(CarJwrry

LITURGICAL PRAYER

©bstat.

DOM JUSTINUS McCANN, O.S.B., F. THOMAS BERGH, O.S.B.

CENSORES DEPDTATI.

imprimatur.

EDM. CAN. SURMONT,

VICARIUS GENERALIS.

WHSTMONASTBRII,

Die 20 Octobris, 1921.

LITURGICAL PRAYER

Its HISTORY & SPIRIT

BY THE RIGHT REVEREND

FER^A^p CAB<ROL, O.S.B.

Abbot of Farnborough. Translated by a BENEDICTINE OF STANBROOK

P. J. KENEDY & SONS

44, BARCLAY STREET, NEW YORK MCMXXII

CONTENTS

Preface.

PART I

ELEMENTS OF LITURGICAL PRAYER

CHAP. I. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES IN THE LITURGY. P. I. CHAP. II. THE USE OF PSALMS AND CANTICLES IN THE

LITURGY. P. 12. CHAP. III. FIRST PRINCIPLES OF PRAYER AND THE CHRISTIAN

LIFE. P. 24. CHAP. IV. FORMS OF PRAYER USED IN ANTIQUITY. PSALMODY,

RESPONSORIES, VERSICLES, ANTIPHONS, TRACTS, COLLECTS,

PREFACES. P. 32. CHAP. V. LITURGICAL ACCLAMATIONS AND INVOCATIONS. AMEN,

ALLELUIA, DOMINUS VOBISCUM, PAX TECUM, KYRIE ELEISON,

DEO GRATIAS. P. 43.

PART II

THE CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLY

CHAP. VI. PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLIES. ORIGIN OF THE

MASS. P. 54. CHAP. VII. MASS IN ROME AT THE BEGINNING OF THE THIRD

CENTURY. P. 62. CHAP. VIII. ATTITUDES DURING PRAYER, AND LITURGICAL

GESTURES. P. 80.

PART III

THE PRAYER OF CHRISTIANS

CHAP. IX. THE OUR FATHER. P. 88.

CHAP. X. THE HYMNS OF THE LITURGY. P. 93.

CHAP. XI. THE GLORIA IN EXCELSIS. P. IOO.

CHAP. XII. THE TE DEUM. P. 104.

CHAP. XIII. THE CREEDS. THE APOSTLES' CREED, THE NICENE

CREED, AND THE ATHANASIAN CREED. P. Io8. CHAP. XIV. THE PRAYER OF THE MARTYRS AND THE EARLY

CHRISTIANS. P. Il6. CHAP. XV. THE GENESIS OF THE LITURGICAL BOOKS AND THEIR

CONTENTS. THE MISSAL, BREVIARY, PONTIFICAL, RITUAL,

CEREMONIAL OF BISHOPS AND MARTYROLOGY. P. 126.

v

VI

Contents

PART iv

SANCTIFICATION OF TIME

CHAP XVI THE CHRISTIAN DAY.-THE DAY AND NIGHT HOUF (MATINS, LAUDS, PRIME, TERCE, SEXT, NONE, VESPERS, AND

COMPLINE). P. 137.

CHAP XVII. THE CHRISTIAN WEEK.— THE SUNDAY.

CHAP XVIII. THE CHRISTIAN YEAR.— FORMATION OF

LITURGICAL CYCLE, CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LITURGICAL SEASONS, ADVENT, CHRISTMASTIDE, SEPTUAGESIMA, I «T, PASCHAL TIME, TIME AFTER PENTECOST. P. 155.

PART V

DEVOTION TO OUR LORD AND THE SAINT

CHAP XIX. CHRIST THE CENTRE OF THE LITURGY.— FEASTS OF OUR LORD, DOXOLOGIES, NAMES OF OUR LORD. P. 170.

CHAP. XX. THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY IN THE LITURGY. P. 178.

CHApi XXI. DEVOTION TO THE SAINTS.— MARTYRS, APOSTLES, CONFESSORS, VIRGINS AND WIDOWS. P. 189.

PART VI

SANCTIFICATION OF PLACES AND THINGS

CHAP. XXII. THE HOUSE OF GOD.— CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES.

—FEAST OF THE DEDICATION. P. 203. CHAP. XXIII. GOD'S ACRE.— THE BLESSING OF A CEMETERY.

P. 213. CHAP. XXIV. THE BLESSING OF WATER, OIL, SALT, ES,

FIRE AND LIGHTS, INCENSE, BELLS. P. 2 1 8. CHAP. XXV. GRACE BEFORE AND AFTER MEALS. P. 237. CHAP. XXVI. EXORCISMS. P. 241.

PART VII SANCTIFICATION OF LIFE

CHAP. XXVII. THE NEW LIFE. BAPTISM, CONFIRMATION, FIRST

COMMUNION. P. 245.

CHAP. XXVIII. THE LIFE REGAINED.— PENANCE, CONFESSION. P. 252.

CHAP. XXIX. CHRISTIAN TRAVELLERS AND PILGRIMS. P. 2DI.

CHAP. XXX. THE SICK.— MASS FOR THE SICK AND HOLY VIATICUM, EXTREME UNCTION AND THE VISITATION OF THE SICK, RECOMMENDATION OF A DEPARTING SOUL. P. 269.

CHAP. XXXI. ORDINATION. — DOOR-KEEPERS, LECTORS, EXOR CISTS, ACOLYTES, SUBDEACONS, DEACONS, PRIESTS, BISHOPS. P. 279.

Contents v11

CHAP. XXXII. MARRIAGE. P. 290.

CHAP. XXXIII. DEATH. ALL SOULS' DAY, THE PROCESSION AND

OFFICE OF THE DEAD, MASS FOR THE DEAD AND FOR THE

ANNIVERSARY, THE ABSOLUTIONS. P. 296.

PART VIII EUCHOLOGY

MORNING PRAYERS. P. 31 1.

NIGHT PRAYERS. P. 318.

ORDINARY OF THE MASS (TEXT AND COMMENTARY). P. 321.

SANCTIFICATION OF THE SUNDAY (MORNING PRAYERS, ATHANASIAN CREED, MASS, VESPERS, BENEDICTION). P. 344.

PRAYERS FOR CONFESSION. P. 356.

PRAYERS FOR COMMUNION. P. 357.

PRAYERS AND LITANIES IN HONOUR OF OUR LADY AND THE SAINTS, LITANIES AND PRAYERS FOR ALL THE NEEDS OF THE CHURCH. P. 360.

OCCASIONAL PRAYERS (LUMEN HILARE, PRAYERS OF ST. CYPRIAN, ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH, ST. GENESIUS, ST. EUSEBIUS, ST. AUGUSTINE, PRAYERS FROM THE PAPYRUS OF THE ARCHDUKE RAINER, DOXOLOGIES, PRAYERS OF SERAPION, PRAYERS IN FORM OF LITANY, PRAYER OF THE EMPEROR LICINIUS). P. 372.

INDEX. P. 379

PQT

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

'' LE LIVRE DE LA PRIERE ANTIQUE/' now presented in an English translation, was published in 1900, and is now in its fifteenth thousand. Translations into Spanish and German have already appeared. The author is too well known as a leading- authority on all matters liturgical to require introduc tion to English readers. In his preface to the first French edition he referred to several projected works, parts of which have since appeared, such as the Dictionnaire d'archeologie chrttienne et de Uturgie, and Monumenta Ecclesice Liturgica. It has been thought well not to alter the primitive text.

September, 1921.

PREFACE

"% HE necessity of prayer is recognized by every one who admits the existence of God. If there be a God, Creator of this vast universe, man must worship Him, and give Him praise; he must acknowledge His sovereign power, and whilst humbling himself before Him on account of sin, he must also beg for mercy and help. Thus prayer, in one form or another, ought to hold an important place in the life of every one who is not an atheist. Whoever, therefore, teaches us how to pray is entitled to our deepest gratitude.

