Book review: Psalterium Monasticum: horae diurnae

 

Psalterium Monasticum: horae diurnae

I want to alert readings to a wonderful new resource, a Psalterium Monasticum designed to help you sing the Office by 'pointing' the psalms, put together and published by the monks of Chavagnes-en-Paillers (aka The Community of Our Lady of Glastonbury).  

The book details are:

Dom Bede Rowe, Psalterium Monasticum: Horae Diurnae, 2023; $US18 for the paperback version; $US22.23 for the hardback), available from Amazon (search in your country's Amazon version to minimise postage costs).

To use it, you will need to download the explanation of the pointing system from the monk's website - they also offer a convenient two page summary of the monastic psalm tones and their endings.

The book will be a key resource for anyone who wants to sing or already sings the Benedictine Office  - and that should be everyone - the Office is intended to be sung, not said, after all!

What the book provides

In essence, the new Psalter sets out 'pointed' versions (ie the text of the psalms with embedded cues for where to change note when chanting it) of the Latin text of the psalms for the day hours. 

It has been designed to supplement the Antiphonale Monasticum of 1934, and so follows the same ordering of the text, and provides the page number for the corresponding page in the Antiphonale.

In essence, if you want to sing the Office, the Antiphonale gives you the chants for the fixed parts of the hours, hymns, antiphons and so forth.  

When it comes to the psalm though, it just tells you which of the several psalm tones and many endings for those tones to use - you then have to apply that psalm tone to the particular psalm being said, and the Antiphonale doesn't give you any help with this. This book fills that gap.  

It therefore includes a complete version of the psalms of the psalter section of the Antiphonale, along with a selection of other psalms needed for particular feasts (such as Christmas, the Triduum, Commons, and so forth).

So if you want to sing Prime on Monday for example, you go to page 1 of the Antiphonale for the hymn, antiphon and other texts, but then turn to the Psalterium for the pointed versions of the psalms.

Universal psalm pointing

There is, it has to be said, a bit of a learning curve involved in the particular system (universal psalm pointing) used in this book, but the learning curve is not a steep one, and once mastered, it is extremely powerful tool indeed.

In general, psalm pointing provides a series of cues (such as bolding and italics) in the text of the verses of the psalm that tell you when to change note for each of psalm chant tones and endings (there are eight basic tones, but several others used at various times in the monastic office, and each chant tone can have a number of different endings).

Most traditional Office books offering pointed psalms (such as the Liber Usualis and assorted older Benedictine books for Vespers) point the psalms for each chant tone and ending individually.  Indeed, there are a couple of excellent psalm tone generators available online that will automatically generate pointed psalms for any particular psalm tone and ending variant that I've long relied on.

This book, however, lets us in on something entirely new to me at least - what appears to be some 'secret monk business' (possibly secret newer office business, in which case this is a wonderful case of 'mutually enrichment!) - namely a 'universal' pointing system that provides one set of pointing for a verse that can be used to sing all of the different psalm tones and endings.

The system uses four different cues - bolding, italics, upper case and a circumflex (^) - but which ones you pay attention to and how depends on the particular psalm tone and ending of the psalm being sung.

The monks have put up an explanation of the system on their website - I hope though, that a version of this will be included in the next edition of the book, as it is not self-evident, and I haven't been able to find anything online that explains the system (or even much that mentions its existence!).

How it works

Consider for example, the first verse of Psalm 1 as it appears in the new Psalter:

Beátus vir, qui non ábiit in consílio impiórum, † et in via peccatôrum non stetit, * et in cáthedra pestiléntiâe non sedit :

To use the universal pointing, you need a key which tells you which of the markings in the psalm to take note of, and how.

For the first half of the psalm (up to the asterix), for example, the flex indicated by the dagger sign aside, some psalm tones (I, III, VII and tonus irregularis) have two change points from the reciting note, so you change on the two bolded syllables. 

For a second group of psalm tones (II and V), the change note occurs at the second bolded syllable, so you simply ignore the first bold.

For tones IV and VI, the note change occurs two syllables before the second bolded syllable, while in the Tonus Peregrinus, you change on the syllable with the cirumflex.

A similar set of cues for each tone is used for the second half of the psalm.

Easy to use

That might all sound a bit complicated, but in fact provided you have the key to the psalm tones  you want to sing, I have found that with a bit of practice, it is actually fairly straightforward to use.

Some of the psalm tones are much easier than others in the universal system (counting back a syllable or two from bolded syllables, for example, takes more effort than simply changing on the relevant symbol).

But after testing it out for a few of the hours, I've found that it quickly becomes normal and with time would become automatic.

