THE LITURGY, or official public worship of the Church, comprises the
holy sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacraments and Sacramentals, and the
canonical hours, or official daily prayer of the Church. It is the
latter which is contained in the Roman Breviary, par excellence, the
prayer-book of the Church. There are prayers outside the Breviary,
approved by the Church, enriched by her with indulgences, beloved as
private devotions, but the Divine Office, contained in the Breviary,
is the great official prayer recited daily by the Church as the
mystical body of Christ, divine Head and human members together, to
pay worship to God only second in importance to that supreme act of
religious cult, the sacrifice of the Mass.
The word breviary, etymologically a compendium or abridgment, is
applied to the liturgical work which contains the psalms and the
hymns, the readings from Sacred Scripture and from the writings of
the Fathers, the prayers and the responses, which are combined to
form the canonical hours of the divine office of prayer recited daily
throughout the world by priests and religious. Originally, several
books were required for the celebration of Mass: the Sacramentary for
the officiating priest, the Lectionary for the principal assisting
ministers, and the Antiphonary for the choir. When these were
assembled in one book, the volume was called a complete Mass-book
(Missale plenum), our present Missal. So, also, when the various
volumes anciently used in the recitation of the canonical hours: the
psalter, other books of the Bible, selected writings of the Fathers,
collections of prayers and hymns, were gathered together into one
work, the volume came to be called a Breviary.
The origin of the canonical hours of the Divine Office, as they are
recited daily in the Church, either publicly by chapters of canons or
monks or privately by priests and clerics in major orders, dates back
to the days of the primitive Church. Anciently, a vigil, or
all-night watch service, preceded every Sunday. This consisted of
evening, night, and early morning prayers and was bound up with the
idea that Christ at His second coming might arrive on such an eve and
the faithful were desirous of being found watching and praying to
receive Him. By the fourth century this Sunday vigil had become a
daily observance, though it no longer lasted throughout the night.
Again, some of the faithful, and especially monks of the Benedictine
observance, began to meet for pious exercises at each of the hours
which divided the day into its principal sections, at the third,
sixth, and ninth hours. Later, the remaining two canonical hours
Prime and Compline, were introduced from monastic sources. So, we
have a divine office of three groups of prayers: (1) the nocturnal
group, represented today by the hours known as Vespers, Matins, and
Lauds; (2) the day hours, now called Terce, Sext, and None; (3) a
form of morning prayer called Prime and of evening prayer known as
Compline.
What had at first been an all-night vigil became a watch service only
from cock crow to sunrise with a preliminary office at the lighting
of the lamps the night before. This last survives as Vespers of the
Office, the early morning service being now represented by Matins,
with its three nocturns, and Lauds. The public prayers at the third,
sixth, and ninth hours, added, as has just been said, the Offices of
Terce, Sext, and None. Morning prayer, Prime, was inserted between
Lauds and Terce; and evening prayer, since Vespers did not come at
the very end of the day, at bedtime, furnished the concluding hour of
Compline. So, from sunset to sunset, as the extent of the day was
reckoned by the Romans and the Jews, from evening to evening, seven
times were there hours of prayer: Vespers, Compline, Matins and Lauds
|despite their length counted as one hour), Prime, Terce, Sext, and
None. This was in accordance with the verse of Psalm 118: "Seven
times a day I gave praise to Thee." The component elements of this
sevenfold daily service of prayer were, and still are, the psalms of
the Psalter of David, readings of passages from the Holy Scriptures
and the works of the Fathers of the Church, prayers recited by the
presiding cleric, and metrical compositions, or hymns.
The daily recitation, or chanting, of the canonical hours began as a
public service in the church or in the monastery chapel. In the
beginning the psalms were sung by a solo voice, or several voices,
the congregation making occasional answers in the form of a familiar
response. Later, the entire body took part in the chanting, the
participants being arranged in two choirs, alternately chanting the
verses of the psalms. Readers ascended the pulpit for the lessons, to
which the others listened, or perhaps answered with verses, which
became the present responses of the office. The presiding priest, or
abbot, had his own special part in the prayers, represented today by
the blessings and orations and versicles reserved to the officiant.
