The Divine Office by Edward J. Quigley (cool books to read .txt) 📕

ANSWER: In the affirmative to both parts.

VII. Whether the opinion can with probability be maintained of those among more recent writers who have endeavoured to show from merely internal indications or an inaccurate interpretation of the sacred text that not a few of the psalms were composed after the time of Esdras and Nehemias, or even after the time of the Macchabees?

ANSWER: In the negative.

VIII. Whether from the manifold testimonies of the Sacred Books of the New Testament, and the unanimous agreement of the Fathers, as well as from the admission of the writers of the Jewish people, several prophetic and Messianic psalms are to be recognised, as prophesying concerning the coming kingdom, priesthood, passion, death and resurrection of the future Redeemer; and that therefore the opinion is to be absolutely rejected of those who, perverting the prophetic and Messianic character of the Psalms, twist these same prophecies regarding Christ into merely a prediction regarding the future lot of the chosen people?

ANSWER: In the affirmative to both parts.

On May 1, 1910, in an audience graciously granted to both Most Reverend Consultors Secretaries His Holiness approved the foregoing answers and ordered that they be published.

Rome, May 1, 1910.

Consultors Secretaries.

The Psalms were always dear to the hearts of Christians. Our Lord died with the words of a psalm on His sacred lips: "Into thy hands I commend my spirit" (Psalm 30, v. 6). Millions of dying Christians have repeated His great prayer. On the Church's very birthday, when St. Peter preached the first Christian sermon, he had three texts and two of them were from the Psalms (Acts II.). To an educated and rigid Pharisee like St. Paul they were a treasure house of teaching. To the early Christians the Psalms were a prayer book, for there was no Christian literature. It was twenty-five years after the Ascension before the first books of the New Testament were written. Hence St. Paul and St. James tell their fellow Christians to use the Psalms in worship (Ephesians, v. 19; Colos. iii. 16; I. St. James 5-13). Some of the greatest of the early Christian writers and saints, Origen, St. Athanasius, Hilary of Poitiers, St. Ambrose, St. Chrysostom, Bede, and St. Augustine all studied the psalms deeply and wrote learned commentaries on them. The works of later saints abound in happy and beautiful quotations from these religious poems. With them, too, as with those holy people of whom St. Chrysostom wrote, "David is first, last and midst." For many years no priest was ordained who could not recite the whole Psalter without the aid of a book, This veneration of the inspired words deserves respect and imitation. The learned Calmet (1672-1757) writing of the universal esteem and study of the Psalms, said that then there existed more than a thousand commentaries on them. Since then, the number has been doubled; so great and universal is the reverence and esteem in which this book of Scripture is held. To conclude this very long note on the Psalms I quote the quaint words of a mediaeval poet. It shows how the saints of old found their Master in the songs of His great ancestor:—

     Rithmis et sensu verborum consociatum
     Psalterium Jesu, sic est opus hoc vocitatum,
     Qui legit intente, quocunque dolore prematur,
     Sentiet inde bonum, dolor ejus et alleviatur;
     Ergo pius legat hoc ejus sub amore libenter,
     Cujus ibi Nomen scriptum videt esse frequenter.

Versicle and respond are placed after the psalms and before the lessons to rouse the attention which is necessary before all prayer, and the lessons are a noble form of prayer. These little prayers are of very ancient origin and were dealt with by Alcuin (735-804) in his recension of the Gregorian books for use in Gaul. His pupil, Amalare, also studied them, so that a meaning should be found in what was sung, and that the truncated repetitions should be avoided. He retained what was traditional and ancient, introduced versicles and responds taken from ancient Roman books and from books belonging to Metz, selected passages from the Gospels which seem to fit in with the antiphons and added them to what he found in the Roman books, made alterations in the order here and there and gave completion to the whole by adding some offices for saints' days proper to the Church of Metz (Baudot, The Roman Breviary, p. 88). Amalare had been administrator of the diocese of Lyons during the exile of Agobard the Archbishop. The latter, with learning and bitterness, attacked the reforms of Amalare, but, "in spite of all, the reform of Amalare held its ground in Metz, and then in the greater number of the churches north of the Alps" (Baudot, op. cit.). Much of the work of Amalare stands in our Breviary.

Pater Noster is said to beg from God, light and grace to understand the doctrine contained in the lessons. In choir, a part of the Pater Noster is said in common and in a loud voice to recall the Communion of saints.

Absolutions and Blessings. "The custom of giving a blessing before the lections was already in existence in the fourth century. The ruler of the choir, who gave it in the beginning, gave also the signal for the termination of the lesson by the words, 'Tu autem' (scil, desine or cessa), to which the reader responded 'Domine miserere nobis,' while the choir answered Deo gratias. In the palace of Aix-la-Chapeile, it was by knocking, and not by the words Tu autem, that the Emperor Charlemagne gave the signal for the conclusion of the lections, while the lector recited himself, Tu autem, Domine miserere nobis. The Rituale Ecclesiae Dunelmensis, containing fragments of the Roman liturgy from the end of the seventh to the ninth and tenth centuries, includes forms of blessing for the different festivals, sometimes three, sometimes nine. In the latter case each lesson was provided with its own form of blessing, which correspond with the mystery commemorated by the festival. The absolutions, Exaudi Domine and A vinculis peccatorum did not appear until the succeeding period" (Baudot, op. cit., p. 74).

