More on Ireland

Janet Smith sent me this link today on the post entitled "How Many Questions on the Cloyne Report?" (The Thirsty Grove, July 26, 2011) -- worth a read.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Don't you wonder what Johannes Gutenberg must be thinking?

Related:

And why you just gotta love Fr. Z: "The Debt Crisis: Washington’s Kabuki Dance and “NO!” Play" (July 29, 2011).

Update:

Official: Whew -- we will not default now! Unofficial: but we will default with massively devalued currency. Some years ago I drove through the Holland Tunnel into Manhattan: it cost $4.00; last week I drove through the Tunnel and it cost $8.00 Twice as much? No, the currency is worth half of what it was then.

On RC-Protestant disconnect

The reader who sent me this link pointed out that this fine post (with smart comments by the author in the comment box) "Makes me recall again Maisie Ward's comment that if Protestants understood that when we are saying the Rosary we are essentially 'pleading the blood,' we'd make a whole lot of converts."

"Say something about Jesus" (Unam Sanctam Catholicam, July 20, 2011). Excerpts:

I read this very interesting article [well worth reading] over at Catholic Lane about a Catholic man who seems to have been somewhat shaky in his faith. Some Protestant family members picked up on his apparent ignorance of the principles of Catholicism and moved in on him like sharks at the smell of blood. They asked him, "If you died and stood before the Lord and He asked you why He should let you into heaven, what would you say?" Well of course the Lord doesn't let us into heaven based on whether or not we answer some questions correctly; the purpose is a Protestant ruse in order to find out where the Catholic puts his trust.

Well, the Catholic gentleman in question failed the test. When asked why he had confidence in his salvation, he replied, "I just ask the Virgin Mary to pray for me.”

This answer, while not wrong if expressed to another Catholic who understands the tremendous graces that come to us through our Lady's intercession, it is nevertheless problematic in this context for two reasons.

First and foremost, when a Protestant asks you this question, beyond testing you to find out where you place your trust, he is implicitly seeking to either confirm or debunk the myth that Catholics do not know our Lord.

... [Second,] He wants to know the efficient cause, the cause from whence all these other secondary causes derive their efficacy. For the answer to this question, there can be no other answer other than the redemptive death of Jesus Christ. This is the only appropriate answer to this question.

Read more >>

A call for fairness and accuracy . . . and other news

Tridentine Community News (July 30, 2011):

James Murphy Accepted at St. Peter’s Seminary

Windsor’s Tridentine Mass Community at Assumption Church is proud to announce another vocation: Mr. James Murphy, a member of our altar serving team, has been accepted at London’s St. Peter’s Seminary. We ask for your prayers for James as he embarks upon studies for the Holy Priesthood. James’ last day with us before departing for the seminary will be August 14.

James joins Brother John Berchmanns Tonkin and Joe Tuskiewicz as the third man currently enrolled in a seminary from the Assumption and St. Josaphat Tridentine Mass Communities.

Laymen Lectors and Subdeacons

A reader raised the question of who could serve as a Lector or Subdeacon at a Tridentine Mass. Practices vary around North America, and even around metro Detroit. The current regulations in force by Rome are as follows:

The Epistle may be read in English by a Lector while the celebrant reads it in Latin. This Lector must have at a minimum either received Tonsure according to the Extraordinary Form, or been instituted by a bishop to the Ministry of Lector according to the Ordinary Form. Such a Lector may also chant the Epistle in Latin at a sung Mass.

A layman may also fulfill the role of Subdeacon in a Solemn High Mass if he has at a minimum been instituted by a bishop to the Ministry of Acolyte according to the Ordinary Form, or ordained to the Subdiaconate according to the Extraordinary Form. “Acolyte” is a formal ministry and does not mean an altar server.

A Call for Fairness and Accuracy

It is becoming increasingly anachronistic as well as annoying to read comments from proponents of the Ordinary Form that either patronize the Extraordinary Form or pretend it doesn’t exist. Much of this kind of text emanates from the professional publishing companies that produce missalettes and support materials for the Ordinary Form. As an example, the below quote is excerpted from a syndicated column about The Prayer Over the Gifts issued by publisher J.S. Paluch Co., and published in certain parish bulletins on July 17, 2011. The emphases are our own:

“In the liturgy of the 1570 Missal, this prayer was called the ‘secret’ prayer. It was ‘secret’ not because its content was mysterious, but because it was prayed in silence by the priest, who only recited the conclusion aloud: . . . per omnia saecula saeculorum. With the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, we again hear these rich prayers spoken aloud. They remind us to prepare ourselves for what is to happen in the Eucharistic Prayer, for it is not only the bread and wine that will be transformed.”

Let’s take each highlighted set of words on its own.

1. “1570 Missal”: Arguably the Missal used for the Extraordinary Form today is the 2008 Missal, the most recent change being the Good Friday prayer modified by Pope Benedict XVI.
   
   
2. “was called”: The Extraordinary Form is a living form of the Roman Rite, not an archaeological piece. This prayer is called the Secret.
   
   
3. “With the reforms of the Second Vatican Council”: The Council did called for certain reforms, but the loud voice pronunciation of the Secret prayer was not one of them. That was imposed in 1969, well after the conclusion of the Council.

