urges herself on, saying, “Praise the Lord, o my soul”; in the third, she invites others to join her, “Praise ye the Lord”; in the fourth, she congratulates the heavenly Jerusalem, saying, “Praise the Lord, o Jerusalem.”…

David and Goliath, ca. 1542-44, by Titian

The versicle on Saturday is “May our evening prayer (rise unto Thee, o Lord, and Thy mercy descend upon us)”, and on the other days, “Let my prayer be directed, (o Lord, like incense in Thy sight), both of which signify the evening on which they are sung, in keeping with the sense of the words that follow within the psalm (140) “The lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.” …

The incensation is done so that we may always be the good odor of God (2 Cor. 2, 15), by advancing in knowledge, in teaching, for such must we be because of the promises of God… And therefore at Vespers and at Lauds, after the psalms and the reading … the incense is offered to signify that no one can render a good odor unto God, or give a good example of working to others, which is signified by the incense, unless first he works in the service of God, because which he teaches others through the psalms…

The priest who is senior in the office of the Church, as the one who holds the place of Aaron, ought to offer the incense so that it be an eternal sweet offering before the Lord, and a sweet, fragrant odor, according to the words of the Psalms, “Let my prayer, o Lord, be directed like incense in thy sight.” (right: an 11th century Greek mosaic of Aaron the high priest.) 

David’s Lamentation for Saul and Jonathan

Mountains of Gilboa, let neither dew nor rain come upon you, for on thee has the shield of the mighty been cast away, the shield of Saul, as if he had not been anointed with oil. How are the mighty fallen in battle! Jonathan hath been slain upon the high places; Saul and Jonathan were lovely and very comely in their lives, in their death also they have not been not divided. (The antiphon at the Magnificat for the Saturday before the 5th Sunday after Pentecost.)

Aña Montes Gélboë, nec ros nec pluvia veniant super vos: quia in te abjectus est clípeus fortium, clipeus Saul, quasi non esset unctus óleo. Quómodo cecidérunt fortes in bello? Jónathas in excelsis interfectus est: Saul et Jónathas, amábiles et decóri valde in vita sua, in morte quoque non sunt divísi.

The defeat of Saul and his sons by the Philistines on Mt Gilboa, depicted in a Bible made in Paris in the 1240s, now at the Morgan Library in New York City. (folio 34v, image cropped.)   

The text of this unusually long antiphon is taken from the first chapter of the Second Book of Samuel (Second Kings in the Vulgate), which is read at Matins the following morning; David, not yet recognized as king in Israel, mourns for Saul and his son Jonathan after they had been killed by the Philistines in battle. The same passage (verses 17-27) was also made into a series of four motets which sticks much more closely to the original Biblical wording. These were formerly attributed to Josquin des Prez (1450/5-1521), but this is now considered very doubtful; nothing is known about the circumstances for which they were written.

Music for First Vespers of Corpus Christi

O how delightful, * o Lord, is thy Spirit, Who, that Thou may show Thy sweetness unto Thy children, having granted them most sweet bread from heaven, fillest the hungry with good things, and sendest away empty the scornful rich. (The Magnificat antiphon for First Vespers of Corpus Christi.)

Aña O quam suávis est, * Dómine, spíritus tuus, qui, ut dulcédinem tuam in filios demonstráres, pane suavíssimo de caelo prǽstito, esurientes reples bonis, fastidiósos dívites dimittens inánes.

A very nice polyphonic setting by the Spanish composer Alonso Lobo (1555-1617), a contemporary of Victoria, who held him in the highest regard.

Another by William Byrd (1540 ca. - 1623)

A particularly fine recording of the Gregorian melody of the hymn Pange, lingua, gloriosi Corporis mysterium, which is sung at both Vespers.

And finally, an absolutely splendid version by Victoria himself, alternating a different Gregorian melody with polyphony.

Ambrosian Vespers of the Fridays in Lent

In the Ambrosian Rite, the Fridays of Lent stand out from the rest of the week in two very notable ways. The first is that these days are “aliturgical”, meaning that no Mass is celebrated at all. (Exceptions are permitted only for the feasts of St Joseph and the Annunciation when they occur on Friday, the former being of very late institution.) As I have described many times before, the same custom once obtained in Lent in the Roman Rite, but on the Thursdays, and the Saturdays after Ash Wednesday and Passion Sunday, while it still holds in the Byzantine Rite for all the weekdays, likewise excepting only the Annunciation.

