"Breviary Offices: The Night Hours, Volumes 1-2"

From Google Books, this is the companion volume to Breviary Offices, from Lauds to Compline Inclusive (Society of St. Margaret, Boston).    The book says "Catholic Church" on the cover, but that's wrong; the SSM is an Anglican religious order for women.  Publish date for this volume was 1899.

As noted, the book contains the "Night Hours" - AKA Mattins, or the Office of Readings.  St. Margaret's very likely doesn't pray Mattins today - few modern orders do - but this is certainly of historical interest.   John Mason Neale founded this order during the revitalization of Anglican Orders in the 19th Century.  Perhaps more on that interesting topic later.

I thought I'd include the whole Preface to this volume here; I have a great deal of respect for monastics and religious - and I find it fascinating to take a look back into the history of these orders and see things from the point of view of earlier generations.

The third instalment of Night Hours, now at last completed, must be prefaced by a few words in explanation of its variations from the two former volumes.

So difficult and so tentative is the whole work of preparing ancient offices for English use at the present day, that mistakes and imperfections could hardly be avoided, especially on the part of editors so inexperienced as those to whom the task, since Dr. Neale's death, has been committed; although much valuable help has most kindly been afforded them. But the history of the book is as follows.

On first founding his Sisterhood at East Grinsted, Dr. Neale felt it of the first importance to supply its members with offices of prayer. He considered the use of S. Osmund to be that alone, which, as English, it was our duty to adopt, but the Sarum Breviary was not within his reach, except in the partial reprint, by Mr. Leslie, which included the Psalter and ferial office, but not much more. He seems, therefore, to have translated the ferial day office from Mr. Leslie's book; but he took the Night Hours from the reformed Roman, inserting a Gallican office here and there when it pleased him better than the Roman. As long as the work was manuscript, and intended only for the use of one House, this eclecticism was, of course, perfectly allowable.

Not long before his death, he planned the publication of a translated Sarum Breviary, in which, however, the Lectionary was to be exchanged for that of the reformed Roman, on account of the revision undergone by the latter, to which the former, from the circumstances of the sixteenth century, never was subjected.

This plan, however, was not carried into effect. After our Founder was taken to rest, we were urged to publish the Matin offices he had given us; and we did so, filling up the blanks left by him with insertions from the same (Roman) book from which he had translated (as, for instance, the lessons of the third nocturns, which he had been wont to turn into English extempore, when saying the office). And thus we prepared the first and second volumes, and proposed, in a third, to print the offices for black-letter days.

After a time the Sarum Breviary was placed in our hands, and we were requested, on behalf of other Beligious Houses, to render its Day Offices into English, as exactly as might be practicable. Dr. Neale had laid the foundation for this by his abridged translation of the ferial and Sunday office over twenty years ago. Propers of Seasons and Saints were now added, and an office book was produced, essentially Sarum, though containing, as noted in its Preface, certain modifications which appeared desirable.

This being done, a considerable discrepancy became visible between our Night and Day Offices, and chiefly in the Services for Saints' Days. The Night Office for the Common of Seasons may be considered as nearly identical in the Roman and Sarum books, except that the responsories do not follow in the same order, that every Sarum office of nine lessons has nine responses, and that no office throughout Easter-tide has more than one nocturn of three psalms, three lessons and three responses: and as far as the Common of Seasons is concerned, the Roman Night Office can, quite practicably, be used together with the Sarum Day Office. But this cannot be done in the case of Saints' Days without producing a sense of dislocation. The present offices, therefore, are so arranged as to fit those for the day hours in our Breviary Offices, and have the same identity with Sarum and the same divergencies from it; the Lectionary being taken, in great measure, from the Boman Breviary, but supplemented from other sources and containing some of the old Sarum lessons, especially in the Octave of the Holy Name.

It will be a satisfaction to those who use this book if we set down in order the sources of the various offices.

From the Sarum, except usually the lessons, are: S. Andrew, Conversion of S. Paul, Annunciation, S. John Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, Commemoration of S. Paul, S. Peter's Chains (except Invitatory), Transfiguration, Holy Name, S. Laurence, Repose of the Blessed Virgin, (abridged), Beheading of S. John Baptist, SS. Matthew and Luke, S. Michael and All Angels and All Saints. In the Conception of the Blessed Virgin, Invitatory, Antiphon, and Responses are Gallican. S. Thomas of Canterbury has the Common of a Martyr, instead of his Proper: S. Agnes, the Common of a Virgin Martyr, instead of Proper: (lessons of the second nocturn, from the Roman office for her feast). Purification; Inv. and Ants., Gallican: Responses; Sarum, (last Response abridged). Invention of the Cross. first Nocturn, Sarum. This festival falling in Easter-tide, has but one nocturn according to Sarum; but ae this practice is not carried out in the Easter-tide offices of vols. 1 and 2, other two nocturns are added: the third from the office of the Exaltation of the Cross, on which feast the second nocturn is devoted to the commemoration of a martyr: the second nocturn is therefore here drawn from a Carmelite breviary assimilating strongly with the Sarum. Visitation: Ants. and some Responses and lessons, Sarum: the rest Roman and Gallican. S. Mary Magdalene: Hymn and Ants., Sarum: Responses, Gallican, except Response 9, which is Sarum. Nativity of the Blessed Virgin: Gallican: except Response 9, which is Sarum. Guardian Angels: Roman. The rest are of the Common.

