Holy week and the Benedictine Office Pt 5 - Holy Saturday and the Benedictine Office

Fra Angelico: Harrowing of hell

I mentioned earlier in this series that the Sunday 'Resurrection Vigil' of the Benedictine Office contains psalms that arguably point us to the events of Holy Saturday: Psalm 21 describes the Passion, while Psalm 22 (the Lord is my shepherd) and Psalm 23 (Lift up your gates) takes us to Holy Saturday.

As for the other days of the Triduum, the normal weekly Office of Saturday in the Benedictine Office is arguably devoted to a more prolonged exposition of some of the themes of Christ resting in the tomb (itself prefigured by God 'resting' after the days of creation) and descent into hell, in its psalms.  

The theology of Holy Saturday

The Western Church has traditionally made much less of Christ's lying in the tomb and descent into hell than the East - there are no liturgical events prescribed around these events other than Tenebrae of Holy Saturday for example.

And in more recent times, even the triumphant nature of Christ's descent into hell, freeing the souls therein, has been downplayed or outright rejected in the theology of modern theologians following Hans von Balthasar, as Alyssa Pitstick has demonstrated.

There is, however, an excellent post for today over at Gloria Romanorum, on the Scriptural references and early Patristic expositions of the theology of the day, which you can read here.

The Benedictine Office

Saturday Matins in the Benedictine Office opens with Psalm 101, one of the penitential psalms, ans which contrasts the pitful state of the sinner with with Lord:

My days have declined like a shadow, and I am withered like grass. But thou, O Lord, endurest for ever: and thy memorial to all generations. Thou shalt arise and have mercy on Sion: for it is time to have mercy on it, for the time is come. 

 Most of the psalms that follow include references to Christ's saving mission, liberation from darkness and and our redemption from death.  Several of them once again recapitulate the history of the freeing of the people of Israel, with Psalm 106's summation echoing Psalm 2:

Et edúxit eos de ténebris, et umbra mortis: * et víncula eórum disrúpit.

And he brought them out of darkness, and the shadow of death; and broke their bonds in sunder.

Quia contrívit portas æreas: * et vectes férreos confrégit.

Because he has broken gates of brass, and burst iron bars.

At Kauds the only variable psalm is Psalm 142, and it is clear why it was early thought appropriate to the day, with its allusions to Hades:

2  Et non intres in judícium cum servo tuo: * quia non justificábitur in conspéctu tuo omnis vivens.	And enter not into judgment with your servant: for in your sight no man living shall be justified.
3  Quia persecútus est inimícus ánimam meam: * humiliávit in terra vitam meam.	For the enemy has persecuted my soul: he has brought down my life to the earth.
4  Collocávit me in obscúris sicut mórtuos sæculi : * et anxiátus est super me spíritus meus, in me turbátum est cor meum.	He has made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been dead of old: And my spirit is in anguish within me: my heart within me is troubled.

It ends with an even more pertinent set of verses:

12  Spíritus tuus bonus dedúcet me in terram rectam: * propter nomen tuum, Dómine, vivificábis me, in æquitáte tua.	Your good spirit shall lead me into the right land: For your name's sake, O Lord, you will quicken me in your justice.
13  Edúces de tribulatióne ánimam meam: * et in misericórdia tua dispérdes inimícos meos.	You will bring my soul out of trouble: And in your mercy you will destroy my enemies.
14  Et perdes omnes, qui tríbulant ánimam meam, * quóniam ego servus tuus sum.	And you will cut off all them that afflict my soul: for I am your servant.

It is at the Benedictine version of Prime though, that the connections are perhaps made clearest.

The second half of Psalm 17, which opens the day, for example says:

3 Quóniam tu pópulum húmilem salvum fácies: * et óculos superbórum humiliábis.	For you will save the humble people; but will bring down the eyes of the proud.
4 Quóniam tu illúminas lucérnam meam, Dómine: * Deus meus, illúmina ténebras meas.	For you light my lamp, O Lord: O my God, enlighten my darkness.
5  Quóniam in te erípiar a tentatióne, * et in Deo meo transgrédiar murum.	For by you I shall be delivered from temptation; and through my God I shall go over a wall.