The other is that Vespers is celebrated in a special form which shares some characteristics with other liturgical days, but is in itself unique to these Fridays.

Ambrosian Vespers normally begins with a responsory called a lucernarium, which takes its name from the ancient custom that the church’s lamps were lit while it was being sung. The repertoire of these is very small, only twelve unique texts, one of which is sung only on these five Fridays. (On Good Friday, the lucernarium is simply omitted.) This particular one is much longer than is usually the case on a feria; just the opening words, “Dirigatur oratio mea sicut incensum in conspectu tuo. – Let my prayer be directed like incense in Thy sight”, have more notes than the whole of the default ferial text.

This is followed by the hymn Audi, benigne Conditor, which the Roman Rite sings at Vespers every day of Lent properly so called, and the Ambrosian Rite every day but Sunday. (The Ambrosian music is different.) The hymn is regularly followed by another responsory, called “in choro”, since in the cathedral it was sung by the clergy standing around the throne of the archbishop, who led the chanting of it. (Many features of the Ambrosian Office are assigned to specific offices within the cathedral chapter.) The repertoire of these is rather larger, numbering over sixty, but no recording is available of any of the ones that are sung on these days.

A photograph of the clergy and cantors around the archbishop at the high altar of Milan cathedral, during Vespers of the Epiphany. (Colorized by Nicola.)

At this point, there normally follows the psalmody, but on the Fridays of Lent, there are first read four lessons from the Old Testament, taken from Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, or one of the books of Kings. Each lesson is followed by a chant called a psalmellus, which is very similar in structure to the gradual of the Roman Mass, and then a prayer. A similar arrangement of readings, psalmelli and prayers is done at First Vespers of Christmas, Epiphany and Pentecost, and for these days, the material is all include in the Ambrosian Missal in an appendix, since they are followed by the Mass of the vigil. However, our Ambrosian expert Nicola de’ Grandi informs me that no modern printed edition of this material exists for the Friday Vespers of Lent. (In the following table of the lessons, I use the Vulgate naming of the books of Kings; modern Bibles which follow the Hebrew tradition call them 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings.)

The Saturdays of Lent have a particular importance in the Ambrosian Rite. The day is treated almost like a feast, and the historical custom of Milan, already attested by St Ambrose himself (On Elijah and the fast, 34), is not to keep any fast on that day. The Masses have three readings, like a Sunday or a Saint’s day, where ferial days normally have only two. The Gospel of the first of these Saturdays, Matthew 12, 1-8, refers to this custom of not keeping it as a fast day.

“… Jesus went through the corn on the sabbath, and his disciples being hungry, began to pluck the ears, and to eat. And the Pharisees seeing them, said to him, ‘Behold thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days.’ But he said to them, … ‘have ye not read in the law, that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple break the sabbath, and are without blame? But I tell you that there is here a greater than the temple. … For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath.”

Christ Defends the Plucking of Grain on the Sabbath, 1580-90, by the Flemish painter Martin van Valckenborch.

The following four Saturdays are each dedicated to the rites by which the catechumens were prepared for baptism during Lent, and the Gospels of these days refer to these rites very clearly. For example, on the third Saturday, the last verse of the Gospel, Mark 6, 6-13, is, “And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them”, because this was the day on which the catechumens were anointed.

For this reason, Dr Cesare Alzati, one of the best modern scholars of the Ambrosian Rite, sees this special form of Vespers, including the readings, as a kind of vigil for these Saturdays. And indeed, the first reading on the third Friday, 1 Kings (Samuel) 16, 1-13a, is the story of King David’s anointing at the hands of the prophet Samuel. It should be noted, however, that the criterion for the choice of these readings is for the most part not so clear.

After the fourth prayer, Vespers returns to its normal order with the psalmody. The Ambrosian psalms for Vespers on Sunday and the weekdays are the same as those in the Roman Office before the Divino Afflatu reform of the psalter, so on Friday, they are 137-141. (Some of the corresponding antiphons have the same text as the Roman ones, but the music is quite different.) The regular prayer after the psalms of Friday is then said:

“Gratias tibi agimus, omnipotens Deus; quod, declinante jam die, nos vespertini luminis claritate circumdas; petimus immensam clementiam tuam, ut, sicut nos hujus luminis claritate circumvallas, ita Sancti Spiritus tui luce corda nostra illuminare digneris. Per ... in unitate ejusdem...

