LiturgyBX1970.AiljL8xv. sno.l(ICS )

c ist e rc ia of t he st r ict o bs e rv a nc fOLS N0.1 MARCH 1974

L I T U R G Y Vol ume 8, Number l / March 1974

EDITORS PAGE 1

THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTMAS AND EPIPHANY 3Brendan FREEMAN

A NEW HYMN FOR THE FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD 29Chr.vsogonus WADDELL

THE GRACE BEFORE AND AFTER MEALS AS FOUND IN THE IRISH TRADITION 37Ui nseann 6 MAIDl N

A MEETI NG FOR THE EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE LITURGY 47Frenc h Benedi cti ne Subi aco Li turgy Commi ssion

TOWARDS THE SPIRIT OF CELEBRATION: A FEW CONDITIONS FOR CELEBRA-TING THE LITURGY 53

Benol't SEBIRE

COMMUNAL CELEBRATION OF THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE IN PREPARATIONFOR CHRISTMAS: SAINT JOSEPH'S ABBEY 59

THE MYSTERY OF LENT : SAINT AELRED'S SERMON ON THE LENTEN FAST 73Transl ated by Chrysostom CASTEL

DOSSI ER OF LITURGICA FOR THE GENERAL CHAPTER, MAY - JUNE, 1974 83

LITURGY bulletin serves to share with others whatever thoughts and

ex periences may contribute towards the development of a living

monastic liturgy for today.

Manuscripts should be forwarded to:

Fr. Chrysogonus Gethsemani AbbeyTrappist, Kentucky 40073 (U.S.A.)

Material for the next issue (hopefully June, 1974)should be received no later than mid-May.

E D I T 0 R 1 S P A G E

Senility has overtaken me. At least, I think it might be senility.

A few years ago I might have thought hopefully that my present imperturb

ability was a form of that apatheia the Desert Fathers used to talk about. Just a few days ago, I received from our Procurator General, Fr.

Vincent Hermans, news about recent developments touching on the status

quaestionis of our Order's Liturgy of the Hours. Since there's a great

deal that's

still uncertain and subject to a change of wind, I don't dare be more ex

plicit at the present moment. But, at any rate, so encouraging was the

news that, a few years ago, I'm sure I'd have been in a state of

heightened euphoria, able to think of almost nothing else. As it is,

I'm presently able to think of plenty of other things; and when I

occasionally do turn my attention to the current happy developments, I'm

only peacefully happy. It could, of course, be a bad case of accedia. But since I've just turned

forty-four in early March, I suspect it's probably an initial symptom of

the onslaughts of old-age. Quid hoc ad aetePnitatem?

On the other hand, possibly this unwonted calm has something to do

with a different kind of experience. During the past several days I've

been busy with tasks which occasionally left me free to listen to tape·-

re cordings while simultaneously engaged in

other chores. So I've been lis tening to our

ancient tapes of the retreat conferences given us in iZZotempore (November, 1951) by the great and good Prior of Mount Saviour,Dom Damasus Winzen. I shall always count it as one of God's kindest gifts

that He sent us Dom Damasus as retreat master during the time I was trying

to learn what it means to be a monk. During his conferences, I jotted

down occasional notes on the back of used envelopes; and these notes

I've re read and reflected on rather often during the past two decades.

But now I'm hearing his voice again if only through poor-quality tapes

recorded al most a quarter-century ago. There's nothing poor in

quality about those conferences•. however; nor is there anything the least

bit dated about the spiritual doctrine and monastic wisdom shared with us

by Dom Damasus. In fact, his teaching rings such a note of timeliness,

that I almost suspect that what he says is even more exciting and relevant

than the most recent

2

Roman news concerning our Cistercian Liturgy of the Hours. Here I have

no intention of spelling out this doctrine in detail; because, if all

goes well, I hope that the next issue of Liturgy will be devoted chiefly to articles concerning the great Maria Laach tradition which Dom Damasus so wonderfully well incarnated and radiated. But, in the

meantime, I find myself wondering how I can get so excited about developments which, though welcome and potentially helpful for our life in Christ, are relatively mi nor when compared with the riches of

Christ already accessible to us in all their inexhaustible fecundity. The purpose of liturgical reform is to ren

der these riches even accessible for us all. But accessible they are. NOv

Listening to Dom Damasus share his monastic experience with us inev

itably is something of a retrospective experience. Back in those distant

times, many of us who were then young had to exert more than a little ef

fort to enter beneath the surface of tre liturgy. It was a question of a

different type of culture; a different type of music; even in large

measure a different language. But I know monks who made that effort,

and who never would have made that effort if they hadn't met those

material

· obstacles with faith and determination. In

some sense, the very "obstacles" to deep participati on in the liturgy

became the occasion for their interior izing the liturgy and coming into

deeper contact with Christ present and acting in our monastic liturgy. I

suspect that the brethren who are most helped by the post-Vatican II

changes of liturgical forms are the ones

who were the most grateful and aware of all we already had in the days be

fore Vatican II. I suspect, too, that the chronic complainers about the

horrors of the present liturgical forms are chiefly the ones who, before

Vatican IT, were chronic complainers about the horrors of pre-Vatican II

liturgical forms, or whose liturgical life was too exclusively bound up

with particular forms of expression. We can find plenty to complain

about if we want to; but God knows h<lllT much we have to rejoice over. Our

present day liturgical set-backs and steps forward have their importance,

and a considerable importance. But it would be a shame if we were

to become so

absorbed in a particular aspect of the present, fleeting moment of

liturgi cal evolution that we fail to appreciate the inexhaustible

abundance al ready ours.

3

T H E 0 R I G I N S 0 F

C H R I S T M A S A N D E P I P H A N Y

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

I. JEWISH BACKGROUNDA. The J ewi sh Cal endarB. The Feast of Tabernacl esC. Tabernacl es and Epi

phany Concl usion

II. HELLENISTIC INFLUENCESA. Hel l enistic Sun Worship B . Chri stmas i n RomeC. Epi phany i n the EastD. Gaul , Spain, North Italy:

Reci procal Infl uence of East and West

GENERAL CONCLUSION

FOOTNOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

4

INI'RODUCTION

It is a well knCMn. fact that the primitive Christian oorrmunity sought its identity in the midst of two powerful cultures. On the one hand there was the Jewish world of thought and worship from which it was born; on the other, the Hellenistic world of myth and philosophyin which it grew and developed . The early Church did not definitivelybreak away fran Jewish influence until the year seventy with the fall of Jerusalem. 1 The next hundred years mark a time of painful growth asthe Church moves into the pagan cultures of Greece and Rarre.

To this day our liturgy reflects the tensions present in these early years ofgrowth . Theodor Klauser has shCMn. that in the process of attaining iden titythe Church has borrowed many important liturgical practices fromthe Jews and Greeks . 2

In this study of the origins of Christmas and Epiphany, I have tried to keep these facts in mind. First the relationship of the Jew ish liturgical year to that of the primitive Christian calendar with an eye to any possible oonnection to Christmas and Epiphany. Much has been

written about the Jewish feasts of Passover and Penteoost and their influ ence on our Christian calendar. But what about the feast of Tabernacles, which was oonsidered the greatest of the three solemn feasts of the Jew ish year? At first glance it appears that this feast did not pass into

the Christian dispensation. Is there any foundation then, for claiminga relationship between this feast and our feasts of Christmas and Epiphany? The first part of this paper deals with this problem.

'When we a:>Ire to the Graeco-Ranan world and its influence on the feastsof Christmas and Epiphany there is a wealth of material. 3

'When the

early Church entered the arena of Hellenistic culture, one of the most powerful influences she had to contend with was the practice of sun-cults. This was a highly-developed religion in the third and fourth centuries. Even as late as the time of Saint Leo the Great (400-461) we see the Christianstempted to combine worship of the sun with their worship of God. 4

The Origins of Christmas and Epiphany 5

The vast majority of authors dealing with the feasts of Christmas and Epiphany situate the origins of these feasts in this period of re newed heliolatry.

In the second section of this paper, I have su:rrmarized the rrore pertinent material on the sun-cults as a background for studying the ori gin and evolution of Christmas and Epiphany in the third and fourth cen turies. A.A.MacArthur, in his book The Evolution of the Christian Year, gives a comprehensive acoount of the contributions made by various scholars to the present state of their problems. MacArthur 's book was published in 1953. Since then, material on our subject has been scarce. Whatever I could find, havever, has been added to the body of this work.

It is interesting to note that each writer dealing with the topic of Christmas and Epiphany, before launching into their theories, warn.s us that the history of these feasts is very canplex and for the most part,because of the lack of historical data, all they can offer are hypo'!=heses.

Prescinding from the obscurity of the material, I have found this study of the origin, object and evolution of these feast days a rewarding experience. The Church has always been true to the myster_1 of the Incarna tion. The liturgical life of the Church is a witness to this and forms a true locus theoZogicusfor this dogma of faith . The principle of

lex orandi lex credendi is navhere more true than in the liturgical celebration of Christmas and Epiphany.

I. JEWISH BA,CKGRCUND

Introduction

Most authors situate the origins of the feasts of Epiphany and Christmas in the context of pagan Mediterranean culture. Especially in the cult of the sun-"WOrship com:ron to this area. Only a few scholars make conjectures about the possible Jewish influence on the feast in question. This first chapter will deal with sane hypotheses regarding the Jsvish

roots of our feast.

6

The Je w i s h C a l e n dar

A ver:y general survey of the Jewish liturgical year will suffice for our purpose of attempting to establish a relationship between the Jewish festal year and the primitive Christian calendar.

Exodus 23: 10-19 gives us the main lines of the Jewish liturgical year. First the days of rest are mentioned: ever:y seventh year and ever:y seventh day (vv. 10-12). Secondly, the calendar of feasts proper, which indicates three great annual festivals: Passover, Pentecost (or Weeks) and Tabernacles(or Ingathering)(vv . 14-17)• It is an accepted fact that the Hebrews were pagan nanads before they received Yahweh 's special revela tion, and that they honored their gods with feast days similar to those of their neighbors. Havever, after they became Yahweh 's chosen people, thesepagan feasts took on a new meaning and content. 5This process of historicizing or spiritualizing went sarething like this: When the nanadic Hebrews:rroved into the promised land, they adopted sorre of the agrarian feasts of their neighbors which they eventually referred to historical events of Yahweh 's intervention on their behalf in past times. They transfonred whathad been simply a nature feast into an historical cami.emoration.6

Thisprocess will be examined rrore closely when we look at the feast of Tabernacles, although it can be seen working in the other Jewish festivals.

At the ti111e of Christ, the three great annual feasts were kept with solemnity. The question arises as to hav their feasts passed over into the Christian era. With Passover and Pentecost there are no problans. They be carre the Christian feasts of Easter and Pentecost. But what about Tabernacles, which has been called by Josephus, the greatest and the holiest? ?

T h e Fe ast o f Taber n a c l e s

The feast of Tabernacles was originally a pagan haIVest

festival as described in the book of Judges. 8 The Hebrews gradually spiritualized this feast by associating the main agricultural elements, superstitious in themselves, to historical events in their past. The three key-notes of the festival were subjected to this process. The water-pouring, symbolizing the

'l'he Origins of Christmas and Epiphany 7

bmmtiful rains needed for a good crop, was referred to Moses' action of bringing water fran the rock; 9 illumination, associated with the pc:Mers of darkness and the autumnal equinox when the days becane shorter, has becane as the pillar of light that led the Israelites through the desert. Finally, the tents or booths, originally a ti:rre-saving device whereby the grape-pickers lived in small huts in the fields to expedite the harvest, carre. to represent the tents or huts used by the chosen peo ple during their wanderings in the desert. lO

The feast lasted for eight days , from 15th to 22nd Tishri, which w::>uld be our :rronth of September. The festival encx:mpassed the end of the

old year and the beginning of the new year·.11On each day of

the feast,water was taken from Siloam and brought through the water-gate to the blareof trurrpets. The water was then mixed with wine and poured into silver basins which overflowed around the altar. The water drained off into theKedron valley and so theoretically to the Jordan .1 2

As this was beingdone, the people chanted the hymns of the Hallel.13

Following the water-

drawing cererrony, each day there was a procession of lights and torch dan rers together with the illumination of the womens' oourt in the templeby huge branched candlesticks burning throughout the night.1 4

The enacting of this ritual year by year along with the lessons read at this feast, provided Jesus with an ideal setting for procaliming him self the true light of the world and the living water of salvation. After examining C.' hapter 7 of John's Gospel in the oontext of the triennial cycle of Je.vish readings, Aileen Guilding ooncludes: "The lectionary readingsof the regular cycle that would fall to Tabernacles are thoroughly suitedto the theme of the Incarnation". 15

However, other scholars see a oonnection with a primitive fonn of the feast of Epiphany rather than the Nativity. The themes contained in the ritual and lectionary of the Je.vish feast of Tabernacles are well suited to the Christian celebration of Epiphany.

16E. C. Selwyn, in an article in the Journal of Theological

Studies,after examining the Benediction of the Waters perforrred at Petersburg on

8

January 6th, sees eight characteristic features of the Jewish f east re

presented therein. 17 Can the historical evolution of our m::xlem feastof Epiphany be traced to the ancient f east of Tabernacles?

Tabernacles and Epiphany

In an analysis of the Gospel of Mark , Philip Carrington believes

he has traced the outline of the primitive Christian calendar . 18 The Gospel of Mark ronstitutes-a one-year cycle of readings based on the Je.Nish year which runs f ran September to September i.e. Tishri to Tishri.19

Leaving aside the Passion and Resurrection narratives , which were read at Paschal time, we are lef t with chapters one to fourteen for the cycle of the liturgical year.Chapter one, the preaching of John and the Baptism of Jesus, would corre at the end of Septerober the beginning of the ne.Nyear , and c.l.-iapters eleven through fourteen, the palm entry into Jerusalem and the eschatological disrourses , would f all et the beginning of Septem ber. Since the feast of Tabernacles embraced the ending and beginningof the year, we have no problem in situating chapters one and f ourteen within the space of a week. Thus the Judea-Christian conmunity f ollowed a liturgical year based on the order of Jewish f easts . Following this hy pothesis, the Baptism of Jesus would be read in the primitive Christian liturgy during the time of Tabernacles. This organization of feast ds became impossible to maintain when Christianity spread to the Graero-Ranan world which used a dif ferent solar calendar. For the Greeks and Ran.ans,the year beg-an on January f irst and ended in December . 'lb adopt this calen dar, the cycle of liturgical readings would have to begin on January f irst

, thus shif ting the whole cycle ahead three months. This rould be done with the readings based on the f east of Tabernacles which were not f ixed to any specif ic historical date in the life of Christ. But the cycle of readingsbased on the Jewish feast of Passover , which inf luenced Easter oould hardly

be changed. 20

One of the f irst witnesses we have roncerning a f east ofthe Baptism of Jesus in January is Clement of Alexandria.

21Writing in

the early third century , Clement mentions the gnostic sect , led by Basilides , celebrating the day of Christ 's BaptiSrn. as a f estival.Many scholars be-

The Origins of Christmas and Epiphany 9

lieve this is tre first reference of historical value made concerning the feast of Epiphany. Yet because the celebration is gnostic in character, it does not include all the elements of the feast. Certainly the Baptsim of Christ was an .important part, but what of the birth or manifestation of God in the Incarnation? Does our discussion of the relationship of Tabernacles to the feast of 1be Epiphany give us any clues to the inclu sion of Christ's birth as a part or even the main part of the feast of Epiphany?

•In an article dealing with the Greek 'WOrd '!fl r/let Vlfd.... and its

usein designating the feast of January 6th, Jean Danilou traces two separateusages in the te:rm which clarifies somewhat the diverse meanings of the feast. 22 Used as a noun, "epiphany" appears only in the book of Macchabees. In the rest of Scripture, the verbal form is used. This fonn ap pears often in the psalms and is accurately translated: "Let your face shine upon us": or the oft repeated petition -"ShCM us your face, O IDrd" .This sense of the 'WOrd has passed into the liturgical structure of our prayers. It is, as Danielou points out, the biblical use of the term. God appears as mmifesting himself on behalf of his people.

Our main concern will be with the use of the term in Psalm 117,

listed in the Jerusalem Bible as a "processional hyrm for the feast of Taber nacles". Ver'".':.es 24 through 27 play an important role in Luke's infancy narrative. A close semantic parallel exists between this psalm and Luke 1spresentation of Christ's caning in the flesh .23 To this is added thefact that Psalm 117 was used e:xt.ensively at the Feast of Tabernacles. Since the time of Christ's birth was unknown, the date chosen by the early Church would seem to be fixed solely on theological grounds . Could we not conclude that the date chosen 'WOuld be on the basis of a Jew'ish festival in which the thought of God's cxxning to dwell with his people was prominent? This would

seem to fit the feast of Tabernacles which in late Judaism took on an eschato logical character. 24

)

In the Greek tradition, the 'WOrd t::-Tr(..<,Pd.J./6ltli. referred to a super-natural intervention by the divinity on behalf of the people. 25 The feast of Epiphany was understood by the gnostics with this Greek sense of the

10

word in mind. The supernatural events surrounding the manif estations of Christ to the world were all-.important.

They stressed the Baptism of Christ because of the voice fran heaven and the descending of the dove. This mentality led to accepting the miracle at cana as a subject for the f east. H01Never , Danilou main

tains that it is the biblical use of the word that is pr.imary in the ture tradition of the Church. The dominant theme here, as opposed to the gnostic or Hellenistic understanding , is the caning of Christ into the world. This meaning of the word ''epiphany" can be traced fran Psalm 117to the opening chapters of l1lke and the Pastoral Epistles, to Origen,

Clement and Justin. 26

Originally, then , Epiphany was an ideologicalcx:mnemoration of the caning of Christ in the f lesh.

Conclusion

We have atterrpted to shCM a relationship between the Jewish feast of Tabernacles and the Christian feast of Epiphany . In doing so we haveseen hCM very early in the pr.imitive Church, the opening of the liturgical

year was disassociated f ran the Jewish f estival fran which it had origi nated. This is, to a large extent , "Why f rom the beginning, the feast of Epiphany had a note of instability about it. To add f urther to the conf usion or a:>nplexity, we see the gnostic tendency to understand this f east in tenns of supernatural manifestations rather than the simple biblical acoount of Christ 's birth at Bethlehem. Various new thenes such as the miracle at Ca na , the adoration of the .agi and, above all, Christ 's Baptism in the Jor dan were stressed.

Finally we can say that f ollCMing the hypopthesis of Tabernacles/Epi phany, we shoul have to look at the Jewish milieu rather than the Hellenistic sun-cults for the themes of our feasts of Chrisbnas and Epiphany. Hoewever ,since the Hellenistic culture played such an :important role in the develop ment of our two feasts / especially in the third and fourth centuries , the semnd part of thispaper will deal with this question .

The 0Pigins of ChPistmas and Epiphany 11

II. HELLENISTIC INFLUENCES

Introduction

The third and fourth centuries have been described as the creative period of liturgical growth. The Christian ccmmunity has with the Peace of Constantine becorre an accepted part of society. The Church must now adjust to her new privileged position.

According · to Dam Gregory Dix, the liturgical calendar was affected by this sociological change.27 The Christian conception of tlire was radically altered, according to Dix. As the Church began to feel at hane inthe world, she lost sauething of her eschatological outlook.

The historicalprocess of the mystery of redemption was emphasized. It is during this period that the feast of the Nativity came to be celebrated in Rorre .

28

When this Western feast gained in popularity and spread to the East, we wit ness a further disassociation of the Easte:rnfeast of Epiphany.

In this section of our paper, after giving a very brief outline of the Hellenistic sun-cults, influential in the developnent of our two feasts,I will try to trace the origin and evolution of Chrisbnas in the West and its influence on Epiphany in the East.

He11eni. sti. c sun Worsh"ip 29

It is very easy to over-simplify any outline of heliolatry in the an cient world. As a matter of fact, the history of the sun-cults can be as canplex and confusing as the history of our own Christian liturgy.J O Dif ferent geographical areas, sometirres short distances from each other, had widely different practices for the same feast . Often times a given divinity had several different names depending on the locality.

Nevertheless, it is safe to say that the sun was a

universal symbol of religions in ancient Greece and Rorre.

Two centers are of special interest to us; the cities of Alexandria and Rorte. J:n Alexandria, a pagan festival of the sun was celebrated . each year on the eve of January 5th-6th. The night was spent in the Koreion tern-

12

ple awaiting the birth of Aion, the stm god, fran the virgin Kore. 31

Acoording to the calendar of Amenemhet of Thebes , the winter solstice

was January 6th. When the inf ant statue of Aion was taken fran the crypt of the temple at dawn on January 6th , the days began to lengthen. Va rious other Egyptian custans f or this celebration are knONil. In saneplaces the water f ran the Nile, believed to acxp.l.ire miraculous qualities on

this night, was collected in jars f or Iredicinal use throughout the coming year. Others believed that certain springs manged f ran water to wineon this ni.ght. 32

In Rane we see the stm-cults ccnibined with the state religion of enq;>eror worship. Tlis was the f inal form of Roman paganism. It seerredto have enjoyed a short-lived popularity in the third and fourth centuries before f inally f lickering out. 33 In 274 A.D. , Emperor Aurelian built amagnif icent tenple dedicated to the invincible stm. He decreed a public holiday on December 25th as the nata Zi s Solis invicti . This date marks the winter solstice acoording to the Julian calendar. This holiday en- joyed great :EXJPUlarity in cosrropolitan Rone.

Elements of these pagan festivals have, without a doubt , passed into our Christian liturgy. No one, h&ever , would say that they are the origins of our feast of Christmas and Epiphany. Rorre and Alexandria , the seat of these pagan feasts becarre in the third and fourth centuries , great centers of Christianity. Scholars believe that the feast of Christmas originated in Rare, while Alexandria gives us the rrost information concerning Epiphany.

No doubt the great popularity of these two feasts at this time is due to the fact that they were put f o:rward as the Christian counterpart to the pa gan festivals of the sun.

We will n& study the develoµnent of these two feasts and the results of their interaction with each other: f irst Christmas in the West , then Epiphany in the East.

i.

The Origins of Christmas and Epiphany 13

Ch r i s tmas in Rare

The Philocalian Calendar of 354 A .D. is given by most scholars as the first real historical evidence of the feast of Chrisbn . 34 The dategiven for the origin of Chrisbnas based on this calendar is sanetime between336 A .D.and 243 A.D. The historical document De Pascha computus of 243 makes no reference to our feast. 35 We have seen that December 25th wasa sacred day for pagan Rare. In choosing this date for the birth of Christ, the Church has consecrated a universal msmic event, the wintersolstice, and in so doing effectively counteracted a popular pagan festiva 36

The liturgical prayers and readings, the place chosen for the celebrationand the date direct our attention to the fact that Christ is the true Sol invictus for the Christian people.37 Another oontributing factor for thenecessity of a feast recalling the birth of Christ at this time is the Christological controversy brought about by Arianism. The Church of RoITe played an irrportant role in the dogmatic decisions of the Council of Nicaea in 325.38

The problem cnncerning the feast of the Nativity in Fare is not one

of dates, although sane Fathers of the Church have tried to prove the histo ricity of December 25th as the date of Christ's birth.39

P-a.ther it is aquestion of the oontent or object of the original feast. Did the feast of Christmas, at its inception, simply ca:mrerrorate the historical birth of Christ, and thus distinguish itself from the ideological canrremoration of the Eastern feast, or did it have a multiplicity of object united under the general theme of God's appearance arrong nen . Along with this question isadded the problem of provenance. defend both

positions.

On both these issues reno..vn.ed scholarsWe have to go outside Rane for historical data on this subject. Often

time ecclesiastical centers dependent on Rome for liturgical usage, offer us rrore reliable information on Rane's original liturgy than are obtainablein the city of Rcrre itself. This is especially true for the Church in North Africa. Rane and North Africa fonn a unit as far as liturgical traditions go. Gaul, Spain, North Italy form another grouping which has been influenced to a great extent by the Orient.

14

Fran North Africa we have the wibless of Optatus of Milevis. In a senoon preached around the year 360 on the feast of the Nativity, hemakes reference to the adoration of the Magi as well as the murder of the

Innocents. 40

The number of therrEs mentioned in this sennon leads oneto believe that originally the feast of the Nativity encanpassed a large nUTiber of episodes in the lif e of Christ. Dan Bernard Potte and ChristineMohnnann think otherwise. 41

Mohrmann gives the f ollCMing argument : Even

though Optatus speaks of the Magi, it is not in the sense of a

manifestation of Christ to the gentile nations. Only af ter the introduction of the feast of the Epiphany in the West, with its basic theme of manifestation , does the adoration of the Magi take on this rreaning.

To prove this point , Mohrmannuses a sernon of Saint Augustine given shortly af ter Optatus , i.e. af ter Epiphany was celebrated in North Af rica , which applies the acloration of the Magi in this new sense.

