Liturgy

cistercians of the strict observanceVOL. 2 No. 1 APRI L

1967

Cistercians of the Strict Observance

L I T U R G Y

Vol. 2 No. l

April 1967

I

CONSILIUM AD E:XSEQUENDAM CONSTITUTIONEM DE SACRA LI11JRGIAPrat. n. 134/67 Vatican City, 27 Jan. 1967

Reverend Father,

I have read with TIDJch interest the first number of Liturgy, the promising periodical that proposes to contribute to the liturgical information and formation of the Cister cians of the Strict Observance.With pleasure I observe that, judging from its beginnings, the bulletin holds

real promise: the promise of longevity (common among monks, rather less corrnnon am:>ng periodicals!), and the promise of truly fruitful work for the spiritual life and for the ever more perfect fulfilling of the primary and principal duty of the monastic life - the "Work of God".

I wish to repeat here what I had occasion to say to you after your nomination as "Observer" to the "Consilium" on behalf of your venerable Order . The aim of the "Consilium" is the revision, restoration, and reform of the Roman Liturgy. It is concerned directly with the Roman Rite. With other rites, including the Cistercian, it concerns itself only indirectly, insofar as the principles and norms actuated in the revision of the Roman Rite can be a guide for other rites. But a true and proper reform TIDJSt be prepared and executed only by those inunediately concerned, that is bythe monastic institutes, through those organs which the Major Superiors deem opportune .To fulfill the task in enlightened fashion, and with the collaboration of all

the members of the Order, two types of knowledge seem indispensable. First, knowledge of the "marching orders", or, if you wish, of the fundamental principles on which the liturgical reform of the Roman Rite is based. Hence the presence at our sessions of an official o b server from the.Order . Second, a deep knowledge of your own liturgy,of its peculiar characteristics, and of the spirit which evoked and which animates it. This will be assured by the bulletin, which you have kindly presented to me .I therefore wish it every success. May it achieve in the ronastic cormmmities -

.;

chosen portion of the Ecclesia Orans - endless good .

With wannest greetingsYours devotedly in the Lord,

Rev. Damian Smyth ocso Abbazia Tre

Fontane,R O M E .

A . Bugnini CM Secretary.

II

P R E F A T O R Y N O T E

For a Ver'f long time each local church had its own liturgy . In particular , each monaster'j had its own cursus f or the celebration of the Divine Off ice . Now, the litur gical reform initiated by Vatican I I seems gradually to be moving toward a somewhat analogous position. Liturgical laws of the future will probably be rather in the form of "outline principles" ('1lois-cadres 1

'which will determine with suf ficient precision the general structure of the liturgical celebrations , but will leave at the same time considerable liberty for each local church to exercise its creativity and spontaneity .

In point of fact , the simple necessity of applying in a reasonable way the litur. gical laws existing at present to the concre te conditions of each cormnunity , calls for such a creativity and spontaneity . Experience has shown each of us , however, that one cannot become a creator of liturgical f orms on the spur of the IJK)ment.

1hrough this humble bulletin - now appearing in only its second number - the Liturgical Connnission has no other purpose but to place itself at the service of those in our monas teries who have the task of organiz ing the liturgical worship of their comnrunity , and who, for one reason or another, of ten f ail to find elsewhere the lights they need.

It is surely no easy task to produce a publication usef ul to all the members of the Order at the same time ! Monasteries having the advantage of possess ing good spec ialists and a good library , will f ind our Bulletin banal . ..and we are glad of it f or their sakes . Others , on the contrary , have already assured us that we were their only source of inf ormation ! Needs and problems also dif fer f rom countr'j to country . The publication in two languages (English and French) will allow us to take this situation so:rrewhat into account. Of course , we are not forgetting our brethren in other lan guage groups ( Spanish, Dutch , German . ..) , and we await their suggestions .

1hose who are in charge of the Bulletin or who collaborate with it , are well aware that they of ten lack the necessary competence , instruments of work, and . . .time , all of which would be required if they were to be of greater service. .. . Accordingly , anyof fers of collaboration will be warmly welcomed. This Bulletin could then become an

· instrument to pool the experiences of the several IJK)nas teries .

Monte Cis te llo Armand Veilleux,Monk of Mistassini

1he original text of Fr . Armand 's Pref atory Note continues with a brief surrnnaryf the contents of the second issue of the French version of Liturgy . Our omission of

· this part of Fr. Armand' s note is necessitated by force of circtmlStances : the contents of our English issue correspond only slightly to the contents of the French issue .'!his is hardly in keeping with our original intention , which envisaged rather two more

· or less simultaneous versions of what was to be essentially one and the same Bulletin .: Since this general policy was first f ormulated several months ago, however , it has· become clear that rather much of the material included in the pages of the English· edition of this Bulletin will be of little or no interest to the French reader , since it will deal with questions proper to English-speaking Cistercians; and the converse

. is true. One has only to glance through the "Sonnnaire" of the February issue of the French Bulletin n ° 2 . Fr . Gabriel of Scourmont has a brief article dealing with French translations ; Fr . Bernard of Orval has an article dealing with the French translationof the Night Of f ice lectionary ; and Fr. Clement of Bellefontaine has a brief note sum mar:i.zing the emergents f rom a "colloquy" recently held at Bellefontaine , devoted to

·problems touching on liturgical chants in French. On the other hand , the present Eng·· lish issue of Liturgy has an article dealing with an English translation of the

IVCistercian hymnal, and another one about the shaping up of an English Of fice for non chorists; and future issues will perhaps be devoted in their entirety to material concerning the .American translation of the Cistercian Supplement to the Roman Sacra mentary and to the question of the Universal Prayer in English.

The reader of this issue may reasonably be expected to f ind a bit out of season several notes dealing with the Holy Week liturgy. The original intention had been to circulate Bulletin n° 2 in early March, but circumstances beyond anyone 's control made actually doing so impossible. Since the material referred to touches on a few points which may be the object of discussion by members of the Liturgical Commission and others during the coming year, it has been decided to include the brief articles in this issue as originally planned.

A further note IlU.lS t be added. The f irst two issues of this Bulletin in English were prepared in diff icult and rather exceptional circumstances . I t is hoped that Bulletin n° 3 and succeeding issues will have the advantage over the initial ones.An attempt is being made to ensure for the future a tmif orm editorial policy and a greater f reedom from typing errors and inconsistencies.

b. Oirysogonus Waddell, O.C.S.O. Ge thsemani

v

L I T U R G Y

Vol,2 No .1 April 1967

A LEITER FRCM FR. BUGNINI, C.M, I

PREFATORY NOTE III

ON 'IHE SPECIFIC GIARACTER OF OUR CISTERCIAN LITURGY 1Fr. Nivard of Port-du-Salut

TEAQUNG LITURGY II 8Fr. Dconia:n Smyth

1HE MASS PRAYERS FOR 1HE BLESSING OF MONKS: A SECOND LOOK 13

Fr. Chrysogonus Waddell

QUESTIONS CONCERNING 'IHE PALM SUNDAY LITURGY: I- 1HE HYMN ''MAGNUM SALUfIS GAUDIUM" 28

II- 'IHE CISTERCIAN PALM SUNDAY BLESSING OF THE BRANCJIBS SOFr. Chrysogonus Waddell

1DWARD 'IHE EVENTUAL RESTRUC1URING OF THE ENGLISH OFFICE FOR BRE1HREN NOT BOUND TO rnoIR

67Fr. Chrysogonus WaddeZZ

PROJECT FOR AN OFFICE FOR CISTERCI/..NS NOT BOUND TO QfOIR ST. JOSEPH'S .ABBEY: 1964- 89

ON TRANSI.ATING 'IHE HYMNS 109Fr. Martin of Our Lady of Guadalupe

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ON THE SPECIFIC CHARACTER OF OUR CISTERCIAN LITURGY

Let us ask the following question:

What is it which characterizes our Cistercian liturgy? What is the specific character of our Cistercian rite, its particular mark?

This question arose spontaneous ly during the first meeting ofthe Liturgy Commission after the G eneral Chapt er of 1965. The report of the sess ion states: "A prelim inary question is posed: what is it which distinguishes monastic l iturgy from parochial liturgy and , even on the monastic level , what is it which distinguishes Cistercian liturgy from monastic liturgy in general?" (Wes tmalle, July 22- 23, 1965.)

This same question came up again at the last sess ion of the Com

;: mission. (Mont- des - Cats , Sept. 28- Oct. 1, 1966. )

At that time there were several attempts made to answer it. One may even say that everyone was in accord concerning the essentials ;

f all the participants , however, reali zed how necessary it is that this question be answered in a precise manner.

It is , in fact , an important ques tion; it is extremely important

f' for us today, and every attempt of adapting the liturg ical reform tof our Cistercian rite will bring it up without fail. To be sure, it isi not that this question did not come up before, but formerly it did not L present itself in such a critical way.t

The several considerations which . fol1ow are not meant to cons titute

_ i complete and definitive answer. Ou intention is simply to set up a 1 few guideposts ; and more especially , to stimulate reflection and more ' thorough investigation, and by doing so to evoke replies which will be profitable to all of us.

First of all , there is a state of existing facts.

We find ourselves , as the Order of Citeaux , in possession of particular liturg ical customs which constitute what we call the Cis

·tercian Rite.t'' Our liturgy is a Latin liturgy , Franco- Roman in its ori in and essentials - as is also the liturgy which is in use in nearly al l the dioceses ,and wl}ich we habitually cal l the "Roman l iturgy." It differs however, from this latter in a certain number of secondary points. We know that we are not the only ones in such a position, and that the··same thing holds good for other religious families: the Carthus. ians , 'the Premonstratensians , the Dominicans , etc • ... We have there a ves- tig e, in liturg ical matter, of healthy pluralism which exists in a considerably reduced state, but has been recognized by the Council as legitimate. The result is that we have a certain number of liturgical Jooks which are particular to· us: "Miss ale Cisterciense," "Breviarium Cisterciense", "Rituale Cis

terciense ..., to cite only the principal.:and more common ones.

We have received these books from our Fathers. Since the earliest times their contents have more or less undergone an evolution - which

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is normal - but their particular character has not been affected by this. They have, of course, varying according to the different cases, a close relationship with the corresponding liturg ical books of other Latin rites. This, however, does not prevent their offering many points which are particularly their own. For the Missal, the differ ence is perhaps not so noticable since the reform of Claude Vaussin, but for the Breviary and Ritual it remains considerably greater.

And yet we must not forg et that everything is not in the liturg i cal books. In a certain sense, these are only the privileged witnesses of a tradition. Actually , liturgy is first of all something which is lived; the texts transmit only one aspect of it, and it is properly transmitted only in the context of a living tradition. Such is the

:ase for us, fo the Ciptercian rite has never stopped be ing celebrated in our monasteries.

This tradition, then, has been faithfully handed down even to our days with a fidelity which, here again, does not exclude a sort of evolution. But, and this is a pledge of its fidelity, it has been handed down without having been broken, and this is an important point.

The restorers of the monastic Orders in France and elsewhere generally started over again from . zero , - such is the case for nearly all the Benedictine congreg ations.They did not keep any of the an cient customs, whether liturg ical or monastic, except those whichthey were able to understand in the context of the spirit of their times. Furthermore, they had also lost all title to a particular Rite.

Thanks to Dom de Lestrange and to all the monks who accompaniedhim or went to join him, such has not been the case for us. The exiles carried their books with them and continued their traditions. Themonks who afterwards restored our monasteries had simply to continue with what they had at hand. Without exaggerating this fact, it is cer tain that it has contributed in large measure to the continuance of a living and particular ·liturgy until our day. And this is how, by the books and by the life, there has come down to us an ensemble of litur gical rites which, as far as the essentials are concerned, go back to the first days of Citeaux and even further.

We must, however , recognize the fact that since the Council of Trent this Cistercian liturgy has often been put in question. We know. that during the seventeenth century an entire movement brought with it the abandon of the Cistercian Missal. In principle, the "ritus servan dus" remained Cistercian, but in actual fact it had to yield its pre cedence, and only the Congregation of Castille has preserved the ancien1 Missal.

The Breviary was able to be retained at that time only at the price of a reform to which Dom Claude Vaussin devoted his energ ies; but it wa

·the sort of a reform which did not take away the Breviary's particular character. This same Breviary was again put in question during the las1 century by several religious of the Cistercian Abbey of Bornhem, in Bel · gium.The matter was referred to Rome and the case lasted fifteen year It came to an end with a decree of the Congregation of Rites dated July 3, 1869, which was in its turn confirmed by a brief of Pope Pius IX

dated February 7, 1871, recognizing our Breviary and our Missal and officially declaring their legitimacy. This Pastoral Letter is always printed on a fly- leaf of our missals and our breviaries.

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For its part , the Ritual underwent similar attacks. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries first of all , and then at the be ginning of this century when a new "Manuale Caeremoniarum" was edited in 1908. This work, which had our Ritual as its principal source,as disputed for this very reason by some religious of the Strict Ob ervance. When the Congregation of Rites was questioned on the sub ect, they repl ied not only by confirming the legitimacy of our Ritu- 1 of 1689, but also by inviting us to correct our other l iturg ical ooks, taking this same Ritual as our norm (decree of May 8, 1913) . his was done, though somewhat timidly it seems , for the rubrics ofur Missal (decree of approb ation, June 11, 1924).

At present we are witness to a new questioning of our liturgy, which is at times very radical , but which doesn't so much

concernne or another of our books as actually our whole liturgy. We must ake note of the fact , however, that there is a great difference beween this movement and the preceding ones. Up until now it was espe 'ially the leg itimacy of our books which was being contested. Now, hat is being sought is above all a living liturgy which will be tru• y a source of spiritual life. To this is added the appeal of the ouncil: all the Latin rites are invited to make an agg iornamento.