We give Thee thanks, almighty God, since as the day now declines, Thou dost surround us with the brightness of the evening light; we ask Thy boundless clemency that, just as Thou encompass us with the brightness of this light, so also may Thou deign to enlighten our hearts with the light of Thy Holy Spirit. Through our Lord… in the unity of the same Holy Spirit…”

The common order of Friday Vespers in the first official post-Tridentine edition of the Ambrosian breviary, published under the authority of St Charles Borromeo in 1582. The prayer “Gratias tibi agimus” cited above is in the lower part of the left column.

At this point, there would normally be sung first the Magnificat, then several other chants; these vary in their number and arrangement according to the day, and most of them are followed by a prayer. (Ambrosian Sunday Vespers typically has five collects of its own, plus those of any commemorations of occurring feasts.) However, on the Fridays of Lent, these are all completely omitted, including the Magnificat; this looks forward to Holy Week, in which both the Benedictus and the Magnificat are omitted on all the ferias. The only element which is retained from the order followed on other ferial Vespers of Lent is twelve Kyrie eleisons before the standard concluding formula.

Byzantine Hymns for Mid-Lent

The Fast that bringeth good things hath now reached its middle point, having pleased God well in the days gone past, and bringing help in the days to come; for the increase of good things maketh greater the good work. Wherefore let us cry to Christ, the Giver of all good things, pleasing Him well, “O Thou who for our sake did fast and endure the Cross, deem us worthy to partake also of Thy divine Pasch uncondemned, living our lives in peace, and rightly glorifying Thee with the Father and the Spirit.

Since the Byzantine liturgical week runs from Monday to Sunday [note], Lent starts two days before the Roman Ash Wednesday; therefore, today is Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent in the Byzantine Rite, but “Wednesday of the Third Week” in the Roman. This day is sometimes referred to informally as Mid-Lent, although this is an approximation, where the analogous half-way point of the Paschal season, a special feast called “Mid-Pentecost”, is exactly half-way (25 days) between Easter and Pentecost. The sticheron given above is one of several placed between the verses of a group of four Psalms which are sung at Vespers every day (140, 141, 129 and 116), while the deacon incenses the altar and sanctuary, the iconostasis, the church, the clergy and the faithful. The first of these Psalms is chosen for the words “Let my prayer raise before Thee like incense, the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice,” which are prominent in most historical Christian rites. (A sticheron is technically referred to as kind of “hymn”, but in construction is really more analogous to the antiphons of the Roman Rite; the number of them varies from day to day.)

The last of a group of stichera is almost always a Theotokion, a hymn to the Virgin Mary, and that of Mid-Lent is particularly beautiful. The references to the Crucifixion look back to the preceding Sunday, that of the Veneration of the Holy and Life-Giving Cross, and forward to Good Friday and the end of Lent.

“Today, He that is by nature unapproachable becometh approachable to me, and undergoeth His sufferings to deliver me from sufferings; He that giveth light to the blind is spit upon by impious lips, and giveth His cheek unto blows, for the sake of those held captive. The holy Virgin and Mother, seeing Him upon the Cross, cried out, ‘Alas, my Child! What is this Thou hast done? Beautiful beyond the sons of men, dost Thou appear without life or spirit, having no beauty or comeliness? Alas, my Light! I cannot look upon Thee sleeping, I am wounded to the core, and a terrible sword passeth through my heart. I sing of Thy sufferings, I adore Thy compassion; long-suffering Lord, glory to Thee!’ ” (In the video below, the Church Slavonic version.)

A 16th-century icon of the Holy Mandylion, the cloth with Christ’s face impressed upon it, and below, the Lamentation over the Dead Christ.