Psalm 18 includes a verse which though often applied to Our Lord's Incarnation, also applies to his descent into hell and Resurrection:

5  In sole pósuit tabernáculum suum: * et ipse tamquam sponsus procédens de thálamo suo.	He has set his tabernacle in the sun: and he as a bridegroom coming out of his bridechamber,
6  Exsultávit ut gigas ad curréndam viam, * a summo cælo egréssio ejus.	Has rejoiced as a giant to run the way: His going out is from the end of heaven,
7  Et occúrsus ejus usque ad summum ejus: * nec est qui se abscóndat a calóre ejus.	And his circuit even to the end thereof: and there is no one that can hide himself from his heat.

And Psalm 19's concluding verse, O Lord save the King, is a prediction of the Resurrection, which St Benedict's contemporary Cassiodorus explained as meaning, 'Let Christ the Lord rise from the dead, ascend into heaven, and intercede for us'.

Towards the Resurrection

Although Saturday Vespers is, of course, First Vespers of Sunday, the psalms for Saturday Vespers appear at first glance to simply reflect the logical continuation of the numerical sequence of psalms: St Benedict assigns the second half of Psalm 144 and the following psalms up to 147; Psalms 148 to 150 having already been assigned to their traditional place at Lauds.

All the same, the idea that Saturday Vespers was part of the Sunday was already well established by St Benedict's time.  Pope Leo the Great (c400-461), for example, wrote that:

the beginning of the preceding night forms part of that period [Sunday], and undoubtedly belongs to the day of resurrection as is clearly laid down with regard to the feast of Easter... the day of the Lord's resurrection, which is commonly held to begin on the evening of Saturday...

In this light, it is intriguing that all of the psalms that St Benedict allocated to the hour have clear associations with the Resurrection in early Christian interpretation. 

And it is even more intriguing that the psalm psalms seem to have been used in the weekly vigil of the Resurrection as celebrated in Jerusalem from at least the fourth century onwards, with the 'antiphon' beginning denoted by the same antiphon anciently used in the Benedictine Office, viz verse 13, which announces the establishment of Christ's Kingdom:

Regnum tuum regnum ómnium sæculórum: et dominátio tua in omni generatióne et generatiónem. (Your kingdom is a kingdom of all ages: and your dominion endures throughout all generations.)

Could it be that the selection of Vespers psalms was retrofitted backwards from this?

Either way, as we participate in the greatest of all vigils tonight, that of Easter, let us pray that may Christ reign in all hearts, and may you have a joyous Easter!

And of your charity, if you will, would you say a prayer for the repose of the soul of my mother Mary, who died peacefully in the Lord earlier this week after a long illness.

Psalm 147 and the design of Vespers

By way of conclusion to my notes on Psalm 147, and before we move onto consideration of Psalm 141,  I thought I would say a little more about the place of Psalm 147 in the design of Benedictine Vespers.

St Benedict's Office and the Roman

First, a bit of a recapitulation of some of my previous posts on this topic.

It is often claimed that St Benedict's Office is just a fairly mechanistic adaptation of a pre-existing Roman monastic Office, which already had the psalms said over the course of a week, and a division of the psalms between the night and morning offices (Ps 1 - 108)  and Vespers (Psalm 109 - 147).

There is however no hard evidence for this proposition at all, and quite a lot that contradicts it.

First, the earliest actual evidence for the Roman Office's psalm cursus as we know it dates from the eighth century, and sources from that period generally credit the authorship of the Roman Office to the great monasticizing Pope and champion of St Benedict, St Gregory the Great.

Secondly, the proposition that the Roman Office already had a fixed weekly cursus by the early sixth century is directly contradicted by the description of the Roman secular office in the Liber Diurnus, as well as the only Roman-region monastic office of that period for which we have details, viz that set out in the Rule of the Master. 

Thirdly, St Benedict himself acknowledged his debt to the Roman Office specifically in relation to the hour of Lauds, not the other hours, and while the liturgists, as is their wont, reject this (as they do any that contradicts their theories), there seems no obvious reason to doubt his statements on the subject.

