Lamentations

I have been saying the 1962 breviary during the Triduum. Matins has lots of chunks from the book of Lamentations which is stoutly referred to as Lamentatio Ieremiae Prophetae - just as "Hebrews" is uncompromisingly called Epistola beatae Pauli Apostoli ad Hebraeos. The office is a little shorter because the Glorias are all missed out, as is the capitulum and versicle. For all the day hours, the verse Christus factus est is said kneeling and then the collect is said without Oremus.

On my shelves, I have a copy of the Ordo Hebdomadae Sanctae, the Order for Holy Week, revised by Pius XII, which came into force on 25 March 1956 which was Palm Sunday that year. It was interesting to read the introduction and then to read Bugnini's account of the changes in his The Reform of the Liturgy 1948-1975. The decree has a brief reference to the history of the rites, stating that they all moved to the morning during the Middle Ages. The principal thrust of the reasoning, however, is "very grave" pastoral need because of the secular change that had made these days no longer festive but days of work, preventing lay people from attending.

To be honest, this doesn't really seem a good line of reasoning and if the change hinges on accessibility to the ordinary person, it would make sense to change them all back to the morning. Certainly, the long Easter Vigil service would suit people better on Saturday morning, I think, and leave them free to have a nice dinner in the evening - as used to be the custom. Significantly, Bugnini notes that the people principally involved in the discussions were all academics but that they were terribly concerned about pastoral matters. Perhaps they should have had some parish priests on the committee :-)

There is a short office meant to be said after Communion at the Vigil Mass. Before the reforms of Pius XII, this was a short Vespers, said around midday, I suppose, with just one psalm and the Magnificat. The reformed version put the Vigil at night and changed the short office to Lauds with one psalm and the Benedictus. Whoops! did someone admit that Lauds was part of the Night Office. tsk tsk!

Popular posts from this blog

1962 Missal pdf online

The Church Music Association of America and Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement have made available the 1962 Missal online in pdf format (72Mb). The file is hosted at Musica Sacra , the website of the CMAA, thanks to a generous gift from Fr Robert Skeris While you are at it, take a look at the articles clarifying the rules for music at Low Mass and music at High Mass .
Read more

Request for Novena to Blessed Pius IX

Image
A priest friend of mine is ill in hospital. He has a special devotion to Blessed Pius IX. Could I ask you, of your charity, to say a Novena for his speedy recovery. Novena In Honour of Blessed Pius IX Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX, who consecrated the Universal Church to you. (Our Father...) O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you Immaculate. (Hail Mary...) Saint Joseph, spouse of the most pure Virgin Mary, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you the Patron of the Universal Church. (Glory be...) Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Mary, our Hope, and Saint Joseph hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX , granting to us through his merits and intercessions the graces which we ardently desire: that the glory of God be revealed through Father's illness. (Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory be...
Read more

Saint Gabriel

Image
The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai...
Read more

Saint Ignatius on heresy, and the capsizing boat

Image
On the feast of St Ignatius, I offer my prayers and good wishes to some great Jesuits. Just off the top of my head, I think of Fr Joseph Fessio SJ the founder of Ignatius Press which has not only published the English translations of various works of Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict, but has also given a break for good Catholic authors both of theology and of Catholic fiction. Then there is Fr Bob Spitzer SJ, with whom I studied in Rome many years ago, and Fr Paul Mankowski SJ who has written some superb articles over the years. Here in England, I recall Fr Anthony Meredith SJ, the great fatherly commentator on the Fathers of Cappadocia and in Rome, there is Fr Gilles Pelland SJ, the fierce French-Canadian patristics scholar was a bit harsh when I first arrived in the Holy City, but seemed to soften a bit when after 5 years he seeme satisfied that, though English, I was not a modernist. Many of my Jesuit priest friends and mentors have now reached “that night when no man can work”...
Read more

Downloadable booklets for Vespers

Image
Gregorian Chant Hymns is a most helpful website that I mentioned in a post just over a year ago. As I said then, the site "[...] promotes the learning of Gregorian Chant by making sheet music, recordings, translations, and instructions. There is a short guide to Gregorian Notation (those square notes) and to Latin pronunciation. Everything is available free of charge, in line with other great traditional music websites." Work has continued at the site and there is now a section which makes available pdf (or .docx format) booklets for Vespers for every Sunday of the Year and a few major feasts. There is the basic booklet for ordinary Sunday Vespers which is supplemented by separate files for the Sundays after Pentecost which contain the Magnificat and Collect. Then there are booklets, for example for Advent and Lent, where the office is different from the regular Sunday Vespers with its antiphons. All of the booklets have texts and notation for Benediction and the Maria...
Read more