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 an 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.

The Reading of Genesis in Septuagesima

The children of Israel served the king of Babylon for seventy years, and afterwards, were set free and returned to Jerusalem. Likewise, we ourselves must serve all of this life, either for our faults and their punishment, or at least in hardship. For this reason, the Church, being set, as it were, in the captivity of Babylon, that is, in this world, and wishing penance to be done, so that She may someday be set free and come to the heavenly Jerusalem, keeps Septagesima (i.e. the “70th”). Therefore, She begins to read the five books of Moses, since the usefulness of penance is set out in them step by step as follows.

The first book, namely Genesis, instructs us in the first stages of penance, namely, in faith and fear, which are the essence of penance, since penance is conceived through them. It instructs us in the Faith in the same way as the Creed does, for what is said there, “of things visible and invisible”, is also said here: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth,” which is to say, the empyreal heaven, and the things which are in it, which are invisible, and the earth, that is, all these visible things. Just as in the Creed the persons of the Father and the Son are mentioned, so also in Genesis “In the beginning” (that is, in the Son,) God (that is, the Father,) created heaven and earth. Afterwards, the person of the Holy Spirit is named, when it says “And the spirit of the Lord was borne over the waters”, that is, the Holy Spirit, who created and rules over all things.

The Genesis Dome of the Basilica of St Mark in Venice; mosaic by unknown artist, 1215-35.

It also instructs us in the faith of the Incarnation and Passion, so that we might believe that Christ suffered in so far as he is a man, and not in so far as he is God; this is expressed through Isaac, who was not sacrificed, but rather a ram (took his place). Again it instructs us to believe that Christ was given by grace, and not for the sake of our merits, as Isaac (was given to Abraham by grace.) It also instructs us in the faith of the Resurrection and the Ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit through the figure of Joseph, who after being sold was exalted in Egypt, distributing wheat through all of that land, just as Christ, after being sold, was exalted unto the world, and distributes the wheat of the word of God throughout the world through his preachers. …

Also, in the figure of Adam, it instills fear, lest through the vice of gluttony or through inobedience we be cast out of the spiritual Paradise, as he was cast out of the earthly Paradise. In the figure of Cain, it instructs us to guard against murder; in the cities which were completely destroyed, to stay away from the vice of Sodom; and in the flood, to abstain from every vice; and again, in the figure of Esau, to abstain from the vice of gluttony, since he was rejected he ate the red beans (i.e., the food which Jacob sold him for his birthrights). Furthermore, because in Septagesima we remember the misery which we incur because of the sins of our parents, we read the book of Genesis, which treats of the expulsion of the first parents from Paradise, … To signify how great our wretchedness is, first we read and sing (in the responsories) about the dignity of man, namely, that he was made in the image and likeness of God, that he was set in Paradise, that a companion was made for him, and that he could not die, nor suffer any other penalty, except that it came from his own fault.

The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, by Thomas Cole, 1828

Now the introit of the Mass is “The groans of death have surrounded me” in which the Church confesses that it is in suffering and afflictions because of Sin … But, lest this mourning beget sloth or sadness within us, which lead to (spiritual) death, in the verse it speaks of consolation: “I will love Thee, o Lord, my strength.” … And notice that these words (of the Introit) are also the voice of the Church of the early days, weeping enable the first martyr, whose blood cries out to the Lord from the earth, which opened up its mouth and received it from the hand of Cain, his brother. For this reason, the station is at (the tomb of) St Lawrence, whose precious death by a new and unheard-of kind of suffering cried out to heaven, and was heard in all the world; wherefore also the authority of the Roman church was declared above all others in the martyrs. (William Durandus, Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, 6, 25, 1-4)

The Legend of St Denis

October 9 has traditionally been kept as the feast of Ss Denis (“Dionysius” in Latin) and Companions, who were martyred at Paris in the 3rd century. St John Leonardi, the founder of a small congregation of clerks regular, died on this day in 1609; when he was added to the general calendar in 1940, his feast was placed on top of that of the martyrs, who were thus reduced to a commemoration. In the post-Conciliar reform, however, both feasts have been made optional memorials, which means that the martyrs may now be celebrated more freely in the Novus Ordo than in the Roman Rite. That they should be present at all in the modern liturgy is very surprising, since St Denis is the subject of one of the most famous hagiographical confusions, of exactly the sort that led to the suppression or downgrading of so many other feasts.

A statue of St Denis, from the treasury of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Paris. One legend tells that St Denis was beheaded on the hill of Montmartre which overlooks Paris, after which he picked up his head and walked about 4 miles to the site where he is buried, the future location of the abbey which bears his name. (Photo courtesy of the Schola Sainte-Cécile.)

In his History of the Franks (I.30), St Gregory of Tours (538-94) lists Denis as one of seven men sent to Gaul as bishops to evangelize various cities during the reign of the Emperor Decius (249-51), and says that sometime after, he was “afflicted with various sufferings for the name of Christ, and ended the present life at the blow of a sword.” In the Martyrology incorrectly attributed to St Jerome, Denis is named on October 9th together with a priest and a deacon, Rusticus and Eleutherius, who are also mentioned in the prayer of their collective feast day. Their bodies were buried at a site a few miles to the north of Paris, and a church built over it, which Gregory of Tours mentions twice, once in connection with a miracle, and again when describing its profanation. Not long after his time, King Dagobert I (603-39) established a monastery under royal patronage at the site, and completely rebuilt the church; it was rebuilt again in the days of Pepin the Short and his son Charlemagne, the latter of whom attended its consecration in 775.

According to the revised Butler’s Lives of the Saints, even before the Carolingian period, St Denis of Paris had already been confused in some quarters with the Biblical figure of the same name (i.e. Dionysius), who was converted by the preaching of St Paul in Athens (Acts 17, 22-34). This preaching took place at the “Areopagus – the hill of Ares”, a large outcropping of the Athenian acropolis which was used as a place of judgment for serious crimes like murder; St Luke calls Dionysius “the Areopagite”, i.e., one of the judges who sat on the court held there. The Church historian Eusebius reports (3.4.11), on the witness of another Dionysius (a very common name in antiquity), bishop of Corinth in the later 2nd century, that the Areopagite was the first bishop of Athens; by the turn of the seventh century, he was believed to have died as a martyr, being burnt alive by the Emperor Domitian.