This gives us the curious phenarenon of the disassociation of the original feast of the Nativity when the Eastern feast of Epiphany was intro duced into the West. Do we have a liturgical principle involved here? It seems that a liturgical usage introdured to a foreign territory tends tokeep its original meaning, whereas in the hareland it evolves into new fonns . When Christmas was introduced to the East , it kept its original fo:r:m, while Epiphany was disassociated by the introduction of Chrisbnas. Again , the

Gallican celebration of Epiphany , with its plurality of meanings, oould well:represent an

anci.entstage of

ori.enta1 l"1

turgi.ca1usage. 4 2

With regard to the provenance of the f east of the Nativity, we have ageneral oonsensus in f avor of Rane .witness of two historical docunents,

Lietzmann , however , arguing from the believes that Epiphany p:rereded the

feast of the nativity at Rome and so determined it to a large extent. 43

He uses f irst the pref ace and corrmunicantes f or the f east of the Epiphany, and seoond a homily attributed to Pope Liberius (352-358) . This homilyhas many themes pertaining rrore to the feast of the Epiphany rather than to tbe Nativity. This has led Lietzmann to oonclude that the Epiphany prereded the f east of the Nativity in Rane. HCMever , Bette has proved that the hanily

The Origins of Christmas and Epiphany 15

is falsely attributed to Pope Liberius, and represents a Milanese tradi tion around 380, rather than a Ranan tradition of the 350's. 44

With regard to the prayers for the Epiphany found in the Gelasian sacrairenta:ry and believed by Lietzmann to reflect an ancient usage of the Eastern Church rather than that of , and hence have been inoorporated into the Roman Sacramentary as a result of Epiphany being celebrated in Rane before the Nativity, Mohnnann gives the follc:Ming argument : The word apparere appearing in these prayers does not originally apply to the Epi phany. It referred first of all to the Ran.an feast of the Nativity; itwas later interpreted in a Gallican sense, and only then applied to the feast of the Epiphany. 45

We can ronclude that the feast of the Nativity appeared first in Rare. The birth of Christ in an historical sense, was the object of the feast, and episodes relevant to this appearance of God am:mg men, such as the adoration of the Magi, played only a seoondary role.

Before going into the serond geaJraphical zone of influence .,.._ Gaul, Spain and North Italy we would do well first to look at the origin of Epiphany in the Eastern Empire.

Epiphany in the East

The first mention of a celebration in early January ooncerning the

feast of Epiphany comes to us fran Clement of Alexandria. 46

Speaking of the gnostic sect, followers of BaS.lides, Clement describes hCM they cele brate a feast of the Baptism of Christ on January 6th or 10th. This docu ment dates fran the early 3rd century, and is accepted by many scholars as evidence of an early date for the feast of the Epiphany. The first unmis- takable evidence, however, canes from the Westerner John Cassian. He had visited the monasteries in Egypt between the years 380 and 400, and later wrote acoounts of this visit in his

Conferences and Institutes. In the oonferences we find a very interesting passage for our study:

16

In the rount:ry of :Egypt, this custan is by an cient tradition observed that when Epiphany is past, which the priests of that province regard as the time both of the Lord s Baptism and also of his birth in the f lesh , and so celebrate theCCITIIll2IIlOration of eith.er myste:ry not separately as in the Western provinces but on the single festi val of this day . • .4 7

This is an important text because it makes clear that in :Egypt ,Epiphany was a unitive feast , plus giving inf o:rmation on the two

feasts in the West. 4 8 Added to Cassian is

an Egyptian papyrus rontaining a liturgical fonnula:ry of readings and

responses . 49 These deal alrrostexclusively in tenns of a Nativity feast, which leads one to the con

clusion that Epiphany in the East was primarily a celebration of Christ ' s birth. 50

Turning our attention to Palestine, we have the dia:ry of Etheria and the witness of Jerome.

51Etheria, a Spanish nun , visited the Holy

Land about 385. The dia:ry of that journey has been a great source of litur gical histo:ry. Unfortunately, a great deal of her description of the Epipha ny celebration in Jerusalem has been lost. Hcmever , Bette and MacArthur agree on what evidence remains.

52Etheria 's description of Epiphany is

dated in the last quarter of the 4th centu:ry. The celebration lasted f or eight days, with se:rvices being held in the various holy sanctuaries. Since there is no ref erence to a ceremony at Jordan recalling Christ 's baptism, Bette concludes that in Palestine at this tine only the Nativity was celebrated on Janua:ry 6th. 5 2 Ho;vever , when Bette applies this as typical forthe East, MacArthur uses the senrons of Saint Jereme to sho;v that Jerusalem was an exception to the rest of the Eastern celebrations of Epiphany.

I have rrentioned just a f ew of the sources that indicate a f east in the Eastern Fropire before the introduction of the Western f east of Christ mas . The major question here roncerns the content of this primitive cele bration of Epiphany. I will t:ry to outline three arguments: that of Ber

nard Bette, who is in f avor of a single major theme; that of Christine}lbhnnann , who comes to a diff erent conclusion af ter using the same sourcematerial as Botte; f inally, that of A. A. MacArthur.

The Origina of Christmas and Epiphany 17

With regard to the primitive celebration of Epiphany , Botte re lies heavily on the inf luence of pagan festivals celebrated in Alexandria

on January 6th. Af ter giving a resume of the festivals, based on the an cient text of Epiphanius , the 4th oentw:y Syrian Father , he draws two conclusions;

53the primary ooncern of the festivals was the birth of a so

lar deity , and to this were added various cererronies dealing with water

and light symbolism. The water symbolism especially was popular anong the people. The sanctif ication of the water is now put in the context of the Bapts.im of Christ. Along with this, the miracle at Cana naturally f inds a place. This is not a slavish repetition of a pagan feast, but rather the oontinuation of a practice dear to the hearts of the people , but no.-1 witha new and rrore profound meaning.

The birth of the solar deity which fanned the heart of the f estival, was replaced in the Christian mind with the birth of Christ , the true Sun. Bette views this transf onnation as a doublet of the evolution of the Chris tian Nativity feast at Rane. He poses the question whether the Easternf east canm::m::>rated two events, Nativity and Baptism, on the same day, or was this the result of a fusion of two dif ferent f easts or even two dif f erent traditions caning together. First of all, none of the sources leads

us to believe that the feast was exclusively ooncerned with the Baptism of Christ. On the oontrary, they do indicate that the theme of the Nativity is primary. The feast originated in Alexandria or possibly Syria or Palestine , and oould even have been the inspiration for our Western feast of Christmas . Bette explains the i.nportant role of the Baptism of Christ possibly as a consecra tion of the popular pagan practice, or even as a reaction to the gnostic in terpretation of Christ s Baptism.

In certain countries the Baptism ofChrist was joined to the Nativity theire , and when the Western feast of the Nativity was introduced , became the sole content of the feast. It is atthis tirre that the sanctif ication of the water takes on such importance. La ter , added to the Baptism of Christ, the Christians' avn baptism on this day

beoorres a CXImOn practice. Bette ooncludes his argurrent by explaining that the nativity theire has always been the stable element in the Eastern Epipha ny, whereas the Baptism ref lects a practice which grew up before any theolo gical ref lection gave it a oonsistent meaning . The water symbolism present

18

in the pagan festivals passed into the Christian feast at dif f erent times and in dif ferent ways. This explains the certain instability surrrn.mdingthis aspect of our f east.

5 4

Christine Molmnann, following up the argurrent of Batte, cares to a

little diff erent conclusion. She agrees with Batte on the scarcity of source material. Because Christmas was introduced in the East at such anearly date, and transfod the Eastern feast in sudl a radical way , the sources of a pre-christmas Epiphany in the East are extrerrely rare. 55 Because Cassian 's account f alls · into this categm::y , Molmnann believes it should receive rcore attention. Cassian speaks of a double d>ject celebrat ed in the Egyptian Epiphany litu.:rgy: "vel Danini baptismi, vel secundum

cai:nem nativitatis esse • • • " , whereas in the West he speaks of two feasts:"et idcirco utriusque sacramenti non bif arie ut in occidiis provinciis . . II

Analyzing this passage she points out that Cassian unites the two objects of the Eastern feast by the conjunctions vel-vel. This does not indicate two separate traditions united nav into one feast, but rather an ancientfonn of latin style which was used not so much to separate but to unite twoequal realities. Added to this argurrent is the further f act that the ancient use of the tenn im9'7.oe..ll had a vecy broad meaning , and was applied byrcost writers in the general sense of "manifestation" . lt>hnnann believes that the earliest fonn of Epiphnay was understcod in this sense , and it was applied in this broad sense of the tenn by the early Fathers: an ideolo- gical f east not inspired by historical considerations. It celebrated the manifestation of Christ to the world as the f irst phase of the myste:ry ofRed€!11?tion. . of course the birth of Christ is an important part of the

manif estation, but so are the various other manifestations surrounding the early part of Christ 's life. Perhaps the Gallican feast of the Epiphany , uniting as it does the miracles of the adoration of the Magi, the Baptism,and Cana -the Three Miracles - is the nost ancient fonn of the

Eastern feast of Epiphany. 56

A. A. MacArthur, whose work on Christmas and Epiphany seems to be based on Bette's research, ;f inds dif f iculty· with Botte '·s theory on the priroi-

The Origina of Christmas and Epiphany 19

tive Epiphany. MacArthur believes that originally Epiphany was a uni-

tive feast c::x:mTaPOrating the Incarnation and Christ 's Baptism. 57 Heuses ancient sources f rom Constantinople, Asia Minor , Antioch , along with the hynns of Ephraim the Syrian, to back up his arguments. Havever , he approaches the problem f rom the standpoint of evidence provided by these sources after Christmas was introduced into the East. Thus , Saint Grego ry Nazianzen, preaching in Constantinople in 380 or 381, mmtions f irst

the Theophany or Birthday of Christ, then a short time later the Holy Day of Lights whidt recalls his Baptism, and a day later the feast of the Olristian baptism. This is the f irst witness of Christmas in the East , and MacArthur reasons that at its introduction, the unitive cxmnerrorationof Incarnation/Baptism resolves itself into distinct elements. The Church of Constantinople C'C)Uld celebrate January 6th as the Baptism of Christ only if this celebration had been known to them previously. The nativity ele ment of their feast was put at December 25th , thus leaving the Baptism f or January 6th.

Evidence from Asia Minor canes f rom Grego:ry of Nyssa in an Epiphany sennon identical in thought to that of the Church of Constantinople. Grego ry speaks of January 6th as carmarorating the Baptism of Christ. The only new addi.tion here is the Baptism of Christians on the same day. For the region of Antioch, the semen of John Clu:ysostan and the Apostolic Constitu tion provide similar conclusions.

The last piece of infonnation is provided by the hynns of EI:hraim the Syrian. In his hymns for Christmas and Epiphany , canposed in the last part

of the 4th century, we f ind an intenningling of thetres which appear to con fuse one feast with the other. MacArthur explains this by saying that we are so close to the time when Christmas was introduced to the East that the festivals were not yet so distinct; also, Ephraim canes f ran a milieu where distinctions between festivals is not always clearly drawn.

MacArthur cx:mcludes by saying that before an evolutionary process between the Western Nativity and the Eastern Epiphany began , there Im.1st surely have existed in the East a unitive.cx:mrerroration -a primitive

Epiphany celebrating both the Nativity and Baptism of Christ. 58

20

In MacArthur 's thesis we begin to see the results of a re- ciprocal influence between the East and West. This will becnne cleareras we study the two feasts as they appeared in Gaul, Sapin and North Italy.

Gaul, Spain, North Italy: Reciprocal Influence of East and West

M:>st scholars think that the feast of Epiphany was celebrated in Gaul before the Pan.an feast of the Nativity.

They trace this to a direct Eastern influence. It is curious to note that the earliest rrention ofthe feast of Epiphany either in the East or West cunes fran the pagan Arnni anus Marcellinus, who travelled with Emperor Julian in Gaul in 360 or 361. He records haN Julian entered the. Christians' church on the feast of the Epiphany: "Feriarum die, quern celebrantes mense Ianuario Christiani Epiphania dictitant". 59 Although we have this witness of 360, we find nothingconcerning the content of the Gallican Epiphany until 431 with Paulinus of Nola. 60 He mentions the three miracles typical of the Eastern feast.Theadoration of the Magi and the miracle of Cana eventually give way to the Baptismal OOI11reITOration under the later influence of the Eastern Epiphany.

North Italy presents a type of intenrediary zone: influenced by

Rare and Gaul and the East. 61

Botte supplies us with historical data fran

Filastrius of Brescia (383), Saint Ambrose (d.397} and Saint Peter Chry sologus (d. 450). These three witness to an evolution in the content or object of the North Italian feast of the Epiphany. First Filastrius rren tions Epiphany as the adoration of the Magi as prirnru::y and the Baptism along with the Transfiguration as particular local ad.ditions. Ambrose and Chryso logus, on the other hand, speak in terms of the ''three miracles", similarto Gaul . Botte sees in this a gradual evolution fran the ancient tradition

6')of Filastrius to that of Saints 1\nhrose and Peter Chrysologus. '-'

Finally, in Spain, representing the traditions of Gaul and Rare/Africa,

we see both feasts established by 3BO A,D. The Council of Saragossa (380) xrentions in fact, a.three period of preparation for Epiphany. 63

Botte does not think this preparation was the forerunner of our Advent sea$011, but rather a way of carbatting the pagan practice of beginning the

The 01>igins of Christmas and Epiphany 21

New Year celebration on Decerrber 17th. 64 The content of the Epiphany feast here is f irst of all the adoration of the Magi, probably of RaTian

inf luence, and the the Baptism of Christ probably of Eastern inf lu ence.

If '\Ne turn our attention once nnre to the East we see that the period between the origins of Epiphany and the introduction of Christmas

was relatively brief . Eotte gives the following dates for the introduc- tion of Christmas in the East: 380 or 381 in Constantinople and Asia Minar i 386 in Antioch, and 430 in Egypt and Palestine. 6 5 The historicalcarrmerroration of the Nativity became ve:ry popular and was , f or the most part , accepted readily into the East. This is probably due to a strong novement in the East against Christological heresies. There was a strongreaction against Arianism in Constantinople around the time Christmas was introduced there. The same is true of Nestorianism in Egypt in 432 . 66

The whole struggle against these movements greatly encouraged a type offeast which shed light on the Incarnation.

Conclusi on

It appears that the period af ter the Peace of Constantine in 313 was a tbre of creative liturgical developnent. The two f easts of Christmas and Epiphany either originated or took their f inal fonn at this time. Within the brief space of f if ty years, there was an exchange of fea..c.:;ts betweenthe East and the West. As we have seen, this could have been f acilitated

by the Christological controversies then current. At this exchange r the original contents of · the two feasts became sanewhat displaced . ·.In the East, the 25th of December o:mrrerrorated the Birth of Christ, and Januar:y 6th his Baptism; two mysteries originally contained in the one f east of January 6th. In the West , January 6th celebrates the adoration of the Magi r and Decerrber 25th, the Nativity. Likewise, the Greek tenn for "epiphany" is understcxxl

in the West as "manifestation" . Thus, the adoration of the Maqi beca.rre the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles. It is interesting to note

that two dif f erent world views are ref lected in these two f easts. The West ern view, nore concerned with historical data, surrounds the feast of the Nativity with those historical elements related in the C.,ospels and

tra(l.i.ticin.

22

The Eastern view, however, ooncemed with a :rrore global view, sees the Nativity as the first phase of the total myste:ry of Redemption. Everything that manifests the Divinity of Christ plays an ilrportant role.

The intermingling of these two world views has left its mark on our present celebration of Chrisbnas and Epiphany.

It is important to note that nothing of the original beauty of these feasts was lost in theexchange. If we were to go through the texts that make up our present day Chrisbnas and Epiphany liturgy, we would find all the ancient theires. Wheth er we can trace these theires to Jewish or Hellenistic origins makes no essen tial difference. The liturgy of these days fonns a bond of unity, gathering all peoples into its worship of Christ, the true Sun of Justice.

Brendan FREEMAN New Melleray

1 Jean Danielou, The First Six Hundred Years (Darton, I.ongman and Todd} I.ondon 1964, p.39.

2 Theodor Klauser, A Short History of the Western Liturgy , Oxford Press 1969. Sane of the eleirents mentioned by Klauser are:Jewish origin, structure of the liturgy of the word, the essential struc ture of the Eucharistic prayer, the seven day week, the festivals of Easter and Pentecost, sane of the liturgical Hours of the Of fice, etc. Of Hellenistic influence is the keeping of vigils, turning East for prayers, innumerable liturgical technical te:rros, arrong them the word "liturgy" itself, litany-fonn of prayers, etc. Cf.op.cit., pp .6-7.

3 See especially Greek Myths and Christian Mystery, by Hugo Rahner,

S.J. Chapter Four is an excellent study of the Hellenistic influ ence on the Christian liturgy. Also of interest is Jean Danielou's Gospel Message and Hellenistic Culture. However, this bcx:>k deals with the articulation of Christian thought resulting fran the Church's encounter with Hellenistic culture rrore than with the litur gy.

4 Sermo 22 in Nativitate Domini, 2,6, in PL 54:198.

The Origins of Christmas and Epiphany 23

5 For the study of the e'VOlution of the Jewish feasts, see Worship in Israel, by Hans--0oachim Kraus (John Knox Press)Virginia 1966. For the relationship of Jer.vish feasts to Christian feasts, seeA Feast in Honor of Yahweh, by Thierry Maertens, O.S.B. (Fides Press) Notre Darre {Indiana]1965.

6 Thierry Maertens, op. cit., p.69 ff.7 Josephus, Ant. Iud. 8. IV. 1. 8Judges 9:25-49.9 !Duis Bouyer, The Fourth Gospe l (Newman Press) Westminster

[Md .]1964, p .128.10 Aileen Guilding, The Fourth Gospel and Jewish Worship

(Clarendon Press) Oxford 1960, p .93.11 Fouyer, op. cit., p .123. Kraus contests the exactness

of this staterrent, havever, in his book Worship in Israe l, p .62 ff.

12 E.c. Selwyn, "The Feast of Tabernacles, Epiphany, and Baptism",in Journal of Theological Studies (1912), pp .225-236.

13 Fouyer, op. cit., p .128. 14 Ibid., p.131.15 Guilding, op. cit., p . 100.16 Selwyn, op. cit.17 Ibid., p.235. Arrong the c::ormon features are: the use of

light pro cessions, drawing water, the use of fig-boughs, readings fran Psalm 12:3, blare of trumpets, singing of the great Halle .

18 Philip Carrington, The Primitive Christian Calendar (University Press} Cambridge 1952.

19 Ibid., pp .22-23.20 Jean Danielou, "les Quatre-temps de septembre et la f

des Taber nacles", in La Maison-Dieu 46 (1956), p .126. Danilou states that the Johannine ccmnun.ity knew only one feast, that of Easter, and that the primitive Christian calendar for the asiatic ro:rrmunitiesdependent on John, began in April. The Alexandrian-Ranan corrmunities dependent on Mark, where the liturgical year began in relation to Tabernacles, opened the cycle of readings in September and then la ter in January. See pp

124-125, art. cit.21 Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, Bk. I, ch. 21, in PG

8:885-888.22 Jean Danilou, "Les origines de ltEpiphanie et les

Testirronia", inRecherches de sciences religieuses 52(1964), pp . 538-553.

23 Ibid., pp . 546-547. Verse 27 of the psalm in relation to Luke 1:79, the "Benedi:ctus ' in Luke to the opening verses

of the psalm; and the "Gloria" of the angels is close to the develoµrent of the "Hosanna"

24

in Psalm 117:26• Danilou concludes that Psalm 117:27 is the rrost ilrportant text in the Old Test.anent as a foundation for the biblical meaning of the word "epiphany" .

24 Guilding, op. cit., p.100. Guilding adds nore evidence to this ar gument by shaving hCM the New Test.anent acrounts of the birth of Christ in Luke and Matthew, and the reference in Rev. 12, shCM evi dence of being influenced by the lessons read during the feast of Tabernacles. Also the references in Jn 1:14, "The Word became flesh, and tabemacled ( <1'1(? v w tf'1::- v } arrong us". See pp. 102-103, op . cit.

25 Danielou, op. cit., p. 549. 26 Ibid., p . 553.27 Dan Grego:ry Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy (Dacre Press)

London 1945, Ch.XI ''The Sanctification of Ti.me".28 Ibid., p.357. For a critique of this theo:ry, see Thanas

J.Talley, "Histo:ry and Eschatology in the Primitive Pasch.a", in Worship 47/4 (April 1973)•

29 For the study of Hellenistic influences on our Christian cult, I found Hugo Rahner•s book Greek Myths and Christian Mystery ve:ry use ful. For the encounter of Hellenistic culture and Christian theolo gy , see Jean Danielou, Gospel Message and Hellenistic Culture.

30 Rahner outlines three distinct stages of reciprocal influence. "Like layers of a palinpsest they must be separated one from the other with the greatest possible care.11 Op. cit., p.26 ff.

31 Rahner, op. cit., pp .138-139.32 John Gunstone, Christmas and Epiphany (Faith Press) London

1967, p.15.33 Franz CUmont has written many books and articles on

heliolat:ry in the ancient world. For Rome, see his book, La theologie solaire du pa.ga nisme romain, Paris 1909.

34 Thus Botte, MacArthur, Cullrnann and Rabner. "The Philocalian Calen dar is an almanac canpj_led (or maybe just illuminated) by Furius Di onysius Philocalus, a Greek artist who lived in Rare and who was em ployed by Pope Daroasus (d. 384) to engrave inscriptions on martyrs' tombs • . • The Almanac was a a:mprehensive affair, with lists of the consuls, prefects, bishops and martyrs of Rare , together with a calen day of holidays, a table for finding the date of Easter, a chronicle of secular histo:ry, and an account of the fourteen regions of the city," Gl.mstone, op. cit., p.20.

35 Nofil.e M .Denis-Boulet, The Christian CalendaP (Faith and Fact Books112) London 1960, p.53.

36 Dan Joseph Lemarie, La manifestation du SeigneuP (Lex Orandi 23: Les Editions du Cerf) Paris 1957, p.27.

The Origins of Christmas and Epiphany 25

37 A. G.Martim:>rt, L 'EgUse en pnere (Desclee) Paris 1961, p.728. P.Jounel makes re;ference to the Vatican Hill as a syrribolic place for the Christians to gather for worship.Denis-Boulet, op. cit.,p.51, goes ;further and believes that the institution of the feastwas ronnected with the Emperorts ronstruction of an .imposing basili ca over the tanb of the Atx:>stle Peter .The area around the Vati can was before this a sanctuary of Mithras, the Persian sun-god.

38 Oscar CUllmann, Not!Z dans V EgZise ancienne (Delachaux et Niestle) Paris 1949, p.24.

39 Botte, op. cit,1 pp.59-60.40 run A.Wilm.art, "Un sernnn de s.Optat pour la fete de Nl",

inRevue des Sciences ReZigieuses 2 (1922), p.282.

41 See Mohrmann, op. cit., p.662. 42 Ibid., pp.662-663.43 Botte, op. cit. pp.34-39. 44 Ibid., pp.34-36.45 Mohnnann, op. cit., p.661.46 Clement of Alexandria, op. cit., Bk . 1, 21. 47 PL 49:820-821.48 MacArthur, op. cit., p.45.49 Oscar CUllmann quotes this source on page 19 of his book, Nof!Z

dans Z 'EgZise ancienne.50 Oscar Cullmann, op. cit., p.22. Cullmann believes that

even if the feast of Epiphany was bound up with the Magi, baptism and Cana, it still was predaninantly a Nativity feast, and that the introduction of the Western feast of Christmas added nothing essentially new to the East.

51 Etherie, Journal de voyage (Sources chretiennes 21), ed .Helene Petre, Paris 1948.

52 Botte, op. cit., pp.14-18. A. A. MacArthur does not agree canpletely when Botte applies Jerusalemts practice to the entire East. Cp. pp.52-57, MacArthur .

53 The acrount of Epiphanius is used by :rrost authors as the source for the sun-cults of AJ.exandria. I have reproduced :rrost of it at the beginning of this section of the paper. See Botte, pp .68-69.

54 The argument is found in Botte, op. cit., pp .67-83.55 MohnTiann , op. cit., p.654.56 This argurrent is found in Mohrmann, op. cit., pp.653-659.

57 MacArthur, op. cit., p.51.

_,,_.....,.,..--, -

26

58 This argument of MacArthur 's is famd on pp. 45-55.59 Ammianus Marcellinus, Bk. XXI , Ch. ii, as qooted in MacArthur ,

op. cit ., p.55.60 lt>lmnann, op. cit ., p.664.61 Lemarie, op. cit ., p.48.62 Botte, op. cit . , p.44 . 63 Ibid ., pp.49 50.

64 For m::>re infonnation on the Council of Saragossa and our Advent sea son, see Dorn Jean Hild, ''L 'Avent" , in La Maison-Dieu 59 (1959 ,pp. 10-24 .

65 Botte, op. cit., p.30.66 MacArthur , op. cit ., p.48.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOITE, Bernard, O.S.B., Les Origines de Za Noel et de l 'Epiphanie .Louvain 1932 .

ro.JYER, Louis, The Fourth Gospel . Translated by Rev. Patrick Byrne.Newman Press, 1964.

CARRINGI'ON , Philip, The Primitve Christian Calendar. Canbrid::Je University Press 1952.

CDEBEffiH , C., "L tEpiphanie a Pane avant S. en" , in Revue bnefdictine 75U965l .

OJLI.MANN, Oscar, NoTl dans l 'EgUse ancienne . Delac:haux et Nistle 1949 . DANIELCU , Jean, S.J., The First Six Hundred Years .

Translated by VincentCronin. Darton, Longman and Todd 1964 .