If, as we believe, the Church is indeed the body founded by Christ and blessed by God, she must not only teach her children to pray, but her own prayer must be the most perfect, the truest, and the most efficacious. Now, these are the very characteristics ascribed to Catholic prayer and Catholic Liturgy, not only by the indifferent, but sometimes even by the enemies of the Church. They cannot assist at a service held in a Catholic church (if that service be properly carried out) without experiencing deep emotion, without feeling im pelled to kneel and pray with the faithful. This effect has often been remarked, and is constantly witnessed in our churches.

Newman, while still a Protestant, wrote as follows : " There is so much of excellence and beauty in the services of the Breviary that, were it skilfully set before the Protestant by Roman controversialists as the book of devotions received in their communion, it would undoubtedly raise a prejudice in their favour, if he were but ordinarily candid and unpreju diced."1 A Breviary had been left to him by Hurrell Froude, who had himself used it. " I took it up," Newman, now a Catholic, tells us, " I studied it, and from that day I have kept it on my table and constantly used it." Later he wrote that this event had been an epoch in his life ; the study of the Breviary and the custom of reciting it daily had opened out a new vista before him.

Famous novelists of the day often find in liturgical rites material for their most effective scenes. Among French writers we will name only J. K. Huysmans ; among English authors, Hall Caine in The Christian, and Mrs. Humphry Ward in Helbeck of Bannisdale.2

1 Tracts for the Times, No. 75 ; The Roman Breviary, p. i ; cf. Thureau Dangin, La renaissance catholique en Angleterre.

2 We have also Kenan's well-known address to the Minerva on the Acropolis : " Hymns were sung there (in the churches) which I remem ber even now : ' Hail, star of the sea ... Queen of all who mourn in this vale of tears,' or ' Mystical Rose, Tower of ivory, House of gold,

x preface

In spite of many praiseworthy efforts to make the Church's prayer better known, it seems to us that even now too many of the faithful are ill-acquainted with the treasures of doctrine and piety, not to say poetry, to be found in the Liturgy. They lurn to other and often insipid productions.

Every one knows the amusing- anecdote of La Fontaine, who, having- been present at the Office when some portions of a prophetical book were read, went away full of admiration, asking every one he met : " Have you read Baruch?"

How many Christians there are now, sad to say, who would reply : " Who is Baruch?" With the fable-writer we should like to ask the laity : " Have you read Baruch? Have you ever in your life opened a Breviary or a Missal?" We would go further and ask : How many priests and religious, whose duty it is to read and study these books, know them and value them at their true worth ?'

We confess to having been painfully surprised at finding- in Notes sur I'Angleterre, by Taine, a eulogy of the Book of Common Prayer which leads one to suspect that the writer in question, exceptionally broad-minded as he is and usually so well-informed, did not know that its prayers are taken from the Catholic Liturgy, nor that the book whose beauty he ad mired merely presents that Liturgy in an impoverished or even mutilated form ; so much is admitted by certain of the Anglican clergy themselves, for many lay aside their official book and adopt the Catholic Liturgy.

This widespread ignorance arises from many causes which it would take too long to analyze here. One of the chief is that the Liturgy in its present form, either as actually carried out or as found in books, is not accessible to all.

We think, therefore, to render a service to the faithful by putting at their disposal the means of initiating themselves into the secrets of the Liturgy. Our book may, perhaps, be not unacceptable to some who, though doubtless well-meaning and in good faith, are not yet in communion with the Church.

In this work we have made a study of Catholic prayer in its different aspects, and have given such explanations as we consider necessary to enable every one to understand the books containing the Liturgy and 'to take an intelligent in terest in the ceremonies of the Church.

The title of the Ancient Prayer of the Church has been chosen because Christian Liturgy took shape in the first period of the history of the Church, from the first to the fifth or at latest to the ninth century. During this time it was perfected in almost

Morning Star. . . .' Ah, goddess ! when I remember those hymns my heart softens; I could almost apostatize . . . thou canst not conceive the charm that the barbarians (the Christians) have infused into these verses, nor how hard I find it to follow reason alone" (Souvenirs d enfance et de jeunesse}.

ipreface *i

every detail ; whatever modifications were introduced later were merely in regard to minor points, the main lines remaining- unchanged.1

And here a confession must be made. Although the Church has in every age shown herself to be the great teacher of prayer and of Liturgy, this gift never shone more brilliantly than during this remote period. The best proof that can be ad duced of this fact is that the Church, as we have just said, was in possession as far back as the ninth century of all her rites, all her formularies of prayer; the order of Divine service was already drawn up, the forms of psalmody were fixed ; she had but to preserve the inheritance transmitted to her by past ages. Such additions as have been made later are of little importance compared to the fecundity and originality displayed in the earlier epoch.

The prayer of ancient times is, then, in reality Christian prayer, the Liturgy of every age.

We are very far from censuring or even thinking lightly of what has been done during the Middle Ages or in modern times. There, too, may be found much that is worthy of admiration ; perhaps at some future time we may take up the study of the Liturgy of that period — if in this work we have restricted ourselves more especially to the first centuries, it is, we repeat, because the key of the Liturgy is to be found there.

In order to attain our end more surely, and that a taste for Catholic Liturgy may be acquired, a number of extracts have been given, so that our book has become in that respect a kind of liturgical anthology or a euchology. Our object in so doing has been that the devout may sometimes make use of it in their private meditations and prayers. \Ve venture to think that they will thereby imbibe the spirit of the Liturgy, and will consequently pray with greater facility and profit.

Among the conclusions to be drawn from this work there is one on which we wish to lay stress ; it is the law of uninter rupted progress and transformation which the study of primitive Liturgy brings out so clearly. Such a process of evolution ought not to surprise us ; we find it here as else where, and it seems to be a universal law of life. The reason for each of these changes may be found in the natural development of Christian society, whose needs and aspirations are ever changing.

It is a curious thing that the most bitter complaints against these ever-recurring manifestations of life come to us from rationalists and Protestants. See with what undisguised satisfaction their historians and theologians take note of them. One would say that their idea of the Church is that of a body

1 The title of the original is " Le Livre de la Priere Antique " ; it has been thought better to call the English edition " Liturgical Prayer."

xii preface

incapable of movement, which sprang- at once to maturity, and thenceforth could suffer no change.

It is still more astonishing- that these mistaken and narrow- minded critics have succeeded in imposing their ideas upon certain apologists who, imbued with such notions, have at tempted to prove what is impossible and contrary to the testimony of history and experience — namely, that all which is found in the Church to-day has existed from apostolic times. In so doing they have laid themselves open to criticism.

In our opinion nothing so clearly proves the assistance of the Holy Spirit and the necessity for a ruling power in the bosom of the Church as this law of harmonious development. It would seem that those who reject the idea of such a power are obliged either to ignore all that is done by that power and to raise up an entirely new Church, or to take the illogical and insincere method of adopting for their own a part only of the Church's institutions and rejecting the rest.

Just as the more searching study of the work of creation and its successive phases fills us with a greater and more intelligent admiration than that with which the limited hexameron of the ancients inspired us, so our admiration of the Church increases when we observe in detail the progress in unity, the law of continuity which has presided over her development from the first to the twentieth century. The presence is ever felt of that inner and Divine power which governs her, putting aside what is hurtful, preserving what is good, inspiring her and guiding her through the many rocks on which the mystic sense is in danger of being wrecked.

Another point which offends certain critics is that a few of the rites of the Catholic Liturgy are to be found in pagan forms of worship. But Christianity, for the very reason that it is the true religion of humanity, has rejected only what was corrupt in ancient forms of worship. Almost all religions have pre served some vestiges of truth or of traditional practices which rightly express the feelings of the creature towards the Creator. St. Augustine had observed this when he said : " We have some things in common with the pagans, but our end is different." Even those who deny the existence of this primitive tradition admit that the sense of religion inherent in man proceeds from a lofty source, and when not perverted by passion or interest is always worthy of respect, and is occasionally even sublime.