The Preaching of St Paul at Athens; a preparatory cartoon made by Raphael in the 1510s as part of a series of designs intended to be woven into tapestries; now at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Sometime in the later 5th or early 6th century, an unknown Greek-speaking theologian produced a series of four treatises and ten letters, purporting to be works of Dionysius the Areopagite. This is not a case like those of Ss John Chrysostom or Augustine, among many others, to whom writings were very often mistakenly ascribed in later generations; the author clearly and deliberately intended to pass himself off as the contemporary of St Paul. To this end, he claims to have been present, along with Ss Peter and James, for the Dormition of the Virgin Mary (Div. Nom. 3, 2), and addresses letters to Ss John the Evangelist, Timothy and Polycarp. Scholars generally suppose him to have been a Syrian; the dating of his works depends in part on the obvious influence upon them of the neo-Platonic philosopher Proclus, who died in 485. Further attempts to glean information about the author from his writings remain speculative.

By the first decades of the sixth century, these writings were cited by authors on both sides of the debate over the Monophysite heresy, which the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon had condemned in 451. Most notably, at a council held in Constantinople in 533, the Monophysites cited them in support of their teaching, to which the leader of the Catholic party replied that they were forgeries. Nevertheless, as the controversy continued, and as the heresy evolved into Monotheletism in the 7th century, they came to be gradually accepted as both genuine and orthodox by several important figures, the most significant being St Maximus the Confessor, who cited them at a council held in the Lateran Basilica in Rome in 649, under Pope St Martin I. They were further defended and cited to the same effect at the next two ecumenical councils, Third Constantinople in 680, and Second Nicea in 787. To this day, the Byzantine Rite’s liturgical texts for St Dionysius, “the Holy Martyr and Areopagite”, bishop of Athens, are filled with references to the writings, as for example, this hymn at Vespers: “Having made thy mind equal in honor to that of the Angels through virtue, o all-wise father Dionysius, thou didst write an account in (thy) holy books of the heavenly order of their hierarchy, and according to it, didst organize the orders of the Church’s government, likening them to the ranks of heaven.” (He is also the titular Saint of the Roman Catholic cathedral of Athens.)

An early 11th-century mosaic of St Dionysios the Areopagite, in the monastery of St Luke in Boeotia, Greece. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

In the year 827, the Byzantine Emperor Michael II (820-29) sent a copy of the writings to Charlemagne’s son, King Louis the Pious, along with several other gifts. By coincidence, they happened to reach the king on the evening of October 8th, when he was at the royal abbey of St Denis for the vigil of the titular Saint’s feast day. The abbot, Hilduin, who was very close to the king, had them translated into Latin, although this translation was not very well done, and was replaced by another about 30 years later. At the king’s behest, he also wrote a life of St Denis, which definitively conflated the bishop of Paris with the Areopagite, ascribed his mission in Gaul to Pope St Clement I towards the end of the 1st century, and acknowledged the writings as his. This conflation was henceforth accepted, and remained the common legend of St Denis in western Europe for the next 700 years. The writings became extremely influential in the High Middle Ages; Hugh of St Victor, St Albert the Great, and yet another Denis, the great Carthusian theologian, wrote commentaries on them, and they are cited well over 2000 times in the works of St Thomas Aquinas.

In the Renaissance, when many of the certainties of the medieval tradition were being called into question, the authenticity of the writings, and the identification of the two Denises as the same person, were challenged by two of the most prominent among the great humanist scholars, Lorenzo Valla (1407-57), who also unmasked the forgery known as the Donation of Constantine, and later Erasmus. The question was the subject of much controversy and debate over the following centuries, with learned men, Catholic and Protestant, offering their opinions as both defenders and detractors of the tradition. The neo-Gallican revision of the Parisian liturgical books sided with the detractors by separating Denis into two persons, one of Athens, kept on his Byzantine date, October 3rd, and the other of Paris on the traditional date, without the title “Areopagite”, a change which was later harshly condemned by Dom Prosper Guéranger.

A leaf of a 15th century Missal according to the Use of Paris, with the Epistle of the Mass of St Denis, Acts 17, 22-34. (Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des Manuscrits. Latin 859A)

However, this diffidence towards the traditional legend of St Denis was not a novelty of the neo-Gallicans. The pre-Tridentine Roman Breviary devotes only a single lesson of less than 70 words to St Denis and his companions, which makes no mention of the theological treatises. It also says that he was sent to Gaul “by the Roman Pontiff”, without specifying which one, a clear sign of doubt about the legend that it was St Clement.

Much more tellingly, the pre-Tridentine Parisian Breviary also pointedly does not refer to Denis as the author of the Areopagitic corpus, although it does accept him as the Athenian disciple of St Paul and the contemporary of St Clement. The Matins lessons for the feast day and the days of its octave are taken directly from Hilduin’s life of the Saint, but omit the chapters (9-17) which describe the theological writings, nor is there any reference to them in any of the proper antiphons or responsories of the Office, or in the Sequence of the Mass. (The Epistle of the latter is the passage from Acts 17 cited above.)

In point of fact, it was only with the Tridentine revision that the Roman Breviary accepted Hilduin’s conflation of the Athenian and Parisian Denis as the same person. Furthermore, a sentence is added to the effect that “He wrote wondrous and indeed heavenly books, on the divine names, on the celestial and ecclesiastical hierarchies, on mystical theology, and certain others.” This is perhaps the only case in the Breviary of St Pius V in which the legend of a Saint moves further away from the more skeptical view, almost certainly due to the influence of Cardinal Baronius, who defended the traditional legend in his notes on the revision of the Martyrology.

As late as 1857, when the Abbé Migne put together his great corpus of Patristic writings, the Patrologia Graeca, which is arranged in chronological order, he put the Areopagitic corpus and associated writings, including several defenses of its authenticity, between the works of St Clement I and those of St Ignatius of Antioch. However, in 1895, two Catholic scholars, Hugo Koch and Josef Stiglmayer, working quite separately from each other, demonstrated the dependence of the writings on the works of Proclus, and the question is now universally regarded as settled in the negative. This also explains what was, of course, the strongest objection to their authenticity all along, namely, the complete absence of any reference to them in the writings of earlier Church Fathers.

