The Divine Office Part 1

The Divine Office.

by Rev. E. J. Quigley.

PREFACE

In the studies preliminary to ordination, the greatest time and attention must be given to the study of Dogmatic and Moral Theology.

Certain subjects, such as liturgy, are always in danger of being shortened or of occupying a very small s.p.a.ce in a college course. After ordination, priests find that these subjects are things of daily and hourly interest and importance. Who is it that does not know that the study of the Ma.s.s and the Missal, of the Breviary, its history and its contents are studies useful in his daily offering of sacrifice and praise?

I hope that this book may serve as an introductory manual to the study of the Breviary. It may be useful to junior students in colleges, in giving them some knowledge of the Church's Hours, which they a.s.sist at in their college choirs. It may a.s.sist them to know and love the official prayers of the Church, and may help to form devout habits of recitation, so that, when the obligation of the daily office is imposed on them, they may recite it digne, attente et devote. The "texts and intentions" may be an aid to them, and to students in Holy Orders, in the great and glorious work of pious prayer.

Perhaps, this book may be a help to priests. It is an attempt to bring into one handy volume many matters found in several volumes of history, liturgy, theology, and ascetic literature. Much of it they have met before, but some of it may be new and may enable some to pray more fervently and to aid them in the difficult work of saying each Hour and each part of an Hour with attention and devotion. Some of the pages may be to them instructive, and may give them new ideas on such points as the structure of the Hours, the Collects, the Te Deum, the Anthems of the Blessed Virgin, etc.

No book is faultless. Of this one, I can say with the Psalmist, "I studied that I might know this thing, it is a labour in my sight" (Psalm 72). And I can say it with St. Columban, _Totum, dicere volui in breve, totem non potui_. In the book I quote Cardinal Bona. In his wonderful _Rerum Liturgicarum_ (II., xx., 6) he wrote what I add as a finish, to this preface:--

"Saepe enim volenti et conanti vel ingenii vires vel rerum antiquarum not.i.tia vel alia subsidia defuerunt; nec fieri potuit quin per loca salebrosa in tenebris ambulans interdum offenderim, c.u.m aliquid incautius et neglentius a me scriptum offenderit, ignoscat primum lector, deinde amica manu corrigat et emendat et quae omisi suppleat."

E.J.Q.

ROCKCORRY, CO. MONAGHAN.

PART I.

GENERAL QUESTIONS.

THE DIVINE OFFICE

CHAPTER I.

IDEA OF THE BREVIARY.

_Etymology_.--The word, Breviary, comes from an old Latin word, _Breviarium_, an abridgment, a compendium. The name was given to the Divine Office, because it is an abridgment or abstract made from holy scripture, the writings of the Fathers, the lives of the Saints.

The word had various meanings a.s.signed to it by early Christian writers, but the t.i.tle, Breviary, as it is employed to-day--that is, a book containing the entire canonical office--appears to date from the eleventh century. Probably it was first used in this sense to denote the abridgment made by Pope Saint Gregory VII. (1013-1085), about the year 1080.

_Definition_.--The Breviary may be defined as "the collection of vocal prayers established by the Church, which must be recited daily by persons deputed for that purpose."

_Explanation of the Definition_.--"Prayers," this word includes not only the prayers properly so called, but also, the whole matter of the divine office. "Vocal," the Church orders the vocal recitation, the p.r.o.nunciation of each word. "Established by the Church," to distinguish the official prayers of obligation from those which the faithful may choose according to their taste. "Which must be recited," for the recitation is strictly obligatory. "Daily," the Church has fixed these prayers for every day of the year, and even for certain hours of the day. "By persons deputed for that purpose," therefore, persons in holy orders recite these prayers not in their own name, but as representatives of the universal Church.

_Different Names for the Breviary_.--This book which is, with us, commonly called the Breviary, has borne and still bears different names, amongst both Latins and Greeks.

Amongst the Latins, the recitation of the Breviary was called the Office (_officium_), that is, the duty, the function, the office; because it is, _par excellence_, the duty, function and office of persons consecrated to G.o.d. This is the oldest and most universal name for the Breviary and its recitation. It was called, too, the Divine Office (_officium divinum_), because it has G.o.d for its princ.i.p.al object and is recited by persons consecrated to G.o.d. It is called the ecclesiastical office (_officium ecclesiastic.u.m_), because it was inst.i.tuted by the Church. Other names were, _Opus Dei; Agenda; Pensum servitutis; Horae; Horae Canonicae_.

Which books were employed in olden times in reciting the Office?

Before the eleventh century the prayers of the Divine Office were not all contained in one book, as they are now in the Breviary, which is an abridgment or compendium of several books. The recitation of the Office required the Psaltery, the Lectionary, the Book of Homilies, the Legendary, the Antiphonarium, the Hymnal, the Book of Collects, the Martyrology, the Rubrics. The Psaltery contained the psalms; the Lectionary (thirteenth century) contained the lessons of the first and second nocturn; the Book of Homilies, the homilies of the Fathers; the Legendary (before the thirteenth century), the lives of the saints read on their feast days. The Hymnal contained hymns; the Book of Collects, prayers, collects and chapters; the Martyrology contained the names with brief lives of the martyrs; the Rubrics, the rules to be followed in the recitation of the Office. To-day, we have traces of this ancient custom in our different choir books, the Psalter, the Gradual, the Antiphonarium. There were not standard editions of these old books, and great diversities of use and text were in existence.

