Matins resources - Invitatory book

 Just to note that in terms of resources for the Matins chants, an excellent source for the Invitatory antiphons (to go with Psalm 94) of the Office can be found on CC Watershed.

The link is to a collection of invitatories published by Solesmes in 1928, and contains a good number not available in either the Liber Responsorialis, Nocturnale Romanum or Peter Standhofe Monastic Psalter.

Getting started on the monastic Office and using an Ordo

Once you have acquired your Office book, such as the Monastic Diurnal, the next challenge is to learn to use it effectively.

There are basically two components to this: learning the normal day-to-day, or ferial Office; and learning how it can differ from the norm, due to feasts, seasons and other special days.

Getting started quickly

If you are completely new to the Divine Office, and to the Extraordinary Form calendar, I strongly recommend starting slowly - ideally just learn to say Prime and Compline - and work through the notes provided here reasonably systematically.

But if you are impatient to get going, there are a couple of shortcuts you can take to this process, especially if you already have some familiarity with another form of the Divine Office.

First, jump to the post on finding your way around your Office book.

Once you've worked your way through that, read through the post on Diurnal traps and shortcuts, so you know what 'missing' pieces you need to fill in at each hour.

Once you've done that, you could try using the Quick reference sheets for each day of the week, that provide the page numbers in the Diurnal for the 'ordinary' texts of the Office, for days not affected by feasts or special seasons.

Feasts and seasons

To work out when and how the Office changes on feasts and seasons, the quickest and safest approach is to use an Ordo.

If you an Oblate, your particular monastery may put out a calendar or Ordo which you can use for this purpose.

If not, there are, as far as I know, three other options.

First, the Divinum Officium website's 'monastic' option includes an Ordo keyed to the 1962 General Calendar of the Benedictine Confederation.  It is only available in Latin though, but you can go to the relevant date and use it as a check to make sure you have the correct texts for any relevant day.

Secondly, the monastery of Le Barroux Ordo makes public its Ordo.  It too is in Latin only, and provides very limited detail on rubrics (mostly just that a particular day is a feast or requires a commemoration).   It is worth noting though, that Le Barroux not strictly follow the 1962 rubrics in all cases (including I Vespers for Class II feasts for example), and includes feasts particular to the monastery and its location.  

Finally, you can purchase my own version from Lulu in PDF or hard copy form, or use the abbreviated version that appears each week on the Saints Will Arise blog.

The full version of my Ordo provides page numbers for texts in the Monastic Diurnal, and chants in the Antiphonale, where the Office of the day differs from the 'ferial' or ordinary day Office.

So for the First Sunday of Advent, you get: 

Sunday 29 November – First Sunday of Advent, Class I

 [The feast of St Saturninus is not marked in the Office this year.]

Matins: Invitatory antiphon (Regem venturum Dominum), hymn (Verbum supernum), antiphons, versicles and canticles of Advent; readings, responsories and collect of Sunday I of Advent. 

Lauds: Antiphons, chapter, responsory, hymn, versicle, Benedictus antiphon and collect of the First Sunday of Advent, MD 4*/AM 187 ff. 

Prime: Antiphon 1 of Lauds, MD 6-7*/AM 187. 

Terce to None: Antiphon, chapter, versicle and collect of Sunday Advent I, MD 7-8*/AM 189-90 ff. 

2 Vespers: Antiphons, chapter, responsory, hymn and collect as for 1 Vespers, MD 1*/AM 186 ff; versicle and Magnificat antiphon of 2 Vespers, MD 8-9*/AM 190.

 Good luck!

Benedictine Ordo for 2019-20

Just to let you know that the Ordo for the upcoming liturgical year is now available from Lulu in PDF (ebook) or hardcopy format.

The Ordo provides detailed notes on the variants for feasts and seasons for those saying the Office according to the 1962 rubrics and General Calendar for the Benedictine Order.

The Ordo provides short summary guides, with page numbers to the Farnborough editions of the Monastic Diurnal, for Lauds to Vespers of the the ferial Office.

It also provides instructions for each day of the liturgical year on what changes should be made for seasons and feasts for all of the hours from Matins to Compline

Guides to the Office during each of the liturgical seasons of the year have also been included.

The schedule of dates for feasts, and instructions that go with them, can be can be used in conjunction with any older breviary or Diurnal for the Benedictine Office, although the older the book, the more feasts and other texts that may be missing.

The Ordo itself provides page number references for the Monastic Diurnal (Farnborough editions) and Antiphonale Monasticum (1934), as well as other key chant books such as the Liber Responsorialis for Matins.

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!