The Rev. Gerard Moultrie has been good enough to translate several hymns for this book, in their original metre.

A suggestion respecting the Kalendar was made and carried out by our learned friend, the Rev. F. LI. Bagshawe. It was his idea that, without presuming beyond our province, a Kalendar might be introduced into these office books which should present to the mind some view of Church history, and more especially of the history of the British Church: containing the names of Saints of primitive times and universal celebrity, of those who most notably taught and upheld the faith in our own country; and of the founders and reformers of religious orders. These added names are commemorated, by memorial only, at Vespers and Lauds in the forthcoming edition of the Breviary Day Offices; in which also the black-letter days of the Prayer Book Kalendar are similarly commemorated, when their full office does not occur in this present volume. It has seemed desirable to prefix the Kalendar, as thus arranged, to this book as well as to the Breviary Offices, in order to assimilate them for the convenience of persons in the habit of using the latter. Matin offices are given in this volume for those festivals alone which are commemorated with full day office in the other.

When a second edition of the first and second volumes of Night Hours appears, a body of Sarum rubrics will, it is hoped, be inserted : meanwhile, those in the Breviary Offices may suffice for the use of persons desirous of following Sarum practice; while others will without difficulty continue to use the Roman rubrics as already set down in volumes 1 and 2.

A few points should be mentioned.

The Sarum hymn for Common of Apostles is Annue Christe. This is inserted here for optional use : the Roman hymn, Eterna Christi munera, is to be found in the Common Office, vols. 1 and 2.

A ninth Response is supplied throughout, also for optional use, and a note at end of Appendix points out that which belongs to the Common of Apostles.

Te Deum, said on festivals in Advent according to the Roman use, was wholly omitted in the Sarum book during that season.

S. Margaret's, East Grinsted.
Feast of S. Osmund, 1877.

Here's a link to the SSM's website.  Here's an image from their home page:

J.M. Neale: The Hymnal Noted: Parts I & II

Here's a nice find at Google Books.     It's J.M. Neale's 1851 book of hymns from the Salisbury hymnal.  Included are chant scores and English translations - presumably Neale's own, which are always terrific - for all the hymns.

This is all there is by way of introduction to the book:

N.B.—In connection with the Hymnal Noted, are published :—

1. The ACCOMPANYING HARMONIES; for the use of Organists and Choirs.

2. The WORDS OF THE HYMNAL NOTED. 

The first part of the Hymnal Noted is complete in itself, and embraces the whole course of the Church's year.

The second part contains additional Hymns, for the sake of greater fulness and variety.

These two parts are combined in the complete edition, in the proper sequence for the whole course of the Church's year.

Published under the sanction of the Ecclesiologioal (late Cambridge Camden) Society.

The Evening Hymns on Festivals are put before the Morning Hymns, because, like the Collects, they are said at the Evensong of the day before, as well as on the day itself (except when otherwise marked)

Unfortunately, the links in the Table of Contents don't always go to the right place in the book.   A small inconvenience for the privilege of having access to such a great thing.

Breviary Offices, from Lauds to Compline Inclusive (Society of St. Margaret, Boston)

This is a Google book I'm surprised I've never run across before.  Its full title is Breviary Offices, from Lauds to Compline Inclusive:  Translated and Arranged from the Sarum Book and Supplemented from Gallican and Monastic Uses. Printed for the Society of S. Margaret, Boston, U.S. (Google eBook). 

So, it's the St. Margaret Breviary, really - here's a link to the order's website - and apparently comes right from the Sarum Breviary (although with some differences, I'd imagine).  This edition is from 1885.

[EDIT:  Michael, in comments, notes that there's a separate book for Matins as well (which is oddly labeled "Catholic Church"!).  Also that the books are:

....*mostly* Sarum - at least in the Psalter and the Office of the Season. He does make use of some of the tridentine alterations, such as in the system of Mattins lessons. The Proper and Common of the Saints, however, is much more highly [neo?-]Gallican. He takes pains which later folks like G. H. Palmer do not to avoid any direct invocation of the saints. 

Thanks, Michael.]

The book's got a hyperlinked Table of Contents, and it seems to be complete, with the Psalter for the days of the week for all the offices, the Chapter for each office, the Collects, the Antiphons, and everything for all the Feast Days, both major and minor.  No music, though.

A good find!

Choir Books, at the Biblioteca Nacional de España

Here's something interesting from a page at the National Library of Spain (Spanish language page here); a Chantblog reader just pointed it out to me:

Choir books

The collection of choir books belonging to the Biblioteca Nacional de España, which originated in large from the ecclesiastical confiscations of the 19th century, comprises almost one hundred liturgical books which came from a number of ecclesiastical centres and are now held in our library.