_Divisions of the Divine Office_.--How is the daily Office divided?

The Office is divided into the night Office and the day Office. The night Office is so called because it was originally recited at night.

It embraces three nocturns and Lauds. The day Office embraces Prime, Terce, s.e.xt, None, Vespers, and Compline.

_Parts or Hours of the Office_.--How many parts or hours go to make up the Office? Rome counts seven, and seven only; and this is the number commonly counted by liturgists and theologians. They reckon Matins and Lauds as one hour.

The old writers on liturgy ask the question: "Why has the Church reckoned seven hours only?" Their replies are summarised well by Newman: "In subsequent times the hours of prayer were gradually developed from the three or (with midnight) the four seasons above enumerated to seven, viz.:--by the addition of Prime (the first hour), Vespers (the evening), and Compline (bedtime) according to the words of the Psalm--'Seven times a day do I praise thee, because of thy righteous judgments.' Other pious and instructive reasons existed, or have since been perceived, for this number. It was a memorial of the seven days of creation; it was an honour done to the seven pet.i.tions given us by our Lord in His prayer; it was a mode of pleading for the influence of that Spirit, who is revealed to us as sevenfold; on the other hand, it was a preservative against those seven evil spirits which are apt to return to the exorcised soul, more wicked than he who has been driven out of it; and it was a fit remedy of those successive falls which, scripture says, happen to the 'just man' daily." (_Tracts for the Times_, No. 75.

"On the Roman Breviary.")

"Matutina ligat Christum qui crimina purgat, Prima replet sputis. Causam dat Tertia mortis.

s.e.xta cruci nect.i.t. Latus ejus Nona bipert.i.t.

Vespera deponit. Tumulo completa reponit.

Haec sunt septenis propter quae psallimus horas."

"At Matins bound; at Prime reviled; Condemned to death at Tierce; Nailed to the Cross at s.e.xt; at None His blessed Side they pierce.

They take him down at Vesper-tide; In grave at Compline lay, Who thenceforth bids His Church observe The sevenfold hours alway."

(_Gloss. Cap. I. De Missa_)

Thus, this old author connects the seven hours with the scenes of the Pa.s.sion. Another author finds in the hours a reminder and a warning that we should devote every stage of our lives to G.o.d. For the seven canonical hours, he writes, bear a striking resemblance to the seven ages of man.

_Matins_, the night office, typifies the pre-natal stage of life.

_Lauds_, the office of dawn, seems to resemble the beginnings of childhood. _Prime_ recalls to him youth. _Terce_, recited when the sun is high in the heavens shedding brilliant light, symbolises early manhood with its strength and glory. _s.e.xt_ typifies mature age. _None_, recited when the sun is declining, suggests man in his middle age. _Vespers_ reminds all of decrepit age gliding gently down to the grave. _Compline_, night prayer said before sleep, should remind us of the great night, death.

CHAPTER II.

SHORT HISTORY OF DIVINE PRAISE IN GENERAL AND OF THE BREVIARY IN PARTICULAR.

From all eternity the G.o.dhead was praised with ineffable praise by the Trinity--the three divine Persons. The angels from the first moment of the creation sang G.o.d's praises. _Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus Deus, Sabaoth. Plena est omnis terra gloria ejus_ (Isaias vi. 3).

Cardinal Bona writes that Adam and Eve blessed and praised G.o.d, their Creator. For G.o.d created the first human beings, and "created in them the knowledge of the Spirit of G.o.d that they might praise the name which He has sanctified and glory in His wondrous acts" (Ecclesiasticus xvii.

6-8), Every page of the Old Testament tells how the chosen race worshipped G.o.d. We read of the sacrifices of Cain, Abel, Enoch, Noe; of the familiar intercourse which the great patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob had with G.o.d. Recorded, too, are the solemn songs and prayers of Moses thanking G.o.d for His guidance in the freedom from the slavery of Egypt (Exodus xv.). David, under G.o.d's inspiration, composed those n.o.ble songs of praise, the Psalms, and organised choirs for their rendering.

He sings "Evening and morning and at noon I will speak and declare and He shall hear my voice" (Psalm 54, v. 18); "I rose at midnight to give praise to Thee" (Psalm 118, v. 162); "Seven times a day I have given praise to Thee" (Psalm 118, v. 164).

The Prophet Daniel, a captive in Babylon, prayed thrice daily, his face turned to Jerusalem. The Israelites, captives in Babylon with Nehemias, "rose up and read in the book of the Law of the Lord their G.o.d, four times in the day, and four times they confessed and adored the Lord their G.o.d" (II. Esdras ix. 3). Hence, the Jewish day, made up as it was with sacrifices, libations, oblations, purifications, and public and private prayer, was a day of prayer. In these public meetings they sang G.o.d's praises, sang of His glory and of His mercy. Sometimes they spoke with loving familiarity, sometimes they prayed on bended knee, sometimes they stood and pleaded with outstretched hands, pouring out the prayers inspired by G.o.d Himself.

In the New Law our Saviour is the model of prayer, the true adorer of His Father. He alone can worthily adore and praise because He alone has the necessary perfection. Night and day He set example to His followers.

He warned them to watch and pray; He taught them how to pray; He gave them a form of prayer; He prayed in life and at death. His apostles, trained in the practices of the synagogue, were perfected by the example and the exhortations of Christ. This teaching and example are shown in effect when the a.s.sembled apostles were "at the third hour of the day"