The power of the system

And the learning time you put in upfront is worth it for the incredible power of the system: instead of having to leaf through several pages of a book or print out a separate page for each of the ten main chant tones and thirty eight or so possible endings, one set of pointing in combination with the key for each tone will do the job.

That certainly makes it worth the effort to learn the system.

It also means that this book can be a relatively small, relatively slim volume, instead of a massive tome like the Liber Usualis!

Singing the Office

Psalm pointing, I would suggest, is important for all levels of those who sing the Office, from absolute beginner to seasoned monk or nun, so I strongly urge you to buy it.

Psalm pointing is pretty much essential for absolute beginners learning to sing the psalms in chant.

But it is also extremely helpful for the more advanced singer, particularly for days where the standard antiphons (and thus chant tones) are not used, such as feasts and in particular seasons; and useful even to those who know the psalms and psalm tones very well indeed, as a way of avoiding those inevitable slipups that occur from time to time.

It will be particularly useful for monastic communities.

The book also contains, by way of introduction, the relevant sections of the Rule of St Benedict in Latin) dealing with the office, a useful reminder that the version of the Office being used is one that actually follows the Rule rather than more recent experimentation; as well as a longer version of the psalm tones and endings.

I highly recommend buying this, the Chavagnes (Glastonbury) monks have done a great service for us all here.

Book Review: A Companion to the Monastic Breviary

 

This book provides an English translation of the (1960) rubrics published in the 1963 monastic breviary.

The volume adds to the treasury of resources to support the Benedictine Office such as the Diurnal, providing, for the first time, a full, good, clear English translation of the rubrical materials of the Monastic Breviary of 1963, as well as some brief supporting notes on the individual hours.  

Companion to the breviary

The details of the book are:

Cameron Ackerman & Gerhard Eger, A Companion to the Monastic Breviary General Rubrics. General Rubrics of the breviary The year and its parts According to the Monastic Breviary of 1963 Translated from the Latin with commentary and instruction on the hours, Libri Sancti Press, Saint Louis: 2023, $12 US.

It can be obtained from Libri Sancti Press.

The book will be a very useful addition to the libraries of regular users of the Diurnal, Antiphonale or breviary who lack the necessary Latin to read the original text (which can be found both in the breviary and on the Divinum Officium website).  The supporting notes also bring together some material that will be of interest to readers.

Nonetheless, there are some things about the nature of the monastic rubrics that it may be helpful to know, in order to appreciate what the book will and won't help you with.

Pictured supplied

What the rubrics cover

First, it is worth knowing, I think, that these particular rubrics, whether in English or Latin, are a fairly arcane, technical set of instructions.  They are essentially a mix of five different kinds of material.  

The hours and their parts

The most important material for most users will surely be the descriptions of  the hours and their parts, and how this changes with different types of days, seasons and feasts.  

However, the material is fairly brief, not always comprehensive (see below) and most of it is replicated in various ways in the body of the breviary (or Diurnal).  

Reference material

The second category is useful reference material.  Some of this is relevant only to monastic communities (such as instructions on vestments and so forth), but there are certainly rubrics that the average user of the office should ideally read at least once, and then might wish to have on hand to consult as necessary.  This includes things like the rules around anticipating Matins, and when to make the sign of the cross, bow and so forth (most of which is optional in private recitation but good to know and do if possible).  

The Ordo

Mixed into these essentials is a lot of material on the order of precedence of feasts and days which is important only if you are putting together an Ordo (rather than just using one).  The material is important for monastic communities, but not necessarily for the average user of the Diurnal or breviary. And even then, in the vast majority of cases just consulting the 'two tables' (of occurrence and concurrence, also contained in the Diurnal) is generally an easier way of finding the answer! 

For the nerds!

The final category is a lot of material that will be of interest to liturgical nerds only.  

Most people will not, for example, want to learn how to calculate the date of Easter manually, or be rushing to find an updated table of Dominical Letters, Golden Numbers, and Martyrology Letters, since these are not needed for the purpose of actually saying the Office.  Instead, the tables containing the dates of fixed and moveable feasts each year (updated in the first edition of the Farnborough Monastic Diurnal to 2066) or an Ordo will do the job for you. 

Personally I would have been inclined to leave out the year and its parts, and perhaps included instead some of the other decrees and decisions included in the breviary, such as the terms of the original approval for them, the indult for priest oblates to say the Benedictine Office and so forth.  But maybe these can be included in the next edition!

The nature of rubrics...and the problems of this set of them!

The second thing you need to know about the rubrics is that, no matter how well translated, they do not constitute a particularly user friendly document, and often require some additional context to understand.  

Finding what you are looking for: the case of commemorations

First, key provisions are often scattered through the text.  