Consequently , what attitude should we adopt with regard to this iturgy, such as it has come down to us across our books and tradi -

, ion? This is the ques1ion which is posed and it is a serious one; we ust not try to avoid it or to answer it hastily. It is certain thatp until now the Cistercian liturgy , because of the laudable solici ude to preserve its patrimony , has perhaps been too often considered s something static and having a tendency sometimes toward the archae ogical. It would be very unjust , however, to disregard the important:nd very often positive work which has been contributed by all those 'ho have devoted themselves to this task. They have been constantly 'oncerned with recovering the authenticity of the Rite and eliminat ng the deviations.

We must also recognize the fact that a good number of relig ious ave always known how to draw spiritual nourishment from our liturgy'n its present form , and to live by means of it. Surely , for the monk r nun who has not known how to find our Lord by this liturgy , it is ot adaptations , however perfect they may be , which will be able to emedy the situation . Only those who already know how to live by the alues of the liturgy which is presently being used will know how to rofit from a renewed liturgy. On the other hand, there are some per'ons who would like to keep the status quo, in the fear that they ' ight even lose something by adaptations; out this attitude is too imid and, furthermore, impossible to maintain. Besides , making aite undergo an evolution is not the same thing as submitting it to:ompromise. On the contrary , the fact that a liturgy evolves is aign of its vitality. Otherwise it would no longer be any thing but a useum piece which would hold interest only for the curiosity of aew specialists: such is the case for the Mozarabic Rite, which is no onger celebrated anywhere except in one sole chapel in the city of.o ledo. The present reform certainly would not have required

such reat breadth if, precisely , all evolution had not been stopped, in ctual practice, during the last three centuries.

The present movement seeks , first of all in the liturgy , life alues by means of a better contact with the Paschal Mystery which

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it includes: this Mystery is expressed better by it. That is the whole positive character of this movement and that is whyit has received the approval of the Council. Not to enter into it , therefore, would be prejudicial to anyone. So there is for us , as for everyone else , an adaptation to work out which we cannot seek to evade. Only this adaptation is difficult because thepresent movement, like all stirrings of life, is not free from bringing with it a certain degree of confusion. As always, there are trends of fashion, trends which are powerful, very powerful even. These are nothing but trends of fashion, but while they last it is hard to escape them and hard even to detect them , so that making a distinction between what is lasting and what is ephemeral is a delicate matter. To do that, we need to regard things at a distance, and if we are not discriminating , we risk losing everything and compromising irrecoverably the heritage which has been passed down to us with such great fidelity.

Unless , perhaps, we have to lose everything.

That is possible, of course , and so must be considered. It obliges us , at any rate, to reflect seriously on the matter, and to do nothing without proper consideration.

This means that we find ourselves before a heavy responsi bility: we - that is to say , all the members of the Order; still more particularly , those whose opinions can have greater influ ence; and finally , in a very special way , the General Caapter which must make the decisions about these matters. A solidarity exists amongst all of us , and the fact that the General Chapter bears the greatest part of the responsibility does not relieveus of our own. · The decisions of the G eneral Chapter will simply reflect the common sentiment of the whole Order.

We have reason, then, before deciding anything whatever, to weigh this responsibility well: our responsibility towards the Order and its history, both past and future; responsibility to wards all those who have preceded us and who have passed this heritage on to us ; responsibility towards all those who will come after us, and who will receive only that portion of it which wewil l have preserved. What will be lost will be lost forever.

There are some who seem to have already given their answer and who, with blithe spirit , would sell away the past at bargain price. Such a position is disturbing. Whatever solution one may believe himself bound to adopt , at least let it be after having deeply reflected , and after having taken the time necessary to do so. For the time- being , simple prudence dictates that our deci sions should be taken "ad experimentum" . Here again, one can judge well only at a certain distance.

Let us ask ourselves what a liturgical reform of these di mensions would have been at the end of the last century , or even at the beginning of this one. We cannot think what might have been the result of it without shuddering. Without any doubt, ourpresent perspective is more true. It seems that we may reasonably think so, for we have gone back to the sources to a

large extent. But at least , let us think without any vanity and with a certain amount of apprehension: What will those who come after us think

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about us?

It is just as true that a tradition, no matter how worthy it may be of our respect , may no longer have a raison d' tre.This is the point which we must now examine, and we can formulate it this way:

Is there a need of having a particular rite? In fact , why not have the same prayers and the same liturg ical customs as the rest of the Church? Would it simply b e for historical reasons?Or what would b e worse, to be different and not to do what every one else does?

Before attempting to answer this question, we first have to ask ourselves, "What is a rite?" What we will say about that will perhaps be the best reply that we can make.

If we restrict ourselves to the rubrics , to gestures, and to prescribed words , we won' t see anything about the rite but that which is exterior. But the rite is much more than that. As FatherJounel has written:

"A rite is something different than an ensemble of rubrics or a repertory of texts. It is the cultural expression of a spirituality. " ( La Maison- Dieu 68/58 )

A quotation from Father Congar presents the same point of view, but in a more complete way:

"The Rite is something which is very profound. It is not simply an ensemble of ext erior practices governed by rules. It is the ensemble of signs by which a living community expressesand lives its faith. It characterizes a Church in its very real ity. Theologically, it is that which unites with the degree of adherence to its particular principles to characterize a Churchin its intrinsic nature. " ( A r t Sac r e, 195 :3 , 9 -1 0 . )

When the author wrote these lines, he was no doubt thinking of the great Oriental liturgies to which they apply directly.Nevertheless, all proportion guarded, they apply just as well to the different families of the Latin Rite.

In community celebration, then, rite is the expression of a style of life, and the expression of a spirit. The more different the type of l ife and the manner of l iving (the "ordo", accordingto the ancient meaning of the term) , the more the particularity of the Rite will appear. The Council itself has recognized thelegitimacy of these particular cases. It is, of course, always the same Myst ery of Christ which is represented , but with differ ent nuances in its expression. The differences can even b e prac tically non- existent for the Eucharist , Sacrament of Unity, but they will be more notab le for the Divine Office or for all those things which are particularly monastic.

Let us add that rit e is something living. It is born of the life which it expresses, otherwise it becomes a yoke. Nor

oes Canon Law make the rite: the rite is preexistent to the rubrics which simply express it in concrete terms.

this reason it is more stable.

Ultimately , then, the question which is posed is this: What

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If such is the case, the idea that we will have of the specific character of our rite will depend on the idea that we have of the specific character of our monastic and Cistercian life.

It is certain that a relig ious life which is deeply involved in the world will not have to express itself, in its communal prayer, in a way which is very particular to itself.

But for a monastic l ife "separated from the world for God ," and more in the line of monasticism of "the desert" than of "urban" monasticism(and such has been the dominant orientation of Citeaux up until now) , it seems that the particularities will arise of themselves. Even though the rites would be the same at the point of departure, it wouldn't be long before the differences would beg in to appear.

Parochial ministry requires an adaptation which is permanent with respect to different g enerations, but which also ought to take even passing trends into ?ccount. The same hold goods for its liturgy. If this latter i lacking it will no longer answer the needs of the community, and this is what had happened with a liturgy which was too static. In contrast, monastic liturgy, more on the leeward side, is less subject to these fluctuations. It doesn't need to take into account what is transitory, and the different trends reach it minus much of their turbulency. For

idea do we have of our monastic and Cistercian life? Our attitude towards our liturgy will proceed from our answer to this question. This answer, however, goes beyond the scope of this article. Yet in order to avoid leaving ourselves before a point of interrogation it seems that we may add this remark: No matter what the point ofview which is adopted may be, what is first bf all required of us is fideli ty to a spirit, and it is in this sense that we should make the adaptation of our liturgy.

It appears that we may define the spirit of primitive Citeaux as a three- fold concern for authenticity , simplicity, and auster ity. Our Fathers, of course, would undoubtedly not have expressed it in these terms, but for us who regard their deeds from a long distance, it would appear evident that it is by these character istics that we can summarize the spirit which animated them.

We can even say that the first of these, according to time, is the concern for authenticity; it is the one which dominatedthe other two and drew them after it. At least it is this concern for authenticity which led our Fathers to reforms which, at that epoch, appeared revolutionary. It was an authenticity with regard to interpretation of the Rule, first of all , but with regard to everything else too , from the text of the Bible to that of the chant i exception not even being made for architecture.

It is clear that this three- fold concern should be found especially in their·liturgy , and without any doubt that is its primary characteristic. Actually , our Fathers celebrated the

liturgy such as it existed at that time, subtracting only the elements of ostentation and pomp which had been added by the pre-

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ceding era, and by doing so they rejoined the spirit of the ancient Roman liturgy. In certain cases, acting by motive of this same authenticity , they made innovations, or to put it more exactly , they made attempts at reconstruction. We have to admit that when they did so the results were not alwayssuccessful. But could it have been otherwise? In real ity , they could not escape the limitations of their times, and they lacked two indispensable things: a sense of history , and documents.

As for us, we find ourselves in a different cond ition. With a better comprehension of Scripture and Patristic thought , and with a deeper knowledge of history , there has come into being during our century a movement which , as the years go by , becomes more and more powerful , more and more pressing ; a movement which guides the liturgy towards an authenticity which is greater from every point of view. The Council , fo llowing Pop e Pius XII , has seen in this movement "a special impulsion of the Holy Spirit upon His Church." We cannot escape this movement. Besides, it is too much in conformity with the spirit of our Order, with its desire to return to the sources, for us even to think of wishing to escape from it.

Authenticity assuredly does not mean a return to some g iven point in the past - and for that matter , which point?

Authenti city means: discernment of a genuine tradition. Authenticity also signifies a "liturg ical gain," and there will be gain tothe extent that the Paschal Mystery will find a better expression through this l iturgy.

"Authenticity , simplicity , austerity ," without any doubt these are the things which constitute the specific charact er of the Cistercian rite.

And yet these could not be sufficient to give it a proper consistency of its own. They are the spirit of it , but this spirit must find its exercise in a body. And this body is, for us, the concrete tradition which we have received in heritage from our Fathers, this trust which we find both in our liturg i cal books and in our daily liturg ical celebrations.

Laval Fr. M. Nivard, O.C.R.

(Translation of an article "De la specificitl de notre Liturgie Cistercienne", in L i t u r g i e 1 ( 1 9 6 6 ) , p p . 1- 8 . )

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T E A C H I N G L I T U R G Y II

We wish to thank all those professors of liturgy, monks and nuns, who wrote to us since our last issue. Some sent copies of their conferences (one sent a tape ), some sent a note warning us that more would follow, all ask questions.Books? Programme? Integration with other courses?

It is clear that the situation varies enormously from monastery to monastery. For some of our liturg ists the present essay will seem almost insultingly banal. But since it is addressed to all and sundry, monks and nuns , experience has taught us to take nothing for granted.

(a) The Professor.

According to Palacios (for bibliography , see last issue) the liturgy professor is traditionally "over- loaded with work, insufficiently prepared, unskil led , too young , self- taught ,unbalanced , onesided , rash, even revolutionary and aggressive ...", guilty of "archaeologism , snobism , or modernism". We are sorely tempted to draft an oath ag ainst archaeolog ism and snobism , to complete the one ag ainst modernism.

Bishop Jenny of Cambrai remarks that the liturgy course seems to be "the specialxty of anybody and everybody" . In fact, some seminaries confide it to ....the burs r.

From Mont- Cesar Dom Batte growls: "It has become obvious that to teach Scripture you need a biblicist , for canon law you need a canonist. But liturgy can be taught by any priest at all who knows the rubrics. That does not mean that there are no good teachers. I know excell ent ones. But the nearly all lam ent having been launched into liturgy without any pre paration and having to stumble and pick their way. It is said that the one way really to learn something is to have to teach it. True enough, maybe; but it must be added that this is generally to the detriment of the students."

All three are speaking (melodramatically, resignedly, or sarcastically) of the same thing , the seminary situation. Are things done better in the monasteries? Whatever the answer, the following statistics from Monte Cistello would scarcely soothe Dom Ba tte : -

Since October 1961 (opening of Liturg ical Institute at Sant'Anselmo , Rome) the number of Trappists who have come to Rome for higher studies is 124. Of these 124, 6 have taken the liturgy course. Of these 6, 4 have yet to finish the course.

Outside Rom e, it would appear that one monk has_ £ollowad _ liturgy courses in Paris, and two others in Nijmegen. As for our nuns .......

Sending a suitable subject away for a couple. of years

to follow courses is generally a considerable sacrifice. For a

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number of years now superiors, and communities, have been making this sacrifice in order to obtain men qualified in the various branches of theology. In this laudable effortliturgy has been largely overlooked , as the statistics show. This is understandable, in a way. Liturgy was thought of as rubrics- plus- history- plus- "spirituality" . As such it was

· - accorded only token place in the classic seminary programme,and the classic seminary programme was the norm for our own "Ratio studiorum". Ergo.

In the meantime it hath seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to the Council to remind us that there is much more to the liturgy than we thought. Consequently , seminaries are changing their approach, "chairs" of liturgy are appearing ,attendance at Liturgical Institutes has increased beyond measure (Paris , Rome) , new Liturg ical Institutes have sprung up (Trier, Padova) .

But for us monks it is not simply a question of keeping up with the Rev. and Very Rev. and Most Rev. Joneses. Surely it emerges from the very structure of the monastic day , "secundum Regulam Sancti Benedicti Abbatis", that it is at least as desirable to have somebody in the community who is a trained liturg ist , as it is to have a trained .....canonist.

If we need canonists , as we do, let us have trained ones. If we need cooks , infirmarians, farmers, as we do, let us have trained ones. When Thackeray was on holiday abroad, it was suggested to him that he might like to visit a nearby Trappistcommunity. He retorted, rather sourly , that he had no desire to watch reverend amateurs cobbling shoes. "Amateurs", there's the rub. True, the word comes from "Amare". As, I presume, "Dilett ante" comes from "Diligere". Nevertheless ....

