A quick guide to Matins Part 2

 In the first part of this brief overview of Matins, I provided something of an overview of the hour.  

In this part, I want to point you particularly to the opening section of the hour and the psalmody, and where to find it in your Office book.

Where to find Matins in your book

If you are using a breviary, the core texts for Matins can be found starting immediately after Prime for Monday to Saturday.  For each day of the week, the breviary starts with Matins and then provides Lauds of the day before moving to Matins of the next day.

In breviaries and the Le Barroux Nocturnale, the psalter section is towards the middle of the book

 Page numbers for the basic texts for each day of the week for the most commonly used books are set out in the table below.

Matins page numbers
OFFICE BOOK	Gower (For Sundays, ferias…)	Brignoles Nocturnale vol 1 (Psalter)	Breviary (1963)	Le Barroux Nocturnale Monasticum
Dominica (Sunday)	Pg 4	Pg 9	Pg (22)	Pg 652
Monday (Feria II)	Pg 28	Pg 48	Pg (58)	Pg 668
Tuesday (Feria III)	Pg 49	Pg 70	Pg (85)	Pg 678
Wednesday (Feria IV)	Pg 64	Pg 86	Pg (105)	Pg 690
Thursday (Feria V)	Pg 82	Pg 104	Pg (126)	Pg 703
Friday (Feria VI)	Pg 101	Pg 123	Pg (149)	Pg 714
Sabbato (Saturday)	Pg 118	Pg 141	Pg (172)	Pg 715

 Where to find the "ordinary' of Matins

 The first challenge you will encounter though, is that each of these books takes a different approach on where it places the various texts of the opening section of the hour.

In essence, as the table below illustrates, the opening section of the hour has a fixed structure used for ordinary (ferial) days, Sundays and feasts alike.  But the invitatory antiphon and hymn are of the day of the week.

Note that the links in the table go to more detailed notes on each of these Office components.

OPENING SECTION	VARIABLE COMPONENTS
Opening prayer - Domine labia mea aperies
Psalm 3 - 'in directum'
Invitatory antiphon (integrated with Psalm 94)	Of the day, feast or season
Psalm 94
Hymn	Of the day, feast or season

Note that Psalm 94 is said responsorially rather than antiphonally: the invitatory antiphon is repeated twice in full at the beginning, then inserted after each couple of verses either in full or in part, so if you aren't familiar with how to do this, do look carefully at the more detailed notes on how to say (or preferably) sing it!

The various books differ on whether to put all of the repeated components in a separate section or under the Sunday, and then whether to repeat some or all of the material each day.

The Gower book, for example, provides the Ordinary of the hour upfront, including the invitatory antiphons, and then just starts from the section for each day of the week with the ferial hymn.  In general, they don't bother repeating Psalm 94 each day, leaving you to refer back to either the Ordinary Le Barroux), Sunday and/or Monday, or the section with Psalm 94 in each chant tone. 

The table below summarises the situation for each of these books: 

Matins page numbers
OFFICE BOOK	Gower (For Sundays, ferias…)	Brignoles Nocturnale vol 1	Breviary (1963)	Le Barroux Nocturnale Monasticum
‘Ordinary’	Pg 1 -3	Pg 9	Pg (58) – (59)	Pg 7 -12
Daily section	Starts at ferial hymn	On Sundays all; weekdays, invitatory antiphon and hymn only for each day	On Sunday and Monday all; on weekdays, opening prayer, Ps 3, invitatory antiphon and hymn of the day.	On Sundays, all; weekdays, includes ferial invitatory antiphon and hymn

The opening section of the hour on feasts and Saturdays of Our Lady

It is also worth noting that on feasts, the invitatory antiphon and hymn are either specific to the feast, or (particularly in the case of Class III feasts) taken from the relevant Common.  Le Barroux's Nocturnale includes all the commonly used ones in its Ordinary section, while Gower includes the relevant texts at the end of its psalter book.