These lectern books provide key testimony to the tradition of Gregorian chant in Spain. It is very different from any other cathedral or monasterial a collection as its features are heterogeneous, both in terms of origin and format. This collection contains a wide codicological and melodic representation of the copious production of choir books over the centuries, which is of great interest both to musicologists and Gregorian experts and for philologists and scholars of ancient Spanish books.

All of this reveals the need to develop the current database to provide a solution and service to the various essential issues regarding cataloguing and research. On the one hand, it will enable the Library to achieve a more detailed level of bibliographic description, in accordance with the peculiarities of this repertoire. And on the other, this systematisation and standardisation of all the aspects of the lectern books (missals, graduals, antiphonal books, etc.) should become a benchmark for the Spanish-speaking world and any institution with this singular kind of bibliographic collection.

There are two links on the page:  one that gives Access to the database; the other links to The music and musicology collection.  I believe that "the ecclesiastical confiscations of the 19th century" is a reference to this event described at Wikipedia:

The Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizabal, Spanish: Desamortización Eclesiástica de Mendizábal, more often referred to simply as La Desamortización, encompasses a set of decrees from 1835–1837 that resulted in the expropriation, and privatisation, of monastic properties in Spain.

The legislation was promulgated by Juan Álvarez Mendizábal, who was briefly prime minister under Queen Isabel II of Spain. The aims of the legislation were varied. Some of its impulses were fostered by the anticlerical liberal factions engaged in a civil war with Carlist and other reactionary forces. The government wished to use the land to encourage the enterprises of small-land owning bourgeoisie, since much of the land was underused by languishing monastic orders. The government, which did not compensate the church for the properties, saw this as a source of income. Finally, wealthy noble and other families took advantage of the legislation to increase their holdings.

Ultimately, the desamortización led to the vacating of most of the ancient monasteries in Spain, which had been occupied by the various convent orders for centuries. Some of the expropriations were reversed in subsequent decades, as happened at Santo Domingo de Silos, but these re-establishments were relatively few. Some of the secularised monasteries are in a reasonably good state of preservation, for example theValldemossa Charterhouse, others are ruined, such as San Pedro de Arlanza.

Shades of Henry VIII; I didn't know about this.

The database, though, is very interesting.  Things are happening!

"The immense dignity conferred upon the human person...."

From David Bentley Hart's introduction to his Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies:

This book chiefly - or at least centrally - concerns the history of the early church, of roughly the first four or five centuries, and the story of how Christendom was born out of the culture of late antiquity.  My chief ambition in writing it is to call attention to the peculiar and radical nature of the new faith in that setting:  how enormous a transformation of thought, sensibility, culture, morality, and spiritual imagination Christianity constituted in the age of pagan Rome; the liberation it offered from fatalism, cosmic despair, and the terror of occult agencies; the immense dignity it conferred upon the human person; its subversion of the cruelest aspects of pagan society; its (alas, only partial) demystification of political power; its ability to create moral community where none had existed before; and its elevation of active charity above all other virtues.  Stated in its most elementary and most buoyantly positive form, my argument is, first of all, that among the many great transitions that have marked the evolution of Western civilization, whether convulsive or gradual, political or philosophical, social or scientific, material or spiritual, there has been only one - the triumph of Christianity - that can be called in the fullest sense a "revolution":  a truly massive and epochal revision of humanity's prevailing vision of reality, so pervasive in its influence and so vast in its consequences as actually to have created a new conception of the world, of history, of human nature, of time, and of the moral good.  To my mind, I should add, it was an event immeasurably more impressive in its cultural creativity and more ennobling in its moral power than any other movement of spirit, will, imagination, aspiration, or accomplishment in the history of the West.    And I am convinced that, given how radically at variance Christianity was with the culture it slowly and relentlessly displaced, its eventual victory was an event of such improbability as to strain the very limits of our understanding of historical causality.

Worship

From Evelyn Underhill's Worship, 1936:

The painted cave of those prehistoric worshippers of an unknown God who were "simple-minded enough to give of their best to the supra-sensible powers," the Pagan temple, the Christian cathedral, are all expressions of the same fundamental human need to incoporate, make visible, the spirit of worship; to lavish skill, labour, and wealth on this most apparently "useless" of all the activities of man. So, too, the ritual chant, with its accompaniment of ceremonial movement and manual acts, is found to exert a stablizing influence at every level of his religious life. And when this costly and explicit embodiment is lacking, or is rejected where once possessed, and the Godward life of the community is not given some sensible and institutional expression within the social complex, worship seldom develops its full richness and power. It remains thin, abstract, and notional: a tendency, an attitude, a general aspiration, moving alongside human life, rather than in it.