One of the most frequent queries I receive, for example, concerns commemorations (when can you do them and how). But the instructions on Memorials and Commemorations are spread across four separate sections (rubrics 5, 72-73, 100-108, and 239-248).   

Some of these separations of material can be outright misleading if you are not attuned to the technicalities of the language. Rubric 15, for example, states that Sundays of the First Class take precedence over all other feasts, with the sole exception being the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  Read on further, though, and you will find another exception, namely the Vigil of the Nativity (rubric 30), in a separate section, one presumes, because a Vigil is not a feast! 

Contradictory provisions

There are also a few instances where the rubrics as written are internally inconsistent, contradictory or clearly incorrect. 

A good example of this concerns Prime, where rubric 161b states that "The psalms are always said as found in the Psalter throughout the week." But in fact this is not the case during the Triduum.

Gaps and missing context

The biggest problem, though, is that there are several gaps in the rubrics, or places where further explanation is warranted. 

The top of the list in my view, is this one: 

"166.  On Easter and Pentecost Sundays and on the days within their octaves, everything is done as indicated in the Breviary."

The festal canticles

Similarly, you will look in vain for instructions on when the Benedicite (Sunday Lauds canticle), festal weekday or ferial canticles should be said.  

The only relevant rubric reads as follows: 

  "In monasteries where the festive canticles are recited at Lauds, the ferial canticles are said only in the seasons of Advent, Septuagesima, Lent and Passiontide, the Ember days of September, and on vigils of the II and III class outside Paschaltide." (translation from the Companion)

This does not mean, however, that one should use the festal canticles on all days other than those when the ferial canticles are used listed. In fact the normal practice is to use the Sunday canticle (never actually explicitly described as festal in either the rubrics or the breviary), not the festal canticle of the day of the week, when the festal psalms are said, such as on Class I&II feasts.  

In this particular case, the reason for not spelling this out is presumably because the permissions to use the festal canticles were originally the subject of specific indults to individual monasteries and congregations, and there were actually two different schemas approved (the most common parallels their use in the Roman Office, but an alternative schema is also noted in the Monastic Diurnal).

A monastic audience

None of these problems with the rubrics, of course, are the fault of the translators and editors of this book.  

Rather, the issue lies with the original authors, who were writing not for those unfamiliar with the Benedictine Office, but for existing monasteries in order to explain the changes made to the calendar and rubrics from those they had previously used. 

Still, it would have been helpful, I think, to include some footnotes to assist the reader on these type of issues.

Who still uses 1960 (63)?!

Finally, it has to be said that there is a certain irony in making the 1963 rubrics (actually technically of 1960, when they were approved, or 1961, when they came into effect) available in English at this point, given that as each year goes by, fewer and fewer monasteries and individuals actually use them.  

Those trying to puzzle out the rubrics or calendar from monastic podcasts, for example, won't necessarily find what they are looking for in them since the traditional monasteries all employ greater or lesser variations to the 1963 rubrics (and calendar).   

Quite a few monasteries ignore some or all of the (silly or perhaps even sinister) changes made to the psalter section of the breviary (cutting out several verses of Psalm 13 and the Saturday ferial canticle, and changing the division points for psalms 9 and 106), and just sing them as they appear in the (pre 1962) Psautier Monastique or Antiphonale Monasticum.

More than a few monasteries have restored selected feasts expunged in the 1960 monastic calendar, as well as some rubrics from prior breviaries, such as the use of 1 Vespers for Class II feasts and the office of Our Lady on Saturday.

Some congregations, such as the Fontgambault group of Solesmes monasteries, including Clear Creek, have their own particular calendar and rubrics (in their case, a unique blend of the Novus Ordo sanctoral calendar; monastic feasts, including some suppressed in the 1960 general calendar; and the older temporal cycle.

And at least one monastery has reverted altogether to the pre-1960 calendar and rubrics.  

Why you need the rubrics!

Still, while individual monasteries have a certain freedom to devise their own rubrics and calendars, individuals do not, so having a set of the rubrics readily available as a reference document is a great step forward.

Moreover, the 1963 breviary is still, theoretically at least, normative for the Benedictine Order.  Accordingly, this volume will be particularly helpful for newer or emerging religious communities seeking to establish their own calendar, as well as for established communities interested in or considering a return to tradition. 

Image supplied

The Instructional and spiritual commentary

The second component of the book is labelled a 'an instruction and commentary', and provides a set of brief notes on the structure, history and associations of each of the hours of the Benedictine Office. 

There is a lot to like in this section, which seeks to draw together rubrical, historical and spiritual material, much of which is quite engaging.

And the notes read very well - the notes on Matins in particular nicely integrate the instructions in the Rule with other contextual material. 