Similarly , if we need liturg sts , as we do, let us have trained ones. Sometimes all or at least part , of the training can be done in the monast ery itself, if it contains men who are alreadt trained, and who are able and willing to impart their sk1llas farmers , craftsmen,olog ians) to others. The accent is not on having a diploma or a degree (in agriculture, music, medicine, carpentry , Scripture, liturgy ...), but on having areal (not presumed) technical compet ence that assures a good job of work at a prof ess1onal level in some area of the needs of the community.

There may be some of our communities which can train their liturgists at home (thanks to a member of the community who is already trained , or thanks to regular tuition by an ext ern pro fessor) . Normally , however, the best thing to do is to take number 15 of the Liturgy Constitution at its face value: "Mag is tri , qui sacrae Liturg iae disciplinae in seminariis, studiorum domibus religiosis et facultatibus theolog icis docendae praefi ciuntur, ad munus suum _ in institutis ad hoc speciali cura destinatis probe instituendi sunt". From the wording of the correspond ing number of the Instruction, number 11, it has

obviously been realized that all this will take time. Strictly speaking thereare only three Liturgical Institut es, although others are planned. Nevertheless , this number exhorts religious superiors to have

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liturgists qualified as soon as possible ("quamprimum" is used twice).

In the meanti e our monastery liturgy professor (like his confreres in theology and philosophy a decade ago) will have to train himself, or herself. If he has a genuine loveof the liturgy, a reasonable library at hand, and time enough to read , he can accomplish much.

(b) The Manual.

It is obvious from all the best authors that in our teaching we must use three basic "manuals" - the miss.al, the breviary , and the ritual (so Botte, Maertens, O'Shea ...).

By the breviary we mean, of course, the present Cistercian breviary , not some other breviary of the past, or (worse still) some imaginary "breviary of tomorrow ". The present breviary, with its advantages and disadvantag es, its "grandeur. et mi sere"(cf. Schmidt: "Grandeur et mis re du rite", LMD 35 (1953)110- 129) is the instrument of our sanctification Hodie. Ditto for the Cistercian missal, and for that· lonely Cinderella, the Cister cian ritual. Of course, other periods and other rites will be referred to insofar as necessary , to illustrate, not to distract.

All through class the professor will be mostly occupied in' exegesis of the texts. Most fight shy of this, unless they turnit into an untheological ferverino. Dom Botte assures us (Summer school Louvain, 1965) that he has often invited newcomers to the Paris Institute, men with a D.D., to expound a common liturg ical text, and found them unequal to the task. This shows plainlythat liturgical exegesis , like patristic exegesis, like scriptural exegesis , has its own technique, its own hermeneutics.

It isalso a timely comment on the way theology is being taught!

What the professor must not.do is ... take a standard manual (Martimort, Righetti, O'Shea.-:-:) and read it to the class, with shreds of padding from other "sources" . Dom Botte growls again: "The students cannot understand why an intelligent man should waste time reading aloud to them a text which they are quite capable of reading for themselves, and much more quickly. The explanations added fall , most of the time, on deaf ears" .Sucha method was standard in the mediaeval universities. Inaeed , given the relative scarcity of manuscripts, it was often a prac tical necessity. The professor was a reader (lector) , and his class was a "reading" (lectio , lesson). The invention of print ing changed all that. But a milk- and-water form of the old scholastic "lector" still carries on in some quarters.

By all means use a manual , but let the student read in

private the sections indicated by the teacher. In class we. should do that only which th student cannot reasonably be ex pected to do in private.

As Miller puts it: "It goes without saying that not every item mentioned here can be adequately covered during the limited class periods allotted to the Liturgy course - nor is it neces-

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sary to do so. Theolog ical students , we presume, are mature enough to learn on their own through personal reading. Assigned readings in a textbook can pre are them for fruitful class dis cussions as well as acquaint them with many details which do not require formal class treatment .... he (the professor) ought to recommend special reading for each topic he. takes up in class" .

We know of one U.S. Benedictine noviti te where each novicehas his own copy of Bouyer's very readable Life and LituPg y (papeP bac k-ro;eT; and the father-master sees to it that they read itfrom cover to cover.

So do not read books to us pleas e, unl ess we happen to be eating at the same time.

Another evasion technique is the history mania. The teacher launches into an interminable series on the history of the Mass, the history of the Divine Office, the history of the Sacraments ,the history of liturg ical vestm ents , of church music, of thuribles .... Thanks to Righetti, Jungmann, Bishop > Callewaert and Co., there is unlimited material. He will never be stuck for a subject. But heis not doing his job. · What we need is "study of, not about the liturgy" (O'Shea) . We have learned that liturgy is not rubrics. We now have to learn that it is not history , not even history of the liturgy. "It comes down to thjs: the l iturgy course should be largely a course in l iturg ical theology, or the theology of the liturgy" .

The liturgy professor must be a theolog ian to dojustice to the theology that lies there waiting for him and others". (O'Shea) . A fundamental , although not infallible, introduction tothis essential area is Vaga ni's Theo log ical Dimens ions of the LituPg y. History is not to be neglected, philology is not to be forgotten, rubrics are not to be despised, but all these at the service of theology , and theology at the service of Life.

Liturg ical exeg esis is not Scriptural exegesis , nor Patristic exegesis , although it presupposes bot .· One important character istic of Liturgical exegesis is that it must never cons ider the text "in vacuo", as it lies on the printed pag e, mummified. The tex must always be examined in its l iving , ritual context (the ceremonies that accompany it ; the melody to which it is sung ; who is speaking? to whom?

...).

But above all the assertion that missal , breviary , and ritual are the ind ispensab le manuals must b.e taken seriously. The stu dents must learn that the missal is not a book to be left permanent ly in the church, and read during Mass. On the contrary, it isboth more logical and more fruitful to keep it on one's desk to be studied and meditated on during the intervals. Similarly for the breviary. In choin"we have a psalter , an antiphonary, and a lection ary. About the only thing we really need the breviary for in choiris the responsories on some mornings at vig ils (alas ).The

brevi ary is , historically a:ri.cre-S"s·e-nti.ally , an extra- choral book. Its locus is , not the choir, but the desk or the pocket. Clerically speaking , its purpose is to enable us to say the hours outside of choir according to obligation. Monastically speaking , it ought to be a standard tool of private study and meditation during the in tervals. If we labour this point , it is because it is a questionof a basic attitude, which colours one's whole approach to the liturgy. ' ' ·

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If the students are trained to the traditional "lectio divina", as distinct from mere "spiritual reading", are they ever invited to do it fr.om the 1iturgical books? We know it sounds as funny as pan- liturgism can be funny. Imagine getting a breviary for your Lenten reading! Like the monk who during Lent gave up smoking his favorite brand of .......incense!

But , let us reflect: (1) the book par excellence for "lectio divina" is the bible. But the missal and breviaryare 95% bible extracts, selected and put in eloquent settings by the Church. (2) "Lectio. divina" traditionally has four steps (Lectio , meditaiio, oratio, contemplatio) . In the breviary we see clearly this structure. The lectio is from the bible; the meditatio - reflections on the lectio by one of the fathers; the oratio - composed by the church; contemplatio - remains a pure gift. (3) "Lectio divina" originally meant the proclama tion of the word of God in the liturgy.

Taking all this into account, it no longer seems so odd to do one's "lectio divina", at least occasionally, from the liturgical books. It is to be hoped that the current reformof these books will make such a prosp ect all the more inviting.

One thing is certain - if the students have acquired from the professor the healthy habit of spontaneous recourse to the liturgical books outside of th oblisatory Fcourse necessitated by the actual liturgical action, he 1s doing a magnificent job.

We hope to touch on other aspects of the question in further issues. In the meantime suggestions , criticism, artd Christmas cake are extremely welcome.

Tre Fontane b. Damian Smyth, O.C.R.

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THE MASS PRAYERS FOR THE BLESSING OF MONKSA SECOND LOOK

When the transcripts of the final version of the Rubricae Breviarii et Missalis Cisterciensis began circulating , back in 1964, the interest of many of us focussed chiefly - and understandably so - on those elements which marked a departure from , or evolution in, our earlier codifications of rubrics.Among many other items of interest were the two articles, nn. 375- 376, devoted to a moderately long series of Masscollects connected with various blessings or consecrations

(1) . A few references pointed clearly enough to formulae long since familiar, for instance, the Mass collects for the ordination of a priest, to be added under one conclusion to the collect ofthe day. Perhaps some of us were familiar, too, with the collects for the blessing of an abbot. But many of the textsreferred to were clearly new ones. And, in particular, just what was this "oratio ritualis pro benedictione monachorum et monialium" (2)?

In point of fact, when the most recent Cistercian Missal Supplement (3) was printed earlier last year, it was found that the list of "ritual collects" in the Codex Rubricarum did not quite coincide with the series of "ritual collects" included in the Missal supplement, and that our "ritual collect" for the blessing of monks and nuns had b ifurcated into two sets ofMass prayers, both of which were embedded in complete Mass formularies -- one, a votive Mass for the blessing of monks and the solemn profession of lay brothers, the other, a parallel votive Mass for the blessing of nuns and the solemn profession of lay sisters (4).

For myself, I was happy enough both with the Mass and with the collects -- for a time , at least. More recently , my earlier enthusiasm has ...perhaps "cooled" is not quite the right word. At any rate, the recent solemn profession of our Br. Hugh occasioned my having to prepare a translation of the Mass prayers for the blessing of a monk. In so doing , I had the opportunity of having a long , careful , second look at theseMass collects which, at an earlier date, had seemed so welcome an addition to our repertory. It is the purpose of this brief note to share with you this second look at the Mass prayersfor the blessing of a monk.

The precise subject-matter is, of course, of only relatively slight importance, and in the ordinary course of events there would be no need of sharing my own discomfort with others. At the same time , this particular case might help us to pinpoint and appreciate the importance of a problem which will have to be coped with to an ever greater extent in thenear future.

The more general problem is that of our adoption of new material prepared by experts for the Roman Rite and for the

monastic liturgy celebrated by our Benedictine confr res. There is no need to belabor the point that any program of liturg ical renewal in our Ordei will necessarily be deeply indebted to

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the work accompl ished for the Roman Rite and for theBenedictine Order by scholars and men of God whose learning and enlightened zeal we can probably never over-praise or sufficiently appreciate. At the same time, it would be a serious mistake to presuppose that the labors undertaken by experts outside our Order will necessarily provide us with theopt imum concrete solution for all our problems. Further, considerable prudence and clarity of judgment will be needed on our part , if we are to make our own in a truly meaningful way the fruits of the labors accompl ished by others outsideour Order.

Let us now examine a particular case in point - the "new" Mass prayers for the blessing of monks.

The sources.

Where did our "ritual prayers" for the blessing of monks come from? As to their proximate source, I am by no means sure. I suspect that we have simply adopted the' prayers from theMissa votiva in die sollemnis rofessionis approved for the Bene 1ct1ne Or er 1n 1 2 5 . T e texts antedate 1922 by many centuries, however, and it may be of interest to the reader if we list the man script sources and indicate the chief variants.

1- Reims ,v Bibliotheque municipale, ms. 213 (E 320) ,f. 185 - 186.

This is the oldest manuscript known to contain our three Mass prayers. We are dealing with a sacramentary written between 870 and 880 at the celebrated Abbey of Saint-Vaast of Arras. The sacramentary, however, was destined for Notre-Dame de Noyon; but it found its way, eventually , to the Benedictineabbey of Saint- Thierry , Reims (6). The text of these prayers as found in this manuscript has been twice edited, first in 1951by Dom Hieronymus FRANK, O.S.B. (7), then in 1955, by Dom Jean LECLERCQ, O.S.B. (8).

2- Metz, Bibliotheque municipale, ms. 245, ff. 98v- 100.

This manuscript of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Arnoul , Metz, was written in the last third of the 11th century (9). It has been edited with critical notes by Dom Jean LECLERCQ ,O.S.B. (10).

3- Bamberg , Staatlichen Bibliothek, Cod. Lit. 59, ff. 61v- 62.

This time we are dealing with a manuscript of the Romano germanic pontifical , written at Verden between 1039 and1049 (11). Our manuscript gives a different formula, however, for the oratio super oblata.

4- Engelberg , Codex 54.

Another Romano- germanic pontifical , this time written towards the end of the 12th century, or the beginning of the 13th, for the monastery of Engelberg. The text has been edited

by Dom Odo CASEL, O.S.B., in his classic article, "Die Monchsweihe", published in 1925 (12).

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5- Martene, Ordo VIII , Ad benedicendum monachum.

In his transcription of this particular rite for the blessing of a monk (12a), Dom MARTENE notes only that the manuscript comes from the monastery of St. G eorg e in the reg ion of Rouen (12b). No date is assigned to the manuscript, and it is not known even whether the manuscript is still extant. Ourthree prayers are g iven under the rubric, "Missa pro monachis dicenda tribus diebus post illorum benedictionem".

The text.

There is no particular need to establish a critical reading of the text, since the variants presented by themanuscripts are relatively minor ones. It may be of interest to the reader , however, if he has before him a list of the chief variants. The text itself is that of the Supplement to the Cistercian Missal (13). Since the Bamberg manuscript providedno variants notable enough to have been indicated by Dom Frank or Dom Leclercq (apart from the fact that the super oblata formula is not that of, our other manuscripts) , we shall indicate the variants of only three of the manuscripts.

R = Reims, ms. 213 (E 320) M = Metz, ms. 245E = Engelberg , cod. 54Ma = Dom Mart ne's transcription of the St. G eorge

Ordo ad monachum benedicendum.