While we certainly respect an author’s right to express a viewpoint, in this case the inference that loud recitation is preferable, it is questionable what good is being done for the Catholic faithful when incomplete facts are presented as support material. While there are certainly those on the side of the Tridentine Mass who espouse extreme viewpoints, it is highly unlikely that advocates of the Extraordinary Form in the mainstream press would ever portray the Ordinary Form in a comparable fashion. Imagine: “In the 1969 Missal, the Secret was called the Prayer Over the Gifts...With the 2007 reforms of Pope Benedict XVI, the faithful are once again able to worship with inner active participation, without the distractions of the celebrant talking out loud as the offerings are presented to God.” Such a statement would be condescending and misleading.

Parish bulletin editors only have so much time to fill their pages each week. Syndicated columns provide a valuable service that alleviates every parish having to compose content themselves. At the same time, the large publishing enterprises have a vested interest in change. The profits to be made from the new Ordinary Form missal translation alone are significant. The Extraordinary Form represents something unchanging, with far less of a continual need to create new support materials. One could thus argue that it would be a conflict of interest for these organizations to promote the other living form of the Roman Rite. However, it is entirely reasonable to request that syndicated columns present a more up-to-date picture of Catholic teaching. A 1970s, or even a 2006, perspective does not reflect current realities; one can no more deny the existence of Summórum Pontíficum than one can deny the forthcoming new missal translation.

More broadly speaking, proponents of either form of Holy Mass will have more credibility when they write more fairly and with greater accuracy when covering the form that is not their preferred one. If you believe your form is better, tell us why you think so. Accentuate the positive, minimize the negative. And tell us how your reasoning fits within the authentic mind of the Church.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

Mon. 08/01 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (Feria [Celebrant may choose a Votive Mass])

Tue. 08/02 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Assumption-Windsor (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop, Confessor, & Doctor)

Sat. 08/06 Noon: High Mass at St. Josaphat (Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ)

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@stjosaphatchurch.org. Previous columns are available at www.stjosaphatchurch.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Josaphat bulletin insert for July 30, 2011. Hat tip to A.B.]

Ireland "most anti-Catholic country in West"

"Erin Go Bonkers" (NRO, July 29, 2011):

While America’s attention has been absorbed in recent weeks by domestic affairs, something quite remarkable has become unmistakably clear across the Atlantic: Ireland — where the constitution begins, “In the name of the Most Holy Trinity” — has become the most stridently anti-Catholic country in the Western world."

Read more >>

Old 1969 Missal's "Bumping Boxcar Language"

I never fail to enjoy an article by an articulate, well-read logophile, as those who majored in (or taught) English sometimes used to be and occasionally still are.

This is perhaps one of the reasons why I always relish reading anything by Anthony Esolen, among other reasons (I usually also find myself in sympathy with his sentiments).

Just last night, I ran across this gem of an article by Esolen entitled "A Bumping Boxcar Language" (First Things, June/July, 2011), pp. 15-17, which leaps off the page like a 100 yard sprinter at the crack of the starter pistol:

I await with great delight the first translation of the Novus Ordo Mass into English. The bland, Scripture-muffling, colorless, odorless, gaseous paraphrase American Catholics have had for forty years often was not a translation at all, nor even a paraphrase into English. It was a paraphrase into Nabbish, the secret official language of the New American Bible.

(How can you possibly NOT read an article with such an opening? You're already in hyperspace before you've taken your first sip of morning coffee. Sort of makes you wonder whether Esolen has been reading Roister-Doister, doesn't it?)

Esolen arranges his article around three principles of Nabbish: 1) Prefer the general to the specific, the abstract to the concrete, the vague to the exact; 2) Prefer the neuter, the indefinite, and the impersonal; and 3) Prefer the office memorandum to the poem. But contenting yourself with these three Nabbish principles in the abstract without examining their instantiations, is like going to an art gallery and looking at only the printed descriptions beneath the paintings, or being invited to a seven-star restaurant and leaving after only savoring the menu.

Taste and see, taste and see ... and laugh your buttocks off.

Global warming researcher investigated, placed on leave

An Alaska researcher who documented the purported demise of polar bears in the Arctic is under investigation (AP NewsBreak, July 28, 2011).

According to the AP article, just five years ago, Charles Monnett was of the scientists who helped galvanize the global warming movement by his observation that several polar bears had drowned in the Arctic Ocean. Now he has been placed on administrative leave and is facing accusations of scientific misconduct.

In this connection, an interesting (and bound-to-be-controversial) article is the one in the most recent issue of First Things written by the Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics at Princeton University, Dr. William Happer, entitled "The Truth About Greenhouse Gases" (First Things, June/July, 2011), pp. 33-38. Just a few "sound bites":

I am a strong supporter of a clean environment. We need to be vigilant to keep our land, air, and waters free of real pollution, particulates, heavy metals, and pathogens, but carbon dioxide (CO2 ) is not one of these pollutants. Carbon is the stuff of life. Our bodies are made of carbon. A normal human exhales around 1 kg of CO2 (the simplest chemically stable molecule of carbon in the earth’s atmosphere) per day. Before the industrial period, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere was 270 ppm. At the present time, the concentration is about 390 ppm, 0.039 percent of all atmospheric molecules and less than 1 percent of that in our breath. About fifty million years ago, a brief moment in the long history of life on earth, geological evidence indicates, CO2 levels were several thousand ppm, much higher than now. And life flourished abundantly.