Part of the choir of the abbey of St Denys. Around the year 1135, the abbot Suger began the process of enlarging the Carolingian church, during which the choir was rebuilt from 1140-44. Inspired by the Areopagite’s theology of light as an expression and manifestation of God’s presence, Suger created the idea of having huge walls of windows which flood the church’s interior with light; this is the foundation of the architecture style which we now call Gothic, and this choir is the first example of it. (Image from Wikimedia Commons by Guilhem Vellut, CC BY 2.0)

As with the many controversies over the authorship of the books of the Bible, the assumption behind this debate was to a large degree that if a work is not genuinely by the author to whom it is attributed, it is therefore a forgery, and hence worthless. And likewise, as with the many controversies over the authorship of the books of the Bible, this assumption has more recently been to a large degree subsumed by an understanding that authenticity is principally an historical question, and one that need not always impinge on the value of a writing as a work of theology. In his series of Wednesday audiences on the Church Fathers, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the author of these writings (May 14, 2008), and explicitly rejected the idea that he passed himself off as the Areopagite in order to vest his work with the authority of one close to the Apostles, but rather, did so “to make an act of humility; he did not want to glorify his own name, he did not want to build a monument to himself with his work but rather truly to serve the Gospel, to create an ecclesial theology, neither individual nor based on himself.”

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 coming Saturday. In some years, but not this one, there is also a discrepancy between the traditional placement of the September Ember Days, and their placement according to the new rubrics.

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 99r of the antiphonary of Compiègne, 860-77 AD, with the responsories taken from the books of the Maccabees. (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 October” is actually September 29th, the Sunday closest to the first day of October.

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 October is the 6th this year.

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, as it was last year. (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 between the Roman Rite and the post-Conciliar Rite. On September 29th, the Roman Rite celebrates the feast known as “the Dedication of St Michael”, since it originated with the dedication of a basilica titled to him off the via Salaria, about 7 miles from the gates of Rome. Despite this name, it is really a feast of all the angels, and already in the so-called Leonine Sacramentary, the oldest surviving collection of Roman liturgical texts, there are prayers that refer to this broader understanding of it.

The central panel of The Last Judgment, by Rogier van der Weyden, 1446-52, showing Christ above, and below, St Michael weighing the souls of the dead.

In 1917, Pope Benedict XV raised this feast to the highest grade; it remains so in the 1960 rubrics, and thus, when it falls on a Sunday after Pentecost, as it does this year, it takes precedence over it. In the post-Conciliar Rite, however, it has been downgraded to the second rank, and is impeded by an occurring Sunday of Ordinary Time. Since the post-Conciliar Rite also does not have commemorations, and almost never transfers impeded feasts, this year, it will have no general celebration of the angels at all. (In the many places where one of the three archangels is a principal patronal, it is raised to a solemnity, and takes precedence over the Sunday.)

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

September 29 – the 1st Sunday of October (XIX after Pentecost, commemorated on the feast of St Michael and All Angels)

October 6 – the 2nd Sunday of October (XX after Pentecost)
October 13 – the 3rd Sunday of October (XXI after Pentecost)
October 20 – the 4th Sunday of October (XXII after Pentecost)

October 27 – the 5th Sunday of October (XXIII after Pentecost, commemorated on the feast of Christ the King)

November 3 – the 1st Sunday of November (IV after Epiphany resumed)
November 10 – the 3rd Sunday of November (V after Epiphany resumed)
November 17 – the 4th Sunday of November (VI after Epiphany resumed)
November 24 – the 5th Sunday of November (XXIV and last after Pentecost)

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

September 29 – the 5th Sunday of September (XIX after Pentecost, commemorated)

October 6 – the 1st Sunday of October (XX after Pentecost)
October 13 – the 2nd Sunday of October (XXI after Pentecost)
October 20 – the 3rd Sunday of October (XXII after Pentecost)
October 27 – the 4th Sunday of October (XXIII after Pentecost, omitted on the feast of Christ the King)

November 3 – the 1st Sunday of November (IV after Epiphany resumed)
November 10 – the 3rd Sunday of November (V after Epiphany resumed)
November 17 – the 4th Sunday of November (VI after Epiphany resumed)
November 24 – 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, therefore, on November 12th, the Mass is that of the V Sunday after Epiphany resumed, and on November 19th, that of the VI Sunday after Epiphany resumed.

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 Books of Wisdom in the Office

Send forth Wisdom, o Lord, from the seat of Thy greatness, that she may be with me and work with me, * that I may know what is acceptable before Thee at every time. ℣. Grant me Wisdom, o Lord, that standeth before Thy seats. That I may know... Glory be... That I may know... (The third responsory for the readings of the month of August from the Sapiential books; the text is taken from book of Wisdom, 9, 10 & 4.)

A motet of the first part of this responsory, by the Franco-Flemish composer Dominique Phinot (ca. 1510-56).

℟. Emitte, Dómine, sapientiam de sede magnitúdinis tuae, ut mecum sit et mecum labóret, * Ut sciam quid acceptum sit coram te omni témpore. ℣. Da mihi, Dómine, sedium tuárum assistrícem sapientiam. Ut sciam... Glória Patri... Ut sciam...

The books of Solomon, such as Proverbs, the Canticle (of Canticles), Wisdom, which Philo composed, and Ecclesiasticus, which Joshua the son of Sirach put forth, are read from the beginning of August to the beginning of September, because this month is hot, and signifies the heat of the vices, in which we must rule (ourselves) wisely, as in the midst of a wicked and perverse nation. Or otherwise, because this month, August, is the sixth month (according to the ancient Roman calendar), whence it was called Sextilis before the time of Augustus Caesar, and our true Solomon (i.e. Christ) came in the sixth age of the world, Who made both one, and was the might of God, and the wisdom of God, and who taught us to live and teach wisely. This is Christ, the King of kings...

Again, on this Sunday, the Church begins the Proverbs of Solomon. For after the feast of the Trinity are read the books of Kings, since man, when he has the likeness of the Trinity, becomes a king and a priest, wherefore examples of kings and priests are set forth from those books... but afterwards, there follow books concerning doctrine, for examples are put forth by doctrines, since deeds teach more than words ... and thus, the books are ordered to each other, so that the examples from the books of Kings are put first, and then the doctrinal books of Solomon, which are a spiritual refreshment. (William Durandus, Rationale Diviniorum Officiorum, VI, 120, 1-3)   

The Psalms of Pentecost

In the traditional Roman Divine Office, the only Hours which change their Psalms according to the specific feast day are Matins and Vespers. [1] On the majority of feasts, the first four Psalms of Vespers (109-112) are taken from Sunday, but Psalm 113, the fifth and longest of Sunday, is substituted by another; on the feasts of martyrs, by Psalm 115, on those of bishops by 131, etc. There are, however, four occasions on which Psalm 113 is not replaced, three of which are very ancient indeed, and the fourth relatively recent in origin.

