St Benedict's psalm cursus and the design of Thursday Vespers, Part 2 - The humility theme at Vespers

Before we look at the last three verses of Psalm 139 I want to pause briefly, and come back to the question of the shaping of St Benedict's Office.

The crafting of Benedictine Vespers

In the last post in this sub-series, I looked at the organisation of the psalms in St Benedict's Vespers across the days of the week.

I noted that he uses selected psalms only,  namely Psalms 109 - 116, 128 - 132, 134 - 141 and 143 - 147, which raises the question, why those psalms in particular and not others?

I also demonstrated, I hope, that their allocation to particular days of the week was not determined on a purely mechanistic basis, but seems to have involved some particular choices, raising the question of what exactly drove those design choices?

Today I want to start looking at some of the factors that may help explain the particular design of Benedictine Vespers, focusing on connections between the Benedictine Rule's emphasis on an all-encompassing virtue of humility as the primary, indeed virtually only virtue needed by the monk, and the Benedictine Office.

The parable of the worker

The first question I want to briefly touch on is the reasons for the selection of particular sets of psalms for particular hours.

One of the most well-known aspects of the Rule of St Benedict is the saint's emphasis on the idea of monks as 'workers'.  

The first reference to this theme comes in the Prologue, where the Rule says: Et quaerens Dominum in multitudine populi cui haec clamat operarium suum...(And the Lord, seeking his workman among the multitudes to whom he calls...).

The use of the word operarium has long been seen as a reference to the Gospel story (Matthew 20:1-16) of the Master calling for workers at the first, third, sixth, ninth and eleventh hours, since the Gospel story uses exactly this word when referring to the workers he employs at the various hours.

Variants on the word work are used throughout the Benedictine Rule in many different contexts, but there are only two other uses of the particular term operarius outside of the Prologue, in Chapter 7 of the Rule, in the chapter on humility.  

There is, I think, a reasons for this, in linking the 'work' of becoming humble, and thus ascending the spiritual ladder towards heaven, and the particular liturgical hours of the worker, namely Prime, Terce, Sext, None and Vespers.

The hours of the worker and humility 

Although St Benedict refers to the Office in general as the Work of God, the parable of the labourer early on had a particular association with the hours of Prime to Vespers, since St John Cassian, in a text that must have been well known to St Benedict and his monks given that he instructed that Cassian be read regularly in the evenings, specifically quotes the parable as a justification for these hours of prayer. 

And if one looks at the particular psalms set for Prime to Vespers, all of them have strong resonances with St Benedict's teaching on humility in chapter 7 of the Rule.

In particular:

• Psalm 118, set for Sunday Prime and then Terce to None on Sundays and Mondays, is effectively an extended meditation on humility, with a particular theme of not forgetting/remembering God's presence and laws, ideas paraphrased by St Benedict in chapter 7 of the rule in his discussion of the first degree of humility, where he says 'Let us altogether shun forgetfulness...and ever remember the commands of God;
• Psalms 1-2 and 6-19 used at Prime also have a strong focus on the first of the steps of humility, fear of God, and its opposite, practical atheism;
• the Gradual Psalms (used at Terce through None on weekdays, and at Monday and Tuesday Vespers) have long been associated with the ascent to God through humility, and indeed St Benedict quotes the twelfth psalm of the set in the introduction to chapter 7 of the Rule and
• Vespers each day includes psalms that echo the opening statement of chapter 7 of the Rule, namely that 'Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he that humbles himself will be exalted' (Proverbs 18:21). 

I hope come back to St Benedict's usage of psalms related to humility at the other hours in due course, but for now, let's consider the case of Vespers.

 

Vespers and humility: Omnis qui se exaltat humiliabitur et qui se humiliat exaltabitur.

The most obvious manifestation of the humility theme at Vespers is surely the use of the Magnificat as the canticle each day, and at least one liturgist has suggested that its placement at that hour was probably a Benedictine innovation later adopted by the Roman Office.

The key verses are:

...Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name. And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him. He hath shewed might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath received Israel his servant, being mindful of his mercy...

the key point though is that the themes set out in the Magnificat are also reflected in the psalms of Vespers as they are arranged each day also echo the words of the Magnificat.    

In particular, on each day of the week, as the table below illustrates, there is at least one verse that directly echoes the Proverbs prophesy quoted by St Benedict, that the proud will be humbled and the humble lifted up. 

Day of the week	Key psalm references
Sunday	110:9 111:7-9
Monday	113: 9 114: 6
Tuesday	130: 1
Wednesday	137:6-8
Thursday	139: 13-14
Friday	141:7 143:5, 8
Saturday	144:14 145:8-9 146:6

On Sunday, for example, Psalm 112 includes the verse:

 Raising up the needy from the earth, and lifting up the poor out of the dunghill: That he may place him with princes, with the princes of his people. 

 Similarly, Psalm 146 on Saturday including the verse:

The Lord lifteth up the meek, and bringeth the wicked down even to the ground.

And for Thursday, the verses come in the conclusion to Psalm 139, which promises that the proud, who stand tall now, will be brought down, and that the Lord will give justice to the poor, and will allow the just to live upright in his presence.

Dimensions of humility at Vespers

The humility theme at Vespers goes much deeper, I think, than a set of verses that reinforce the idea that the humble will ultimately be vindicated.

Several of the psalms set for the hour contain important teaching on the subject, or are profound meditations on it, such as Psalm 138, which makes up the first half of Thursday Vespers, and can be interpreted as a meditation on Christ's humility in becoming man, and accepting his limited human nature.

For now though, particularly as we endure the penances we have taken on for Lent, it is useful, I think, to make use of those daily verses that serve as a reminder of the endgame, helping us to focus our eyes not on this world, but on heaven, so that we can put the struggles we face into their proper context.

And you can find the next part in this series here.