, ''Les Quatre-terrps de sptembre et la fete des Taber- nacles'' , in La Maison-Dieu 46 (1956} •

, "Les origines de l'Epiphanie et les Testim:mia" , in...., ..,._..,. ...,,..._

Recherches de science religieuse 52 (1964) .DENIS-ro.JLET, No le, The Christ-ian Calendar . (Burns and Oates} London

1960 .

DIX , Gregory, The Shape of the Liturg y . Dacre Press 1945.GJILDING , Aileen, The Fourth Gospe l and Jewish Worship .Oxford

University Press 1960 .HILD, Jean, O.S.B., ''L t.Avent'' , in La Maison Di·eu 59 (1959) .

The Origins of Christmas and Epiphany 27

CIJS'IONE , John, Ch:l'istmas and Epi phany . The Faith Press 1967.

KLAUSER, Theodor, A Short Historoy of the Westem Liturgy . Translated by Jolm Halliburton. Oxford University Press 1969.

KRAUS, H. J., Worship in-I srae l . (John Knox Press) Virginia 1965.LEMARIE , Joseph, La Mani fe station du Seigneur. (Lex Orandi 23: Editions

du Cerf } Paris 1957.MacArthur, A. A., The Evolution of the Christian Year. 1953.MAERI'ENS , Thien:y, O.S.B., A Feast in Honor of Yahweh. Translated by M:>th-

er Kathryn Sullivan. (Fides) Notre 1965.IDH™ANN , Christine,

thologiques .

1'Epiphania" , in Revue de Saienae s phi losophique s et1953.

RAHNER, Hugo, S.J. , Greek Myths and Christian My steroy .Translated byBrian Buttershaw. Harper and RCM 1963.

SELWYN , E. c., "The Feast of Tabernacles, Epiphany and Baptism" , inJourna l of Theological Studies . 1912 .

29

A NEW HYMN FOR THE FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

What follows is offered as sarething of a pastoral footnote to Father Brendan Freeman 's fine study an the origins of Christmas and Epiph any, pp .3-27 of this issue of Li tur gy .

The reader of that article rould hardly fail to be struck by the fact that, in any discussion of Epiphany, the therre of the Baptism of the lDrd necessarily loans large.The recently refolltled Roman Breviary respects tradition in this regard, though on the Solemnity itself, references to the Baptism of our lDrd are ronsiderably reduced, if we take as our point of reference the Epiphany texts of thepre-Vatican II Breviary . The baptism-therre bec:x:mes explicit only with the classic Benedictus antiphon, "Rodie caelesti sponso"; in the third stanza of the Second Vespers hymn, "Hostis Herodes impie"; and in the Magnificat antiphon for the same Vespers, "Tr.ibus miraculis". But between Epiphany and the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, celebrated on the following Sunday, a number of the patristic readings and responso:ry texts deal at length with the particular manifestation of the IDrd at the Jordan.When the feast itself arrives, however, the Baptism becx::mes THE myste:ry celebrated, to the alnost total exclusion of other aspects of the Epiphany .

Both our Latin hymn tradition and its English counterpart provide us with a number of fine hymns, all of

mich can be divided into b.u main groupings: 1 - hymns mich deal exclusively with the Magi-theme;

2 - hymns which deal with the t h r e e manifestationsof the Lord -to the Magi, at the Jordan, and at the wedding feast of Cana.

It's a bit unfortunate that therets precious little available by way of hymns that treat exclusively of the Jordan-baptism theme.

The new Latin Breviary has done its best to rerredy this defect so far as the Latin Of fice is concerned. Three proper hymns have been purloined (with rather ma.ssive adaptations) from 10th centu:ry sources: "A Patre Unigenite" -an

30

acrostic hyrm by an Anonymous; "Implente nrunus debitl.m" and "Iesus . reful sit arm.ium". Only the first of these has had a place in a living liturgy during the past many centuries, in the breviaries of the Canrelites and Dominicans. One caustic critic has regretted that these three hymns, along with numerous others included in the new Latin Breviary, were not allowedto rest undisturbed under their 10th century dust. Granted that none of these three texts can aspire to run cnnpetition with the ''Vexilla regis" or "Crux fidelis", the texts are far from being doggerel verse. For most of us, however, interest will focus on what the translators do with these Latin hyrms.

Feeling keenly the need for an English hyrm suitable for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and being unwilling to wait patiently for the ICEL people to provide translations of the Latin originals, I decided to do a bit of sleuth-work in hopes of turn.ing up sanething usable for this year's celebration of the Feast of the Baptism of the Lonl, here at Geth sernani .

I'm ·afraid it was a case of the tail wagging the dog. I had already decided what I was going to use as the organ prelude inrnediately before the Mass of the Feast -an utterly mind-blowing .chorale prelude by J.S.Badl.. "Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan kam" -"To Jordan's Stream Carre Christ OUr Lord". This piece is included in one of the rare oollections of clavier rmsic published by Bach during his lifetime. This particular collection, which was printed in 1739, had been preceded in 1731 by six keyboard partitas, and again in 1735 by the "Italian 'Concerto and the French Overture in

II

B Minor. This third collection bore the title CLAVIERUBUNG. THIRD PART. Chorale Preludes and Duets, with the considerably more ambitious sub-title: Third Part of the Keyboard Pi0actice, consisting of Various Preludes on the Catechism and Other Hymns for the Organ: For the Pleasure of Music Lovers and Especially of Connoisseurs of Work of This Kind Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, Royal Polish and Electoral Saxon Court Composer, Capellmeister, and Director Chari Musici in Leipzig. blished by the Author. The central section of this collection consists of 21

organ settings of hymn tunes - "large" settings calling for both manuals and pedal, and "small" settings

A New Hyrrm for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord 31

for a single manual. The middle section of these chorale settings are provided by Luther s six hynns for the chief items of the Lutheran Cate chism - the Ten Camtandrnents, the Creed, the lord s Prayer, the Baptism, the Confession of Sins, and the Eucharist. Preceding these we find a series of settings of the Kyrie - Christe - Kyrie and Gloria; foll g them, a series of four Duets (or 2-part Inventions)• All this materialis preceded by the nonumental Prelude in E Flat; and the canpanion tripleFugue in E flat (which serves as a musical expression of the Mystery of the Trinity) brings the whole to its proper oonsurrunation. The musical and theo logical density of this rronumental collection is such that musicians and men of prayer will probably never finish exhausting the incredible riches con tained in these pages. The particular organ prelude I had settled on forthe Feast of the Baptism of the lord- was the larger of the two settings of "Christ, tmser Herr, zum Jordan kam". In the bass, which is played on one manual, an incessant flow of sixteenth notes portrays the rolling of the Jordan River (interpreted in the last stanza of the Gennan hymn as a symbol of the Blood of Christ}; the upper two parts, played on a different manual, rise and fall in sequence, and beccme intertwined with one another -Bach's way of depicting Jesus and the Baptist clasping hands, rising and stepping da'1n into the Jordan . Finally, at regular intervals, the hyrnn-rrelody played by the pedal soars through the contraptmtal parts assigned to the manuals.Per.haps a few readers of this article would like to see a few measures of this deep and lirrpressive musical setting of the hymn:

32

Now that I had an organ prelude for the Mass, the next problem was that of finding a suitable processional hymn which would relate well to the prelude. This is "Why I wrote in a preceding paragraph that it was a case of the tail wagging the dog. Usually I have a good idea of what theprocessional hymn will be, and this helps detennine the choice of the pre lude.But, having reversed my priorities, I could find nothing that really fitted well with the prelude -probably because it was quite obvious that the ideal solution would be a version of the same chorale used by Bach for the prelude I was to play. I scanned the indices of my Lutheran and Mennon ite hymnals in vain; I hopefully consulted the huge Oxford Hymnal and a dozen or nore Anglican and American Episcopalian couterparts, but without success. So far as I know, neither the melody nor the text has passed in to any English h:Yffill repertory in current use.

Bach wrote a fine cantata based on this h:Yffill -Cantata 18; and YJe have a recording of it here at Gethsemani.So I consulted the record-jacket in the hope of finding a translation of the hymn. No luck. The best I could do was to find a very p::x:>r translation of the first stanza in Hennann Keller s The Organ Tv'orks of Bach: A Contribution to Their History _, Fomi, Interpretation and Performance;

equally disappointing was a doxology-stan za for a text using the sarre melody, but inserted in Bach's Cantata 176, Ee ist ein ti•otzig und verzag-t Ding, and translated by Albert Riemenschneider. I sus:pect that I might have found an excellent translation in one or another of the collections authored

by the utterly admirable Catherine Winkworth, who was not only a leader in the 19th century equivalent of Wanen's Lib,but also a prolific hymn-translator. Before her sudden death at Monnetier, in Savoy, in 1878, she managed to turn out four useful collections of trans lations from the German .Her Lyra Germanica of 1855 went into 23 editions; and t.1.e second series of the same title (1858) went into 12. In 1863 she published her Chorale Book for Engla:nd; and, finally, in 1869, her transla tion, Christian Singers of Germany. In spite of the multitudinous editions of her translations, however, copies on this side of

the Atlantic seem tobe about as rare as hen's teeth.

To compound my sense of frustration, I was unable even to find a c::orrplete copy of the original German text by Martin Luther, who has rightly been called the "Ambrose of Ger:man hyrrnody" . So there was nothing I could

A New Hyrrm for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord 33

do other than forget about using the hyrrn-tune "Christ , unser Herr" , or else provide my CMl. hyrrn-text: \\hi.ch is what I finally did.

There 's nothing very pretentious about the text -apart f rom a

line cribbed f ran T.S, Eliot: "The Dove descending clef t the skies • • • " The stanzas are lll1-rhymed, and in one instance a musical accent misplaces the true accent of ''bapTIZE". The structure is simple enough. Stanzas one and tMJ simply paraphrase the Gospel acrounts of the Baptism of Je-sus by the Baptist; then the third stanza prolongs and develops the theolCXJical content of this particular mystery in tenns borrowed fran Chapter 6 of Saint Paul 's Letter to the Ranans . I was a bit caref ul to conclude Stanza 3 with a trinitarian doxology, belonging, as I do, to the old schcol which likes to have hyrrn-texts follow through their thrust by rising to a trinitarian dimension at the end.

Before reproducing the hyrrn , perhaps I should sey a word about the f ine melody, mich is in the dorian node. So f ar as I knCM, it appeared first linked with a quite dif ferent hyrrn by Luther - "Es "WOllt U".1S

Gott genM.dig sein" , in Johann Walther 's Geystliahe gesangk Buahleyn, printedat Wittenberg in 1524 . In 1543, ha-JeVer, Joseph Klug used the rrelody withLuther 's baptismal hymn, ''Christ , unser Herr , zum Jordan kam" , in the col lection Geistliahe Lieder, also printed at Wittenberg. Since 1543, the

rrelody has always been chief ly linked with this hyrrn (even though Bach used a diff erent text for this rrelody in his Cantata 7) .

Since I still have space before the page-tum, I 'll use it to suggest that many of us might prof it by a study of Luther 's approach to hymn-writing. He loved poetry; he loved song; and he was thoroughly imbued both with the Bible and with the traditional Latin liturgy . Moreover , no matter how dis aste?:OUS his doctrinal innovations were, he had a keen pastoral sense. At least 11 of his hyrrns are translations based directly on the Latin texts of

hyrms, antiphons, and responsories. A small number - four -are re-workings of pre-existing popular German hyrrns. Seven hymls are paraphrases of psalms; and six others are paraphrases of other portions of the Bible. But even the remaining eight or rrore hyrrns, though classif ied as "mainly original" , have their roots in Scripture and the traditional liturgy.

NOTE : Due to a printing error, the pagination for pages 34-72 will appear on the inside margin of the page.

Stanza 3 on next page.

1

34

TEM F-1Baptism of the Lord

FROM GALILEE TO JORDAN 1 S STREAMGethsemani 197 4 CHRIST, UNSER HERR 87.87.87.87.7

Johann Wa Uher 's "Geyst liche gesangk Buchle yn"

1524

J J I r 11 J ; I r ;1- From Gal-i- lee to Jor-dan 's stream Came Je- sus

2- He an- swered:"Let it now so be,For thus my

&: J J ItJ 1':n I J J ; J I E a1- the Mes- si-2- Fa- ther wills

ah ; He came to be bap-tized by it.11 Then John o-beyed, bap-tized his

I

) J1- John, His her-ald and Fore-nm- er. John trem-bled:2- Lord; And, lo! the heav-ens part-ed! The Dove des-I

J I J t J J l I r r Er rl-11Lord,2- cend-

you come to me Who bap-tize for re- ing cleft the skies, Then hov-ered, as

fromI

l J I r J 3 j I fJ l1- pent-ance? While you the Might-y, you the2- heav-en The Fa- ther 's thun-d'ring voice rang

& 1

nI J i IJ llfu J ' I 1- Strong, Bap- tize with fire and Spir-it To ush-er2- out: "This is my Son, my Cho- sen; In him I

@' r I r_, ; J1- in God's King- dom !"2- find my pleas-ure."

i

A New Hymn f or the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord 35

J J r J]3- In Jor-dan 's stream was thus pre-pared Our new birth

J J I t J 1 ' tJI J j J3- in the Spir- it; Bap- tized with Christ in-to his

@ J 1J l r J J

3- death, With him we rise to new life. With Christ

J I J ?J J 1

J ! r r a r 1 3- we die, with Christ welive, A- live to God ourI

) J 3- Fa- ther! To Christ, to us this day re- vealed By

@ J J r; J 1 tn 1' r I r r r Ir ;F3- Fa-ther and by Spir- it, Be ev-er-last-ing glo-

6} ; l l J J I I 3- ry! A- men .

Should anyone wish to use this hyrm, a copy of the accx:ropaniJrent (Bach s harrroni.zation o;f the stanza "Auf dass wir also allzugleich" 1 f ran

Cantata 1761 follows on the next page, and might prove useful.

Incidentally, John Julian s A Dictionary of Hymnolog y , Vol. I(2nd edition , Doyer re-print , 19571 , p.226, rolUllll 2 , lists a number of trans lations ranging f rom the 1568 version "Christ baptist was be Johne in Jor

dan f lude" Cin Gude and God ly BaU atesl to an 1867 version by G. Macdonald ,

published in his Exotics (!) • But all these versions are currently inaccess ible.

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37

THE GRACE BEFORE AND AFTER MEALS

AS FOUND IN THE IRISH TRADITION

Many ccm:nunities have found great dif f iculty in f inding

suitable prayers f or use before and af ter meals. This prompted me to research a nong the Irish traditional prayers to see if same suitable ones might be found . The following collection is the result.

It will be seen that they cane f rom many parts of Ireland; and for Arrerican readers I have included a map showing the areas f rom which the prayers came in relation to sare of the larger centers of population.

The prayers contain many ideas whidl even in this era of modern theolo;nr are relevant. We f ind great emphasis placed on fellowship or ccmnunity. Another ve:ry cx::mron note is that of thanks ,

not only f or the present, but also for all the good things which we have ever received and f or which we have not given thanks.

We also see in these prayers howour people realized the necessity of bodily f ood if we are to live a spiritual life. Indeed, it ITil.lst be stressed that the lif e of the soul is closely linked with that of the body in the minds of the old people of Ireland.

It is well nigh impossible to put a date on these prayers. They are , as I have said, prayers of the people, were widely used, and are to bef ound all over the cotm.try. Sane of them, as will be noticed, are so Ilil.lch alike as to suggest a cormon origin. In sare cases I have been able to give the year of collection , but this is no indication of the date of cx:m position. Variations of prayers of , presumably , cc:mnon origin (cf . n. 5)

are to be fotm.d in places f ar apart. This would be explained by ascribing their spread to wandering bards or even priests in troubled times . One would then have to allCM sane time for the prayer to becx:me popular. It is

38

because of this that I suggest that the majority of the prayers in this oollectian are 200.....300 years old. The style of language in the originals is 'What is called "modern Irish" , and so we cannot go f arther back when dating the prayers.

It must be said of the translations that they do not do justiceto the original. I have tried to give as f aithf ul a rendering as possible without being too literal. On the other hand , 'Where modern thought and expression do not do justi ce to the original, I have satisf ied myself with a rrore literal version.

I would like to thank Fr. Diannuid O Laoghaire , S .J. , the greatest living authority on Irish spirituality, for pe:rmission to use not only his o;vn. collection of prayers , but also those published in An Timire, of

whidl he is current editor. My thanks also go to Mr. J. MO:arthy and Mr. B.O Braoin, not to mention members of my oornmunity, who have advised me on the translations.

I have not given the originals for publication in Liturgy, but if any reader wishes to have them I will be only too glad to oblige.

Uinseann 0 MAIDINMount Melleray

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The Grace before and after Meals in Irish Tradition 39

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40

1 Bless us, O Lord, bless our food and drink; you have purdlased us at a great price, f ree us f ran evil.

Authorship is unknown, but was published in An Timi.re, edited by the Irish Jesuit Province, in 1911.In translation I have omitted the word "aU" (uiZeJ ; ZiteraUy it should read: "free us from au evil".

2 Bless us, O Lord, bless our food and drink ; you purchased us at great price and protected us f ran all evil. You have given us this food, grant us also our share in the lif e of heaven.

This version, collected in County Donegal and which I found innanta Diadha Uladh , is very Zike the precedin g prayer .

3 Bless, 0 Lord, this food which we are about to eat for our bodily welfare. May we be strengthened thereby to do your holy will.

This is taken from a coUection Leabhar Urnaighthe , first published in 1904 by Dom MauY'Us 0 Phelan, Abbot of Mount Melleray 1908-1931 . It is not possibl e to say whether or not Dom Maurus himself composed the prayer, or got it from his mother.

4 Glory, praise and thanks to you, 0 God, for this food and our good

health. We also thank you for all the food and health for which we

have not thanked you.

This has been taken from a coUection by Una Ni. Ogai.n. Authorship and date of composition are uncertain.

5 i The Lord shared the blessing of the f ive loaves and two f ishes with the f ive thousand. May his blessing be upon us and upon our sharing of this food.

ii The Lord shared the blessing of the f ive loaves and 0..0 f ishes with the f ive thousand. May the blessing of the Lord who so shared his gif ts , be upon our meal and upon our sharing of this food. Lord Jesus , since you redeemed us , bless us , our food and our fellCMship.

The original is in verse foY'trl. It is a typical example of a prayer being brought from one place to another, and thence finding its way into the oral tradition. You wiZZ notice the adoption of the Gospel

The Grace before and after Meals in Irish Tradition 41

account and the emphasis placed on corrrnunity.i. This version comes from Ranna Feirste in north-west Donegal.

ii. I got this in Dcfnta Diadha Uladh, published in 1936. It was also taken down from Padraig 0 Domhnaill in County Mayo, and published in An Timi.re, 1911.

6 May the nost generous I.Drd be praised , may he always be

praised. Praise and thanksgiving to Jesus for what we have eaten and will in the future eat.

There are numerous versions of the prayer to be found in places as far apart as Ballingeary in County Cork, and Gweedore in Donegal. I have chosen the fuller Cork variant for translation.

7 i All praise to you , O King of Heaven , all praise be always yours . All praise be yours for what we eat and leave of this food.

This is another version of what was probably the same prayer as the preceding one the difference being that thanks is given for what has been left untouched. It comes from Rannafast in Donegal.

ii All praise to you, o King of Heaven , may God be always praised.Praised be Jesus Olrist for the food we eat.

Another version of fhe same prayer , again from Donegal.

8 All praise to the King of Heaven, all praise be yours, O God , all praise to Jesus Christ for this meal. He has granted us this food on earth; may he also grant us eternal food in heaven.

Another of the same type, though with a slight addition. It comes from County Clare, and was passed on to me by Diarmuid d Laoghaire,S.J.

9 i May he who has given us this f ood and the wisdan to partake of it,

grant mercy and eternal glo:ry to us.

ii May he who has granted us this food and the wisdom to partake of it,

grant us his grace and eternal rest to our souls.

iii All glo:ry to you, bright God of Heaven: you have given us thisfood and the wisdom to partake of it. Grant us a life without shane to ourselves or scandal to the poor , and in the end mercy and glo:ry to our souls.

42

iThis comes from Cahiraiveen in County Kerry. Note the peti tion for mercy and eternal, glory.

ii I took this from Paidreadla na nDaoie, a coZZection pubZished by the people of Ring, County Waterford. It is very like the preceding, except that the prayer is for grace and eternal rest.An identical, version, to be found in An Seanchai Muimhneach, was taken down in 1909 from Diarmuid Cf Siochain, a native of Kerry, then Ziving in Brocton, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

iii This probably derived from the same original, as the other two. The "Glory to God" seems to have appeaZed more to the users of this prayer . Note the beautiful appendix, which is missing in the other two.It was coZlected in Lismore, County Waterford, and is among those in the collection of Diarmuid 6 Laoghaire.

10 I ask for unstinted help, a life with.out shame or disgrace , and a Christian's share in the life of heaven as eternal food for my soul

.

This prayer, in the originaZ, is singular in number, but may without harm be rendered in the pluraZ. It was collected in BaZZingeary, County Cork, and published in An Tiroire about 1911.

11 In the name of the Father who conquered, and of the Son who was cru cified; Holy Spirit , be our strength, glorious Virgin , be our guide.

I took this from the Irish FoZkZore Commission 's publicationaloideas , June 1933. No

indication was given as to its pZace of origin. Its un usual feature is that the three Persons of the Trinity are mentioned individuaUy, together with Our Lady.

12 O Virgin Mary and Son of God , bless this food, bless this drink .

This very simpZe prayer is taken from the colZection of Diarmuid6 Laoghai·re, S,J.

13 i A thousand thanks to you, Lord God, for your goodness in giving us this food: may it bring life to our souls. Grant food to those Who are in want. If today we show :inq;>rovement , may we , our f amily and friends be better sevenfold one year frcm today.

ii A thousand thanks to you, Lord God , who have given us this food.Grant us life of soul . If today we show improvement , may we be bet ter sevenfold a year frcm today. May we , our family and friends , be

safe in love of God and neighbor , in mercy, grace , life and health.

The GPaae before and after Meals in Irish Tradition 43

I decided to give a rather literal translation to ''m{le bu{o ahas" -"a thousand thanks " in this case. The expression is found in both Shakespeare and Wordsworth, and is sufficiently common in English to justify its adoption here. The alterna tive ''sincere thanks", 11UJe thank you from our heart", eta., do not do justice to the original.Notice the difference in the seaond half of the two versions.

i This was aolleated in the Aran Islands, Inis Mdr, and is from the collection of Diarmuid d Laoghaire, S.J.

ii This UJas taken from the periodical Heatherstane.

14 May he who has granted us this food, grant eternal · life to our souls

and to the souls of the seven generations who have gone before us.

Taken down from Siubhan Maa an tSagairt, Ballingeary, County Cork, and published in An Ti.mire about 1911 .Note the unusual expression in the prayer for the departed.

15 Eternal Father, bless us as we rise f ran table, and grant us your

grace. Give to our f and.ly and f riends and all who follcm us the alms of mercy as the eternal food of the soul, and to all who are here and are to rome a share in Paradise.

This prayer was frequently used by the old people of Ireland as a prayer after Communion. I aannot trace its origin.

16 Eternal glorious Father of heaven, you have given us this food: grant us also the alms of mercy and the glory of eternity to our souls and to everyone who seeks it. Grant it especially to our CMI1 souls and to the souls of the dead.

This prayer> aornes from Uibh Rat;_haah in Kerary, and is to be found in the aolleation of DiaY'!mlid 0 Laoghare, S.J.

17 We give yoo thanks, O Lord God, for this food. In your !lErcy grant that we may spend our lives, health and strength for your glozy.

From Dom Mauraus 0 Phelan. See note to n.3.

18 !\ thouswid thanks to you, O God , ;for this food of the body. Grant us the etemal ;food of the soul.

Tak.en from the aoUeaUon of rfna N{, cfgcfin. Onae again I have pre ferred a more literal translation.

44

19 Praise and glo:ry to God for all the food he has ever given us.Taken from An Tiroire, October 1913.

20 We give thanks to God who has given us this food. May he also give us eternal life.

Taken from An Timi.re, October 1913.

21 A thousand thanks to you, O God , who have given us this food for

the body. Grant us , we ask you, who are so generous , eternal lif e.From An Tiroire, 1958. "Eternal life" -literally this should read: "tne eternal food for our souls".

22 i May the blessing of him who has given us this food be upon us and up on our meal. You, O

God, created, redeemed and gave us this bodily ca:nfort. Grant us the canforting mercy of glory and peace; and may your na:rre be blessed by us in Paradise.

iiMay the God of bounteous mercy, glo:ry and peace, who has created , re de.e:ned and given us this food be

blessed by us. May he also give us eternal life.i Another taken from An Timire, 1911, and collected somewhere in County Cork.

ii This one is so Zike the preceding that I have placed them sideby side. This version comes from Coachford, County Cork, and was among those in the collection of Diarrrruid 6 Laoghaire, S.J. It will be noted that it blesses God for the food, unlike the former, which asks God 's blessing.

23 We give (blessed) thanks for this food, and for what we have eaten

without thanksgiving. o lord who created us , o God who gave us this food, grant us the eternal food of our souls.

Taken from An Timire, from an undated volume of about the year 1911. The prayer was collected in County Donegal, but no other information is given.

24 A thousand thanks to you, o King of the tmiverse, a thousand thanks

to you, O Lord of grace, for what you have given us since our birth, and ;for what you will give us until the day of our death.