The invitatory and hymn for Saturdays of Our Lady can either be found in the Ordinary, psalter section or after the Common of Our Lady (in the breviary). 

The psalmody

The other key component of the hour is the psalms, which are set out under each day of the week.

Benedictine Matins (unlike the Roman version) always includes twelve psalms, divided into two sets (Nocturns) of six.

The number of antiphons used varies between the seasons, but the normal pattern is that on weekdays (including Class III feasts) Nocturn I has three antiphons (ie one antiphon for two psalms), while Nocturn II has one (consisting of alleluias).

The psalms are said in exactly the same way as for other hours, with a doxology (Glory be) at the end of each psalm, or part of a psalm. 

On higher level feasts (Class I&II), however, sets of festal psalms, typically with one antiphon for each psalm are used, generally as set out in the Commons for various types of saints.

The canticles

On Sundays and major feasts, a third Nocturn is added on to the hour, but rather than adding additional psalms, it consists of three canticles, said exactly the same way as psalms are, said under one antiphon.

The table below summarises which types of days have special sets of antiphons, psalms and canticles.

	Psalms and antiphons	Nocturn III canticles
Sundays	Of the Sunday/ferial antiphons or of the season	Of the season
Class I&II feasts	Of the Common or feast	Of the Common or feast
Class III feasts, Vigils	Of the day of the week	none
Class IV days	Of the day of the week	none

The versicle

The psalter section for each day of the week also generally provides you with the versicle of the day or season said at the end of Nocturn I (and Nocturns II&III on Sundays).  Note that these do not change on Class III feast days.

In the next part of this series, I will look at the readings and other variable parts of the hour.

A quick guide to Matins part 3

 In the last part of this mini-series on Matins, I suggested starting focusing first on what you will find in the psalter section/ book you are using, rather than worrying about feasts and readings, and gave some starting points on the opening section of the hour and the daily psalmody.

In this post though, I want to focus primarily on the parts of Matins that differ in structure from the other hours, most particularly the readings.

Our Father, absolution, blessing(s) 

The first significant difference is that immediately after the versicle of the day or season in each Nocturn of Sunday, and Nocturn I on weekdays, the Our Father is said followed by an absolution formula, which is set out in the psalter section for each day of the week (and usually summarised elsewhere in the book as well ). 

There are also three absolution formulas (and an additional one for Saturdays of Our Lady) said immediately after the Pater Noster in each Nocturn on Sundays, and then rotated through during the week at Nocturn I.

The blessings for the readings

Each nocturn on Sundays, and Nocturn I on weekdays then has one or more readings, each of which repeats exactly the same structure, used whether in choir or said alone, exactly as written:

• a request for a blessing (Jube, domne, benedicere/Pray Lord give a blessing);
• the blessing;
• the reading, concluding with the formula Tu autem Domine, miserere nobis. Deo gratias;
• a responsory.

There are different sets of blessing formulas (used on different days of the week) for the one reading of summer, the three Scriptural readings said in 'winter'.  There are also separate sets for Sundays, major feasts, Class III feasts, and days with patristic readings.

Most of these can generally be found in the psalter section of your Office book, but note that the Gower book places the absolutions and blessings used for days with three or twelve readings towards the end of the book on pages 191 (for Sundays and Class I&II feasts) and pages 192-3 for days with three readings. 

The readings and responsories

The key 'new' element of Matins though, compared to the other hours is the readings and responsories.

On weekdays in Eastertide these are just one fixed short reading and short responsory; from Pentecost the short readings and short responsories are for the day of the week (or for Saturday of Our Lady).

On Sundays and 'winter' weekdays however, Matins basically follows a Scriptural reading cycle that can be found in the 'temporale' section of the breviary (or the separate books for different parts of the year in the case of the Gower books).  

The reading cycle is is arranged (loosely) around salvation history, starting with Genesis (from Septuagesima Sunday), and ending with the Pauline letters in Epiphanytide.

