Holy week and the Benedictine Office pt 2 - The Easter Vigil and the weekly Sunday Resurrection Vigil

Over the next few days, we trace, in the liturgy, Our Lord's final days on earth, and above all, look forward to the Resurrection. But, as I suggested in my previous post, it is worth keeping in mind that the early Christians regularly retraced these events each week.  

The weekly cycle of the life of Our Lord

No where was this more true than in Rome, as Pope Innocent I (401/2 - 417), in a famous letter to Bishop Decentius of Gubbio, advocating for some of Rome's unique liturgical practices, makes clear:

...If in fact we celebrate the Lord's Day because of Our Lord Jesus Christ's resurrection - doing so not only at Easter but each week renewing the image of this feast - and if we fast on Friday because of the Lord's suffering, then we should not omit Saturday which appears to be enclosed between a time of sorrow and a time of joy. in fact, it is evident that during these two days the apostles were in sorrow and hid themselves, doing so because of their fear of the Jews. In any case, there can be no doubt that their fasting during these two days has been remembered to such an extent that, according to the Church's tradition, the sacraments are no celebrated during these two days.  This practice is to be observed each week so that the commemoration of this day be always observed....On Friday the Lord suffered his passion and went to the nether world in order to rise on the third day, thereby restoring joy after the sadness of the preceding two days...Those who rejoiced on the Lord's day, desired not only that this day be very festive, but also that it should be repeated each week...(trans Lawrence J Johnson, worship in the Early Church, vol 3).

The Divine Office also reflects this idea, particularly with the longer, more elaborate Vigil Office, or Matins, of Sunday.

Benedictine vs Roman Sunday Matins

It has long been argued that the Benedictine Office was largely based on the Roman Office.  

When it comes to Sunday Matins, however, the liturgists have long conceded that the more likely influence is the Jerusalem weekly 'Resurrection Vigil' first described by the fourth century Western pilgrim Egeria.

The Roman Sunday Office as it stood in the ninth century, it should be noted, consisted of an invitatory hymn (Ps 94) plus eighteen psalms, nine readings and nine responsories, with no hymns whatsoever.

The sixth century Benedictine Sunday Matins, by contrast, retained its standard form of two invitatory psalms and a hymn; and two nocturns consisting of six psalms each.  But it adds to that an extra Nocturn consisting of three canticles; as well as having four readings and responsories in each nocturn; the Te Deum; a Gospel reading; and the hymn Te decet laus.

There are indeed good reasons for thinking that many of these elements originated in the overnight vigil section of the extremely influential Jerusalem Resurrection Office (which had a set of rotating Resurrection Gospels): the psalms of Saturday Vespers in the Benedictine Office seems to mirror the 'antiphon' of psalms used at Vespers in the Jerusalem office; the use of canticles and the twelve psalm structure of Benedictine Matins are both features of the Jerusalem Office, as is the inclusion of a Gospel reading.

The psalms of Benedictine Sunday Matins

Perhaps the most intriguing feature of Benedictine Matins though, is that St Benedict starts the week at Sunday Matins with Psalm 20, not Psalm 1 as you would expect (and is the Roman practice).

Although most commentators have dismissed this oddity as not having any particular meaning, I want to disagree.

One of the key features of a Vigil is that they typically recapitulate the events leading up to the event being celebrated: at Easter, of course, the Vigil starts with an account of the creation of the world, and works forward through salvation history.

The first three psalms of the Benedictine weekly resurrection Vigil, I want to suggest, are a recapitulation of the Triduum.

In particular, verse 2 of Psalm 20 (see below) says, 'Thou hast given him his heart’s desire'.

The Fathers, using the standard technique of interpreting the psalms in the light of the rest of Scripture, saw this as a reference to Luke 22:15's description of  the Last Supper.  St Augustine for example, commented:

You have given him the desire of his soul: He desired to eat the Passover, (Luke 22:15: And he said to them: With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you, before I suffer) and to lay down his life when he would...

The Fathers, in other words, interpreted Christ's words as a deliberate quotation of the psalm, and as pointing to its fulfillment in the Last Supper.

Psalm 21, the quintessential suffering servant psalm, takes us to the Passion.

And Psalm 22, The Lord is my shepherd, with its reference to walking in the midst of the shadow of death, and the shepherd leading his flock to bounteous pasture and water, can arguably be interpreted as appropriate to the harrowing of hell on Holy Saturday.

With the fourth psalm of the set we reach the Resurrection, with Psalm 23's 'Lift up your gates, O princes, and be lifted up, O eternal gates: and the King of Glory shall enter in'.

But more on this and some of the other Office connections to the Triduum anon. 