The Office as Scriptural interpretation and spiritual instruction

The most important evidence for St Benedict's intentionality in the design of his Office though, is, I think, internal.

Medieval liturgical writers such as Amalarius, Smaragdus, Honorius Augustodunensis, Durandus and many others provide extensive analysis, in their various works, as to the intentionality behind decisions about the design of the Office: on things like the importance of the number of psalms said; the particular elements in an hour; and above all, the reasons why particular psalms are said on particular days and at particular hours.

There has, in academia of late, been a resurgence of interest in this mode of thinking, and acknowledgement that it is a valid method of analysis, with recent studies covering things such as the interpretation of the chants and texts of the Office and Mass, and use of the liturgy for various social and community binding purposes.

Benedictine Vespers

In the context of  the Benedictine hour of Vespers, I've previously pointed out that, even if we accept the proposition that St Benedict started from the Roman Office as his template, he went to considerable effort to ensure that particular psalms were said on particular days.

The Benedictine Office has four psalms at Vespers instead of the Roman five, for example.

St Benedict divided psalms instead of insisting on saying them in full, as the pre-1911 Roman Office did.

Rather dividing the two longest psalms, he divided the third, fourth and seventh longest psalms of the hour instead.   

And he combined two psalms, Psalms 115 and 116, treating them as one.

I have previously drawn attention to some of the possible reasons for these choices, in the form of particular themes I think St Benedict has built into the hour, including:

• the days of creation;
  
• the life of Christ encapsulated in a symbolic seven days; and
• humility, keying off references each day echoing the introduction to chapter 7 of the Rule to the effect that the proud will ultimately be humbled, and the humble exalted;

Saturday Vespers

When it comes to Saturday Vespers, it is notable that the hymn of the hour, unlike those of the rest of the week, does not actually allude to the days of creation, but instead focuses on the praise of the Trinity.

Consistent with this, the most obvious interpretation of the hour as a whole, including Psalm 147, is as first Vespers of the Resurrection and the Kingship of Christ over the whole world.

Indeed, the fact that the antiphon of psalms used at Vespers in the early Jerusalem Office's weekly Resurrection Vigil seems to have started at the same point as the Benedictine hour suggests that Saturday Vespers as a whole, rather than 'falling out' from the use of pre-existing sequence of Vespers psalms, may have been the driving force for it.

All the same, there are, I think, at least some references in Psalm 147 to the creation theme: the coming peace described in the first verses can certainly be seen as a reference to the day God rested after creation, foreshadowing the eternal rest to come of rest.  

The hard winter and the sending out of the word could be interpreted, perhaps, as allusions to the descent of Christ into Hades.   

And the overall theme of God's revelation both through nature and Christ certainly fits with this.

Psalm 147, though, unlike the other three psalms of the hour, contains few overt references to humility.

Coming up next

Where it does particularly fit though, I think, is into a theme running through the last psalms of each day at Vespers, on the nature of the monastic vocation, and in this case, flagging its pursuit of the peace essential for contemplation.

But I plan to come back to this point later in Lent, after we look at the first psalm of Friday Vespers, Psalm 141, which we will start on after the Feast of the Annunciation.

Psalm 147: verse 9 - All the nations shall come to see God

The final verse of Psalm 147 is essentially a continuation of the thought of the previous verse, on the privilege granted to us of Divine revelation, through which we can come to see God in peace.

Text notes

9	V	Non fecit taliter omni nationi: * et judicia sua non manifestavit eis.
		οὐκ ἐποίησεν οὕτως παντὶ ἔθνει καὶ τὰ κρίματα αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐδήλωσεν αὐτοῖς

 Word by word

Non (not) fecit (he has made/done) táliter (thus/in this manner) omni (to all) natióni (nations):  et (and) judícia (justice/judgments) sua (his) non (not) manifestávit (he has made known) eis (his) = and his righteousness he has not manifested to them

Key vocabulary:

manifesto, avi, atum, are to make known, reveal, make manifest.

talliter, adv. , so, thus, in such wise or manner. 