Taken from tne undated volume of An Ti.mire indicated in the preceding note. Tne prayer tJas coUected in County Mayo , sometime before 1911.

'

The Grace before and after Meals in IPish TPadition 45

25 We give you a hundred thousand thanks , O great , all-paverful God, for these gifts you have given us . May Jesus and the glorious God of Heaven protect us against him who would hann us in health ofsoul or body'. May he who has given us this food for the body grant us a fine day, a life without sharre or dishonor, the holy oil , a good death, and in heaven the eternal food of the soul.

This rather long pPayer was collected from Se&:n 6 Dubhda, Baile na nGall, County Kerry, and published in An Ti.mire , 1936. The requestfor "a fine day 1

would indicate that it was a moPning prayer .

26 We give thanks to the King of Heaven , we give continual thanks to God; we give thanks for what we have eaten and shall eat . Praise and thanks to God who has given us this food and the wisdan to par take of it. May he give grace to the living , and mercy to the dead.

The original of this grace is in metPical foffll, and was taken down from Se6.n <f Dubhda, who also supplied the preceding one.

Publishedin An Timire, 1936.

27 We sincerely thank you , o God , for the gifts you have given us. May he who granted us this food give us a life without sharre or disgrace, the holy oil , a good death , (the rrercy of • heaven) and life eternal .

Another from Corea Dhuibhne in County KerpY, which was among those sent by Diarrnuid 0 Laoghaire, S.J. The phrase within parentheses could easily be omitted. We find the word "deachu" meaning "tithe" in the original. Its use here is rather significant. The tithe was the term given to the money which each Catholic tenant was bound to give tou,ards the keep of the local Protestant minister in Ireland of the penal times . Needless to say, such an imposition was very much resented by the poor people, being as it really was very difficult to collect . Hence, in this context, mercy is regarded as something undeserved and difficult to obtain.

28 We greet you and give you thanks , 0 Savior Jesus Christ, and Blessed Virgin Mary, for this food and our health. May he who gave us this food today , grant the eternal food of heaven to our souls , and eternal happiness to the faithful who have gone before us .

Another from Corea Dhuibhne, and a.gain supplied by Diamruid rJ LaoghaireS.J. We have here one of those rare graces in which Our Lady is greete and thanked.

(Best Copy Available)

46

29 O God, glorious Priest of peace, you have created us , red.eared us , and just given us this bodily satisfaction. May

there be etemal firendship between us.

From aloideas , 1934, p. 403. aloideas is the publication spon sored by the Irish Folklore Commission. The prayer was collected in Corea Dhuibhne, County Kerry.There is a gap in the last line of the original, and I have taken the liberty to insert the word ''firendship ".

30 Let us of fer a Pater and Ave in thanksgiV:ing for this food and all the food and blessing for which we have not yet returned our thanks

since we care into this world.

This is taken fom Bealoideas , 1944, p .276, and was collected in Dubhaharraig, County Donegal.This is the only case in which I have found the Pater and Ave men tioned.

31 I give a thousand and a thousand million thanks to your great mer ciful pc:Mer , you 'Who have given us this food. Grant eternal food and glory to our souls.

Another taken from An Tiroire , 1913.It was collected in Droiahead an ChlairvCn, County Clare.

32 To the God who gave and ever will give , a thousand thanks for thisour ireal.One of the shortest graces I have come across. It is taken from the collection of DiaY'JrTUid <f Laoghaire1 S.J. The prayer was collected in An Tulaah, Cois Farraige, County Galway.

33 A thal$and thanks to you, King of grace, and to you, blessed glorious Vil::'gin, who have given us this food and the health to eat it. Grantus the rreans to pay our debts in heaven and on earth; grant us also our share of eternal glory. If we are good today, may we be seven

fold the better tanorrav, and may our f riends be saf e in the loveand presence of God.

Anotb.er prayer for which I have two sources. It is to be found in the aolleati·on of Diarrrruid 0 Laoghaire, S.J., who collected it in An Ch71il Sratba. It is also to be found in An Timi.re, 1913.

Uinseann (j MAIDl'N Mount Melleray

47

A MEETING fOR THE EXCHANGE OF

INFORMATION ABOUT THE LITURGY

FRENCH BENEDICTINE SUBIACO PROVINCE APRIL 1973

The "animateurs" for the liturgy in the French Subiaoo Province

(plus the Prior of Bec-Hellouin)net fran April 2nd to April 5th, 1973, in an attempt to to take bearings as to what is currently the experience of our rronasteries in the area of things liturgical.

The first result of this confrontation of our respective liturgies is a marked impression of a ccmnon orientation, and of options 'Which tend in the sane direction. This is all the rrore noteworthy in that no central organism directs the efforts made at the local level. OUr nnnasteries are faced with the same basic problems.Though these problems have been solved according to the "grace" of each particular ccnmmity, it seems that the solutions adopted are sufficiently hanogeneous to allav us to speak of a "cannon spirit" in our Province.

THE DAY 'S HORARIUM

This is one of the best indices to enable us to form a judgment about the orientation of our ccmnuni.ties .

1- As regard the d i s t r i b u tio n o f t h e H o u r sin the course of the day, attachment to the traditional seven Hours is still perceptible. But there is a general tendency to thrcM into relief three periods of prayer: Lauds, Vespers, Vigils, plus the Mass (at BecHellouin, only periods plus the Mass)• The purpose of this is tofind a balance. which truly corresponds to the ooncrete life of the camnmity and its possibilities.

The Little Hours are sanetimes adapted (to the point they hardly resen'ble the Hour they originally were),

scmetimes suppressed -hence. the diversity of the solutions.

48

2- A s e a r c h f o r b a 1 a n c e between work , cx::mm.mity prayer , and private prayer:

In a general way, the amount of time actually set apart for lectio divina and one t s personal life seems too restricted (except at Pierre--

qui Vire and Tournay} . There seems to be a tendency to devote an entire half day -either once a week ltandenec) , or even daily (Bec-Hellouin , Tour

nay} -to a "vacatio" in one'·s cell. These experiments seem to shaw that the balance between activity (shared in ccmron) and one 's personal life has yet to be attained in sane of our canmunities .

3- T h e p r o b 1 e m w i t h t h e e v e n i n g:

The evening is oonsiderably over-loaded for those camrunities which have Vigils of the next day anticipated the evening bef ore (all, except Pierre-qui-Vire, Landevenec, and Bec-Hellouin) . Corrpline (in its original fonn, or else in same vestigial adaptation) has to be tucked away between

Vespers and Vigils. En-Calcat and Tournay have a short "penitential Of f ice"; Belloc and Fleury have Ccmpline. So there is a perceptible tendency to suppress Carrpline as such, and to have no other Of f ice between Vespers and Vigils.

DISTRIBUTION OF PSAIMS

Here we f ind a certain hooogeneity. All the nonasteries have a two

week distribution of the psalter; but each nonastery has its CM1. arrangement of the psaJrns wi.thin this twek period. The practical solutions vary oon siderably.

The balance. thus obtained by our dif ferent oornnunities is the

result of tw:> f actors: the life proper to each conmunity, and the needs and litur gical resources available to each a::m:mmity. A decision in f avor of a precise, single distribution of psalms would be to disregard the possibilities and needs of each oommmity. The result oould so f ar as to hinder the balance between prayer and life.

DEVEIDPMENT OF THE SPIRIT OF CELEBRATION

l'"' Exper:brentation with g r o u p 1it u r g i e s is only occasional or non.-existent , except at Pierre-qui-Vire, which is the only

French Benedictine Subiaco Province 49

nonastexy to have tried this over a suf:f;iciently long period. The results have been, it sean.s, profitable -though, at the present time, there seem to be no effects on those celebrations which assemble the entire cx:mnunity.

2- Everywhere, there is an effort to p e r s o n a 1 i z e t h e

1it u r g y:.... by giving greater emphasis to the role of the celebrant,

and to his interventions;- by giving greater emphasis to the other actors (aoolytes,

chanters, readers}, and by making them responsible for their interventions;

- by extending the possibility of active ccmnunity participation to include the litany-prayers or intercessions (the frequency of this varies from cxm:nunity to caumunity}.

3- We note, too, that everywhere there is a desire for a better

b o d i 1 y e x p r e s s i o n in the liturgy. In spite of this general desire, however, nothing much has been done in this danain. Why?

- Possibly because of the fact that we are used to an impersonal style of liturgical celebration, to which corresponded, in times past, a similarly de-personalized style of human relationship. Respect for our brethren is a major factor, so much so that it sometimes had to be indicated clearly that this or that particular gesture or posture was either allaved or called for, and was really oompatible with what the oonmunity expected.

(It seems that, at the present time, the best fonn of carrnunity peda gogy in bodily expression would be, rather than sessions devoted to this subject, prayer groups or Offices celebrated by small groups.)

- Another factor which disoourages anything concrete being done as regards bodily expression is the inadequate arrangement of the p 1 a c e o f w o r s h i p. Five out of seven monasteries have either carried out, or intend to carry out a re-building project for their place of wor ship. This entails doing away with choir stalls. At Pierre-qui-Vire, experience has

shown that the arrangerrent and use of the liturgical space exert a considerable influence on the quali:t.Y of the celebration. The same thing has been experienced at Bec-Hellouin . As regards the singing, as well as regards the cohesion of the monastic cnrnmunity, or its oonmunion

50

with the group of f aithful f ran outside the monastery , there are sare tirings which are possible only if the local arrangement of the building is suitable.

Still, the recent e.xperiirentation at Pierre-qui-Vire shows that

what is most used, when one is f ree to do so, are the gestures and postures characteristic of one' s personal prayer. The next stage bOO.ily expression in camon has not yet been realized.

HOSPITALITY IN THE LITUffiY

A remarkable ef fort has been made everywhere to make our guests and the other f aithf ul welcome at our liturgical celebrations. It is , in part , this ooncem for participants f ran outside the monastery which has impelled the ccmnunities to transf onn their sanctuary , so as to create a functional liturgical space better adapted to a liturgy meant to be experienced by all present.

Everywhere the m:mastic liturgy retains its proper character .But provisions are ma.de for the f aithf ul f ran outside the ··rronastery to make their interventions for certain rites, in the singing, at the readings , and in the intercessions. As regards participation in the singing , this seems more general f or the Mass than for the Of f ice.

Whatever the results might be, it seems admitted by everyone in actual practice that the celebrating asserrbly is not just the monastic cx:mmunity , but the entire present assembly, m::mks and layrren .

MINISTRIES

We note a tendency in the direction of two orientations which, how ever, are canplernentai:y:

1- An attempt to f ind a better oohesion of the p r e s b y t e r a 1 b o d y in the monastery. At Fleury, the Eucharist is celebrated by teamsof three priests. These teams take turns in celebrating the Eucharist, and go as f ar as they can in their oollaboration as a team: preparation of the hanily, and criticism of the same by the merrbers of the team • . • ;

La Pierre-qui-Vire is going in the same direction . Landevennec has a team

French Benedictine Subiaco Province 51

of seven priests appointed to take turns in giving the Sunday hanily. At Pierre-qui-vire, the same, but a group of three. En-Calcat is in the pro cess of studying this possibility.

2- There is a parallel tendency, we note, which oonsists of opening the c e l e b r a t i o n o f t h e O f f i c e to m o n k s w h o a r e n o t p r i e s t s. At Pierre-qui-Vie, Tournay, and Lan dvermec, soleronly professed :rronks are, with the oonsent of the abbot, qualif ied to preside at the Of f ice (they do everything except what in volves functioning at the altar) . At En-Calcat , the question has been raised. Those who make provisions for this practice do so out of a desire

to emphasize the monastic character of the Of f ice, which is the prayer of the entire aorrrnu:nity.

We can doubtless see in these two tendencies an ef fort in the direc tion of a better exercise of the two fo:rms of priesthood - the baptismal

priesthood , and the presbyteral both of which are present in our ccmnuni ties.

CHANT AND MUSIC

We took our bearings as regards the use of gregorian chant and the problems raised by the music repertory and its execution.

With respect to gregorian chant , we are divided into two "f amilies" :..... Sare of us (Belloc, Fleury, En-Calcat , Bec-Hellouin) still use it

to a large extent -especially at the Mass, but also partially at the Of f ice.

- Others (Landevennec, Tournay , Pierre-qui-Vire) use it much less or alnost not at all, especially as regards the Of f ice.

: The desire was expressed that a oollection be made of the best pieces of gregorian chant. This would be a rreans of avoiding its disappearance. By

not making a distinction between the mediocre chants and the really gocx:tones , we are really abandoning the cause of gregorian chant. A selection ofchants for the entire liturgical year would be of great se:rvice.

It seemed to us that a meeting of choir masters and those in charge of the chant a rreeting analogous to our awn , and carried out in the same

52

spirit f exchanging information about our ccmnunity experience -'WOUld be of great interest. We agreed to suggest this to our abbots , and tolet those in charge of the music tak.e the initiative in organizing such a:rreeting.

PRAYER G:OOUPS

Prof iting by the presence of Father Philibert of Bec-Hellouin , we had a discussion about the "charismatic rrovanent" in general, and about the existence of prayer groups in our :rronasteries. There are such groups , not only at Bec-Hellouin , but also at Fleury; and other canmunities seem to want them. We made no attempt to study the question of the "charismatic" dimension of prayer; but it does seem that prayer groups foster a deepeningof one's lif e of prayer , and of the relationship between the members of the group. It is to be hoped that the ef fect of.- such prayer groups would be

able to have its repercussions at the level of the ccmnunity liturgy.

+

+ +

W= found this info:rmation.,...session quite useful. rt helped us get

our bearings in things liturgical at the level of the Province , and we were

able to exchange ideas and info:rmation about our experiments and dif f icul.,... ties; we also got to know each other better. We agreed to establish an ex change of information f or eve:rything concerning the liturgy apart f rom themusic, hoping that, in this danain , those in charge of music would organize sanething at the level of the Province.

With each rronastery keepings its am physiogn , this ef f ort tCMards coordination with others would help us the better to share our riches, and to be rrore aware of that "family spirit" whidl was so palpable in this wholearea of discussion.

Trans Zation, Getlzsemani; Abbey

(Secretary for Liturgy} BenOit SEBIRESt-Benoit-sur-Loire

Jacx:p.les DAMES'IDY (Bellocl Philibert ZOBEL (Bee}

Guy de MAUREPAS (En-Calcat)

Ansel.Ire BAUDEIBT (Landevennec) Servan SIMONIN (Pierre-qui-

Vire) Michel LARRICQUE (Toumay)

53

TOWARDS THE SPIRIT OF CELEBRATION:

A FEW CONDITIONSFOR CELEBRATI NG THE

LITURGY

For the past several years , a massive eff ort has been expended in the area of "material11 that has to be provided for the litmgy -texts, music, structures. But on practically all sides , the evidence is nCM be a::rning inescapable: it 's not enough simply to have top-notch material , for the celebration of the liturgy to be truly satisfying. All too., manycx:mnunities, in spite of adaptations which, in themselves , are of ten good , give the impression that they really don 't knCM hCM to make use of the instruments at their disposal. It 's as if they had a nrusic score, but didn't knCM hCM it ought to be performed.

This is why, af ter an initial period of intensive creativity, the accent is nCM shif ting: the condition for a living celebration of the liturgy is less a matter of the f o r m s used in the liturgy , thana question of the c o m m u n i t y w h i c h i s c e 1e b r a t - i n g.

This isn ' t a particularly original idea; but I want to a:me back toit in order to recall a few of those conditions , apart fran which , it seems to rre, we 're not going to be able to have a really authentic liturgy , or , at any rate, one which is at least satisf actory.

1 - PRELIMINARY CDNDITICN : A LIFE OF PERSCNAL PRAYER

I hardly dare write it • . • Still • • •To be brief about it : it 's not a question of f i n d i n g God

in the liturgy: we have to RE - f ind him, f ind him yet again. In other words , if we haven 't already found God , if we haven 't already experienced him in the secret chaniber of our heart and in prayer , then it wan 't be

long before we stop f inding him in the Divine Of f ice. The litmgy can be

54

cx:xrpared to a building. If it 's to Jeeep f ran caving in, each one has to oontribute ·the stone hewn out in the secret chamber of one 's personal prayer.

This is proved by experience. Moreover, the various monastic :rules have given expression to this truth , by providing f or a certain kind of

balance in the daily horarium. It 's striking to note, in Olapter 48 of the

Rule of Saint Benedict , that there ts almost as much tirre set aside for pri vate prayer Uectio divina, meditation on the psalms . • • ) as for the litur gy. Nc::Madays, and acoording to the particular monastery , this would provide

all the brethren with sanething like three or four hours every day , whenthey would be free for their personal seeking of God by one means or another.

But what monastery, in actual f act, has realized this ideal situation?

Perhaps the dif f iculty we experience in celebrating derives fran our lack of seriousness when it 's a question of calling a halt in order to pro vide for the needs of our life of private prayer. Perhaps, too, our mona stery horaria need to be brought into better balance, so as to providethe brethren with that amount of leisure time indispensable for one's pri vate life in the sight of God. Too much liturgy can mean the death of liturgy . . •

Private Prayer and Celebration

The reason why one's personal prayer prepares one for the celebra tion of the 1iturgy , is that both the one and the other follc::M the same pattern of interior develq:ment.

To use the expression of Brother Pierre-Yves Emery, prayer , bef ore being a "soul" , has to have a b o d y: and this body is our life under its nost ooncrete aspects -that day by day activity which provides the stuf f of our personal history. If prayer is to be authentic, it can deny none of those elements which go to make up this daily existence of ours.But prayer isn 't delimited by this daily existence. To pray means to beable to give a soul to this "body"; it means being able to animate this OOdy', and to orientate it in such a way that it goes beyond itself , and f inally reaches God, with the body, and because of it.

Towards the Spirit of Celebration 55

So also, celebration reminds us -to use Harvey Cox 's expression, in his Feast pf Foo Zs-that there's a whole as:pect of our existence which isn't absorbed in that activity of ours which makes up our personal history; so that, as a result, history is not the sole horizcn or the ultimate horizon of life. It's only the heart that, by means of prayer, has grotm accustaned to this daily going beyond itself -only that heart,I insist, which can participate to the full in the celebraticn of the litur gy. 'When this is experienced by all the participants, then the celebration of the liturgy becx:mes an epiphany of God in the daily history of the can munity.

It's because prayer teaches us that attitude which takes to itself the daily routine, while at the same time freeing us fran it, that prayer prepares us at depth for the celebration of the liturgy. It's clear that an asserrbly, all of whose rrembers have been fo:rmed in this school of pri- vate prayer, can plunge _ itself all the nore f'l:'eely and spontaneously into the celebration.

2- SECOND PRELIMINARY CONDITION: A LI'IUffiICAL SPIRIT SHARED IN CCMDN

'What I mean is what used to be called in times past a "liturgical spirituality". It's a question of this:that the spiritual life of the ccmm.mtiy be established on the liturgy as on a vital, intrinsic, consti tutive elerrent. The liturgy can't be simply a pensum servitutis , a burden which we have to shoulder, albeit with a willing heart, while we look elsewhere for the support we need for our spiritual seeking of God.

This involves the whole formation of the ccrnmunity -a formation which has to begin in the novitiate. A merely theoretical course of in struction isntt enough. We have to have a concrete mandueatio , based on doctrine, but aiming before all else at making it easier to enter rrore ef fectively :ilfaaily celebration of the liturgy. This means, of course, classes and considerable intellectual application; but these have to be linked with singing and with manual labor. I knCM of one Cistercian nona stery where the Novice Master is also the

Choi:rmaster; and the one in charge of studies is simultaneously in charge of the work programne .

56

It 's not surprising that this oormmmity 's celebration of the liturgy is particularly successf ul . . .

However , this 1iturgical spirit has to be shared by the entire can rrrunity , if we 're to have that blessed "connivence" of everyone, which alone can ensure a real celebration.It 's self-evident that such an objectivecan 't be attained by just the ef forts of the liturgy team. There eff orts are going to be i n vain , unless they have the support of the Superior , by his teaching , and of the celebrants, in the way they actually

celebrate the liturgy day by day. Finally , all the brethren ought to think of them selves as being ·· animateur s of the local a:mrnunity liturgy , each rronk be ing responsible for the role he has to play in the liturgy .

TO CELEBRATE : AN A'ITITUDE OF THE SPIRITAND OF THE HEARI'

A lif e of private prayer , a litw:gical spirit shared in ccmron - these are prelirninru:y conditions. But the celebration is going to become

a reality only if each individual orientates his heart according to a twofold attitude.

To give oneself : to express oneself

To celebrate means to manifest the presence of God. And since this presence manifests itself only within the structures of incarnation , to celebrate means to manifest oneself , to express oneself , to give oneself . This isjust the opposite of taking it easy , of keeping one 's reserve; it:rreans consenting to share with others the particular grace which God hasbestowed on me.

Now , this particular grace , this personal gif t of God , \vhich is mine alone, is sarretimes the last thing that I 'm holding on to. I might have given up everything else, but I 'm jealous of my exclusive property rights to this particular grace .Af ter all, it 's in this deeply interior space that God creates in us the 'new man" . It 's that which is rrost personal to me, and it belongs only to God and me -and to no one else!

Towards the Spirit of Celebration 57

But , to celebrate means agreeing t.o give others a glimpse into

this reserved danain. Still more, it means agreeing to be , in the sight of others, exactly what one is in the sight of God , within the sanctuary of the heart . It ans , f inally, agreeing t.o manifest all this publicly,in f ront of others, during the course of the liturgy.

To receive others : t.o accept others

"We believe that God is everywhere present • Still more do we believe this when we take part in the Divine Of fice" (Holy Rule, ch. 19)

. But since. God s presence in the liturgy pertains to the order of s i g n , this presence. will be more particularly bound up with the human f actor .

To celebrate, then , means consenting to the f act that, during the course of the liturgy, God 's presence is mediated t.o me by means of a hmnan

in strumentality.

At each and every rroment of a celebration -during the singing , the readings, a procession, a recitation -the religious experience which

is perceived is at one and the same tirre that of an "objective" presenre

of God (in the text which is read or sung, in the sacred action or rite. • .) and that of a grace perso·-i.c:J ly cowmunicated by the liturgical "actor"(reader , psalmist, sacred minister . . .) And these two elements can 't be separated f ran each other: if God is present in the reading of the word , this rreans that he is present at one and the same time in virtue of the biblical text itself , and in virtue of the manner in which the text is

actually read. The Real Presenre in the Eucharist is a special case; but apart from this special presence, we f ind at every level of the celebrationhmnan signs -sanetimes of an ambiguous nature -which are the means by mich God 's presence is mediated.

To be able to celebrate means t.o be capable of receiving f ran e a c

h o f t h e b r e t h r e n, in the liturgy, the grare that brother pos sesses and can transmit. HON can we have a celebration , if part of the ca11mmi:ty blanks out as soon as this or that brother starts to open his mouth?

Receiving the other in that area in which he 's at his best , in that area where God is most at work through his grare and his Spirit, there

58

where our brother is perhaps rrost his real self, freed fran the super ficial aspect of his personality, and as authentic as it's possiblefor him to be-. - to receive our brother in this way is to practice a veritable mutual hospitality such as will lead to celebration.

We have to agree to give ourselves to others; but we also have to receive the other person. Without this two-fold disposition, there's no possibility of our having an authentic celebration. The category of

r e 1a tio n has to be realized at every level of the celebration:the relation of celebrant / ccmnunity, the relation of "actors" (psalmists, soloists, readers • • •) / asserrbly. There's also the relation between cxmnunity and the guests, retreatants, and visiting faithful. This is where we find one of the nost revealing tests of the quality of our celebrations. If a corrmunity is capable of assimilating and carrying with it a sizable number of "outsiders", if it can adapt itself to than with real flexibility, and in such a way as not to lose its own proper physiognany, then this is certainly a positive assurance of the vitality of that ccmnunity's celebra tion of the liturgy.

Work already undertaken with rega:rd to the "materials" of the liturgy -

texts and music -has to go on. At the sane, we have to avoid losing sight of the above basic, fundamental conditions essential to a living celebration of the liturgy, apart from which the masons and builders might risk wasting their time and effort • • •

Translation, Gethsemani Abbey Benoit SEBIRE Saint-Benoit-sur-Loire

59

COMMUNAL CELEBRATIONof the

SACRAMENT OF PENANCEi n preparation for

CHRISTMAS:SAINT JOSEPH'S ABBEY, SPENCER

NOTE: Chairs for the part icipants rrright be arranged in a circle or a semi circle centered on a table suitably adorned. The candles

may be set out on the table beforehand, or brought out as they are Zit. Two lecterns rrright be placed in apt locations.

The service involves s i x offices (though one person might ful fill more than one office):

T = Technician C

= Conmentator

f) = Two Scripture ReadersL = Reader for the Litany P = Priest

The service opens with the Commentator, who stands at one of the lecterns, offering a brief explanation of the service, and then inviting everyone to join in the singing of a hymn :

COMFORT MY PEOPLE

& J r I J

I J . I

1- Com- fort my peo- ple and qui- et her fear ;2- Say to the ci - ties of Ju- dah: "Be-hold!3- Motm- tains and hi11s shall be- come as a plain ;

t t I t I t

I . I

1- Te ll he r the time of sal- va- tion draws near.2- Gen- tle ye t might - y , the ann of the LordJ- Van- ished are mourn - ing and htm-ger and pain ;

ij I t j I - I1- Tell her I come to re- move al l he r sharre .2- Res- cues the cap- tives of dark-ness and sinJ- Nev- er a- gain shall these war a- gains t you ;

60

J J J J J-1- 'She that is pit- tied' shall be her new2- Bring- ing them jus - tice and joy with -out3- See He comes quick - ly to make all things

1- naire .2- end.3- new!"

