Learn the Office 2.14: The short responsories of Lauds and Vespers

What is the short responsory?

There are two types of responsories that are used in the Office - the 'prolix' responsories of Matins, also used at I Vespers of major feasts by some monasteries; and the short responsories (responsoria brevia) of Lauds and Matins.

The key challenge in saying the responsories is that while the form of the short responsory is written out in full for Sunday Lauds (MD 52), after that they are only provided in abbreviated form, so if you want to say Lauds and Vespers you need to learn how the responsory works.

The structure of the responsory

If the normal responsory for Sunday Lauds was summarised the way it usually is in Office books it would look like this:

R Inclina cor meum, Deus, * In testimonia tua. Inclina. V Averte oculos meo ne videant vanittem, in via tua vivifica me. In testimonia. Gloria Patri. Inclina

The red letters are cues to remind you that you need to fill out the text.

In chant books, as the illustration above shows, only the parts with separate chants are normally written out in full.

But from the abbreviated version provided above:

R Inclina cor meum, Deus, * In testimonia tua. Inclina. V Averte oculos meo ne videant vanittem, in via tua vivifica me. In testimonia. Gloria Patri. Inclina

What is actually said is:

Inclina cor meum, Deus, * In testimonia tua.
Inclina cor meum, Deus, * In testimonia tua.
Averte oculos meo ne videant vanittem, in via tua vivifica me.
In testimonia tua.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.
Inclina cor meum, Deus, * In testimonia tua.

Saying the responsory

In private recitation, you sing or say the whole thing, including all of the repetitions.  But it actually makes more sense when you think about how it is performed in a monastery.

The Respond

In a monastery, the opening line (respond) is sung by the person leading the Office for the day (hebdomadary), the whole line is then repeated by everybody:

Inclina cor meum, Deus, * In testimonia tua.

The Verse

The person leading the Office then sings the verse:

Averte oculos meos, ne videant vanitatem: in via tua vivifica me.

The respond

Everyone then replies with the second half of the first line:

 In testimonia tua.

The short doxology

Then a short doxology (note that the normal followup verse Et in saecula...is not added) is sung by the person leading:

Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.

The Respond again

Everyone then responds by repeating the whole of the first line (Inclina cor meum...In testimonia..).

Where to find the responsories

The 'default' responsories for Lauds and Vespers for Sundaysand weekdays throughout the year are included in the psalter section of your Office book.

These responsories are, however, often displaced by those for feasts or seasons, found in the 'sanctoral', Commons, or 'temporale' sections of the Office books.

In some cases, such as Octaves of a feast, the Antiphonale Monasticum provides a slightly more elaborate version for use at I Vespers of the feast, and then a ferial version for use throughout the week.

The chants currently employed for the short responsories are very simple, usually employing only around three standard formulas, and so can easily be learnt.

Practice

You can check your understanding of how to read the cues in your Office book by looking at the text for Lauds for Christmas in the Diurnal (MD 72*) (Verbum caro).  Write out the responsory in full, then cross-check what you have written against the recording below.

(Nb if the recording is not accessible in your location, write out your answer and put it in the comments box if you'd like me to check it).

SUMMARY

Short responsories are used at Lauds and Vespers.

Office and chant books typically do not write out the responsories in full, so you need to learn how to expand the cues given.

The basic format of the responsory is:

Respond (said twice in full)

Verse

Second half of the respond

Short doxology

Respond

And for the next part in this series, continue on here.

Learn the Office 2.13: The Marian antiphons

The Marian antiphons 

Compline concludes each night with a Marian 'Antiphon' (in reality a host hymn or anthem), versicle and a short prayer.

The Marian antiphons are so named because they were originally used as antiphons to the psalms or canticles - but they have been sung as standalone anthems since at least 1239, when Pope Gregory IX ordered that the antiphon proper to the season be sung at the end of the Divine Office.

There are four different antiphon/versicle/prayer sets that are used in the current Office, depending on the time of year:

• Alma Redemptoris Mater (Advent up until to the Feast of the Purification);
• Ave Regina Caelorum (Purification to Maundy Thursday);
• Regina Caeli laetare (Easter Sunday until the end of the Octave of Pentecost); and
• Salve Regina (the rest of the year).