It is true that worship, when thus embodied, loses - or seems to lose - something of its purity; but only then can it take up and use man's various powers and capacities, turning the whole creature towards the Eternal, and thus entering the texture of his natural as well as his supernatural life. Certainly, it is here that we encounter the greatest of the dangers that accompany its long history; the danger that form will smother spirit, ritual action take the place of spontaneous prayer, the outward and visible sign obscure the inward grace. But the risk is one which man is bound to take. He is not "pure" spirit, and is not capable of "pure" spiritual acts. Even though in his worship he moves out towards absolutes, and in and through that worship absolutes are revealed to his soul, it is at his own peril that leaves the world of sense behind, in his approach to the God Who created and informs it. This humbling truth must govern all his responses to Reality.

"Memory and Hope"

From Stephen Gerth, in St. Mary the Virgin's The Angelus this week:

I've just discovered a book that I'm pretty sure would have influenced a lot of the thinking and writing I have done over the last decade or so if I had read it earlier. The book, Between Memory and Hope: Readings on the Liturgical Year (2000), was edited by Notre Dame Professor Maxwell Johnson. It is a collection of essays by fourteen liturgists and theologians from different denominations. Johnson takes his title from an essay in the book by the late Thomas Talley (1924-2005), who for many years was professor of liturgics at the General Theological Seminary. As Christians we live with the memory of Christ's saving work and the hope for Christ's coming at the end of time.

I bought the book because of a reference to one of those essays in another book, Johnson's and Paul Bradshaw's The Origins of Feast, Fasts and Seasons in Early Christianity (2011). The essay, "The Three Days and the Forty Days," was written by Patrick Regan who now teaches at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome. Between Memory and Hope arrived on Ash Wednesday. That title is itself a meditation, a proclamation, about the way we who believe in Jesus Christ are called to live.

So far, I have looked briefly at Regan's article-how to count the "Three Days" of the Easter or "Paschal" Triduum-the name, as well as the counting, are worth reviewing at another time; and I have also read Johnson's introduction. He writes about Easter and Lent:

Easter and Pentecost are about our death and resurrection in Christ today, our passover from death to life in his passover, through water and the Holy Spirit in baptism. Lent is about our annual retreat, our annual re-entry into the catechumenate and order of penitents in order to reflect on, affirm, remember and re-claim that baptism. (page xii)

I haven't made a study of the classic texts for the admission of unbaptized adults to the historic formation program known as the catechumenate. The Episcopal Church's version is found in The Book of Occasional Services 2003. The rite begins with one question to those who are coming to faith, "What do you seek?" The answer is "Life in Christ" (page 117).

I far prefer the questions now used by the Roman Church for the beginning of the rite-why we use different questions and answers I suspect is more than a matter of translation, but I really don't know why they are different. Their rite begins with the celebrant asking each person, "What is your name?" Then, the celebrant asks, "What do you ask of God's Church?" The answer is, "Faith." Then, "What does faith offer you?" The answer, "Eternal life" (The Rites of the Catholic Church [1976], 41).

Saint Paul writes, "Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life" (Romans 6:22). The Greek word for 'end,' telos, carries the meaning both of 'end of time' and the 'goal toward which we move.' In the words "faith" and "hope," the Church remembers Jesus' promise that the end of all things (in both senses of telos) is in him, when he will be "all in all" (Ephesians 1:23). The journey to death and resurrection is God's plan for all human life; we make it our own through Christ with memory and with hope.

"The World at Our Fingertips: 23 Beautiful Old Texts, Available Online"

Fantastic! A 10th-Century Iliad! The Magna Carta! The Dead Sea scrolls, if you can believe that! Here: The World at Our Fingertips: 23 Beautiful Old Texts, Available Online - Rebecca J. Rosen - Technology - The Atlantic.

The Internet's collection of old manuscripts is not only growing in size but improving in quality. With a few clicks of the mouse you can zoom in on some of the earliest Hebrew scrolls, the handwritten works of Leonardo da Vinci or Jane Austen, and the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence. The British Library's digital editions include supplemental materials such as translations, explanatory essays, and, in the case of Mozart's notes, audio files of the songs he sketched out. Below, a gallery of some of the best examples of the original manuscripts online.

"The Canticles at Evensong, Together with the Office Responses and a Table of Psalm-Tones"

A nice find at Google Books tonight: "THE CANTICLES AT EVENSONG, TOGETHER WITH THE OFFICE RESPONSES AND A TABLE OF PSALM-TONES: EDITED BY THE REVEREND CHARLES WINFRED DOUGLAS BACHELOR OF MUSIC CANON OF FOND DU LAC." - (The Saint Dunstan Edition)

Here's the link to the book itself, which was published in 1915 (and cost 50 cents).

Below is an iFrame that contains the first page of the Psalm Tone chart; you can scroll through it from this post.



From the Intro:

The following Table of Psalm-tones has been compiled with the purpose of providing greater melodic wealth than is afforded by the Sarum Tonale, while retaining the greater part of the latter in its accustomed order as a basis. To this end, traditional Continental mediations have been added in the forms presented by the Vatican Antiphoner; together with supplementary endings, among which all save the third ending of the fourth Tone are of ancient use, either in England or on the Continent. This exception is a slight modification (made by the Benedictines of Solesmes) of an ancient ending. The additional mediations are distinguished in the Table by the letters B and C; and the solemn mediations for Magnificat by the letter S. Wherever more than a single mediation is given for a Tone, the Sarum form is marked by the letter A. As the numbering of the Sarum endings adopted in recent English Psalters has become widely familiar, it is retained: the additional endings either being substituted for certain of the Sarum set that are practically never used; or else assigned further numbers after the complete enumeration of the Sarum group.