Such analogies, therefore, are perfectly natural ; neverthe less, they have been sometimes sought out by our enemies with malignant zeal. All that we have a right to expect is that, as Christianity is the true religion, it ought to have on this point, as on others, that character of transcendency of

1 L. xx., contra Faustum, c. xxiii.

preface xm

which so much, has been said ; that is to say, its prayers must be elevated in tone, its rites must be free from all taint of baseness or vulgarity.

In conclusion, a few words must be said on the nature of this book, which is, indeed, only an epitome or abridgement of a much larger and more scientific work undertaken by us, to appear some day, we hope, with the assistance of devoted and capable fellow-workers and of generous friends. That fuller study of the most ancient liturgical documents and of all the passages bearing on the Liturgy in the Fathers and writers of the first ten centuries has to some extent furnished the materials for the present work. In our lengthy researches among the earliest documents it seemed to us that it would be useful to bring out a less extensive work, and one that would be within the reach of a greater number of readers. Being intended for all, and not only for a restricted circle of experts or learned men, it ought to be written with a view to edification, in a way that would be impossible in the longer work, except in a very different sense. The latter will consist largely of quotations, while in this present work the quota tions have had to be limited in number. The general con clusions, however, though to some they may appear not sufficiently well-grounded, do in reality often rest on proofs accumulated at great length. We could not pass over the works of modern liturgists, of whom several have brought out useful books, and a few have arrived at new and important conclusions.1 More than once we have come to the same con clusions as they, having drawn from the same sources or gone over the same ground. We have welcomed such coincidences as a confirmation of our own ideas. If sometimes we have adopted novel views, especially on the origin of the Mass or of Vespers, on the offices of Holy Week, on the nature of certain prayers, etc., it has not been without definite reason, though in some cases it has been impossible to give all the proofs. In spite of every effort, there is too often in any study of the Liturgy a large part which is still mere hypothesis. This arises from the paucity of documents and the obscurity of the few we possess.

As to the works which have more directly inspired the fol lowing pages, there is scarcely one to be named, besides those of the above-mentioned liturgists, except the well-known work of Dom Gueranger on The Liturgical Year. To this, the present work, though far less ambitious, may be considered as supplementary. It is only necessary to cast a glance at

1 Among others, M. de Rossi. Mgr. Duchesne, and Dom Cagin : there are also books on the Breviary by Baiimer, Batiffol, Probst, Warren, Thalhofer, Dom Morin, and works of more general import by Bing- ham, Pellicia, Bona, Mabillon, Thomasi, Martene, Daniel, etc., all of which are extremely useful to liturgists.

xiv preface

the writings of Simon Verepaeus,1 on the Liber and the Thesaurus Precum,2 the delightful little books of Leon Gautier,3 and a few other similar collections, which are hardly anything more than anthologies of prayers, in order to see how this book differs from them all.

We point this out, not as claiming the merit of originality, but rather to bespeak the indulgence of our readers in regard to a book in which many questions are dealt with that have as yet been but little studied.

It only remains for us to express the hope that this modest volume will find its way to those for whom it has been written. May it be a source of light and profit to devout souls ! To this end we beg the help of Him who is the " Distributor of all heavenly gifts," and in the words of one of the martyrs of the first centuries we pray :

O CHRIST, Saviour of the world, Light that never failest, Treasury of heavenly gifts, who together with the Father and the Holy Spirit dost dispel darkness and dost establish all things, look favourably upon us, put away the criminal superstitions of those who oppose the truth ; frustrate their evil designs that they may not draw away my soul from thee who art God, living for ever and ever.

For to thee is all glory, all veneration, all thanks giving ; honour and adoration to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever, world with out end, eternally. Amen.4

1 Catholicon -precationum, per Simonem Verepaeum, 1591, of which several editions have appeared.

3 Thesaurus -precum, Paris, 1587 (attributed to Erasmus) ; Erasmi -preces, Lugd., 1556; Precationes, Lipsiae, 1575; Piarum -precationum thesaurus, Paris, Rocollet, 1652 ; Thesaurus -precum, chez 1'Angelier, Paris, 1601 ; Preces christiance, per Joh. Avenarium, Strasb., 1578; Paradisus -precum, per Michael ab Isselt, Coloniae, 1596, etc. More recently, Liber -precum in quo varies et multa egregice -preces, etc., 2 vol., Vives, 1858. We do not include Preces veterum of F. France, which is of little worth ; nor the Prayers from the Collection of the late Baron Bunsen, or the Euchology of Shann, which are merely collec tions of prayers, some of them drawn from modern sources.

3 Choix de -prieres d'a-pres les manuscrits du lX.e au XVII.e siecle, Paris, Palme, 1874; Prieres a la Vierge, d'a-pres les manuscrits (ibid., 1873) '•> Le Livre de ceux qui soufrent, d'a-pres les manuscrits du moyen age (ibid., 1870).

4 Prayer of St. Basil of Ancyra (Ruinart, Act a Martyrum sine era, p. 651); the concluding doxology is taken from the A-postolic Constitu tions {viii. 12).

CHAPTER I

THE HOLY SCRIPTURES IN THE LITURGY

WE have but to glance through a missal or breviary to realize how largely Holy Scripture enters into its composition, forming, as it were, the woof of the fabric. In the course of the liturgical year considerable portions are read of all the books of the Bible, from Genesis to the Apocalypse. The recitation of psalms forms the principal part of the day and night offices ; the rest is made up of shorter pieces, such as antiphons, responsories, introits, tracts, graduals, offer tories, communions, verses, and versicles, of which the greater number are also taken from Holy Scripture. This characteristic was originally even more marked ; as we shall see later on, responsories and antiphons, whatever their form, were simply psalms so arranged and combined as to adapt them to the particular manner in which they were to be recited. At the night office long extracts were read from the Old and New Testaments; at Mass, portions from the Epistles, the Acts of the Apostles, the Gospels, and certain books of the Old Testament. For liturgical use these passages of Scripture were divided into separate books — namely, the Psalter, Epistle book, Gospel book and Lectionary.

Though in other liturgical books, such as the Pontifical and Ritual, Holy Scripture is not so frequently used, yet it is to be found in psalms, antiphons and responsories ; and many prayers evidently derive their inspiration from the Bible.

We do not mean to say, however, that the whole of the Liturgy must be taken exclusively from Holy Scripture. Those who, as some Protestants and Jansenists, have so thought, have failed to grasp liturgical laws or to decipher the witness of history. St. Paul's Epistles prove that from the most ancient times the faithful in their assemblies made use not only of psalms and lessons, but also of hymns, chants and prayers, bursting spontaneously from hearts inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Church did not hesitate even in her earliest days to borrow from sources other than Holy Writ ; from the acts of martyrs and saints or from the writings of her doctors she drew lessons and other liturgical prayers, antiphons and responsories.

The accusation frequently brought against Catholics of

z

2 XttuiQtcal prater

not reading- the Holy Scriptures is manifestly an exaggeration, at least as regards those who daily say the Divine Office, for its recitation supposes and demands a constant use of Holy Scripture.