The Commentator then continues :

C - This evening, in the spirit of Advent and in preparation for Christ's very special corning at Christmas, we are going to seek to enter into that reality which the Church is livingat this time, Salvation History, and look to the pranises which have given us all the cause for hope .

Scripture Reader 2, s tanding at the other lectern, tak es up the reading as the Corrmentator retire s to a pl ace 1.Jithin the group and leaves his lectern open f or Scri pture Reader 1.

S2 - God saw all that he had made, and indeed it was very good • • • The Lord God took man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and take care of it. Then the Lord gave man this admonition, 'You may eat indeed of all the trees in the garden . Nevertheless of the tree of knONledge of good and evil you are not to eat, for on the day you eat of it you shall most surely die'• . • The serpent was the nost subtle of all the wild beasts that the Lord God had made.It asked the wcman, 'Did God really say you were not to eat fran any of the trees in the garden?' The woman answered the serpent, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden . But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, "You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death"' . Then the serpent said to the wanan, 'No! You will not die! God knows in fact that on the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.' The wanan saw that the tree was good toeat and pleasing to the eye, and that it was desirable for the kno.v ledge it could give . So she took sane of its fruit and ate it. She gave sane also to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

Gen 1 :31; 2 :15-17 ; 3:1-6

The 'I'echnician extinguishe s aU the lig hts in the room .Af ter a brief pause the Commentator speak s from his p lace :

Advent Penance Service 61

C - Ha.v of ten have we- listened to the serpent? Pause bY'iefly after each question .

- looked upon what is forbidden to us , dallied with terrptation? ·- not believed God and his great love for us?- proudly reached out for what is beyond us

instead of fully accepting our ONn place in God 's plan?

After a brief pause , Scripture Reader 1 enters with a small lighted white candle and goes to the lectern.

Sl - The Lord God cane walking in the garden in the cool of the day . . .He called to man , 'Vi/here are you? ' ' I heard the sound of youin the garden ' , man replied , 'I was af raid because I was naked , so I hid ' . '\i\ho told you that you were naked? ' God asked, 'Have you been eating of the tree I f orebac1 you to eat? ' The man replied,' It was the woman you put with me; she gave me the f ruit , and I ate it ' . Then the Lord God asked the woman, '\i\hat is this youhave done? ' The woman replied , 'The serpent terrpted me and I ate ' . Then the Lord God said to the serpent , 'Because you have done this, be accursed . . . I will make you enemies of each other: you andthe WOffi3.Il , your of f spring and her of f spring. It will crush your head and you will strike its heel ' . ·

-Gen 3: 8-15

C - Man has sinned. But the f irst glimmer of the saving Light is seen .Salvation History moves on. And man pursues his sinf ul ways .

82 - The Lord scnrv that the wickedness of man . was great on the earth , and that the thoughts of his heart f ashioned nothing but wickedness all day long. The Lord regretted having made man on the earth , and his heart grieved. God said to Noah, 'The end has cxme f or all thingsof f lesh; I have decided this because the earth is full of violence of man 's making; I will ef face him f rcm the earth. Make yourselfan ark . • . F'or my part I mean to bring a f lood, and send the wa ters over the earth to destroy all f lesh on it , every living crea ture under heaven . . • You must go on board the ark . . .'

In the six hundredth year of Noah 's life . . . all the springs of the great deep broke through , and the sluices of heaven opened. It rained on earth for f orty days and f orty nights . . . The waters rose on the earth for a hundred and f if ty days .

-Gen 6:5-6, 13-14, 17-18; 7:10-12, 24C - Th.rough cleansing waters sin is washed CMay . Have we

- sought to wash away our sins by tears of repentance, tears of the heart , and true tears , like our Fathers?

- appreciated the cleansing waters of baptism that we have so gratuitously received?

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- used the weekly Asper>ges to renew this grace within ourselves?- thanked God for the saving waters?

After> a bY'ief pause, Scriptur>e Reader> 1 takes up the r>eading. Meanwhile the Technician brings out a tr>a:y of many-colored lighted candles and scatter>s them on the tahle - represen ting the r•ainbow of hope.

Sl - But God had Noah in mind • . • He sent a wind across the earth and the waters subsided. The springs of the deep and the sluices of heaven were stopped. Rain ceased to f all f rom heaven; the waters gradually ebbed f rom the earth . . . So Noah went out f rom the ark . And he built an altar f or the Lord, and of f ered burnt of ferings on the altar . The Lord smelt the appeasing f ragrance and said to him self , t Never again will I curse the earth because of man , because his heart contrives evil fran inf ancy ' • . . God spoke to Noah and his sons, 'See, I establish my covenant with you • . . There shall be no f lood to destroy the earth again.Here is the sign of the covenant I make between myself and you and every living creature with you for all generations. I set my bON in the clouds and it shall be a sign of the oovenant between myself and yoo and every living creature of every kind! '

-Gen 8 :1-4, 19-21; 9 : 7-8, 11-15

C - God 's loving concern for man shines ever rrore, he has been f aithful to his pranise. And in his love he chooses his servant Abraham.But yet there is again sin on the earth.

S2 - How great an outcry there is against Sodom and Ganorrah! How grie vous is their sin! I propose to go da.vn and see whether or not they have done all that is alleged in the outcry against them that has come up to me . . . When the two angels reached SoC!om in the eve ning, Lot was sitting at the gate. 'As soon as Lot saw them he rose to meet than and bowed to the grou.n. d . He pressed them so much thatthey went home with him and entered his house . . . They had not gone to bed when the house was surrounded by the men of the tovvn , the men of Sodom both young and old, all the people. Calling to Lot they said, 'Where are the men 'V.ho cane to you tonight? Send them out tous so that we may abuse them ' . . . The angels said to l.Dt , 'Have you anyone else here? Your sons, your daughters and all your people in the ta.vn, take them out of the place . We are about to destroy this place, for there is a great outcry against them, and it has reached the Lord. And the Lord has sent us to destroy them t • • • 'As the angels were leading him out they said, 'Run f or your lif e. Neither look behind you nor stop anywhere • . • t

The Lord rained on Sodomand Ganorrah brimstone and f ire f rom the Lord .He overthrew these ta.ms and the whole plain, wi.th all the inhabitants of · the townsand everything that grew there. But the wif e of lot looked back , andwas turned into a pillar of salt.

-Gen 18: 20; 19 :1, 3-5, 12-15, 17, 2 4-26

Adven t Penance Service 63

C - How of ten have we- turned to the things of the f lesh?- sought to misuse others , or any of God 's creation

, in greater or lesser ways?- f ailed to listen to prophetic voices

, to respond to the call of salvation?

- looked back to the tirings we have lef t behind in responding toIthis call?

As Scripture Reader 1 takes up the reading, the Technician brings out an other lighted candle, larger than the many colored ones.

Sl - Thus it was that when God destroyed the towns of the plain , he kept Abraham in mind and rescued Lot . • . The angel of the LorQ called Abraham a second time f ran heaven, 'I swear by my own self itis the Lord who speaks -· because you have not refused me your son, your only son, I will shCMer blessings on you, I will make your de scendants as many as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore . . . All the nations of the earth shall bless them selves by your descendants as a reward f or your obedience ' .

Gen 19:29; 22:16-18

C - God had chosen a people for himself . And in time he raised up a leader for them.

S2 - God called to Moses f rom the middle of the bush, 'Moses, Moses! . • .I am the God of your f athers , the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob . . • I see the miserable state of my people in Egypt. Yes , I am well aware of their suf f erings. I mean to de liver them out of the hands of the Egyptians • • . I send you to Pharaoh to bring the sons of Israel, my people, out of Egypt • • • ' The Lord called Moses f rom the mountain , saying , 'Say this to the house of Jacob, declare to the sons of Israel, "You yourselves have seen what I did with the Egyptians , how I carried you on eagle 's wings and brought you to myself . Fran this you know that nON , if you obey my voice and hold ;East to my covenant , you of all nations Shall be my ve:ry own, for all the earth is mine. I will count youa kingdan of priests, a consecrated nation"' . . . The sons of Israel,the whole o:mmmity, arrived in the f irst month in the desert of Zin. The people settled at Kadesh. There was no water for the corrmunity, and they were all rebelling against Moses and Aaron . • . Leavingthe assembly, Moses and Aaron went to the door of the Tent of Meet ing. They threw themselves f ace downward on the ground , and the glo.. r:y of the Lord appeared 1 Take the branch and call the ccrnmunity to gether, you and your brother Aaron. Then , in the f ull view of them, order this rock to give water . Yau will make water f lo.v for themout of rock , and provide drink f or the ccmnunity and their cattle ' .• . And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice v.>ith the branch and water gushed in abundance, and the ccmnunity drank and their cattle too. Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron , 'Because you did

64

not believe that I could proclaim my holiness in the eyes of the sons of Israel, you shall not lead this assembly into the land I am giving them ' .

Ed 3:4-10; 19:3-6; Num 20:1-3, 6-8, 11-12

C - Have we, like the Chosen People,- canplained against the way the lord leads us?- rebelled against our superiors?- not believed in the promises of the lord?

As Scripture Reader 1 takes up the reading, the Technician brings out an other lighted candle.

Sl - And Moses said to the people, 'The Lord .your God will raise up for you a prophet like myself , f ran among yourselves, fran your own breth ren; to him you must listen . • . The Lord said to me, "I will raise up a prophet like yourself for them fran their avvn brothers; I will put my words into his nmth and he shall tell them all I cornnand him. The man who does not listen to my words that he speaks in my name , shall be held anS\verable to me for it" • . • If you obey the voice of the Lord f aithf ully , keeping and observing all his ccmnandments thatI enjoin on you today , the Lord your God wi.11 set you high above all the nations of the earth.These are the blessings that will comeupon you: Blessings in the city , blessings in the f ield; many chil dren , arrple crops, large f lock.s and herds; blessings of f ruit and bread; blessings when you cane in; blessings when you go out. The lord will make you a people consecrated to himself as he has swornto you, if you keep the comnandments of the Lord your God and follCM his ways. All the peoples of the earth will see that you bear the name of the Lord and will be in awe of you " .

Dt 18:15-19; 28:1-6, 9-10

C - Moses did not lead the Chosen People in. Joshua did. And under the Judges and Kings they continued to struggle with God in their hope and inf idelity.

S2 - In the reign of Ahaz . • • Razon the king of Arain went up against LTe rusalern with Pekah, son of Rernaliah, king of Israel, to lay siege to it • . • The heart of the king and the hearts of the people shuddered as the trees of the f orest shudder in f ront of the wind.The Lord said to Isai.ah , 'Go • • •meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of theupper pool on the Fuller 's Field road, and say to him: "Pay attention , keep calm, have no f ear, do not let your heart sink because of these two srroldering stumps of f irebrands • . . But if you do not stand by me, you will not stand at all . • . Ask the Lord your God f or a signfor yourself caning either f ran the depths of Sheol or f rom the heights above 1 • 'No ' , Ahaz answered , ' I will not put the Lord to the test ' .

Advent Penance SePV ice 65

Then Isaiah said: 'Listen nCM, House of David; are you not satis f ied with trying the patience of men without trying the patienceof my God , too? '

I s 7 :1-4, 7, 9 , 10-13C - In the f ace of adversities , do we

- shudder as the trees of the f orest shudder in the wind?

- f ail to stand by the Lord?

- try God s patience by expecting too little f rom him?

Af ter a brief pause , as Scripture Reader 1 takes up the reading , the Tech nician brfogs out a lighted cand le .

Sl - 'The Lord himself will give you a sign. It is this: the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whan she will call Imnanuel . . • 1 In the days past the Lord humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,but in the days to cane he will oonf er glory on the Way of the Sea on the f ar side of the Jordan , province of the nations. The people that walked in darkness has seen a great light; on those who live in the land of deep shadava light has shavn. You have made their gladness greater , you have made their joy increase; they rejoice in your presence . . .

Is 7 :14 ; 8 :23 - 9 : 2

C - In spite pf the light of the prophets , even at their best, God 's Cho sen People are a sinf ul people.

52 - Then the word of the lord was addressed to Zechariah the Prophet as follo.vs: '· Say to all the people of the country, and to the priests, "While you have been f asting and mourning in the f if th and seventh month for the past years , was it f or my sake that you f asted so rig orously? And vmen you were eating and drinking, were not you the eaters and drinkers? . . . Apply the law f airly , and practice kind ness and c:orrpassion tCMards each other. Do not oppress the poor man, and do not secretly plan evil against one another" ' .

Zech 7 :4-7 , 9-12C - Have we

- f asted f or our avn sakes going on diets to keep trim -and neglected to f ast f or the Lord?

- eaten and drunk not f or the glory of the Lord , but solely for our avn pleasure?

- been unmindful of the pcx:>r while we provide good things for ourselves?

- been evil in our thoughts in regard to one another?

As Scripture Reader> 1 takes up the reading af ter> a br>ief pause , the Techni cian bring s out another lighted cand le .

66

Sl - But you , Bethlehem Ephrathah , the least of the clans of Judah , out of you will be born for rre the one who is to rule over Israel; his origin goes back to the distant past , to the days of old.The Lord is therefore going to abandon them till the time when she who is to give birth gives birth. Then the remnant of his brothers will cane back to the sons of Israel. He will stand and f eed his f lock with the power of the Lord , withthe majesty of the name of his God .They will live secure, f or f ran then on he will extend his power to the ends of the land.He himself will be peace.

-Micah 5:1-4

S2 - In the f if teenth year of Tiberius Caesar 's reign , when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, . • • during the pontif icate of Annas and Caiaphas , the word of God came to John , son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. He went through the whole Jordan re gion proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.. . . When all the people asked him, 'What must we do , then? ' He answered, 'If anyone has two tunics, he must share with the man who has none, and the one with sanething to eat TIRISt do the same • . • Exact no more than your due . . . No extortion. Don 't accuse anyone of what he didn ' t do. Be oontent with what you receive ' .

-Lk 3: 13,, 10-11,, 13-14

Scripture Reader 2 retires,, leaving the lectern free for the Litany-reader.

C - Have we- shared with those who have none?- demanded more than is our due?- been oontent with what we have received?

As Scripture Reader 1 takes up the reading_, T brings out another lighted candle, more significant than any of the others so far.

Sl - John declared before them all, ' I baptize yru with water , but sane one is caning , someone who is more powerf ul than I am, and I am unf it to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire ' . p a u s e

-Lk 3:16

This is hc:M Jesus Christ came to be born . . . The angel of the Lord appeared to Jospeh in a dream and said to him, 'Joseph , son of David, do not be af raid to take Mary hane as your wife , because she has oon ceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus , because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins ' . NON all this took place to fulf ill the words spoken by the Lord through the Prophet : 'The virgin will oon ceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Errmanuel' -a name which means 'God-is-with-us ' .

-. - Mt 1:18,, 2-23

Advent Penance Service 67

While Scripture Reader 1 is reading the final section of the text, the Technician brings out a tall white lighted cande l which represents Christ

it might be the Paschal Candle. Scripture Reader 1 places the small white candle he has been holding on the table and retires.

C - Jesus , the Light, who is a:me to save his people fran their sins, now stands in our midst. Let us humbly confess our sins and ask his pardon.

LITANY OF REPENTANCE

The Reader of the Litany goes to the lectern vacated by Scripture Reader 2.

L - We have listened to the serpent , we have f requented the occasions of sin, we have not trusted the Lord, we have disobeyed him.

ALL - I.ORD I WE HAVE SINNED, I.ORD HAVE MERCY.

This Response is repeated after each part of the Litany.

L - We have not wept over our sins as we ought, we have not appreciated the rnercy of God and the saving waters of Baptism and Penance. R.

L - We have turned to the things of tre f lesh, we have misused God 's good creation, we have not heeded the call to greater things, we have looked back to the tltlngs of the world. R.

L - We have complained against the Lord s ways , we have not respondedto our leaders , we have f ailed to hold f i:r.mly to the promises of the Lord. R.

L - We have been weak in f aith, unf aithf ul to the Lord; we have triedhis patience and e.x. pected too little f rom him. R.

L - We have not fasted for the Lord , but we have eaten and drunk for our own pleasure; we have given little thought to the poor , and we have thought evil of one another. R.

L - Let us confess in our hearts or aloud any other sins that we are con scious of . • •

Pause to allow others to confess.In all these ways and so many others . • . R.

The priest who is going to give the absolution now comes forward and takes the white Christ-candle.P - Receive the Light of Christ 's grace; receive his pardon and

absolu tion. May our Lord Jesus Christ absolve you , and I , by his authority, absolve you f ran your sins (making the sign of the cross with the Christ-candle] in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Care, receive the Light of Clrristls grace.

I

t

D A P

68

Each of the participants now comes forward and lights a candle which he had received when he entered, from the Christ-candle held by the Priest . While this is taking place, a Cantor or Schola might sing the Canticle of Zachariah .REFRAINFree rhythm Fr . Robert Morhaus

Cantor LOOK UP , JE-RU - SA-LEM, AND SEE THE POW'-ER OF YOUR KING : YOOR6- Fltm & A.

rj: ' ' ? v l J j , SAV-IOR CCMES TO SET YOU FREE . Repeat

CANTICLE OF ZACHARY(ICET)

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J. Randall 1940 Hymnal

Schola Blessed be the Lord, the god of Is-ra-el; he has cane to his peo

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J· p rple and set thern free. He has raised up for us a mighty sav-ior,

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w• ) 1' fi J born of the house of his serv-ant Da- vid.

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A ll Through his ho-ly pro-phets he prorn-ised of old that he would save

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IIus from our en-e-mies, fran the hands of all who hate us . REFRAIN

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remember his

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IIho-ly oov-e-nant . (Blessed be the Lord, the God of Is-ra-el.)

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Advent Penance Ser>Vice 69

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( \..:r' I ., - - II I "I I I r I I

,/ .break up-on u s, to s h i n e o n t h o s e w h o dwell in darkness and the

shad-aCr F& A t>£t I 12'1 Eof death, and to guide our feet on the road to peace. REFRAIN

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(Best Copy Available)

70

When all the candles are lit and the canticle is corrrp leted:P - For our penance, in a spirit of joy and gratitude, let us sing

"Gracious Lord, OUr Shepherd and Salvation" . Another hymn might be chosen .

Rev. John Swertner, + 1813 alt. German melody, c. 1740Bp . Christian F. Gregor

@ J J J ; J J J r I ). I1- Gra- cious Lord, our shep- herd and sal-va-tion,

2- Lord, re- ceive the thanks and a- do- ra-tion, 3- G r a- cio u s Fa- ther, bl e ss this c on-g r e-ga-tion.

@ l J j I J J I J J j J]1- In your pres-ence we ap- pear; Own us as your 2- Which to you we hlilll-bly pay' For our call-ing 3- As the pur-chase of your Son; For his sake be

@ J i J r I ; ;, I J J j1- flock and con- gre-ga- tion, 2- and our high vo- ca- tion, 3- hold us with com-pas-sion,

Let us feel that Bless-ed Sav- ior, In him gath-ered

6/?J J ; l j j J r I r J ;I1- you are near: May we all en- joy your love and2- on this day; Give us grace to walk as your A-3- in- to one, Ho- ly Spir- it, dwell with us for

@ ;.I J J r I r j 1- fa- or, And o- bey you as our Head and 2- noint-ed, In the path you have for us ap- 3- ev- er, Je-sus, grant to us your peace and

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1- Sav- ior, Who by your most pre- cious Blood 2- point-ed; You, our Lamb, our Lord and King, 3- fa- vor; When in power, you come a- gain,

Advent Penance SePV ice 71

; J J 6J II1- Made us, sin-ners, heirs of God.2- Guide us to the3- We shall see

your

At the end of the hymn :P - Let us go in peace! All- Thanks be to God!

liv- ing spring. face. A- men .

Liturgy Conmission Saint Joseph 's Abbey

73

T H E M Y S T E R Y 0 F L E N T

Sai nt Ael red of Ri evaul x'sSERMON ON THE LENTEN FAST 1

Today, brethren , we undertake the solann f ast - so called, in that it is carmon to all Christians. For there are certain f asts that many undertake by their own will, and there are f asts that are imposed

of necessity on others to expiate sane f ault. But this f ast is indicated for all Catholics in general , and not without the authority of the Law

and the Gospel nor even a certain sense of mystery and grandeur as regards its spiritual excellence. For no other solemnity can supervene to re lease us f rau this f ast, nor is it dispensed f rom even for the sake of hospitality. Only same bodily inf irmity which would make it impossible can dispense f rom it.

This solerrn f ast is recamiended by divine authority itself in the Law, as for instance when the ten ccmmandments written on tablets were handed over to Moses during his f ast of forty days (Ex 32 :16) . It is also reoom

mended to us in the prophets, arrong whom Elias especially , af ter a f orty day f ast, was receiv.ed into the cave and visited by the presence of God

Cl Kgs 19 : 9) . It is reccmnended as well in the Gospel where it is related that our Lord and Savior himself oonsecrated this sarre number of days by his own f ast (Mt 4 : 2 ) . Who of us , though, is suf f icent to the task of in vestigating the causes and reasons proceeding f ran the divine plan f or so wholesaue an institution as this f ast? For if no man knCMs what is done in man but the spirit of man which is in him, so too no one knCMs what is of God but the Spirit of God ( 1 Cor 2 : 11) • Who is there then who would dare to say with Paul: "We have the Spirit of Christ" ( ibid ., 2 :16 )? In

deed, no Clrristian would dare to. Yet is Paul not also such? But we draw f rom holy Scripture whatever is true , whatever holy, whatever is in hanrony with f aith and charity. What we receive then is of the Spirit of God . And so with the Spirit leading us, let us try to wrest f ran the secret of the Scriptures of our f aith sane cause for the institution of this Lenten f ast

* Trans lation based on Zatin text in C.Il. Talbo t (ed .) , Semtones IneditiB. Aelredi Abbatis Rievallensis, Romae 1952, pp.52 57.

74

midi reason may approve, justice dictate, and its very usef ulness reo::mmend to us.

MAN f S ARCHETYPAL HISTORY

But f irst, let us oonsider where we were, where we are n<:M , and also what we should hope for and what we must f ear. For God , f oreknc:Ming ashe does all the future, oould not be ignorant of what his creature man was

by nature, what he was to becx:me through his om f ault, what state he would return to by grace, and into what he \\'Ould f all back again in the Judgnent. And so fran the beginning God created a place for each worthy of his deserts. He created paradise, he created this world, he created heaven, and he created hell. In heaven there is the supreme Good,

in hell suprerre evil; in paradise a medium good , in theworld a medium evil.

The supreme Good is where no def ect is f eared; the suprerre evil, where there is no hope of a way out. The medium good is what oould be kept or lost; the medium evil is that f rom which we can be f reed.

Now it is certainly this supreme Good which we hope to have in heaven , and which once attained shall never be lost. But the damnation follCMing the Judgnent is f inal; one can never escape once he has f allen into it,as the Lord says to the wicked: "Depart f ran ne , you cursed, into the eter nal f ire" (Mt 25 : 41 ) . Yet that bliss which Adam had in paradise was alsoa good , but a medium good which oould both increase as well as be lost. So

too, this evil in which we are nCM can no less be called a medium evil, since we believe we can be delivered fran it by God 's grace. The suprane Good, then, is for those who are wholly good; the supreme evil, for those wholly evil. The medium good is for those who are themselves mediumly good, and the medium evil for those nedimtly evil.

REMEMBRANCE OF OUR EXI LE

It is necessary f irst of all that the :mem:>:ry of the suprerre Good not recede f i::om our hearts, lest we cx:me to think this lif e 's good to be

our supreme Good. And thus in cleaving to this lifewe

would not desire that other lif e, and so not strive to attain it. So too, if we do not hold a consideration of the supreme evil bef ore us , this lif e 's evil oould be thought to be the supreme evil. And thus in avoiding the evil of this

lif e, we could f all into that suprerre evil in the next. So we should knc:M

The Mystery of Lent 75

the supreme Good in order to desire it, and the supreme evil so as to f ear it.

We -were not created f or here but expelled here. And yet if thisf act is not to rEmain hidden fran the f aithf ul man , we need to know where we were, and how through our own fault we were cast out f ran there and placed here. We were, then , created in paradise and were expelled into this world as into exile; we are to

ascend into heaven if we use our exile well, but to sink into hell if we pref er exile to our Fatherland.