There are more notes at the link. Winfred Douglas is well-known in the Anglican world for his efforts at renewing the chant tradition; here's a bit about him at Cyberhymnal.

While at Syr­a­cuse Un­i­ver­si­ty, Doug­las sang at St. Paul’s Epis­co­pal Ca­thed­ral. He earned his Ba­che­lor of Mu­sic de­gree from Sy­ra­cuse in 1891, then took Ho­ly Or­ders. He moved to Ev­er­green, Col­o­ra­do, for health rea­sons, and be­came an Epis­co­pal priest in 1899. He ed­it­ed the Epis­co­pal New Hymn­al in 1918, and helped de­vel­op the 1940 Epis­co­pal hymn­al as well.

The monastic orders began to revive in England only during the mid-19th Century, fully 300 years after the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. Winfed Douglas was instrumental in renewing the chant tradition. Here's something about him from the website of the Community of St. Mary East, an Episcopal monastic order from New York:

When the Rev. Canon C. Winfred Douglas became the choirmaster for the Community in 1906, he introduced a new edition of A Manual of Plain Song(4) to the choir, and later his own St. Dunstan Psalter(5). Prior to assuming his new position, he spent time in England, France, and Germany studying early church music. What he always valued most was the course in plainsong given by the Benedictine monks, who, exiled from their home monastery at Solesmes, had taken up residence at Quarr Abbey in the Isle of Wight. In an article for The Catholic Choirmaster published in March 1926, Canon Douglas explained his reasoning for welcoming the opportunity to be choirmaster for the Community of St. Mary.

"Parish Churches are too subject to changing policies with changing rectors for much hope of permanent stability in a musical tradition. It seemed to the writer that seminaries and schools, with their comparatively fixed policies, and above all, religious orders, offered the best field for constructive work... St. Mary's Convent and the group of institutions clustered around it seemed an admirable field for the establishment of a Plainsong tradition."(6)

The transition from modern notation, measured rhythm and polyphonic settings tothe Solesmes method of unison, equi-measured square notation chant presented quite an adjustment for the Sisters. Canon Douglas' patience and skill had them singing

Compline in ten days and the other simple offices over the next weeks. The school girls also learned the chant with the Sisters. Over the years many alumnae returned to Peekskill to sing at major liturgical feasts in St. Mary's Chapel.

The Night Office was first recited in May 1874 from the Neale edition of the Sarum Office(7). On March 12, 1916, a shortened form of the Benedictine Night Hours was introduced(8), and a revision of this came into use Pentecost, June 13, 1943. At Tenebrae and on great feasts such as Christmas, Purification, and Easter, the Night Office was sung in full, adapted from monastic melodies in use in the Latin with local variances since at least the tenth century.

Anglican Chant, embedded!

Here's something pretty cool, found thanks to Chant Café:  embeddable Anglican Chant GoogleBooks! Didn't know you could do that - it's via iFrames - but here's one from 1880, edited (I think) by one Charles Vincent:



Here's another, this time from 1860 and somebody named Ludden via Trinity, New Haven:



Nice, eh?

The Well-Tempered Clavier, Again

Awhile back, I posted this wonderful link that offers great audio, stunning video/animations to go with the music, and terrific analysis of all the fugues in both Well-Tempered Clavier books - and now I'll give you another.

Here's a site where you can download PDFs of both Well-Tempered Clavier books; each book comes in two parts (#1-12 in Part 1, and #13-24 in Part 2). All Preludes and all Fugues are included.

I've been meaning to go over to that other site, the one with audio and video, and thank that guy for doing all that incredible work - and I think I will....

(Yes, this is Chantblog, but for me J.S. Bach is a serious weakness. Indulge me.)

Hymn Introits for the Liturgical Year

Before I forget: here's a link to this book at Amazon.com, which is subtitled "The origin and early development of the Latin texts"; you can read sections of it via the Preview feature.

It really looks wonderful; I've started reading sections but keep forgetting to link it here.

Thanks to our good friend Derek the Ænglican for pointing this one out.

"The Sarum gradual and the Gregorian antiphonale missarum" online

Here, "Extracted from Graduale Sarisburiense published for members of the Plainsong and Medieval Music Society. Traces the "development of the Sarum Gradual from the Gregorian Antiphonale missarum." By Walter Frere, and published in 1895:

The Sarum gradual and the Gregorian antiphonale missarum: a dissertation and an historical index
By Walter Howard Frere, Plainsong and Mediaeval Music Society (Great Britain), Catholic Church, Plainsong and Mediaeval Music Society (Great Britain).
Published by published for members of the Plainsong and Mediaeval Music Society [by] B. Quaritch, 1895
Original from Harvard University
Digitized Oct 29, 2007
102 pages

You can download a 3M PDF of the book, too (that's the link right there).