In the early ages of the faith, the books of the Law and the Prophets were read in the Christian assemblies, as they had been in the Synagogues, and probably in the same order ; to these the Christians added the Epistles and Gospels. But they did not hesitate to interrupt the ordinary sequence of the lessons or to modify the plan adopted, in order to bring in some passage from the Old or New Testament which was of special interest or contained some allusion to the feast of the day. On the anniversaries of our Lord's Passion, Death and Resurrection, for example, it was natural that those pages of the Gospel should be read in which the history of these events was related. The prophecies of Jeremias, several chapters of Isaias, and the Book of Job are most applicable to the Passion ; the opening chapters of the Acts of the Apostles contain the history of Ascensiontide and Pentecost, and it soon became the custom to read them at these seasons. The 'prophecies of Isaias concerning the Virgin who was to conceive and the Emmanuel who was to come and reign upon earth were suitable for Advent, while the mysteries of the Incarnation and of the manifestation of the Son of God in the flesh were admirably explained in the Epistles of St. Paul at the feasts of Christmas and the Epiphany. The season of Lent — a time of fasting and penance for all Christians — was specially set apart for preparing catechumens for baptism ; sinners, too, performed their penance and looked forward to reconciliation. These considerations determined the choice of a great number of extracts from the Old or New Testaments, which were considered applicable to one or other of the above classes. For the penitents, the sick in soul, whom the Church compares even to the dead, there were the stories of the cure of the centurion's servant, and of Naaman seized with leprosy ; the raising to life by Eliseus of the son of the Sunamitess and of another child by Elias ; the account of our Lord restoring to life the widow's son at Nairn, and how He brought back Lazarus from the dead; the parable of the prodigal son, who is a figure of the sinner returning to God, etc.

In the lesson from the prophet Jonas in which he describes his preaching to the Ninivites, the catechumens would see an allusion to the vocation of the Gentiles; the story of the three Hebrew children, condemned to the furnace for their refusal to worship idols, reminded them of the treatment which their fellow-Christians received at the hands of the pagan society ; Sara and Agar, Isaac and Esau, were looked upon as types of the calling of the Gentiles to baptism and

Ube 1bol£ Scriptures in tbe SLiturss 3

of their being chosen in preference to the Jews.1 In the office of Septuagesima we now begin the reading of Genesis and the other books of the Pentateuch ; this is without doubt a reminiscence of the instructions on Christian doctrine given to the catechumens, which opened by an explanation of the creation.

The complaints of Job and the words in which he expresses his hope of the resurrection were naturally thought most appropriate to the office of the dead and also to that of the Passion.2 Psalms xxxii. , xxxiii. , Ixxxviii. , cxi. , cxv. , cxxxviii. , were thought most suitable for feasts of martyrs, while Psalms xliv., xlvii., cxxi., etc., were assigned to feasts of virgins. Many examples of such relevancy might be given, and we shall have an opportunity later of returning to the subject; at present we desire merely to point out that from the earliest ages certain passages of Holy Scripture have been appointed to be read on certain feasts or at certain seasons of the year.

The comparative study of liturgies, now only in its infancy, must eventually throw much light on their origin, and has already enabled us to discern striking coincidences between the pericopes3 of the Bible in use among all liturgies. The faithful as well as liturgists ought to endeavour to find out the reasons why such and such passages have been chosen for such and such occasions. Veritable discoveries are in store for those who enter upon this study, and in any case it will help them to understand better the meaning of the prayers.

So long as these general rules were kept, great liberty was allowed to the initiative of the one who presided at the assembly, or of the pontiff. He it was who pointed out to the lector the passage of Scripture to be read, who gave the signal when to stop, and often commented upon what had been read. Later on, when the Liturgy was systematized and subjected to rules, from the fourth to the seventh cen tury, all the books of the Old and New Testaments were distributed according to a settled plan throughout the various seasons of the ecclesiastical year : there was more sequence in the lessons, and less was left to personal initiative. In this new and more detailed arrangement the order of earlier times was by no means disregarded, as may be seen from the

1 All these lessons are still to be found in the Roman Liturgy, in the office or in the Masses of Lent. See Chapter XVIII. , The Christian Year.

1 We have the testimony of two authors on this subject ; the first is Origen or one of his contemporaries (in Job i.), who says that this book is read on days of fasting and abstinence ; the second is St. Ambrose, who says it is the custom to read it on Monday in Holy Week (Ep. 20 ad Marcellinam, Migne, xvi.).

1 The technical term in Liturgy for the portions of the Bible read during an office.

4 OLtturotcal prater

following table, which shows the present division of Holy Scripture in the Roman Liturgy :

LESSONS IN THE OFFICE

Advent. — Lessons from Isaias and St. Paul.

Christmas and Epiphany. — Lessons from St. Paul in the following order, which is of very ancient date : Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians ; those to Timothy, Titus, Phile mon, and to the Hebrews.

Septuagesima and Lent. — Genesis and the other Books of the Pentateuch.

Passiontide. — Jeremias.

Easter and Paschal-time. — Acts of the Apostles, Apoca lypse, Epistles of St. James, St. Peter and St. John.

Time after Pentecost. — Books of Kings.

Lessons for August. — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus.

Lessons for September. — Job, Tobias, Judith, Esther.

Lessons for October. — The Books of the Machabees.

Lessons for November. — Ezechiel, Daniel, and the twelve Minor Prophets.1

LESSONS FOR MASS

Advent, Christmas, Epiphany. — Epistles of St. Paul, Isaias, Ezechiel, Kings, Esther.

Septuagesima. — Pentateuch, Jonas, Daniel, etc. Easter. — Acts of the Apostles.

Paschal-time. — Epistles of St. John, St. Peter, St. James. Time after Pentecost. — St. Paul.

The principal source of liturgical inspiration is therefore to be found in the books of the Old and New Testaments, and from earliest times the Church turned to those sacred pages to seek the formularies of her prayer, nor can we be surprised at this. To the faithful every book of the Bible, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, is essentially the word of God. To pray in the words of Holy Writ is, then, to speak to God in a language that is divine ; it is giving back to God the very words He Himself used in speaking to man.

Even those who do not recognize the authority of the

1 For the lessons appointed to be read on feasts of saints and feasts of the year, see the chapters entitled The Christian Year and Devotion to the Saints. An anonymous writer of the eighth century, quoted by Gerbert, apportions the lessons to be read as follows : From December to the Epiphany, Isaias, Jeremias, Daniel; after the Epiphany, Ezechiel and the Minor Prophets; in the spring, the Pentateuch, Josue and Judges; during Paschal-time the Catholic Epistles, the Acts and the Apocalypse ; for the time after Pentecost, the Books of Kings, Paralipo- menon,the Books of Wisdom, Esther, Judith, the Machabees and Tobias.

ZTbe ifoolg Scriptures in tbe Xiturgs 5

Church still look upon the Bible as a wonderful book, for never has prayer of man to God been expressed in language more eloquent or more sublime. Never did any people pray as did the chosen people of God. Sometimes their prayer took the form of petition or of praise; sometimes it was the communion of the soul with God, expressing its love, its fears, its dread of His judgements, its horror of sin and evil ; or, again, its theme was the anguish of a sinner trembling before his God, yet never losing unlimited confidence in the mercy of his Judge. It could find words in which to show forth its hatred against the enemies of God, or its admiration of His works, or its consciousness of the creature's weakness in comparison with the divine omnipotence. He, therefore, who would pray according to the spirit of the Church should nourish his soul by reading Holy Scripture.

In order the better to appreciate the prayer of antiquity in all its forms it will be well to notice some specimen prayers taken from Holy Scripture. The following is that of David as in presence of the assembled people he offered to the Lord gold, silver, brass, iron, precious woods, and all that he had prepared for building the temple. One cannot but admire the magnificence and sublimity of his language.

BLESSED art thou, O Lord the God of Israel, our father from eternity to eternity. Thine, O Lord, is magnificence and power and victory ; and to thee is praise : for all that is in heaven and in earth is thine ; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art above all princes.

Thine are the riches and thine is glory, thou hast dominion over all, in thy hand is power and might; in thy hand greatness and the empire of all things.

Now therefore, our God, we give thanks to thee, and we praise thy glorious name.

All things are thine : and we have given thee what we have received of thy hand.