Oratio

1 Omnipotens, aeterne Deus, qui arctam et angustam iussisti[arripere viam ,

famulum(os) tuum(os) NN. de huius saeculi periculis ad te[confugientem( es)

3 propitius respice et delictorum catenam , qua se constrictum( os)[esse

sentit (iunt) , clementer disrumpe , perseverantiam boni operis et

[praemia ei (s)5 larg ire sempiterna. Per Dominum.

1. aeterne: sempiterne R M Ma; arripere: arripi Ma.2. NN.: illos M, om. R; confug ientes: fug ientes R.3. respice: suscipe R M Ma; catenam: catena M.4. perseverantiam: perseverantiamque R M E Ma.5. sempiterna: perpetua R M Ma.

Oratio super oblata

1 Munera, quaesumus, Domine, famuli (orum) tui (orum) dignanter[suscipe et

quem(os) , desiderio aeternae beatitudinis a mundane proposito[segregasti,

3 etiam a delectatione carnali et ab omnibus antiqui hostis[insidiis patenter

eripe. Per Dominum.

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1. tui(orum) : add. illorum M.2. a: om. Ma; propos ito segregasti: segregas ti propos ito R M

Ma .3. etiam: et Ma; a: om. E.

Oratio post communionem

1 Haec nos, quaesumus, Domine , divini sacramenti perceptio a[nostris

emundet offensis et famulum(os) tuum(os) NN. a mundanis[pravi tat ibus

3 et ab omnibus tumultuorum carnalium delectationibus clementer[eruat.

Per Dominum.

2 • NN .:i11os M .3. ab: om. Ma; tumultuorum: tumultuum M; carnalium: om. E Ma.

Our variants are certainly minor ones, though they do serve to suggest that the more proximate source of our ownCistercian Supplement reading is a version based chiefly on the Engelberg manuscript, but modified in points of detail and in the interests of grammatical correctness or ease of recitation. Almost consistently , our version agrees with E against R and/or M and Ma; and in the few instances in which our version differs from E, there is a clear reason for its doing so. Take the case of the oratio, for example, where the reading of the manuscripts, "perseverantiamque", is a point on which all our manuscript witnesses are agreed -- R, M, Ma, and E. The word is unanimously attested to by the manuscripts. But it is no less clear that "perseverantiamque" is a tongue- twister of the sort it is best to avoid, if possible, in an age when not all of us are consummate latinists. The scholar responsible for editing the text in its present form has dropped the "-que" of thenoun, which is even then long enough. The text is now certainly easier to sing ; but it is also less grammatically coherent, as any translator will readily detect. In the oratio super oblata, our text supplies the preposition "a" omitted by E (scribal oversight?) , but found in the other manuscripts available to consult. Only on one significant point does our Cistercian text differ from that of E -- in the oratio post communionem , where we have the word "carnalium"; E omits it, against the evidence of the other manuscripts. But this is precisely the sort of omission which our Cistercian editor could easily have made good, thanks to the explicit reference to the faulty text of E, in the notes accompanying Dom Hieronymus FRANK' s transcription of the parallel text in R (14). Finally, it may be remarked in passing that, in the same post- communion prayer, "tumultuum" of M is more in keeping with classical usage than the "tumultu orum" of all the other manuscripts as well as of ourmissal supplement (15).

Do the manuscripts or the texts themselves g ive us any clue as to the precise place of orig in and provenance of our texts? Not really. Though it is clear, of course, that our

texts are of monastic orig in, and from a milieu where the Holy Rule was the point of reference. This can be surmised

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on the basis of the phrase, "qui arctam et angustam iussisti arripere viam", of the first prayer. Here the text has been reworked from St. Benedict's ''Idea angustam viam arripiunt , uncle Dominus <licit, 'Angusta via es , quae ducit advitam "' (16), but read in the light of its Gospel source, "Quam angusta porta et arcta via est quae ducit ad vitam ..." (17).The same text is, granted , a commonplace in monastic literature. Indeed , the' Master has it in precisely the same context in which St. Benedict uses the theme, in Ch. 7 of the Regula Ma istri, "De obedientia discipulorum , qualis debeatesse" (18 . But it is Benedict, and only Benedict, who uses, in this context , the telltale word "arripere" . Cassian is familiar with the expression "arripere iter", which he uses in his Collatio IV, xix (19); he uses-:--tOo, a parallel combination of words "viam perfectionis adripiens" in the same section (20).But it is only in St. Benedict that all the wordscharacteristic of our phrase in the Mass prayer are to be

found.

The word "suscipe" in the first prayer - at least in the manuscripts of Reims, Metz, St. George , and Bamberg , as opposed to the single late manuscript of Eng elberg (and the Cistercian Supplement text) - could possibly be a discreet allusion tothe solemn profession versicle , "Suscipe me, Domine, secundum eloquium tuum, et vivam, et non confundas me ab expectatione mea" (21). (In passing , we may be justified in our regret that our Cistercian version follows the Engelberg reading - "respice" - rather than that of the earlier manuscripts - "suscipe" .)

We may distinguish as forming a d'istinct group of phrases a number of cliches of the sort found in almost any western sacramentary of any provenance and of any period. An example would be the phrase in the first prayer, "delictorum catenam , qua se constrictum esse sentit ..." The characteristic linking of 'catena', 'delictorum' and 'constringere' is found in theGregorian Sacramentary (22), in the "G elasianum vetus" (23) and in the 8th century Gelasian sacramentaries (24) ; in the Bergamo Sacramentary (25), in the Mozarabic Liber Ordinum (26), etc.So , too , the incipits of the prayers super oblata and poht communionem could easily have been written by anyone wit even a passing acquaintance with the traditional westernprayer- repertory.

There remain a few phrases which, in spite of their familiar vocabulary and their no less familiar struggle- against- the- flesh- and- the- devil theme , do not occur as such in any of the edited sacramentaries. It m y be suggested tentatively that, directly or indirectly, the basic material has been provided by Cassian; though it would exceed the limits of this brief note were we to attempt a demonstration of this hypothesis - a demonstration involving many parallel columns drawn chiefly from Collatio IV, "De concupiscentia carnis ac spiritus", but leading to no sure conclusion in view

of the numerous similar parallels found in ascetic l iterature ofthis sort. ·

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Yet another remark, but of a rather negative sort. The author of these prayers was hardly a master of Latin prose. This is suggested by his accumulation of strong cadences which fail to conform with the standard rhythmic patterns"arr i;ere v am", "digncfnter stiscipe", "pot nter ripe", "clementer eruat" (27) ; and "tumultuorum" for "tumultuum" in the post- communion prayer probably would not have occurred had the author been more familiar with classical usage.

We may conclude that our prayers are of reasonable antiquity (end of the 9th century at the latest) ; that, stylistically, they are, at best, not particularly noteworthy; that the author seems to have been writing in and for a monastic, Benedictine milieu; and that our present Cistercian version squares reasonably well with a tradition which, if not precisely coherent in all its textual details, nevertheless offers few variants really worth quibbling over. These remarks have their relative importance. More important is the question of the theological content of these profession Mass- prayers.

The content of these prayers.

Let us now pass in brief review each of our three texts, identifying the chief themes touched upon.

1- Prayer: "Omnipotens, aeterne Deus , qui arctam" .

a) ui arctam et A fairlydirect borrowing rom , e o oe 1entia" (28), but also having roots in the log ion of our Lord in Matthew7, 14: "Quam angusta porta et arcta via est quae ducit ad vitam." The theme , however, is not merely that of the monastic life conceived as a journey along a strait , narrow way , but that of the choice between two ways, as is clear from the context in the Gospel , in tRule of St. Benedict, and in the Rule of the Master from which St. Benedict here depends (29).The theme is biblical, and pre- Christian. The reader interested in consulting the pertinent literature on this subject should refer to the commentary and bibliography included in Fr. J.-P. AUDET' s edition of the Didache (30). Here let us only follow Dom Thierry MAERTENS (31) in pointing out that man' s responseto God conceived in terms of a choice between two ways squares well with the mentality of an Old Testament people emerging or just emerged from nomadism. The theme of the two ways occurs in several different contexts: moral, as when the Lord God says through J eremia, "Behold , I set before you the way of life and the way of death" (32); sapiential, as when we read that, under the guidance of wisdom ,

"... the path of the just is like shining light, that grows in brilliance till perfect day.

The way of the wicked is like darkness;they know not on what they stumble" (33);

or eschatolog ical, as when the Lord God once again says through Jeremia,

"Stand beside the earliest roads , ask the pathways of old

Which is the way to good , and walk it;thus you will find rest for your souls" (34).

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The theme of the two ways was no less central to Qumran spirituality , and is found in the Manual of Discipline in the perspectives of an eschatological struggle between two spirits offering men two different ways (35) . Our Lord , too , made use of the theme of the two ways, and identified his own teaching as that way which leads to life (Mt. 7, 13- 14); and the themewas taken up and developed in various ways in the apostolic and post- apostolic preaching and catechesis (36). The incipit ofour prayer, then, provides ample matter for reflection.

b) de huius ad te confug ientem ice (better, suscipe familiar t eme , ere couc e notonly in negative terms - flight away from the dangers of this world - but in strong , positive terms - flight to find refug e in God: ad te confugientem. This theme of monastic life as a finding refuge in God is apt for ample developments. But let us rather here consider for a moment something f the content of the word suscipe - surely the better reading , attested by the older manuscripts, and rich with implications in an age whenthe rite of "susceptio" marked a decisive moment of the baptismal liturgy. We read in Ordo XI , to quote but one example,Et sunt parati qui eos suscepturi sunt cum linteis in manibus eorum et accipiunt eos a pontifice vel diaconibus quieos baptizant (37).

The expression "qui ...suscepturi sunt" has its orig ins in ancient Roman practice. Immediately after its birth, the child was taken into his father's arms, and the father thereby acknowledged that this was indeed his child. Was it perhaps this current usag e which influencecrt"he translator of Psalm 138, 13, to write, "Ex utero matris meae suscepisti me", even though "suscepisti" has rather little to do with the Hebrewteukken (38). We here touch on the wonderfully fruitful themeof monastic profession as a birth into a life with a new dimension, monastic life as a second bahtism, monastic life as an entering into a special kind of sons i with God the Father: God receives his child and acknowledg es himself as father of this child (39). Neither is it without significance that, inone of the most widespread prayers for the clothing of the new monk, the text emphasizes the fact that the Superior presiding at the clothing of the monk does so in the name of the Father:

Adesto Domine supplicationibus nostris: et hunc famulum tuum N. benedicere digneris, cui in tuo nomine habitum Relig ionis imponimus ...(40).

Just as the sponsors at baptism once stood by with the child's baptismal clothes in their hands , waiting to receive him in acknowledgment of their spiritual paternity , and to clothe him in his new garments, so God now is present to receive his child and to clothe him , through his representative, in the garments of his new state of life. In brief, the word "suscipe" has much to tell us about the theolog ical dimensions of monastic profession.

c) delictorum catenam , qua se constrictum esse sentit ,

clementer disrumpe. We have already seen, on the evidence of many sources , that the vocabulary and imagery contained in this phrase are widespread. Turning to G od is necessarily turning from an order marked by sin and its consequences. What could be more natural than to express this in terms of a liberation,a being freed from bondage?

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d) erseverantiam( ue) raemia ei lar ire semp:iterna . T e inal p rase exten s t e movement initiate in the previous one: a breaking off from sin is followed by perseverance in the new state, and all this leads to ultimate fulfillment in eternity. The progression of thought islog ical , meaningful ,

These few remarks suffice to suggest that our prayer is rich with content- matter, at least for anyone will ing to give the text more than a superficial reading.

2- Prayer over the offerings: "Munera, quaesumus , Domine" .

a) Munera, *uaesumus, Domine, famuli tui dignanter susce. Vocabulary and t ought- content are nothing if not traditional. It will help, however, if we replace the text in the historical setting which saw its rise. On the day of hi profession andfor the two days following , during which the newly professed kept his hood raised and kept to a special regime of silence and prayer, the new member of the community not only receivedCommunion daily, but also offered his oblation at the offertory. A few texts taken from Dom MARTENE's De antiquis Ecclesiae ritibus, and other compilations, will suffice to illustrate the point.

Capitium vero cucullae in capite die noctuque usque in tertia die habeat, necnon et summum silentium teneat , et ad missam offerat et communicet. Tertia iam die post evang elium missae matutinalis, mox ut oblatum habuerit, tollat abbas capellumde capite ...(41).Deinde tribus diebus silentium teneant, in quibus quotidie ad Missam offerant, atque communicent ...(42)....et maneant (neo- professi) velati usque ad tertium diem. Ad offerendum omnes velandi (sic!) procedant , pacem accipiant, et eant ad communicandum ...(43).

Many , very many other texts could be cited. The practice

of the daily offering of one's oblation and the daily reception of Communion has its roots in an ancient practice, of which the three- day post- profession retreat was only a vestige. From the evidence accumulated and interpreted by Dom Odo CASEL , O.S.B.(44), it would seem that there was a parallel not only between the profession rite and baptism, but between the week after baptism and the week after profession, when the monk, like the neophyte in his baptismal garments, remained in his cowl , and spent the entire period in an intense awareness of his deepened identification with Christ. What was more natural than thatthis experience would be concretized in the monk's sacramental participation in the mystery of the dying and rising Lord?Hence the expl icit prescriptions regarding the daily offeringof the oblation and the daily reception of Communion. If we now reread our inci it against this eminently paschal setting , the often- heard wor s take on new dimensions of meaning.

b) quern , desiderio aeternae beatitudinis a mundane proposito segregasti. Once again, a formula teeming with rich theology. It is no accident that Dom Jean LECLERCQ , O.S.B.,

when choosing a formula to sum up the essential of his classic study on monastic spirituality, decided upon The Love of Learning and the Desire for God. Anyone wishing to explore

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the riches contained in this word desire can do nothing better than to read reflectively Dom Leclercq's beautiful passages on "Saint Gregory, Doctor of Desire" (45), or his no less profound reflections on "Desire: Possession of Love" (46), where the author says among other things:

"Since contemplation in its full meaning means possession in perfect knowledge , it will be attained only in Heaven; it is impossible here on earth. But one can obtain from God the gift of real anticipation which is the desire itself. Todesire Heaven is to want God and to love Him with a love that monks sometimes call impatient. The greater desire becomes, the more the soul rests in God. Possession increases in the same proportion as desire. But just as death is the condition upon which full satisfaction depends, so this pretast edemands that we must die to the world" (47).