Now in your charity, brethren , see in how many various ways good can be had . One can have, for example, sane small good , one can have a great good, or one can have the f ull and perf ect Good. A small good is one which does not suf f ice to expel evil. A great good is one which excludes all evil. The f ull and perf ect Good is the one which is suf f icient for the good will. And so man has a little good in this lif e because it is mixed with evil, while he had a great good in paradise where there was no experi ence of evil. But he is to have the perfect Good in heaven , f©r to this Good nothing that can be desired will be lacking , nor will there be any intninent evil to be f eared. O if this would always cleave to our manory: where we were and where we are now! What suf f iciency had we there , what neediness have we here! What f ear, what insecurity here, but there what rest! Here what labor , what trouble; there, how much exultation! O with

this cleaving to our memory we would indeed say with the Prophet: "Alas

for me that my sojourn is prolonged! " (Ps 119:5 VgJ And thus the presentlife would be to us cheap; the future one sweet. This lif e when examined would seem loathsane, while the next would kindle our desire. Aye, my brethren, the f irst man, Adam, who had experience of both states was easily able to discern between both; and in oorrparisan with the good he thus lost , he was ea sily able to to soorn whatever pretense of good this world seemed to of f er him. Not so his miserable off spring , born in darkness and under standing nothing but the darkness. Yet since God did not in his anger with

hold his oompassion , and so gives many oonsolations to our misery , rroderat ing our sorrows acoording to our dif ferent characteristics, our mind is moreeasily noved and enticed by the little good we experience in this lif e than by that which is still only promised us. But the rational and spiritual

76

soul with its capacity for bliss never lays aside its desire for that

bliss in whidl it will f ind supreme excellence, suprerre abundance, per

f ect love, and perf ect security. Yet because hunan nature seeks all these

things but f eels aversion for those future realities in which all these

reside, it strive..s to satisf y that desire with temporal things

experienced by the senses and 'Which therefore delight it nore, enticed by

their resan blance to those others it really desires. And so it seeks

excellence in superiority, abundance in rimes, pleasure in carnal

allure.nents, and se curity in walls, towers , and sleepless watching. Thus

does man mistake

his exile for the Fatherland, neither remenbering v..ilere once he was nor

contemplating in what evils he nav is. Hence while evil men abuse present

goods , the good are drawn ff.Nay to administer and control them, with the re sult that evil men are always , and the good are of ten forgetf ul of present evils, of f uture goods, and of the goods that were lost.

LENT AND ITS SIGNS OF REMEMBRANCE

It is useful for us , then that the Holy Spirit has assigned sane

por tion of th e year for

oonsidering these things. In this season we inter

rupt our other concerns and turn the attention of our mind to oontemplate

this lif et s miseries, and to bewail those familiar delights that we lost.

During these particularly holy days , four things are therefore placed be

f ore us f or our oonsideration: death, by which the body is dissolved to

ash when the soul departs; the ignorance by which it is not granted to our darkended eyes to behold the glory of the I.ord with unveiled f ace; that sorrav and nourning with which we are unceasingly af f licted; and the toils and af f lictions of the f lesh with which we are worn out. In these , surely, we continually dwell; daily we are struck with these scourges. And so it

is these oonsiderations that this time of Lent especially presents to us , that we may see where we were, nourn our loss of that good we did lose, sigh for the good that we expect to have af ter this lif e, and so f ear

lest we pass f ran these temporal and medium evils to that eternal and

suprane evil.

Let us see then , brethren, hew these f our considerations we listed

above are recx:mnended to us by sane representation. For the death of the

f lesh is suggested by the reception of ashes. Ignorance, by the veil ex

tended across the sanctuary. And nourning , by the interruption of those

things which signif y joy to us

'1.'he My s ter y of Lent 77

THE MEANING OF THE ASHES

As in Adam we have sinned, so also then we all in Adam have heard: "You are dust , and unto dust you shall return." (Gen 3 :19) . Adam indeed heard this when he was expelled f ron the garden of paradise into these miseries. We too have heard this when, in observance of this holy sea son, we pass by our usual joys in order to consider and bewail this out break of our unhappiness. Remember , O sons of Adam, remanber at leastin this season your last end so that you do not sin! What last end? "Un to dust you shall return." And hence holy Job says: "I am ccmpared with the mire and likened to dust and ashes" (Job JO : 19, Vg 1. Happy the soul that always dwells in these ashes: that is , in the remenbrance of herfrailty, in the remembrance of her wicke&less and trouble, and in the re manbrance of her death. Thus she can say what is written: "I am oonsumed as by rottenness, and like a gannent gnawed by the rroth" (Job 1J : 28, Vg) .

And again with the Prophet: ''For I know my wicke&less, and my sin is al

ways before me" CPs 50:5). Such a wholesare meditation as this ought

tobe oonstantly .in the heart of Christians . But since this is diff icultor even impossible, it has been an established custan to renew the repre

sentation of this very misery at least for a forty-day period. This is prescribed for absolutely all Christians , but especially for those who have renounced the works of this world and theref ore have no cares of af amily, no worldly business ooncerns, and no distraction of their mind by this \vorld 's occupations which ccmpels than to take a vacation frcm considering these miseries.

THE MEANI NG OF THE VEI L

Af ter Adam was expelled fran paradise, a f laming two-edged swordwas placed between him and paradise: that heavenly glory which beforehad been manif est was now covered over . It is in re:nembrance of this un happiness that during this season a veil is stretched between us and the Holy of Holies, so we may thus avert to the f act that we are excludedfran the joy in which the heavenly Powers enjoy the oontemplation of God.

In the Old Testament, too, a veil used to hang before the Holy of

Holies. This veil re:nained to be rent f or good reasons at the death of Christ. Let us then oonsider the wrath and the mercy of God.

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God created man when he was not , punished him when he sinned , re deaned him f rom his sins, and rescued him fran his miseries. But af ter man was sentenced to sorrCMS and earthly toils, his condemnation became manif est while his redemption remained hidden. It was ready , but oon cealed; promised , but veiled. For it was covered under f igures and enigmas , and the carnal observance of cererronies was stretched like a veil before the eyes of the Jews. It was right, then, that as the re demption of t he human race was accanplished through the death of him who gave himself up f or us, the veil was rent and all the secrets ofour redenption laid open. But so long as we are in the hone of the body ,

we are away f ran our hane with the Lord : for we walk by f aith and not by sight , nor do we behold that future glory with unveiled f ace; but in a mirror as it were, and in enigma. For now it is covered.

"You are dead" , says the Ap:>stle , "and your lif e is hid with Christ

in God" CCoZ 3:3). If it is hid, then it is veiled , so we may know

that that happiness which eye has not seen is lacking to us . In this season , then, when the outbreak of this present life is represented to us , a veil is stretched across the sanctuary bef ore our eyes . Hence the Holy of Holies which itself contains a f igure of heaven is thereby hidden f rom us in sane way, so that when we have well understood this veiling , we might desire more attentively the unveiling. As we thus sit by the rivers of Babylon, then , let us weep as we ranernber Sion whose glory we have not seen, nor have we heard her Alleluia which expresses to us that joy of God whereof holy David said: "They are happy who dwell in your house, for ever singing your praise" (Ps 83:5). But the kind of mourning we

have in this present time excludes such praise as tli.is , acoording to thatstatement of the Psalms : "How oould we sing the song of the Lord on alien soil?" (Ps 136:4)

SPIRITUAL WORKS OF LENT

Let us n ext oonsider , brethren, the af f liction of the f lesh that is particularly indicated for us by this season of Lent, that is , our af f lic tion through labors, vigils and f asts ( 2 Cor 6 : 5 ) . I will an.it speaking about any of our bcx:l.ily labors and vigils since these are not only already

knavn to you, but are custanary and continuous . To exhort you about these then would be superf luous .

The Mystery of Lent 79

But there is an unlimited spiritual labor that is necessary and in which we should especially exercise ourselves, so that when we enter in to contest with the evil spirits we may preserve our patience

which they try to attack . So too, we may preserve constancy of heart , tranquillity of mind, and manf ully defend our spiritual powers of virtues against all the vices that rise up.

There are also vigils, by which the mind on alert stands as if always in a watch-t:aver on lookout all around , so as to f oresee approaching evils , to bavare those already i.mninent, to repel those attacking it and to en dure bravely and with cxrnrx:>sure those that are overwhelming it.

THE FOUR KINDS OF FASTING

Fasting as I see it should doubtless be treated IIDre broadly. Forit is mentioned more solerrnly and more frequently in this season and seE!llSto me to encorrpass all the other observances. Hence, there is a f ast ofthe body r a f ast of the senses, a f ast fran activity, and a spiritualf ast. The f ast of the body consists in restraining our belly fran taking canlal food. There is a f ast of the senses when sane custanary pleasure is withdrawn fran our se". 'lses. A f ast f rom activity is to impose the bri dle of quiet on our restlessness and our occupations. A spiritual f astis when we reclaim our heart for ourselves, delivering it f rom wandering and harmf ul thoughts. Why such f asting? Food delights the taste, but isthere nothing that delights the ear or the eye? Sadly , yes. For sometirces a curious or a shameless look delights the sight as much as tasty and seasoned food does the taste. In f act, when the belly is f illed our appe tite is quiet , but the eye is not f illed with seeing or the ear with hear ing (EccZes 1:8}. And what we have said of the eye or the ear I

think should be understood of the hand or the foot or the tongue as well,

or ofany other rrembers or senses. Indeed , there are many who find no less de light in idle talk. or external occupations as they do in taking delicious food. Further , I leave to your o.vn experience to judge to what extent the mind itself delectably feeds on illicit or idle thoughts; or again , hCM sweet the discussion of saneone else 's life tastes to it , or hCM f at

it grows on its o.vn praise and another ' s blame. And so nCM a general f ast from all such harmf ul delights is indicated for us as yru just heard when

80

the Rule of Saint Benedict was read. ''Let each" , he says, "withdraw f ran his body SOil'etlring of food, of drink, sleep, talkativeness, or

coarse and improper language" (Holy Rule 49). Theref ore, brethren, let not the f ast of the Jews suf f ice us. For since it was only of the belly and not of the mind, the Lord scorned it as the prophet Isaiah says : "Why have we f asted and you have not seen? We humbled ourselves and you have not known it" Cis 58:3), Then the Lord s voice

follows in answer , of fering the reason why he soorns their f ast: "Behold," he seys , "in the days of your f ast your own will was found" (ibid.J .

I oonfess , brethren, that this sentence terrif ies me and shakes all my bones. For God does not not look upon a man '·s f ast in which his own will is f ound. Who does not tremble at this?

But it is indeed true:no f ast is more acceptable, brethren , than to f ast f rom one 's own will. For no food is sweeter to the mind, none more pleasing, nothing so boosts the mind and cheers it as does this af fection for one 's own will. What labors do we not freely Embrace f or our own will? Indeed, self -will scarcely feels the belly 's abstention f ra:n eating; it is wearied by prac tically no labor, nor does it f eel limited by a scarcity of

things. One who is f attened by the f ood of his own will is not lazy in anything. He is prompt in everything, everywhere nimble, obliging , eager -- a sweet food indeed, but harmf ul. Why so harmful? "Why have we f asted and you have not seen? We have humbled ourselves and you have not known it." "Behold" , he says , "in the days of

your f ast your own will is f ound."Why then is it so harmf ul that it turns the loving eyes of God awey f rom us and causes him who knows all things to be ignorant of what we do?

If this is my judgrrent let it be scorned, laughed at, rejected. But if it is the Lord 's judgment speaking not by f igures and enigmas , but clearly: then let it be heard, understood , f eared. "Here is why you have f asted and I have not seen" , he says. "Here is why you have humbled your selves and I have not known it : because in the days of your f ast your own will is f ound, and f rom all your debtors you dew.and repayment" {ibid.).

FORGIVING OF DEBTS

Now there are sane indeed who are held as debtors in matters of money , and these should certainly not be burdened by untimely denands in days of

The My s tery of Lent

f."'!.

81

fasting. But such debtors as these do not concern us. For in f act there are other kinds of debtors about whan we say in the Lord 's Prayer: "For give us our debts as we also forgive our debtors'' (Mt 6 :12 ) . W:lo is there that does not have debtors of this kind? and what is it to demand repay ment fran these debtors?

There is, in f act, an interior and exterior dananding. For one de mand repayment exteriorly from a debtor when he returns evil for evil or cursing f or cursing , or when he exacts an eye for an eye , a tooth f or a

tooth, a hand f or a hand , a foot f or a foot. But one demands repayment interiorly ;Eran a debtor when he cheats in his heart or quarrels with one who did him an injury , when he is puf fed up or angry, or slyly watches for hi.s time of revenge. A person such as this truly cannot lif t up pure hands without wrath and deceit.

But may God avert f ran us what then follCMs , brethren: "Behold ,"says the Prophet , "you f ast for quarreling and strif e , and you strike out with wicked f ist" (Is 58:4), A servant of the Lord ought not to quarrel," says the Apostle ( 2 Tim 2 : 24 ) . And again: "When there is jeal ousy and strife arrong you, are you not being carnal?" (1 Cor 3:3) such , brethren , is the ordinary teaching and discipline. Such is also yarr perfection.

So may quarrels and strif e be f ar f rom yCll ,but much more that striking out at one another which is done with visible f ist.

SPIRITUAL BLOWS AN D INJURI ES

But there is also a form of striking another that pertains to the in terior man. This sarretimes creeps into the imperfect , and it is necessary that we take all care to be f ree of it. In this regard the Apostle says : "Thus in sinning against your brethren and striking their weak conscience, you sin against Christ" (1 Cor 8 : 12) . This way of striking blows which reaches out to injure the Author of all is not a light thing , brethren .

Let us say , for instance, that one of you is intent on lectio or ear nest about meditation, or sober of thought and quiet. If another canes up on such a brother . and by his own levity calls his brother 's mind CMay fran

his pursuit and his quiet, he strikes his brother with his f ist; thoughnot with a wicked f ist. Nonetheless, to the extent that his brother de lights in such leisure, to just that extent does such a blCM wound him.

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But if he distracts his brother by a sign or by bringing external events and activities into the cloister, or if he causes his brother to hold bad feelings tc:Mard saneone, then he has struck him with a wicked fist. So as often as you molest your brother, then, or scandalize him by your vice and cause him to stumble, just so often do you strike him wickedly.

Surely in such evils as these which here abound and are so far re rroved fran that happiness we expect to attain, we are given occasion enough for bewailing the toil of our exile and for desiring the future delights of paradise. I.Bt these things cleave to your hearts then, brethren, that you may so follcw through in the fasts you have begt.m as to be able to re ceive the

abundant fruits of divine grace through Christ our Lord.

Translation by Ch:rysostan CASTELC:'iethsemani Abbey

83

D 0 S S I E R 0 F L I T U R G I C A

F 0 RG E N E R A L

T H EC H A P T E R

MAY - JUNE, 1974

The follCMTing documentation arrived in driblets during the past

week or so -just in time to replace sane material about a Pesurrection Office VJhich I had planned to include in the current issue . But please don1t think that the status quaestionis relative to the Liturgy of the Hours is going to be the sane men the General Chapter opens on April 25th, as it is nCMT. The situation is evolving rapidly, and in a direc tion VJhich hopefully will please practically all of us. In mid-March Archbishop Bugnini, of the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, held a "stmmit meeting" with the Benedictine Abbot Primate, Bishop Augustin Mayer {Secretary for the Sacred Congregation for Religious, and the abbot-members of the Benedictine Confederation's Liturgy Ccrrrnission.Dan Re:nbert Weakland (the Primate)was as enthusiastic about the fruits of the meeting as were the other Benedictine participants. More than this

Idon1t dare say for the manent. ButIknON that all of you will continue to pray that things will continue to move in such a direction that we'll have eventually the optimum means of ensuring a monastic liturgy such as will plunge us all as deeply as possible into the heart of the Myste..v.. y of Christ.

I've included in the dossier of documents the follCMTing:1- A covering letter fran Fr.Ge'rard Dubois, President of

our Liturgy Corrmission;2- Fr. Gerard's report on the Liturgy of the Hours;3- A series of photostatic reproductions of documents referred

toin Fr. ard 's report.

4- A project for the Anointing of the Sick and the

Sacrament of Reconciliation;5- A project for a simplified ritual for an Abbatial Election.

In the Lord Jesus,htl, M · v' .. (

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LITURGY COMMISSION O.C.S.O.March 11, 1974 Mont-des-cats

Dear Reverend Father,You 're probably puzzled at your not having yet received a report

about the liturgical questions which are to be dealt with at the caning General Chapter.

There are three questions -on unequal :importance:1 - Our Liturgy of the. Hours (Divine Of f ice) has to be settled ,

as a result of the letter f ran the Sacred Congregation of Divine Worship, dated July 8, 1971, and also because of the expirationof our loi-cadre indult (which was renewed f or two years back in 1971) ;

2 - A project for the simplif ication of the rite f or an abbatial election , in answer to the request of the Consilium Generale, September 1973 (at Viaceli) ;

3 - Our attitude with regard to the two new recent Rattan Rite ritualsf or the Anointing of the Sick and for the Sacrament of Reconcilia tion.

I was delayed in my preparation of this report, not only because ofloss of time due to necessary oorrespondence with the members of the Liturgy Ccmnission with regard to items 2 and 3, which were only recently shaped up, but also because Iwanted to be better inf ormed about the af termath to the Benedictine Congress of Superiors, which took lace last September-October. The complications of Italian mail strikes didn t t make things easier , to say nothing of the Benedictine Abbot Primate's departure f rom Rome. Havever , the situation is quite probably going to evolve during the weeks to come.

Thisis what our Procurator General has given me to understand (and other indications conf irm it}. When the General Chapter opens, the status quaestionis will doubtless be dif f erent f rom what I 've described in the enclosed report. But, as of now, I 've had no choice but to write what I 've written.

Sincerely in the Lord ,

(signed) Fr. Gerard DuboisPresident of the Liturgy Ccmnission

l? .S. Documents to be brought to the General Chapter

- The enclosed dossier takes care of the essentials.- The ccmnentary on the Praenotanda appeared in Liturgy o.c . s . o. 7 (1973)

, issue 2 .- A cx::mmentary on the principles operative in the redaction of Psalm Schenata

2 and 3 was given in a memo circulated Epiphany , 1968 (sent at the sametirre as the indult of December 15, 1967. A Irore anple ccmnentary appeared in an earlier issue of Li tU1'.9Y o.c s. o. )

The Consilium Generale envisages the possibility of celebrating·Laudsor Vespers in Latin on Sundays and Feasts. So it might be good to bring along the Of f ice booklet distributed at the Chapter of 1971, or -f or lack of this - a breviary.

85

L I T U R G Y 0 F T H E H 0 U R S

l. The last report circulated gave a cornnenta.ry on the "Praenotanda" - that is to say, the directive norms for our celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours (in the cx:mtext of the inter-order solution called for in virtue of the principles formulated in the letter from the Sacred Con gregation for Divine Worship, July 8, 1971).

These Praenotanda were supposed to introduce an 'Ordinarium" (a sort of m::x:1el of the structure of the various Hours) and a number of different schemata for the distribution of psalms (these schemata included someof the elements of a breviary: however, the psalms, hymns, and readings, etc., were reduced to only their incipits)•

Note. the bulk of this material was included in the first two issues of Liturgy O.C.S.O. 7/1-2 (1973). Included in this dossier was "The Office: A Progress Report", by Fr.Gerard Dubois, based on his report "Ou en est la question de l'Office", which first appeared in Liturgie4 (1973); Spanish translation in Cisterciwn 131 (1973), .193 ff.

2. At that time we waiting for what might be said at the Congress of Benedic tine Abbots, scheduled to take place in September, 1973.a- The text of the Praenotanda had been subjected to stylistic

and redac tional corrections just before the Congress. Moreover, the over-all project was given the title: "Institutio generalis Liturgiae Horarurn pro monasteriis"•

(This had been done at the suggestion of Mgr .Bugnini, who had been given a oopy of the text.)

This version of the text is found in the Supplement of the present Report.

At the Congress of Benedictine Abbots, the discussion found n.10 of the text srniething of a stumbling-block : it mentions only four sche m:i.ta for the distribution of psa1ms (plus the one prescribed by the Rule) :

• a slight majority of the Abbots accepted, in point of fact, the hypothesis that experimentation had lasted long enough, and that the time had cane to draw up a series of propositions -in keep ing with the desire expressed by the Sacred Congregation for Di vine V\brship -as detailed and precise as those of the Institutio;

• but the rest of the Abbots disagreed .

b- Attention finally shifted from the Institutio and its Praenotanda (so far as I know, none of this material was the object ·of a vote , and focussed on a project for a Declaration. In its earlier stage, it had been intended

simply to express the spirit in which the Congress meant to approve the Institutio.

86

Ratifying a distinction proposed by Dan Ghesquieres, President of the Benedictine Congregation of the Annunciation -a distinction between "experi.rrentation" (which ought to cease, according to the majority vote) and the ''experience" of each monastery (an experience which is the result of prior experinentation, and which ought, on the contrary, to be confirned under the control of the usual monastic organs of authority, as being the best fruit of the local liturgical refo:rm)

the Congress gave reCXJgnition, by a vote of 180 to 23, to the legitimacy of a three-fold attitude (or "way") :- Continue the practice codified by the Rule of St.Benedict;

- follCM one of the schemata of the proposed Institutio, in keep- ing with the no:rms defined in the Praenotanda.

- continue with the implementation of the schema adopted by each respective monastery as a result of the nCM te:rminated period of experimentation.

(please note that this last proposal rejects the principle of tmiformity of the Liturgy of the Hours as the level of the Bene dictine Confederation as a whole; but it does not reject the principle of s t a b i l i t y of the liturgy within a given local oorrrnu nity. It would seem that Dom Ghesquieres' inte:rvention went still farther:

the fo:rm of conmunity prayer should be able to evolve relative to that cx:mnunity's experience of prayer.)

The text of the adopted D e c l a r a t i o is included in the Supplerrent .NOI'E : In order to understand this text, it has to be remembered that the Congress of Abbots enjoys no juridical pcMer in the proper sense: only the General Chapters of each Congregation (or Province, as the case may be) have legislative power. When a decision is made by theAbbots gathered at the Congress, this means simply that what the Abbots later decide at their General Chapters will rerrain within the limitsof certain margins recognized at the Congress. There is nothing to keepthe various General Chapters from adopting more detailed and stricter measures with regard to this or that detail, or even with regard to the ensemble of the question.

c- I was taking for granted that the Inter-Order Canmission (o.s.B., O.Cist.,

0.C.S.O.) would have a meeting to examine the "modi" proposed for the text of the :Praenotanda and. the Institutio. In point of fact, nothing could be organized. It even seems that the Benedictines lost sight of the text of the projects, since all their attention, as has just been explained, had focussed

on the Declaration. As a matter of fact, the Abbots' wish to have the orientations approved by the Congress receive the sanction of the Holy See has not (yet) been granted. Rather, the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship is urging that the redaction of the Institutio (texts of the Office according to the various schenata)· be ccropleted.(With respect to the t u s p e r an n um, a project basedon the Solesmes A n t i p h o n a r i um M o n a s t i cum was finished in 1973.}

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3. What should we plan on f or our caning General Chapter?

Should we try to shape up and approve the text of a Declaratio n analogous to the one of the Benedictine Abbots?A General Chapter has legislative powe..rs. It rould well take measures nore roncrete than a simple Declaration -measures which would result in the equivalent of a Declaration , while at the same time ronfo:rming tothe desire expressed by the majority of the capitulants as f onnulated in past chapters.

[Note: Fr. rard is here referring to the 1971 vote to the ef fect that any future liturgical legislation roncerningthe Of f ice should be as f lexible as the present "loi-cadre"]

I think that the General Chapter ought to:

a- discuss and possibly approve the Institutio shaped up as the general Of f ice norms ccrnmon for the whole Benedictine f amily. This would es sentially include:

- the Praenotanda- the Ordinarium- the 4 psalm-distributi on schemata.

(The detailed presentation of these latter , with the antiphon- and verset-texts, and with the incipits of psalms , hymns , and readings , does not have to be examined in detail. Moreover , not all nonasteries have received copies, because of the excessive costs involved . Saneof the elements can be found in Liturgy 7/1 (February 1973) , pp.69-100.)

NOI'E 1: With respect to the psalm-distribution schemata -

There are sane who would like these to be further touched up before being presented to the Holy See f or approbation.

We have to take account , hc:Mever , of the dif f iculties this would involve: these schemata have to be ccmron to the whole Benedictine f ami ly, and experience shows how dif f icult it woold be to interest the Bene dictine "experts" in a re-working of these schemata.

Besides, is a "perfect" distribution of psalms even possible? An exhaustive study of the various liturgical traditions (starting with that of the Synagogue) would only make clear that the psalms have beenused in many , many dif f8rent ways. Only a fE!W psalms (62 , 140 , 150 • . • ) can claim to have a really well established place in tradition.The rtant thing is the value of the J?rinciples operative in the va rious aistribution schemata. These principles are nore important thanthe points of detail. In the case of the 4 proposed schemata, the opera tive principles are of assured worth.