[note] As with most things Byzantine, this is a case where a little bit of inaccuracy saves a ton of explanation. In the liturgical book called the Triodion, which contains the Office propers of Fore-Lent, Lent and Holy Week, the liturgical week begins on Monday, so the First Monday of Lent is followed by the First Tuesday, Wednesday etc., then the First Sunday. The next day after that is “the Second Monday of Lent”, then Tuesday, Wednesday etc., and then the Second Sunday, the Third Monday, and so on. The same system is used in the lectionary for the period after Pentecost. However, in the Pentecostarion, which covers the Easter season, the weeks are arranged from Sunday to Saturday; there are also features of the Divine Office which run on a weekly cycle that begins with Vespers on Saturday evening.

An Ambrosian Chant for Vespers of the Epiphany, “Omnes Patriarchae”

Although the Ambrosian Divine Office shares many features with that of the Roman Rite, its structure is different in almost every respect. Vespers begins not with psalmody, but with a Lucernarium, a responsory originally sung while the lamps of the church were being lit. This is often (but not always) followed by an antiphon called “in choro”, because it was originally sung by the cantors standing around the throne of the celebrant. At Second Vespers of the Epiphany, this antiphon is repeated four times; traditionally, the first repetition was followed by three Kyrie eleisons, the second by Gloria Patri, the third by Sicut erat, and the fourth by three more Kyrie eleisons.

The following recording of the antiphon in choro for Epiphany was taken on Tuesday at the church of Santa Maria della Consolazione in Milan, during the solemn celebration of Second Vespers. (The video track freezes early on.) The printed music and text are given below. Many chants of the Ambrosian Office are sung multiple times by different persons or groups within the choir, a custom which was followed by the cantors at this ceremony.

Nicola de’ Grandi took an old photo of the choir of the Duomo of Milan during the chanting of this antiphon, and colorized it; the result is very nice.

Music for the First Vespers of Advent

In nearly all medieval Uses of the Roman Divine Office, one of the responsories of Matins was sung between the chapter and hymn at first Vespers of major feasts, and on the Saturday before the major Sundays. On the Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent, the most common choice for this was the third responsory of Roman Matins, Missus est Gabriel Angelus, which is also sung daily in Advent Little Office of the Virgin, and on the feast of the Annunciation.

℟. Missus est Gabriel Angelus ad Maríam Vírginem desponsátam Joseph, nuntians ei verbum, et expavescit Virgo de lúmine: ne tímeas, María, invenisti gratiam apud Dóminum: * Ecce concipies et paries, et vocábitur Altíssimi Fílius. ℣. Dabit ei Dóminus Deus sedem David, patris ejus, et regnábit in domo Jacob in aeternum. Ecce concipies. Glória Patri. Ecce concipies.

℟. The Angel Gabriel was sent to Mary, a Virgin espoused to Joseph, announcing to Her the word, and the Virgin feared for the light. Fear not, Mary, thou hast found grace with the Lord. * Behold, thou shalt conceive and bear (a son), and He shall be called the Son of the Most High. ℣. The Lord God shall give Him the throne of His father David, and He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. Behold... Glory be... Behold...

A very splendid polyphonic setting (for use as a motet) attributed to Josquin des Prez. (The video names Petrus Alamire, a Bavarian composer who produced the manuscript on which this recording is based.)

The Vesper hymn hymn for Advent Conditor alme siderum, in the original version. (The original Latin text, the revised version of Urban VIII, and an English translation are all available on Wikipedia.)

Palestrina’s polyphonic version.

The complete ceremony sung a few hours ago by our good friends of the Schola Sainte-Cecile in Paris; the Magnificat antiphon Ecce nomen Domini begins at 21:25.

Aña Ecce nomen Dómini venit de longinquo, et cláritas ejus replet orbem terrárum. (Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, and the glory thereof filleth the world.)

From Vespers of this evening until the second Vespers of the Purification, the major antiphon of the Virgin at the end of the hours is the Alma Redemptoris Mater.

The very nice polyphonic setting by the Franco-Flemish composer Joannes Ockeghem (1410 ca. - 1497).

The Little Vespers of the Byzantine Office

Earlier this week, I published an article which described the Inter-hours of the Byzantine Divine Office, a second Prime, Terce, Sext and None which are said after the main ones on certain penitential days. There are also days on which two Vespers are appointed to be celebrated, which are distinguished from each other by the terms “Little Vespers” and “Great Vespers.” As with the Inter-hours, this practice is for the most part only observed in the more liturgically energetic monasteries, and indeed, it emerged specifically because of the monastic discipline of fasting.

