Learn the Office 3.1: Compline

At Compline the same psalms are to be repeated every day: that is, the fourth, the ninetieth, and the hundred thirty-third.

Rule of St Benedict ch 18

Compline is the easiest hour to learn as it is the same every day.  It is also the perfect way of ending your day.

About Compline

Said last thing in the evening, this hour teaches us how to deal with the darkness that inevitably surrounds us in this world, and above how to prepare ourselves for death, of which sleep is a symbol.

The structure of Compline is described in St Benedict’s Rule in Chapters 17 and 18, however over time the hour has been elaborated somewhat with the addition at the beginning of a new ‘opening section’ that includes a short reading warning of the dangers of the night and an examination of conscience and confession of sins; at the end with a Marian antiphon and prayer.

Compline basically splits into five sections:

• the first reminds us that we are participants in spiritual warfare, and asks us to reflect on where we have fallen during the day, and commit to repentance;
• the psalms particularly remind us of the help God gives us as we fulfill our duty to worship him;
• the hymn, chapter, response and prayers all ask for God's help in getting through the night;
• a final antiphon (and prayer) for Our Lady;
• in a monastery, this would be followed by the abbot sprinkling the monks with holy water, usually while the relevant verses of Psalm 50 are chanted. At home, no reason, it seems to me, why you can't use some holy water to bless yourself and recite the verse Asperges me hyssopo (from Psalm 50).

 Then the Great Silence falls....

Getting started

You can find Compline in the psalter section of the Diurnal, starting at page 256. It is very similar (though not identical) to the traditional Roman Rite version of Compline for Sundays.

A good way to get started is to follow this video - note though that there are some changes you need to make when saying it by yourself, as noted below (and in the post on Diurnal shortcuts and traps).

You could also try following along with the monks of Le Barroux.

Following Compline in your book

The table below gives you the key words (in Latin) that start each section of Compline, in the first column.

The relevant page numbers in the Monastic Diurnal (MD) and Antiphonale Monasticum (AM) are in the last column. 

The notes column provides advice on the rubrics (note that gestures and postures are optional in private recitation).

If you are familiar with the traditional Roman Office, the table is probably all you need, as the Benedictine version is very similar to Sunday Compline in the 1962 Office (or daily Compline in the pre 1911 Office).  The key differences are that the psalms are said without antiphon, and the Nunc Dimittis is not said (except during the Triduum).

For those who are familiar with the 1970 Liturgy of the Hours or are complete beginners, I would recommend working your way through the links on the Office components (second column) if you haven't already.

There are also links to notes on the psalms of the hour, to help you learn the Latin and get a deeper sense of their meaning.

KEY WORDS	OFFICE COMPONENT (with links to rubrics notes)	NOTES	PAGE
Jube Domne/Pray father, a blessing	Blessing and short lesson	Kneel for the blessing, stand for the reading.	MD 256 AM 167
Adjutorium nostrum/Our help…	Versicle	+	MD 257 AM 167
Confiteor/I confess	Examen and confession (or Pater Noster in silence)	Use formula for éxta chorum’/out of choir.  Bow.	MD 258-9 AM 167-9
Converte nos Deus (Convert us O Lord)	Versicle	+ Stand	MD 259 AM 169
Deus in adjutorium/O Lord come to my aid	Opening prayers	Stand
Cum invocarem/When I cried (Ps 4)	Psalms without antiphons	Sit after the half of the first verse has been sung; stand for the doxology ‘Gloria Patri...’ which is added to the end of each psalm.	MD 260 AM 169
Qui habitat/He that dwelleth (Ps 90)			MD261 AM 169
Ecce Nunc/Come now, bless the Lord (Ps 133)			MD 262 AM 170
Te Lucis ante Terminum/To Thee before the close of day	Hymn	Stand. Hymn tones varies with season, feast and day	MD 263 AM 170-172
Tu autem Domine	Chapter		MD 263 AM 1762
Custodi nos Domine	Versicle		MD 263 AM  172
Kyrie eleison	Closing prayers including the collect and final blessing	Note that the litany is not doubled (or trebled). Stand or knell (in Lent and Advent) Bow for Pater Noster, collect and blessing.	MD 264-5 AM 172 (omit the section labelled ‘Preces’, not used in the 1962 Office)
[Antiphon of the season]	Marion antiphon, versicle and collect	Simple tones used weekdays; solemn for Saturdays, Sundays and feasts. Said kneeling except Saturdays, Sundays and Eastertide.	MD 265-69 AM 173-180

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

Learn the Office 3.0: The hours

At the hour of Divine Office let each one, as soon as he hears the signal, lay aside whatever he may be engaged with and respond with all speed, yet also with gravity, that no occasion be given for levity. Let nothing, then, be preferred to the Work of God.