NOI'E 2 :The Chapter ought to express itself especially as regards the

content of these docunents. It can , obviously , present arrendrrents touching on the textual redaction and style. But the text , remember , has to be ccm:ron to the three monastic branches. Changes in the pro ject , then, will have to be the object of a canpranise within the

88

rnerrbership of the inter-Order Ccmnission. So it is advisable tomake a distinction between those points concerning which the Chapter wants its position to be respected (points which touch on the

substance of the document} and those other points(doubtless those which touch on the fonn of the docurrent and its style} which the members of the inter Order Ccnmission can be authorized to settle.

b- We shall have to clarify f o r o ur awn O r d e r certain points of the Institutio carrmon to the whole rronastic family.- The decision made at the Chapter of 1967(pp .70-72 of the French text) concerning the nmIDer of the Little Hours in choir will have to be ratified (er m:xlified}; this is spelled out in more detail in n.5 of the 1969 "lei-cadre" (the terms are stricter here than in n.6 of the Praenotanda text)•

--Reminder:Nonu 4 of the Statute on Unity and Pluralism specifies the time for Vigils (after rising from sleep, and with the nocturnal dlarac ter of Vigils maintained)•

c- As regards the (obvious) faculty for continuing to follav the prescrip tions of the Rule -nothing special has to be decided, since the princi ple is explicitly enunciated in the Praenotanda of the Institutio.Cf.a.

d- With regard to the "third way" fonnulated at the Benedictine Congress of Abbots, namely, the possibility of each monastery being able to follow through along the lines of its own aa::i:uired "experience", or, at least the possibility of each rronastery keeping its present schema for the distribution of psalms the General Chapter already expressed its de sire back in 1971, when, by a vote of 60 to 13, it hoped that "any future legislation concerning the Divine Office would keep the same flexi bility ensured by the present lei-cadre" (decision 36)•

This desire, already presented to the Holy See in the Report on our implementation of the faculties granted in virtue of the Indult of May 24, 1969 (p.52 of the Acts of the General Chapter of 1971), can theo retically be given concrete expression in either of two ways:- either by a request for the renewal of our lei-cadre indult; however, it can be doubted that this initiative would have a positive result (last January 8, 1974, Mgr .Bugnini made it clear to our Procurator General that this indult cannot be subject to an indefinite prolonga- tion};

- or else by a request for the approbation of the particular schemata currently used in our monasteries, on oondition, however, that these particular schemata respect the principles enunciated in the Praeno tanda of the Institutio, and in the details specified by the General Chapter (see above, paragraphs a and b); a more specific

request oould be made with regard to those schemata followed by s e v e r al monasteries (Schema 'C'' a one-week cycle without repetitions -and Schema "D"- for the Irish region; cf. Liturgy 5/2 (July 1971), pp .1000-113). As regards these two schemata, we can make the most of the fact, when addressing ourselves to the Holy See, that the necessity for a canrron agreement with the Benedictines and the Camion Observance kept us fran specifying in the Institutio the 4 schemata most used in our Order.

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89

e- We should ask the Holy See for pe:r:mission to use the traditional C is te r c i an A n ti p h o n aq, even for those who might celebrate the Of- fice in Latin in keeping with the nonns of the Institutio (the pro jects of the Institutio are redacted, as a matter of fact, with ref erence to the Solesmes Antiphonarium Monasticum )•

IN SUMMARY, at the General Chapter, we have to plan on several votes:- with regard to our acceptance of the Instit u t i o • • • pro

monasteriis CPraenotanda, Ordinarium, schemataJ ;the voting would be done part by part, or paragraph by paragraph of the Praenotanda, according to the amendments which might possibly be pro posed;

- with regard to the mandate to be given to the members of the Liturgy Can mission who would participate in an inter-Order Carmission, in order to ratify whatever corrections in points of detail might later be suggested by this Crnlmission, after our own General Chapter has been held;

- with regard to the precisions to be made f o r o u r CMI1 O r d e r with respectto the nonns of the Institutio (dliefly the number of Little Hours tobe prayed in choir or in c:orrnnon );

- with regard to the presentation to tl1e Holy See of a request for the approbation:• of sdlernata for t.lie distribution of psalms other than those of the Institutio schemata currently being follcwed in monasteries of our Order twe would want to receive, if possible, a global approbation);

• of the faculty to use the traditional Cistercian Antiphonary, even in the context of the new Jit;titutio.

APPENDIX: Status estionis for the preparation of the "Propers" for Mass and Office. (Saints of the Cistercian Monastic Calendar, that is to say, those saints not found in the Roman Calendar • . •)- Lectionaries:

The hagiographical part has been ready (and was sent to the Abbots) since 1970 . This project has to be touched to bring it into hanrony with the ne.v approved Calendar of our Order.The patristic supplerrent trentioned by the Institutio (Praenotanda,n.121 is well on the way to being finished, under the direction ofDan Henry Asm..-orth, 0.S •B.

Proper Prayers:Saints cx:::rmron to the three branches of the Benedictine family:sane dozen texts have already been redacted. The

enserrble will be revised by Dan A.Dumas, o.s.B.The Cistercian saints:Fr.Ch.rysogonus and Dan Bernard Kaul are at work on this project.

- Mass and Office chants. Could these not be taken fran the various Ccmnons?

- Do we need a proper preface for St.Benedict and for St. Bernard?

90

SUPPLEMENTINSTITUTIO GENEPALIS LITURGIAE HOF.AR.JM PID MJNASTERIIS

PRAENCYI'ANDA

NOTE: This is the Zast version presen ted at the Benedictine Congress of Abbots in September , 19?3. The text was not voted on by the Congress.Only the first 9 nn . were discussed, and a few emendations pr>oposed. Ac cording to a letter from Dom Vincent, lated Dec. 26, 1973, these emend ments were in surrmary:n.l The Abbot of Solesmes regrets that there is no mention of the

specific character of the monastic liturgy.

n.6 Several remarks, especially with regard to the Little Hours; some quest! their present day value, since our conception of the day is different ' from that of the 6th century .

n.7 Proposal to suppress "semper" . Does a hymn which is not s u n g have any real meaning? One thought that the reading from Scripture could be replaced by a non-biblical text, e.g., at the Little Hours.

n.9 Proposal to omit "repetita. sua antiphona" .

1o Haec praenotanda minime int ndunt tradere doctrinam de Liturgia Horarum sed nee eius volunt momentum illustrare in vita christianaf haec enim abundantissime exposita inveniuntur in Regula Sancti · Benedict tum in documentis Concilii Vaticani II, cum in Institu• tione generali de Liturgia Horarum (IGLH).,

Nostrum tantum hie est indicare praesertim quae ulteriorem deter• minationem postulant, ut Liturgia Horarum melius concretae situa tmoni monachoru.m et moniiit lium respondeat.,

2 o Etsi communitates monasticae •ecclesiae particulares' proprio senq non sunt, nee a solis clericis constituuntur, tamen 8cclesiam ora tem specialiter repraesentant; etenim exmplar Ecclesiae 9 quae siM intermissione concordi voce Dominum laudat

plenius exhibent et officium explent 0

adlaborandi' imprimis oratione ad aedificationem e t incr ementum t ot iu s myst ic i corporis Chr ist i e t in bonum Eccle• siarum particulari um (confer IGLH 24).

3.In Liturgia Horarum a Communitatibus mona3ticie ordinata, Ecclesia vmcem agnoscit suam et per hiernrchicam austoritatem incessanter invigilat ut haec eadem oratio w dum exigentiis peculiaribus singu• larum communitatum respondet, semper tamen r1yster ii christiani exprimendi praestantiam serveto

4 o Ea quae primitue a Regula Sancti Benedicti ac deinde ab ordinatio• nibus ec clesia st ic!s c irca Liturgiam Hor:arum disposita sunt respi• ciunt munus eandem liturgiam persolvendi -- sive cantando sive recitando -- in CHORO. Abbati tamen cura et ius est determinandim odum quo singuli communitatis sod a le s partes in ea habeant o

S o Liturgia Horarum ordinatur secundum Regulam Sancti Benedicti paae.. cepta , quae semper vitam orationis monachorum pe r tempora elapsa aluerunt eamque hodie Oitdhuc animare queunt. Nihilominus f;;t

culta1a gnosci tur <A ptandi haec eadem praecepta condicionibus nost r i tern•poris 9 quae ali<A e in aliis regionibus habentur t

percipiunturo (Best Copy Available)

91

5.Cum Liturgia Horarum huic spectet ut dies totaque operositaa humana sane t if'ic entur ( c on:f' o IGLH 10-11) , communita.s ri1onastica hunc f'inem attingere intendit per celebrationem illarum orationie horarum 9quae a Patribus traditae sunt.

Hoa tamen Prima omitti poteste.

Etsi Horae minores extra chorum pera i valeant, in communi tamen semper celebrentur. Si, vero, Vigiliae sero anticipantur,-Cemple torium priv.atim r#jcitari potP-rit.

Sive ratione pastorali, sive alia rationabili circumstantia suadente 9unam ex tribus Boris minoribus : Tertia 9 Sexta et Nona, seligere licet temperi tliei ma ."is congruentem.

Si Hora quaedam Of'ficii cum alia Hor'1 vel cum Hissa coniungitur, observantur ea quae in IGLT 93 99 pra escr ibu ntur o

7 o Liturgia Horarurr. ito. instrua tur , ut semper habeatur, praemi .sso hymno psalmodia, deinde longior vel brevis lectio Sacrarwn Scripturarum, deinde deprecationes (confer IGLH 33).Nonnulla elementa in Officio, praecipue illa qune s11Lnt generis lyrici, ut v.g. hymni, per se requirunt cantum o

111

Si Lit ur gia Hora.rum li.u r;ua verna cula ce lebrn tur , el em enta tra.d i t io nalia et praesertim cuntus ingenio linuae necnon indoli uniuscuius que communitatis aptari possunto

B . Cum Laudes, ut precee m.i t u tinae 9 et Ve sperl e 1 u t preces ve sper t inae 9

e venerabili univer sae Ecclesiae traditione duplex car<lo Of'ficii cot idiani 9 Horne praecipuae habendae sint et ita celebrandae; in quantum fieri potest, cantentur.

9 . Pro opportunitate et 1rudentia, a d plenum voe is Spiritus Sanet i in cordibus resonantiam m ssequendam , et ad oru tionem per sona lem arctiue cum Verbo Dei ac publica Ecclesiae voce coniungendam, spatiwn si lentii interponi licet aut post singulos psaln1os? repe t ita sua anti phona., secundnm morem maiorum, et pruecmpue si, post silentium 7adcl itur oratio p f_; n lmica , o u t post lectiones sive br eves sive longiore:s:et quidem sive n nt e sive post responsorium (con:fer IGUI 202)o

:> . Psd\lmorum distributio fieri potest: vel secundum ordinem in Regula Sanc t i Benedicti dispositum , vel secundum unum ex in:frascriptis schematibusi additis pro opportunitate et condicione locorum apta t ionibu s .

L o Cursus biennellis Lectionum biblicarum pt'o Litur ,g ia Horarum secundum ritum romanum stabili tus obse1vetur, si opportunum videtur (confer mGLH 145-146).

a. Supplementum continens Lectiones Patrum et Scriptorum ecclesia .sticorm alias ab ritu romano paratur pro usu r' ona steriorum. Insuper t am en Abbas, asl!rnntiente communitute 9 n1ios tcxtus seligere valet, observatis normis de hue re s. Sede e<litiso

(Best Copy Available)

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2

92

The following schemata have already been circulated at an earlier date, but are here re-copied for your convenience.

N o Bo Sequentia schemata ad;;t ptari possunt .secundum numerum Horarum minorum, ad mentem n o 6 Prat'!notandorum oHie froducitur sola orma pro 7 horis cotidianis.

SCHRMA I - P.salterium per unam hebdemadam distributum

sine repetitione psalmorum.

Vigiliae Laudes Tertii: Sexta Nona Vesperae ComJ'le•Inv. II

17 9 :> a-d 1 13A 90Dominica 80/109 44 92 118 117 135

112 '*2 71 29 11JB 133

146/147 114/115

eria I28/ 1 93 99 118 24 119 32 .33103 104 62 e-g J.2 0 6070 111 100 121 27134

-·-- ...-- ·-----·-- ,_ 47

Feria Ill 66/ 6 73 97 118 t11/1t2 12;! 74 138106 72 89 h-j L.!.3 1397 76 64 12 4 :d5

116 144

F er ia IV 45/ 77 18 96 118 43 125 10231

131 57 35 k-m 126 85 61118 56 127 8 4 13281 1t.1: 9 86

F eria V 23/ 38 49 l16 118 54 128 110 10136 67 75 n-p 129 2 240 82 5 130 83

148 39

F eria VI 8/ 87 59 95 118 21 10 143 3068 105 142 q-s 11 14037 78 63

1'..i.141

145- -sabbato 94/ 58 136 98 118 34 51 65 14

108 88 50 t-v 13 19 1655 79 91 53 20 15

150 -- - 137

-·---

66 I 62 117 Cant. 1118-150

116 I 50 5 Cant o 11 8 116 I

eminioa 109 110 112 Cant .. NT sicut in prima heria II 11 113 C;;i.nt o NT 1:l 4 115 128 Cant. NT

ria III 129 130 131 Cant. NT 129 131 132 Cant. NT

!ria IV 135 136 137 Cant o NT 134 136 137 Cant. NT

9ria V 138 140 Cant o NT 138 139

Cant. NT

!ria V I 141 1411:

Cant., NT 1111

143 Cant. NT

Cant o 148Cant. 11 9-

1.50Cant. 148

(Best Copy Available) 93

SCHEMA II - Psalterium per dua8 hebdomadas distributum, iuxta ordinem numericum.

Hebdomada I

Vh;ilia e

eminica 3 94 I 20 21 2 2 23 26 27 28 29

eria II 133 I 1 7 9 11 16 18 19 25eria III 133 I 30 32 33 34 38 40eria IV 133 I 47 48 49 51 52 54 55 57eria V 133 I 68 6 9 71 7 4 76 78 79eria VI 133 I B o 82 83 84 85 93 95 96abba to 133 I 100 10.3 106 108

Hebdomada II

&icut in prima hebdomada133 I 2 8 10 12 14 15 17 2 4133 I 36 .39 43 44 45 46133 I 58 59 60 61 65 67 70133 I 72 73 77133/ 81 R6 88 92 97 98 99 101133 I 102 104 105

Laude• ominica eria II

sicut in prima hebdomada

50 35er ia l 116 I 6 41-42 CAnt o 149-150 "1 16 I 6 56eria IV 116 I 50 6l1 Cant. 148 116 I 50 63eria V 116 I 31 87 Cant .. 149-150 116 I 31 89 Cant. 149-1.50

eria VI 116 I 50 53 Cant. 148 116 I 50 75 Cant. 148abba to 116 I 37 9 1 Cant. 149-150 116 I 37 t l.!2 Cant o 149-150

Veirperae

ebdomada

lbba to 145 146 147 Cant. NT sicut in prima hebdomada

Horae Ninore.e

tminica Tertia 118 vv.1-32 ( 4 x 8 )

Sexta 118 VV o 33•56(3 X 8)Nona 118 VV o 57-fi8 (4 x 8)

u. Tertia 119 120 121

118 vv .. 89-120 (4 x 8)118 vv .. 121-144 (3 x 8)118 VV o 145-176 (4 x 8)sicut in prima hebdomada

liebuse

exxtaa122 123 12 4

- -Nona 125 126 127

Cem:pletorium

- - -Dominica, Pso 4 + 90 + Cant. 1nc Dimittis

aliis diebuB Pe. 90 + Cant ..

Nunc Dimittis

Feria IV 133 I 77Feria V 133 I 57 9 11*3 133 I 25 48 78 82 141 t

l.l 488 133 I 12 16 51t 108 139

Feria I 116 I 49 5Feria III 116 I 72 83Feria IV 116 I 101 6

110 116 /102111 116 I 38

112 116 I 85

113B 116 I 62 91 - 148114 116 I 39 1ti2 - 149

Tertia 118 VV o 1-32 (4 x

8) 118 VV o 89-120

(4

X 8)Sexta 1

18vv.35-56 ( 3 x 8) 118 VV o 121-

144(3

X 8)Nona 1

18vv 57-88

(4

x 8) 118 vv .145-176

(4

x 8)Fer.II,IV,VI

Tertia 119 120 121

Sexta 122 123 12 4

Nona 125 126 127

- -

-

-

-

I

(Best Copy Available)94SCHEMA III - Paalterium per duaa hebdomadas diatributu111

iuxta ordinem non numerioum.

Hebdemada I Hebdomada II

Vi.11:iliae

Dominica 94 I 17 24 26 27Feria I 133 I 13 34 53 11* 105

Feria I 133 I '.l 3 61 76 13811 41 + 4258 59

F eria VI 133 I 3 7 15Sabbat• 133 I 1 71 79 84 86 102

94 I 28 29 3033 65133 I 36 51 10 104

133 I 55 69 70 74 81 93133 I 106 60 73 Bo

133 I 8 18 4:4 1* 5 47 84

L auciea

Dominica 66 I 50 117 Cant .ve1150lectio VT -

sicut in prima hebdomada

3 Cant .. vel 11556 lectio VT 14:5

3 - 64 - 146

Feria v 116 I 100 87 - 113A

Feria VI 116 I 6 75 -Sabbato 116 I 37 142

Vesperae

Dominica 109 2 Cant. ve l 46Feria I 18 47 lectio NT

95Feria III 67 - 96Feria IV 115 134 - 97Feria v 136 140 - 98Feria VI 21 - 92

Sabbate 44 137 - 23Horae minorea Dominica

116 I 31 89 - 147

sicut in prima hebdomada19 20 Cant .. vel 95

103 lecti-o NT 96135 143 - 9732 40 - 98

6C - 9921... 1- 23

FeroIII,V,VIITertia

SextaNona

119 120 121

128 129 130

15'1.

132 ••w-

sicut in p

rima

hebdomada

- d ,., -

SCHEMA IV - Psalterimn Liturgiae secundum ritumromanum ad cursum menasticum duarwn hebde

DominicA 110, 111, 121 135 71 112, 113Feria II 83, 84, 86 134 5, 10, 14 4o, 1•5 9 46

T ertia Hebd. I, assumuntur psalmi HoraeIIebd,,II,

l'fodiae L.

H. hebd .. Ihebd.,Sexta

Hebd. I., - - hebd.hebd.

IIIV

- t •

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

,95

madarum aptatum ..

Pro .Laudibu• et Vesperis

Omnia .sumuntur sicut in Litur,gia Horarum pro:ponuntur.Ita, si Christifideles adveniunt in nostris celebrationibu •, activam partem habere possunt cum suis libris, absque ulla difficultate oIstae Horae secundum cursum 4 hebdomadarum persolvuntur.Ut tamen psalterium integrum infra spatium du a r um hebdgmadarumpersolvatu r,pealmi hebdomadarum III et IV assumuntur pro hora Non , hebdoma dabue I et II9 et vice versa, secundum tabulam sequentem :

Quando assumitur pro Laudibus et Vesperiaschema I f I t III IVDICUNTUR PRO HORA NONA psalmi z

Feria III 92, 95 v 100 137, 140 9 148 15, 18B t

19 47, 48

Feria IV 97'981 107 138 20 g 26 56, 61, 62Feria v 1229 123 124 1(f3 ') 8 29 , 31 64 75, 96Feria VI 125, 1269 130 144 32, 35 807 149Sabbato 131, 136 141, 145, 146 41, 1.1:2 114, 1151 129

-----·----P re aliis Haris minoribus

I

Hebd o II9

Pro CompletorioOmnia dicuntur ut in Liturgia Horarum romanavel, ad 1ibitum 1 quotidie epetuntur psalmi 4, 90 et 133.

Pr o Vigiliia 9 a ssumi t ur Of'f icium Lectionis du a rum h ebdoma darum , l!C o &

H,..e_b..d_o_m_a_d_a_ _ IDominica Feria II Feria III Feria IV Feria V Feria VI

L o If o Dom o I (Ps.19 2, 3) et Dom a IV ( Ps . 23, 65) L., H .Fer.2/I (Ps. 6 9 9) et Fer o 2/IV (Ps. 72) L.Ho Fer .. 3/I (Ps. 9B7 11) et Fer e 3/IV ( Ps ., 101)L.. H. Fer.L1/I ( Ps o 17A) et Fero 5/I ( Ps o 17B ) Lo Ho Fer.4./ "IV (Pso 102 ) et Fero 5/IV ( P s o

43) L.Ho Fer.6/I ( Ps o 34)et Sa b o ! (Pso

104)Sabbato •• Lo H o Fer.6/"IV ( Ps a 77A) et Sab ."IV ( Ps . 77B)

,..Hebdomada IIDominica : L .H o Dom. II (Ps.103) et Dom ., I(Ps .. 144)

Feria II

.• L o H o Fer .. 2/II (Ps. 30 ) et Fer.2/III

(Ps. 49)Feria III : Lo Ho Fer.,3/II ( Ps a 36) et Fero 3/III ( Ps o 67)Feria IV

..L.E. Fer .11/Il (Ps. 38) et Fero 5/II (Pe. 43)

Feria V g L .fl Fero 4/III ( Ps o8UA) et Fer .. 5/III ( Ps o88B 7 89) Feria VI : L o II., Fer.,6/II ( Ps o 37 ) et Fer o 6/III (Ps, 68) Sabbato L o H o Sab,II ( Ps o 105 ) et Sab.III (Ps. 106 )

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0 R D I N A R I U M LITURGIAE MON.AG'l'ICAE IIORJ\RUM

pro opportunitate adhibendum

1. Introd tio Officji semper praeponenda primae Horae dieia) Versus Domine, labia mea apories

H./ _;:t os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam Gloria Patri.o .

b ) InvitatoriumPs . 91.!- vel alius secundum diversa

schemata,cun aua antiphona quae resurnitur post unaroq uamque strmpham

2.VigiliE?-ea) Introductio Horae (nisi sit prima diei)

V, · Deus, in adiutorium meum intendeH1 Domine, ad adiuvandum me festina

Gloria Patri.(rro opportunitate adc1itur Alleluia - non tamen tompore Quadragesimae - quod valet de aliis Horis)

b ) Hymnus congruusc) Psalmodia

Unusquisque psalmus vel divisio psalrni instruitur sua ant iphona aut alio mode qui genus litterarium eius melius in lucem ponil, Praeterea unicuiq ue psalmo praemitti pot e st titulus ad perc ipi endum facilius sensum psalmi et ad suggerendum quoooodo fiat or2,-cio Christi ct ' cclcsiae, atque nc'di potest oratio psalmica intarosito pro op ortunitate spatio silentii. Hoc valet de p.so.L10dia aliarum liorarum.

d ) V$r:sus transitorius e·c TC/e) J_iectio de Sacra :;cri-ptura, cum suo re:sponsorio, interposito pro

ovDortunitate, ante v l post responsorium, spatio silentii .

f Psalmodia ut supraVersus transito ius et !t1,

Jioctio de Auctoribus ecclesiastic is , s(:ctmdum quad 0.icitur in rraenotandis, cum rosponsorio ut supra e)

i ) 2!2i§i_@2 S ! - -f !, adduntur elementa sequen

seclna:um guanuioet structuram descriitamvel A ) Tria Cantica ub congruenti antiphona

et vesus transitoriusIIomili<t e JectionaI'.io l'Io.nastico vel ab Abbate habita responsoriumHymnus r - D ;mM (cuiuE ultima pars ad libitum omitti potestJi:vangelium vel de Dominica, vel pro opportunitate ex alio circulo annuali desumptum, vel etiam de 3ollo111nitate .- aut Festa, vel de Resurrectione secundum Lit.Hero ritus romd

R/ AmenT: n:,c :T IJAUS

- Vel B) Tria Cantica sub congruenti antiphona IIymnus 1 r: ff ;UM ( cuius ultima pars.0 .):'vangelium, ut supra, et : v AmenTE D.EC E LAUSHomilia e Lectionario Monastico vel ab Abbate habita P.esponsorium

vel C) Tria Cantica sub congruenti antiphona:':::vangelium, ut supra, et H/ Amen:::ro opportunitate f it lectio patrintica vel homilia ab Abba''rE DEUM. . --,

s

97

j ) Conclusio Officii.In memoriis et feriis, :Iyrie eleison••• vel parva litania, nempe--·pro-·fratrious-aosentibus' pro defunctis et aliis••Orcmus (sacrum silentium).Oratio conclusiva.Bonedicamus Domino R,' Deo Bratias

3. I iaudes e c V c : . s .J 2 e .£_aea) Introductio Horae, sicut in Vigiliis ct secundum diversa schemata b )Hymnus congruus . I?ro opportuni t ate hymnus dici potest, sicut in

dicatur in Hecula, post lectionem et responsorium.J?salrnodiaLectio de Sacra Scripture, sive brevis sive longior ·

cum suo responsorio brevie ) Canticum vangolicum , cum sua antiphona

f ) Oonclusio Officii ·=yrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrio eleison,

vel, ro 09portunitate, preces conclusivae instar precationumquae inveniuntur in Liturgia Horarum ritus romani

PN1.1. It rmsr11:, n sive ab .:\.bbate, fratribus in fine responder.ti bus, sive ab omnibus simul

Oratio conclusiva (sine Oremus) vel de die, vel Rorae, vel dSancto -----·-

Benedicamur3 Domino R/ Deo gra·i;ias

'+· Ho r ae l\_i_r.1or_esa ) Introductio Horae, sicut in Vigiliisb ) Hymnus de Hora

:Psalii10diaLectio brevis de Sacra Scriptura cum versiculo et responsione

e ) Conclusio Of iicii::,,:3rrie eleison. a a vel parva J.. itania' nompe pro f.ratribus ab sen. tibus, pro defunctis et aliis . Oemus (sacrum silentium)Oratio conclusivaDenedicamus :uomino H/ Den gratias

5. Coi11ple_:lJ_?_;t:::!:_.!Qa) Praeparatio Uorae , pro

opportunitate Fiori potest lcctio spiritualisversus Converte nos, Deus aalutaris nester,

R· Et avorto iram tuam a nobis.Silentiu sacrum et conscientiae discussio quam sequi potest

Co11Xij;_egr _ Deo et M:t

se:r:_eatur, sicut in Missa

b) Ubi non habetr haec praeparatio, introductio norao sicut in Vigiliis

c IIym.nus Horao d

Psalrnodiae Lectio brevis de Sacra Scripturaf versus Cus g .QJ _ nos .••

vol responsorium breve I n Ill_§: _ n u s t _ uas 1;

g Pro op})ortunito.te, Canticun Gimeonis cum sua antiphona S alva nos h Conclusio Horao et diei

· yrie eleison vel rn1rva litania. sicut in Boris

-versttG_

Mino:tibus Oremus (sacrum silentium)Oratio conclusiva Horae1\ntipbona l-12.rinno. cum, pro opportuni-Co.te, oratione sua Benedictio Denedicat et custodiat nos •••

vel alius vus--co - n g r uus, sicut No_9_t.. pi_ g_uiei2._am .,

98

N .D. a comPJemoratio pro fratribus absentibus et :fidelibus defunctis locum non habuerit inter litaniam, tune fieri 9otcst in fine Horae iucta consuetudinem.