But if the aim of the descriptions of each hour is to guide those new to the Office through the rubrics, it would have been useful, I think, to have included cross-references to the relevant sections of the rubrics (and ideally also to the relevant sections of the breviary and/or Diurnal).  

In addition, while I particularly liked the inclusion of material on the Scriptural and allegorical associations of the hours, it is hard to see why a twelfth century commentary by a canon (Honorius Augustodunensis) merits a quote for each hour on any objective criteria. 

Finally, some of the historical material (particularly the claimed 'newness' of Prime and Compline) has arguably been overtaken by more recent research. 

But these are minor quibbles - while this part of the book isn't a full 'how to say the Office guide', the notes are certainly worth a read.

Overall, this is certainly a book you will want to have in  your library, to dip into as needed.

Picture supplied

Solesmes interim Nocturnale

A reader recently alerted me to the existence of the Solesmes Nocturnale (aka Liber Antiphonarius pro vigiliis cura scriptorii Paeographici solesmensis praeparatus Nocturnale ad interim, Solesmes, 2017), and asked if it was worth buying in terms of putting together Matins.

The short answer, particularly from a 1962 Office point of view, is no.

The slightly longer answer follow by way of an addition to my collection on Resources for Matins.

Why not to buy...

Despite the title, the book is not actually a full Nocturnale.

It does not provide the ferial texts or chants for Matins and provides only a limited selection of chants for thirteen feasts, all of which are readily available in other sources.

And the few 'new' responsories (for Tenebrae) are not used in the 1962 (and earlier) version of the Office.

It does include the texts of the psalms, but in the Neo-Vulgate.

And the selection of responsories and other texts often does not reflect the 1962 breviary, instead it rearranges them and in some cases replaces them with alternatives.

The changes

The book provides the texts for Tenebrae of Good Friday and Holy Saturday for example.  But it rearranges the order of some from that of the older breviaries, and adds alternative responsories in.

It is not really obvious to me why they have made these changes: while some of the 'new' responsories do seem to have been reasonably common in the manuscripts, a quick look at the Cantus Database suggests no more so than those that have been used in the Roman and Benedictine Breviaries since Trent.

Similarly, why has the last responsory of All Saints (Vidi angelum ascendentem) been dumped in favour of a responsory ascribed in the manuscripts to the Feast of the Holy Innocents?

Updated chants?

As far as I can see the book largely brings together updated versions of the chants that have already been published in other places, such as the Liber Hymnarius and assorted other Solesmes publications, rather than providing anything new.

Whether you like the updated versions will depend on your attitude to Solesmes methodology of building composite chants from the manuscripts, rather than simply selecting the best version from one.

We do need a true Benedictine Nocturnale - the best source for the ferial Office remains, as far as I know, an informal draft by Peter Sandhofe, and there remain at least fifty responsories included in the breviary for which I have been unable to find published versions of the chants for example.

Unfortunately, this is not it!

Book review: Monastic Breviary Matins**updated

If you need an English translation of Matins, the best books to acquire now are those from Gower monastery (Our Lady Queen of Apostles), as they follow the 1963 monastic Office.

In particular, this is one to avoid in my view:

Monastic Breviary MATINS according to the Holy Rule of Saint Benedict With additional rubrics and devotions for its recitation in accordance with the book of Common Prayer and Monastic Diurnal, Society of the Sacred Cross, 1961.

What it is

The book (MBM) is published by Lancelot Andrewes Press, an Orthodox printing press, using an Anglican text.  The psalm translation is Coverdale; Scriptural readings King James Version.

The rubrics largely reflect the pre-1955 breviary, so the calendar includes many Octaves, as well as a lot of very distinctly English and Anglican feasts.

What it contains

MBM contains all of the texts necessary to say a form of Matins in English only.

The Sunday cycle does not always align with the Roman/Benedictine 1963 calendar - the Sundays after Trinity Sunday for example contain quite different Gospels and Third Nocturn readings (presuambly it is an older Anglican schema).  It also omits many of the feasts of the 1963 calendar.

Pros and cons

My basic problem with it is that while the translations are often very beautiful, they are often quite at odds with the Vulgate.

The book is potentially a useful source of translations of the readings and responsories for study purposes, but personally I have found the translations of many of the texts just a little looser than seems desirable to me. I have to admit I had hoped to use this as at least a reference point for translations for missing responsories from Divinum Officium, as these at least seem to be out of copyright.  But on the feast of St Benedict, for example, where most of the responsories are adaptations of St Gregory's Dialogues, the versions provided in the MBM have often left in words cut out in the Latin, or otherwise failed to reflect the text of the responsory, as opposed to the text of the Dialogues.  Accordingly I gave up and went back to the Dialogues and a standard translation of them, and started from scratch again for myself.

