Sunday 29 May 2016

Sunday within the Octave of Corpus Christi - Second Sunday after Pentecost


The Sunday within the Octave of Corpus Christi and the Second Sunday after Pentecost is of semi-double rite and its liturgical colour is white.

At Vespers yesterday afternoon the antiphons and psalms were as on the feast of Corpus Christi. The antiphons Sacerdos in aeternum etc, not doubled, were sung with psalms 109, 110, 115, 127 & 147. The chapter was of the Sunday, the hymn and the following versicle & response were of the feast. The antiphon on the Magnificat and collect were of the Sunday followed by commemorations of the Octave , of St. Augustine and of St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi. At Compline Te lucis was sung with the melody and Doxology of the Incarnation, Jesu tibi sit gloria, Qui natus es de Virgine, Cum Patre et almo Spiritu, In sempiterna saecula.

At Mattins the invitatory is Christum Regem adoremus dominantem Gentibus: Qui se manducantibus dat spiritus pinguedinem. The Office hymn is Sacris solemnis. The antiphons and psalms are as on the feast of Corpus Christi. The lessons are proper to the Sunday. In the first nocturn they are taken from the First Book of Kings. In the second nocturn they are taken from a sermon of St. Chrysostom to the people of Antioch and the homily in the third nocturn is from St. Gregory on St. Luke's Gospel. The Te Deum is sung. At Lauds the antiphons are those sung on the feast of Corpus Christi, Sapientia etc. The chapter is of the Sunday, the hymn as on the feast. The antiphon on the Benedictus and collect are of the Sunday. After the collect of the Sunday commemorations are sung of the Octave and of St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi.

At the Little Hours the hymns are sung to the same tone as on the feast of the Nativity of the LORD (there of course being a deep link between the Incarnation and Corpus Christi) with the Doxology Jesu tibi sit gloria etc. At Prime the festal psalms are sung (Pss. 53, 118i & 118ii), the versicle in the short responsory is Qui natus es for the feast and Octave, the short lesson is Filioli mei, of the Sunday.

Mass is sung after Terce. The Gloria is sung, the second collect is of the Octave, the third collect is of St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi. The Creed is sung and the preface is that of the Nativity.

In Collegiate and Cathedral Churches a Mass of the feast of Corpus Christi is sung after None with Gloria, second collect of the Sunday, the Sequence Lauda Sion, Creed, preface of the Nativity and last Gospel of the Sunday. After this a Procession is made as on the feast. Likewise in those countries where the External Solemnity of Corpus Christi is observed on the Sunday following the feast Masses are of the feast with a commemoration of the Sunday. Indeed for a few years in the second decade of the twentieth century Corpus Christi was, rather bizarrely, universally moved to the Sunday after Trinity by a motu proprio of Pius X, De Diebus festis (AAS 3, 1911, pp.305-306).


(Second section of the motu proprio: Note also the moving to Sundays of St. Joseph's March feast and the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist)

At Vespers the antiphons and psalms are as at Second Vespers of the feast. The chapter is of the Sunday, the hymn, versicle & response of the feast and the antiphon on the Magnificat and collect of the Sunday. After the collect of the Sunday commemorations are sung of the Octave of Corpus Christi, of St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi and of St. Felix.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' Sunday within the Octave of Corpus Christi has been abolished. The Second Sunday after Pentecost is celebrated as a 'green' Sunday. Mattins is stripped down to a single of three lessons with the invitatory and antiphons of the Sunday. There are no commemorations at either Vespers, Lauds or Mass. The hymn tones are not those of the Nativity, the Doxology has gone, the versicle at Prime is Qui sedes. At Mass there is a single collect and the preface is of the Trinity. The Octave of Corpus Christi has been abolished.

10 comments:

Matthew Roth said...

The older system is fine for me. You preserve the balance between the sanctoral and the temporal, and next week you can go back to green. Moving the feast of the Sacred Heart to the Sunday as an external solemnity would be too much in my view.

Richard Duncan said...

A propos of octaves, can you tell me when the octave of the Sacred Heart was introduced? I recently acquired a mint condition Pustet breviary printed in the 1920s, which has the octave of Corpus Christi, but not that of the Sacred Heart. Fortunately, I also have an octave book from Pustet dated 1939 which has the latter in as well as the former. I presume it was some time between 1925 and 1939, but I would be interested to know exactly when and why.

Anonymous said...

We have been wondering what happens to the Feast of St. Augustine this year in England (double of the 2nd Class)?

Rubricarius said...

Octave of the Sacred Heart introduced 26th June 1929.

Rubricarius said...

Anonymous,

Transferred to this Saturday.

Richard Duncan said...

That would explain its absence in my breviary. At least I've got the octave book to fall back upon.

Paleo-Con said...

Where can one find an "Octave Book"; I have been searching everywhere?

Rubricarius said...

Paleo-Con,

There are a number of reprints (and expensive originals) of the Octavarium Romanum available on Abebooks and a number available as free Google Ebooks.

Paleo-Con said...

The only Octavarii Romani I could find are essentially illegible photocopies of seventeenth to eighteenth century volumes. Wasn’t the Octavarium Romanum published in the twentieth century? The common octaves for patronal feasts were still in use until the mutilation of Cum hac nostra aetate took effect on 1 January 1956.

Rubricarius said...

Paleo-Con,

I am not sure to be honest. I only have a single copy which is from 1893. I have not seen a twentieth century copy but they may exist.