... Both the United States Navy (for submariners) and NASA (for astronauts) have performed extensive studies of human tolerance to CO2. As a result of these studies, the Navy recommends an upper limit of about 8000 ppm for cruises of ninety days, and NASA recommends an upper limit of 5000 ppm for missions of one thousand days, both assuming a total pressure of one atmosphere. Higher levels are acceptable for missions of only a few days.

We conclude that atmospheric CO2 levels should be above 150 ppm to avoid harming green plants and below about 5000 ppm to avoid harming people. That is a very wide range, and our atmosphere is much closer to the lower end than to the upper end. The current rate of burning fossil fuels adds about 2 ppm per year to the atmosphere, so that getting from the current level to 1000 ppm would take about 300 years—and 1000 ppm is still less than what most plants would prefer, and much less than either the NASA or the Navy limit for human beings.

First diocesan Solemn High Mass in Charlotte since the liturgical revolution

As reported by Chris Lauer of the Diocese of Charlotte, NC, in Rorate Caeli (July 26, 2011). Group pictured above with Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte, at the Parish of Saint Ann's after the Mass in honor of the Feast of Saint Anne. The Mass was celebrated according to the 1962 Missale Romanum. Huzzah!

Priest beaten up in front of his mother for celebrating the Traditional Mass

The news item was published today in the Giornale della Toscana, reported in Il sito di Firenze, and related by Rorate Caeli (July 26, 2011).

The Blessing of Rosaries

Tridentine Community News (July 24, 2011):

As a follow-up to our coverage two weeks ago of the Prayer of Enrollment in the Brown Scapular, we continue to present more of the treasures of prayers contained in the 1961 Colléctio Rítuum, the subset of the Extraordinary Form Ritual book used in North America.

One of the most frequently asked-for blessings after Mass is the Blessing of a Rosary. Until 1964, this blessing was reserved to the priests of the Dominican order. Now, any priest may perform this blessing. Since this blessing, like many, must be prayed by the priest in Latin, it is informative to see the entire text in Latin and English:

Latin

℣. Adjutórium nostrum in nómine Dómini.
℟. Qui fecit cælum et terram.
℣. Dóminus vobíscum.
℟. Et cum spíritu tuo.

Orémus.

Omnípotens et miséricors Deus, qui proper exímiam caritátem tuam, qua dilexísti nos, Fílium tuum unigénitum, Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, de cælis in terram descéndere, et de beatíssimæ Vírginis Maríæ Dóminæ nostræ útero sacratíssimo, Ángelo nuntiánte, carnem suscípere, crucémque ac mortem subíre, et tértia die glorióse a mórtuis resúrgere voluísti, ut nos eríperes de potestáte diáboli: obsecrámus imménsam cleméntiam tuam; ut hæc signa Rosárii, in honórem et laudem ejúsdem Genetrícis Fílii tui ab Ecclésia tua fidéli dicáta, benedícas, et sanctífices, eísque tantam infúndas virtútem Spíritus  Sancti, ut, quicúmque horum quódlibet secum portáverit, atque in domo sua reverénter tenúerit, et in eis ad te, secúndum hujus sanctæ Societátis institúta, divína contemplándo mystéria devóte oráverit, salúbri et perseveránti devotióne abúndet, sitque consors et párticeps ómnium gratiárum, privilegiórum et indulgentiárum, quæ eídem Societáti per sanctam Sedem Apostólicam concéssa fuérunt, ab omni hoste visíbili et invisíbili semper et ubíque in hoc saéculo liberétur, et in éxitu suo ab ipsa beatíssima Vírgine María Dei Genetríce tibi plenus bonis opéribus præsentári mereátur. Per eúmdem Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte ejúsdem Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia saécula sæculórum.

℟. Amen.

English

[The priest, vested in white stole, says:]

℣. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
℟. Who made heaven and earth.
℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray.

Almighty and merciful God! On account of Thy boundless love for us, Thou hast willed that Thy Sole-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, should come down from heaven upon earth, taking flesh at the Angel’s message in the sacred womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Queen, submitting to death on the Cross, and on the third day rising gloriously from the dead, in order that He might snatch us from Satan’s tyranny. Wherefore, we humbly beg Thee of Thine immeasurable goodness to bless  and to sanctify  these rosaries, which Thy faithful Church has consecrated in honor and praise of the Mother of Thy Son. And let them be endowed with such power of the Holy  Spirit, that whosoever carries one on his person or treasures it with reverence in his home or uses it for pious prayer, the while he meditates on the divine mysteries, according to the rules of this holy society, may be imbued with salutary and abiding devotion. May he, moreover, fully participate in all the graces, privileges, and indulgences which the Holy See has granted to this society; may he be delivered from all enemies, visible and invisible, in all places and at all times in this world, and at the hour of his death may it be his happiness to be presented to Thee by the same Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, laden with good works. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the same Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

℟. Amen.

[He sprinkles the Rosaries with holy water.]

While we are on the topic of the Holy Rosary, it is appropriate to remind our readers that Holy Mother Church grants the great gift of a Plenary Indulgence on any day of the year to those who pray the Rosary in a church, publicly or privately, under the usual conditions of Confession within 20 days, reception of Holy Communion, prayer for the Holy Father’s intentions, and freedom from attachment to sin. The Rosary is prayed before Sunday Mass at both St. Josaphat and Assumption Churches.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

Mon. 07/25 7:00 PM: High Mass at St. Josaphat (St. James, Apostle)

Tue. 07/26 7:00 PM: High Mass at Assumption-Windsor (Ste. Anne)

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@stjosaphatchurch.org. Previous columns are available at www.stjosaphatchurch.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Josaphat bulletin insert for July 24, 2011. Hat tip to A.B.]