From a practical point of view, like most breviaries it is not particularly user friendly, made even less so than others by separating out the responsories for Sundays into a separate section for much of the year.

In addition, the rubrics, for some strange reason, are in black, not red.

Nonetheless, others have successfully used this book, and many take a much more positive view of it, so if you would like to read a more positive appreciation of it, go here.

Older breviaries - how hard is it to adapt them to 1963?

Yesterday I looked at the 1963 breviary.  

If you are interested in buying an older breviary, though, it helps to have a sense of what you might be buying, so today a little potted history by way of context.

How hard is it to adapt an older breviary?

I have to admit that I haven't done a systematic comparison, but the bottom line to this is that, as far as I can discover is that the core texts and readings have not changed significantly since at least 1615, when the first official Benedictine breviary was approved.  There has, it is true, been some tweaking here and there, particularly where feasts have changed, but the core of the Office can be found in these older books.

The rubrics, however, have been simplified over time, and that does lead to significant discrepancies and gaps.  In essence, the older the book, the less the calendar will follow the 1963 order and the more feasts that will be missing, so the more work you will have to do to align the two.

Calendar reforms

It is worth noting that the key differences between the various books relates to the calendar.  

First, at various points in time, new feasts have been added and others dropped, or their level changed; when this happens the texts for the feasts can also change.

Secondly, the categories for feasts have changed over time.  The table, from the Wikipedia accessed 4.4.17 below summarises the changes for the Roman Mass and Office.  The Benedictine Rite didn't always entirely align with these, but was broadly updated to follow the Roman at various points in time.

Thirdly, the impact of different feasts on the Office has changed over time - commemorations sometimes had readings associated with them, for example, that displaced the text of the day in some cases.

Pope	Date	Ranking
-	Antiquity	Doubles				Simples
-	13th century	Doubles				Semidoubles	Simples
Pius V	1568	Doubles, I Class	Doubles, II Class	Doubles		Semidoubles	Simples
Clement Vlll	1602	Doubles, I Class	Doubles, II Class	Greater Doubles	Doubles	Semidoubles	Simples
Pius XII	1955	Doubles, I Class	Doubles, II Class	Greater Doubles	Doubles	Simples	Commemorations
John XXIII	1960	I Class	II Class	III Class			Commemorations
Paul VI	1969	Solemnities	Feasts	Memorials and Optional Memorials			Ferias

The adaptation task then, requires you to be familiar with the 1963 rubrics, so that you know what texts you need for a particular day, and then be prepared to do a bit of hunting to find them!

Making sense of the many old breviaries...

The key challenge in buying an earlier breviary is that if you look on Abebooks or elsewhere, there are often many different options that look similar.

I have to admit that my own knowledge of this topic is pretty sketchy, and I only own or have access to a couple of breviaries myself, so I am largely going to draw on the work (indented quotes below) of an anonymous commentator on the Saints Will Arise blog (cross-posted from an Amazon review) from some years ago, slightly edited and reordered.  I will, though, also add a few things I've gleaned since.

For the Roman Office, Mr DiPippio has provided an extensive description of the various changes that have been made since Trent, but I am not aware of an equivalent set of documentation for the Benedictine Office.  Please do jump in if you know more though.

Note that I am only going to talk about Benedictine breviaries here - there is a whole other history for the Cistercian form of the Benedictine Office.

A potted history of the monastic breviary

1.  Prior to the Council of Trent

Prior to the Council of Trent, each monastery (or Congregation) effectively set its own Office.  There was a substantial common core of hymns, antiphons and responsories from very early on, but manuscripts from various monasteries capture a large number of variants as well.  In the past Solesmes and other experts have largely drawn on these collections to construct their breviaries and chant books, but these days images of many of these manuscripts are now available online, and many of the key chants from them have been transcribed and are available through websites such as the Cantus Database.

2.  After Trent - Breviarium Monasticum ordinis sancti Benedicti (various editions) up to 1915

"Pope Paul V allowed the Benedictines to preserve their proper Rite for the Divine Office in his Bull "Ex injuncto nobis" (1 October 1612) according to the ordinance in the Bull "Quod a nobis" of Pope St. Pius V (9 July 1568) that dispensed certain Dioceses and Religious Orders from the obligation of adhering to the Roman Breviary reformed by order of the Œcumenical Council of Trent. The Congregation of Sacred Rites promulgated the typical edition of the Monastic Breviary on 24 January 1615"

My comment: A number of versions of the monastic breviary were issued in this period.  First, each Congregation seems to have had its own edition, with the differences mainly being in the feasts included/their level, particular prayers and votive offices.  Some congregations, for example, did not say the Votive Office of St Scholastica.