There is a perception in some quarters that nothing has ever changed in the Byzantine Rite, a perception which is sometimes played up for propagandistic purposes, as a way of unfavorably contrasting the drastic liturgical rupture in the Roman Catholic Church after Vatican II with the continuity of worship in the Orthodox churches. There is, of course, a very considerable degree of continuity in the history of the Byzantine liturgy, as there is in the Roman, but there have also been some very significant changes, and especially in the Divine Office. And it was one of these changes that led to the institution of Little Vespers, which became a standard part of the rite in the later 14th century.

The rubrics for Little Vespers, and the first part of Great Vespers, in a Greek typikon printed in Venice in 1603.

The liturgical book that regulates the various services of the Byzantine Rite is called the typikon. During the iconoclast controversy, which wracked the Byzantine world for much of the eighth century, and broke out again for three decades in the first half of the ninth, one of the major centers of opposition to the heresy was a monastery in Constantinople called the Studion, and among the most important leaders of the opposition was one of its abbots, St Theodore the Studite (759–826). Because of its role in defeating iconoclasm, the prestige of this monastery became very great, and so its typikon came to be adopted as the standard in Byzantium. This was also the version which was first translated into Church Slavonic, and diffused among the Slavs who used the Byzantine Rite in Kyivan Rus’ and elsewhere.

An aerial view of the lavra of St Sabas. (Image from Wikimedia Commons by Andrew Shiva, CC BY-SA 4.0)

However, in the Holy Land there was another very prestigious monastery, the Lavra of St Sabbas, located about eight miles from Jerusalem, which had its own version of the typikon, and its own traditions which differed from those of Constantinople in several ways. In the twelfth century, this Sabaite typikon, as it is called, was adopted by one of the monasteries on Mt Athos, and from there, came to have a strong influence on that of a very important monastery in Constantinople known as the Evergetis. In the later part of the 14th century, it was spread throughout the Byzantine world by a patriarch of Constantinople named Philotheos I, who reigned in two periods, from Aug. 1353 – Dec. 1354, and again from Oct. 1364 – Aug. 1376. He was also the author of a book called the “diataxis” (arrangement) of the holy services, and it was these two books together which made various customs of the Sabaite tradition standard in the Byzantine Rite, supplanting those of the Studite tradition.

This historical summary is taken from a very useful modern book called “The Typikon Decoded” by Archimandrite Job Getcha (pp. 42-46; St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2012). He goes on to cite an author of the 15th century, Symeon of Thessalonica (1381 ca. – 1429), who says that by his time the use of the Sabaite typikon had spread almost everywhere.

One of the customs thus introduced into general use in the Byzantine Rite was that of the “All-night Vigil” [1], the celebration of Vespers, Orthros (which has features similar to those of both Matins and Lauds in the Roman Rite), and the First Hour, one after another as if they were a single service. (This is not done every day, but on Saturday evenings, as part of the liturgy of Sunday, and on the vigils of many important feasts.) Depending on the church or monastery, the “all” in “all-night” is something of a rhetorical exaggeration, but in great houses like those on Mt Athos, not by much. As I recently noted, a friend of mine attended part of the All-night Vigil at Iviron Monastery on the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin, which began at 8pm and ended at 2am, with services resuming in the morning at 6. In cathedrals and large parishes, it is normally shortened in various ways, and typically lasts for 2-2½ hours.

The All-night Vigil for the feast of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple, celebrated this past Thursday evening at the monastery of St Michael in Kyiv, Ukraine.

From time immemorial, it has been the custom of monks to take their only meal of the day after Vespers, and indeed, it is still the standard arrangement of the pertinent Byzantine liturgical books that the prayers said before that meal are placed between Vespers and Compline. But this poses a significant practical problem for the celebration of the All-night Vigil. Byzantine Vespers is not a short service to begin with, and on major feast days, it is usually lengthened by the addition of Scriptural readings, and a rite called the Litia, at which various hymns are sung, followed by some very lengthy prayers, and a blessing of bread, wine and oil. Orthros is by far the longest part of the Office as a whole. If they are to be said one after another, leaving no break for a meal after Vespers, that makes for a lot to do on an empty stomach and rather less sleep than usual.