Rule of St Benedict, ch 43

In this third section of 'Learn the Office' notes, I am going to pull together the notes on each of the components of the hour, by setting them in the context of the structure of each hour.

Those who are familiar with the traditional Roman Office could jump straight to this section, and use it to cross-check on differences with the Roman version of the hour.

Those less familiar with the Office can use it to work through the components of each hour systematically, by following the links.

Order of learning

Unless you are bound to say the Office (ie are a priest or religious), you don't have to say any or all of the hours.

Accordingly, I strong recommend starting with Compline, then when you are comfortable with it, adding Prime as a morning prayer.

Once you are comfortable with those hours, learning the Little Hours (Terce, Sext and None) is very straightforward.

Lauds and Vespers are the longest and most complex of the day hours, particularly on feasts and during seasons such as Lent, so I suggest learning them last.

And Matins is the most complex of all, and not easy to fit into a layperson's schedule.

The order in which the hours are said

Whichever hours you decide to say, remember that they should always be said in their correct order, viz:

Matins (in the early morning in darkness, at the 'eighth hour of the night', but can be anticipated the night before)

Lauds

Prime
The capitular Office

Introduction to Terce, Sext and None
Terce
Sext
None

Vespers

Compline (before bed)

Next part in the series

And to simply continue on to the next part in this series, go here.

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.

Learning the Office 2.11 - The concluding prayers of the Office Pt 2: The collect and its concluding formulas

Christ both composed and established prayers for us to intercede with the Lord.  When, therefore the apostles sought to entreat with God and did not know how to intercede, they said to Christ: ‘Lord, teach us to pray’, that is, compose prayers for us.  Immediately the Lord taught from the book of the heavenly law how they should pray or how they should beseech the Lord.  From this the custom of the church has grown to entreat God by prayers against sorrows of the soul and to use prayers like those that Christ constituted, and like those the first Greeks began to compose by which the Lord was supplicated.

Isidore of Seville, De Ecclesiasticis Officiis, Bk I ch 9.

The closing prayers follow the same basic structure at all the hours.

There are potentially two key moving parts though -  the collect and the commemoration(s).  This post covers collects.

About collects

If you read the description of the Office in the Rule of St Benedict, you will not find an explicit reference to the saying of a collect - instead St Benedict uses rather more generic descriptions of the concluding prayers.

There are two main theories to explain this.

The first is that the term 'missae' generally translated as dismissal, did in fact include some intercessory prayers of the type that appear in later breviaries, such as prayers for absent brethren.

The alternative, though, is that collects were not included because of the specifically monastic, as opposed to clerical, character of the Benedictine Office in its origins.

St Jerome, for example, mentions that the saying of the collect was thought appropriate to a priest rather than a (normally lay) monk, and there are some early descriptions examples of the clergy joining the Office specifically to say the collect and give the blessing.  And as late as the thirteenth century, William Durandus gives the collect of the Office a specifically priestly character in his description of the Office.

In their earliest form, collects probably didn't follow the annual liturgical cycle as they do now.

Instead, the earliest surviving set of Office collects from sixth century Rome, which were probably used in the 'tituli' (more or less equivalent to parish churches) provided two for each day of the week, probably for Matins and Vespers respectively.

As the Office developed over time, though, the Office became less ferial and more aligned to the changes of seasons, saints and liturgical weeks in part by using the same collects at both the Mass and Office, at least for some of the hours.

Where the collect occurs in the Office

The collect is part of the concluding section of each of the day hours.  The table below show where it fits in the standard closing of each hour.

LATIN	ENGLISH
Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison	Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy
Pater noster…	Our Father…
Domine, exaudi orationem meam Et clamor meus ad te veniat	O Lord hear my prayer And let my prayer come unto Thee
Oremus	Let us pray
INSERT  COLLECT HERE
[Sometimes at Lauds and/or Vespers: commemoration]
Domine, exaudi orationem meam Et clamor meus ad te veniat	O Lord hear my prayer And let my prayer come unto Thee
Benedicamus Domino Deo Gratias	Let us bless the Lord Thanks be to God
Fidelium animae… [omitted at Compline and replaced with blessing]	May the souls of the faithful departed……

Where to find the text of the collect

At some hours and days, the collect is a fixed part of the hour or Office.