It is, then, such a desire enkindled in the heart of the monk that turns him from all that is of the earth , earthy, and effects in him that mystical "death" which is a prelude to perfect consummation in eternity.

c) etiam a delectatione carnal i et ab omnibus antiqui hostis insidiis patenter eripe. We are brought back to earth again, and with something of a bang. It is precisely such a phrase as this one that poses the greatest problems for the modern translator. Any monk who is familiar with the traditional doctrine of the three renunciations (48), or who has explored even superficially the writings of only a few ofthe many Fathers and monastic writers who have dealt concretely with the l ife of prayer, will feel quite at home with thisvivid forthright terminology Unfortunately the same terms rendered l iterally in Engl ish have a great deal of lurid color, but also a certain dullness of theolog ical resonance. This is even more true of the final prayer in our series of three.

3- Prayer after Communion: "Haec nos, quaesumus".

a) divini sacramenti perceptio a nostris emundet offensis. The phrase and content are too classical to require special comment. One has only to open Tome I I of Dom P. BRUYLANTS'Les oraisons du Missel Romain (49), and examine the Mass prayers, beg inning with "Haec, Domine", "Haec nos communio", "Haec oblatio, Domine", and many others of this type, to realize that this kind of incipit almost invariably gets a desinit of the"a-nostris- emundet- offensis"- type: arsis/thesis,.protasis/apodosis.

b) famulum tuum NN. a mundanis pravitatibus et ab omnibus tumultuorum carnalium delectationibus clementer eruat. Even in the Latin, our phrase is a bit wild , a succession of long words strung together with many syllables intervening between the widely spaced tonic accents, and with remarkably many proparoxytonic words heaped up right in a row. But theag itation of the rhythm goes wel l with the thought- content: "pravitatibus ...tumultuorum carnalium delectationibus".A wonderfully expressive phrase, but one which fails to open

out into the rich perspectives suggested by the first two texts.

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Further, we feel even more intensely the difficulty just alluded to when we discussed the conclusion of the prayer over the offerings a manner of expression which, in Eng lish, makes a caricature of the thought expressed. Paraphrase is little help; it only weakens the text beyond hope of redempticn.Further, whether in Latin or Eng lish, the prayer fits less well in the present context than in the one which saw its rise. At the present time, our monks make their solemn profession only after a period of more than five years of monastic experience. They are not neo- convers i of the sort who, at an earlier age, would come from a worldly life and, after only a short time in the monastery, would pronounce their solemn vows. True, the literal application of the prescriptions of the Holy Rule regarding the length of the novitiate would necessitate ayear- long novitiate: "Sit in cella novitiorum ...post duorum mensium circulum legatur ei Regula ...et post sex mensium circulum relegatur ei Regula ...post quatuor menses iterum legatur ei haec eadem Regula ...tunc suscipiatur in congregationem" (SO). But we know that such prescriptions were not always literally observed. Indeed, no less a witness to monastic tradition than St. Peter the Venerable defended the liceity of a two- day novitiate in certain circumstances.The passag e is worth quoting:

"In novitiis quos infra annum suscipimus , Regulam optime conservamus, quoniam charitate providemus , ne cum fervore spiritus ad Deum venientes liceat Satanae ad saeculum, imo ad interitum retrahere. Unde eius tentationibus longum tempus dare nolumus , nee diu protrahi pugnam permittimus , quoniam periculosa est pug illis infirmi cum robusto ... (Attamen) cum expedire videmus ...annum ad novitii susceptionem integrum exspectamus. Aliquando post dimidium annum caeteris illum fratribus aggregamus. Multoties non tantum mensem aut hebdomadam, sed nee biduum praestolamur" (51).

No less revealing is Peter's commentary on the cluniac statute prescribing at least a month- long novitiate (52), where he admits that the novitiate prescribed by St. Benedict had been so reduced "ut non dico annus, non dico dimidius, sed nee mensis nee hebdomada, nee aliquando erg a novitiorum probationemdies integra servaretur" (53). Granted that a two- day novitiate was the exception, or even just a rhetorical expression on the part of the Abbot of Cluny , it remains true that often enough only a relatively short interval separated the aspirant's conversion from the world and his definitive commitment to the monastic life. It is in this context, and also in the contextof an age when "contemptus mundi" literature beg an to abound as never before, that our texts are rather more understandablethan at the present time, when our candidates for solemnprofession have already spent long years in the monastery. Certainly , at no stage in the life of the monk is one wholly free from a certain proneness to worldliness in one form or another; and the world , the flesh, and the devil will always be with us here below. And let us admit it: sometimes theliturg ical formulae put on our lips by the Church are more realistic than we are, and more ad rem than we would care to admit.

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But even when we have agreed to all this, it remains true that the final impression left by these prayers is , taken cumulatively, all too negative. We have seen that , in ac tual fact , a considerable store of riches can be found in the texts , especially in the first two. Yet , such riches become apparent only after one has struggl ed to identify them and get at them. Such an effort is good , even necessary if we are to have a real contact at depth with realities expressed by the texts. Yet , there is a question of degree. What Vatican II has said of the liturgical rites should apply equally well to the texts: they should be "distinguished by a nobl e simplicity; they should be short , clear and unencumbered by any useless repetitions; they should be within the people's powers of comprehension, and normally should not require much explanation" (54).

In brief, while fully acknowledg ing our own superficiality and lack of contact with traditional sources of monastic spiritual ity, and while recognizing the very real riches to be found in our profession Mass prayers, I feel , and feel rather strongly, that these prayers lend themselves too easily tobeing misunderstood , or understood in a superficial manner , and that the effort to appreciate the prayer- content makes tooheavy a demand on the averag e well- disposed monk. Most of the wealth contained in these prayers is implicit. Perhaps a more explicit expression of the meaning of monastic

initiation in the context of the paschal mystery would better serve the purpose of these prayers.

If the reader is still not convinced , let him put himself in the position of having to provide a translation of theprayer after communion to be used in a profession Mass at which the family of the new monk assists. When faced with thisproblem , on the occasion of the recent profession of our Br. Hugh, I admit that I capitulated completely , and adopted a provisional "solution" about which I still have more than one qualm of conscience: I replaced the rayer over the g ifts and the prayer after communion prescribe for the Mass for the Blessing of Monks with the parallel formulae found in our new Cistercian Missal Supplement , in the Mass on the Day of Profession of Men Religious ( S S ) . I would have preferred choosing texts more rooted in monastic tradition, but this would have meant substituting non- approved texts for the official ones. In the circumstances , I followed what seem edto be the most reasonable course.

Conclusion and perspectives for the future.

There is probably no one in the Order who is not happy with the idea of a set of special Mass prayers for the blessing of a monk. And surely many of us will be all the more contentso often as prayers such as those in question can be found in traditional monastic sources or in the liturg ical books currently used by our Bened ictine brethren. At the sam e time , we should be cautious in accepting without critical exam ination all such material. As has been suggested above, the

suitability of the present prayers in points of detail is open to discussion, in spite of the undeniable riches of the textstaken singly or as a whole. But even granted that the texts are acceptable in general , there is question of the textual version

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to be adopted. In the light of the manuscript tradition, our Cistercian version, whatever its immediate antecedents, would profit by emendation in a few points of detail.

But to be really practical - what would you do in the present situation? Retain the prayers exactly as they are? Replace them with other texts from official sources? Compose entirely new formulae? Ferret out in our monasticsource-material texts which could be used as they stand? Clearly , there are a number of possibilities, and one might expect that an article unkind enough to point out some of the weak spots in our profession Mass prayers would end with some positive suggestions of a very concrete sort.

But this "note" is already long enough; and I hope, at a later date, to be in a position to propose, in a follow- up article, a project accompanied by detailed notes. In the meantime, however, many members of our Ord er with a practical bent of mind may well have been thinking about the problem raised by these prayers , and may just as well have hit upon material which may be of genuine value in shaping up such a proj ect. Any such material will be gratefully received. Again, the problem at hand could well provide matter for a fruitful exchange between novices and their father-master, or between junior monks and the master of juniors - all this leading , of course, to the formulation of their insights into monastic life in the form of a series of Mass prayers for solemn profession.Such a project would help concretize one's ideas about the meaning of the monastic life, the biblical background of the profession rite, the relationship between monastic profession and the Eucharist ... And we might discover that the same inspiration we so admire in traditional texts from the pastis by no means dead.Gethsernani b . Chrysogonus Waddell, O.C.S.O.

N 0 T E S

1) Op. cit., p. 55, "De orationibus ritualibus", Cap. X , D, De orationibus. 2) Ibid., n. 375, e.3) Su lementum Missali s Codic1s 1sterc1ens1s a un11 at1, Westmalle , s.a. (1966).4 ) I b id ., pp . 2 6 - 2 9 .5 ) According to a note by Dom Hieronymus FRANK , O.S.B., in the article , "Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der benediktinischen Professliturgie im fruhen Mittelalter", in Studien und Mitteilungen zur G eschichte des Benediktiner- Ordens,Bd. 63 (19 51) , p. 12 4 , n. 111. ·6) Bibliographical notices in L. DELISLE , M s o ires sur d'anciens sacramentaires (=M moires de l'Academ1e des inscriptions et belles- lettres, XXXII) , Paris 1886, p. 116;V. LEROQUAIS, Les sacramentaires et les missels manuscrits des bibliothe ues publi ues de France, I , Paris 1924, pp. 21- 25;

H. LECLER Q, art. 11 oyon", 1n D1ctionnaire d'arch olo,iechr tienne et de liturgie, XII , 2, Paris 1936, col. 1 79- 17 2 ; E . BOURQUE, Etude sur les sacramentaires remains, II , 2, Quebec 1952, p. 255 , n. 194; Le Graduel roma1n, II , Les sources, Solesmes 1957, p. 117.

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7) In the article referred to in Note 5, above; the texts are given in extenso with brief commentary , pp. 123- 124.8) The variants of the Reims manuscript are indicated in Dom Leclercq's transcription of a "Missa pro monachis in die professionis eorum", published· in Archiv fur Liturgiewissenschaft, IV/I (1955) , pp. 94- 95.9) Analysis of m . in Dom J ean LECLERCQ, Un ma tre de la vie spirituelle au XI si cle, Jean de Fecamp, Paris 1946,pp. 31- 32; completed in Studia Anselmiana, 20 (1948)(=Analecta monastica 1), pp. 93- 94. .10) In the article, "Messes pour la profess ion et 1 'oblation monastiques", in the periodical indicated above, Note 8 .. 11) DescriRtion of ms. in M. ANDRIEU, Les Ordines Romani du haut moyen ae, I , Louvain 1931, p. 79.12) In Jahr uch fiir Litur iewissenschaft , 5 (1925), p. 34(Mass collect an p. 37 secreta an a complendum) . 12a) In De Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus, T . II, lib. II , Cap. II, "De benedictione monachorum", p. 166 of theVenice- Bassano edition, 1788.12b) Neither Gallia Christiana nor Dom L. COTTINEAU' s Repertoire topo- bi bliograEhique des abbayes et prieures,2 vols., Mcon 1939, provide further clues as to the precise identification of the monastery in question.13) Op. cit., pp. 26- 27.14) Art. cit., p. 124, n. 111.15) In the article referred to above, Note 8, Dom J. Leclercq refers to the absence of the word "tumultuorum" in E; the missing word is, rather, "carnalium". The grammatical correctness of M does not necessarily mean that our Metz ms. represents the authentic reading ; it could easily be a correction made by a grammar- conscious scribe, who recognizes "tumultus" for the 4th declension noun it is.16) From Ch. 5 , "De oboedientia"; in the edition by R. HANSLIK, Benedicti Regula (CSEL 75), Vindobonae 1960, p. 36, 11.17) Matthew 7, 14. ../ ,181 In the edition by Dom Adalbert de VOGUE, La Re le du Maitre, I (=Sources chrtiennes 105), Paris 1964, C . VII 22, p . 38 6 .19) In the edition by Dom E. PICHERY, O.S .B., in Sources chr6tiennes 42, t. I, p. 184: "iter huius professionis adripuit" .20) Ibid., p. 183.21) This verse from Ps. 118, 116, is part of the profession rite described by St. Benedict in his Rule, Ch. 58, which here forms a pendant to the Regula Magistri, LXXXIX, "Quomododebeat £rater novus in monaster 9 suum firmare introitum ''; in .the edition by Dom A. de VOGUE, O.S.B. (see Note 18, above) , Vol. II, p. 376.22) Das sacramentarium Gre orianum Urexem ar = itur ie sc ic t ic e 2 01, 1 , ed. H . LI .T Z NN.

Aachener, Munster 1921,

23) Liber Sacramentorum Romanae Aeclesiae Ordinis Anni Circuli (=Rerum Ecclesiasticarum Documenta, Series Maior: Fontes IV), ed. Dom MOHLBERG , o.s.B.i Roma 1960, n. 361, p. 58.

o .s . .

