First Sunday in Lent

The First Sunday of Lent is a semi-double of the first class. No feast can take precedence over it or any such Sunday. The liturgical colour is violet. At Mass, unlike the Sundays of Septuagesima, the ministers wear folded chasubles rather than dalmatic and tunicle and the organ is silent. The Gospel pericope at Mattins and Mass is St. Matthew's account of the LORD's temptation by Satan in the desert.

The Pars Verna, the Spring volume, of the Breviarium began with Vespers, yesterday morning, on the Saturday before the first Sunday. At Vespers the antiphons and psalms were of Saturday, the chapter proper. The Lenten hymn Audi benigne conditor was sung for the first time this year. The ferial preces are never said at Vespers on Saturday. After the collect of the Sunday a commemoration was sung of St. Gregory. The Suffrage of the Saints were omitted due to the concurring double feast and at Compline (sung at the usual time) the Dominical preces were omitted.

At Mattins the invitatory is Non sit vobis and the hymn is Ex more. These are both used throughout the first four weeks of Lent. The antiphons and psalms given in the Psalter for Sundays are used, as on previous Sundays. In the first nocturn the lessons are from the Second Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians. In the second nocturn the lessons are taken from a sermon on Lent by St. Leo the Great and in the third nocturn the lessons are a homily of St. Gregory the Great on St. Matthew's account of the temptation of the LORD. As in Septuagesima there is no Te Deum but a ninth responsory.

At Lauds the antiphons are proper to the Sunday and the second scheme of Psalms sung (50, 117, 62, Benedictus es, 148). The chapter is proper to the Sunday and hymn is O sol salutis. After the collect of the day the Suffrage of the Saints is sung.

At Prime and the Hours the antiphons are proper to the Sunday. At Prime the psalms are 92, 99 (displaced from Lauds) and the first two stanzas of 118. The Dominical preces are sung and the short lesson is Quaerite Dominum.

Mass is sung after Terce. At Mass the Gloria is not sung. The second collect is A cunctis, the third collect Omnipotens (for the Living and the Dead), a Tract is sung after the Gradual, the Credo is sung, the preface is of Lent and the dismissal is Benedicamus Domino, sung by the deacon facing the celebrant and altar.

Vespers are of the Sunday, sung at the normal time. The antiphons and psalms are those used on Sundays, the chapter is proper and the hymn is Audi, benigne Conditor. After the collect of the Sunday the Suffrage of the Saints is sung. At Compline the Dominical preces are sung.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' Mattins is cut down to one nocturn of three lessons as usual. At Lauds the Suffrage of the Saints is omitted. At Prime the psalms are 53 and the first two stanzas of 118, the Domincial preces are omitted. At Mass the ministers wear dalmatic and tunicle, as in Septuagesima, the second and third collects are omitted. The dismissal is Ite, missa est. At Vespers there are no commemorations.

Art: Jerome Nadal