Our days upon earth are as a shadow, and there is no stay (for us).

I know, my God, that thou provest hearts and lovest simplicity, wherefore I also, in the simplicity of my heart, have joyfully offered all these things ; and I have seen with great joy thy people, which are here present, offer thee their offerings.

O Lord God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Israel our fathers, keep for ever this will of their hearts, and let this mind remain always for the worship of thee.1

1 i Par. xxix. Some of these verses are used in the Roman Liturgy in the office for the dedication of a church. Cf. another beautiful song of David, i Par. xiv. 8-36.

6 Xtturgtcal prater

Here is David's oft-quoted elegy on the death of Saul and Jonathan ; some of its verses have found a place in the Liturgy. Jonathan was the friend of David, and never have stronger or more tender words been spoken of friendship.

THE illustrious of Israel are slain upon thy moun tains ; how are the valiant fallen ! Tell it not in Geth, publish it not in the streets of Ascalon : lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice : lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.

Ye mountains of Gelboe, let neither dew nor rain come upon you, neither be there in you fields of first fruits : for there was cast away the shield of the valiant, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with (sacred) oil.

Saul and Jonathan, lovely and comely in their life, even in death they were not divided; they were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions.

Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you with scarlet in delights, who gave ornaments of gold for your attire.

How are the valiant fallen in battle ! Jonathan slain in thy high places !

I grieve for thee, my brother Jonathan, exceeding beautiful, and amiable to me above the love of women. As the mother loveth her only son, so did I love thee.

How are the valiant fallen, and the weapons of war perished J1

The Book of Tobias also contains several beautiful prayers of which the following are examples. The faithful will find them most appropriate for use at the present day, for are not they, alas, like the Israelites of old, surrounded by nations that know not the true God ?

THOU art just, O Lord, and all thy judgements are just, and all thy ways mercy and truth and judgement.

And now, O Lord, think of me and take not revenge of my sins, neither remember my offences, nor those of my parents.

For we have not obeyed thy commandments, there fore are we delivered to spoil and to captivity, and death, and are made a fable and a reproach to all nations, amongst which thou hast scattered us.

And now, O Lord, great are thy judgements, because we have not done according to thy precepts, and have not walked sincerely before thee.

1 2 Kings i. 19.

Ube 1bol£ Scriptures in tbe %itur02 7

And now, O Lord, do with me according to thy will and command my spirit to be received in peace : for it is better for me to die than to live.

In another passage the venerable Tobias blesses the Lord in these words :

THOU art great, O Lord, for ever, and thy king dom is unto all ages : For thou scourgest, and thou savest; thou leadest down to hell and bringest up again ; and there is none that can escape thy hand.

Give glory to the Lord, ye children of Israel, and praise him in the sight of the gentiles.

Because he hath therefore scattered you among the gentiles who know not him, that you may declare his wonderful works, and make them know that there is no other almighty God besides him.

He hath chastised us for our iniquities, and he will save us for his own mercy.

See then what he hath done with us, and with fear and trembling give ye glory to him, and extol the eternal king of worlds in your works.

Be converted, therefore, ye sinners, and do justice before God, believing that he will show his mercy to you.

Bless the Lord, all his elect, keep days of joy and give glory to him.

Then with a burst of magnificent eloquence he foretells the Church under the figure of Jerusalem.

JERUSALEM, thou shalt shine with a glorious light; and all the ends of the earth shall worship thee. Nations from afar shall come to thee : and shall bring gifts, and shall adore the Lord in thee and shall esteem thy land as holy.

For they shall call upon the great name in thee. Thev shall be cursed that shall despise thee ; and they shall be condemned that shall blaspheme thee : and blessed shall they be that shall build thee up.

But thou shalt rejoice in thy children, because they shall all be blessed, and shall be gathered together to the Lord.

Blessed are all they that love thee and that rejoice in

thy peace.

Blessed be the Lord who hath exalted Jerusalem, and may he reign over it for ever and ever. Amen.1

1 Tob. iii. and xiii. Several of these verses are to be found in the Liturgy.

Xtturaical prater

Before braving the terrible anger of King Assuerus, Esther laid aside her royal robes; putting on mourning garments and covering her head with ashes she implored the help of God in the following words :

MY danger is in my hands. I have heard of my fathers that thou, O Lord, didst take Israel from among all nations, and our fathers from all their predecessors, to possess them as an everlasting inheritance, and thou hast done to them as thou hast promised.

We have sinned in thy sight, and therefore thou hast delivered us into the hands of our enemies :

For we have worshipped their gods. Thou art just, O Lord.

And now they are not content to oppress us with most hard bondage, but attributing the strength of their hands to the power of their idols, they design to change thy promises, and destroy thy inheritance and shut the mouths of them that praise thee.

Remember, O Lord, and show thyself to us in the time of our tribulation, and give me boldness, O Lord, King of gods and of all power.

O God, who art mighty above all, hear the voice of them that have no other hope, and deliver us from the hand of the wicked and deliver me from my fear. l

The Old Testament contains many other prayers, but the foregoing examples must suffice.2

The Christians inherited this gift of prayer from the Jews; they religiously preserved the psalms, canticles and prayers that had been in use among the people of God. But they had also prayers peculiar to themselves, and into these they knew how to infuse the same spirit of confidence, adoration and filial tenderness; their prayers moreover are less limited in their scope, and we recognize in them not the utterance of one people only, invoking the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but the prayer of all nations— for all are called into the Church— Greeks and Romans, Jews and barbarians ; it is Catholic prayer, the prayer addressed to the Lord God Almighty and the Eternal Father.3 This prayer is imbued with a sense of greater tenderness and intimacy : the title Lord God of our fathers " gives place to " Our Father, who

1 Esth. xiv. It is well known that Racine was inspired by this passage

° mon souverain roi' me voici d°nc tre'bian<e

* In the following chapter a few more are given.

The formula God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was, however, pre served m several Christian prayers, to the antiquity of which it bears witness. It is still to be found in not a few ancient liturgical pravers

ZTbe 1bol£ Scriptures fn tbe OLftur^ 9

art in heaven"; the cry of vengeance against the enemies of God is more rarely heard. But there is one seal in par ticular with which every Christian prayer is stamped, for it is offered to God the Father and Lord Almighty through Christ, through our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.1 We must begin by quoting the canticle of the Blessed Virgin, who was the first in the New Testament to give us a pattern for our prayer. It is a magnificent song of thanksgiving to God for the gifts she received from His mercy and infinite goodness; it is also a prayer for all Christians who through the Incar nation share in some degree the privileges of the Mother of God. This is one reason for the devotion of the faithful to this canticle.

MY soul doth magnify the Lord : And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 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 showed might in his arm : he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.

He hath put down the mighty from their seats, 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.

As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for

On the day after the birth of St. John the Baptist, the priest Zachary foretold the glorious destiny of his son who was to be the last of the prophets of Israel, and would open the gates of the new covenant. In his canticle Zachary echoed the voice of every true Israelite who sighed for the redemption of Israel : he was the first to announce that the Messias, whom so many generations had expected, had at last come. Read in this light his canticle assumes a deeper meaning and has resounded throughout the centuries.

1 See Chapter XIX., Christ in the Liturgy.

2 This canticle may be compared with that of Anna, the prophetess, given in the following chapter. On the use of this and the following canticles see my article Cantiques in the Dictionnaire d'archtologie et de liturgie, vol. ii.