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24) Le sacrarnentaire gelasien d'Angoul rne, ed. Dorn CAGIN, O.S.B., Angoulrne 1919, n. 608; ms. Paris, Biblioth que nationale, ms. lat. 12048, f. 49r; Sacrarnentariurn Fuldense saec. X (= uellen unf Forschun en zur Geschichte der Abtei und der Diozese n. 64.25) Sacrarnentariurn Ber,ornense (=Monurnenta Bergornensia VI) , ed. A. PARED , Bergamo962, n. 695, p. 194.26) Le " Liber Ordin u rn" en usa e dans l'e lise wisi othi ue et rnozara e 'Es agne Monurnenta Ecclesiae Liturgica 5 , e .FEROT N, Paris 1904, 262,3; 263,15.27) For a summary treatment of the question, with modest but useful bibliography, see H .LECLERCQ, O.S .B., art. "Cursus", in Dictionnaire d'archeolo ie chretienne et de litur ie, III 2 , aris reprint , . or a more extensivetreatment, with references to more recent literature on the subject, see F. STUMMER, "Vorn Satzrhythrnus in der Bibel und in der Liturgie der lateinischen Christenheit", in Archiv f "Ur Liturgiewissen schaft, III/2 (1954), pp. 233- 283.2 8) See above, Note 16.29) In Ch. VII , 22, Mt. 7, 13- 14 is cited in part, and then followed by a long development on the two ways, a theme already introduced .Jn the Prologus. The reference is to the edition by Dorn de VOGUE, O.S.B. See Note 18, above.30) J.- P. AUDET, O.P., La Didach , instructions des ap8tres, Paris 1958.31) In Histoire et pastorale de Rituel de cat churnenat et de baTterne (=Paroisse et Liturgie 56), Bruges 1962, pp. 65-67.32 Jer. 21, 8, cited according to the RSV rather than the CCDversion, which renders the thought, but not the imagery, with the abstract formula, "See, I am giving you a choice between life and death." The Hebrew reads, of course: 'eth-derek haayy'frn we'eth- derek harnrnaweth.33) Prov. 4, 19- 18 (CCD) .34) Jer. 6, 16 (CCD).35)' The Manual of Discipline, Pl. iv, translated and annotated by P. WERNBERG -MLLER, Leidn 1957, pp ..26- 27. .

/36) For a summary account of the doctrine of the Didache onthe two ways, and references to early patristic literature on the same theme, see Dorn MAERTENS, op. cit., pp. 65-66.37) M. ANDRIEU, Les "ordines Romani" du haut rnoyen e, II, Louvain 1948, p. 446, n. 98. Cf. also ibid., III, p. 73,n. 54 of Ordo XXXB.38) The Septuagint reading is in line with the Vulgate text,i.e .39) The literature on monastic profession as a second baptism grows yearly. For a summary treatment in English, with numerous bibliographical notes, see E. E. MALONE, O.S .B., "Martyrdom and monastic Profession as a second Baptism", in Vorn christlichen Mysteriurn. Gesarnrnelte Arbeiten zurn Gedachtnis von Odo Case! OSB, DUsseldorf 1951, pp. 115-134.4UT The formula is now used for the clothing of our novices.The text .is cited in the version of the excerpt from our Rituale, i.e. De ritu suscipiendi fratres, s.l., s.a.(Westrnalle 1961), p. 3.

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41) Op. cit., t. II , Lib. II , Cap. II , Ordo I , p. 163 of the edition cited above, Note 12a. The source is, according to our commentator, a 9th century English missal. An almost identical passage is also cited by Dom Martene in his Commentarius in Regulam S. P. Benedicti, Parisiis 1690, p. 769 (=PL 66, 829 D), "ex ms. codice S. Benedicti Floriacensis" (Fleury) .42) Op. cit., t. IV (=De antiquis Monachorum ritibus) , Lib. V, Cap. IV, n. ix, p. 224 of the Venice- Bassano edition of 1788. This time the manuscript transcribed is a Monte- Cassino Ordinarium from the time of Abbot Oderisius (+1105) .43) Ibid., n. xiii, p. 224; text transcribed from a customary of Farfa.44). In the article, "Die Monchsweihe", in Jahrbuch filr Liturg iewissenschaft, (1925) , especially pp. 17, 28- 31.45) The Love of LearninE and the Desire for God, tr. Catherine Misrahi, New York 1961, hapter II , pp. 31- 44; see especially pp. 39- 41.46) Ibid., in the 4th Chapter, "Devotion to Heaven", pp. 85- 86.47) Ibid., p. 85.48) Cf. Cassian' s 3rd Conference - "Conlatio Abbatis Pafnutii: 'De tribus abrenuntiationibus' ".49) Louvain, 1952.S O ) Holy Rule, Ch. 58.51) Liber etistolarum , I , 28, PL 189, 150 A- C.52) N. 37 o the Statutes of Peter the Venerable , Abbot of Cluny , in Statuts, Chapitres g nraux et visites de l'Ordre de Cluny, ed. Dorn G. CHARVIN, O.S.B., t. I , Paris 1965, p. 30; also in PL 189, 1036 B- C.53) Ibid. For a brief expos of the question of the length of the novitiate , see the study by Dorn Vincent HERMANS, O.C.S.O., De novitiatu in Ordine Benedictino- cisterciensi et in iure comrnuni usque ad annum 1335 , in Analecta Sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis 3 (1947) , pp. 88- 90.54) Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, n. 34.55) Supplementurn ..., p. 30.

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THE HYMN "MAGNUM SALUTIS GAUDIUM"

It was all but inevitable that the reform of the Cistercian Holy Week liturgy in 1959 would involve the loss of the wonderfully deep, moving , but also fiendishly difficult Palm Sunday processional responsory , "Collegerunt" .

Processional responsory? According to our more recent editions of the Cistercian Process ional , yes. Our early manuscript graduals , however, indicate our text as an antiphon (l); so, too, the earliest vers ions of our Consuetudines (2).

A rose by any other name, however, would have as many thorns ; and, whether des ignated as 'antiphona' or 'antiphona cum versu' or 'responsorium', "Collegerunt" calls for a tour de force performance exceeding the musical resources of most of our communities. Indeed , it would seem that our antiphon/responsory originally figured only rarely as arecessional chant. True , the famous Antiphony (for Mass and

Office o Compi gne (between 860 and 880) presents our text as the seventh of a series of antiphons "de Passione Domini" (3), and all these antiphons are known to have been used in connection with the Palm Sunday process ion. But the informative Conspectus which forms the basis of Fr. Hermann SCHMIDT's observations on the evolution of the Palm Sunday blessing of palms and procession (4) shows clearly enough that our "antiphon" did service, not as a processional chant , but as a gradual or tract , and was meant to bridge the two readingswhich formed the chief elements of a kind of "fore-Mass" preparatory in many places to the actual blessing of the branches (4). Its function, then, was not that of aprocess ional chant; nor was there anytKiilg particula ly wrong in the virtuoso demands "Collegerunt" made on the performers , since, _ for the most part , these were highly trained singers endowed with a formidabl e technical competence.

The void left in the Cistercian Palm Sunday procession by the suppression of "Collegerunt" has been filled chiefly by a chant of quite another stamp. The text is relatively uncomplicated , in spite of the close to two pages taken up by the critical apparatus of the version printed in Vol. 51 of the Analecta Htmnica Medii Aevi (5). The music, too, is familiarand uncomp icated, for the same melody is used for the hymns we so often sing , "Deus tuorum militum" and "Martyr Dei, qui unicum '' . Let us now look more closely at , first , the text , then the music. For if we do not take a closer look at this Palm Sunday hymn, there----Will be few others who will do so; for "Magnum salutis g audium" has now become a phenomenon identified almost exclusively with the Ambrosian hymnal and our own Processional.

I. The Text

Let it be said at once that our present text , as found in the various leaflets and booklets printed in the context of our 1959 Holy Week reform , is wholly faithful to the early Cistercian manuscripts -- or, at least , to the better early

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Cistercian manuscripts ; faithful also to the many printed editions of our breviaries which spanned the period between the late 15th century and the romanization of the Cisteician Office in the mid- 1600's. With the romanization of the Cistercian Office, "Magnum salutis gaudium" disappeared for a bit morethan three centuries from the Cistercian rite. When it was finally re- introduced in 1959, it found an entirely new place in our liturgy. At an earlier date, the hymn had appeared only in out breviary; now it appears as a hymn to be sung duringour Palm Sunday procession.

The earliest known extant Cistercian breviary manuscript now in the Stadtsbibliothek of Marburg , where it is

classified as Ms. lat. 8°, 402 - is assignable to a year very near 1132, the year with which the table of epacts beg ins.At this early date , the Saturday Vespers hymn, "Deus Creator omnium", was still sung at 1st Vespers of Palm Sunday (f. 71r); and the Vig ils hymn was still "Aeterne rerum Conditor" .(One thinks of Abelard's scathing comment in his Epistola X, "Quae est ...ad Bernardum Claraevallensem abbatem", written around 1132, in which the fiery critic of the Order remarks, among many other "oddities" characteristic of the White Monks , the fact that "die Natalis, seu Paschae, vel Pentecostes, et caeteris solemnitatibus , hymnum semper eumdem decantareaudiunt , scilicet , "Aeterne rerum Conditor", summo stupore atton1ti suspenduntur; nee tam admiratione quam derisione moventur" ) (6). But "Magnum salutis gaudium" makes its appearance at Lauds (f. 73r) - all thirteen verses of it. As will be seen from the critical apparatus , the earliestCistercian version abounds in scribal blunders. (Unfortunately , this is true of the entire manuscript in general , so that it becomes difficult to establish in many instances whether the Marburg manuscript offers a genuine variant characteristic of the authentic early Cistercian repertory, or else simply represents a scribal faux pas .) Later manuscripts of Cistercian hymnals and breviaries show that Abelard' s criticism was well taken and acted upon. "Magnum salutis gaudium" now appears in its entirety at Vespers; but it also appears at Vigils andLauds , the first half being sung at Vig ils , the second half at Lauds (7). And so it was, until the mid - 17th century, when "Magnum salutis gaudium" disappeared, only to reappear three centuries later, no longer as the hymn for Vespers, Vig ils , and Lauds, but as a hymn to be sung in honor of Christ the King during the Palm Sunday procession.

The present position of our hymn in the Palm Sunday procession is by no means contrary to tradition. Indeed , the decisively important codification known as the Romano- Germanic Pontifical (ca. 950), to which our Cistercian Rituale owes so much, assigns the hymn to exactly the same place it has enjoyed in our rite since 1959 (8). Our own Cistercian version of the hymn, however, owes nothing to the Romano- Germanic Pontifical. This is evident if one compares our text with that of the critical edition edited by M. ANDRIEU, in Vol. V of his monumental series, Les "ordines Romani" du haut mo ye n age (9). Here our hymn appears as a series of "versus ...in laudem salvatoris"; moreover, each stanza is followed by a repetition of the first part or of the second part of the first stanza,

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so that the manner of performance is exactly parallel to the manner in which we sing the Good Friday hymn, "Pange, lingua, gloriosi", with intercalations of the first or second part of the antiphon "·Crux fidelis" between stanzas. Moreover, the critical apparatus of the text in the edition by Andrieu reveals a remarkab ly coherent tradition, the manuscriptvariants of which rarely coincide with the Cistercian text. If, then, our version does not depend on the widely diffusedRomano- Germanic Pontifical , from what source does it depend?

Our Cistercian version of "Magnum salutis g audium" depends directly on a Milanese archetype.

This is not surprising. For many years , it has been well known that , in the early 12th century, the Cistercian "passion for the authentic" had led our Fathers to Milan for a copy of the hymnal most conformed with the meager indications of the Holy Rule regarding hymns (10). St. Benedict's apparent equivalence between "hymnus" and "ambrosianum" (11) apparently led the first generation of Cistercians to the conclusion that fidel ity to the letter and spirit of the Rule called for the adoption of· a hymnal composed exclusively of hymns from the pen of St. Ambrose himself. This conclusion was not proper to the Cistercians. Indeed, it had been current for centuries amongthe commentators on the Holy Rule - commentators such as Paul WARNEFRID and SMARAGDUS, whose works were drawn upon so heavily by later commentators on the Rule.

Comparison of the Cistercian text of "Magnum salutis gaudium" with the text and critical apparatus edited by Fr. Clemens BLUME , S.J., in Vol. 51 of the Analecta H y mnica MediiA ev i (13), reveals a close link with the bulk of manuscripts ofItalian derivation. On the evidence of the manuscripts adduced by Fr. Blume, one may conclude tentatively that the hymn enjoyed an early and wide diffusion throughout Italy , but that its subsequent diffusion elsewhere beg ins chiefly after the start of the 12th century. This is also the conclusion of Dom Michel HUGLO, O.S.B., whose careful study of the manuscript sources led him to suggest North Italy as the point of orig in of our hymn, and the 9th century as the time of itscomposition (14),

It is clear that our Cistercian text is closely parallel to, though not identical with, the bulk of the Milanese manuscripts and other manuscripts from Italy. Unfortunately , the documentation remains too sketchy to allow us to identify the Cistercian tradition with any particular Italian orMilanese version represented in Fr. Blume's critical apparatus.

For the convenience of the reader, we shall now reproduce the excellent Westmalle version, which now appears in our more recent 1iturgical books , and which is in perfect agreement with the better Cistercian manuscripts. As a salutary indication of the caution with which some of our early manuscripts must be treated, however, the variants of a few of our earlymanuscripts are given in the critical apparatus. Even Homer occasionally nodded, and our Cistercian scribes did the same.

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We are perfectly justified in being impressed with the material fidelity with which the 12th and 13th century White Monks reproduced their liturg ical manuscripts ; but we must also be extremely careful to control any g iven manuscript by other manuscripts. In the case of the single known extantpre- Bernardine breviary manuscript already mentioned, the fallibility of the two scribes responsible for the manuscript must be ever borne in mind. The temptation is to identify all the variants of this manuscript as genuine variants proper to the prim itive Cistercian tradition. Can we always be so sure? A glance at the variants provided by this manuscript sugg ests that , in many instances, the scribes were simply dozing.