The latecomer is the feast of the Holy Trinity, which was first instituted at Liège in the 10th century, and spread from there very slowly. Pope John XXII (1316-34) ordered that it be celebrated throughout the Western Church on the Sunday after Pentecost, a custom which became universal after Trent; however, even as late as the mid-16th century, the Low Countries and several major German dioceses kept that day as the Octave of Pentecost, and put Trinity on the following Monday. The use of Psalm 113 at Second Vespers is a reminder of the day’s previous status as either the octave of Pentecost, or the first of the ordinary Sundays after it.

A page from a Breviary according to the Use of Augsburg, Germany, ca. 1493. In the right column, the first rubric reads “And so on Monday after the octave of Pentecost will the feast of the Trinity be celebrated.”

The three ancient feasts are Easter, Pentecost and Epiphany, on which it is said on the day itself and through the octave. (Some medieval Uses, however, vary this.) This custom reflects the traditional baptismal character of these celebrations, which go back to the very earliest days of the Church.

The Psalm numbered 113 in the Septuagint and Vulgate is really two Psalms joined together, those numbered 114 and 115 in the Hebrew. [2] It is the first of these which speaks of the passage of the Jews out of Egypt, and then of the Crossing of the Jordan into the Holy Land.

“When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people: Judea became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion. The sea saw and fled (i.e. the Red Sea): the Jordan was turned back. … What ailed thee, O sea, that thou didst flee: and thou, O Jordan, that thou wast turned back? … At the presence of the Lord the earth was moved, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into pools of water, and the stony hill into fountains of waters.”

The Church has always understood the story of the Exodus as a prefiguration of salvation in Christ, and specifically, the Crossing of the Red Sea as a prefiguration of the Sacrament of Baptism. The reading of the relevant passage from Exodus is attested in the very oldest surviving homily on the subject of Easter, the Paschal homily of St Melito of Sardis, from the mid-2nd century; it begins with the words “The Scripture about the Hebrew Exodus has been read”, and this custom continues into every historical Christian liturgy. Following the lead of St Paul, who says that the rock which provided water to the children of Israel in the desert was Christ (1 Cor. 10, 4), St Melito attributes all of the events of the Exodus directly to Him.

“This was the one who guided you into Egypt, and guarded you, and himself kept you well supplied there. This was the one who lighted your route with a column of fire, and provided shade for you by means of a cloud, the one who divided the Red Sea, and led you across it, and scattered your enemy abroad. This is the one who provided you with manna from heaven, the one who gave you water to drink from a rock, the one who established your laws in Horeb, the one who gave you an inheritance in the land, the one who sent out his prophets to you, the one who raised up your kings. This is the one who came to you, the one who healed your suffering ones and who resurrected your dead.”

Psalm 113, therefore, which speaks of the Red Sea fleeing to make passage for the children of Israel as they go out of Egypt, and the rock that becomes a pool of water, is perfectly suitable to the two most ancient feasts on which the Church celebrates the Sacrament of Baptism, Easter and Pentecost. Likewise, on Epiphany, the Church commemorates the Baptism of Christ in the waters of the Jordan, to which the Psalm also refers.

The Crossing of the Red Sea, by Agnolo di Cosimo, known as Bronzino, 1540; from the Chapel of Eleonora of Toledo in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.

Matins of Pentecost, like those of Easter, has only three Psalms; these are 47, 67 and 103 according to the Vulgate numbering. The antiphon sung with Psalm 47 is not taken from it, but from the Acts of the Apostles (2, 2): “There suddenly came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, alleluia, alleluia.” The psalm seems to have been chosen because of the words of its first verse, “Great is the Lord, and exceedingly to be praised in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.”, the city of our God being Jerusalem, where the first Pentecost took place. And likewise, the second verse, “With the joy of the whole earth is mount Sion founded”, may be referred to the preaching of the Gospel to all nations, which begins on Pentecost.

The third Psalm, 103, describes the glory of God throughout His creation, drawing us back to the very beginning of the Bible, when God created the heaven and the earth. “Who stretchest out the heaven like a pavilion … Who hast founded the earth upon its own bases.” It is sung with an antiphon from verse 30 which makes it obvious why it was chosen, “Send forth thy spirit, and they shall be created: and thou shalt renew the face of the earth, alleluia, alleluia.”, for the renewal of creation at the coming of the Holy Spirit is also celebrated at Pentecost. The Byzantine Rite expresses this idea of renewal very beautifully in the traditional icon for the feast. At the bottom is placed the figure of an aged king, who represents the world grown old in sin and idolatry, and living in darkness. In the cloth in his hands are scrolls, which represent the teaching of the Apostles, by which he will receive the Gospel and the renewal of the Holy Spirit.

St Paul is included among the Apostles, he was not present at Pentecost; this demonstrates that the Holy Spirit continues His mission in the Church even after the day of Pentecost itself. The other Apostles are holding scrolls, representing their role as the Church’s teachers.

It is also a common custom to fill the church with greenery for the feast day, and although there is no absolutely formalized liturgical color scheme, among the Slavs, it has become standard to use green vestments. In Ukrainian, this has given rise to a nickname for the feast, “Зелені свята – green holiday.”

St Peter’s Eastern Catholic Church in Ukiah, California, decorated for Pentecost in 2018.

The choice of the middle psalm, 67, is also explained in part by its antiphon, which is taken from verses 29 and 30, “Confirm, O God, what thou hast wrought in us, from Thy holy temple in Jerusalem, alleluia, alleluia.” This refers to the place of the first Pentecost, and the last words of the Gospel of St Luke, who says that after the Ascension, the Apostles “were always in the temple, praising and blessing God.”

This is famously one of the most difficult texts in the entire Psalter. There are a number of lines which are very hard to understand, and endless emendations have been proposed for the Hebrew. These difficult readings carry over into its first translation, the Septuagint, and thus to the Vulgate, which derives from it; a good example is verse 14, “If you sleep among the midst of lots, you shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver,” But even where the individual lines are perfectly clear, the psalm as a whole is not; indeed, the thought of it is so disjointed that some Biblical scholars have proposed that it was not originally written as a psalm at all, but rather as a list of titles of psalms which are now lost, or a collection of their first lines, or a collection of fragments.