In particular, the collect is the same each day at Prime and Compline (a few very special days such as All Souls and the Sacred Triduum), and can be found in the psalter section of your Office book.

Similarly, on fourth class Saturdays (Class IV), the collect for Matins, Lauds and Terce to None is from the Office of Our Lady on Saturday (note some monasteries also retain the older custom of starting the Office of Our Lady on Saturday at Friday Vespers).

At all the other hours, the collect will be of the week (the relevant Sunday of the year), day or feast, and so will normally be found in either the Proper of the Season or Proper of Saints (or Common if there isn't a proper prayer) section of the Diurnal.  

For most of the year the 'default' collect, used on days that are not feasts from Saturday Vespers (I Vespers of Sunday) to Friday Vespers is that of the Sunday of the year.  Note that it is the same prayer that is said at (the EF) Mass.  During the more intensive times of the liturgical year, there may a collect (or even two) for each day of the week.

The table below summarises the source of the collect for each hour.

HOUR	SOURCE OF COLLECT
Matins, Lauds, Terce-None	Sunday - Friday (or Saturday if Class III without a proper prayer): Of the Sunday (ie the week), day or feast Class IV Saturdays: Of the Office of Our Lady
Prime	Collect of Prime, Monastic Diurnal  (MD) and Antiphonale Monasticum (AM) pg 8 (Domine Deus omnipotens...)
Vespers	Sunday-Friday: Of the Sunday (ie the week), day or feast Saturdays: Of the coming Sunday
Compline	Collect of Compline, MD 264, AM 173 (Visita quaesumus Domine)

The simplest way to work out where to fine the appropriate collect in your book is to use an Ordo, such as the one on the Saints Will Arise Blog.

The conclusions to the collects

Collects generally end in one of several set formulas.

Most of the time Office books do not, however, write out the full conclusions to the collects, they just provide a few key words to remind you to add it to the text provided.

It is important to keep in mind that there are several different conclusions to the collects, indicated by slightly different key words, such as PER DOMINUM NOSTRUM, or PER EUNDEM DOMINUM.

You can find the full set of variants written out in full in the Diurnal on page xxix.

If you look at the concluding prayers for Compline, at MD 264, the collect appears in the Diurnal more or less like this (I've bolded the key words):

Oratio . Orémus. Vísita, quǽsumus, Dómine, habitatiónem istam, et omnes insídias inimíci ab ea lónge repélle: Ángeli tui sancti hábitent in ea, qui nos in pace custódiant; et benedíctio tua sit super nos semper. Per Dóminum nostrum . R. Amen.

Prayer Let us pray  Visit, we beseech thee, O Lord, this dwelling, and drive far from it the snares of the enemy; let Thy holy angels dwell herein to preserve us in peace, and let Thy blessing be always upon us. Through our Lord, R. Amen.

Instead of just saying 'Per Dominum nostrum' or 'Through our Lord', though, you need to add on the whole conclusion to the prayer.

So what you actually say is:

Orémus. Vísita, quǽsumus, Dómine, habitatiónem istam, et omnes insídias inimíci ab ea lónge repélle: Ángeli tui sancti hábitent in ea, qui nos in pace custódiant; et benedíctio tua sit super nos semper. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum.  Amen.

Let us pray Visit, we beseech thee, O Lord, this dwelling, and drive far from it the snares of the enemy; let thy holy angels dwell herein to preserve us in peace, and let thy blessing be always upon us. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, Who with Thee liveth and reigneth, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

You can find the ending written out in the Diurnal in the reference material at the front of the Diurnal on MD  xxix.

It looks like this:


The words in upper case are the cue words that the Diurnal gives you to tell you which one to use, so it is important to be able to find this page when you need it, and recognise the cues.

Singing the collect

The chant tones for the collects can be found in the Antiphonale Monasticum.

There is a solemn tone, for use at Lauds and Vespers at AM 1237, and simple tone for the other hours at AM 1240.

The antiphonale also provides chant tones for the alternative endings (AM 1241).

SUMMARY

A collect, or short prayer, is included in the concluding prayers of each of the hours.

At Prime and Compline it is the same each day; the Office of Our Lady on Saturday also has a fixed collect.  At the other hours the ‘default’ collect is of the Sunday, but feasts, special days and during some seasons of the year special collect(s) displace the Sunday collect.

Most office books do not write out the conclusion to the collect in full – instead it gives you a few words as a cue to the appropriate ending.

And you can find the next part of this series, covering commemorations, here.