CHAPTER II

THE USE OF PSALMS AND CANTICLES IN THE LITURGY

OF all the books of the Bible, the Book of Psalms is the one especially consecrated to prayer. As with the Jews, so also among Christians, the principal element of divine worship has always been the recitation or singing of psalms. Even after all the developments and changes that the Liturgy has under gone, the psalms still form its framework. The responsories, antiphons and versicles of the Divine Office and of the Mass were originally, as we have already said, composed entirely of psalms. The Psalter, then, is pre-eminently the prayer- book of the Liturgy ; in this work, therefore, the aim of which is to enable readers to understand that prayer, it will be essential to set out some fundamental ideas on the subject. The word " psalm " comes from a Greek word signifying a chant, a hymn with the accompaniment of a stringed instru ment (j/'aAAetv, i//aA/zos). The psalms are 150 in number, and of these more than half were composed by David ; for a long time it was commonly held that he was the author of all the psalms, but a closer study of the text has made it clear that the Psalter is a collection of hymns belonging to periods far apart and written by many different authors. The date of their composition ranges from the time of David until after the Babylonian captivity, or even, as some assert, down to the time of the Macchabees. I do not discuss the ancient division of the psalms into five books, as from the liturgical point of view this is of little importance.1 The division adopted in the Liturgy is of greater interest to us. The series of psalms, from Psalm i. to Psalm cvi., is used in the night office, with the exception of some which, for special reasons, have been omitted in the night hours and find a place in those of the day. The series from Psalm cix. to Psalm cxliv. is set aside for reciting at Vespers only. The psalms not included in these two groups are arranged as fol lows : at Lauds Psalms v., xxviii., xxxv., xlii., xlvi., 1., Ixii., Ixiii., Ixiv., Ixvi., Ixxxiv., Ixxxix., xci., xcii., xcv., xcvi., xcvii., xcviii., xcix., c., cxvi., cxvii., cxxxiv., cxlii., cxlv.,

1 It represents the ancient classification in use among the Jews, and marks the various collections of psalms which now form the one Book of Psalms.

12

mse of psalms anfc Canticles 13

cxlvi., cxlvii., cxlix., cl. ; but when Psalm 1. is said at Lauds some of the psalms here given are transferred to the Office of Prime, which also includes Psalms xviii., xxi., xxii., xxiv., xxv., li., Hi., Hii., Ixxi., xciii., cvii., cxvii., and part of Psalm cxviii. The remainder of the psalms are appointed to be said at Terce, Sext, None, and Compline.

The psalms of Matins and even those of Vespers have evidently been taken as they came, without reference to their meaning- or fitness. On the contrary, those in use at Lauds, the Compline psalms, and, to a certain extent, those said at Prime (especially Psalms liii. and cxvii.) have undoubtedly been chosen on account of their meaning. The psalms of Lauds and Prime are more applicable to morning- prayer, because of the allusions they contain to the night which has just passed, or to the dawn that is about to break, or to the resurrection of Christ, who came forth from the tomb at the hour of sunrise.1

The arrang-ement of psalms given above is that used for the ferial office : it is almost entirely set aside when a feast such as Easter, Christmas, the Ascension or some Saint's day occurs. Then the psalms are not taken in order, and only the general lines remain the same — that is to say, the series of psalms for Matins and Vespers; from among these are chosen the psalms of which the meaning seems most appropriate to the feast. If they are read attentively it will generally be possible to discover why they have been selected for one feast rather than for another. This is important from a liturgical point of view, because the use which the Church makes of a particular psalm attaches to it a definite meaning. We know quite well, for instance, that Psalms xviii., xxxiii., xliv., xlvi., lx., Ixiii., Ixxiv., xcvi., xcviii., have been chosen for the feasts of the Apostles, because they contain more or less distinct allusions to the mission of the Apostles, to the rapid spread of the Gospel, to the sufferings of their martyr dom. Again, Psalm Ixxxvi. is assigned to Our Lady's feasts, because the Church looks upon her as the new Sion, and addresses to her the praises ascribed by the prophet to Jerusalem of old.

But the most striking example is perhaps that of Psalm xc. When after His forty days' fast our Lord was tempted in the desert, He replied to Satan in the words of this psalm : " God has given his angels charge over thee, and in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone."2 It was natural that this Gospel, con taining the account of the fasting of our Lord, should be appointed for the first Sunday of Lent. Hence Psalm xc. has

1 In other liturgies the divisions are not the same ; but in a work of this kind it suffices to give those of the Roman Liturgy.

2 Matt. iv.

io XttutQical prayer

BLESSED be the Lord God of Israel : because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people.

And hath raised up a horn of salvation to us, in the house of David his servant.

As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who are from the beginning :

Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us.

To perform mercy to our fathers; and to remember his holy testament.

The oath which he swore to Abraham our father, that he would grant to us ;

That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear,

In holiness and justice before him all our days.

And thou, child (John the Baptist), shalt be called the prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways.

To give knowledge of salvation to his people, unto the remission of their sins.

Through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us.

To enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death :

To direct our feet into the way of peace.1

When Mary came with Joseph, according to the law of Moses, after the birth of her Divine Child, to bring Him to the Temple for the Purification, an old man named Simeon, who, like Zachary, looked for the redemption of Israel and the promised Messias, received into his arms that little Child, the Redeemer of the world; and filled with the Holy Spirit, he exclaimed :

NOW thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word, in peace. Because my eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples :

A light to the revelation of the gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

This canticle, like the two preceding, occupies a prominent place in the daily Liturgy ; it is now recited at Compline, and probably formed part of the evening office (Lucernarium) of early times. On the feast of the Purification, February 2, it is sung with much solemnity; the words of the prophet are,

1 Luke i. 68 et seq.

1bols Scriptures fn tbe

in a way, actually realized, for during the distribution of the candles to be carried in the procession the following words are sung : " A light to the revelation of the gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." This light, therefore, is looked upon as a symbol of Christ, who came to bring truth into the world.1

When first threatened by the Jews, the Apostles met together and prayed in these words :

LDRD, thou art he that didst make heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them. Who by the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of our father David, thy servant, hast said, Why have the gentiles raged, and the people meditated vain things?

The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes assembled together against the Lord and against his Christ.

For of a truth there assembled together in this city against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the gentiles and the people of Israel. . . .

And now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants that with all confidence they may speak thy word,

By stretching forth thy hand to cures and signs and wonders, to be done by the name of thy holy Son, Jesus.2

Without extracting other prayers, which are to be found in the writings of St. Paul, St. John, and St. Peter, enough has been quoted to show that the Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of prayer, continues to inspire the faithful who live under the Gospel as He inspired the prophets under the Old Law.3

1 See Chapter XVIII., The Christian Year, and Chapter XXIV., The Blessing of Fire and Lights, etc., of the present work. 3 Acts iv. 3 In Chapter XIX., Christ in the Liturgy, we give some doxologies.

CHAPTER II

THE USE OF PSALMS AND CANTICLES IN THE LITURGY

OF all the books of the Bible, the Book of Psalms is the one especially consecrated to prayer. As with the Jews, so also among Christians, the principal element of divine worship has always been the recitation or singing of psalms. Even after all the developments and changes that the Liturgy has under gone, the psalms still form its framework. The responsories, antiphons and versicles of the Divine Office and of the Mass were originally, as we have already said, composed entirely of psalms. The Psalter, then, is pre-eminently the prayer- book of the Liturgy; in this work, therefore, the aim of which is to enable readers to understand that prayer, it will be essential to set out some fundamental ideas on the subject. The word " psalm " comes from a Greek word signifying a chant, a^hymn with the accompaniment of a stringed instru ment (j/'aA.Aav, ^aA/xds). The psalms are 150 in number, and of these more than half were composed by David ; for a long time it was commonly held that he was the author of all the psalms, but a closer study of the text has made it clear that the Psalter is a collection of hymns belonging to periods far apart and written by many different authors. The date of their composition ranges from the time of David until after the Babylonian captivity, or even, as some assert, down to the time of the Macchabees. I do not discuss the ancient division of the psalms into five books, as from the liturgical point of view this is of little importance.1 The division adopted in the Liturgy is of greater interest to us. The series of psalms, from Psalm i. to Psalm cvi., is used in the night office, with the exception of some which, for special reasons, have been omitted in the night hours and find a place in those of the day. The series from Psalm cix. to Psalm cxliv. is set aside for reciting at Vespers only. The psalms not included in these two groups are arranged as fol lows : at Lauds Psalms v., xxviii., xxxv., xlii., xlvi., 1., Ixii., Ixiii., Ixiv., Ixvi., Ixxxiv., Ixxxix., xci., xcii., xcv., xcvi., xcvii., xcviii., xcix., c., cxvi., cxvii., cxxxiv., cxlii., cxlv.,

1 It represents the ancient classification in use among the Jews, and marks the various collections of psalms which now form the one Book of Psalms.