It is precisely this disjointed quality that makes it a perfectly appropriate choice for Pentecost. When the people in Jerusalem first heard the Apostles speaking in a variety of languages, “they were all astonished, and wondered, saying one to another: What meaneth this? But others mocking, said, ‘These men are full of new wine.’ ” This confusion is reflected by the confusion of thoughts in the psalm. But St Peter explains to them that “these men are not drunk, as you suppose, … but this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel, ‘And it shall come to pass, in the last days, (saith the Lord,) I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.’ ” (Acts 2, 12-17, citing Joel 2, 28) The Apostolic preaching takes away their confusion, as it reveals to them the true meaning of the Old Testament. We may therefore conclude by noting that St Augustine explains the “lots” in the verse given above as symbols of the two Testaments, and that “sleeping” between them signifies the Church’s peaceful acceptance of the harmony between them. (Enarratio in Psalmum LXVII)

St Peter Preaching in Jerusalem, by Charles Poërson, 1645. (The twisted columns in the background will be familiar to anyone who has visited St Peter’s in Rome, and the many Baroque churches throughout Europe that imitated the Vatican Basilica. They are also known as “Solomonic” columns, from the legend that the Emperor Constantine recovered them from the ruins of Solomon’s Temple, and brought them to Rome to decorate the original church. On the basis of this wholly mistaken but widely accepted belief, artists often included them when representing the Jerusalem Temple.)

[1] The regular psalms of Sunday Lauds (92, 99, 62-66, the Benedicite, and 148-149-150) were traditionally said on all feast days in the Roman Rite. In the reform of St Pius X, psalms 66, 149 and 150 were, lamentably, removed, but the group thus reduced continued to be used on all major feasts, including Pentecost. The psalms of the day hours were likewise traditionally invariable for all feasts (53 and the eleven parts of 118), and those of Compline always invariable; this was also changed in the reform of St Pius X, but not in a way that applied to major feasts like Pentecost.

[2] There are four places where the Psalms are joined or divided one way in the Hebrew and another in the Greek. There are also psalms which both traditions have as a single text, but are generally believed to be two joined together, (e.g. 26), and others which both traditions have as two (41 and 42), which are generally believed to have originally been one, later divided. It is quite possible that these variations come from ancient liturgical usages of which all knowledge has long since been lost. Likewise, the meaning of many words and phrases in the titles of the Psalms had already been lost when the Septuagint translation was made in the 3rd century B.C.

Ember Wednesday of Advent at Sarum

The Ember Wednesday of December is a particularly special day in the liturgy of Advent, since it is the day on which the Gospel of the Annunciation is traditionally read for the first time in the ecclesiastical year. (It is also read at the Votive Mass of the Virgin in Advent, the famous Rorate Mass, and is quoted repeatedly in the Divine Office.) The Use of Sarum highlighted its importance by a very lovely ceremony, one of the rare examples of a special rite being added to the celebration of Matins.

After the invitatory, hymn and psalms, when it is time to read the homily on the day’s Gospel, “the deacon proceeds with the subdeacon, (both) dressed in white,…bearing a palm from the Holy Land in his hand, with the thurifers and torch-bearers…and he incenses the altar. And so he proceeds through the middle of the choir to the pulpit, to proclaim the Exposition of the Gospel, …with the torch-bearers standing to either side of (him), …and he holds the palm in his hand while he reads the lesson.” (rubric of the Sarum Breviary) As usual, the beginning of the Gospel is read, followed by a long treatise from the Venerable Bede’s Sermon on the Annunciation, of which I here give an excerpt; the Roman Breviary traditionally gives a fairly brief passage from St Ambrose, but the English very often preferred the writings of their fellow-countryman.

Salisbury Cathedral, from the choir looking west towards the nave. (Photo from Wikimedia Commons by David Iliff. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0. Click to see the original in very high resolution.)

“Today’s reading of the holy Gospel, dearest brethren, commends to us the beginning of our redemption; it tells us that an angel was sent by God from heaven to the Virgin, to announce the new birth of the Son of God in the flesh, so that through it, we may be able to be renewed, our ancient guilt being taken away, and counted among the sons of God. Therefore, that we may merit to obtain the gifts of the promised salvation, let us take care to listen carefully to its beginning.

‘The Angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph.’ It is certainly a fit beginning for humanity’s restoration, that an Angel should be sent by God to a Virgin, who would be consecrated by the birth of God, since the first cause of humanity’s ruin was when a serpent was sent by the devil to deceive a woman in a spirit of pride. Nay rather, the devil himself came in the serpent, that he might strip the human race of the glory of immortality by the deception of our first parents. Therefore, because death entered (the world) through a woman, rightly did life also return through a woman. The former, led astray by the devil through a serpent, offered the taste of death to a man; the latter, taught by God through an Angel, brought forth the Author of our salvation to the world.

The Annunciation, from a Book of Hours according to the Use of Sarum made for Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509), the mother of King Henry VII. (From the website of the British Library.)

Therefore, the Angel Gabriel was sent by God. Rarely do we read that Angels are given a name when they appear to men. But when this does happen, it is for this reason, so that from the name itself, they may make known what they are coming to do in God’s service. For Gabriel means “the might of God”, and rightly does he stand out with such a name, who bears witness to God when He is to be born in the flesh; of whom the prophet says in the Psalm, ‘the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle,’ that battle, to wit, in which He came to make war against the spiritual powers, and deliver the world from their sway.

And going in unto Her, the Angel said, ‘Hail, that art full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art Thou among women.’ And this greeting was as fitting to the dignity of the blessed Mary as it was unheard of in the dealings of men. For indeed she was truly full of grace, to whom it was given by divine favor that first among women, She might offer to God the most glorious gift of virginity. For this reason, She rightly merited to delight in the appearance and speech of the Angel, since She sought to imitate the angelic life. Truly was She full of grace, to whom it was given to bear Jesus Christ, through whom came grace and truth.”

A Few Notes on Readings from Job

In the traditional form of the Divine Office, the Matins readings for the first two weeks of September are taken from the book of Job. The system of Scriptural readings assigned to the Office goes back to the 6th century; it originated in the ancient Roman basilicas, but we know nothing about how it was devised. When it was extensively revised in the Tridentine reform, the basic pattern of readings (Isaiah in Advent, St Paul after Christmas, Genesis in Septuagesima etc.) was not changed, but completed and expanded.

