The feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist is a double of the first class with an octave. The liturgical colour of the feast and its octave is white. The celebration of the feast on June 24th is ancient and was mentioned by the Council of Agde in 506 and is in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum.
At Vespers yesterday afternoon the antiphons, Ipse praeibit etc, proper to the feast, were sung, doubled, with psalms 109, 110, 111, 112 & 116. The Office hymn was Ut queant laxis resonare fibris. The hymn famously rises through a scale in its verses: Ut (Doh), Resonare, Mira, Famuli, Solve, Labii. After the collect of the feast a commemoration was sung of the fifth Sunday after Pentecost. The Suffrage was omitted. At Compline the Dominical psalms were sung and the Dominical preces were omitted.
At Mattins the invitatory is proper Regem Praecursoris Dominum, Venite adoremus. The Office hymn is Antra deserti teneris sub annis. The antiphons, psalms and responsories are proper for all three nocturns. In the first nocturn the lessons are taken from the Incipit of the Prophet Jeremiah. In the second nocturn the lessons are from a sermon by St. Augustine on the saints and in the third nocturn the homily is from the writings of St. Ambrose on the first chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. The ninth lesson is of the Sunday. The Te Deum is sung. At Lauds the antiphons Elisabeth Zachariae etc are sung with the Sunday psalms. The rest of Lauds is proper to the feast with the Office hymn O nimis felix. After the collect of the feast a commemoration is sung of the Sunday.
At the Hours the antiphons of Lauds are sung with the Sunday psalms. At Prime (Pss. 53, 118i & 118ii) the lectio brevis is Reges videbunt and the Dominical preces are omitted.
Mass is sung after Terce. The Mass is proper, De ventre. The Gloria is sung, after the collect of the feast a commemoration is sung of the Sunday. The Creed is sung as it falls on a Sunday this year. The preface if of the Trinity and the last Gospel is of the Sunday.
At Second Vespers the antiphons sung at Lauds are sung again with the psalms from Vespers for the Common of Apostles. The hymn Ut queant laxisis again sung, the rest of the Office is proper to the feast. After the collect of the feast commemorations are sung of the following feast of St. William and of the Sunday. The Suffrage is omitted. At Compline the Dominical preces are omitted.
In the 'liturgical books of 1962' the octave has been abolished. At Mattins there is no ninth lesson of the Sunday. At Mass the last Gospel is In principio. At Vespers there is no commemoration of St. William.
Icon: A Russian icon of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist from Wikipedia.
Where can a simple minded feeble minded Man such as myself learn how to properly navigate the Ordo & daily Divine Office?
ReplyDeleteShould we learn pre-1911 or Divina Afflatu?
(I most likely spelled that wrong)
The best way in my experience is to start with Vespers and see how that fits together each day. When you have developed fluency with that then is the time to add another Office. I would suggest the order: Vespers, Compline, Lauds, Terce (Sext and None follow exactly the same structure) then Prime and lastly Mattins.
ReplyDeleteWhen you are comfortable with understanding how the Office 'works' then is the time to compare with an earlier, or later, version.
Thank you & from what I have read pre-1911 is better.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.