The Sabaite tradition’s answer to this problem was to create the service of Little Vespers, in which Great Vespers is abbreviated by the complete omission of some elements, and the shortening of others. This is celebrated in the later afternoon or early evening, usually preceded by the Ninth Hour, and followed by a meal, so that the monks can maintain the tradition of fasting until Vespers, but not faint away from hunger and exhaustion during the vigil. Of course, the meal after Little Vespers is a simple one, since it is not taken on the feast day or Sunday itself. Compline is then said (often in the church’s narthex), with a pause for some rest before the All-night vigil begins.

This table outlines the major differences between Great and Little Vespers. [2]

On Sundays, the hymns for Little Vespers are partly repeated from Great Vespers, and partly proper; on feast days, they are generally all proper, except for the final one, known as the tropar or apolytikion (dismissal hymn), which closes the service. Here are just two examples from this week.

From Little Vespers of Saturday evening, tone 7, which would be said this evening:

From Thee, all-holy Mother of God and Virgin, Christ our God ineffably was born, being truly God before the ages, and of late a man, being the one eternally, become the other for our sake; for He preserveth in Himself the property of both natures, the one, shining out in miracles, the other, believed in His sufferings, whence one and the same both dieth as a man, and riseth as God; whom do Thou beseech, o Holy One who knewest not wedlock, that our souls may be saved.

An icon of the Virgin of the Passion, by the Cretan icon painter Emmanuel Lampardos (1567-1631), so called because Mary is holding Jesus as He looks forward to His passion, represented by the Cross which the angel in the upper right hand corner is showing to him. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

From Little Vespers of the Entrance of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple:

David proclaimed in prophecy to Thee o Immaculate one, foreseeing the sanctification of Thine entry into the Temple, at which the ends of the earth today keep festival and glorify Thee, o all-hymned one. For the virgin before childbirth, remaining incorrupt after childbirth, o Mother of the Word of life, today as she comes into the Temple Zechariah receiveth with gladness, o Lady; and the Holy of Holies rejoiceth, taking Thee in, the nourishment of our life. Wherefore we also cry out in songs to thee: Beseech thy Son and our God for us, that great mercy be granted to us.

I add the following because it is relevant to what one might experience in a Byzantine parish today on a Saturday or the eve of a major feast. In 1838, a chief cantor of the Orthodox church in Constantinople named Constantine issued a reformed typikon for parish use, which was revised in two subsequent editions, and then corrected by another issued in 1888, and known from the last name of its author as the Violakis typikon. Among the many changes which these new editions introduced “for pastoral reasons” (ahem…) was the suppression of the vigils of the Sabaite tradition, thus making Little Vespers obsolete. This reform is now standard in Greek parishes, and spread into the Balkans, but is not generally accepted among the Eastern Slavs.

[1] In Greek, the All-night Vigil is either called “παννυχίς (pannykhis)” or “ἀγρυπνία (agrypnia)”, which means “watchfulness”; the Slavonic term is, “Всенощное бдѣнїе (vsenoschnoye bdyeniye).”

[2] There are no Little Vespers for Christmas, Theophany, Easter or Pentecost, due to the specific character of Vespers on each of these days. The rest of the Twelve Great Feasts have it, as do a number of major feasts of the Saints, such as the Nativity of St John the Baptist on June 24, and Ss Peter and Paul on June 29.

Music for Vespers of All Saints’ Day

Here is a very beautiful setting of Christe, Redemptor omnium, the hymn for Matins and both Vespers of the feast of All Saints, by the mighty Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611), in alternating chant and polyphony. The text is the original version, traditionally attributed to the great Benedictine scholar Bl Rabanus Maurus (780 ca. - 856), since Victoria’s work predates the revision of the Office hymnal promulgated by Pope Urban VIII in 1629. (Both hymns for All Saints were so drastically altered by this revision as to effectively be completely new.) The text can be read in Latin and English at the following link: https://www.liturgies.net/saints/allsaints/eveningprayeri.htm.

The original version was restored in the Liturgy of the Hours, but with one notable exception. The sixth stanza of the original reads as follows:

Gentem auferte perfidam
Credentium de finibus,
Ut Christo laudes debitas
Persolvamus alacriter.