In offices of three and of nine lessons, the lessons are preceded by the absolutions and blessings as they stand in the ordinarium, except in the Office for the Dead and Tenebrae Offices when they are not said. The Absolution is said immediately after the Pater Noster which follows the versicle and response under the third, sixth or ninth psalm. The first benediction is said immediately after it, and the second and third at the conclusion of the responses after each lesson and in reply to the words Jube Domine benedicere. The three words are to be said (when only one person recites the office) before the short Lesson at Prime and Compline.

In an office of nine lessons, the absolutions and benedictions in the first two nocturns do not vary; but in the third nocturns the eighth benediction may be, if the office is of a saint, Cujus festum, or if of two or more saints, Quorum (vel quarum) festum. The ninth may be Ad societatem or, if the ninth lesson be a gospel extract with homily, Per evangelica.

In offices of three lessons the Absolution Exaudi is said on Monday and Thursday; Ipsius, on Tuesday and Friday; A vinculis, on Wednesday and Saturday. But the benedictions vary. Thus, when a gospel extract and a homily are read, the three benedictions are Evangelica, Divinum, Ad societatem. When with the three lessons, no gospel extract is read, the benedictions are Benedictione, Unigenitus, Spiritus Sancti. In an office of a saint or saints, where the total number of lessons to be said is three (e.g., the Office of SS. Abdon et Sennen, 30 July), where first two lessons are from Scripture occurring and last lesson gives lives of these saints, the benedictions are, Ille nos, Cujus (vel Quorum aut Quarum) festum, Ad societatem.

Lessons. In the early days of Christendom, the Divine Office consisted in the singing of psalms, the reading of portions of Sacred Scripture and the saying of prayers. The principle of continuous reading of the books of the Bible bears an early date. Later were added readings from the acts of the martyrs, and later still, readings from the homilies of the Fathers. Till the seventh century the ferial Office had no lessons and the Sunday Office had only three, all taken from the Bible, which was read in its entirety, yearly. In the seventh century, ferial Offices received three lessons. About the time of St. Gregory, (died 604) the Office for Matins was divided into three parts or nocturns, each having lessons. The lessons for the second and third nocturns were not taken from the Bible, but from the works of the Fathers. These extracts were collected in book form—the homilaria. The collection of extracts made by Paul the deacon (730-797) and used by Charles the Great (742-814) in his kingdom, form the foundation of the collected extracts in our Breviaries. The scripture lessons in our Breviaries are generally known as "the scripture occurring," and are so arranged that each book of scripture is begun at least, except the books, Josue, Judges, Ruth, Paralipomenon and the Canticle of Canticles. Quignonez arranged in his reform that the whole Bible should be read yearly. But his book was withdrawn by Pope Paul IV. in 1558.

Although the ecclesiastical year begins with Advent, the beginnings of the Bible are not read till March. Hence, we begin the lessons from Genesis, after Septuagesima Sunday, and not, as we should naturally expect, at Advent, the beginning of the ecclesiastical year. The order in which the Scripture lessons are read does not follow the order in which the books of the Bible stand in the sacred volume. Thus, the Acts of the Apostles begin on the Monday after Low Sunday and are read for a fortnight; The Apocalypse begins on the third Sunday after Easter and is read for a week; then the Epistle of St. James begins, and so on, with special regard to the feasts of the time, rather than to the order of the books of the Bible.

The lessons of the second nocturn are generally commemorative of a saint or some episode of a saint's life. They have been much, and often ignorantly criticised, even by priests. The science of hagiology is a very wide and far-reaching one, which demands knowledge and reverence. Priests wishing to study its elements may read with pleasure and profit and wonder The Legends of the Saints, by Pere H. Delehaye, S.J., Bollandist (Longmans, 3s. 6d.). "Has Lectiones secundi Nocturni ex Historiis sanctorum, quas nunc habemus recognitas fuisse a doctissimis Cardinalibus Bellarmino et Baronio, qui rejecerunt ea omnia, quae jure merito in dubium revocari poterant et approbatus sub Clemente VIII." (Gavantus). And Merati adds "quod aliqua qua controversia erant utpote alicujus aliquam haberent probabilitatem, ideo rejecta non fuerant sed retenta eo modo quo erant cum falsitatis argui non possent, quamvis fortasse opposita sententia sit a pluribus recepta" (Merati, Obser. ad Gavant, sec. v., chap. xii., nn. 10 and 16). The words of these learned men and the writings of the learned Bollandist mentioned above are worthy of consideration, as sometimes priests are puzzled about the truth and accuracy of the incidents recorded in those lessons of the second nocturn. They should be treated with reverence. The ignorant flippancy of a priest in an article (in a very secular periodical) on St. Expeditus gave great pain to Catholics and gave material for years to come to scoffing bigots.

"Legends, i.e., narratives, were based upon documents of the nature described above, and worked up by later writers, either for the purpose of edification or from the point of view of the historian. The writings, however, differ endlessly as to their value, according to the knowledge and authority possessed by the writers, and according to their nearness to the events described. There were many martyrs whose sufferings were recorded in no acta or passiones, but were imprinted on the memory of men and became part of the traditions handed down in the community, until they were finally committed to writing. The later this took place the worse for the authenticity. For it was then that anachronisms, alterations in titles, changes in the persons and other similar historical errors could more easily creep into the narrative, as we know in fact they have done in many instances. The historical sense was unfortunately lacking to the Franks and Byzantines, as well as all idea of sound criticism.

"A false kind of patriotism and national pride often go along with credulity, so that we find here and there in literature of this kind, even downright fabrication. After the introduction of printing, by which literature became more widely diffused, and comparative criticism was rendered possible, it at