Ironies of politics

A reader sent the following to me with the comment, "I am not necessarily a Bachmann fan... I don't follow politics closely enough. Although typically I like whomever is being hated at the moment!"

"But this is very succinct: Matthew Archbold, "If Only Bachmann Ran A Sex Change Clinic" (NCR, July 17, 2011).

The Catholic is put in a bind by contemporary political developments. The best candidates, like Rick Santorum, are probably the least electable. The most electable come with all sorts of "baggage." I heard Ron Paul recently say some very intelligent things about the economy and foreign policty, criticizing both the left (on the economy) and the right (on foreign policy). But classic libertarianism is a problem for any historically-informed Catholic. As are many party regulars, like Mit Romney, who come with all sorts of baggage (and I don't mean merely his Mormonism). Politics is a matter of prudential judgments, so the best that Catholics can do is to make sure they are as informed as possible (not merely by contemporary media, which is often at best a hall of smoke and mirrors, but also by history and Catholic tradition), and make a prayerful decision. Tough call.

On the new archbishop of Philadelphia

"A Bishop who is not open to intellectual prostitution" (Rorate Caeli, July 18, 20100).

Prayer requests

Please pray for ...

• a childhood friend of mine, born in China the same year as myself, who is undergoing a surgery to repair part of her pancreas (name: Julia)
• a young member of our seminary staff, just married, now diagnosed with pancreatic cancer (name: Elizabeth)
• a couple of friends struggling in their marital relationships (unnamed)
• a few friends struggling with various addictions (unnamed)
• all lapsed or unbelieving family members
• a Muslim couple's nominally Christian daughter who impulsively married into a very bad situation (unnamed)
• Fr. Z's ongoing and urgent request for prayer for two particular intentions
• Traveling mercies for all those traveling during the summer.

“Be sober, be watchful! For your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith.” 1 Peter 5: 8-9

Tridentine Community News

Tridentine Community News (July 17, 2011):

External Solemnity of Ste. Anne Next Sunday

Earlier this year, the Vatican designated Ste. Anne, the mother of Our Lady, as the patroness of the Archdiocese of Detroit. This is fitting for a number of reasons, not the least of which is because the oldest parish in the Archdiocese was named in her honor. Ste. Anne de Detroit Parish survives to this day: Run by the Basilian Fathers, it is located at the Detroit end of the Ambassador Bridge and is the sister parish to the similarly Basilian-run Assumption Church at the Windsor end of the bridge.

Ste. Anne’s Feast Day this year in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms is Tuesday, July 26. On that Tuesday, a High Mass for the Feast of Ste. Anne will be celebrated at Windsor’s Assumption Church at the usual time of 7:00 PM.In Detroit, however, St. Josaphat Church will be taking advantage of a provision in the rubrics for External Solemnities. St. Josaphat’s 9:30 AM Mass on Sunday, July 24 will be for the External Solemnity of Ste. Anne. Tridentine rubrics allow the Feast of the patron saint of a diocese to be moved to the nearest Sunday. As far as we know, St. Josaphat will be the only Tridentine Mass in the Archdiocese of Detroit to celebrate the Mass of Ste. Anne on the Sunday. Veneration of the relic of Ste. Anne will follow the Mass, and a reception will be held in the Parish Hall afterwards.

New Handbell Set Donated

St. Josaphat has a new set of Sanctus Bells to be used at the altar. Many thanks to Kay Welllington, who made the donation in memory of Richard Wellington. This set is more visually appealing than our older set, and its louder sound is more easily audible in the back of the church.

Altar Rails Making a Comeback

The National Catholic Register newspaper published an article on June 2, 2011 concerning the return of Communion Rails to Catholic churches, in both new construction and renovations. Citing both the Holy Father’s example in only distributing Holy Communion to the faithful while kneeling, as well as the resurgence in popularity of the Tridentine Mass since the Holy Father’s 2007 Motu Proprio, Summórum Pontíficum, the article quotes a number of pastors who have added altar rails in recent years. Mundelein (Illinois) Seminary Professor of Architecture Denis McNamara offers the following thought: “...there is a theology of the rail, one which sees it as more than a fence, but as a marker where heaven and earth meet, where the priest, acting in persona Christi, reaches across from heaven to earth to give the Eucharist as the gift of divine life.” The full article may be read at: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/altar-rails-returning-to-use/


It is no longer reasonable – or rational – for diocesan building authorities to prohibit the construction of such liturgical elements, given the rulings, speeches, and examples coming from Rome. It is clear that current legislation supports priests’ right to celebrate the Extraordinary Form, and that right, in turn, conveys a subordinate right to outfit a church appropriately for this liturgy.

Corrections and Clarifications

In our February 6, 2011 column, it was mentioned that the post-Vatican II version of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary edited by Fr. John Rotelle and available from Catholic Book Publishing had not received Vatican approval and thus could not be used for public celebrations. A reader referred us to a page on the web site of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on which it is stated that this book “is approved for use in the dioceses of the United States of America.”