In addition, the breviary was updated to include new feasts and other calendar changes at various points.

3. 1915 to 1962

 "When Pope St. Pius X commenced the great reform of the Roman Rite by his Bull "Divino afflatu" (1 November 1911), the Abbot-Primate of the Benedictine Order, the Most Rev. Dom Fidelis von Stotzingen, requested the Apostolic See to approve an adaptation of the new reforms for the Monastic Breviary. By authority of Pope Benedict XV, the Congregation of Sacred Rites granted the request on 28 April 1915.

The reforms mentioned above did not affect the substance of the Monastic Office, the heart of which is the Psalter. Now that St. Pius X did away with the old Roman Psalter of immemorial origin, the Monastic Psalter is now the most ancient in the Latin Occident, having been ordained by St. Benedict in his Holy Rule (chapters viii-xviii) in the 6th century. The Latin texts of the Hymns predate the recension of Pope Urban VIII, which made the Hymns of the Roman Breviary conform to Classical metre.

The Monastic Rite had enthusiastically embraced the programme of reform established by St. Pius X for the Roman Rite by giving precedence to the Dominical and Ferial Offices above the Sanctoral Offices. Decades before the reforms of John XXIII, the Benedictines had already eliminated the "Semi-Duplex" rite in the Sanctoral Offices, expunged a great number of Saints' Feasts from the General Calendar of the Order, and had imitated the Ambrosian Rite in reducing all "Duplex" Feasts to commemorations in the Quadragesimal and Passiontide Seasons. The Monastic Rite had anticipated the limitation of the Athanasian Creed "Quicumque" to Trinity Sunday alone (which the Roman Rite did in the simplification of the Rubrics promulgated by the Congregation of Sacred Rites by authority of Pius XII in 23 March 1955) when it conformed to the reforms of St. Pius X." 

My comment: The table below provides the rest of the material summarised on Wikipedia, this time relating to twentieth century calendar changes.

Aside from the calendar and those changes mentioned above aside, the key change made in 1915 seems to relate to Lauds, with the introduction of the Roman 'festal canticles' as an option.

4. 1962-3 

"When the Congregation of Sacred Rites promulgated further reforms for the Roman Rite in the Decree "Novum Rubricarum" (26 July 1960) by authority of John XXIII, the Abbot-Primate of the Benedictine Order, the Most Rev. Dom Benno Gut, followed the example of his above-mentioned predecessor and the same Roman Congregation promulgated a new typical edition of the Monastic Breviary on 15 December 1962...Unlike the Roman Rite, the reforms of John XXIII left Monastic Matins intact."

My comment: Most of the changes made to the 1962 (actually published in 1963) breviary, as far as I can see, relate to the calendar and rubrics, and largely (though not entirely) align them with the 1962 EF Mass and Roman Office.

There were some (in my view highly undesirable) changes made to the psalter though, including changing the divisio points in some psalms, cutting out most of the Saturday ferial canticle at Lauds, and cutting out some verses that have always been included in the Vulgate version of Psalm 13 (but long been regarded as interpolations by some, including St Jerome).  The changes to Matins though were minor.

Book review: 1963 Monastic Breviary

Now that we have looked at all of the essential elements of Matins, I thought it would be appropriate to look at the official (1962-3) source for them, viz the 1963 breviary.

Breviarium Monasticum summorum pontificum cura recognitum per omnibus sub regula militatntibus iussu abbatis primatis editum, 2 vols, Marietti, 1963

This Latin only set of books remains the official breviary for Benedictines, although most monasteries have subsequently constructed their own versions of the Office in accordance with the instructions set out in the 1977 Thesauris and subsequent documents.

Introduced in 1963, it was (in theory at least) used by all monasteries up until around about 1969 (though some did start experimenting earlier).

What it contains

Volume 1 (Tomus Prior) starts at Advent and ends with Saturday Nones in the Octave of Pentecocst (ie the official end of Eastertide); Volume 2 covers the rest of the year, as well as the rubrics for the Office.

For those familiar with the Monastic Diurnal, the structure of the Breviary is very similar, although the order of some sections is not the same.  The key difference is that whereas the Diurnal only includes the texts in each section that relate to the day hours, the breviary also includes Matins.

The two books contain the text only; it does not contain the chants.

Pros and cons

The breviary contains all of the texts you need to say the Office and accordingly is the ideal reference book if you want to say Matins liturgically.

If your Latin is shaky, or a work in progress, you could use it in combination with a bilingual book such as the Gower Matins books.

The breviary is readily available in reprint form.