“Remove the unbelieving nation / from the lands of the believers, / that readily we may offer / due praises to Christ.” With that sad naivety by which so many people in the later 1960s deceived themselves into believing that the peaceable settlement of post-WW2 western Europe would last forever, the first two lines of this stanza were suppressed, and the other two moved to the end as part of a new doxology.

Sit Trinitati gloria,
Vestrasque voces jungite,
Ut Christo laudes debitas
Persolvamus alacriter.

“To the Trinity be glory / and join your voices, / that readily we may offer / due praises to Christ.”

The Magnificat antiphon for Second Vespers.

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 whithersoever he goeth.)

A very impressive setting of this text as a motet by William Byrd.

This same text is one of Victoria’s most famous motets, and the basis of one of his best “parody” Masses, the Missa O quam gloriosum. (The term “parody” does not of course mean mockery, but that the motet is used as the thematic basis of the Mass.)

Arranging the Breviary for the Rest of the Liturgical Year

This is our annual posting on one of the discrepancies between the traditional arrangement of the Roman Breviary and the new rubrics of 1960; this year, the first such discrepancy appears at Vespers this evening. In some years, including this one, it also moves the September Ember Days one week forward from their traditional place.

One of the changes made to the Breviary in the revision of 1960 regards the arrangement of the months from August to November.

The first Sunday of each of these months is the day on which the Church begins to read a new set of Scriptural books at Matins, with their accompanying responsories, and Magnificat antiphons at Saturday Vespers. These readings are part of a system which goes back to the sixth century: in August, the books of Wisdom are read; in September, Job, Tobias, Judith and Esther; in October the books of the Maccabees; in November, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the twelve minor Prophets. (September is actually divided into two sets of readings, Job having a different set of responsories from the other three books.)

Folio 98v of the antiphonary of Compiègne, 860-77 AD. At the top of the page are three antiphons taken from the book of Job for Saturday Vespers, the first and second of which (Cum audisset Job and In omnibus his) are found in the Breviary of St Pius V and subsequent revisions thereof. These are followed by responsories and antiphons from the book of Tobias, and responsories from the book of Judith. (Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des Manuscrits. Latin 17436)

The “first Sunday” of each of these months is traditionally that which occurs closest to the first calendar day of the month, even if that day occurs within the end of the previous month. This year, for example, the first Sunday “of September” is actually tomorrow, August 31st, the Sunday closest to the first day of September.

In the 1960 revision, however, the first Sunday of the months from August to November is always that which occurs first within the calendar month. According to this system, the first Sunday of September is the 7th this year.

The Ember days of September, (which are older than this system), are celebrated within the third week of that month. In the traditional arrangement, this means that they always begin with the Wednesday after the Exaltation of the Cross. However, in the 1960 rubrics, the third week of September is determined differently, and they can be therefore be pushed forward a week, as they are this year. So in the traditional arrangement, they are on Sept. 17, 19 and 20; according to the 1960 rubrics, on Sept. 24, 26 and 27.

This change also accounts for one of the many peculiarities of the 1960 Breviary, the fact that November has four weeks, which are called the First, Third, Fourth and Fifth. According to the older calculation, November has five weeks when the 5th of the month is a Sunday. (This is also the arrangement that has the shortest possible Advent of three weeks and one day.) According to the newer calculation, November may have three or four weeks, but never five. In order to accommodate the new system, one of the weeks had to be removed; the second week of November was chosen, to maintain the tradition that at least a bit of each of the Prophets would continue to be read in the Breviary. However, in some years, November only has three weeks, and the first one is also omitted, but this is not the case this year.

One further note regarding a major discrepancy which occurs this year between the Roman Rite and the post-Conciliar Rite. In the Roman Rite, the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, commonly known as All Souls’ Day, cannot be celebrated on a Sunday, since it is regarded as inappropriate to dedicate the day of the Resurrection primarily to praying for the dead. Therefore, if November 2nd occurs on a Sunday, as it does this year, All Souls is moved to Monday.