Regarding beeswax candles, books for the Extraordinary Form say that for regular, non-Requiem Masses, candles made of a majority of beeswax are to be used. Fortescue’s Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described says that these candles should be 65% beeswax. In today’s marketplace, 65% beeswax candles are not available; the standard has become 51% beeswax, which certainly qualifies as majority beeswax. This is an example of how we need to be realistic when it comes to liturgical standards.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

Mon. 07/18 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (St. Camillus de Lellis, Confessor)

Tue. 07/19 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Assumption-Windsor (St. Vincent de Paul, Confessor)

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@stjosaphatchurch.org. Previous columns are available at www.stjosaphatchurch.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Josaphat bulletin insert for July 17, 2011. Hat tip to A.B.]

The Great School of Spirituality: Learning to Love the Divine Office

Dominican Vespers photo by Lawrence OP
By Michael P. Foley

During a recent Angelus address, the Holy Father referred to the liturgy as “a great school of spirituality.” By that the Pope meant not simply the Mass but the Divine Office. Together these two sacrifices—one of the altar, the other of praise—school the believer in the divine mysteries, shaping his sensibilities, honing his judgment, and conditioning his heart to a life of holiness. The Divine Office is also a key to unlocking the great secrets of the Catholic liturgical year: its prayers and readings perfectly complement the propers of the Mass.

Today, however, the Divine Office remains relatively unknown or unused by lay Catholics, even by those who otherwise savor every morsel of our grand and sacred tradition. To address this situation, we offer a brief overview of the Divine Office and discuss some available “back-to-school supplies.”

What It Is

The Divine Office consists of the hours of Matins (originally 12:00 a.m.) and Lauds (3 a.m.), Prime (6 a.m.), Terce (9 a.m.), Sext (12:00 p.m.), None (3 p.m.), Vespers (6 p.m.), and Compline (9 p.m.). Most of these predate Christianity by several centuries. Lauds and Vespers, for instance, are heirs to the grand morning and evening liturgies before the Ark of the Covenant ordered by King David, liturgies in which over a hundred Levites would chant the Psalms.¹ Since their institution on Mount Zion, these services have never been discontinued: Solomon’s Temple, the Jewish Diaspora, and now the Church have kept up the daily praise of God in this form.²

The so-called “Little Hours” of Terce, Sext, and None, on the other hand, arose from the Jewish custom of going to the Temple for private prayer at the third (tertia), sixth (sexta), and ninth (nona) hours of the day (Sts. Peter and John were observing this custom when they cured the man lame since birth).³ Finally, Matins, Prime, and Compline were added in the early centuries of Christianity: Matins began as an anticipation of the Second Coming and a commemoration of the Resurrection, while Prime and Compline are the products of early monasticism.

Together, these eight daily sacrifices of praise fulfill Psalm 118:62 and 164 -- “I rose at midnight to give praise to Thee” and “seven times a day I have given praise to Thee.” Moreover, they punctuate the day, helping to keep the soul from becoming overwhelmed by worldly concerns, and they consecrate time itself with the fragrant incense of prayer.

* * * * * * *
Since their institution on Mount Zion, these services have never been discontinued: Solomon’s Temple, the Jewish Diaspora, and now the Church have kept up the daily praise of
God in this form.

* * * * * * *

God’s Prayer Book

The format of each Hour varies, but at their center is the chanting or reciting of the Psalms. As the only book of prayer written by God, the Psalms hold a unique place in the devout life. In the eloquent words of St. Augustine (354-430): “That God may be praised well by man, God Himself has praised Himself; and since He has been pleased to praise Himself, man has found the way to praise Him.”⁴ St. Basil (330-379) called the Psalter the natural voice of the Church,⁵ and St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-274) goes so far as to say that the Psalms contain the whole of theology.⁶ No wonder that St. John Chrysostom (347-407) wrote that the Christians of his time used the Psalms more than any other part of the Old or New Testament.⁷

Special mention must also be made of the Latin hymns in the Breviary (the name of the book that contains the Divine Office). Penned by saints as early as the fourth century, these hymns are, in the words of the great liturgist Fr. Adrian Fortescue, “immeasurably more beautiful than any others ever composed. Other religious bodies take all their best hymns from us. It would be a disgrace if we Catholics were the only people who did not appreciate what is our property.”⁸

Later History

The Divine Office essentially received its current configuration from Pope St. Gregory the Great, though it continued to develop long after and in somewhat diverging directions. The multiplication of saints’ days, for instance, ended up superseding the weekly rotation of the Psalms, with the result that the whole Psalter was no longer being recited within the year, let alone in a week, as intended by St. Gregory.⁹ The Council of Trent (1545-1563) was forced to deal with this problem, and calls for radical reform were legion. As Vilma Little, writing in 1957, notes with eerie relevance to our own times: “As so often happens in times of general abuses calling for redress, the suggested remedies would have been worse than the disease. Ruthless plans of wholesale alterations were put forward by certain French and German theorists.”¹⁰

Fortunately, Little continues, “the saner views of the more level-headed bishops prevailed.”¹¹ Trent outlined a moderate plan for revising the Breviary, which was enacted by Pope St. Pius V. The Sunday and weekday offices were restored while not upsetting the arrangement as a whole.