 Selected translations:

DR	He has not done in like manner to every nation: and his judgments he has not made manifest to them.
Brenton	He has not done so to any other nation; and he has not shewn them his judgments.
MD	Not so hath He done to every nation, nor make known to them His judgments
RSV	He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the LORD!
Cover	He hath not dealt so with any nation; neither have the heathen knowledge of his laws.

 The paradox of the Jews

This verse completes the thought set out in the previous one on the distinction between the natural law, discernible through reason, and the privilege of Divine revelation.

St John Chrysostom pointed out that everyone can achieve virtue purely through reason:

all had the natural law within them sounding clear signals as to what is good and what is not. At the same time as he formed human beings, you see, God placed this incorruptible court within them, the verdict of conscience in each person.

To the Jewish people, though, he gave  more certain path to salvation: 

With the Jews, however, he took this special trouble, indi­cating prescription also in writing. Hence the psalmist did not ac­tually say, "He did not deal with every nation," but He did not deal in this way, that is, he did not send them tablets, or writings, or a Mosaic lawgiver, or the other things on Mount Sinai. Instead, the Jews alone enjoyed all these things from their privileged state, whereas the whole of humankind had a sufficient law in conscience. 

But now. as St Augustine explained, all nations have been joined to Israel, able to access Divine Revelation through the teaching of the apostles:

The wild olive is cut off from its stock, to be grafted into the olive: now they belong to the olive, no longer ought they to be called nations, but one nation in Christ, the nation of Jacob, the nation of Israel...

What then is Israel for us, he asks?  The answer is seeing God in peace, for we are bound together through our worship of God: 

What is Israel? Seeing God. Where shall he see God? In peace. What peace? The peace of Jerusalem; for, says he, He has set peace for your borders. There shall we praise: there shall we all be one, in One, unto One: for then, though many, we shall not be scattered. 

   

Psalm 147 – Lauda Jerusalem 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Lauda, Jerúsalem, Dóminum: * lauda Deum tuum, Sion.	Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem: praise your God, O Sion.
2  Quóniam confortávit seras portárum tuárum: * benedíxit fíliis tuis in te.	Because he has strengthened the bolts of your gates, he has blessed your children within you
3  Qui pósuit fines tuos pacem: * et ádipe fruménti sátiat te.	Who has placed peace in your borders: and fills you with the fat of corn.
4  Qui emíttit elóquium suum terræ: * velóciter currit sermo ejus.	Who sends forth his speech to the earth: his word runs swiftly.
5  Qui dat nivem sicut lanam: * nébulam sicut cínerem spargit.	Who gives snow like wool: scatters mists like ashes.
6  Mittit crystállum suam sicut buccéllas: * ante fáciem frígoris ejus quis sustinébit?	He sends his crystal like morsels: who shall stand before the face of his cold?
7  Emíttet verbum suum, et liquefáciet ea: * flabit spíritus ejus, et fluent aquæ.	He shall send out his word, and shall melt them: his wind shall blow, and the waters shall run.
8  Qui annúntiat verbum suum Jacob: * justítias, et judícia sua Israël.	Who declares his word to Jacob: his justices and his judgments to Israel
9  Non fecit táliter omni natióni: * et judícia sua non manifestávit eis.	He has not done in like manner to every nation: and his judgments he has not made manifest to them. Alleluia.

And for the final set of notes on this psalm, continue on here.

Psalm 147: verses 8 - The gift of Christ's coming

c 840 

In the previous verse, the psalm announce that God will send out his Word to melt the hardened pellets of ice' this verse explains that the word is precepts and judgments, revealed to his people.

Text notes

Latin and Greek text: 

8	V	Qui annuntiat verbum suum jacob: * justitias, et judicia sua israël.
		ἀπαγγέλλων τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ τῷ Ιακωβ δικαιώματα καὶ κρίματα αὐτοῦ τῷ Ισραηλ

Word by word:

Qui (who) annúntiat (announces/declares) verbum (the word) suum (his) [to] Jacob: justítias (precepts/statutes/laws/commands), et (and) judícia (judgments) sua (his) Israël.