Book review: Liturgical readings

Liturgical Readings The Lessons of the Temporal Cycle and the Principal Feasts of the Sanctoral Cycle according to the Monastic Breviary, Grail Publications, St Meinrad, 1943 (various reprints; I am using one from 1954).

Liturgical readings, still available as a reprint, is a useful book to have, particularly if you want to say some of the feasts omitted from the 1963 calendar. 

That said, the Gower Matins books contain all of the translations necessary for the 1963 calendar.

What it contains

This book wasn't put out for liturgical use - although it has an imprimateur, it specifically says it was for study purposes - but it can readily be used in conjunction with the Office.

The first section of the book contains the Patristic readings for the temporal cycle of the year.  For each Sunday and fixed feast, it lists out the (Scriptural) first Nocturn readings, then provides the second and third Nocturn (Patristic) readings.  Through Lent, it provides the weekday Patristic readings, Gospel and collect.

The second half of the book covers most of the first and second class feasts of the sanctoral cycle.

As a bonus, because it dates from before the culling of Octaves, you get a number of extra readings for some feasts (including local feasts of St Meinrad).

The readings are not headed reading 1, reading 2 etc, but the divides the paragraphs to follow the divisions of the Office.

What it doesn't include

The key things missing from a practical point of view are texts for newer feasts added to the calendar or upgraded.  Most of these, however, can be filled in from other sources such as Divinum Officium and the supplement put out by Clear Creek.

It doesn't include the readings for Class III feasts.

And the really unfortunate omission from a practical point of view is the responsories.

Book reviews - Matins only psalters** (Matins according to the Benedictine Ritual & Stanhofe draft Psalter)

If you are looking for a Matins psalter, the best options now are the Brignoles Nocturnale Volume 1 (which includes all the chants for the ferial Office as well as the main seasonal texts); the Gower Latin-English Matins books; a breviary; or the Le Barroux Nocturnale Monasticum.

There are, though, two other useful sources of the psalms and common prayers worth noting. 

(1) Matins According to the Benedictine Ritual with a Supplement Latin-English, Clear Creek 2008.



The Clear Creek Matins book was originally intended primarily to help visitors to the monastery to follow Matins there, but is also available through Lulu.

What it contains

The book contains texts for Matins each day in Latin and English, other than the readings, responsories and collects.  It includes the main seasonal antiphons but not all of the variants (such as the Sunday invitatory antiphon during Lent for example).   The supplement actually mainly deals with the other hours, but does include some Matins texts.

The translation of the psalms is (I think) one of the Challoner-Douay-Rheims versions (though not the one that I have).

Pros and cons

This is an especially useful book for beginners as it lays out all the texts (such as Psalm 94) exactly as it is said for most of the year in full.  This layout means the repeated texts appear in each day's pages, reducing the need for page flipping.

Of course, the downside is that this makes it slightly harder to use for feasts and other occasions when some of the texts change.

In addition, unlike the Psautier Monastique, it doesn't contain many of the seasonal texts.  Still, if you are praying Matins devotionally, primarily in order to extend the number of psalms you are saying, the seasonal texts are not essential.

As it is put out by a monastery, though without a formal imprimateur, it can be argued to satisfy the requirement for official approval (in these days when many monasteries have used plastic folders and ad hoc editions for years, it is hard to insist on the letter of the Code when it comes to deciding what constitutes official books in my view!).

A reader has noted though that it only comes in paperback form, so it is unclear how well it will stand up to daily use.

(2) Holger Peter Stanhofe, Psalterium dispositum per hebdomadam pro nocurnis horis secundum regulam SS Patris Nostri Benedicti, 2002.


This is a draft of a Benedictine Nocturnale produced by the late Holger Peter Standhofe, who put together the Nocturnale Romanum, and unfortunately never quite completed.  It is Latin only, but includes the standard texts and chants for the psalter section of Matins each day.

It can be freely downloaded here.

The text is a draft only, and unfortunately there are quite a few errors scattered through it - missing initials and mistakes in the psalter.  

Books reviews: Psalters (the Psautier Monastique & Psalterium Monasticum)

Today I want to provide you with some notes on possible books to acquire.  As I noted in the last post in this series, there are basically three categories of books you can use for the psalms of Matins:

• breviaries, which contain all of the texts for the Office (but not the chants);
• Matins only books; and 
• psalters which include the psalms and some of the other key texts.

Why consider buying a psalter?

Today I want to look at two books in the last category.

Both the books discussed below are current officially approved books, complete with imprimateur, so a useful reference point if you want to pray to Office liturgically, 

The big reason for choosing a psalter over a breviary, the other 'officially' approved bok, though, really comes down to price.  A 1963 breviary in particular is hard to find and pretty expensive.  The various psalters by contrast are readily available at a reasonable price, and can be used for all of the hours, not just Matins.