Not all changes to the Breviary during the Tridentine period, however, were for the better. In 1632 Pope Urban VIII allowed the spirit of Renaissance humanism to affect the hymns of the Breviary, revising almost all of them so that they would conform to the rules of classical prosody. The original verses of St. Ambrose and the like were butchered on the grounds that they were not “good Latin,” yet the new versions were hardly improvements.

Speaking of the four Jesuits commissioned with revising these hymns, Fortescue writes: “They slashed and tinkered, they re-wrote lines and altered words, they changed the sense and finally produced the poor imitations that we still have in place of the hymns our fathers sang for over a thousand years. Indeed their confidence in themselves is amazing.”¹² Fortunately, there is a note in the 1912 Antiphonale stating that the old hymns can be used where they are permissible “by law, custom, or indult.” It is difficult to say what this would mean after Vatican II, but it is my personal opinion that a certain latitude can be applied in good conscience.¹³

* * * * * * *
“As so often happens in times of general abuses calling for redress, the suggested remedies would have been worse than the disease. Ruthless plans of wholesale alterations were put forward by certain French and German theorists.”

* * * * * * *
But while the modifications made by Trent were sensible, they were not complete; it was left to Pope St. Pius X to enact further reforms. The Pope redistributed the entire Psalter, again with the goal of ensuring its recital within a single week. Further changes were made in 1956 and again in 1960 which simplified certain aspects of the Hours and accorded greater dignity to the Sunday Office.

Around the same time, some editions of the Breviary began to use the Psalterium Novum or Pius XII Psalter,¹⁴ which was an unfortunate repeat of the same classicist hubris that marred the hymns in 1632 now applied to the Psalms themselves.¹⁵ Fortunately, these Ciceronianized Psalms were made optional but never mandated.

Happily, all of the books considered in this article use only the traditional Vulgate Psalter. The Fraternity of St. Peter has published an impressive, new, two-volume edition of the Breviarium Romanum with the Vulgate and in accord with the rubrics of 1962, and so has Angelus Press. Both of these publications reflect the loving care that went into them: their only drawback, from a typical layman’s perspective, is that they are in Latin only. Baronius Press promises to remedy this with a new, three-volume version in English and Latin based on the popular Collegeville Breviary from 1963, which will be out in August. For bilingual alternatives currently in print, we must turn to the different variations of the Breviary.¹⁶

Variations

The celebration of the Divine Office has always admitted of greater variety than that of the Mass. To begin with, the Office used by the secular clergy and others (the “Roman Breviary”) was different from the Office used by various monastic orders (the “Monastic Breviary”). And even within this division there were further subdivisions. The Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans all had their own versions of the Roman Breviary, to say nothing of different regions and dioceses; and the Benedictines, Carthusians, and Cistercians all had their own versions of the Monastic Breviary.

One of these versions now back in print is St. Michael’s Abbey Press’s The Monastic Diurnal, Or the Day Hours of the Monastic Breviary.¹⁷ A diurnal is an abridged monastic Breviary containing only the “day Hours,” that is, every canonical hour except Matins. Diurnals were originally designed to be a handy single volume for monks and nuns to use when they were away from the cloister during the day, but they can also be used by laymen. This edition, originally compiled by the Benedictine monks of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota and published between 1948 and 1963, has been lovingly reproduced according to the highest standards. Bound in Moroccan leather with gilt edges and six cloth marker ribbons, The Monastic Diurnal is a visual treasure. In addition to all of the Psalms one needs for the week, it contains all of the relevant propers for the entire liturgical year in both Latin and English.

Another variation to the Divine Office were the breviaria parva, or “little Breviaries,” abridged editions tailored to specific uses or devotions. The best known of these is the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was especially popular with the laity and with religious communities with active apostolates and not a great deal of time for communal or private prayer. A beautiful edition of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been reprinted by Baronius Press featuring a blue leather cover, gilt edges, all of the prayers in both Latin and English, and much helpful information. The Little Office is an exquisite prayer to our Lady: its only drawback is that it does not include the calendar’s various saints of the day and some of its seasons.

Another abridged Breviary, which has been specially published by Angelus Press for use by the laity, is Divine Office: Officium Divinum. This handsome, leather-bound volume contains, in both Latin and English, Sunday Lauds, Prime, Sext, Vespers, and Compline, as well as Prime, Sext, and Compline for the entire week. Each Office and Psalm are prefaced by brief and enlightening excerpts from Fr. Pius Parsch’s The Breviary Explained, the first book of its kind when it was published in the early 1950s. The Divine Office also includes musical notation for much of the chant. Like the Little Office and the other breviaria parva, its only drawback is the absence of feast days.

Not Just For Clerics

A common misconception is that the Divine Office is only for the clergy. It is true that clerics are required to say the Divine Office: indeed, priests and seminarians sometimes joke about this requirement by calling the Office the onus Dei (burden of God) instead of its more poetic title, opus Dei (the work of God).