Haven't looked very closely at this yet, but I'm sure it will be very interesting. There are some (black and white) samples of illuminated chant manuscripts, too, such as the one below, which I believe is Plate 1, and is described this way:

1. From Brit. Mus. MS. Additional, 12194—tne MS. which is the main basis of the reproduction given in the complete work. Sec p. xxxv.

This page contains the end of the Service for Saturday in the September Ember Week, and the beginning of the Procession on the Dedication Festival.

"The Hymns of Prudentius, translated by R. Martin Pope"

Something nice, from Project Gutenburg; this was apparently originally published in 1905. I was trying to find out more about the "longer alphabetic hymn" from which so many of the Christmas and Epiphany Office hymns have been taken, and came across this in my search.

I also came across the hymn O sola magnarum urbium, which is, according to TPL, the Lauds hymn in the Roman Breviary for Epiphany (but not in the Sarum Use that we've already discussed):

This hymn is composed of four verses from the Hymn for the Epiphany from Prudentius' (384-413) Cathemerinon, which is 52 stanzas long. In 1568, four short hymns were assembled from selected stanzas from Prudentius' hymn and introduced into the Breviary by Pope Pius V. This hymn is one of them and is used in the Roman Breviary at Lauds on Epiphany.

Here are the words, in Latin and English ("Translation by Fr. Edward Caswall (1814-1878)"), from the above:

O SOLA magnarum urbium
maior Bethlehem, cui contigit
ducem salutis caelitus
incorporatum gignere.

Haec stella, quae solis rotam
vincit decore ac lumine,
venisse terris nuntiat
cum carne terrestri Deum.

Videre postquam illum Magi,
eoa promunt munera:
stratique votis offerunt
thus, myrrham, et aurum regium.

Regem Deumque annuntiant
thesaurus, et fragrans odor
thuris Sabaei, ac myrrheus
pulvis sepulchrum praedocet.

Iesu, tibi sit gloria,
qui apparuisti gentibus,
cum Patre, et almo Spiritu,
in sempiterna saecula.

BETHLEHEM! of noblest cities
none can once with thee compare;
thou alone the Lord from heaven
didst for us Incarnate bear.

Fairer than the sun at morning
was the star that told His birth;
to the lands their God announcing,
hid beneath a form of earth.

By its lambent beauty guided,
see the eastern kings appear;
see them bend, their gifts to offer-
gifts of incense, gold, and myrrh.

Solem things of mystic meaning!-
Incense doth the God disclose;
Gold a royal Child proclaimeth;
Myrrh a future tomb foreshows.

Holy Jesu, in Thy brightness
to the Gentile world displayed,
with the Father and the Spirit,
endless praise to Thee be paid.

This would be, I do believe, the hymn in the Hymnal 1982 known as "Earth has many a noble city," and sung to the tune Stuttgart.

Wikipedia has this to say about Prudentius:

Aurelius Prudentius Clemens was a Roman Christian poet, born in the Roman province of Tarraconensis (now Northern Spain) in 348. He probably died in Spain, as well, some time after 405, possibly around 413. The place of his birth is uncertain, but it may have been Caesaraugusta Saragossa, Tarraco Tarragona, or Calagurris Calahorra.

Prudentius practised law with some success, and was twice provincial governor, perhaps in his native country, before the emperor Theodosius I summoned him to court. Towards the end of his life (possibly around 392) Prudentius retired from public life to become an ascetic, fasting until evening and abstaining entirely from animal food. Prudentius later collected the Christian poems written during this period and added a preface, which he himself dated 405.

The poetry of Prudentius is influenced by early Christian authors, such as Tertullian and St. Ambrose, as well as the Bible and the acts of the martyrs. His hymn Da, puer, plectrum (including "Corde natus ex parentis": "Of the Father's Love Begotten") and the hymn for Epiphany O sola magnarum urbium ("Earth Has Many a Noble City"), both from the Cathemerinon, are still in use today. The allegorical Psychomachia, however, is his most influential work and became the inspiration and wellspring of medieval allegorical literature.

The works of Prudentius include:

• Liber Cathemerinon -- ("Book in Accordance with the Hours") comprises 12 lyric poems on various times of the day and on church festivals.
• Liber Peristephanon -- ("Crowns of Martyrdom") contains 14 lyric poems on Spanish and Roman martyrs.
• Apotheosis -- ("Deification") attacks disclaimers of the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus.
• Hamartigenia -- ("The Origin of Sin") attacks the Gnostic dualism of Marcion and his followers.
• Psychomachia -- ("Battle of Souls") describes the struggle of faith, supported by the cardinal virtues, against idolatry and the corresponding vices.
• Libri contra Symmachum -- ("Books Against Symmachus") oppose the pagan senator Symmachus's requests that the altar of Victory be restored to the Senate house.
• Dittochæon -- ("The Double Testament") contains 49 quatrains intended as captions for the murals of a basilica in Rome.

