Resources for Matins - Overview

Over the next few days we have several major feasts (SS Patrick, Joseph and Benedict) and I plan to provide some notes on how to say the feast and where to find the texts for them rather than continue on rubrics notes on those days.

By way of a lead in to this, I thought today that it would be helpful to provide a bit of an overview on key resources for Matins.

The easiest starting point for Matins is the Monastic Option on the Divinum Officium website, which generally follows the 1962 rubrics.

The book problem

If you want an actual book however, the situation is more complex.

As I noted when I started this blog, one of the issues I want to cover is resources for Matins, and there seems to be a very high degree of interest in this topic from those who completed the survey (and again thanks to all those who have done that so far; and it is not too late...).

The basic challenge is that there is no real equivalent to the Monastic Diurnal, providing a Latin-English version of the hour, when it comes to the Matins.  There are, however, quite a few resources, many of them available online for free download, that can help you either to use a (Latin) breviary, or provide the texts to say the hour according to the 1963 calendar and rubrics.

While the listing of resources below includes a few comments on each, I would strongly suggest holding off actually buying any of these books (except for the Clear Creek booklet on Matins according to the Monastic Ritual) for the moment.  I plan to provide reviews of each of the key resources, focusing on what they do and don't contain, as we go along, so you might want to read those before you consider which one(s) best fit your needs.

The complete text

The official text for the 1963 Office in full is:

**Breviarium Monasticum summorum pontificum cura recognitum pro omnibus sub regula S. P. Benedicti millitantibus iussi abbatis primatis editum, Marietti, Rome, 1963, 2 vols, Latin only.

This is the current official version of the traditional Office and the only book that provides all of the texts necessary to say Matins.   It is out of print but can still (occasionally) be obtained secondhand.  Another option is to buy an older edition, and adapt it to the 1963 calendar and rubrics.

The closest equivalent to the Monastic Diurnal is arguably  the English-only Lancelot Andrewes  Monastic Breviary Matins.  But because it uses the King James Version psalms, and varies in places from the 1962-3 Sunday readings (and quite a few feasts), unless you are an Anglican, I don't actually think its a good option other than as a helpful resource for some translations.  From a Catholic perspective, beautiful as the translations are, they are sometimes jarringly at odds with the Septuagint/Vulgate tradition, and occasionally that means that the Patristic commentaries on the texts don't make any sense.

There are, though, other sources which will provide you with the texts you need and help with the translations.

The Psalter section of the breviary for Matins

The psalter section of the breviary arranges the psalms in the order they are said, and includes the most commonly used prayers in their proper places.

The most useful starting point for beginners is, in my view, the Clear Creek Matins booklet, Matins according to the Monastic Ritual. Put out by Clear Creek monastery, it provides the psalms and standard prayers for Matins each day in Latin and English and lays everything out in a way that is very easy to follow.  It does not, however, include the readings, Commons of Saints, or texts for feasts.

A key resource to download if you are interested in singing the Office at all is the (OSB) Psalterium  - this is an unofficial draft, and the text of the psalms contains a number of errors - but an important resource for the chants though as it provides the hymns and antiphons for the ferial and Sunday office.  But for the psalms themselves, you might want to use the Psalm tone generator.

An alternative to all of the above is the Psautier Monastique Latin-Francais du Breviare Monastique , 2012 (Le Barroux reprint of Desclee and Sons 1938 edition).  This provides a Latin-French version of the psalter section of the breviary and has the advantage of being an official book you can use for all of the hours (a lot cheaper for communiteis than buying a Breviary each!).  It does not include any chant tones, nor does it provide reading, the Commons or all of the seasonal texts (though most of them are there).

The other book in use in some places is the Psalterium Monasticum, which provides the psalms in various arrangements permitted in the 1977 Thesaurus, using the neo-Vulgate.  It includes the chant tones for the antiphons of Matins adjusted to conform with the neo-Vulgate).

Invitatory, antiphons and responsories

When it comes to the seasonal texts, and those for feasts, you will need to supplement your psalter with other books.  The sources I know about are listed below, I'll say more about these anon.

*Psalmus Venite Exultemus per varios tonos cum invitatoriis pro oficiis de tempore et de sanctis, Declee, 1928. Chants for selection of the invitatory antiphons, and for Psalm 94.

*Liber Responsorialis pro Festis I Classis et communi Sanctorum iuxta ritum monasticum Adnectuntur Invitatorium et Hymnus Aliorum Festorum, Solesmes, 1895.  Contains the antiphons (and lists out the psalms) for the Commons of Saints, as well as those for a number of major feasts.  Reprint can be purchased through Sarto Verlag or it can be downloaded for free from the CC Watershed library: Liber Responsorialis (194MB).

Gregofacsimil website - Fantastic resource providing responsories and assorted other texts from manuscripts and older books.

Nocturnale Romanum, 2002 - Good source for most of the responsories missing from the Liber Responsorialis.

The Processionale Monasticum also contains some additional responsories.

The Hymns

The hymns can mostly be found in the places above, but often not well laid out for those less familiar with the tunes.  The Solesmes Liber Hymnarius is a useful supplement from this point of view,  but note that texts and chants often don't line up with those in older books.

Liber Hymnarius cum invitatriis & aliquibus responsoriis, Solesmes, 1983.

 Liber Hymnarius website -  Sound files of someone singing the hymns of the Divine Office.  Based on the Roman Liturgy of the Hours, but many of the hymns have the same chant tone as the Benedictine Office so a fantastic resource, and nicely arranged so you can find the appropriate seasonal tone.

If you are looking for translations and more information on the hymns two useful resources are:

*Matthew Britt OSB, Hymns of the Office and Missal, 1922.  Reprints also available.  Provides translations and brief notes on the hymns of the Office.

Joseph Connelly, Hymns of the Roman Liturgy, Newman Press, 1957, reprinted by FSSP.

Readings

The Benedictine Office, when it has readings, generally follows the Roman, but rearranges the text to split into four readings on Sundays and feasts.  Divinum Officium is a great resource for these.

A very useful resource, not least because its translation are, in my view, superior to those provided on Divinum Officium, is:

Liturgical Readings.  The Lessons of the Temporale Cycle and Principal Feasts of the Sanctoral  Cycle according to the Monastic Breviary, Grail Publications, 1941.  

The official Latin text of the readings and responsories can be found in the breviary; translations of the Patristic readings, but not the responsories, can also be found in the book   A reprint of this book is available.

Others?

More anon, and please do let me know of any other resources that you are aware of.

PS I've also set up 'pages' providing links to posts on the rubrics and context and understanding the content.  I will add one for resources in due course.