The readings of the first two chapters of Job contain a famously curious use of the expression “to bless God.” Job offers sacrifice daily for his children “Lest perhaps my children have sinned, and blessed God in their hearts.” (1, 5) When Satan challenges God by saying that Job only honors Him because of the material blessings he has received, he says “touch (i.e. destroy) all that he hath, and see if he blesseth Thee not to Thy face.” In the second chapter, Satan repeats this challenge in the same terms, after which he afflicts Job bodily “with a very grievous ulcer, from the sole of the foot even to the top of his head.” Job’s wife then says to him, “Dost thou still continue in thy simplicity? bless God and die.” (2, 9)

The Patient Job, by Gerard Seghers (1625-50)

Taken literally, the expression “bless God” makes no sense in this context, since when Job loses his children and all his possessions, he says “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord so is it done: blessed be the name of the Lord.” The Biblical author praises Job for this, saying “In all these things Job sinned not by his lips, nor spoke he any foolish thing against God.” (1, 21-22)

In point of fact, the expression “bless God” is here written as a euphemism for “curse God”, which was apparently felt to be too offensive for public reading of the Scriptures. A similar case is found in 3 Kings 21, 10, when a man called Naboth is falsely accused of “blessing” God, that is, cursing Him, so that King Ahab and Queen Jezebel can have him killed and steal his property. In his commentary on the book of Job, St Thomas Aquinas notes this, saying, “The crime of blasphemy is so horrible that pious mouths shudder to call it by its proper name, but signify it though its opposite.” (chapter 1)

The Septuagint translation of Job paraphrases the Hebrew words of Job’s wife “bless God” with “speak a word against the Lord.” The Greek text of this verse (2, 9) also contains a long and quite beautiful interpolation; only the parts underlined here are in the original Hebrew.

“And when much time had passed, his wife said to him, ‘How long wilt thou hold out, saying, “Behold, I wait yet a little while, expecting the hope of my deliverance?” For, behold, thy memorial is abolished from the earth, (thy) sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb which I bore in vain with sorrows. And thou thyself amid the corruption of worms sittest down to spend the nights in the open air, and I am a wanderer and a servant, beleaguered from place to place and house to house, waiting for the setting of the sun, that I may rest from my labors and my pangs which now beset me: but say some word against the Lord, and die.’ ”

In the Byzantine Rite, this passage (Job 2, 1-10) is read at the Vespers of the Presanctified Gifts on Spy Wednesday, the first chapter being read at the same ceremony on Monday and Tuesday. At the Divine Liturgy of the Lord’s Supper, which is joined to Vespers, the Lord’s first speech to Job is read from chapter 38, along with the beginning of chapter 42, which concludes the story. At Vespers of Good Friday, the rest of chapter 42 is read, with another interpolation at the end. After the last words of the Biblical text, “and he died an old man, and full of days.”, are added the following.

“and it is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up. This man is described in the Syriac book as living in the land of Ausis (Hus), on the borders of Idumea (Edom) and Arabia, and his name was previously Jobab; and having taken an Arabian wife, he begot a son whose name was Enon. And he himself was (the son) of his father Zare, one of the sons of Esau, and of his mother Bosorrha, so that he was the fifth from Abraham.”

The reading of Job on Good Friday (preceded by a reading from Exodus 33, followed by Isaiah 53) from a Greek Triodion printed in 1586.

The liturgical reading on Good Friday ends here, but the Septuagint also adds the following to the end.

“And these were the kings who reigned in Edom, which country he also ruled over: first, Balac, the son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dennaba: but after Baac, Jobab, who is called Job, and after him Asom, who was governor out of the country of Thaeman: and after him Adad, the son of Barad, who destroyed Madiam in the plain of Moab; and the name of his city was Gethaim. And [his] friends who came to him were Eliphaz, of the children of Esau, king of the Thaemanites, Baldad son of the Sauchaeans, Sophar king of the Kinaeans.”

Lastly, we may note that in the Syriac Bible, to which the Greek text refers above, the book of Job is placed after the Pentateuch, according to a tradition that Moses himself was either its author, or translated it from Arabic into Hebrew.

The Beheading of St John the Baptist 2023

A righteous man is murdered by adulterers, and a death sentence is pronounced by the guilty upon their judge. Then the death of the prophet was the fee of a dancing girl. Last of all (something which even savages are wont to shun), the order to perpetrate this cruelty was given amid feasting and merriment, and the servants of this brutal crime run from banquet to prison, from prison to banquet. How many crimes within this one evil deed!

The Head of St John the Baptist Presented to Herod, by Donatello, 1427; one of six decorative panels on the baptismal font of Siena Cathedral.

Look, most grievous king, on these sights well worthy of thy banquet. Put out thy hand, that nothing may lack from thy savagery, and let the streams of sacred blood run between thy fingers. ... Look at the eyes, which even in death are witnesses of thy crime, even as they turn away from the sight of thy pleasures. Those eyes are closed, not from the necessity imposed by death, but from horror at thine excess. That golden mouth, now bloodless, whose sentence thou couldst not bear, groweth silent, and is still feared. (St Ambrose, On the Virgins, book 3; the sermon at Matins for the feast of the Beheading of St John the Baptist in the Breviary of St Pius V.)

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; the first such discrepancy appears at Vespers this Saturday. In some years, but not this one, there is also a discrepancy between the traditional placement of the September Ember Days, and their placement according to the new rubrics.

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 97r of the antiphonary of Compiègne, 860-77 AD. At the top of the page are the antiphons at the Magnificat for Saturday Vespers in the first period after Pentecost, taken from the books of Kings; in the middle, there begin the Matins responsories taken from the books of Wisdom. (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 August” is actually July 30th, the Sunday closest to the first day of August.

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 August is the 6th this year.