Singing the Marian antiphons

If you are singing the Office, each of the Marian antiphons have both a 'simple' and a 'solemn' tones, the chants for which can be found in the Antiphonale Monasticum (as well as many other places) under Compline.

The 'Solemn tone' is used on Saturday and Sunday night, and major feasts.

The concluding section of Compline

The rubrics for the closing section of Compline are summarised in the table below.

The final section of Compline	WORDS	GESTURES
ANTIPHON OF OUR LADY	Varies by time of year – Salve Regina, Alma Redemptoris Mater, Ave regina caelorum, Regina caeli laetare	Said kneeling except Saturdays, Sundays and Eastertide.
VERSICLE	Varies to fit with antiphon
COLLECT	Varies to fit with antiphon
VERSICLE	V. Divínum auxílium máneat semper nobíscum. R. Et cum frátribus nostris abséntibus. Amen.	In some places, sign of the cross is m

And for the next part in this series, on responsories, continue on here.

Learn the Office 2.12: The concluding prayers Pt 3: Commemorations

On the feast of Saints and on all festivals let the Office be performed as we have prescribed for Sundays, except that the psalms, antiphons and lessons belonging to the particular day are to be said; but the general arrangement of the Office shall be as laid down above.

Rule of St Benedict, chapter 14

What is a commemoration?

In St Benedict's time, relatively feasts were included in the calendar in most places.  Over time, however, the number of feasts has proliferated, necessitating the development of a ranking system for the various feasts, and ways of dealing with cases where one feast (or day) displaces another.   

Commemorations are part of this system, and are used the lowest level of saints days (memorials), or when the feast or day is displaced by a higher level day or feast.  

Where a commemoration is made, it comes immediately after the collect of the day, and normally consists of:

• an antiphon (either for the Benedictus if the commemoration is at Lauds, or for the Magnificat at Vespers);
• the short verse and response, or versicle, that would have been said with the canticle at Lauds or Vespers;
• and the prayer (collect) that would have used on the relevant feast or day. 

Memorials

In the 1962 calendar, memorials are the lowest level way of marking a saints feast, and the feast is marked in the Office by making a commemoration at Lauds.

The Monastic Diurnal usually sets out the antiphon, verse and collect you need to make the commemoration in the correct order, so you simply insert these after the collect of the day.  

If you are singing the Office, the Aniphonale Monasticum includes a section providing the chants for commemorations from the Common of Saints starting at page 735.

The key exception to the 'how to make a commemoration' rules is feasts of SS Peter and Paul, where the commemoration is made by combining two collects (one pertaining to each saint) under one concluding formula.

Commemorating higher level days and feasts

Where the commemoration relates to a displaced feast or day however days you might need to pull these three texts out from a number of different places in the texts for the day or feast.

During Lent, for example, when the 'feria' is displaced by a feast, a commemoration is made at both Lauds and Vespers using:

• the canticle antiphon for the ferial day for either Lauds or Vespers respectively (ie for the day of the week of Lent);
• the versicle that would have been said with the canticle (from the Ordinary of Lent); and 
• the Lenten collect that would have been said at Lauds or Vespers on that day.

How do commemorations arise?

Commemorations basically occur for two reasons:

(1) To mark the feast of a saint listed as 'memorial' in the Diurnal (ordinary commemorations)

This is the lowest level way that the Office takes note of a saint - the feast doesn't affect any of the hours except Lauds, and then only adds a few prayers onto the end of the hour after the collect of the week.

The Ordo for July 3 for example says: Class IV; SS Processus and Martinian, memorial.  It then points you to page [184] of the Monastic Diurnal for the texts you need for the commemoration of the saint.

(2) Feasts displaced by a higher level feast or day

When two feasts or 'days' clash there are rules about which one to celebrate.

During Lent, for example, all third class feasts are reduced to commemorations marked  at Lauds only.

Conversely, Lent days are regarded as so important that they are usually commemorated at both Lauds and Vespers even when a Class I or II feast displaces the Lenten feria.