The hymns of the Office are metrical compositions of later
introduction than the psalms and readings, and were sung by specially
competent chanters or alternately, stanza after stanza, by the two
choirs of the general body. So the Office is recited today by
chapters of canons in cathedral and collegiate churches and by
companies of monks or nuns in monasteries and convents, where there
is the obligation of the Divine Office. In late medieval times,
especially consequent upon the spread of the Franciscan Order, it
became the custom for individuals who were unable to attend the
public assemblies in the church to recite the canonical hours
privately. To make provision for such individuals as well as to
provide the necessary text for the Divine Office in poorer religious
houses and in country churches, compilations of the various books
involved began to be made so that a single volume would suffice for
the recitation of the entire office. This compendious handbook became
known as the Breviary and it came into general use from the XII
Century, though examples of such compendia date from the preceding
century. When, by order of the Council of Trent, standard editions of
the liturgical books, required in public worship were issued and made
of universal obligation, the official Roman Breviary was that of Pope
St. Pius V, published in 1568. This has remained the exemplar for all
editions of the Breviary since that time, though there have been
several revisions of the book. The last revision was that of Pius X,
in 1911, and this is the Breviary in use today.
II DIVISIONS OF THE BREVIARY
Though occasionally the Roman Breviary is issued in a single volume,
called a "Totum," it usually appears in four volumes each containing
the Offices of about one-quarter of the ecclesiastical year. These
four are:
1) The winter volume (pars hiemalis) comprising the Offices of
Advent, Christmastide, and Epiphany, up to and including the
Saturday before the First Sun. day of Lent. In the calendar of
the fixed feasts, this part extends from November 26 to March
12.
2) The spring volume (pars verna) containing the Offices of Lent
and Paschaltide to the Saturday of the Pentecost Ember Week,
inclusive. In the fixed calendar, this period begins with
February 7 and lasts to June 19.
3) The summer volume (pars aestiva) with the time after
Pentecost up to the Fifteenth Sunday, inclusive. For the fixed
feasts, this section runs from May 18 to September 2.
4) The autumn volume (pars autumnalis) covering the year from
the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost till the day before Advent,
August 28 to December 2 of the fixed calendar.
It will be noted that this division of the Breviary into four books
is made on the basis of the temporal cycle of the ecclesiastical
year, that which varies from year to year, largely because of the
five-week variation of the date of Easter. This arrangement
necessitates, in succeeding volumes, a certain repetition of the
Offices of feasts which are fixed to the days of the month of the
civil calendar. The third and fourth volumes involve also a
repetition of some of the Sundays after Pentecost, as the regulations
governing the readings from Sacred Scripture are dependent upon the
weeks of August September, October, and November rather than on the
succession of the Sundays after Pentecost.
The considerable prefatory matter usually found in the winter volume,
is issued as a separate brochure. This introductory portion contains
the rules for the computation of Easter and the general directions
for the ordering of the Office, under the caption: "General Rubrics
of the Breviary." This latter section is the one quaintly entitled
"The Pye" in the Marquess of Bute's famous English translation of the
Breviary, which appeared in 1879. These directions should be
carefully studied by all who would learn well the intricate structure
of the Office.
Each of the four volumes is arranged in accordance with the following
pattern:
1) An introductory section, containing the calendar with the
fixed feasts, hosted for the months of the year, and certain
convenient tables for finding the movable feasts.
2) The Ordinary of the Office, comprising those prayers and
directions which are common to all Offices.
3) The Psalter, with its one hundred and fifty psalms,
distributed over the various canonical hours for the seven days
of the week. For reasons of utility, much of the preceding
section is here repeated and combined with the divisions of the
Psalter.
4) The Proper of Time, in which are found the variable portions
of the Office arranged in the sequence of those days which
depend upon the movable cycle of Easter and the less movable
time of Advent.
5) The Proper of the Saints, which comprises the variable parts
of the Office peculiar to the Feasts of the Saints, which are
all fixed to the days of the month of the civil calendar.
6) The Common of the Saints, embracing those portions of the
Office which are not special for the feasts of individual
Saints.
6) Various appendices with the Little Office of the Blessed
Virgin the Office for the Dead, the Seven Penitential Psalms,
the Litany of the Saints, etc.
For a detailed description of the seven hours of the Divine Office,
the introductory section of the winter volume, entitled "General
Rubrics of the Breviary," should be studied. Many complications are
incident to the recitation of the Office and they are for the most
part the result of the constant conflict between the calendar of
movable feasts (The Proper of the Time) and the calendar of the fixed
feasts (The Proper of the Saints.) As Easter may come as early as
March 22 or as late as April 25, it will be seen that constant
adjustments must be made each year between fixed and movable feasts.