As a principle, this is still very much part of the post-Conciliar Rite, which heavily restricts which Masses for the Dead can be celebrated on Sundays. (They are permitted only on Sundays per annum, not on those of Advent, Lent or Eastertide, and only for proper funeral Masses, i.e., with the body of the deceased present.) However, it would obviously be far too much to ask Modern Man™ to attend Mass two days in a row; therefore, when November 2 falls on a Sunday, the Mass of All Souls is celebrated in place of that of the Sunday. (It may be noted in passing that the post-Conciliar Rite’s opening prayer for the first Mass of All Souls’ Day is easily one of its very worst innovations, wholly divorced from the entire Church’s tradition, not just that of the Roman Rite, since it does not actually pray for the dead.)  

 

The Sundays of the rest of the liturgical year, according to the traditional system:

August 31 – the 1st Sunday of September (XII Sunday after Pentecost)
September 7 – the 2nd Sunday of September (XIII after Pentecost)
September 14 – the 3rd Sunday of September (XIV after Pentecost, commemorated on the Exaltation of the Cross); Ember week
September 21 – the 4th Sunday of September (XV after Pentecost, commemorated on the feast of St Matthew the Evangelist)

September 28 – the 1st Sunday of October (XVI after Pentecost)
October 5 – the 2nd Sunday of October (XVII after Pentecost)
October 12 – the 3rd Sunday of October (XVIII after Pentecost)
October 19 – the 4th Sunday of October (XIX after Pentecost)
October 26 – the 5th Sunday of October (XX after Pentecost, commemorated on the feast of Christ the King)

November 2 – the 1st Sunday of November (XXI after Pentecost)
November 9 – the 3rd Sunday of November (XXII after Pentecost, commemorated on the feast of the Dedication of St John in the Lateran)
November 16 – the 4th Sunday of November (XXIII after Pentecost)
November 23 – the 5th Sunday of November (XXIV and last after Pentecost)

The Sundays of the rest of the liturgical year, according to the 1960 system:

August 31 – the 5th Sunday of August (XII Sunday after Pentecost)

September 7 – the 1st Sunday of September (XIII after Pentecost)
September 14 – the 2nd Sunday of September (XIV after Pentecost, omitted on the Exaltation of the Cross)
September 21 – the 3rd Sunday of September (XV after Pentecost); Ember week
September 28 – the 4th Sunday of September (XVI after Pentecost)

October 5 – the 1st Sunday of October (XVII after Pentecost)
October 12 – the 2nd Sunday of October (XVIII after Pentecost)
October 19 – the 3rd Sunday of October (XIX after Pentecost)

October 26 – the 4th Sunday of October (XX after Pentecost, omitted on the feast of Christ the King)

November 2 – the 1st Sunday of November (XXI after Pentecost)
November 9 – the 3rd Sunday of November (XXII after Pentecost, omitted on the feast of the Dedication of St John in the Lateran)
November 16 – the 4th Sunday of November (XXIII after Pentecost)
November 23 – the 5th Sunday of November (XXIV and last after Pentecost)

The calculation of the Sundays after Pentecost also calls for a note here. (The discrepancies between the Missals of St Pius V and St John XXIII are very slight in this regard.)

The number of Sundays “after Pentecost” assigned to the Missal is 24, but the actual number varies between 23 and 28. The “24th” is always celebrated on the last Sunday before Advent. If there are more than 24, the gap between the 23rd and 24th is filled with the Sundays after Epiphany that had no place at the beginning of the year. The prayers and readings of those Sundays are inserted into the Mass of the 23rd Sunday (i.e., the set of Gregorian propers.) The Breviary homily on the Sunday Gospel and the concomitant antiphons of the Benedictus and Magnificat also carry over in the Office. This year, however, there are exactly 24 Sundays after Pentecost, and therefore, none of the Sundays after Epiphany are resumed at the end of the year.

If this all seems a little complicated, bear in mind that the oldest arrangement of the Mass lectionary that we know of was even more so. The oldest lectionary of the Roman Rite, a manuscript now in Wurzburg, Germany, dates to ca. 700, and represents the system used at Rome about 50 years earlier. It has a very disorganized and incomplete set of readings for the period after Pentecost; the Sundays are counted as 2 after Pentecost, 7 after Ss Peter and Paul, 5 after St Lawrence, and 6 after St Cyprian, a total of only 20. There are also ten Sundays after Epiphany, even though Septuagesima is also noted in the manuscript, and the largest number of Sundays that can occur between Epiphany and Septuagesima is only six.