But they have a few other advantages too.

The options

(1) Psalterium cum canticis novi et veteris testamenti iuxta regulam S P N Benedicti & alia schemata liturgiae horarum monastiae cum cantu gregoriano cura et studio monachorum solesmensium, Solesmes, 2012 (reprint of 1980).

This is one I'm including largely for the sake of completeness, as it uses the neo-Vulgate psalms of 1979 which, as I noted yesterday, I don't recommend.  

That said, this psalter is used in most monasteries who use the Novus Ordo Mass and if you are an oblate of such a monastery, you should probably consider using it, alongside the new Antiphonales put out by Solesmes aligned to the new calendar.

What it contains

This is a Latin only book.

It includes the psalms laid out for each hour, including Matins, with standard daily prayers, and the antiphons with chant tones.  The type face is reasonably sized (though not as large as the Psautier Monastique which I will discuss below).

It also contains pretty much all the texts for the seasons and feasts of saints (ie invitatory, hymns, antiphons and listings of where to find the psalms, and collects).

Another nice feature are the short Scriptural or Patristic quotes that point to the meaning of the psalms.

Pros and cons

This is actually a very nicely laid out book, containing pretty much everything you need for Matins except the readings and responsories.

It is not really usable for the 1963 Office though - the antiphons have been updated to conform with the neo-Vulgate so are not always the same as in the older books, and it contains a number of other quirks, such as an antiphon for Psalm 3 at Matins!

(2) Psautier Latin-Francais du Breviare Monastique En Supplement: L'Ordinaire de l'office au temps de l'Advent du Careme, de la Passio et de Paques...Desclee &Cie, 1938, 2012 reprint  Editions Sainte-Madeleine (at time of writing, 35 Euros + shipping from Abbaye Le Barroux)

This is a book I recommend seriously considering acquiring, particularly if you are a french-speaker.

It is the book used on a day to day basis in most of the traditional monasteries for Matins as far as I can work out.  

What it contains

As for the Psalterium, it contains the psalms and prayers for all of he hours including Matins, together with a french translation.

It also contains a short commentary in french on the psalms.

Most of the texts necessary for the seasons (including Office of Our Lady on Saturday) are also included, but not those for the feasts of saints (presumably because these are largely included in the Liber Responsorialis).

Pros and cons

Like the Psalterium, this book contains most of the texts you will need on a daily basis for Matins except for the readings and responsories.  Though heavy, the book is not too large to hold and the type size is nice and large, a big bonus as far as I am concerned.

It doesn't number the psalms of Matins (ie 1 to 6) though, so it is easy to lose track of where in the Nocturn you are up to.  It also omits the commons and texts for saints and that's kind of annoying.

The really major disadvantage of it though, from my point of view, is that it does not contain any of the chants at all.

And while it is nice to have a commentary on the psalms in theory, it very much reflects its early twentieth century date of composition - though perfectly orthodox, it focuses unduly, in my opinion, on the literal rather than spiritual meanings of the psalms so for me at any rate, is not actually that helpful.

Psalter vs Matins only books

The big downside of these two books is that neither is Latin-English, so if you are an English speaker and your Latin isn't great, or you are planning to pray Matins in English, you probably need to look at one of the Matins only resources, which I will cover in the next post.

Book review: Liber Responsorialis (1895)

Liber Responsorialis pro Festis I Classis et communi Sanctorum iuxta ritum monasticum Adnectuntur Invitatorium et Hymnus Aliorum Festorum, Solesmes, 1895

Where to find it

The good news is that the Liber Responsorialis (with 1924 supplement) can be downloaded for free from the CC Watershed library: Liber Responsorialis (194 MB).

What it contains

The book provides the chant for invitatory, hymn, antiphons (and listing the psalms they are attached to) and at least some of the responsories for a selection of major feasts and seasons.

It also contains some of the 'ordinary' chants, such as the chant tones for Psalm 94.

The book can be frustrating in its gaps though.

The proper of time section, for example, contains the complete chants for Christmas and the Epiphany, for example, but then bypasses Lent altogether, skipping straight to Easter.  The separate 'responsories of time' section contains some of the responsories for Sundays of the year, but typically only one or two (out of twelve).

The list of feasts it covers is quite small and eclectic.

What it doesn't contain

The chants are for major feasts including some Sunday responsories - but it doesn't contain the weekday hymns and texts used throughout the year.  There are also quite a few responsories for Sundays of the year missing.

The Brignoles Nocturnale project is slowly working fill in these gaps, but in the interim, you can find some of the responsories on the Nocturnale Romanum Project website, and supplement it with this book where possible.