Sunday 24 February 2013

Second Sunday in Lent

The Second Sunday in Lent is a semi-double Sunday of the first class. As on other Sundays in Lent no feast may be celebrated if it falls on such a Sunday and so the feast of St. Matthias is transferred to Monday (although its Vigil was commemorated yesterday). The Gospel pericopes from St. Matthew's Gospel give the account of the Transfiguration of the LORD.

At Vespers yesterday morning the antiphons and psalms were of the Saturday. The chapter was proper to the Sunday and the Office hymn was Audi benigne Conditor. After the collect of the Sunday a commemoration was sung of the preceding Office of St. Peter Damian. The Suffrage of the Saints was omitted due to the double feast as were the Dominical preces at Compline.

At Mattins the invitatory is Non sit vobis and the Office hymn is Ex more. The antiphons and psalms given for Sunday are sung. In the first nocturn the lessons are from the twenty-seventh chapter of Genesis and the story of Jacob and Esau. In the second nocturn the lessons are taken from the Book of St. Augustine against lying and explain the mystery of Jacob's actions. In the third nocturn the lessons are a homily of St. Leo the Great on the Transfiguration of the LORD. A ninth responsory, Cum audisset Jacob, is sung in place of the Te Deum.

At Lauds the antiphons Domine labia mea aperies etc are proper to the Sunday and are sung with the second scheme of Psalms (50, 117, 62, Benedictus es and 148). The chapter is proper to the Sunday and hymn is O sol salutis. After the collect of the Sunday 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. The deacon and subdeacon wear violet folded chasubles, planetis plicatis, instead of dalmatic and tunicle. There is no Gloria. The second collect is A cunctis, the third collect Omnipotens. A Tract is sung after the Gradual, the Creed is sung, the preface is of Lent and the dismissal is Benedicamus Domino, sung by the deacon facing the altar and celebrant.

At Vespers the liturgical colour changes to red and first Vespers of St. Matthias are sung. The antiphons, Hoc est praeceptum meum etc., from the Common of Apostles, are sung with psalms 109, 110, 111, 112 & 113. The Office hymn is Exsultet orbis gaudiis. After the collect of the feast a commemoration of the Sunday is sung. At Compline the Dominical preces are omitted.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' Vespers on Saturday are sung at the same time as any other day of the year. There are neither commemorations nor Suffrage. At Compline preces are never sung. Mattins is cut down to one nocturn of three lessons as usual. At Lauds there is no Suffrage. At Prime the psalms are Ps. 53 and the first two divisi of Ps. 118 and 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. St. Matthias no longer has first Vespers and so Vespers of Sunday are sung, without even a commemoration of an Apostle.

3 comments:

John Meyers said...

I continue to have problems with precedence at Vespers.
The Sunday is of Double First Class rank, while the feast is a Double of Second Class. I would have expected that Vespers this evening would have been second Vespers of Sunday with a commemoration of the feast.
What am I missing?
John

Rubricarius said...

John,

Today is not a double first class but a semidouble of the first class: it has precedence over all other feast in occurrence but not in concurrence.

John Meyers said...

Thank you Rubricarius for pointing me in the correct direction.
I now see the answer in the Tabella concurrentiae, Quando concurrit.
John