However, this does not mean that the Church wants the clergy to have a monopoly on the Office. St. Augustine tells us that his mother St. Monica went twice a day to church for Lauds and Vespers in addition to daily Mass,¹⁸ and the crusader king St. Louis of France, a man with eleven children and a country to rule, is said to have grieved more about the loss of his Breviary than being taken captive by the Saracens. In addition to hearing Mass twice a day, St. Louis also rose at midnight for Matins and said Prime when he woke in the morning. More recently, the Dominican spiritual master Fr. A.G. Sertillanges recommended Prime to the layman first thing in the morning, for “there are no prayers more beautiful, more efficacious, more inspiring.”¹⁹

Solemn Vespers on the Lord’s Day was once so well known among the faithful that Sunday dinner was known in some parts of Europe as the Vespers meal. St. Alphonsus Liguori assumed Sunday Vespers would be available at most parishes when he wrote: “Although there is no express commandment which makes it a mortal sin to be absent from Vespers, yet every good Catholic will make it his duty to attend when he can, and see that his family are present also. We are commanded to sanctify the Lord’s day, and the other Holy days of obligation; but if a Catholic neglects the public service of the Church on Sunday afternoons, without any reasonable excuse, how can it be expected that he will apply himself to sanctity in other ways?”²⁰


Vespers by Karl Brulloff

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Making the effort to understand the Psalms is well worth it. With their exultations of joy or their impassioned pleas for mercy, help, and even vengeance, the Psalms speak from the heart.

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How

The best way to learn any method of prayer is directly from an experienced practitioner. For those who do not have access to such a person, there are several useful resources available. Both Preserving Christian Publications (PCP) and the Fraternity of St. Peter offer reprints of Cardinal Cicognani’s Rubrics of the Roman Breviary and Missal, translated by Leonard Doyle. This booklet contains the English translation of the sections in the Rubricae Generales of the 1962 Missale Romanum and Breviarium Romanum, as well as the motu proprio of Pope John XXIII introducing the changes made to the liturgy in 1960. It explains both the Breviary and Mass in minute detail and contains all of the textual changes of 1960 so that one may use this book in tandem with an older edition of the Missal or Breviary and still stay current. The PCP reprint is more handsome and durable than its FSSP counterpart (which has a comb binding), and subsequently it costs a little more: $15 for the former, $10 for the latter.

PCP has also reprinted Bernard A. Hausman’s Learning the New Breviary, “new” referring to the changes of 1960. Hausman’s little book, which retails for $14, is an excellent introduction to the mechanics of reciting the hours and following the calendar: it is written in clear, accessible prose and follows a “user-friendly” order. In 2008, the Fraternity, on the other hand, came out with its own aptly named Pocket Guide for the Recitation of the Divine Office According to the 1962 Edition of the Breviarium Romanum. This tiny, 21-page booklet is a compendium of all you need to remember about the Breviary once you have already learned it from a more thorough source. It also has a helpful section titled, “Frequently Asked Questions about Reciting the 1962 Breviary.” The Pocket Guide sells for a mere $1.50.

Seeking Understanding

At first, praying the Divine Office can be confusing, but like any other form of prayer, once it becomes familiar, its value becomes apparent. The most valuable part of the Office, however, is also one of its lingering challenges: the Psalms. The Psalms are unquestionably beautiful, but they are often difficult to understand, since we are often ignorant of the context out of which they arose. It is not unusual to recite a Psalm verse and to find oneself asking: “What on earth does that mean?” Yet making the effort to understand the Psalms is well worth it. With their exultations of joy or their impassioned pleas for mercy, help, and even vengeance, the Psalms speak from the heart.

Fortunately, there are several fine aids to assist our efforts. Thomas Merton, before he went a bit screwy in the late 60s, wrote a lovely little book on the Psalms in general entitled Praying the Psalms. A more detailed alternative is St. Robert Bellarmine’s (1542-1621) A Commentary on the Book of Psalms, translated by John O’Sullivan and reprinted by PCP. This well-made, single volume is able to contain Bellarmine’s commentary on every Psalm because it omits some of his more arcane analyses of the Hebrew wording. The result is a readable commentary which, at $56, is an excellent value.

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The Divine Office essentially received its current configuration from Pope St. Gregory the Great

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There are also aids to understanding the hymns. Fr. Joseph Connelly’s 1957 Hymns of the Roman Liturgy explains the meaning and history of the 154 hymns of the Roman Breviary, as does Dom Matthew Britt’s 1922 Hymns of the Breviary and Missal. Both are still in print.

For those who pray the Office in Latin, Dom Britt’s A Dictionary of the Psalter is an essential resource. This meticulously researched volume, again reprinted by PCP, provides vital information about the peculiar Latin of the Vulgate not found in typical Latin dictionaries. To give but one example: years ago I used to recite Friday Vespers with my mentor, a priest who had suffered a stroke and was no longer able to read. When we came to Psalm 138:3, funiculum meum investigasti, he would sometimes ask, “What’s a funiculus?” I looked it up in a conventional Latin dictionary and discovered that it meant a thin cord or rope. Hence the verse literally says, “you have investigated my little rope” (the Douay Rheims renders it, “my line thou hast searched out”). That made us even more confused.

Had I only had Britt’s Dictionary, I could have learned that funiculus also signifies a measuring cord, and thus by way of metonymy it refers to one’s estate or inheritance, the portion of land measured out by surveyors’ lines. The verse, then, is stating that God has marked out my inheritance for me; God is not portrayed here not as a glorified string-inspector but a benevolent probate judge. Clearing up that ambiguity alone was worth the price of the book.

As for the Office itself, the text of Parsch’s The Breviary Explained is available online at Breviary.net;²¹ excerpts from it are also used in Baronius Press’s forthcoming Breviary and in Angelus Press’s abridged Divine Office. Votaries of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, on the other hand, have at their disposal Angelus Press’s reprint of Sr. Marianna Gildea’s 1955 Living the Little Office: Reflections on the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary.This accessible book guides the reader through the prayers of the Office as it follows their order. Sr. Marianna’s commentary is insightful but not overbearing.