Each book of the Bible (or group of books) also has one (or more sets in the case of Lent when Genesis is read, and Advent, for the Prophets) of responsories that are used in conjunction with the readings of the day.

Finding the readings and responsories...

On Sundays:

• the first Nocturn readings are typically from Scripture; 
• Nocturn II are patristic commentaries related to the Nocturn I readings; and 
• Nocturn III are homilies related to the Gospel of that Sunday (ie the Gospel said at the Extraordinary Form Mass).  

From Advent until Pentecost, the readings for all three Nocturns are associated with the relevant Sunday of  the year, and so can be found in one place in the 'temporale' section of your book (or separate book for the time of the year).

Between  August and November, however, the Nocturn I&II readings are of the calendar month, so are in a separate section of the temporale.

The responsories for all three Nocturns, though, relate to the Nocturn I Scriptural book being read, so the same set may be reused over several Sundays.

Accordingly, some books don't repeat all of the responsories each time they are used.  Instead, they either place them:

• with the Ordinary of the season; and/or
• from August to November (when the readings are of the calendar month rather than fixed to the Sunday after Pentecost), immediately after the readings and responsories for Nocturn II (in the case of the breviary and Le Barroux Nocturnale); or
• in a separate section to the readings (in the Gower books).

Note also that the responsories follow a different pattern to the short responsories of the day hours, so make sure you can decrypt them from the abbreviated form used in most Office books.

The conclusion of the hour

At the other end of the hour, immediately after the last antiphon on weekdays, a chapter and verse is said, usually of the season.  The concluding prayers are said in exactly the same way as the other hours, with the collect for the week or day inserted (both the Gower book and Brignoles Psalter include all of the Sunday collects to save you having to look in another book for them).

In most books, the various chapters for seasons and saints' feasts are placed under each day of the week before the concluding prayers.  In the Gower books, only that for time Throughout the year is placed there; those for seasons and feasts can be found from page 141 (for feasts of types of saints) and seasons (from page 149).

On Sundays however, the concluding structure is completely different, with the Te Deum, Gospel (of the Sunday), Te decet laus and collect, so worth studying carefully.

And you can find more detailed notes on all of these topics here. 

Books for Matins

 

Benedictine Matins, or the Night Office, is not something to be embarked on lightly.

With fourteen psalms on weekdays, as well as readings, and a much longer structure for Sundays and major feasts, it is by far the longest of the hours even on ordinary days.  Indeed, it can sometimes as take as long to say or sing as all of the other hours added together.

That said, it is important in the monastic context: almost half of the psalms of the psalter are said at this hour, and its readings provide selections from most of the books of the Bible, thus serving to frame the practice of monastic lectio divina.

It also has one of the most extensive, spiritually rich and beautiful of all the types of chant repertoire, in the form of the responsories which follow each reading, and provide a meditation on them.

Books for Matins

A few years ago, it was almost impossible to find books for Matins according to the 1960 rubrics and calendar, and those that were available were either extremely expensive or highly unsatisfactory in one respect or another.

Fortunately, that situation has now completely turned around: these days we are almost spoiled for choices!

Latin-English

1. For those who need an English translation to help with the Latin, take a look at the Gower nuns' set of Latin-English Matin's books.

They have everything you need at a very reasonable price, and it is easily the best choice if you need help understanding the Latin.  

But be warned: you need to learn the structure of the how first, as the books are not always particularly user friendly!

Other useful books with English translations I've previously referred people to include the Clear Creek Matins psalter and the Liturgical Readings text, but if you have the Gower books, you won't really need these.

The Breviary/Nocturnale

For all of the texts of Matins, your basic choices are:

2.  The Monastic Breviary (Latin only).

Has everything you need for the hour (and all of the others), in reasonably compact form, comes in two volumes.   Aside from the original 1963 versions, there are two reprints available, from the monasteries of Brignoles (which includes a supplement with most older feasts included) and Farnborough.