Key vocabulary: 

annuntio, avi, atum, are  to announce, proclaim, publish, make known

justitia, ae, f justice, righteousness, innocence, piety, moral integrity; plur., judgments, precepts, ordinances:

judicium, i, n.  judgment, decrees; law, commandment; the power, or faculty of judging wisely; justice.

Selected translations: 

DR	Who declares his word to Jacob: his justices and his judgments to Israel.
Brenton	He sends his word to Jacob, his ordinances and judgments to Israel.
MD	He declareth his word to Jacob, His precepts and judgments to Israel
RSV	He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
Cover	He showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and ordinances unto Israel.

The mission of the Church

In the previous verses, the image of the changing seasons was used to remind us that our knowledge of God and what he wishes for us does not depend on revelation through the church, can be learnt through reason, for the natural law is engraved on our hearts.

This verse, though, reminds us of the special privilege we have been granted in receiving direct knowledge of God's requirements of us.

Cassiodorus explains that 'Jacob and Israel' stand for the Church:

for these two survived as the names of one person, just as from two peoples one has been formed, which on the one hand is well called Israel, and on the other is correctly termed Jacob. For now any faithful individual is an Israelite, and earlier anyone who pleased the Lord by pure devotion was a Jacob; we know that the Lord declared His word and His justices to him.

 St Robert Bellarmine commented: 

He concludes by showing how differently God, in his providence, deals with his own people, and with other nations, because he instructed other nations, merely by natural causes and effects, so as to know their Creator through the things created by him; but he taught his own people through the prophets.

And this special privilege is given not just for ourselves, but so that we can carry out God's mission of converting the world; it is a call to action, as Pope John Paul II noted:

In this way, the election of Israel and her sole mission among the peoples is celebrated: to proclaim to the world the Word of God. It is a prophetic and priestly mission, because "what great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?" (Dt 4: 8). It is through Israel and, therefore, also through the Christian community, namely the Church, that the Word of God resounds in the world and becomes instruction and light for all peoples.

More after the feast of St Benedict!

Psalm 147 – Lauda Jerusalem 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Lauda, Jerúsalem, Dóminum: * lauda Deum tuum, Sion.	Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem: praise your God, O Sion.
2  Quóniam confortávit seras portárum tuárum: * benedíxit fíliis tuis in te.	Because he has strengthened the bolts of your gates, he has blessed your children within you
3  Qui pósuit fines tuos pacem: * et ádipe fruménti sátiat te.	Who has placed peace in your borders: and fills you with the fat of corn.
4  Qui emíttit elóquium suum terræ: * velóciter currit sermo ejus.	Who sends forth his speech to the earth: his word runs swiftly.
5  Qui dat nivem sicut lanam: * nébulam sicut cínerem spargit.	Who gives snow like wool: scatters mists like ashes.
6  Mittit crystállum suam sicut buccéllas: * ante fáciem frígoris ejus quis sustinébit?	He sends his crystal like morsels: who shall stand before the face of his cold?
7  Emíttet verbum suum, et liquefáciet ea: * flabit spíritus ejus, et fluent aquæ.	He shall send out his word, and shall melt them: his wind shall blow, and the waters shall run.
8  Qui annúntiat verbum suum Jacob: * justítias, et judícia sua Israël.	Who declares his word to Jacob: his justices and his judgments to Israel
9  Non fecit táliter omni natióni: * et judícia sua non manifestávit eis.	He has not done in like manner to every nation: and his judgments he has not made manifest to them. Alleluia.

 And for the next set of notes on this psalm, continue on here.

Psalm 147: verse 7 - The thawing of our hearts through God's grace

Les Très Riches Heures
du duc de Berry: March

The previous verse we talked about the hard, crystallized ice and hail of winter; today's takes us to spring, as the Word of God is sent out, and his spirit melts hard hearts, and makes the waters of baptism flow within us.