I admit to being a bit confused as to what actually comprises the Cathemerinon; some sources seem to indicate that it's a long (I guess "alphabetic"; 2 x 26 = 52?) hymn of 52 stanzas, but this Project Gutenberg book seems to say that the whole collection of hymns of Prudentius is called The Cathemerinon.

So I will continue to look into this and will post again when I nail this down. Meantime, I thought people might be interested in having this "e-book" to look over.

EDIT: Well, here's more, from the Denver Seminary: "Hymns of Prudentius - The Cathemerinon, or The Daily Round," which looks to be a review of a book of the same name by David Slavitt:

Everything known about the life of Aurelius Prudentius Clemens is contained in a 45 verse introduction to his collection of hymns that he published in 405 C.E. when he was 57 years old. Born into a reasonably prosperous Christian family in Spain in 348, Prudentius enjoyed a typical education based on the literature and rhetoric of the classical era. He had a brief career as an advocate and held increasingly responsible positions in the imperial civil service. Tiring of the emptiness of his life, he visited Rome c.401-403. It was while touring Rome, with its combination of monuments both classical and Christian, that Prudentius vowed to spend the remainder of his life writing hymns in praise of God for an audience that was more familiar with the literature of the classical past than with Scripture-based Christianity. Thus, much of the imagery and vocabulary in Prudentius' hymns have more in common with the writings of Virgil and Ovid than the New Testament. Written in conscious imitation of the pagan hymns of Horace, Prudentius' hymns are full of images drawn from the world of nature. Rather than trying to convert his thinly Christianized audience through Scriptural exegesis or christological explanation, Prudentius lets the beauty and interrelated complexity of the natural world draw the mind towards the Creator. In contrast to various systems of gnosticism and Neoplatonism prevalent in his day, Prudentius repeatedly stressed the fact that acceptance of Christianity did not necessitate a rejection of either the created world or the physical body. On the contrary, Prudentius employs a wide variety of images from nature to proclaim God's involvement in the physical world.

The Cathemerinon is a set of twelve hymns included within a much larger collection of hymns by Prudentius. The first six hymns are each written for use at a particular time during the course of the day, thus giving Christians an opportunity to sanctify all the hours of the day. Hymns 1 and 2 are for morning use, hymns 3 and 4 are sung before and after meals, hymns 5 and 6 are for evening and bedtime. Prudentius wrote these hymns at the beginning of the fifth century when monasticism, with its regimen of prescribed hours for daily prayer, song and spiritual reading, was beginning to make inroads into Latin-speaking urban culture in the western Roman Empire. Although there is no direct evidence that Prudentius himself had any monastic affiliation, his hymns were soon included in the liturgy of the early church. As hymns, Prudentius' religious poetry continues to be used for liturgical purposes down to the present day. Hymn IX, "Corde natus ex Parentis," is included in the Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal, 1942 edition, hymn #98. Even a cursory search of any online hymnography database will yield numerous other examples of the use of Prudentius' poetry in worship services over the centuries.

In addition to the first six hymns for use at particular times throughout the day, the remaining six hymns of the Cathemerinon deal with specific events during the life of a Christian. Hymns 7 and 8 are sung before and after fasting. Hymn 9 is a litany of miracles performed by Christ and is one of the few instances in Prudentius' poetry where a knowledge of the Gospels is required in order for the poem to be intelligible. Hymn 10 is to be used at a Christian burial. In opposition to several heterodox groups popular at the time, Prudentius stresses the physical resurrection of the body. Hymn 11 was composed for use at Christmas. Unfortunately, Prudentius has framed his explanation of the physical birth of the Son of God in terms of an anti-Jewish polemic. Although the question of the physical birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was a hotly debated topic during Prudentius' time, his polemical imagery and vocabulary in this particular poem render it unsuitable for use without appropriate explanations of the tragic adversus Judaeos tradition in Christian theology. Hymn 12 is for Epiphany and again uses images from the created world, the star at Bethlehem, to draw the reader/listener toward the Creator.

Slavitt is first and foremost a poet. His translations are rather free adaptations of Prudentius' poems. (The Latin text is not included with Slavitt's tanslation.) However, Slavitt's translations can lift the soul, something that my translations, for all their cognizance of Latin grammar, do not do.

"wearisome bodies that weren't
designed to soar as our minds can do in flights
not unlike angels' arabesques, when we take
the heavenly view of dreams, which is why our nights
can be far brighter than what we know, awake" (Hymn 6).

Reviewed by Victoria Erhart
The Catholic University of America
Washington, D.C.

Hiley Plainchant book at Google Books

FYI, parts of David Hiley's Western Plainchant have now been scanned and posted at Google Books. I'm told by friends that this is an indispensable reference - although, my: is it pricey.