12

mse of psalms an& Canticles 13

cxlvi., cxlvii., cxlix., cl. ; but when Psalm 1. is said at Lauds some of the psalms here given are transferred to the Office of Prime, which also includes Psalms xviii., xxi., xxii., xxiv., xxv., li., Hi., Hii., Ixxi., xciii., cvii., cxvii., and part of Psalm cxviii. The remainder of the psalms are appointed to be said at Terce, Sext, None, and Compline.

The psalms of Matins and even those of Vespers have evidently been taken as they came, without reference to their meaning- or fitness. On the contrary, those in use at Lauds, the Compline psalms, and, to a certain extent, those said at Prime (especially Psalms liii. and cxvii.) have undoubtedly been chosen on account of their meaning-. The psalms of Lauds and Prime are more applicable to morning prayer, because of the allusions they contain to the nig-ht which has just passed, or to the dawn that is about to break, or to the resurrection of Christ, who came forth from the tomb at the hour of sunrise.1

The arrangement of psalms given above is that used for the ferial office : it is almost entirely set aside when a feast such as Easter, Christmas, the Ascension or some Saint's day occurs. Then the psalms are not taken in order, and only the general lines remain the same — that is to say, the series of psalms for Matins and Vespers; from among these are chosen the psalms of which the meaning seems most appropriate to the feast. If they are read attentively it will generally be possible to discover why they have been selected for one feast rather than for another. This is important from a liturgical point of view, because the use which the Church makes of a particular psalm attaches to it a definite meaning. We know quite well, for instance, that Psalms xviii., xxxiii., xliv., xlvi., lx., Ixiii., Ixxiv., xcvi., xcviii., have been chosen for the feasts of the Apostles, because they contain more or less distinct allusions to the mission of the Apostles, to the rapid spread of the Gospel, to the sufferings of their martyr dom. Again, Psalm Ixxxvi. is assigned to Our Lady's feasts, because the Church looks upon her as the new Sion, and addresses to her the praises ascribed by the prophet to Jerusalem of old.

But the most striking example is perhaps that of Psalm xc. When after His forty days' fast our Lord was tempted in the desert, He replied to Satan in the words of this psalm : " God has given his angels charge over thee, and in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone."2 It was natural that this Gospel, con taining the account of the fasting of our Lord, should be appointed for the first Sunday of Lent. Hence Psalm xc. has

1 In other liturgies the divisions are not the same ; but in a work of this kind it suffices to give those of the Roman Liturgy.

2 Matt. iv.

16 Xtturgtcal prater

for in his hand are all the ends of earth : and the heights of the mountains are his.

Who made us.

For the sea is his and he made it, and his hands formed the dry land; come let us adore and fall down before God ; let us weep before the Lord that made us ; for he is the Lord our God, we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

Let us adore the Lord who made us.

To-day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts, as in the provocation according to the day of temptation in the wilderness, where your fathers tempted, proved me, and saw my works.

Who made us.

Forty years long was I offended with this generation, and I said : These always err in heart : for they have not known my ways, so I swore in my heart that they should not enter into my rest.

Let us adore the Lord who made us.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

Who made us.

Let us adore the Lord who made us.

But what makes the psalms pre-eminently the book of prayer is not so much the poetical language in which they are couched as the teaching they contain. " The Book of Psalms," says St. Basil, "contains a complete theology."1 And what a theology ! The Divine Creator of heaven and earth, who is omnipotent, who speaks the word and the things are made, who commands and they are created, He is indeed the true God, our God, our Lord and Master. He is the God who hears all, and sees all, who is everywhere, who will exist for ever. He it is who with His own hands fashioned the body of man and, breathing upon it, infused into it a soul. Thus having made it, He knows it ; He can search into its innermost depths ; He knows its most secret thoughts. Our conscience, with all its struggles, its cowardice, its reservations, is an open book to Him ; He turns over its leaves as He wills, and sees clearly the most hidden springs of our actions. Truly He is not the God of the dead, but of the living ; He is Himself the living, personal God, whose judgements are to be dreaded, whose vengeance is terrible, who crushes His enemies and reduces them to powder.

But He is also the good God, faithful and merciful, the God who allows Himself to be appeased by the prayers and

1 Horn, in Psalm. I.

Iftse of psalms anfc Canticles 17

tears of the sinner; He is the God who strengthens and consoles, who heals and saves. From out the cloud prophetic rays stream forth, foretelling- the advent of the Messias, the promised Saviour, who is seated at the right hand of God, to whom God has given all the nations of the earth. The Messianic psalms predict the future reign of Christ, the universality of His Church (the true Jerusalem), which draws all peoples to itself.

This same God it was who created man, who brought him out of his mother's womb, who watches his every step, who is always near him as a Companion and a Friend, sometimes also as a Mentor who, if unheeded, threatens him with terrible vengeance. What is man in presence of such a God? Only a fading flower, a withering blade of grass.

Such is the subject-matter of all the psalms — the only sub ject worthy of true philosophy — God, and man in his rela tions with God. In the psalms we listen to the yearning of the soul for Him, to its cries of praise and thanksgiving, or of terror and repentance ; sometimes we hear the despairing appeal of man overwhelmed by afflictions, his bitter com plaints when crushed by powerful enemies, like a bird taken in the snare of the fowler. God alone can deliver him out of his captivity ; in God he takes refuge, for he who confides in God has nothing to fear : God is his strength and his hope ; of one thing alone is he afraid, and that is, lest God should turn away His face from him.

What can he render to God for all His benefits? How can he praise His magnificence, His greatness, His goodness? Man feels his utter powerlessness, and calls to his aid the angels of heaven, the sun and moon, the heaven of heavens, and all the waters that are above the heavens ; he calls upon hail, snow, rain, ice and tempests, the birds of the air, and the wild beasts of the mountains; let all men, kings of the earth and all peoples, young men and maidens, old men and children — let all bless the name of the Lord.

It will often be needful in this book to return to the psalms, and to their use in the Liturgy. Let me say once for all to any one desirous of entering thoroughly into the spirit of the Liturgy, and of praying with the Church : " Take up the book of psalms with all confidence and read it daily." These divine canticles, breathing forth such varying accents of prayer and praise, of humble supplication, true contrition, fervent petition, and of every emotion of the human soul in its worship of God, have been repeated by each generation of Christians, and in them the Saints have found the truest expression of their aspirations. " Study, then, this book. Are you sad? It weeps with you. Are you full of joy? You will find in it songs of rejoicing. Are you sinking under the burden of your sins? It will lend you words to express your

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sorrow and repentance. If your soul is in doubt, if you have felt the emptiness of all human things, it will hold up to your gaze the hope of heaven. If you have lost father, mother, children, the friend of your youth or the companion of your manhood, you will find in its pages accents befitting your grief. If your soul, in the presence of God, feels like barren ground, from which no prayer can spring, open this book; it will teach you how to pray."