Congressus Abbatum OSB / 1973

D E C L A R A T I 0

DE L ITURG IA HORAHill-1 IUXTA R ITUM I10Nl'.STICUM

t . Abbates Prioresque conventuales OSB profitentur Liturgiam Horarum. primarii esse nomenti in vita spirituali cuiuslibet communitatis monasticae ; agnoscunt in"hac suarum communitatum Liturgia vocem Ecclesiae universalis, quae dum exigentiis parti cularibus respondet, semper tamen et ubique mysterii christiani exp iMendi praesta'ntiaM servat.

In eadem autem vita spirituali per Liturgiarn constituenda hodie duae aperiuntur viae aequali ratione validae et possibiles.

a) Harum viarum prima consistit in sequendo ordinem OperisDei a Regula s. Benedict sta tutum , qui per tot saecula abundanter vitam orationis communitatum monasticarum enutrivit.

Hae de causa Abba tes Prioresque OSB facere non possunt quin amplissime omnes illos laudent, qui sibi proponunt fideliter tenere et servare traditionalem 11 ordinem 11 Regulae S. Benedicti, dum tamen asserunt se nihil negligere velle de iis quae Cone.Vaticanum II ad renovandam Liturgia Horarum proposuit.

b) Secunda via est illa quam Concilium Vaticanum Iomnibus aperuit, deterninata voluntate declarans utile et necessarium fore ut ad reforMationem Liturgiae Horarum procederetur.

· 1 .

Abbates Prioresque OSB accedentes ad desiderium omnium ill orum qui eandem reformationen auspicantur pro Liturgia Horarum monas tica , item non Minari anplitudine laudant omnes illos qui, prae oculis habentes principia quae Regula S. Benedicti de ordinatione et spiritu Liturgiae Ilorarun <licit , hanc reformationem secuti sunt et in opere Miserunt eo praecipue intentu ut formam sibi magis consentaneam verae et vivae orationis invenirent. Bene enim Abbates et Priores OSB sibi conscii sunt refornationem Liturgiae Horaru in monasteriis easdem secutam esse rationes quas Cone.Vaticanurn II pro reforrnatione Liturgiae in Ecclesia edixit : Necessitatem nempe structuras illas in oratione recuperandi, quae facilioreM reddat homini hodierna orati onem quae sit profundiori

1 sehu spiritualis et viva , eo quad intimiore contentum theolo gicum servet et insimul Melius aptetur novis anthropologici exigentiis: Necessitatem iterum se aptandi ad differcntias cultu rales, locales, abientales quae omnimodo extra causam ponunt fixam unifor itatem liturgican.

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2.Accurata ·in monasteriis ormibus inquisitio f'ac ta , duo elementa

revelavit.

1"laxiri1i.

"lonenti :

a ) In f'ere oMnibus conmunitatibus monasticis prof'undus • motus existit renovati siritus orationis:

b) In quamplurimis monasteriis iste motus ultum traxit pro f'ectum ex Indulto a Consilio acl exsequendam Constitutionem deS. Liturgia concesso (29 dee. 1968). Hoc eniM Indultumonasteriis permisit practice ut sibi propriam et consentaneam Liturgiam Horarum , quae apprime responderet spiritui tum tradition •monas ticae antiquioris tum illius renovationis, quam nova a Vaticano II principia liturgiaa et ecclesiologica

suggerebant;

Haec eadem nona steria per suos .\bbate s et Priore s c larum te sti monium dant unanimitcr se Multa beneficia spiritualia in pro ectum totius suae vitae ex hac renovata Liturgia Horarum traxisse et semper adhuc traherc.

Ex eadem inquisitione in nonasteriis facta innotuit :

a ) r·lulta esse nionf\ stcrin <JlHl e malunt "ordinem" Re ulaeS. Benedicti fidclitcr servare in posterum ;

b) QuaiTipluri1•1a taMen Monasteria libenter recepi sse programma renovationis Liturgiac Horarum , quod Concilium Vnt. II proposuit , quodque duobus nodis a r1onnsteriis nc tuatum fuit': nertpe sive noviter distribucndo 150 psalnos in una vel in duabus hebdomadibus, secunduM varia schenata. ad hoc expresse parata a Conmissione li turgica Ordinis, sivc propriur1 sibi dando "ordinem 11 , qui post repetita sed iam nunc dofini tn et ccssata "experiF.!enta 11 , formaf'l stabilem in unoquoque r,10nasterio celebrandi LiturgiW'l?Horarum accepit.

c ) Absque ullo dubio fore·ut g;ravi ter turbarentur fl'l onastcria , si hodie ad nihilun reduceretur tantus eorum nisus - uniformi proomnibus inposita cclebra tionc Liturgiae Horarum - cui formam inve nirent ora tionis, quac semper servatis characteribus Litur iae nonasticae , suis responderet exigentiis ct cmrcumstantiis vitae.

Litur ia Horarum , quac his intentis et finibus renova ta est in monasteriis, ortuM duxit ex coMmuni studio onniurn

embrorum com Munitatis et eo tandeM facta est forma stabilis - experinentis cessantibus - ex c onsensu capituli Mnnasterii, cui acccssit approbatio sive bba tuM Pra esi nho-sive CapituloruM generalium propriae Congrcgationis, utpote eorurn quibus ante ornnes alios conpetit onus, ex iure particulari, et invigilandi super sanam doctrinam quae exprinitur in Liturgia , sive promovcndi per ipsam Liturgiam progressun spiritualem c oMmunitatuM et singulorum,mo'nachorun.

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5 . His onnibus considera tis, l.bba te s Prioresque 01.,., nes sed praecipue hbbates praesides Congre a tionum confoederatarum OSD, utpote supeioe sui iuris, hu iliter rognnt S. Seden ut velit confirrnare sua auctoritate totuM illum ac tantum nisum renova tionis Liturgiae Horarum , quen r1onasteria perfecerunt , sive in ipsis 1'1onasteriis retinendus c ensentur 11

ordo 11 Regulae S. Ben,2dicti, 11ive in plurimis ipsoum sequenda retineatur esse Liturgia Horarum renova te ad Menten toncilii Vat. II et insimul ad Mentem Indulti a S.C. pro Cultu divino c oncesso (29 dee. 1968) et per litteris eiusdems. Congregationis (8 iulii 1971) renovato et Melius explica to.

SF8C IHEN £ITURGIAE MONAS'J!ICAE HORAHUM

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IS ec u n ft u _ m Rem . l A m_ _.Be_nedictiPro his qui nolunt retinere Primam, psalmi huius Horae distribui possuntvel A ) inter psalmos Vigiliarum, praesertim Dominicae (ut in

antiqua traditione)

-Y. g !-P. gPrima hebdomada Altera hebdomada

J?s . 3 et 94INoct. Ps. 1 et 2

6 et ?9 A et B

II Noct. Ps.13 et 14

15 et 1617 A et B

III Noct. Ps. 118) str.1-4

sicut in :'.:. egula

-:f --E :@ -P!'. E 2!: (ante invitatorium) sic invenitur Dom. (Soll .et ffesta): 3Feria II 8eria III 10

Feria IV 11Feria V 121?eria VI 13Sabbato 19

vel B ) inter psalmos Horarum Minorum

DominicaFeria II

Feria VI

Tzertia118, str.1-L

118, str"11-13

1?/2-16

Sexta118, str.5-

7118, str .14-

16

1?/17-31

Nona118, str.8-10118, str.17-19

17/ 32-51

Sabbato 119, 120, 121

(H.B .Ps.13 omittitur)

II Secundum alia schemata

122 ' 123 ' 124

125, 126, 127

1. Cum Psalterio per unam hebdomadam distribute(Cf. schema ·olim oic dictl1.ti1 "Fif l:h.,ster )

2. Cum psalterio per a.uas hebdomadas distributo, secundum ordinem numericum

}}'eria III 118, str.20-22 1, 2 ' 6 7:D'eria

IV B, 9/2-13 9/1L-39 10, 11, 12F

riaV 1L, 15 16 18, 19

(cr.··olim sic dictum sch. "A" OCSO)3.Cum paalterio per duas hebdomadas

distributo, ordine vero non numerico(CJi'. schema olim sic dictum "B" OCSO )

L . Ad mentem Liturgiae Horarum Ritus romani, cum psalmis Vigiliarum et Horarum Viinorum per duas hebdomadas distributis

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A N O I N T I N G O F T H E S I C K

R E C O N C I L I A T I O N

Anointing of the Sick and oonnected rites

(resurre) : A study of the new Ranan ritual cx:upa.red with our CMn Cistercian one makes it clear that it would be to our advantage to adopt it, since it 's quite f lexible and provides for quite a f ew different possibilities , and is extremely rich; which doesn 't mean, hc:m ever , that we couldn2in ad libitum certain of our texts (even though they hardly deserve to be kept) .

(reasons for the above) :1. Comnunion of a sick persrn .

1SFor practical purposes , our CMn ritual just about the same as the Ran.anone.

2. Anointing of the sicka- There t s no reason why we can t t begin the celebration with a dlant

or sane psa.lmody, especially if -we have to go to the bedside of the sick person in procession. The Sacrarren.t can also be celebrated in the oontext of an Hour of the Of f ice, or of the Mass (cf . Ranan Ritual) . All this depends on the local situation of each ca:mumity.

b- Liturgy of the Word. The new Ranan Ritual includes:• a monition or prayer (with an allusion to the text from James) ;• the penitential act;• a biblical reading;• a litany-prayer (which can be placed at the end of the celebration) ;• an ilrq;?osition of hands.

For this part , our CMn Ritual includes two proper texts:

- the prayer ( ) r a 1 i P?tens senp i teme Deus, qui per beatun Iaoobum (whidl canes f ran the 13th century Pontif icale of the Ran.an eurra;-ai.. 48,n. 14} ; it 's rrore an''apologia" than a prayer , that is to say ,it 's a prayer that the rite perfaned by the minister may (in spite of his unworthiness} have its proper spiritual eff icacy. 'I'his textoould be retained as a fo:rmula ad libitum, even though it adds nothi11Jto what the Ranan ritual of fers us.

- a prolix absolution formula (originally used, in the 10th century Ro nano-Gennan Pontif icale, to reooncile public penitents on Holy Thurs day} . The new Panan Ritual doesn t include a particular absolution for the sick person, in order to avoid any oonfusion between theSacram:mt of the Anointing of the Sick and the Sacrament of Reooncili ation. Acoordingly, we ought not to retain our absolution f ormula.

It oould be pointed out that, at the end of our rite, af ter a series of versicle!and responses and before a triple-blessing, there are three prayers which are, in point of f act , the three elements (monition , in tentions, and prayer} of a litany-fonnulru:y; cf . Rituale Cist. V , c.III,n. 16. There · s no reason why we can t t make use of these texts to pro

vide m aterial for the litany included in the • celebration of the Sacra ment of the Anointing of the Sick.

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c - The Sacrarrent•• .inp:Jsition of hands by the priests present;• thanksgiving acclamation with reference to the oil;• anointing of the foreh.ead and hands accacmpanied by the recitation of a revised forIIRlla.

For this latter, the new Ran.an Ritual has force of law for the whole Latin Rite as of January 1st, 1974.

d - Concluding prayer and blessing.• The Roman document presents a choice of prayers which has no equivalent in our Ritual., Accordingly, the Ranan practice has the advantage over our aNil•

• Our Cistercian Ritual presents three blessing-fOilIR.llas:- the first has been adopted (with revisions) by the new Ranan

Ritual;- the other two can hardly be said to be worth keeping:• the second formula is pretty unbalanced (no mention of the Holy Spirit; instead, it develops along the lines of a litany of intentions addressed to the Son);

• the third formula is unrelated to the Sacrament which hasjust been celebrated .

3. ViaticumThe new Ronan Ritual is. richer than our own (which provides only

an ordinary Canrnunion rite with a sanewhat rutpler forIIR.lla for the presenta tion of the Host).

4 . Rite for the Ccrnrrendation of the Dying (Prayer for those in agony)The new Ronan Ritual retains the best of the fo:rmer

prayers, which were also our own. It's presented in an extre:rrely flexible form, and we couldntt offer anything better.

ACCORDINGLY, WE PIDPOSE THAT THE GENERAL CHAPTER

VOI'E IN FAVOR OF AIX>PTING THE ID1AN RITUAL FOR THIS SACRAMENI' (withthose modifications proper to each respective national episcopate), WHILE AT THE SAME TIME RETAINING AS A FOIM.JLA "AD LIBI'IUMii THE OPEN ING PRAYER ''CMNIPCYI'ENS SEMl?ITERNE DEUS, QUI PER IACOIDM".

Sa c r arrent o f R e c o n c i l i a t i o n The new Ranan Ritual for this Sacrarrent has just appeared .I

haven 't been able to familiarize myself with it; and the Liturgy Carnnission merrbers haventt as yet had an exchange of impressions about it.Havever, basing my self on the press-notices given the new Ritual, I think that it would bea good tiring were the General Chapter to adopt the same position as for theAnointing of the Sick, nanely:

'ID APPROVE (at least provisionally, until the next General

Chapter) THE AOOPTION OF THE NEW RCMAN RITUAL(which has to undergo further adaptations at the level of each respective national episcopal con ference),WHILE LEAVING THE PQSSIBILITY OF USING OOR C0NFITEOR-FOR'IDLA.

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A B B A T I A L E L E C T I O N

PRELIMINARY NOI'E

a- The Rituale of 1689 has already been subjected to an up-dated revision approved by the General Chapter of 1960. The new text was edited in1961 by Westmalle (mimeographed edition} . This text is the one used as the basis of the simplif ication requested by the Cansilium Generale of 1973, at Viaceli.

b- The present project is not a revision of the whole "De Ordinando Abbate" , but only of the rite f or his election. The abbatial blessing has already been revised, as you knCM, under the auspices of the Congregation f or Di vine rship (the text was pram.ilgated Novanber 9 , 1970 ) . The new rite provides for the tradition of the Rule and the staf f , but renders f aculta tive the tradition of the miter and ring. For a serious reason , and with the agreement of the bishop of the place (who no:rrnally is the one to pre side at the abbatial blessing} , this blessing can be given by an abbot.

c- The election can take place by way of scrutiny or by way of carrpranise. This latter method, which isn 't much used , ought nevertheless to remain within our right. HONever , it doesn 't seem needful to make any revisions with respect to this fonn of election. Neither does it seem necessary tohave a ritual question about the manner of election asked during the elec tion itself .

d- The ''conclave". The prescriptions about keeping the participants in the election in isolation are reduced , in the present project , to a general remark (cf . n.2) .

e- The Mass of the Holy Spirit. OUr fonner custans prescribed the carmunion of all the electors. Indults have dispensed us f rom having to have our priests abstain f ran celebrating Mass. But the post-Council provisions for concelebration or even for receiving Ccmnunion when one has to cele brate Mass elsewhere, make it possible to reccmnend the for:roer practice, which is so rich in meaning -even though there ,,s no question of rnaking tl'tls practice obligatory.

f- - The reading of the canons of the Code and Constitutions. It 's usef ul, of course, when the time canes near for an election, to be reminded of the canonical prescriptions. But ies a bit late to do this on the very day of the election • . . Is this reading really needed by way of a beginning of the meeting for the election? Our projectenvisages only the reading of Chapter 64 of the Rule.

g- The various oaths. This is the element which most slows dawn the carryingout o;E the election, and maRes it solerm..• The oaths of the scrutators and electors (in monasteries of rren) are

prescribed by cc:mron law (cc. 171 and 5061 , and can 't be emitted.The

General Chapter could prov.:tde , perhaps, that, should this point of can-non law undergo an evolution to the ef feet that these oaths would no longer be of obligation, the sane woold hold good as regards our CMil parttcular legislation.

• The other oaths can be suppressed by the Chapter. Our project makes no mention of these, except for the notary and the witnesses. These oaths could perhaps be taken at the same time as the oaths of the scrutators

(the same tlu. is required of them: to act f aithf ully and without fraud, and to respect election secrecW; the fonnula has been revised.

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. The oath fonnula of the electors oouldto what ts required by Canon 506 (to vote

0 implif ied and reduced'ale one whan one in oon

science thinks ought to be elected) , without any allusions to simoniacal practices or illegal electioneering.

h - Conf innation, installation, blessing.A good number of the Liturgy Ccmnission manbers would like to see the liturgical action for the blessing of the abbot ooincide withhis ef fective entry into of f ice (installation • This would obvious ly be rrore logical and meaningf ul, and there ts nothing to stop any one f ran proceeding to the abbatial blessing right af ter the elec tion. In rrost cases, however , people will pref er to wait a bit for blesslilg , if only because of the legitimate desire to invite othersto take part in this ccmnunity event; but at the same time, ef fective entry into of f ice can 't be put of f for too long. So we have to main tain these two distinct manents: the installation and the blessing.We can note, hCMever , that the installation is carried out in a litur gical manner; so it ts not a question of a simply juridical act. Per haps we ought not consider these two acts (installation and blessingc) as two distinct parts (the "juridical'' element and the "liturgical" element} , unf ortunately separated f ran one another; but rather as two a::rrplementary phases of one and the sane "processus" of "initiation"Ca bit like the various sacraments which make up our Christian initi ation} . We could say that the rite of installation, which begins in chapter , nonnally ooncludes with the Eucharist, and with the special prayer of blessing; but that this can be delayed for reasons of oon venience.

The better to stress the f act that the installation is only the f irst act, sane would. propose that it not conclude in church , and that the Te Deum not be sung. othe:rs think that sane fonn of thanksgiving as the concluding rite is legitimate in view of the psychological need for thanksgiving in church af ter the election and installation of the new- abbot. The project provides f or both possibilities.

t ..,. The oath of the Order made by the abbot at the time of his installa tion is no longer needed, it would seem. It alludes only to the ad ministration of temporal goods. Our Constitutions provide suf f icient ly for this problem. Ccmron law (Canon 1406 / 1, 9° ) calls for the prof ession of f aith (the fonm.lla was revised in 1967) .

j - If the General Chapter allows for the possibility of abbots chosen f or a detennined period, should such abbots receive the abbatial blessing? In itself , there's no reason against it. The same remark can be made with respect to abbesses (the document f ran the Congregation for Di vine Worship provides , rroreover , a rite for the blessing of an abbess) •

In the case of an election which brings to an end another 's temporary mandate, we oould provide, bef ore the election , a rite f or the surren der of the nnnastery keys by the abbot or abbess whose mandate is ex piring, as well as for the giving up of the pectoral cross (and the ring} .

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IN SUMMARY , several v o t e s are to be envisaged f or the Chapter :- with regard to the proposed Ritual

(possibly paragraph by paragraph, according to the amendments pro posed) ;

- with regard to the oaths imposed by current cc.mron law: if the CXJTI

m:m law evolves, and no longer maintains these oaths as obligatory , should we also oonsider them f acultative for our CMil proper · particu lar law'?

.,. with regard to the suitability of the abbati.al blessing for abbots chosen for a set period of of f ice

R I T U A L roR THE E L E C T I O N O F A N A B B O T

If the c:omrunity has chosen to proceed to the election by way of cx:xrpro mise, everything is done as prescribed in the revised Cistercian Ritual of 1961, nn. 47-54 .

ELECTION BY MEANS OF SCRJTINY

1. At the opportune tllre -for example, on the eve of the day appointed for t.rie abbatial election . the Father Imnediate (or his delegate) assembles the c:x:mnunity. After a f ew v.urds of exhortation , he proceeds to the election of the scrutators.These -if they accept their election - take their oath to act honestly and not to divulge what they might learn with regard tothe votes of the brethren. They cane fo:rwai::d , place their hand on the Gospels or the Bible, while one of them pronounces the f onnula (inthe nother tongue} :

. Ego, f rater N. (each gives his name) , testor Deun f idei et veritatis auctorem, me in hoc electionis negotio et processuveraciter , sine f raude et dolo, bona f ide acturun,et nemini nisi cui ius c:xinpetit ,aliquid ex actis et diet.is patef acturum.Sic me Deus adiuvet et haec Sancta Dei Evangelia.

If the notary and the witnesses take part in this meeting , the Father Inmediate can ask them to join the scrutators in taking the same oath.

2 . At the appointed time , after the Mass of the Holy Spirit -in which , if possible, all the electors receive camnunion -those taking part in the election assemble in the chapter roan or in another suitable place. Care will be taken that they have no oontact with those who are not taking part in the election, so long as the election has not actually taken place.

3. Chapter 64 of the Rule is read. The Father Inrnediate exhorts the CXJTImunity,- and then has the list of electors read. As each one hears his name called out, he rises and then sits dCMn. The number of voters is announced.

=nClil

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4. The electors take their oath. All arise. The f irst of the electors pronounces the fo:i:mula (in the vernacular) , placing his hand on the Gospels or the Bible:

Ego, f rater N. iuro et pranitto annipotenti Deceun ma electurum quern credam f uturum ecclesiae nostrae in spiritualibus et temporalibus utiliorem.Sic ma Deus adiuvet et haec Sancta Dei Evangelia.

Each one cnres fo:rward , places his hand on the Gospels, and says: Ego, f rater N. iuro et pranitto.

There is nothing to stop groups of two or three saying the f onnula and touching the book sinru.ltaneously.

5. The ballots are then distributed, and the camrunity proceeds to the scrutiny, beginning with the scrutators , as described in the Cistercian Ritual, nn.25-27.The counting of the votes takes place as described in this Ritual,nn. 28-29.

6.When the scrutators have told the Father Irrmediate the results of the oounting of the votes, the Father I:rmedi.ate has the electors called, and one of the scrutators announces the result , saying, as the case may be:

We have an election (or a postulation) ; because the majority re-quired is votes (there are , null votes) ;

Fr . N:fias received vote'S,Fr. N. has received votes, etc.

The oounting of the ballots shCli!S , then , that Fr . N. has beenelected abbot of this monastery.

ORWe have neither an election nor a postulation; because the majorityrequired is votes (them are null votes) .Now, rr. N. nas received votes ,

Fr. N. has received -votes, etc.No one, then, has received the necessary number of votes.

7.If necessary , the Father Imnediate has the electors proceed to another round of balloting.When the election (or a postulation) has been cbtained , he announces:

I declare Fr . N. lawfully elected (postulated) abbot of thism::>nastery of N.

He has the one elected c:::aoo fo:rwa.rd to stand before him, and he askshim whether he accepts his election.

8. If the one elected ref uses in spite of the Father Dmediate 's insistence , the Father Inmediate has the electors go on to another round of balloting, as above..If the one elected accepts or defers his acceptance, the notary cx:mpletes his minutes, and then reads them publicly. All cane fo:rward and sign in order : the Father I:rmedi.ate, the electors , the one elected, the witnesses , and the notary. The papers used for the election are then bumed, andall retire, unless the confinnation takes place .imrediately.

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O::>NFIRMATION, INSTALLATION9 . Before his installation, the abbot elect perfonns no act of jurisdic

tion, except through delegation by the Father Imrediate. His place is next to the abbatial stall or seat.

10 . At the designated time, the ccmnunity assembles in the chapter roan with the Father Irrm.ediate or his delegate.Af ter the reading of Chapter 2 of the Rule, the Father Imrrediate ad dresses a few words to the cx:mnunity and the abbot elect, and announces that the election has been oonf imted (he oould even read the text of conf i:rmation} .

11. The new abbot makes his profession of faith required by Canon Law; he then receives the rconaste:ry keys from the Father Imnediate, who says:

Receive the government of this rconastery of N. as its abbot ,in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit .

All answer: Amen .12 . Each of the professed canes f o:rward to renew his pranise of obedience

between the hands of the new abbot , who is seated on the abbot 's chair .

Father, I premise you obedienceacoording to the Rule of Saint Benedict , until death

(or , for the temporary professed: acoording to· the Constitutions.)

The Father Abbot gives each an embrace; he might even say a few wordsto the a:mnunity.

13. A chant can be used by way of conclusion , and a prayer said by the Father Immediate, for example:

V. Manda, Deus , virtuti tuae.R. Conf irma. hoc, Deus , quod operatus es in nobis. (Ps. 67:29 )

Oremus .Qnnipotens senpiterne Deus , qui f acis mirabilia rnagna solus , praetende super f arnulum tuum N.et super congregationem illi cx:mnissam spiritum gratiae salutaris;et ut in veritate tibi canplaceat,perpetuum ei rorem tuae benedictionis inf unde. Per Christun Dominum nostrum.

All answer : Amen.

The cx:mmuni.ty can also go to church to the accorrpan.inent of sane chant (the Te Deun, for instance) . The Father Immediate leads the Father Abbot to the abbatial stall and sits down beside him. He ooncludes with the prayer given above.