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, as it is this year. (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 for the rest of the liturgical year, according to the traditional system:

July 30 – the 1st Sunday of August (IX after Pentecost)
August 6 – the 2nd Sunday of August (X after Pentecost, commemorated on the feast of the Transfiguration)
August 13 – the 3rd Sunday of August (XI after Pentecost)
August 20– the 4th Sunday of August (XII after Pentecost)
August 27 – the 5th Sunday of August (XIII after Pentecost)

September 3 – the 1st Sunday of September (XIV after Pentecost)
September 10 – the 2nd Sunday of September (XV after Pentecost)
September 17 – the 3rd Sunday of September (XVI after Pentecost; Ember week)
September 24 – the 4th Sunday of September (XVII after Pentecost)

October 1 – the 1st Sunday of October (XVIII after Pentecost)
October 8 – the 2nd Sunday of October (XIX after Pentecost)
October 15 – the 3rd Sunday of October (XX after Pentecost)
October 22 – the 4th Sunday of October (XXI after Pentecost)

October 29 – the 1st Sunday of November (XXII after Pentecost, commemorated on the feast of Christ the King)
November 5 – the 2nd Sunday of November (XXIII after Pentecost, )
November 12 – the 3rd Sunday of November (V after Epiphany resumed)

November 19 – the 4th Sunday of November (VI after Epiphany resumed)
November 26 – the 5th Sunday of November (XXIV and last after Pentecost)

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

July 30 – IX after Pentecost

August 6 – the 1st Sunday of August (X after Pentecost, omitted on the feast of the Transfiguration)

August 13 – the 2nd Sunday of August (XI after Pentecost)
August 20– the 3rd Sunday of August (XII after Pentecost)
August 27 – the 4th Sunday of August (XIII after Pentecost)

September 3 – the 1st Sunday of September (XIV after Pentecost)
September 10 – the 2nd Sunday of September (XV after Pentecost)
September 17 – the 3rd Sunday of September (XVI after Pentecost; Ember week)
September 24 – the 4th Sunday of September (XVII after Pentecost)

October 1 – the 1st Sunday of October (XVIII after Pentecost)
October 8 – the 2nd Sunday of October (XIX after Pentecost)
October 15 – the 3rd Sunday of October (XX after Pentecost)
October 22 – the 4th Sunday of October (XXI after Pentecost)

October 29 – the 5th Sunday of November (XXII after Pentecost, omitted on the feast of Christ the King)

November 5 – the 1st Sunday of November (XXIII after Pentecost, )
November 12 – the 3rd Sunday of November (V after Epiphany resumed)

November 19 – the 4th Sunday of November (VI after Epiphany resumed)
November 26 – 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, therefore, on November 12th, the Mass is that of the V Sunday after Epiphany resumed, and on November 19th, that of the VI Sunday after Epiphany resumed.

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.

“For a General Liturgical Reform” by Annibale Bugnini (Part 4)

We continue our publication of the first-ever English translation of Bugnini’s programmatic 1949 article in Ephemerides Liturgicae outlining part of the plan for a total overhaul of the Church’s liturgical worship. (See Part 1; Part 2; Part 3.) 

Dean Cornwell (1892-1960), Priest (1921)

7. THE READING

Another point of paramount importance for all proposers was the reading. A qualitative and quantitative increase was unanimously called for. This is undoubtedly a good sign. However, when it comes to the concrete formulation of the proposals, the opinions are no longer convergent.

Let us note this at once: on the one hand, it is asked that the reading be increased; on the other hand, there is a desire to shorten Matins by reducing them to a single Nocturne and to three lessons that are not too long and one taken from the O.T., the next historical, the third from the N.T. (this is, after all, the old scheme of the “Breviarium S. Crucis”).

But three lessons alone reduce the reading to a minimum, assuming of course that the lessons should not be longer than the current average length. As for the biblical lesson, there are many calls for it to be “continuous,” even during Lent and the Ember Days. It is desired that the most practical books be chosen and read in full, especially the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles. When, then, occasionally the readers were impeded, they should certainly be omitted. It is also suggested that the distribution of the books of Kings be reviewed, as the first takes up too much space at the expense of the others, and more room be given to Jeremiah, the Minor Prophets, and Job.

A widespread request would want the lessons of the 1st Nocturne (biblical) be longer, as Holy Scripture should have a more important place in the new Breviary.

Some would realise this as follows: an obligation to read the Bible for ten minutes, but at the priest’s free discretion. This way he would be able to read what is most beneficial and attractive to him. Others would like to see a reduction in the O.T. readings and more emphasis on the N.T.

The lessons of the 2nd nocturne, on the other hand, should be shortened, both to eliminate pomposities of little or no spiritual value, as well as to bring about a certain balance between the offices in terms of length.

The hagiographic lessons, it is further observed, should be seriously revised, eliminating legends, which discredit the piety of the Church, and accounts of miracles, even authentic ones, in order to give more prominence to the proper character of each saint’s work and holiness, “not omitting to properly frame” in two or three sentences, the historical, geographical, social and spiritual environment in which the saint lived. This is of great importance for a correct evaluation and appreciation of their virtues. If the saint has left writings, it would be desirable to have some of them read, instead of the often ordinary or schematic life. As for the patristic lessons, they should first of all be given in the critical text, citing the source from which they are taken; then, as far as possible and according to the findings of the most recent studies, make sure of their genuine authorship. It is also requested that a more “eclectic” choice of texts be made (from the Greek Church, from recent Doctors, and even if they have written in modern languages). Possibly on the feast day of a Doctor, a text by him should be given.

The discourses and sermons de tempore should also be thoroughly revised, and the sermons of the Commons be more varied.

Indeed, were it possible, the homilies should be read in full, and not just the beginning, on a number of days or feasts (as is the case with the Office of the Octave of the Dedication of the Church), so that over several occasions they could be read in full. Furthermore, it would be necessary to decisively remove those passages, such as certain interpretations and allegories (e.g. the 38 years of the paralytic at the pool of Bethsaida), which reflect the fashion and taste of a bygone era, and replace them with texts of true spiritual nourishment.

Finally, a practical issue that affects the entire reading (biblical, patristic, historical, homiletic) is that it be done in “the vernacular” in a pure and simple style, or at least alternating one month in Latin and the other in the vernacular (a proposal that extends to the entire Breviary).

8. CHAPTERS AND RESPONSORIES

Related to the question of the reading is that of chapters. It is wished to extend to all Sundays of the year the distribution, in chapters, of the occurring epistle to remedy the monotony of the chapters at Vespers, the only hour celebrated in parishes.[1]

As for the responsories, their fresh introduction under Pius X was certainly an improvement for the Breviary and to deprive it of them now would be an impoverishment. The responsory has no small spiritual function insofar as after the reading it is like a meditation, a recollection of what has been read, an elevation of the soul to God in meditated praise. It is not, therefore, a simple piece of singing and so good only for the office sung in choir.