MANUSCRIPTS

Mar Marburg , Stadtsbibl iothek , Ms. lat. 8°, 402. Complete(or almost complete) Cistercian breviary of around 1132; only known extant version of a Cisterci an breviary predating the so- called "Bernardine" reform terminated around 1147. Our hymn is found on ff. 73- 73v.

VChi Rome , Biblioteca Vaticana, Chigi Collection, Ms. 743(C.V. 138) , ff. 357- 357v. Complete breviary with musical notation; from Tre Fontane , Rome; written shortly before 1175 (the proper Office of St. Bernard is in a later hand) . The ms. is carefully written, and offers the advantage of a complete breviary in full notation. But careful collation with other manuscripts brings to light a surprising number of peculiarities proper to this manuscript.

Tr 1 Troyes , Biblioth que rnunicipale, Ms. 1608, ff. 172- 172v.

Breviary from Clairvaux , written before 1175.

Pav Pavia, Bibl ioteca Universitaria, Ms. 471 , ff. 114- 115v.Wrongly catalogued as a "Psalteriurn et chorale . arnbrosianurn" . Actually a Cistercian psalter and hymnal with full musical notation; from San Settimo; late 12th century. For our hymnal , the most reliab le of the sources I have studied.

Col Colmar, Biblioth que rnunicipale, Mss. 441 and 442. Two hymnals from the monastery of Pairis, miserably edited by Dr. Carl WEINMANN in the publication, H y mnariumParis iens e (=Ver ffent lichung en der G reg orianisc hen A kademie zu F re iburg , II. Heft) , Regensburg 1905.Unfortunately , Dr. Weinrnann's edition remains the point of reference for many musicologists who have occasion to refer to the 12th century Cistercian hymnal.

Tr 2 Troyes , Biblioth que rnunicipale, Ms. 658, ff. 162- 162v.The reference is not to a hymnal , breviary, or other liturgical manuscript , but to a 12th- 13th c nturyExp lanatio super hy mnos q uibus utitur ordo cisterciens is, written by an anonymous monk of Clairvaux. Our

author follows each line or stanza of the hymn with his own reflections (which are not always inspired) . Dorn Jean LECLERCQ, O.S.B., is preparing an edition of this brief commentary.

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MAGNUM SALUTIS GAUDIUM

- 1-1 MAGNUM salutis gaudium,

Laetetur omne saeculum;3 Jesus, Redemptor gentium

, Sanavit orbem languidum.

- 2 -Sex ante paschae ferias

6 Advenit in Bethaniam; Ubi pie post triduum Resuscitavit Lazarum.

- 3-9 Nardi Maria pistici

Sumpsit libram mox optimi: Unxit beatos Domini

12 Pedes rigando lacrymis.

- 4 -Post haec jugalis asinae Jesus supernus arb iter

15 Pullo sedebat , inclytam Pergebat Jerosolymam.

- 5 -0 quam stupenda pietas!

18 Mira Dei clementia! Sesser aselli fieri Dignatur Aucter saeculi.

- 6 -21 Olim propheta praescius

Praedixit almo Spiritu: Exulta, dicens, filia

24 Sion, satis et jubila.

- 7 -Rex, ecce, tuus humilis Noli timere, veniet,

27 Pullo, jugalis praesidens Tibi benignus patiens.

- 8 -Ramos virentes sumpserat

30 Palma recisos tenera Turba, processit obviam Regi perenni plurima.

- 9 -33 Coetus sequens et

praevius Sanctoqu plenus Spiritu Clamabat: In

altissimis36 Hosanna David Filio.

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- 10-Quidam solutis strophiis Viam tegebant vestibus:

39 Pluresque flare candido Iter parabant Domino.

- 11-Ad cujus omnis civitas

42 Commota ingressum tremuit , Hebraea proles aureaLaudes fereb at debitas.

- 12-45 Nos ergo tanto Judici

Curramus omnes obviam , Palmas gerentes, g loriam

48 Mente canamus sobria.

- 13-Honor, decus, imerium Sit Trinitati un1cae ,

51 Patri, Nata , ParaclitoPer infinita saecula. Amen.

3 Redemptor] add. Omnium, Mar.7 pie] om., Mar.14 arbiter] artifex, Tr 1.15 Pullo] pullos, Mar.18 clementia] potentia, Mar.27 Pullo] pullum , Mar , VChi.32 Regi perenni plurima] om., Mar.37 strophiis] trophiis, VChi, Tr 2.38 tegebant] regebant , Mar.43 aurea] area, Mar.

All early printed editions examined by me agree with the modern Westmalle transcription -- e.g. the early P saZter ium secundum usum ordinis cisterc iens is , printed at Paris in 1533 (the hymn is found on ff. cliiij- cliiijv) , the 1595 breviaryprinted at Salamanca for the Order in Spain (pp. 317- 318) , the 1630 breviary printed at Paris (p. 206) ...

Of the manuscripts listed above, Pav and Col provide no variants (the "variants" found in the Weinmann edition are simply errors of transcription on the editor's part) ; Tr 1 and Tr 2 each offers a single variant. Tr l's 'artifex' (for 'arbiter') has no parallel in the critical apparatus of the Dreves edition, and is surely a mistake on the part of the scribe. Tr 2's 'trophiis' (for 'strophiis') has parallels in 11 of the manuscripts examined by Dreves; VChi has the same reading. This is the sort of variant that would inevitably be engendered by a phrase such as "Quidam solutis strophiis" or "Quidam solutis trophiis" or "Quidam salutis trophiis" . VChi supplies one other variant , 'pul_lum' for 'pullo', in stanza 7. The same reading is found in an ·Ambrosian Manuale (containing

Office collects , hymns and antiphons) of the 11th- 12thcenturies (15) and two coeval non- Ambrosian manuscripts

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from Vercelli (16). Since Mar has the same reading , there is a chance that 'pullum' does indeed represent the orig inal Cistercian reading , which would have been modified in the course of St. Bernard's liturgical reform. But all the other variants so copiously offered by Mar are clearly blunders of the most egreg ious sort" (One possible exception would be 'potentia' for 'clementia', in stanza 5. Blume found the same reading in a single Missal manuscript from the Lake Como region, written in 1401) (17).

All this discussion of variants which, in the final analysis, mean so little , would be pointless , if it did not make very clear that , of all the manuscripts examined, the one showing most clearly signs of scribal carelessness is theall- important Marburg manuscript. If the scribe was so careless in his transcription of "Magnum salutis gaudium", could he not have been no less careless in his transcription of other parts of the primitive Cistercian repertory? The publication of this primitive Cistercian manuscript has twice been interrupted by the death of its successive editors; first the death of Fr.Konrad Koch, S.O.C., then the death of Fr. Bruno Griesser,S.O.C. Almost certainly , the long- awaited edition of this manuscript will soon appear in a series of fascicles ofA nalecta Sacri Ordinis Cis berciensis. But even after publication of this sole known extant "pre-Bernardine" Cistercian breviary, we shall have to exercise extre e cautidn in accepting as genuine primitive Cistercian variants many of the peculiarities of this priceless manuscript. In the present instance, there are six, perhaps eight, blunders within 13 stanzas! This kind of carelessness does not invite our indiscriminating confidence as regards other sections ofthe manuscript.

Finally, we may remark that our 12th century Cistercian text , much as it resembles the generality of the Ambrosian manuscripts examined by Blume , resembles still more the version of "Magnum salutis gaudium" which comes almost at the end ofthe Ambrosian Rite Palm Sunday procession. I have noted only four points of difference (18) . Quite possibly both our Cistercian text and its present- day Milanese parallel depend on an archetype closer to both versions than any of theAmbrosian manuscripts known to Blume (19).

Interesting as such historical details and textual observations may be (to some of us, that is to say) , most of us are rather more coherned with the broader and deeper andricher questions connected with the content and relevance of our text for our present- day Cistercian liturgy. Was "Magnum salutis gaudium" a good substitute for "Collegerunt" ? In a future revision of our Holy Week liturgy, should this hymn be retained? Does it really offer us something which we would or should miss if a liturg ical reform once more expunges the text from our liturgy, as happened in the reform of our Officethree centuries ago?

It must be admitted that "Magnum salutis gaudium" is not remarkably great poetry. Not everyone was an Ambrose, and the familiar iambic dimeter hymn pattern we associate with the

great Bishop's name has too often been in the service of

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would- be poets of mediocre stamp. At the same time, there is nothing really trivial about our hymn text ven if considered solely from the standpoint of its literary form. Our unidentified (9th century?) author, while using the simplest of all lyric meters, took care that the exigencies of bothmetrical verse and accentual verse were respected. · The worst that can be said about 'our hymn in this context is that it is uninspiredly correct, perhaps artistically a bit natv e. Far better, however, the unaffected natv et of our unknown author, than the irritating self- conscious pretentiousness of many another of St. Ambrose's multitudinous imitators.

As reg ards the content of our text, let me say immediately that "Magnum salutis gaudium" offers us, in the first three · stanzas, an incomparable enrichment of our Palm Sunday repertory. How so? By linking the Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem with the raising of Lazarus and the anointing at Bethany , our hymn gives our Palm Sunday procession a special context of deep theological significance.

It is indeed remarkable to what extent our westernnon- Roman liturg ies have traditionally linked the entry into Jerusalem with the preceding events narrated in St. John's Gospel, i.e. the events which took place at Bethany as an immediate prelude to the happenings of the Great Week.By way of example, let us cite only a few typical texts.

The Mis sale Gothicum presents a feature still common in Gaul of the 7th and 8th centuries, i.e. a Mass "In Symbuli Traditione", in which the four Gospels and the Lord' s Prayer were given to the competentes in one of the final stages of proximate preparation for baptism. The day assigned for this rite, bpth in Gaul and in Milan, was our Palm Sunday. Among the several texts of this Mass which refer to Lazarus and the subsequent anointing at Bethany is the following praefatio ,here quoted according to the critical edition by Dom Leo Cunibert MOHLBERG , O.S.B. ( 2 0 ) . The same text is found in two other Gallican documents, i.e. the Mis sale GaZ Z icanum Vetus and the Bo b bio Mis sal (21).

In geminas partes diem hunc excolendum conplectitur, domine, nostrae seruitutis famulatio uel de ieiunio cultu sacrato uel de insignibus tuis, quae hodie fulserunt, mirabilibus, quo Lazarum reduxisti post tartara, cum ad uocem tuam intonantem exiliuit, et quadriduani iam fetenti (s) funus uiuificans animasti, uel etiam causa miraculi[ s] obstupefacta plaudens turba Bethania occurrit cum palmis tibi obuiam regi. Exaudi nos in hoc geminato seruitutis nostrae obsequio et praesta propitius atque placatus, ut animae nostrae quae tumulo sunt peccatorum conclusae et cicatricum morbiqa tade corruptae, reuiuiscant ex tua interius uisitatione sicut Lazari uisceraa tua fuerunt animata uoce, saluator.

From the same Mass, the co Z Zectio ad pacem (2 2 ) , which - in the Gallican tradition - accompanies the kiss of peacejust before the preface- dialogue:

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Uniuersorum ipse dominator, qui conditor, creaturae tuae praestanter amabilis et amator, cui Martha satag it , Maria pedes abluit , cum quo Lazarus rediuiuus accumbit , (tota nympe domus est in amore) annue plebi tuae ita se exercitare per dilectionem , ut in te possit unita manere per pacem. Ministra in nobis lacrimas, quas Maria de multa dilectione protulit, flagrare orationem nostram facito, sicut unguentum pisticum sacris plantis infusum Mariae flagrauit, ut earn pacem consequamur per oscula nostra in alterutrum porrecta, quam consequuta est Maria, sui osculans redemptoris uistigia, saluator mundi (23) .

Finally , from the same Mass, as found in the Bo b bio M is sal , the formulae ante orationem dominioam and post oratione mdominioam ( 2 4 ) :

Uenerabilis informator praeceptis, incitati munere pietatis, qui Mariae flentis lacrimas non spernis, Lazaro dignanter cognomentum fratris inponis , eclesiae sobolis appellas ore gratiae coheredes, tibi supplices clamamus et dicimus: Pater.

Exerce, l iberator, in nobis iuris proprii fa[l]cultatem , qui Lazarum uirtute, Mariae pietate , Martha labore remuneras, fauorem plebis excitas et patris uoce concina gloriaris , omnipotens deus, qui in trinitate.

Dozens of similar Palm Sunday texts alluding to Mary , Martha, and Lazarus, and to the anointing at Bethany , could be quoted from other Gal lican sources ; moreover, the sourcesdrawn upon by scholars for their knowledge of the liturgy in Spain and Portugal and in almost every part of Italy are only slightly less rich in similar texts. Accordingly , it comes as no surprise that the Gospel assigned to Palm Sunday in most of the non- Roman traditions general ly includes the account of the anointing at Bethany as recorded by St. John in his Gospel,Ch. 12, vv. 1- 8. Indeed , Dom G ermain MORIN, O.S.B., writing as far back as 1891, remarked that "This gospel of the anointing of our Lord at Bethany occurs at this place (i.e. Palm Sunday) in all the western liturgies except the Roman. It even gave this Sunday the name dies unotio nis"( 2 5 ).

Though "all western liturgies" may be too sweeping a statement (26) , there is no doubt that the anointing at Bethany supplied one of the leitmotives of the Palm Sunday celebration outside spheres where usages of the Roman rite prevailed (27). Nor is there any doubt that , in many places there were two gospels assigned to this day. The author whom I have justquoted remarks in a later article (28) , "Just as at Milan in our own days, so too the e is a double gospel for thepresent- day Palm Sunday. The first was read for the procession commemorating the entry of our Lord into J erusalem; the second was part of the Mass of this die s unotionis , as St. Ildephonsus called it , and recalled the anointing of Christ at Bethany."The same system of two Masses is found also in the Cap itu Z are ev ang e Z iorum of the Codex Foroiuliensis (29) , in the 6th/7th century Gallican Evangeliary of St. Kilian (30), or the .8th century marg inal notes added to a Trier (? or

Echternach?) evangeliary of the same century (31). But even where a two-Mass system was not the practice, the anointing at Bethany pericope

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remained attached to Palm Sunday in many of the non- Roman gospel- lists. A glance through the lists provided under the word 'Evangiles' in the Dictionnaire d'arc h o log ie chrttienne et de liturg ie (32) would suffice to prove the point; and the lists here given could be enriched with many complementsmade available by scholars since 1922.