The Greek and Latin:

 

7	V	Emittet verbum suum, et liquefaciet ea: * flabit spiritus ejus, et fluent aquæ.
		ἀποστελεῖ τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ καὶ τήξει αὐτά πνεύσει τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ καὶ ῥυήσεται ὕδατα

Text notes:

Word by word:

Emíttet (he sends forth) verbum (the word) suum (his) et (and) liquefáciet (he/it will melt) ea (them) flabit (it will blow) spíritus (the spirit/wind) ejus (his) et (and) fluent (they will flow) aquæ (the waters).

Key vocabulary: 

liquefacio, feci, factum, ere 3 to melt, dissolve.

flo, flavi, flatum, flare, to blow.

spiritus, us, m.  breath;  wind;  breath of life, vital spirit; the soul; spirit, disposition; Divine assistance, grace

fluo, fluxi, fluxum, ere 3, Of water, to flow; Of wax, to melt.

Selected translations: 

DR	He shall send out his word, and shall melt them: his wind shall blow, and the waters shall run
Brenton	He shall send out his word, and melt them: he shall blow with his wind, and the waters shall flow.
MD	He sendeth forth His word and it melteth them, He maketh His wind to blow and the waters run
RSV	He sends forth his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.
Cover	He sendeth out his word, and melteth them; he bloweth with his wind, and the waters flow.

 The seasons as a message from God

Although we have the benefit of Scripture and the Tradition entrusted to the Church to instruct us. several of the Fathers see this verse as a reminder that God's revelations are also embedded in nature as we experience it, and can be deduced from it.

We should meditate then, on the changing seasons and their meaning, rather than just taking them for granted.

St John Chrysostom for example said:

So when it happens each year and comes before your gaze, do not regard the marvel as of little significance: think how wonderful it is, at one time snow coming into view, at another time water, such changes happening in a short space of time. You see, in case any stupid person should think they happen by the natural operation of the elements, and simply regard these things responsible for them in­stead of knowing who is the one giving the commands, he directs his attention to God's ordinance about all these things...It was not the nature of the winds taking the initiative and causing this, you see, but the God who made the winds. 

So what is the key take out message?  It is that we should never despair of God's grace and mercy, for he can melt even the hardest heart, and turn it to repentance.  St Jerome says:  

If anyone, then, should grow cold and die, God will send His Word and melt him. May the Lord grant that our frigidity, too, may thaw, that this crystal of ice be dissolved and melt. Give me any sinner who has no regard for God, who has no heat, but is thoroughly frozen and dead; if at the word of God he is roused to compunction and begins to repent and the hardness of his heart is softened, at that moment are the words fulfilled: 'He sends his word and melts them.'  The Father sends; the Word is sent; the Holy Spirit is given. 

Psalm 147 – Lauda Jerusalem 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Lauda, Jerúsalem, Dóminum: * lauda Deum tuum, Sion.	Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem: praise your God, O Sion.
2  Quóniam confortávit seras portárum tuárum: * benedíxit fíliis tuis in te.	Because he has strengthened the bolts of your gates, he has blessed your children within you
3  Qui pósuit fines tuos pacem: * et ádipe fruménti sátiat te.	Who has placed peace in your borders: and fills you with the fat of corn.
4  Qui emíttit elóquium suum terræ: * velóciter currit sermo ejus.	Who sends forth his speech to the earth: his word runs swiftly.
5  Qui dat nivem sicut lanam: * nébulam sicut cínerem spargit.	Who gives snow like wool: scatters mists like ashes.
6  Mittit crystállum suam sicut buccéllas: * ante fáciem frígoris ejus quis sustinébit?	He sends his crystal like morsels: who shall stand before the face of his cold?
7  Emíttet verbum suum, et liquefáciet ea: * flabit spíritus ejus, et fluent aquæ.	He shall send out his word, and shall melt them: his wind shall blow, and the waters shall run.
8  Qui annúntiat verbum suum Jacob: * justítias, et judícia sua Israël.	Who declares his word to Jacob: his justices and his judgments to Israel
9  Non fecit táliter omni natióni: * et judícia sua non manifestávit eis.	He has not done in like manner to every nation: and his judgments he has not made manifest to them. Alleluia.

For the next part in this series, continue on here.