9. HYMNS

The proposals for hymns can be summarised as follows:

1) to go back to the ancient texts and be inspired by them for the new compositions;

2) to increase the number of hymns by taking them from classical hymnody (Prudentius, Fortunatus, Sedulius, etc.) and from the very rich medieval hymnody;

3) to more widely diversify the hymns on the feasts of the Blessed Virgin (also taking them from the eastern hymnody) and of the saints so as not to have to repeat quite so often the same hymns as in the Common (“Iste confessor,” “Ave maris stella,” “Deus tuorum militum” etc.);

4) of the modern hymns, several are incomprehensible and should be replaced or modified;

5) so as to increase the variety and appeal of the hymns, could one not, someone asks, assign proper hymns to Compline according to times and certain major feasts?

And here are some particular remarks for a revision of the existing hymns:

1. In the hymn of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, we find the word pabulum, (also found in the Comm. Mart.: “et blanda fraudum pabula”), which in good Latin, even classical and patristic Latin, means fodder, a term that is truly unbecoming to indicate the nourishment of men. The frequent elisions, as in the verse Hocostium arcaein latere est (feast of the Sacred Heart) make for an unpronounceable and unsingable hymn, and slightly less so does the hymn for Christ the King: Tutusstat ordo civicus, and the word “imagine” of the same hymn, instead of “specie” in the verse “Vini dapisque imagine,” is improper.

2. The doxology of the hymn “Ave, maris stella”:

         Sit laus Deo Patri, - Summo Christo decus,
         Spiritui Sancto, - Tribus honor unus.

should be changed to:

         Sit laus Deo Patri, - Summo Christo decus,
         Spiritui Sancto - honor, tribus unus.

since the current formulation is found in later codices (cf. Clemens BLUME, S. I., Unsere liturgischen Lieder, Regensburg 1932, p. 205), and according to the current doxology, to the Father befits the laus, to Christ the decus, while the corresponding attribute for the Holy Spirit is missing.

3. “Iesu corona celsior” (Lauds of the Commune Conf. non Pont.) should undergo a general recast. The 3rd stanza, recalling the saint’s dying day, stands in contrast to the 1st stanza of the Iste confessor, which changes the 3rd verse when it refers to the dies natalis.[2] It is also pointed out that the threefold victory over the world, the devil, and the flesh in the 4th verse is utterly elusive.[3] According to the same proponent, the first three stanzas should be completely suppressed and the remaining ones be arranged as follows: Te Christe, Hic vana, Virtute, etc.

4. In the hymn of Lauds for St Martina (30 Jan.) in the first stanza one would like to change “Thracios” (too reminiscent of the Horatian hater of enemies) to “Tartaros.”[4]

5. On the feast of the martyrs Saints Perpetua and Felicita (6 March) the hymns, unless new ones are made, should be taken from the “Commune plurium non Virginum pro aliquibus locis”: “Nobiles Christi famulas” and “Si lege prisca,” as those in the singular form of the “Commune unius non Virginis” are not fitting.

10. THE PRECES

It is called for either their suppression, or a decisive reduction in the wording of the text, or a limitation in their use. Some would want to retain only the ferial preces, others would reserve the preces dominicales for the ferias “per annum” and the Sundays of Septuagesima and Lent, and the ferial preces for the ferias of Lent and the Ember Days.—In the ℟. for the Supreme Pontiff, who is also referred to as the “Most Holy,” it is pointed out that the word “blessed” the ℟. is incongruous, whereas the ℣. already used the word “most blessed.”[5]

11. BEGINNING AND END OF THE HOURS

There is a general request for the abolition of the Pater, Ave and Credo with certain prayers immediately preceding and following (such as the Confiteor, which would be reserved for Compline only), of the Iube, domne, benedicere, at the lessons, of the Benedicite, Deus, at Prime. Some would go even further, up to the suppression of the major antiphons of Our Lady, keeping them at most for the end of Compline. For the minor Hours some propose the dropping of the short responsories. Be that as it may, a simplification in this area is certainly needed.[6] There are currently some formulas that suppose the starting of the Hour and not the continuation of prayer,[7] which is usually the case now. A whole encrustation has developed around the original canonical prayer under the impulse of private and individual piety. Most pious and holy things, no doubt, but which no one, we believe, would regret to see judiciously and wisely eliminated, so that the liturgical prayer would then shine in its native beauty, in the simplicity of its lines and the spontaneity of its expression.

Two “desiderata” will meet with general approval:

1) placing the Lord’s Prayer (Pater) not as an appendix after the Hours, but at the climax, as in the monastic rite (and in the Mass): Kyrie... Pater... oration;

2) revision of the orations: return to classical sobriety, eliminating some that are very long, with a heap of disparate ideas, containing the whole life of the saint, etc.

This series will conclude with Part 5: Observations on Certain Parts of the Office; the Octaves; Commemorations; the Rubrics; Conclusion.

[NOTES]

[1] The phrase in Italian—”la distribuzione in capitoli dell’epistola occorrente per rimediare alla monotonia”—can be translated two ways. It could mean either that the proposed change in chapter would be “[needed] in order to remedy,” or it could be the Latinism “occurring,” i.e. the Epistle falling on that Sunday would be used for the chapter at Vespers.

[2] Since the revisions of Urban VIII, the first stanza of the hymn Iste Confessor had had an alternative when it came to the 3rd and 4th verses, so that when the saint’s feast coincided with the confessor’s death day, it would sound as: Iste confessor Domini colentes / Quem pie laudant populi per orbem: / Hac die lætus meruit beatas / Scandere sedes; otherwise, the last two verses were replaced with: Hac die lætus meruit supremos / Laudis honores. In the 1955 pian revisions, this solution was dropped in favour of the latter alternative for all cases.

[3] “Hic vana terræ gáudia, / Et luculénta prǽdia, / Pollúta sorde députans, / Ovans tenet cæléstia”—Considering the vain joys and lavish goods of the world as defiled with filth, he now in triumph possesses those that are heavenly.

[4] “Tu natále solum prótege, tu bonæ / Da pacis réquiem Christíadum plagis; / Armórum strépitus, et fera prǽlia / In fines age Thrácios,” where the proposed amendment would have “In fines age Tartaros”; thus, we might add, the emphasis would be shifted from the saint’s protection from human foes to spiritual ones.

[5] ℣. Orémus pro beatíssimo Papa nostro […] ℟. Dóminus […] beátum fáciat eum […]

[6] And it was realised, with the adoption of many of the aforementioned proposals, in the 1955 and 1960 revisions.

[7] That is, the continuous recitation of multiple Hours, as by a cleric reading by himself.