Quick guides to the Office - Day hours

Lauds (said around first light/dawn)

PART OF THE HOUR
Opening prayers – Deus…	MD 1
Psalm 66 – Deus miseratur…	MD 38, 58
Antiphons	of day of the week or feast/season
Antiphon(s), Psalm 50; 2 variable psalms; OT canticle; Laudate psalms Ps 148-150	Sunday, MD 39 Festal (for feasts), MD 44 Monday - MD 59 Tuesday - start MD 76 Wednesday – MD 89 Thursday – MD 102 Friday - MD 118 Saturday - MD 133
Chapter	See in psalter as above or for season/feast
Short Responsory	See in psalter as above or for season/feast
Hymn	Of the day of the week (pg nos above) or feast/season
Versicle	See in psalter as above or for season/feast
Antiphon for the Benedictus	Of the day of the week/feast/season [on Sundays, of the week of the liturgical year]
Benedictus	MD 56, 73
Antiphon for the Benedictus	Monday to Saturday, of the day of the week; Sunday of the week in the calendar
Closing prayers	MD 57
-          Collect	Of the week of the liturgical year or day/feast
-          Commemoration of the saint or day	Canticle antiphon, versicle and collect said immediately after the collect of the day

2.      Prime (said before work)

PRIME	Where to find it in your book…*
Opening prayers	MD 1
Hymn	MD 1-2; 146-7 (Sunday)
Antiphon	Of the day, date, feast or season (on feasts etc, usually antiphon 1 of Lauds)
Psalms of the day of the week	Monday - start MD 3 Tuesday - start MD 10 Wednesday – MD 16 Thursday – MD 21 Friday - MD 25 Saturday - MD 32 Sunday- MD 146
Antiphon	Of the day, date, feast or season
Chapter	MD 7
Versicle	MD 7
Closing prayers, including collect	MD 8-9

3.      Terce (mid-morning)

TERCE	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday to Saturday
Opening prayers	MD 1
Hymn (Nunc Sancte)	MD 151	MD 162	MD 183
Antiphon	Of the season, day, date or feast (on feasts, usually antiphon 2 of Lauds)
Psalms	MD 152	MD 164	MD 184
Antiphon	Of the season, day, date or feast
Chapter
Versicle
Closing prayers	MD 154-5 plus collect of the season, day, date or feast (see weekly Ordo)

4.      Sext (midday)

SEXT	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday to Saturday
Opening prayers	MD 1
Hymn (Rector Potens)	MD 155	MD 169	MD 183
Antiphon	Of the season, day, date or feast (on feasts, usually antiphon 3 of Lauds)
Psalms	MD 156	MD 171	MD 191
Antiphon	Of the season, day, date or feast
Chapter
Versicle
Closing prayers	MD 154-5 plus collect of the season, day, date or feast

5.      None (mid-afternoon)

NONE	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday to Saturday
Opening prayers	MD 1
Hymn (Rerum Deus)	MD 159	MD 176	MD 196
Antiphon	Of the season, day, date or feast (on feasts, usually antiphon 5 of Lauds)
Psalms	MD 160	MD 178	MD 198
Antiphon	Of the season, day, date or feast
Chapter
Versicle
Closing prayers	MD 154-5 plus collect of the season, day, date or feast

6.      Vespers (on ‘ordinary days’)

VESPERS	‘Default’ texts
Opening prayers	MD 1
Antiphons and psalms	Sunday, MD 203 Monday - start MD 212 Tuesday - start MD 220 Wednesday – MD 226 Thursday – MD 235 Friday - MD 243 Saturday - MD 249
Chapter	Of Vespers
Short Responsory	Sunday/rest of the week
Hymn	Of the day of the week, see page numbers above
Versicle	Of Vespers
Antiphon for the Magnificat	Of the day of the week; on Sundays, always of the week of the liturgical year
Magnificat	MD 209
Antiphon for the Magnificat	Monday to Friday of the day of the week; Saturday & Sunday, of the week in the calendar
Closing prayers, including collect	MD 210
Collect	Of the week of the liturgical year

7. How feasts impact on the hours (outside of Lent and Advent)

HOUR	Memorials	Class III	Class II	Class I
Compline	No effect
Prime	No effect	Antiphon only changes – normally antiphon 1 of Lauds or from the Common of the type of saint/feast
Terce to None	No effect	Antiphon, chapter and versicle change – normally antiphons 2, 3 and 5 respectively of Lauds or from the Common Collect of the feast
Matins	No effect	Invitatory, hymn, reading(s) and responsory/ies of the feast or from the Common; chapter and versicle of the type of saint (or specific to the feast); collect of the feast.	Three Nocturns/12 readings and responsories, with invitatory antiphon, hymn, antiphons etc of the feast or Common
Lauds	Canticle antiphon, versicle and collect of the feast said after the collect of the day
Vespers	No effect	Chapter, responsory, hymn, versicle and Magnificat antiphon of the feast (or from the Common) Collect of the feast	II Vespers only Antiphons of the feast (or from the Common, festal psalms, Chapter, responsory, hymn, versicle and Magnificat antiphon of the feast (or from the Common) Collect of the feast	I&II Vespers Antiphons of the feast (or from the Common, festal psalms, Chapter, responsory, hymn, versicle and Magnificat antiphon of the feast (or from the Common) Collect of the feast