For this reason, a book of directions, called the "Ordo," is
published every year containing minute guidance for reciting the
Office during the course of that year.
Originally, the Divine Office was much simpler in structure than it
is today and the comparatively small number of Saints' days reduced
to a minimum the conflict between fixed and movable feasts. There was
a succession of psalms followed by readings from Scripture, these
latter being supplemented by accounts of the martyrdom of Saints and
passages from the writings of the Fathers. As time went on, these
fundamental elements of the Office were divided by prayers and
responses and hymns, which were varied for day and season, until the
recitation of the Canonical Hours became so complicated that a
process of simplification was introduced in the XIII Century. A more
sweeping reform was proposed under Benedict XIV (1741-1747) but it
was not carried out until the pontificate of Pius X (1903-1914) and
then only to a limited extent. The Breviary of Pius X is the standard
text at present, though the book is constantly receiving additions as
Offices are assigned to the feasts of newly canonized saints.
III. COMPONENT ELEMENTS OF THE BREVIARY
The Psalms. The basis of the Divine Office is the Psalter of David,
whose one hundred and fifty psalms are ordinarily recited every week.
The antiphons, responses, and versicles in the various hours are also
very largely taken from the Psalter, so this book of the Bible
furnishes the greatest percentage of the text of the Office. The
psalms give poetic expression to the entire gamut of religious
thought and emotion from sobs of contrition to songs of confidence,
from elegies of dejection to paens of delight. No cry of sorrow could
be deeper than the "Miserere," (Ps. 50). No petition for mercy could
be more poignant than the "De profundis," (Ps. 129). No hymn of joy
could be more exultant than the last three psalms of the Psalter
(Pss. 148, 149, 150.) In the interests of clearer understanding of
the text the psalms in this edition of the Breviary are presented in
an English translation of the new Latin version of the Psalter,
authorized by Pope Pius XII.
Similar in structure to the psalms are certain canticles of the Old
Testament, which are assigned to Lauds of the Office, and three
canticles from the Gospels, the "Magnificat," the "Benedictus," and
the "Nunc dimittis," which are recited every day, respectively, in
the hours of Vespers, Lauds, and Compline.
"The Readings, or Lessons." Second only to the psalms in the textual
content of the Breviary come the readings from Sacred Scripture and
from the writings of the Fathers of the Church. The Scriptural
readings are selected so that all the books of the Bible are
represented in the lessons of the first nocturn of Matins, and in the
course of the year both Old and New Testaments are covered at least
in summary fashion. The Gospels are read only in short excerpts in
the third nocturn, serving as introductions to the homilies, or
commentaries on the Gospels, taken from the writings of the Fathers
of the Church. Lives of the Saints are assigned as lessons for the
second nocturn on their feast days. The longer readings, which are
those just described, are known as lessons and appear only in Matins
of the Office. For the other hours, shorter passages, usually from
Sacred Scripture, are assigned and these are called Little Chapters
(Capitula.)
"Prayers." The prayer, or oration, proper for each day of the Office,
is the collect of the Mass of that day and is said near the close of
five of the seven Hours. Prime and Compline have special orations of
their own, which are invariable day after day. For information
concerning the prayers said as Commemorations, reference should be
had to the explanations in the "General Rubrics of the Breviary"
Among the prayers of the Office should be included certain petitions
and responses (Preces) which are recited especially on days of
fasting and penance. Our more familiar forms of vocal prayer, the
"Our Father," the "Hail Mary," and (less frequently) the Apostles'
Creed, are repeatedly recited in the Office.
"Hymns." The original hymnbook of the Church was the Psalter, and the
earliest hymns were compositions in imitation of the structure of the
psalms. Later, more definitely metrical stanzas were written and
these are the hymns which appear in every hour of the Divine Office.
Some of these are identical day by day, but most of them vary with
the season or the feast.
To the elements just enumerated as component parts of the Breviary
should be added: the "Te Deum," which concludes Matins on feast days;
the Athanasian Creed (Ouicumque), which is recited at Prime on
ordinary Sundays; and the anthems of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which
are varied fox the seasons of the year as terminating prayers of the
Office. Two of these anthems, are the familiar "Regina caeli," the
Angelus of the Easter time, and the even more familiar "Hail, holy
Queen."