There are in the Holy Scriptures, in addition to the psalms and bearing some resemblance to them in their inspiration and poetic form, a certain number of songs called, in the Liturgy, canticles. These have had since the fourth century a special place in the Liturgy, side by side with the psalms.1 They are used chiefly at Lauds, the office of the dawn, sometimes also as lessons in the Mass. But some liturgies — i.e. the Mozarabic and Benedictine — possess a much larger number. According to a text which has not yet been closely examined from a litur gical point of view, there existed in the fifth or sixth century a collection of canticles attributed to Esdras. Esdras, a scribe of the Law, has gathered together certain canticles out of the various books of the Bible into one book, and has added them to the Book of Psalms, which they resemble so much that they are sung or psalmodized in the same manner as the psalms themselves.3 The thirteen canticles in use in the Greek Liturgy, some of which form part of the Roman Liturgy also, are the following :

^ The canticle of Moses after the passage of the Red Sea (Exod. xv.), the canticle of Moses when about to die (Deut. xxxii.), the prayer of Anna, the mother of Samuel (i Kings, ii.).

The prayer of Jonas (ii.).

The canticle of Habacuc (in.).

Ezechias (Isa. xxxviii.).

The prayer of Manasses (Apocryphal), which is usually inserted at the end of the canonical books.8

The canticle of the three children in the furnace (Dan. iii. 26).

The Benedicite (Dan. iii. 57).

1 They are at the end of the Psalter in the Codex Alexandrinus (a MS. of the fifth century) in the British Museum. See also the article Cantiques in the Dictionnaire d'archtologie et de liturgie, vol. ii.

1 This curious MS. is the work of Verecundus, an author of the sixth century, whose writings were brought to light by Dom Pitra in his S-ptcikgium Solesmense, vol. iv. Verecundus wrote a commentary on the two canticles of Moses, on those of Jeremias (Lam. v. i), Daniel (iii. 26), Isaias (xxxviii. 10), Habacuc (iii.), Manasses (apocryphal), Jonas (ii.), and Deborah. These canticles were probably used by the Church in Africa, to which country Verecundus belonged. His collection differs but slightly from the Greek collection of which we shall speak later

3 We give it in Chapter XXVIII.

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Then follow the three canticles of the New Testament, of which we spoke in the preceding chapter, and which have a place apart in the Liturgy.

The Magnificat.

The canticle of Zachary — the Benedictus.

The canticle of Simeon — the Nunc Dimittis.1

Excepting only the psalms, it would be difficult to find a more eloquent form of prayer, as will be evident from the following extracts from Old Testament canticles. Shortly before his death, Moses, as we read in the Book of Deuteronomy, addressed to the assembled people of Israel the canticle which in the Roman Liturgy is said at Lauds on Saturday ; we have selected from it some passages :

HEAR, O ye heavens, the things I speak ; let the earth give ear to the words of my mouth. Let my doctrine gather as the rain, let my speech distil as the dew, as a shower upon the herb, and as drops upon the grass.

Because I will invoke the name of the Lord : give ye magnificence to our God.

The works of God are perfect, and all his ways are judgements : God is faithful and without any iniquity ; he is just and right.

Remember the days of old, think upon every genera tion : ask thy father, and he will declare to thee : thy elders, and they will tell thee.

When the Most High divided the nations : when he separated the sons of Adam, he appointed the bounds of people according to the number of the children of Israel.

But the Lord's portion is his people : Jacob the lot of his inheritance . . . and he kept him as the apple of his eye.

As the eagle enticing her young to fly, and hovering over them, he spread his wings, and hath taken him and carried him on his shoulders.

But the people upon whom God had heaped so many benefits revolted ; they grew fat, and became rich, and added to their possessions; they forsook the God who had made them and turned aside from God their Saviour.

Thou hast forsaken the God that begot thee, and hast forgotten the Lord that created thee.

The Lord said : I will hide my face from them, and will consider what their last end shall be ; for it is a per verse generation, and unfaithful children.

1 Cf. a list of the canticles in use at Constantinople, at Milan and in Gaul (Revue Benedictine, 1897, p. 389).

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I will heap evils upon them, and will spend my arrows among them.

Reveng-e is mine, and I will repay them in due time. . . . The day of destruction is at hand, and the time makes haste to come.

See ye that I alone am, and there is no other God besides me : I will kill, and I will make to live : I will strike, and I will heal, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

I will lift up my hand to heaven, and I will say : I live for ever.

If I shall whet my sword as the lightning-, and my hand take hold on judgement, I will render vengeance to my enemies, and will repay them that hate me.1

The canticle of Anna, the mother of Samuel, is a beau tiful prayer of gratitude in which she thanks God for having given her a son after long years of barrenness. There is no need to point out the analogy between this canticle and that of Our Lady ; they are in many places almost word for word the same. But a comparison of the two illustrates what was said in the preceding chapter as to the difference between the prayers of the Old Testament and those of the New. The canticle of the blessed Virgin is of a wider import, and con tains scarcely more than a reference to the people of Israel : it is a Catholic hymn ; in it we hear accents of praise, joy, and love, while in the canticle of the prophetess there is a per ceptible note of triumph over her enemies; it is like a chal lenge to her rival. The canticle of Anna is recited at Lauds on Wednesdays.

MY heart hath rejoiced in the Lord, and my horn is exalted in my God : my mouth is enlarged over my enemies; because I have joyed in thy salvation.

There is none holy as the Lord is, for there is no other beside thee, and there is none strong like our God.

Do not multiply to speak lofty things, boasting. (Here the prophetess is addressing the woman who had insulted her on account of her sterility.) Let old matters depart from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of all know ledge, and to him are thoughts prepared. i

The bow of the mighty is overcome, and the weak are girt with strength.

They that were full before have hired out themselves for bread : and the hungry are filled, so that the barren hath borne many : and she that had many children is weakened.

1 Deut. xxxii.

IHse of psalms an& Canticles 21

The Lord killeth and maketh alive; he bringeth down to hell and bringeth back again.

The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich ; he humbleth and he exalteth.

He raiseth up the needy from the dust, and lifteth the poor from the dunghill : that he may sit with princes, and hold the throne of glory. For the poles of the earth are the Lord's, and upon them hath he set the world.

He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness, because no man shall prevail by his own strength.

The adversaries of the Lord shall fear him : and upon them shall he thunder in the heavens : the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give empire to his king, and shall exalt the horn of his Christ.1

There are also some beautiful prayers in the Book of Daniel ; the Roman Liturgy has borrowed thence the canticle of the children in the fiery furnace; it is divided into two parts, the first of which is sung at the Mass of Ember Saturdays.

T^LESSED art thou, O Lord, the God of our

• rvathers;

u-;4 ». 1 J And worthy to be praised and glorified, and exalted above all for ever.

And blessed is the holy name of thy glory : and worthy to be praised and exalted above all in all ages.

Blessed art thou in the holy temple of thy glory : and exceedingly to be praised and exceedingly glorious for ever.

Blessed art thou on the throne of thy kingdom, . . .

Blessed art thou, that beholdest the depths and sittest upon the cherubim. . . .

Blessed art thou in the firmament of heaven : and worthy of praise, and glorious for ever.

And after each verse the refrain is repeated :

Thou art worthy to be praised, and exalted above all for ever.

The three children call upon all creatures to help them to praise the Lord. Never, perhaps, have the sentiments of prayer, of religious enthusiasm, of zeal for God's glory, found more magnificent expression. Man has in truth become the cantor of creation, the priest who, in communion with the whole of Nature, summons all creatures to bless God; con-

1 i Kings ii. It is unnecessary to remark that these verses are Messianic.

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stituting himself their interpreter, he offers to God on their behalf the sacrifice of universal praise.

ALL ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord : praise and exalt him above all for ever. All ye angels of the Lord, bless the Lord ;

O ye sun and moon, bless the Lord;

O ye stars of heaven, bless the Lord;

O every shower and dew, bless the Lord;

O ye fire and heat, bless the Lord ;

O ye dews and hoar frosts, bless the Lord;