Here's an intro from the main page there:

Plainchant is the oldest substantial body of music that has been preserved in any shape or form. It was first written down in Western Europe in the eighth to ninth centuries. Many thousands of chants have been sung at different times or places in a multitude of forms and styles, responding to the differing needs of the church through the ages. This book provides a clear and concise introduction, designed both for those to whom the subject is new and those who require a reference work for advanced study. It begins with an explanation of the liturgies that plainchant was designed to serve. It describes all the chief genres of chant, different types of liturgical book, and plainchant notations. After an exposition of early medieval theoretical writing on plainchant, Hiley provides a historical survey that traces the constantly changing nature of the repertory. He also discusses important musicians and centers of composition. Copiously illustrated with over 200 musical examples, this book highlights the diversity of practice and richness of the chant repertory in the Middle Ages. It will be an indispensable introduction and reference source on this important music for many years to come.

Still another Google Books hymn find

This one is Early Christian Hymns: Translations of the Verses of the Most Notable Latin Writers of the Early and Middle Ages, by Daniel Joseph Donahoe, published in 1908.

This one's interesting because it lists hymns by author, and gives some introductory information about the hymn-writer. And there look to be some fascinating and obscure hymns for various occasions here - such as "On the Winding-Sheet (Mysterium Mirabile)" and "Hymn to the Angel Guardians (Custotles Hominum Psallimus)."

A couple of Office/chant books in English

First, a fairly new book published by Lancelot Andrewes Press: the Monastic Diurnal Noted. 50 bucks for 800 pages, and it does look pretty great:

The Monastic Diurnal Noted is a complete Gregorian Antiphonal in English, containing all the Antiphons, Hymn Tunes, and Responsories of the Day Hours of the Benedictine Divine Office (the seven canonical Hours, excluding the midnight office of Matins).

This high quality reprint combines the two original volumes into one single volume. The first volume includes the music of Vespers, the Little Hours and Lauds of Great Feasts. The second volume includes the music of Sunday and Ferial Lauds, with Matins of the Sacred Triduum and Matins of the Dead.

The Monastic Diurnal Noted is the brilliant work of the Reverend Canon Winfred Douglas, the renowned English church musician and pioneer of adapting Gregorian plainchant to English. Both volumes were prepared posthumously by the Sisters of the Community of Saint Mary. This reprint is a photographic reproduction of the original editions of 1952 and 1960.

Second, the St. Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter to go with the MDN:

SAINT Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter is the culmination of three full years of research, compilation, and proofreading. It is the first traditional English plainchant publication to be in print for many decades. Moreover, it is the first publication of its kind to include all elements necessary for the recitation of the Daily Offices of the classic Book of Common Prayer according to the ancient Gregorian chant tradition. Saint Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter was produced jointly by Western Rite Orthodox and traditional Anglican scholars and editors, and it may also be of interest to Roman Catholics (especially of the "Anglican Use") as well as by Protestants who appreciate the classic English biblical texts and the plainchant tradition.

I have this one; it's only $30. Here are a couple of pages from the Compline section:





And here are two pages from the Canticles section:

Lutheran Office Resources

An interesting article (in PDF format) from the Lutheran Liturgical Prayer Brotherhood: Daily Prayer Books in the History of German and American Lutheranism.

It's possible to buy a copy of the Brotherhood Prayer Book here. Here's an image of a page from the Christmastide section of the book:




I like the illustrations! You can read more about the book, and about the reciting of the Office, at the LLPB home page. Here's a paragraph about the book from that page:

The most noticeable change in the second edition of the Brotherhood Prayer Book is the new music. All of the responsories, antiphons for the Magnificat, invitatories, and the Venite now have their proper Gregorian melodies. The new music has increased the content of the book by about 50%. The second edition also is now in a more convenient size, being the same size as a hymnal, and comes with seven ribbons. The second edition has marginal page references to the first edition, so that groups can use both editions together and still avoid confusion. The second edition is also graced by the beautiful liturgical artwork of Mr. Edward Riojas. Introducing sections of the BPB, each of the 26 original drawings combines theology and piety to give the user a fitting focus for prayer. Indices allow the user to find particular Psalm tones, and hymns by their English and Latin names. Finally, a Lutheran book of liturgical hours with all 150 Psalms and Old Testament Canticles in English and pointed with the Reformation Gregorian tones. Add beautiful, ancient hymns and historic responsories to your daily discipline of prayer.

Lauda Syon

Another Google Books find: "Lauda Syon: Ancient Latin Hymns of the English and Other Churches, Translated into Corresponding Metres". By John David Chambers, published in 1866.

Thanks to StPetric.

The Latin hymns of the Anglo-Saxon church: with an interlinear Anglo-Saxon gloss

Amazingly, Google Books has now made available The Latin hymns of the Anglo-Saxon church: with an interlinear Anglo-Saxon gloss. From 1850 or so, apparently published by the "Council of Surtees Society." This "Anglo-Saxon Hymnarium" is derived from a "Manuscript in the library of the Dean and Chapter, Durham," along with such other hymns from various sources "as may seem expedient."

I just cannot believe some of the things that are now on the web. Actually, this one is really pretty good, I bet; it has a hundred or so hymns, and many are the ones we've been talking and writing about. And of course, if you need that "interlinear Anglo-Saxon gloss" - and I know some of you do - you've got it, baby!

Here's a page from the Anglo-Saxon Hymnarium: