Chapter 11

THE CONTENTS OF THE BREVIARY.

SECTION I.

The title of the Breviary is, BREVIARIUM ROMANUM EX DECRETO SACROSANCTI CONCILII TRIDENTINI RESTITUTUM S. PII V. PONTIFICIS MAXIMI JUSSU EDITUM, ALIORUMQUE PONTIFICIUM, CURA RECOGNITUM PII PAPAE X., AUCTORITATE REFORMATUM. This work is divided into four parts, the first part being called _Pars Hiemalis_, the winter part; the second part, _Pars Verna_, the spring part; the third part, _Pars Aestiva_, the summer part; and the fourth part, the _Pars Autumnalis_, the autumn part.

The Church, guided by the Holy Ghost, has drawn up these volumes of liturgical prayer, so that for each season, even for each day, her official prayer may be suited to the time, to different degrees of solemnity and of rite, and so that it may be fixed and determined, yet having great beauty in its wonderful unity and variety. Hence, nothing in her official prayer is left to chance, nothing is left to the selection or caprice of the individual who recites this prayer; all is foreseen, everything is in order, every tittle has a reason for its existence and its place in the liturgy, and represents the end and the intentions of the Church. For, every part of the Roman Breviary is stamped with the wisdom, the zeal and the piety of the Church, which presents it, as an offering all suitable for and worthy of God's honour and glory.

Considering, then, the Breviary as a liturgical book, we find that the Divine Office has four general divisions, corresponding to the divisions of our Lord's life. First, from Advent to Septuagesima; second, from Septuagesima to Easter; third, from Easter to Pentecost; fourth, from Pentecost to Advent. These divisions correspond also to the divisions of the year, winter, spring, summer and autumn.

The end and object of the Office are to invite us to join in the infinite praise which the Son of God rendered to His Father during His life, and which He renders still in Heaven and in the Tabernacle. "_Domine in unione illius divinae intentionis qua ipse in terris laudes Deo persolvisti, has tibi Horas persolvo,_" "O Lord, in union with that divine intention wherewith Thou whilst here on earth Thyself didst praise God, I offer these Hours to Thee." The life of Christ is divided into four principal divisions: first, His birth, circumcision, epiphany, presentation; second, His public life and His death; third, His resurrection, ascension, and descent of the Holy Ghost; fourth, His mystic life in the Church and in Heaven. Hence arise the four general divisions of the Divine Office:--

_First General Division which begins the Church's year_. From Advent to Septuagesima:--The birth of the Saviour preceded by His life in Mary's womb, and by the four weeks of Advent, representing (it is said) the passing of the four thousand years, and embracing the mysteries of the Holy Infancy, Circumcision, Epiphany, Holy Name of Jesus, and the Presentation.

_Second General Division, from Septuagesima till Easter_:--The death of Christ preceded by the events of His public life, His fasting, temptation, preaching, miracles, passion and death.

_Third General Division, from Easter to Pentecost_:--The Resurrection, the Ascension, Pentecost.

_Fourth General Division, from Pentecost till Advent_, the termination of the Church's year. The mystic life of Christ in the Church, which will end on the Judgment Day.

These divisions make up the four parts of the Roman Breviary.

The first part, _Pars Prima_, contains the Pontifical Bull, _Quod a nobis_, of Pope Pius V. (1568). It states:--1. That the cause of the new edition was to remove the regrettable variety in the public liturgy. 2. It recalls the labours of Pope Paul IV., Pius IV., and Pius V. for the same end. 3. It announces the abolition of the too-abbreviated Breviary of Quignonez and of all those which have not, for two hundred years preceding 1568, an authentic approbation or a lawful custom. 4. It gives permission to those using such breviaries to adopt the Roman Breviary. 5. It withdraws all privileges in respect to other breviaries. 6. It declares the Roman Breviary obligatory on all except those mentioned (_vide 3, supra_). 7. Even bishops are forbidden to make the smallest change in the new Breviary. 8. The recitation of offices from other breviaries does not fulfil the obligation of those bound to breviary recitation. 9. Bishops are requested to introduce the new Breviary. 10. The Pope suppressed the obligation of reciting on certain days the little Office of the Blessed Virgin, the Office of the Dead, the Penitential and the Gradual Psalms, 11. But he recommends their recitation on certain fixed days and grants an indulgence for the practice. 12. Where the custom of reciting the little Office, in choir, exists, it should be retained. 13. The appointment of the time for the adoption of the Breviary is obligatory. 14. Prohibition, under pain of excommunication, is made against those who print, distribute or receive copies of this Breviary without lawful authority. 15. The authentic publication and obligation of the Bull.

The second document in the _Pars Prima_ of the Roman Breviary is the Bull _Divino Afflatu_, issued by Pope Pius X, on 1st November, 1911. It tells us:--

1. That the psalms were composed under divine inspiration, and that it is well known that from the beginning of the Church they were used not only to foster the piety of the faithful, who offered "the sacrifice of praise to God, that is to say, the fruit of lips confessing to His name" (Heb. xiii. 15), but--that retaining the custom of the Old Law--they held a conspicuous place in both the liturgy and Divine Office of the New Law. He quotes St. Basil, who calls psalmody the voice of the infant Church, and Urban VIII., who calls psalmody the daughter of hymnody which is chanted before the throne of God in Heaven. Two quotations from St. Athanasius and St. Augustine, in praise of psalmody, are added.

2. In the Psalms there is a certain wonderful power which arouses in souls a zeal for all virtues. Two quotations from St. Augustine are added. One says that as it is written that all Scriptures both of the Old and the New Testaments are divinely inspired and useful for our instruction.... Nevertheless, the book of the Psalms is, as it were, a very Paradise containing in itself the fruits of all the other books and expressing them in hymns; and moreover it joins its own hymns to them and merges them in the general song of praise. Two further quotations from St. Augustine, in similar strain, follow. For who will be, asks the saint, unmoved by those frequent passages in the Psalms in which are proclaimed the immensity, the omnipotence, the infallible justice, the goodness, the clemency of God? Or who is not moved by the prayers and thanksgivings for benefits received by the humble and trustful petitions, by the cries of souls sorrowing for sin, found in the Psalms? Whom will the Psalmist not fill with admiration when he recounts the gifts of the Divine loving kindness towards the people of Israel and all mankind, and when he sets forth the truths of heavenly wisdom? Who, finally, will not be inflamed with love by the carefully foreshadowed figure of Christ, our Redeemer, whose voice St. Augustine heard in the Psalms, either singing or sighing or rejoicing in Hope or mourning in present sorrow?

3. In, former ages it was decreed by Popes and Councils and by monastic laws that the whole Psaltery should be recited weekly. Pope St. Pius V., Pope Clement VIII., and Pope Urban VIII. in their revisions of the Breviary ordered this weekly recitation. And even at the present time, such would be the recitation of the Psalter had not the condition of things changed.

4. This arose from the multiplication of saints' offices (_officia de sanctis_), which after the canonization of saints gradually grew to such a huge number that very often the Dominical and Ferial Office remained unread, and hence not a few psalms were neglected, which yet are as the rest, as St. Ambrose says, "the benediction of the people, the praise of God, the praise offering of the multitude, the acclamation of all, the expression of the community, the voice of the Church, the resounding confession of faith, the truly official devotion, the joy of liberty, the shout of gladness, the re-echoing of joy."

Many complaints from prudent and pious men reached the Pope about the omission of psalms, which took away from those bound to recite the Office not only helps, well suited for God's praises and for the expression of their inmost souls, but also diminished that desirable variety in prayers which is so appreciated and which so well accords with and aids our worthy, attentive, and devout praise of God. For St. Basil says that "in smooth uniformity the soul often grows weary and while present is yet away, but when in psalmody and chant are changed and varied in every hour, the fervour is renewed and its attention is restored."

5. This matter of the reform of the order of the psalter was brought before the Holy See by many bishops and chiefly in the Vatican Council, where the demand for the old custom of reciting the whole psalter weekly was renewed, with the provision that any new arrangement should not impose a greater onus on the clergy, now labouring more arduously in the vineyard of the sacred ministry on account of the diminution of toilers. These requests and wishes were repeated to Pope Pius X., and he took up the matter cautiously, so that the honour due to the cult of the saints should not be diminished, nor the onus on the clergy increased by the weekly recitation of the full Psalter. Begging the help of God, the pontiff formed a commission of learned and industrious men, who with judgment and care carried out his wishes. The results of their labours were submitted to the Sacred Congregation of Rites, and after careful consideration by the members of the Congregation the matter was submitted to the Pope, who sanctioned the new arrangement, that is, as regards the order and the division of the Psalms, Antiphons, Versicles and Hymns, with the rubrics and rules pertaining to the same. And the Pope ordered an authentic edition of these new arrangements to be prepared and issued from the Vatican Press.

6. The arrangement of the Psalter has an intimate connection with the Divine Office and the Liturgy; and by these new decrees regarding the Office and the Psalms a first step in the improvement of the Breviary and the Missal has been taken. These matters will be dealt with by a commission of learned men which is soon to be formed. Amongst other things that this first step established was that the recitation of the Scripture lessons with the proper responses according to the rubrics should receive due honour and more frequent recitation, and that in the Liturgy the most ancient Masses of the Sundays throughout the year, especially those of Lent, should be restored to their places.

7. The use of the old order of Psalms found in the Roman Breviary is abolished and interdicted from 1st January, 1913, and the use of the new Psalter for all clergy, secular and regular, who used the Roman Breviary as revised by Pius V., Clement VIII., Urban VIII., and Leo XIII., and those who continue to use the old order do not satisfy their obligation.

8. Ecclesiastical superiors are to introduce the new order of the Psalter, and chapters are permitted to use it if the majority of the members agree to its introduction.

9. Establishment and declaration of the validity and efficacy of the Bull, notwithstanding all previous apostolic constitutions and rulings, whether general or particular. Any person infringing these papal abolitions, revocations, etc., sins and merits God's anger.

10. Date and place of promulgation.

SECTION II.

THE YEAR AND ITS PARTS.

The Council of Trent, Sess. XXIII., c. 18, orders "_ut in disciplina ecclesiastica clerici commodius instituantur grammaticas, cantus, computi ecclesiastici, aliarumque bonarum artium disciplinam discant_." The minute study of the ecclesiastical calendar is not now so necessary for each priest, as it was centuries ago. The _Ordo Divini Officii recitandi_, issued yearly, and prepared with great accuracy, relieves priests of much labour and secures them from many doubts. And the decision of the Congregation of Rites (13th January, 1899) regarding the authority of the _ordo_ gives greater security. "_Qui probabilius judicat errare Calendarium tenetur eidem Calend. stare, nec potest proprio inhaerere judicio quoad officium, Missam vel colorem Paramentorum._" Of course this decision does not apply to errors which are _openly_ and _plainly_ at variance with the rubrics of the Missal and Breviary. However, it may be well to revise and to recall the student days' lessons on the Church's Calendar. The study is not an easy one, and in labouring to be brief, probably, I may be obscure and incomplete.

"_Annus menses habet duodecim..._" says the Breviary. The year has twelve months, fifty-two weeks plus one day, or 365 days and almost six hours. But these six hours make up a day every four years, and this fourth year is called bisextile.

In making calculations the six hours were taken as six complete hours, and not six hours wanting some minutes. And the aggregate miscalculation continued until the minutes added yearly, amounted to ten days and changed the date of the spring equinox. Pope Gregory XIII. (1572-1585) sought to remedy the error. He re-established the spring equinox to the place fixed by the Council of Nice (787). The year had fallen ten days in arrear from the holding of the Council until the year of the Gregorian correction, 1582. He again fixed it to the day arranged by the Council, the 14th of the Paschal moon. And he arranged, that such a time-derangement should not occur again. He omitted ten full days in October, 1582, so that the fourth day of the month was followed immediately by the fifteenth. He determined that the secular year must begin on 1st January, that three leap years should be omitted in every four centuries, e.g., 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, and his arrangement has been observed throughout nearly the whole world.

_Quarter Tenses_ fall on the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays after the third Sunday of Advent, after the first Sunday of Lent; after Pentecost Sunday, and after the feast of the exaltation of the Cross.

_The Nineteen Years' Course of the Golden Number_. This course or cycle was invented by an Athenian astronomer about 433 B.C. It was not exact, but was hailed with delight by the Greeks, who adorned their temples with the key number, done in gold figures; hence the name. The cycle of course is the revolution of nineteen years, from 1 to 19. When this revolution or course of years is run there is a new beginning in marking, No. 1, e.g., in the year 1577 the nineteenth number, the golden number, was 1; the following year it was 2, and so on until in 1597 the golden number again is 2. A table given in the Breviary shows how the golden number may be found and a short rule for the finding of it in any year is given. To the number of the year (e.g., 1833) add 1; then divide the sum thus resulting by 19 and the remainder is the golden number; if there be no remainder the golden number is 19.

EPACTS AND NEW MOONS.

The Epact (Greek [Greek: epaktos] from [Greek: eapgo] I add) is nothing more than the number of days by which the common solar year of 365 days exceeds the common lunar year of 354 days. So that the epact of the first year is 11, because the common solar year exceeds the common lunar year by 11 days, and these added to the 11 days of the first, produce 22 as the epact. At the end of the second year the new moon falls 22 days sooner than in the first year. The epact of the third year is three, because if 11 be added to the 22, the result is 33, and from this 33 we subtract 30 days which make up a lunar embolism and the remainder gives us 3, the epact for the year, and so on.

In the Breviary there is a table (_alia Tabella epactarum_) corresponding to the golden numbers from the year 1901 to the year 2000 inclusive. To take away all doubt in the use of this table, a new table of epacts, an example may be quoted. In the year 1901 the epact was X, which is placed under the golden number 2; and new moons appear on the 21st January, 19th February, and 21st March.... Again, in 1911 the epact is not marked by a number, but by an asterisk (see Table in Breviary) which is placed under the golden number 12, and in the calendar for the whole year will indicate the new moon on January 1st, January 31st (for in February there is no new moon indicated in the Table; the sign [*] is not found), on March 1st, March 31st, and on April 29th. In the year 1916 the golden number is 17 and the epact is 25 (written not in Roman numerals but in ordinary figures), the new moons occur on 6th January, 4th February, 6th March, 4th April, etc. For when the epact is 25, corresponding with golden numbers greater than the number 11 in the calendar, we must take in computation the epact 25 (written in modern figures) but where the epact corresponds with numbers less than the number 11, in the _tabella, the epact_ XXV. in Roman numerals must be taken in calendar countings. This change takes place with epact 25 only, so that the computation of the lunar years may more closely respond to the solar year. It is for this cause, too, that in six places in the calendar two epacts, XXV. and XXIV., are given.

The new Breviary contains a _tabella_ of Dominical letters, up to the year 2000 A.D. It needs no comment.

_Indiction_. Indiction was a cycle of fifteen years, the first of which dated from the third year of the Christian era. It was usual to indicate the number of the year in a cycle and no mention was made of the cycles already completed. Thus, the _indictio sexta_ meant the sixth year of a cycle and not the sixth cycle or period of fifteen years. Hence, to know the year of indiction is useless for determining the date in old documents of State. Indiction was instituted by Constantine in 313 for fiscal purposes. In papal and imperial documents the name of Pope or emperor was generally given and the regnal years noted.

_Movable Feasts_. In virtue of the decree of the Council of Nice, in 325, Easter, on which all other movable feasts depend, must be celebrated on the Sunday which follows immediately the fourteenth day of the moon of the first month (in the Hebrew year), our March. Easter, then, is the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon (i.e., the full moon which happens upon or next after March 21st). If full moon happens on a Sunday, Easter Sunday is the Sunday after the full moon. The matter of the arrangement of Easter was for long a subject of very bitter contention in the Irish and in the English Church. The Irish, clinging tenaciously to the calendar of St. Patrick, carried it everywhere in their missionary labours, so that the controversy was not confined to Ireland and England. It was long and bitter, until at last the Irish Church agreed to follow the reform. (See Healy, _Ireland's Schools and Scholars_, p. 592; Moran, _Irish Saints in Great Britain_, "The Conference at Whitby in 664," pp. 255-261).

Calendar study is interesting, and many valuable contributions on this matter have been given to us by Father Thurston, S.J., and other English and Irish scholars.

GENERAL RUBRICS OF THE BREVIARY.

The next document in the Breviary, Part I., has the title "Rubricae Generates Breviarii," the general rubrics of the Breviary. They are called _general_, as they apply to every part of the Breviary and are to be distinguished from the rubrics dealing with the proper (_proprium_) of the Breviary, the proper of time or of the saints. The word "rubrics" was originally applied to the red marking lines used by carpenters on wood, later it referred to the titles used by jurisconsults in announcing laws, which were written in red colours. The word appears in Church literature to refer to signs and directions as early at least as the fourteenth century (_Cath. Encyclopedia_--word "rubrics").

The general rubrics are divided into thirty-seven Titles. Attention will be given to each; of these Titles, some of which must be modified by recent legislation. The order followed may not be the order followed in the general rubrics as given in the Breviary, as matters treated in the general rubrics found in the Breviary are treated under other headings here. However, a look at the table of contents or at the index shows the pages treating of these Titles.

TITLE I. THE DOUBLE OFFICE.

"Consequently, the civilised peoples already in remote antiquity have found a call to the worship of God in the changing seasons and times and so have introduced sacred seasons. Sacred times and places are common to all religions in general. The change of times bringing with them corresponding changes in nature made a religious impression upon mankind. In turn, man sanctified certain times and dedicated them to God, and these days, thus consecrated to God, became festivals."

The entire number of ecclesiastical holydays and seasons is codified for us in the different Church calendars. Their contents fall into two essentially different divisions, each possessing an entirely different origin and history. The first division consists of festivals of our Lord, distributed over the year, regulated and co-ordinated in accordance with certain laws. The second division consists of commemorations of saints in no wise connected with festivals of our Lord or with one another. Occupying to some extent an intermediate position between these two chief divisions come the festivals of our Blessed Lady, which have this in common with the festivals of the saints, that they fall on fixed days; but, on the other hand, they are to a certain extent connected with each other and with some feasts of our Lord. This is carried out in such a way that they are distributed throughout the Church year and are included in each of the festal seasons (Kellner, _Heortology_, Part I.).

From Apostolic times the feasts of Easter, the Ascension and Pentecost were celebrated. In the second century feasts of the Apostles were celebrated and the cult of the Martyrs was of speedy and widespread development. But it was not, probably, till the fourth century, that the feasts of saints who were not martyrs were celebrated.

_Origin of the different grades of feasts_. To-day, we find Church festivals arranged in three grades, doubles, semi-doubles and simples, and it is very difficult, to determine clearly and accurately the origin and the nature of the arrangements. But from the works of scholars, who have studied this matter, the following may be considered as a fair and accurate summing up:--

In the first ages of the Church the Apostles and Martyrs only were commemorated in public prayers and, above all, in the Mass, perhaps, by a special prayer. Then, in time, followed the reading of a panegyric in their honour, and later still hymns and histories of martyrdom were added to the public recitation of the Office. Still later, there were added the feasts of the saints with an office resembling our simple office. Matins were entirely ferial, but had either a biography of the saint or a long extract from the Fathers added. The other hours were as in a Sunday office, save that these feasts had no Vesper matter.

In still later times, the Church added to the list of names on her saint roll, the names of saints who were honoured neither as Apostles nor as Martyrs. For these, special Masses, offices and feasts were established. St. Martin of Tours was the first confessor so honoured in the Western Church. For the more important feasts, an office of nine lessons was established and this came to be known as a semi-double office, and later such feasts were called doubles. Hence, before the thirteenth century, we find celebrations of simple feasts, of semi-doubles and of doubles. And Durandus, who wrote in the thirteenth century, tells us of the existence of doubles major and doubles minor. The Breviary of St. Pius V., published in 1568, gives three classes of doubles: doubles of the first class, doubles of the second class, and doubles per annum. But, in the revision by Clement VIII. the doubles per annum were again divided into doubles major and doubles minor. In the new Pian Breviary (1913) doubles are divided into Primary Doubles of the First Class, Secondary Doubles of the First Class; Primary Doubles of the Second Class, Secondary Doubles of the Second Class, Primary Doubles Major, Secondary Doubles Major. The list of feasts under each of these six headings may be seen in the Breviary.

Do double offices differ specifically from each other? No, the form is the same in all double offices. What then is the difference between doubles of different classes? The difference is chiefly in the preference which is given to them in cases of concurrence or occurrence of feasts of greater or of lesser rite.

The word "double" (_duplex_) is derived, some authors hold, from the ancient custom of reciting two offices or saying two Masses on the same day--one for the current feria and one for the feast (_festa_). Other authors say that the word is derived from the ancient practice of chanting twice or in repetition the complete responses and versicles. And, above all, the recitation of the full antiphons before and after each psalm, at Matins, Lauds and Vespers, was called "duplication," and this name, it is said, was given to the office (double, duplex) in which the practice of duplication took place.

It is often asked why are there different grades of feasts. Three reasons are given by writers on liturgy. First, to mark the diversity of merit in God's saints, their sanctity and their different degrees of service to His Church. Second, to mark their different degrees of glory in Heaven. "One is as the sun; another, the glory of the moon; and another the glory of the stars. For star differs from star" (1 _Cor_.). Third, for some special national or local reasons--e.g., patron of a country.

The rules laid down in the general rubrics in the new Breviary, for doubles and semi-doubles, are left unchanged almost by the regulations laid down by the Commission and by the _Variationes_. Their numbers were reduced, so that there now stand in the new Breviary only seventy-five doubles, sixty-three semi-doubles, and thirty-six movable feasts.

A reason for the new arrangement of double feasts in the Pian Breviary is the general one, that the Pope wished above all things the weekly recitation of the Psalter, and to bring about this weekly recitation and the restoration of the Sunday Office a mere rearrangement of the Psalms was quite insufficient, and a rearrangement of the gradation of feasts of concurrence and of occurrence was necessary.

TITLE II.--THE OFFICE OF A SEMI-DOUBLE.

_Etymology, nature and synonyms_. The word semi-double (_semi-duplex_) is derived from the Latin; and some writers hold that the word indicates feasts which are of lower rank and solemnity than double feasts. Others hold that it means simply, feasts holding a place between double feasts and simple feasts. Most writers on liturgy hold that on some days a double office--one of the feast and one of the feria--was held, and that in order to shorten this double recitation there was said a composite office, partly of the saint's office and partly of the feria; and they say that from this practice arose the term semi-double, or half-double.

Synonyms for the term "semi-duplex," are "non-duplex," "office of nine lessons."

1. The antiphons are not doubled in a semi-double office.

2. The Sundays of the year, excepting Easter Sunday, Low Sunday, Pentecost and Trinity, are said according to the semi-double rite. In the new Breviaries the Psalms for Matins are only nine in number, instead of the eighteen of the older book.

3. The versicles, antiphons, responses, preces and suffrages of saints, which are recited in semi-double offices, are given below under their own titles.

TITLE III.--THE SIMPLE OFFICE.

_Etymology, nature_ and _synonyms_. The word _simple_ comes from the Latin _simplex_, to indicate the least solemn form of office and it is the direct opposite in meaning to the term "double." It is synonymous with the term so often found in liturgical works, the office of three lessons.

This form of office is of great antiquity, going back to the fifth century. In the early ages of the Church and down to the fourteenth century the simple office consisted of the ferial office with lessons, antiphons and prayers. But in the end of the fourteenth century, simples came to be celebrated in the same manner as semi-doubles, with nine lessons and their nocturns, and in case of occurrence were transferred. As a result the offices of Sunday and the ferial offices were practically crushed out of the Breviary. The Commission of Reform applied an easy remedy, by restoring simple feasts to their ancient place and status. Now, they are not to be transferred; but in case of occurrence with a feast of higher rite they are merely commemorated.

These feasts have first Vespers only. At Matins, the nine psalms and three lessons are said as one nocturn. The psalms in semi-double feasts are from the Psalter under the day of the week on which the feast is celebrated. "_In quolibet alio Festo duplici etiam major, vel semi duplici vel simplici et in Feriis Tempore Paschali, semper dicantur Psalmi, cum antiphonis in omnibus Horis, et versibus ad matutinum, ut in Psalterio de occurrente hebdomadae die" (Tit, I. sec, 3. Additiones et Variationes_).

In commemorations in the Office, the versicle, response, antiphon and collect of a semi-double is made _after_ the following commemorations (if they should have a place in the recitation of the day).

(1) Any Sunday, (2) a day within the privileged octave of the Epiphany or Corpus Christi, (3) an octave day, (4) a great double, (5) a lesser double. Of course the first commemoration is always of the concurring office except it be a day within a non-privileged octave, or a simple. In reckoning the order of precedence between feasts which occur on the same day, lists given in _The New Psalter and its Use_, p. 108, show that thirteen grades of feast stand before the feasts of semi-double rite. And in the order of precedence as to Vespers, between feasts which are in occurrence, these feasts stand in the eleventh place, being preceded by (1) doubles of the first class of the universal Church, (2) lesser doubles.

TITLE IV.--SUNDAY.

We translate the Latin _Dies Dominica_ by our word Sunday, for in English the days of the week have retained the names given to them in Pagan times. In Irish, too, Deluain, Monday, moon's day, shows Pagan origin of names of week days.

The literal translation of the Latin _Dies Dominica_, the Lord's Day, is not found in the name given to the first day of the week in any European tongue, save Portuguese, where the days of the week hold the old Catholic names, _domingo, secunda feira, terca feira_, etc. It is said that the seven days of the week as they stand in numerical order were retained and confirmed by Pope Silvester I. (314-336): "_Sabbati et Dominici diei nomine retento, reliquos hebdomadae dies Feriarum nomine distinctos, ut jam ante in Ecclesia vocari coeperunt appellari voluit; quo significaretur quotidie clericos, abjecta caeterarum rerum cura, uni Deo prorsus vocare debere" (Brev. Rom_. in VI. lect. St. Silvester Pope; 31st Dec.).

There is no evidence of the abrogation of the Sabbath by Christ or by His Apostles, but St. Paul declared that its observance was not binding on Gentile converts. Accordingly, in the very early days of Christianity the Sabbath fell more and more into the background, yet not without leaving some traces behind it (see art. _Sonnabender_ in Kraut's _Realenzyklop_). Among Christians the first day of the Jewish week, the _prima Sabbati_, the present Sunday, was held in honour as the day of our Lord's resurrection and was called the Lord's Day (Apoc. i. 10; I. Cor, xvi. 2), This name, _dies dominica_, took the place of _dies solis_, formerly used in Greece and in Rome. This day has many names in the works of Christian writers. St. Ignatius, M. calls it _Regina omnium dierum_; St. Chrysostom, _dies pacis; dies lucis_; Alcuin, _dies sanctus; feria prima_, Baronius tells us, was another name for our Sunday.

The subject of the liturgical celebration of the Lord's Day has been a great study and a problem to modern scholars. It appears that in the first ages of the Church, Sunday was a day of solemn reunion and of common prayer. St. Justin, in his second apology, writes that on the Lord's Day town and country met together at an appointed place for sacrifice, for the hearing of the word of God, for pious readings and for common prayer. This common, prayer consisted largely in the recitation of the Psalms, hymns and prayers, of what are called the Sunday Office. This office was nearly always the same in psalms, in hymns and in every part; so that Sunday after Sunday, for many years, there was very little change in the Sunday united-prayer part of the liturgy, although the preaching on the incidents of the life of our Lord (Beckel, _Messe und Pascha_, p, 91), the blessings and the thanksgivings relieved the service from monotonous sameness.

A nocturn, a round of Psalms, was said on Saturday night by the vigilants preparing for the Sunday services. Before the eighth century two other short nocturns were added. This addition, which was copied from the monastic practice, built up the three nocturn form of office and became the model and form of the office for saints. "There is good reason for believing that originally the Divine Office formed part of the Mass. The _synaxis_, for which the early Christians assembled by night, consisted of the 'breaking of bread,' preceded by the singing of psalms and hymns, litanies and collects, readings, homilies, invocations and canticles. This was the whole official liturgical prayer, apart, of course, from private prayer" (Dom Cabrol, _Day Hours of the Church_, Introduction, p. xvi).

One of the chief objects of Pope Pius X. in his reform was the restoration of the liturgical importance of the Sunday office, the office of the Lord's Day, and, therefore, in its own right, superior to the saints' feasts by which it had been displaced from its special office, psalms and lessons. And this could only be effected by a change in the rules of occurrence, and in Title IV. (_De Festorum occurentia_, etc., section 2) we find the new rule for restoring Sunday offices to their proper liturgical rights.

In Title IV., sect, 1 (see Breviary, Additiones and Variationes) there is no change in the old rubric. The eight Sundays of the first class exclude every other feast. And the Sundays of the second class only give place to a double of the first class and then are commemorated at Lauds, Vespers and Mass, and have the ninth lesson in Matins.

But section 2 (_Dominicis minoribus_)... goes to the root of the matter of the new change in the rules for Sunday's liturgical office. The ordinary Sundays ranked as semi-doubles and hence their Mass and Office was superseded by the Mass and Office of some occurring feast. The length of the Sunday office, in the breviaries until lately in use, made many hearts rejoice over the occurring feast. But the almost total omission of the ancient and beautiful Sunday Masses was a misfortune and, in a sense, an unbecoming practice, which broke away from ancient liturgical rule and tradition. The abbreviation of the Sunday office in the new breviaries and the rule laid down in Title IV., sect. 2, restore Sunday's office and Sunday's Mass to their old and proper dignity.

The general rule laid down is that on Sundays throughout the year the proper office of the Sunday shall always be said. The exceptions are (1) Feasts of our Lord and their octaves, (2) Doubles of the first class, (3) Doubles of the second class. On these days the office will be the office of the feast, with commemoration in Lauds, Vespers and Mass. Henceforth Sundays are divided into:

(1) Sundays of the first class, which exclude all feasts;

(2) Sundays of the second class, which exclude all feasts save doubles of the first class;

(3) The ordinary Sundays, which exclude all but doubles of the first or second class, feasts of our Lord, and their octave days.

The date of Easter is the pivot of Calendar construction. Before Easter come the Sundays of Lent and Quinquagesima, Sexagesima, Septuagesima Sundays. Septuagesima cannot fall earlier than the eighteenth day of January, nor later than the twenty-second day of February. Hence, in some years there are fewer "Sundays after the Epiphany" than in others, owing to the dates of Easter and Septuagesima. The smaller the number of Sundays after Epiphany the greater is the number of Sundays after Pentecost. If the number of Sundays after Pentecost be twenty-five, the twenty-fourth Sunday will have the office of the sixth Sunday after Epiphany. If there be twenty-six Sundays after Pentecost, the twenty-fourth Sunday will have the office of the fifth after Epiphany, and the twenty-fifth will have that of the fifth Sunday; the twenty-sixth will be the sixth Sunday's office. It should be remembered that the Sunday called the twenty-fourth after Pentecost is _always_ celebrated immediately before the first Sunday of Advent, even though it should not be even the twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost.

TITLE V.--FERIAL OFFICE.

_Etymology and different signification_ of the word _Feria_. The word is derived probably from the Latin _feriari_ (to rest). Among the Romans, the idea of a day of rest and a holy day was intimately united and received the name of _feria_. But it was amongst the Hebrews that the day set apart for the worship of God received the most distinctive character as day of rest (_Heortology_, p. 2). Hence the early Christians called the days of the week _feriae_.

Why did the Church adopt the word _feriae_? She wished to mark the day of the week and not to name them by their pagan name (_e.g., dies lunae_) nor by their Jewish names (_e.g., prima sabbati_), which should be a sort of recognition of the dead and dying synagogue. Hence she adopted the word _feria_, to denote the Christian rest in the Lord, the Christian peace and the abstinence from all sin, and that each and every day should be consecrated to God. The Christian use of the word is found in Origen (185-254) and was fully established in the time of Tertullian.

In the time of Amalare (circa 830) the ferial office had taken a well-defined form, Matins having twelve psalms and six antiphons. In Lauds of every _feria_ were recited the psalms, _Miserere; Deus, Deus meus; Deus misereatur nostri_; a canticle drawn from a prophet and varying each day of the week (_e.g., Confitebor_, Isaias xii., for Monday's Lauds; _Ego dixi_, Isaias xxxviii., for Tuesday's Lauds, etc., and the two psalms _Laudate_ (148, 150) and the _Cantate_, psalm 149). In the small hours the Sunday psalms without antiphons were recited. Vespers had daily, fixed psalms. At each hour the _Kyrie Eleison_ and ferial _prayers_ were said on bended knees and the hours terminated--as do the hours of Holy Week still--with _Pater Noster and Miserere_.

Ferias are divided into three classes, major ferias, privileged ferias and non-privileged. Ash Wednesday and the three last days of Holy Week are the major ferias which are privileged and exclude all feasts (_vide_ Tit. II., sec. 2). Non-privileged feriae are the feriae of Lent and Advent, Quarter Tense or Ember days and Rogation Monday. They take precedence of simple feasts only.

In the ferial office nine psalms are said, and not twelve, as in the old order of the Breviary. The psalms found arranged in the new Breviary for three nocturns are to be said with nine antiphons up to the versicle of third nocturn--the versicle of the first and second being omitted (Tit. I., sec. 7). Hence the psalms are to be said straight through (_sine interuptione_) omitting in the first two nocturns, the versicle and response, Pater Noster, absolutions and all pertaining to the lessons. This simplifies things and makes the ferial office shorter than the office of feasts.

TITLE VI.--THE OFFICE OF VIGILS.

_Etymology, nature and synonyms_. The word _vigil_ is from the Latin _vigilare, to keep awake, to watch_, because in old times the night before any great event, religious or worldly, was spent in watching. Thus, the night prior to ordination to the priesthood, the night prior to a great battle, was spent in watching before the altar. Hence, the word vigil came to mean the prayers said during the time of watching or waking, preparatory to the great event. It signified, too, the fast accompanying the watching, and lastly it came to mean the liturgical office of Mass and Breviary fixed for the time of vigilance. In the Roman Church it was sometimes called the nocturn or night office. The Greeks call the vigil _profesta_, the time before the feast.

The custom existed among the pagans, almost universally, before the time of Christ. The Jews practised this ancient night prayer, as the scripture in several places shows, _"in noctibus extollite manus vestras in sancta"_ (Psalm 133). Our Saviour sanctified this use by His example, and the early Christians were, on account of these night assemblies, the objects of fear and dread, of admiration and of hatred. Organised vigils lasted till the thirteenth century in some countries, but owing to abuses and discord they became not a source of edification, but the occasion and cause of grave scandals, and were forbidden gradually and universally. The Church now retains for the faithful one congregational vigil, the vigil of Christmas. Formerly, it was customary to observe a fast on a day or night of a vigil, but that custom was suppressed sometimes, or fell into disuse. Vigil fasts are now few. Almost the only relic of the vigil now remaining is the Mass and Office.

When were vigils held? In the early ages they were held only on Saturday nights and on nights preceding great solemnities or the festivals of the Martyrs. The early converts, if they had been pagans, knew few or no prayer formulae, and very little of the psalms was learned by them even in their Christian practice. But Jews who became Christians knew psalms and hymns and prayers. So that in the early Christian vigils, there was no attempt made at reciting the Divine Office, and the custom of such recitation was not introduced until about 220 A.D. and was not obligatory (Duchesne, _Christian Worship_, Chap. VIII.).

It is difficult to speak with certainty about the hour of beginning or the hour of ending these vigil services. Some think that the first nocturn was said about 9 p.m. Lauds was said before sunrise and hence was called _Laudes-matutinae_. But "after the middle of the ninth century, we gather from contemporary documents, that the office of vigils was, as a whole, regularly constituted and well known" (Baudot, p.64). These vigils were held in cenacles or upper rooms of houses. During the days of persecution these meetings were not infrequent and were held secretly in crypts, catacombs, private houses and at martyrs' tombs. In times of peace they were held everywhere, in churches, monasteries, castles.

Vigils are divided into two classes, major and minor; major vigils are the vigils of Christmas, Epiphany and Pentecost, and they are called privileged vigils and are celebrated as semi-doubles. The vigils of Christmas and Pentecost are privileged vigils of the first class. The vigil of Epiphany is a privileged vigil of the second class. All others are minor or non-privileged vigils.

TITLE VII.-OCTAVES.

_Etymology and nature_. The word "octave" is from the Latin _octavus_ (eighth) because, in the early ages of Christianity, the Church celebrated the eighth day only after the celebration of the feast itself; not until the twelfth century was the custom of a commemoration on each of the eight days introduced. We have, probably, an example of this still in our Breviaries. The feast of St. Agnes is celebrated on 21st January and on 28th it is mentioned at Vespers and Lauds only, and the name in old Roman service books is _Octavo, S. Agnetis_. The origin of the octave is Jewish. We read in the Old Testament that God ordered that the Feasts of Pasch and Pentecost should be celebrated for eight days. So, too, the Feast of Tabernacles lasted for eight days, the first and eighth days being days of special celebration and devotion. The Christian Church adopted the method of showing great honour and glory to the principal festivals of the Christian year, to the great saints, the patrons of countries, dioceses, etc. But just as the calendar became overcrowded with saints' offices, which excluded almost entirely the Sunday and ferial offices, so, too, the additions of octaves created confusion and further tended to the exclusion of the old liturgical use of the Psalter and the supplanting of the Sunday and ferial offices. Hence, in the _Motu Proprio Abhinc duos annos_, the octaves of the calendar are divided into three great classes, privileged, common and simple. Privileged octaves are further divided into three _orders_. Those of the first order are the octaves of Easter and Pentecost; the octaves of Epiphany and Corpus Christi belong to the second order, and the octaves of the Nativity and Ascension belong to the third. The Christmas octave admits feasts of saints, but the octaves of Epiphany, Easter and Pentecost do not admit any feasts (Tit. V., sec, 3). A day within an octave has a right to first Vespers, and the antiphon and response should be from first Vespers (S.C.R., June, 1905). But the feast of the day falling within octave has a right to first and second Vespers. The exceptions are, when at second Vespers of St. Thomas, the office of the octave of the Nativity to be observed on 30th December has to be commemorated again, in octaves like octaves of Epiphany when each day has its proper antiphon at the _Magnificat_, and again on and July in second Vespers of Visitation the office of St. Peter and Paul is to be commemorated. In octaves the suffrages of saints and the Athanasian Creed are not said. When feasts of the Universal Church, which are celebrated with an octave are perpetually transferred to the next day, because of a perpetual impediment, according to the rubrics, the octave day is not therefore perpetually transferred but ought to be kept as in the Universal Church on its own day.

TITLE VIII.--OFFICE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN FOR SATURDAY.

"_In omnibus Sabbatis per annum entra Adventum et Quadragesimam, ac nisi Quatuor Tempora aut Vigiliae ocurrant_," etc. In all Saturdays throughout the year, except on the Saturdays of Advent, Lent, Ember Days or occurring Vigils, or unless a feast of nine lessons has to be said on the Saturday, then it is laid down in the rubrics that the Office of the Blessed Virgin should always be said with the rite of a simple office. The rubrics of the New Psalter (Title I., sec. 6) direct, "_In officio Sanctae Mariae in Sabbato et in festis simplicibus sic officium persolvendum est; ad matutinum, Invitatorium et hymnus dicuntur de eodem officio vel de iisdem Festis; Psalmi cum suis antiphonis et versu de Feria occurente I. et II. Lectis de Feria cum Responsoriis Propriis vel de Communi. III. vero lectio de officio vel Festo duabus lectionibus in unum junctis si quando duae pro Festo habeatur, ad reliquas autem Horas omnia dicuntur, prouti supra num. 5 in Festis Duplicibus expositum est_." In the Office of the Blessed Virgin for Saturdays (Decree S.C.R., 26th January. 1916) the antiphons and Psalms at Matins, Lauds and small Hours are to be said from the Saturday and from the _capitulum_ onwards all is to be taken from the office of the Blessed Virgin.

This office is not to be confounded with the _officium parvum Beatae Mariae._ The office _de Sabbato_ is obligatory throughout the Church. The _officium parvum_ was only for choir use, an addition to the office of the day. Saturday, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, is of great antiquity, as the mention of it in the works of St. Peter Damien, St. Bernard and Pope Benedict XIII. shows, but as to the time of its origin or a history of its growth, little seems to be known. At first the cult consisted in various and voluntary prayers and practices. About the middle of the fourteenth century an office was composed for recital on Saturdays as dedicated to the Mother of God. The office in our Breviaries was composed by St. Pius V, (1566-1572).

TITLE IX,--COMMEMORATIONS.

The rules laid down in the general rubrics of the Breviary for commemorations were never very simple, and when we read the changes brought about in _De ratione Divini officii recitandi juxta novum Psalteri ordinem_, Titles II., III., IV., V., VI., with' the decrees of the Congregation (January, 1912), and subsequently (_Abhinc duos Annos_) everyone must fear to tread the maze with certainty and must often fall back gratefully on the labours of the compilers of the _Ordo_ which he follows. Or, perhaps, doubts may be dispelled by _The New Psalter_ (Burton and Myers) published in 1912. The chapter on the Calendar in that book is worth study, but needs now additions and corrections, owing to the issue of more recent decrees.

In the study of commemorations and translations of feasts there are two words which have a special meaning and which, being often used in calendar working, deserve a special note. They are "occurrence" and "concurrence." _Occurrence_ is the conjunction of two or more offices, which fall on the same day. It may be accidental when two movable feasts are concerned or when a movable feast falls on a day which has a fixed office; or it may be perpetual, when a fixed office falls on a day which already has a fixed office. The Church does not ask the recitation of a double or a triple office. She, by her fixed rules, prefers one out of the two of the "occurring" offices, transfers if possible the others, or at least commemorates them by an antiphon, versicle and prayer, and sometimes by a ninth lesson at Matins.

_Concurrence_ is the conjunction of two offices, which succeed one another, so that a question arises as to which feast the Vespers belong to; whether to the feast of the day or to the feast of the following day, or whether the psalms should be of the feast and the remaining part of the Vespers should be as the _Ordo_ so often notes (_a cap. de seq._), from the _capitulum_ the office is taken from the following feast.

The new rubrics contain five titles which make certain modifications in the rules hitherto observed. We thus obtain a ready made division of the subject:--

(1) Of the precedence of Feasts (Title II.). (2) Of the accidental occurrence of feasts and their translation (Title III.). (3) Of the perpetual occurrence of feasts and their transfer (Title V.). (4) Of the occurrence of feasts (Title V.). (5) Of the commemorations (Title VI.) (Myers and Burton, _op. cit._).

The new rubrics without the aid of any commentator give pretty clear notions of the laws of precedence, occurrence and commemoration. For students in college these rules are expounded in detail with additions, changes, exceptions. But for priests, long past the student stage, it is difficult to undo the fixed liturgy lore of their student and early priest life; and the need of such a book as _The New Psalter and its Uses_ is, for those interested, a necessity. Even since the publication of that book, changes have been made. For example, doubles, major or minor and semi-doubles, which were perpetually excluded on their own day were transferred to some fixed day. This is given in _The New Psalter and its Uses_. But this has now been changed. In the case of feasts of the universal Church, no translation is allowed now. But feasts proper to a nation, diocese, order, institute or particular church may still be transferred to a fixed day, if perpetually impeded on their own day. Another example of necessary changes in that excellent book is in the last paragraph of page 136 (see Decree S.C.R., June, 1912). The works of compilers and liturgists need constant revision to keep pace with new decisions and decrees.

In making commemorations, the order of the commemoration as laid down in the _Ordo_ should be followed. Elements of a commemoration are the Antiphon of the _Benedictus_ or the _Magnificat_ with versicle and response. These antiphons are considered most excellent, preceding as they do the Gospel canticles (St. Luke I.). The antiphon, versicle and prayer of the commemoration at an hour should never be repetitions of others said in the same hour. Thus, if in the office of a confessor pontiff having the prayer _Da quaesumus_, another confessor pontiff's feast, commemorated in the same hour, should not have the same prayer. About the prayer, or, as it is called, the collect, the following should be noted: first, the commemoration is omitted if the prayer of the office which is being recited and the prayer of the feast to be commemorated have the same object. Thus, a feast of the Blessed Virgin, falling within the octave of the Assumption, should not be commemorated. Second, where a commemoration for a saint or saints of title similar to that of the saints whose office is being said, is to be made, the Congregation of Rites (5th May, 1736) arranged that not even the versicles and response be repeated and that the following order be observed:--

IN VESPERS--

1st Com. made by Antiphon and Versicle of Lauds. 2nd Com. made by Antiphon of second Vesper and Ver. of II. Nocturn. 3rd Com. made by Antiphon of I. Noct. and Vers. of III. Nocturn.

IN LAUDS--

1st Com. made by Antiphon and Vers. from first Vesp. 2nd Com. made by Antiphon I. Noct., and Ver., III. Noct. 3rd Com. made by Antiphon II. Vesp., Vers., II. Noct.

If it should happen in commemorating a day within an octave that the versicle from the common had already been taken for the office, then the rule is "_Sumenda est in laudibus antiphona de secundis Vesperis; et pro secundis Vesperis antiphona de laudibus in utroque tamen casu cum v. de primis Vesperis_" (S.C.R., 18th Dec., 1779). In the above given form of making commemorations it may be noted that the second commemoration in Lauds is made up from the versicles and response of Matins and not from second Vespers, so as to avoid repeating in Lauds what was said at Vespers (Cavalieri).

As regards prayers in the office the reminder that the same formula must not be repeated in the same hour may be supplemented. Because, prayers having all words identical, save one single word, are not considered in liturgy as different prayers (_e.g., Accendamur exemplis; instruamur exemplis_, Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Feasts of several martyrs). So, too, prayers which have the same form of petition (e.g., the prayers on feast of St. Joseph and on feast of St. Mathew), are not considered as different and must not be repeated in the same hour. But where the petition is different, even though all the remainder of the prayers are similar in wording, they may be repeated in the same hour.

But what is to be done in offices where a commemoration prayer and the prayer of the office is from the common? What must be done where the feast is the feast of a Doctor and a commemoration of a Doctor is to be made? What is to be done when the office of the feast is of a virgin not a martyr, and a commemoration of a virgin not a martyr is to be made? In the first case the prayer from the office of a confessor or Pontiff should be said, adding to it the title of Doctor. In the other case, the prayer _Indulgentiam_, omitting the word _martyr_, is to be said.

The origin of these commemorations was, that the Popes in removing the solemn celebrations of certain feasts of Apostles and Martyrs, which were formerly of precept, provided that their _cultus_ should not be forgotten, and that their commemoration in the office should remind priests and the faithful of those servants of God, whom the Church wishes ever to honour. I have said the order given for commemoration in the _Ordo_ should be followed; but not to follow this order does not exceed a venial sin. Even the deliberate omission of a commemoration in Lauds or Vespers is not a violation of a grave precept.

TITLE X.--THE TRANSLATION OF FEASTS.

When several offices fall on the same day, only one office, the one of highest rank or most important, is said. The others are transferred or commemorated. The last section dealt with commemorations, and now we come to the difficult question of the translation of feasts. Title X. of the general rubrics must be read in connection with the Apostolic Constitution, _Divino Afflatu_ (1911) and with the _Abhinc duos Annos_ (1913).

Translation of a feast may mean the removal of a feast from an impeded day to a day which is free. Thus a feast of higher rank may fall on a feast day of a saint whose feast is of lower rank; the latter may then be transferred. Transference is either perpetual or accidental and temporary. The former applies to feasts which are always impeded by the meeting with a feast of higher rite on their fixed days. A feast which would fall on 6th January would suffer perpetual translation. This translation bears different names in rubrics, decrees and liturgical writings--_translatio ad diem, fixam, translatio ad diem assignatam, mutatio, etc._ Accidental translation means occasional transference, a transfer in one year and not in another.

Title II., section i, of the _Divino Afflatu_ gives the characters of preferential rank which are to be considered in occurrence, concurrence or translation of feasts, _Ritus altior, ratio primarii aut secundarii, Dignitas Personalis, solemnitas externa_.

Although in the General Rubrics of the Breviary, the title _De Festorum praestantia_ is not found, the four principles, (1)gradation of rite, (2)classification as a primary or secondary feast, (3)personal dignity, (4)external solemnity, are mentioned in the sixth section of Title X., _De Translatione Festorum_, and the degrees of personal dignity are added in the second section of Title XL, _de commemorationibus_. Before 1897 precedence, and hence transference, was settled first by the rank of the rite (Double major, etc.); then, too, between two feasts of the same rite, transference was settled by dignity and finally by solemnity. But in 1897 the Sacred Congregation of Rites indicated two further notes to be observed in the weighing of claims for transference, (1)the classification into primary and secondary feasts, (2)the distinction between fixed and movable feasts. This latter distinction--between fixed and movable feasts--has been suppressed by the new legislation and some changes made in the others.

I. _Gradation of Feasts_ makes a distinction between doubles, semi-doubles and simples, and distinguishes the various kinds of doubles. The order of procedure will be--(1)Doubles of the first class, (2)doubles of the second class, (3)greater doubles, (4)doubles, (5)semi-doubles, (6)simples. But as the section shows (Tit. II., sec. i) this is subject to the privileges of certain Sundays, ferias, and octave days or even days within an octave. And hence, an ordinary Sunday, though! only a semi-double, will take precedence of a double; and an octave day, though only a double, takes precedence of a greater double.

II. Classification as a primary or a secondary feast. Tables of classification are to be found in the prefatory part of the new Breviary, under the headings _Tres Tabellae_. They give a revised list of feasts with their rank and rites. Some feasts are reduced from primary to secondary rank (e.g., Feast of the Dolours); and the tables give a new division of primary and secondary doubles and semi-doubles.

III. Thirdly, the order of precedence among feasts will be determined by the dignity of the person who is the special object of the office that is to be recited. Hence, in the order set down in General Rubrics (Title XI, _De Concurrentia officii_, sec. 2) all feasts of our Lord, other things being equal, take precedence of the feasts of our Lady. And then, in order, come the festivals of the angels, of St. John the Baptist, of St. Joseph, of the Apostles and other saints. Amongst the saints who are honoured as martyrs, confessors or virgins there is no precedence as to personal dignity.

IV. Lastly, there is the note of "external solemnity," which may give precedence to one or two feasts, which are equal in the above-mentioned matters--i.e., in Gradation I., Classification II., Precedence III. But the main point is that only doubles of first and second class have the right, as a rule, of transference. Transference is now rather rare.

"From these rules it will be seen that in cases of concurrence, occurrence, perpetual transfer or translation, precedence between two feasts will first be decided by gradation of rite, a double of the first class being preferred to one of the second, and so on. If the feasts are of equal rank recourse must be had to the second test, the distinction between primary and secondary feasts. If both happen to be primary, or both are secondary, then precedence will be granted to the feast which has the greater personal dignity. And if both feasts should have the same dignity, then the fact of external solemnity would confer precedence" (_The New Psalter and its Uses_, p. 79). For practical help, a look at the first of the _Duae Tabellae_ is a guide to find out which office is to be said, if more than one feast occur on the same day.

Before discussing new offices it may be well to remember that votive offices of all kinds, including the votive offices conceded by the decree of July, 1883, are abolished. These offices were drastic innovations, introduced to get rid of the very long psalm arrangement of the ferial office. The new distribution of the psalms got rid of the onus, and votive offices are no longer given in the Breviary.

TITLE XL--CONCURRENCE.

_Concurrence_ is the conjunction of two offices which succeed each other, so that the question arises to which of the two are the Vespers of the day to be assigned. The origin of this conjunction of feasts was by some old writers traced to the Mosaic law in which the festivals, began in the evening, and they quote "from evening until evening you shall celebrate your sabbaths" (_Leviticus_, xxii. 32). The effect of concurrence may be that the whole vespers may belong to the feast of the day or may be said entirely from, the feast of the following day; or it may be that the psalms and antiphons belong to the preceding festival and the rest of the office be from the succeeding feast. The General Rubrics, Title XI, must be read now in conjunction with Titles IV., V., and VI. of the _Additiones et Variationes ad norman Bullae "Divino Afflatu"_. The rules for concurrence are given in Table III. of the _Tres Tabellae_ inserted in the new Breviary (S.C.R., 23 January, 1912). These tables supersede the tables given in the old editions of the Breviary. The first of these two tables shows which office is to be said, if more than one feast occur on the same day, whether perpetually or accidentally. The second table is a guide to concurrence--_i.e._, whether the first vespers of the following feast is to be said entirely without reference to the preceding feast, or if second vespers of the preceding feast is to be said entire, without reference to the following; or, again, first vespers of the following with commemoration of the preceding, or second vespers of the preceding with commemoration of the following, or vespers of the more noble feast with commemoration of the other--any of these may be the liturgical order to follow, and the _Tabella_ makes things clear.

The "tables" are to be used thus:--Opening the Breviary at the _I Tabella, "Si occurrat eodem die,"_ first find the number marked in that square in which the two feasts in question meet, and then read the direction printed, in column on same page to left-hand side, bearing the same number. For example: the question is about the occurrence of a Sunday of the first class and a Double of the first class. _Double of the first class_ stands first word of page, and _Sunday of first class_ will be found in column beneath the rows of figures. Now the square in which straight lines drawn from _double of first class_ and _Sunday of first class_ meet bears the number 6, and reference to number 6 in column of directions found on same page gives the rule, "_Officium de 2, Translatio de I_," that is, the office must be of the Sunday of first class and the double of the first class must be transferred according to the rubrics. When in these brief directive notes, (1-8), mention is made of the "first or the preceding," the reference is made to feast or office printed in the upper part of the Table, e.g., Double of first class. Reference to "the second" or "following" refers to feast printed in the lower section of the Table. Where _O_ stands in a square in the _Tabella_ it signifies that there can be no occurrence or concurrence between feasts whose "lines" meet in that square. These two tables are very ingeniously arranged. The lists, given in the Breviary following these tables, give the lists of greater Sundays and Ferias, privileged vigils, doubles of first and second class and greater doubles, and tell whether feasts are primary or secondary.

TITLE XII.--THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE OFFICE ACCORDING TO THE RUBRICS GIVEN ABOVE.

If any one wish from the rubrics given in the Breviary to arrange the office, he can see in the calendar and in the tables of movable feasts which office he is to say on the following day. And when he has found out the feast he determines, from the rules given, the vespers and the other hours.

If the office be the office of an excepted feast, the whole office is said from the feast as it is in the Proper or Common of saints; but the psalms of Lauds and the hours are taken from the Sunday psalms, as they stand in the new Psaltery, At Prime the psalm _Deus in nomine_ is said in place of _Confitemini_. Compline is said from the Sunday psalms. If the office be the ordinary non-excepted office it is recited according to the rule laid down in the new rubrics. Tit. I., n. 5,:--

"_Ad matut, invit. Hymnus, Lectiones II. et III. nocturni ac responsoria 2 et 3 nocturnorum propria vel de communi; antiphonae vero, psalmi et versus trium nocturnorum necnon Lestiones I. Nocturni cum suis Responsoriis de feria occurrente...."_

_"Ad Laudes et ad Vesperas ant. cum Psalm. de Feria; Capit. Hym. Vers. et Antiph. ad Benedictus vel ad magnificat cum oratione aut in Proprio aut de Communi ad Horas minores et Complet. aut cum Psalm semper dicitur de occurrente Feria. Ad Primam pro Lectione breve legitur capit. Nonae ex Proprio, vel de Communi. Ad Tertiam, sextam et Nonam, capit. Respons. breve et orat. pariter sumuntur vel ex Proprio vel de Communi_."

(Matins and the other hours are treated of in another section.)