3. Le Barroux's Nocturnale Monasticum (available in Latin only or French-Latin versions).

The alternative, if you want something for Matins only, are the Nocturnales from Le Barroux.  Nicely laid out and well-organized in a nice large print that is excellent for putting on a choir stand, but quite large and heavy, so not particularly portable or something you want to hold in your hands for a long period of time.

The chants

It is also worth mentioning that chants for the hour are also becoming more readily available.

The Monastery of Brignoles has already published Volume 1 of a full (Latin only) Nocturnale with chants, that essentially provides you with the core hymns and prayers contained in the psalter section of the hour. 

Volume 1 gives you the daily hymns, ferial antiphons, psalms, canticles and the key seasonal texts.  Volumes 2 (the temporale) and 3 (sanctorale) are still to come, but there is enough in this one to get you started.

And for the next part on this series on Matins, go here for ten things you need to know about Matins.

Frequently asked questions no 4: Why aren’t the hours set out in the order in which they are said in the Monastic Diurnal and breviary? Whis Sunday Prime separated from the other days of the week?

One of the oddities of most monastic Office books is the ordering of the hours, as rather than starting with Sunday Matins (which St Benedict specified in his Rule as the starting hour of the week), they start with Monday Prime.  Newcomers to the Office also often struggle to find Sunday Prime, since it is placed after Saturday Lauds, rather than with the other days of Prime. 

The reason for this arrangement has to do with the history of the breviary, where the psalter was originally literally the book of psalms with a few insertions for the various hours, together with the influence of the Roman Office, which originally largely followed the Bible order of the psalms. 

The section of the Office book containing the opening and other standard components of each hour is known as the psalter section, and it is broadly organised around the numerical order of the psalms as they appear in the Bible.  It starts with Monday Prime because that hour starts with Psalms 1 and 2.  

The problem with this arrangement though, is that the Benedictine Office does not really go in strict numerical sequence, so some compromises have to be made.  

The system is useful if you are looking for a particular psalm, and since traditionally Benedictines were expected to know the entire psalter (and Office) by heart, the organisation of the book probably wasn't seen as that important.

For the modern layperson though, the net result is confusing at first, as the order of the hours in Benedictine books such as the breviary and Diurnal, the order of the psalter section by hour typically goes like this: 

Monday to Saturday Prime (Psalms 1-2, 6-19)

Sunday to Saturday Matins (not included in the Diurnal) and Lauds (Psalms 3, 5, 20-89, 91-108, 142, 148-150)

Sunday Prime to None (Psalm 118)

Monday Terce to None (Psalm 118 continued)

Tuesday to Saturday Terce to None (Psalms 119-127)

Sunday to Saturday Vespers (Psalms 108-147 minus those used at other hours)

Compline (Psalms 4, 90, 133).

By contrast, the order in which the hours are actually said is Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline.

Frequently asked questions no 3: When do you use the festal canticles of Lauds?

Most Office books generally provide two sets of canticles for Lauds on weekdays - the ferial ('of the day of the week') set, and 'festal' canticles. The ferial canticles for each day of the week are the set specified by St Benedict in his Rule, and St Benedict states that they were already traditional ones in Rome by his time.  The festal were introduced into the Benedictine Office, on a purely optional basis, following the reform of the Roman Office in 1913.

 Accordingly, the default option is to ignore the festal canticles and instead use the ‘ferial’ canticles for each day of the week, except where as feast has its own antiphons (ie Class IIII feasts with antiphons of the feast, and Class I&II feasts), in which case the ‘Benedicite canticle’ (ie the Sunday canticle) is used instead, in conjunction with the ‘festal’ psalms (92&99) of Lauds.

 If you wish to use the festal canticles, there are two systems.  The first is to use the festal canticles on all days except penitential days (Advent, Lent and Ember days), when the ferial canticles are used, and (higher level) feasts when the Benedicite is used.  The second system is to use the festal canticles for Class III feasts (without proper antiphons) and for the Office of Our Lady on Saturday.

Frequently Asked Questions 2: When do you and don’t you use a doxology (Gloria Patri…/Glory be to the Father…) with a psalm or canticle?

 A two verse doxology (the verses Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper, et in saecula saeculorum Amen, or ‘Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.  As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen’) is normally added to the end of each psalm, part of a psalm, and canticle in the Benedictine Office, regardless of whether an antiphon is said before or after the psalm or not. 

This means that each of the individual stanzas of Psalm 118 said at the hours of Prime to None on Sunday and Monday have a doxology, as do psalms split in two and usually marked divisio. 

There are however a number of exceptions to this practice that are clearly indicated in the rubrics in most Office books, namely: 

• at Lauds the doxologies for Psalms 148, 149 each day are omitted, so that all three psalms are said under one doxology (after Psalm 150) ;
• at Vespers on Monday Psalms 115 and 116 are said under one doxology; 
• at Lauds on Sunday and feasts, the canticle Benedicite does not have a doxology (as one is incorporated into the text); and 
• during the Sacred Triduum all doxologies are omitted.

When the Office is said in choir, it is usual to stand for the doxology, and bow for the first verse of it.

 

 

Frequently asked questions: 1. How and when do you make a commemoration?

Commemorations are a way of marking the feasts of the lowest ranked saints in the calendar, or of marking a feast or day displaced in a particular year. Commemorations are made at Lauds and/or Vespers only.

 They are made immediately after the collect of the day, and follow straight on without any intervening words. Commemorations normally consist of an antiphon, versicle and collect (said in that order). After the commemoration, the conclusion to the hour is said as normal.

 There are two reasons you may need to make a commemoration in the Office. The first case is that some feasts, called Memorials in the Diurnal, are only ‘commemorated’ at Lauds. The second case is where a feast or special day displaces the Office that would normally be said, and the original day is still ‘commemorated’. When a feast occurs during Lent or Advent, for example, the Lent or Advent day is normally ‘commemorated’.

 Accordingly, if you are commemorating a Lent day, at Lauds the antiphon is the Benedictus antiphon of the Lent day, followed by the versicle from the Ordinary of Lent, and the collect that would have been said at Lauds on that day. Similarly, at Vespers, the Magnificat antiphon of the (Lent or Advent) day, versicle of the season, and collect that would have been said at Vespers is used. For Memorials, the Diurnal normally provides the necessary texts (in their correct order), which are often taken from the Common of the relevant saint. For other days, note that the order (Antiphon-versicle-collect) is not the same as if you were actually saying the full feast on that particular day.

 The key exception to this way of making a commemoration is feasts of SS Peter and Paul, where the commemoration is made by the two collects of the saints one immediately after each other without an intervening concluding section to the first collect.

What types of commemoration are there?

 There are three types of commemoration: ordinary, privileged, and feasts of St Peter and/or St Paul.

 A 'privileged' commemoration arises when the day or feast being displaced is First Class; a Sunday; a day in the Octave of Christmas; a September Ember Day; or a Lent, Advent or Passiontide day.  All others are ordinary.

 Privileged commemorations are made at both Lauds and Vespers; ordinary commemorations are made at Lauds only.  Whether a commemoration is privileged or ordinary also affects the number of commemorations that can be made on a particular day.

 In general, whether a commemoration is made at Lauds only or at both Lauds and Vespers depends on the level of the feast(s) and/or day(s) involved, as set out in the 'two tables' (occurrence and concurrence) in the Diurnal. Alternatively, simply consult an Ordo!

 How many commemorations are permitted?

•  On first class feasts, 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.  

Other posts on this subject

Brush up your rubrics: commemorations

The concluding prayers

The opening and closing prayers of the Office