 Psalm 20

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem. Psalmus David.	Unto the end. A psalm for David.
1 Dómine, in virtúte tua lætábitur rex: * et super salutáre tuum exsultábit veheménter.	In your strength, O Lord, the king shall joy; and in your salvation he shall rejoice exceedingly.
2  Desidérium cordis ejus tribuísti ei: * et voluntáte labiórum ejus non fraudásti eum.	3 You have given him his heart's desire: and have not withholden from him the will of his lips.
3  Quóniam prævenísti eum in benedictiónibus dulcédinis: * posuísti in cápite ejus corónam de lápide pretióso.	4 For you have prevented him with blessings of sweetness: you have set on his head a crown of precious stones.
4  Vitam pétiit a te: * et tribuísti ei longitúdinem diérum in sæculum, et in sæculum sæculi.	5 He asked life of you: and you have given him length of days for ever and ever.
5  Magna est glória ejus in salutári tuo: * glóriam et magnum decórem impónes super eum.	6 His glory is great in your salvation: glory and great beauty shall you lay upon him.
6  Quóniam dabis eum in benedictiónem in sæculum sæculi: * lætificábis eum in gáudio cum vultu tuo.	7 For you shall give him to be a blessing for ever and ever: you shall make him joyful in gladness with your countenance.
7  Quóniam rex sperat in Dómino: * et in misericórdia Altíssimi non commovébitur.	8 For the king hopes in the Lord: and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved
8  Inveniátur manus tua ómnibus inimícis tuis: * déxtera tua invéniat omnes, qui te odérunt.	9 Let your hand be found by all your enemies: let your right hand find out all them that hate you.
9  Pones eos ut clíbanum ignis in témpore vultus tui: * Dóminus in ira sua conturbábit eos, et devorábit eos ignis.	10 You shall make them as an oven of fire, in the time of your anger: the Lord shall trouble them in his wrath, and fire shall devour them.
10  Fructum eórum de terra perdes: * et semen eórum a fíliis hóminum.	11 Their fruit shall you destroy from the earth: and their seed from among the children of men.
11  Quóniam declinavérunt in te mala: * cogitavérunt consília, quæ non potuérunt stabilíre.	12 For they have intended evils against you: they have devised counsels which they have not been able to establish.
12  Quóniam pones eos dorsum: * in relíquiis tuis præparábis vultum eórum.	13 For you shall make them turn their back: in your remnants you shall prepare their face.
13  Exaltáre, Dómine, in virtúte tua: * cantábimus et psallémus virtútes tuas.	14 Be exalted, O Lord, in your own strength: we will sing and praise your power.

Holy week and the Benedictine Office pt 1

I thought I might complete this Lent series on the psalms of the Benedictine Office with a few notes on on the events of Holy Week in the Benedictine Office.

The Triduum Office

From Thursday, of course, the monastic breviary adopts the Roman Office of the Triduum in its entirety, rather than following the order set out in the Rule.  

The psalms used during the Triduum, as I've previously argued, are very carefully selected for their relevance to the events of Holy Week.

But those themes - and indeed many of those same psalms - in the Benedictine Office to create a mini-Triduum in the Office each week, and for the next few days I want to briefly point to a few of those particular features.

Before I do that though, I want to say something briefly about the history of the Office of the Triduum itself, and particularly to the question of how far back the adoption of the Roman Office in this period by the Benedictines goes.

The Origin of the Roman Triduum Office

The Roman Triduum itself can be traced back to at least the ninth century, but like the rest of the Roman Office for which evidence is sparse before the ninth century, it almost certainly predates that.

Just how far it predates it by though, is impossible to say.

Some, for example, claim that its lack of hymns, chapters and doxologies are indications of its antiquity; of its origins at a time when the Roman Office had none of those things, and preserved as such because of the antiquity of the Office of these days.  

But as Amalarius and other medieval commentators pointed out, all of those features arguably have particular theological rationales - and the Office of the Dead after all, similarly omits all these elements, but almost certainly dates from no earlier than the eighth century.

Moreover, while silence is not absolute evidence, it is at least suggestive that a mid seventh century papal decree instructing the Benedictines to follow Roman practices such as the omission of  the alleluia in Septuagesimatide and the use of the Roman Easter octave, does not mention the Triduum.

When did the Benedictines adopt the Roman Triduum?

Assuming then, that the Office of the Triduum as we know dates from perhaps the late seventh or more likely first half of the eighth centuries, at what point the Benedictines decided to follow the Roman rather than their own Office for these days?  

In the late eighth and early centuries, the early Carolingian Benedictines strongly criticized the Roman influenced practices of Monte Cassino and others, including for not respecting the Rules insistence on saying all of the psalms each week.  One commentary specifically mentions the truncated (three psalm) Roman Easter octave Office in this regard, but none of the sources of criticism mention the Triduum.

But if the Benedictine Office was still followed during the Triduum (at least in most places) at this time, that certainly didn't last, as virtually all of the surviving manuscripts for the Office, which date from the tenth century onwards, show the Benedictines as following the Roman Office for these days. 

The one exception I'm aware of (Cistercian influenced monasteries aside, on which see below, is a tenth century manuscript from Limoges, early a centre of Benedictine influence, which provides twelve responsories, rather than nine, for Maundy Thursday, but then contracts down to the Roman nine for Friday and Saturday.

But even that evidence is ambiguous - while it may preserve a remnant of an earlier practice of twelve responsories for each of these days; but it equally it might just be because the addition of Thursday to the Roman Triduum was itself a relatively late event (since it uses the psalms of the day rather than special sets as for the other two days).

The Cistercians

The one point of resistance to the Roman Triduum came with the Cistercians, who, instead of adding three extra readings and responsories to make up the usual Benedictine three Nocturn Office (which would have been straightforward to do, there are several variant responsories in the repertoire of the time), instead made the three days of the Triduum ferial days, with only three readings and responsories, in order, they claimed to be consistent with the Rule.

They were heavily criticized for this, though, and in the period not long before Trent, finally adopted the Roman practice, only reverting to their original ferial Office in 1959.

The twentieth century

The other key changes to the Triduum Office came in the twentieth century, with Pius X's psalter revisions leading to changes to the psalms used at Lauds in particular, and then the trimming out of Psalm 50 from each hour in 1960.

The mini-Triduum in the weekly Office

Tenebrae is a wonderfully evocative feature of Holy Week, a tradition to be treasured and savoured.

Still, it is worth considering how we can maintain the remembrance of this special Office throughout the year in our practice, and so more on that in my next post.