The basic structure of the Breviary shows that the Divine Office was
meant to be a public choral service. Certain parts were to be
recited, or chanted, alternately by two sections (choirs) of those
participating. Other portions were to be read by a solo officiant,
and still others were designed as answers to be said in concert by
the entire body to prayers or readings of a leader. When it became
the custom for those unable to join in the public recitation to say
the Office privately, the present more common practice arose whereby
the individual must recite the entire Office himself, instead of
dividing his participation by reading some parts and listening while
fellow participants recite other parts.
IV. THE EXCELLENCE OF THE BREVIARY
The chief claim for the pre-eminence of the Canonical Hours over all
other forms of prayer is that the Breviary contains the official,
liturgical prayer of the Church. Whether the Office be recited
publicly in choir or privately by an individual, it is not a private
prayer, but the daily service of public praise, rendered to God, as
prescribed by the Church. Those who recite the Divine Office do so in
the name of all the faithful and for the benefit of all the members
of the mystical body of Christ. The laity have had little
opportunity to make the acquaintance of the treasury of prayer
represented by the Breviary. Formerly, Vespers, often unfortunately
in a rather truncated version, used to be a regular Sunday service in
parish churches, but this practice has become almost obsolete. In
some places, the faithful have become somewhat familiar with Matins
and Lauds of the last three days of Holy Week, the "Tenebrae" Office
in most cathedrals and in some other important churches. This present
English translation of the Divine Office will make available to the
laity, not well conversant with Latin, the opportunity to
participate, day by day, in the liturgical prayer of the Church. Nor
will this version, it is hoped, be without use to the clergy and
others who are bound to the recitation of the Breviary. The English
text should prove convenient for comparison with the Latin original
to throw light on passages of difficult interpretation
The words which are pronounced in the recitation of the Divine Office
are chiefly from the inspired writings of the Bible. Most of the
prayers are venerable compositions, centuries old. The Readings from
the works of the Fathers express the traditional thought of the
Church. The hymns are examples of lofty, spiritual poetry. NO other
prayer is endowed with such special grace. No other can equal its
rank as the authorized, official prayer of the Universal Church.
Moreover, through the consistent use of the Missal and the Breviary
we are enabled to live again the mysteries of Christ as they are
presented to us in the seasons of the ecclesiastical year. Mass and
Divine Office are liturgically interrelated. The latter furnishes the
setting for the Mass, as the gold of the ring is the setting for the
precious jewel of its stone. When the Office is chanted in common the
Mass of the day is inserted during the course of the Canonical hours,
usually after Terce The daily Mass and the daily Office form the
liturgical mirror which reflects, day after day, year after year, the
mysteries of the life of Jesus Christ as the Church unfolds them,
feast by feast and season by season. All the interior formation of
man is effected by the better knowledge of Our Lord, His life and His
works and His words The daily thoughtful reading of the Breviary
cannot fail to bring one into better acquaintance with "The mystery
which hath been hidden from ages and generations but is now
manifested to his Saints" (Col. 1, 26). In the Divine Office, we sing
to God a twelve-month hymn of praise in lasting memory of the life of
Christ on earth and constant recognition of His life in heaven as we
commemorate His life and His death, His resurrection and ascension,
His life in glory in heaven and His eucharistic continuance in life
on earth.
Associated with the annual cycle of the liturgical commemoration of
the mysteries of Jesus Christ is the yearly cycle of the feasts of
His Saints. In the celebration of the Saint's days, we worship God
indirectly as "wonderful in His Saints" and we seek the intercession
of those whose lives were models for our imitation in their devoted
service of God, "the crown of all Saints." The recitation of the
Divine Office, both as the direct cult of God and the indirect
worship of Him paid through the honor shown His Saints will, in the
words of the present Holy Father's great encyclical letter, "Mediator
Dei," give us a part in that sacred liturgy on earth which is a
preparation for the heavenly liturgy, in which along with Mary, the
glorious Mother of God, and all the Saints, we confidently hope to
sing eternally "to Him who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb,
blessing and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength
forever and ever" (Apoc. V, 13).
REV. WILLIAM J. LALLOU
Taken from the "Roman Breviary In English" published by Benziger
Brother, Inc in 1950.
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