Conclusion

“It is good to give praise to the Lord,” the psalmist sings, “and to sing to Thy name, O most High: to shew forth Thy mercy in the morning, and Thy truth in the night” (Ps. 91:2-3). How true that is, as those who mold their daily lives to the rhythm of the canonical Hours know so well.

Resources

• St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of Psalms,trans. John O’Sullivan (Preserving Christian Publications [PCP], 2008), $56
• Breviarium Romanum (The Roman Breviary), 2 vols. (FSSP, 2009), $298
• Matthew Britt, A Dictionary of the Psalter: Containing the Vocabulary of the Psalms, Hymns, Canticles, and Miscellaneous Prayers of the Breviary Psalter (FSSP, 2007), $30
• ----------, Hymns of the Breviary and Missal(Church Music Association of America, 2007)
• C. Callewaert, De Breviarii Romani Liturgia (Romanitas, 2011), $37.50
• Joseph Connelly, Hymns of the Roman Liturgy(FSSP, 2007), $27
• Diurnale Romanum(PCP, 2008), $75
• Divine Office: Officium Divinum (Angelus Press, 1999), $31.95
• Marianna Gildea, Living the Little Office: Reflections on the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary.(Angelus Press, 2010), $12.95
• Bernard A. Hausman, S.J. Learning the New Breviary(PCP, 2007), $14
• The Monastic Diurnal, Or the Day Hours of the Monastic Breviary, 6th ed. (Saint Michael’s Abbey Press, 2004), approximately $63
• John Newton, ed., The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary,2nd ed. (Baronius Press, 2008), $29.95
• Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, Pocket Guide for the Recitation of the Divine Office According to the 1962 Edition of the Breviarium Romanum (FSSP, 2008), $1.50
• Roman Breviary, 2 vols. (Angelus Press, 2009), $290
• Roman Breviary-Breviarium Romanum, 3 vols. (Baronius Press, forthcoming), price not listed [$350/ £230 provisional price]
• Rubrics of the Roman Breviary and Missal,trans. Leonard J. Doyle (PCP, 2007), $15
• Rubrics of the Roman Breviary and Missal, trans. Leonard J. Doyle (FSSP, undated), $10

Notes

1. See 1 Paralip. 15 and 16. [back]
2. The fact that incense may only be used at Lauds and Vespers hearkens to this Davidic tradition. [back]
3. Acts 3:1-8. [back]
4. In Ps. Cxliv, 1. [back]
5. Homil. In Ps. I, 2. [back]
6. Postilla super Psalmos, prologue. [back]
7. Homily 6 on penitence. [back]
8. Adrian Fortescue, quoted in Michael Davies, The Wisdom of Adrian Fortescue (Roman Catholic Books, 1999), p. 45. [back]
9. Gregory, in turn, took this arrangement from St. Benedict, the founder of Western monasticism. [back]
10. Vilma G. Little, The Sacrifice of Praise: An Introduction to the Meaning and Use of the Divine Office (P.J. Kennedy & Sons, 1957), pp. 17-18. [back]
11. Little, p. 18. [back]
12. Davies, pp. 30-31. As the old saying has it, Accessit latinitas, recessit pietas: When Latinity came in, piety went out. [back]
13. It should also be mentioned that the changes of 1632 only affected the Roman Breviary, not the Monastic Breviary. [back]
14. It is also called the Bea Psalter after its main author, the Jesuit priest Augustin Bea, Rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute and confessor of Pius XII who was later made a cardinal by Pope John XXIII. [back]
15. To be fair, these retranslations were often more accurate renderings of the Hebrew. [back]
16. Online, however, the impressive divinumofficium.com contains the entire Breviary in both Latin and English. Musicasacra.com has a downloadable book of the Diurnale as well as other resources. [back]
17. The FSSP and PCP also sell an all-Latin Diurnale Romanum. [back]
18. Confessions 5.9.17. [back]
19. A.G. Sertillanges, O.P., The Intellectual Life, trans. Mary Ryan (CUA Press, 1998), p. 89. [back]
20. St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Mission Book: A Manual of Instructions and Prayers Adapted to Preserve the Fruits of the Mission, Drawn chiefly from the works of St. Alphonsus Liguori (NY: D & J Sadlier & Co., 1853), p. 67. [back]
21. http://Breviary.net/comment/comment.htm. Unfortunately, the rest of the website is a sedevacantist mishmash. [back]

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Michael P. Foley is an associate professor of Patristics at Baylor University. He is author of Why Do Catholics Eat Fish on Friday?: The Catholic Origin to Just About Everything (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) and Wedding Rites: A Complete Guide to Traditional Vows, Music, Ceremonies, Blessings, and Interfaith Services(Eerdmans, 2008). Dr. Foley's article, "The Great School of Spirituality: Learning to Love the Divine Office," Latin Mass: The Journal of Catholic Culture and Tradition Vol. 20, No. 2 (Spring 2011), is reproduced here by kind permission of Latin Mass, 391 E. Virginia Terrace, Santa Paula, CA 93060, and the author.

NB: This post is archived at Scripture and Catholic Tradition (July 14, 2011).