Similarly, Sundays usually take precedence over other feasts, but if they are displaced by a first class feast, they will normally be commemorated.

And Second Class feasts displaced by the Sunday also usually warrant a commemoration.

The tables of  'occurrence' or 'concurrence'

There are two tables at the front of the Monastic Diurnal (see page xxv) that summarise the rules on which feasts take precedence, and what notice, if any, is taken of the other feast.

The first (ocurrence) deals with what happens when two feasts or days fall on the same date in a particular year.  The second deals with what happens at a clash between two feasts or days at Vespers (ie do you say II Vespers of the feast of the day, or I Vespers of the following day, with or witout a commemoration of the other).

The tables basically reflect the principle that whether a day is commemorated at Lauds only, or at both Lauds and Vespers, is whether it is a 'privileged' commemoration (first class feasts; Sundays; Octave of Christmas; September Ember Days; Lent, Advent and Passiontide days; Major Litanies) or not.

How many commemorations?

There are also rules about how many commemorations can be said on a particular day.  

On first class feasts, for example, only one commemoration is permitted, and then only if it is a 'privileged' commemoration.

On normal Sundays (Class II), only one commemoration is permitted, of either a first or second class feast.

On second class days, one privileged and one ordinary commemoration can be said.

On third or fourth class days, two commemorations can be made.

Where there is a clash, the highest ranking commemoration(s) are used, and any others are dropped for that year. 

SUMMARY

Commemorations are a way of marking the feasts of the lowest ranked saints, or of a feast or day displaced in the calendar in a particular year.

Commemorations are usually made at Lauds only, though they can also be said at Vespers in some circumstances.

Commemorations normally consist of an antiphon, versicle and collect, said immediately after the collect of the day.

Learn the Office 2.0: The individual components of the Office

So far this series has covered some general introductory points on the traditional Benedictine Office.

Why you need to know the rules for the individual components of the Office

In this next section (labelled Learn the Office 2.0-12), I plan to go through each of the individual components that make up the Office.

Each of the components of the Office have specific rules attached to them that generally apply across each of the hours where they are used.

Although the particular texts used changes, the general principles don't.

That includes things like some words that get added on to the end of particular parts of the Office (but not always spelt out in Office books), such as 'Amen', or 'Thanks be to God'.

It can also include rubrics - such as standing or bowing for a particular part of the Office.

So if you know how to say or sing the 'chapter' verse of Prime, you also know how to say it at Lauds, Vespers and the other hours.

How to use these notes

I have listed out all the posts in this section of the series below.

You can either choose to work through them systematically, or just look up the particular element of the Office that you are unsure how to say when you encounter it in the Office.

As Compline is the simplest hour to learn as it is basically the same each day, so I've started with the components of it, and followed the order they appear in that hour (with a few interpolations to cover of other hours) so you can get started straightaway with this hour.

2.1 The short lesson at Compline

2.2 Examination of conscience and confession at Compline

2.3 Versicles

2.4 The opening prayers of the hours - used at all of the day hours (Lauds to Vespers, and in the middle of Compline, each day).

2.5 How the psalms are said Pt 1: The psalms, and psalms without antiphons  (Psalms without antiphons are used at Compline,Lauds and Matins)

2.6 Psalms Pt 2: Psalms and canticles with antiphons (How the psalms and canticles are said at Lauds to Vespers)

2.7 Psalms Pt 3: Singing the psalms and antiphons

2.8 The Office hymns

2.9 The chapter (verse)

2.10 The closing prayers of the Office Pt 1: Structure - the framework used at all of the day hours.

2.11 The closing prayers of the Office Pt 2: Collects

2.12 The closing prayers of the Office Pt 3: Commemorations and memorials

2.13 The Marian antiphon at Compline

2.14 The short responsory at Lauds and Matins

Looking at the individual hours

In the third part of this series, I will go through the structure of the day hours to show you how the various components of the Office are used in each hour, and give you a bit of a flavour of each hour.

And follow the link to go to the next part in this series, on the opening reading at Compline.