It would go far beyond the limits of this article to situate this Palm Sunday Mass of the anointing at Bethany in the more general context of the final stages of the preparation of the competente s for baptism; far beyond the limits to show, from evidence supplied by pseudo- Germanus (33) and Venantius Fortunatus (34), that the ceremony of the traditio sy m bo li was originally combined with the consecration of the chrism.According to Archdale King , the day for the consecration of the chrism was changed to the generally accepted day , HolyThursday , only towards the end of the 7th century (35). But whether towards the end of the 7th century , or of the 6th, or of the 16th, the truth of the matter is that, nowhere in the West has the earlier cohesion between consecration of the chrism , final preparations of the compete ntes , Bethanyanointing and triumphal entry into Jerusalem perdured unbroken.

We may ask, then: Should we see in the first few stanzas of our hymn, "Magnum salutis gaudium", with theirBethany- theme, any thing more than an interesting relic of some earlier stage of one of the western liturg ies, a stag elong since dJpass ? . ·

We may state, and state emphatically, that the Bethany episode has a profound connection with the Palm Sunday inauguration of the Great Week, and that its inclusion among the themes touched upon by the Palm Sunday liturgy corresponds to the deepest nature of the mystery being celebrated.

Let us examine briefly one or two details of the highly schematized structure of St. John's Gospel. It is curious that, while all the evangelists refer to Bethany in the context ofthe anointing and the entry into Jerusalem , John is the only one to allude to a "Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing" . This text occurs early in the Gospel , in v. 28 of the first chapter, and marks the conclusion to the Baptist' s witness before the priests and Levites sent from Jerusalem.The identification of this "Bethany beyond the Jordan" has worried exegetes for centuries. Origen in his 3rd century travels in Palestine, found no trace of such a Bethany ; he did find a Bethabara, and in so doing thought he had found the site referred to, as well as the orig inal version of the place- name.The critical apparatus of the Greek New Testament offers several forms of the same reading - Bethabara, Betharaba, Bethebara. Most exegetes are as perplexed as Origen was. Our evangelist, however , was surely less concerned with geography than with the theolog ical dimensions of his narration. By hisspecific mention of this problematic Bethany beyond the Jordan, was he not rather providing us with an element which would encourage us to relate the events which took place at Bethany beyond the Jordan with thdse later to take place at the other Bethany , on the other side of the Jordan, not far from

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Jerusalem? This kind of "cross- referencing" is certainly part of the Johannine style.

Indeed, if we look at the matter carefully , we may note a parallel structure between the first two chapters of theGospel , and the events narrated in Chapter 12.

Scholars have long been aware of the rather schematic division of Chs. 1, 19 - 2, 11 over a period of sevendays (36) . By taking note of each explici t or implicit chronological reference , one obtains a week- long period of the following sort:

1st Day: The Baptist's 2nd Day: The Baptist's

testimony before the Jews (1, 19- 28). identification of the Lamb of God

(1, 29- 34).3rd 4th 5th 6th

Day: Day: Day: Day:

The call of Andrew and his companion Call of Simon Peter (1, 40- 42).Call of Philip (1 , 43- 46).Call of Nathanael (1, 47- 51) .

(1 , 35- 39).

7th

Day: The marriage feast at Cana (2, 1- 11).

"Such a division into seven days is partly artificial ; it was for reasons of symbolism that John adopted it as the setting for the first events of Christ's life; his intention was to underline the theological parallelism between the first creation of the world in seven days, effected by the Word of God (cf. Jn. 1, 1- 5), and the work of messianic salvation considered as a new creation in Christ (cf. Jn. 1, 3.17).Accordingly, one ought not to press too far points ofchronolog ical detail. It is quite useless, for instance, to ask how Jesus could have left Bethany (facing Jericho, on the other side of the Jordan) and , in less than two days, arrived atCana, near Nazareth. This chronological abridgment is pedagogical, and the real amount of time spent by Christ in making this journey is less important in the eyes of the evangelist than the 'theological' time which is going to constitute the first 'week' of the publ c life of Christ" (37).

But there is yet another term of reference for this first week which C. H. DODD includes within the limits of the period he designates as 'the New Beginning' (38) , and this term of reference is precisely the last week of Jesus' public ministry, which beg ins, like the first week, at a place called Bethany , where Jesus receives Mary's anointing (which has a parallelwith his messianic baptism by the Baptist) . The action then proceeds to deal with the accession of the G entiles to the mystery of salvation, and the recognition of Jesus during his triumphal entry into Jerusalem (which has its earlier parallel in the call of the various disciples, each of whom recognizes Jesus under a special title) . Finally , the whole week culminates in the re- creation effected on the last day on the cross of Calvary, where Jesus, by his total self- g iving , consummates ("Consummatum est") those nuptials of which the

marriage feast at Cana was a preparatory sign. It is no wonder, then, that even those commentators who do not explicitly relate the first week of our Lord's life as recorded by John to the last week of his publ ic ministry , tend to treat everything

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(from the anointing at Bethany through the passion, death, and burial) as a profound unity , of which the anointing at Bethany would form one of the articulations. Typical is Fr. L. BOUYER's summary: "We have come to Christ's supreme act on earth: his voluntarily accepted passion. The public events leading to it are the anointing at Bethany , the entry into J erusalem , andthe discourse with the 'Greeks'" (39).

Writing from a more technical standpoint , Fr. Andre FEUI LLET recognizes a series of remarkable correspondences between the various sections comprising Chapters 11 and 12 of St. John's Gospel. According to this exegete, the resurrection of Lazarus should be interpreted as a proclamation of thelife- g iving redemptive death of Jesus ; the anointing at Bethany would point to his burial ; and his entry into Jerusalem wouldbe a presage of his final triumph. Moreover , the three sections of the discourse in Chapter 12, i.e. vv. 23- 33, 34- 36, and47- 50, would not be "misplaced", as certain exegetes suggest. Far from interrupting the. logical nexus of these chapters , these words of our Lord would be a commentary on the real meaning of Lazarus' resurrection, of the anointing at Bethany, of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem , which was to be the scene of the final triumphant strugg le with the forces of evil anddeath (40).

For our purposes , however , Fr. BOUYER expresses almost as well as anyone else the deep meaning of the anointing at Bethany:

The account of the anointing , set at the start of the passion, shows the constant intention of the evangelist to indicate in Jesus' suffering his real glorification: he will himself establish the link between that Messianic act in themost literal sense and his burial. The outstanding feature is the universal scandal of the disciples at the extravagance ... Jesus is at the hour when he is to show to the world God's infinite generosity , so lavish that he does not spare his own Son even, to save only his sinful creatures (41).

It is, however , Dame Aemiliana LOHR, O.S.B., who best expresses the incredible richness of this m y sterium enacted at Bethany. After speaking of this anointing in connection with Christ' s priestly and royal consecration, and with theimpending strugg le - the great ag on - in which Christ, like a wrestler, goes into the arena of his sufferings, the author says:

So it is that Mary' s nard let flow the marvelous odor of life, redolent of Christ' s kingly glory so near at hand and his dignity as priest; at the same time it warns us that he must struggle and die, be brought to a tomb and be buried. The deepest my sterium, however, of which this perfume makes us aware is the same one which was already disclosed to us several weeks ago in the miracle of Eliseus' oil. Christ himself is the perfume, the oil of anointing from heaven, which , according to the plan of the

Father 's love, is toraise all mankind, if it will only believe, to the dignity of priests and kings. It is necessary that the vessel -

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Jesus' human body - be broken in death so that the perfume may pour out and reach the whole body of the Church from its head, the risen Christ, and consecrate it .

.This alabaster box had to be broken so that the anointing oil of heaven might fill the empty vessels of the Church, and the odor penetrate the whole house, enriching Christ's poor.This is the hidden m y ster ium of the anointing at Bethany which the traitor was not able to see, but which it is our privilege joyfully to recognize. The oil of anointing which was wasted there for Jesus' sake is the real riches of the poor; it is the self- consuming life of God, which is poured out first of all on the Son, and then through hisdeath- wounds, on the poor, that is to say, on men robbed of grace and committed to death (42).

It is, then, no accident that St. John has so closely linked the Bethany anointing with the triumphal entry into Jerusalem ; and it is surely no accident that we find this close link preserved in so many of the ancient texts once used inthe Palm Sunday l iturgy.

We may regret that our hymn, "Magnum salutis gaudium", is no "Vexilla Regis" or "Pange, lingua" . It nevertheless represents, I suggest , a true enrichment of our Palm Sunday liturgy - at least for those who have ears to listen with, and who make it their practice to meditate with love and faith on the texts which the Church puts on our lips.

II. The Melody

As regards the early Cistercian melody, we may be very brief. No primitive Cistercian hymnal with musical notation is known to be extant at the present time. Still , it is not too difficult to get a rather good idea of what the early version of the hymn must have been like , since it is certain that it derived from Milanese sources. Now, the Milanese hymnal , con sidered from a musical standpoint , has remained rather constant in its tradition; and, even though we may not be able to recon struct in every point of detail the precise version adopted by our first Cistercian Fathers, we may nevertheless get a rathergood idea of the general lines of the original melody simply by examining the Milanese counterpart. The musical version given below is taken from p. 158 of the A ntip ho nale Missarum

iuxta Ritum Sanetae Eee lesiae Medio lanens is edited, as regards music, by Dom SUNOL, O.S.B. It represents, however, only a conflation of what the editor considered to be the better readings suppl ied by the manuscripts he consulted. Actually, the emergent version does not correspond exactly with any single manuscript. Accordingly, the variants offered by the accessible documents are indicated in the critical apparatus. Since the hymn melody in question was first composed for the feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr, and only at a much later date was adopted for the melody of "Magnum salutis gaudium", we may follow Dom Sunol in including among the documents studied those manuscripts which contain the hymn for December 26th, but not the one for Palm Sunday.

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MANUSCRIPTS

L London, British Museum , Ms. Addit. 34209. 12th century Milanese antiphonary. Integral photographic reproduc tion in Pal og r-ap hie mus icale V (1896), with transcrip tion of the same in Vol. VI (1900) of the same series. In general , Dom Sunol has followed this version for his reconstruction of our hymn.

V Vimercate, Chiesa Prepositurale, Ms. ssp A. 13th cen tury antiphonary.

T Milan, Biblioteca Trivulziana, Ms. M 32 (347) . Ambro sian hymnal, 2nd half of 14th century. Most complete of early Milanese hymnals with musical notation .

A Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Ms. A 109 inf. Ambrosian psalter with hymnal copied in 1420 for the church of San Michele subtus domum.

S.Naz. Milan, Chiesa di San Nazaro , Ms. ss P 5. 15th century Milanese antiphonary.

s Milan, Biblioteca del Ceremoniere Magg iore (Duomo) , printed psalter of 1618., 13 \1 .,

' 3 sI r f

0--0 a lJ •

0- d -

c ""' .l3 2...5 ,_, .2..'1 31

a Q 8 a i:BJ . 8 a-Tb

fb f6

3 re-mi: T, S.Naz.7 re: V, T, A, S.Naz., s.11 re-mi: T, S.Naz.15 re: V, T, A, S.Naz., s .22 la- si- la: v , T, A, S.Naz., s (T has ) .23 sol- fa: T, A, S.Naz., s .25 do: v , T, A, S.Naz., s .26 mi: v , T, A, S.Naz., s.28 mi- re-mi: T, s.29 fa: v , T, A, S.Naz., s .31 do: T, A, S.Naz., s .

This ancient Milanese hymn- melody did not survive very long in the ancient Cistercian liturgy. The text remained, as we have already seen. But the melody was replaced by a new one

of strictly Cistercian origins - the familiar spritely seventh mode tune we sing rather often for the hymns "Deus tuorum mili tum" and "Martyr Dei, qui unicum". Careful research in the

- 42 -

Solesmes paleography workshop, during the summers of 1965 and 1966, made quite clear two things: 1- our melody appears first in 12th century Cistercian manuscripts , and only in the follow ing century is found elsewhere; 2- later forms of the melodyare clearly derived from the Cistercian version, rather than vice versa. This does not exclude, of course, the possibilityof our melody having pre- existed the Cistercian chant reform of around 1147. There is, however , no positive evidence in support of such a possibility ...Pursuing his own independent line of re search, Prof. Bruno STABLEIN has reached the same conclusion as regards the Cistercian origins of this melody (43).

Why did the monks of St. Bernard's generation find it necessary to replace the ancient Milanese melody with one of their own contriving? In point of fact, it is rather difficult to make out a very serious case against the Milanese version on the basis of the principles of chant theory usually invoked to explain the rewriting of so many traditional melodies duringthe course of the Bernardine reform. The reader may find a use ful summary of these principles, as well as references to amore abundant lit rature on the subject , in a dissertation by Fr. S. R. MAROSSZEKI , S.O.C., Les orig ines du chant cistercien(44}. Quite probably , the chief source of the Cistercian embar rassment with the venerable Ambrosian melody was the fact that, though it has re as its final note, it behaves quite unlike the more orthodox of the 1st and 2nd mode hymn melodies of the tra ditional repertory. In the first place, the mode- conscious Cis tercian would not have been too sure just how to classify this melody composed, surely , at a time before the familiar 8-mode system had been recognized as standard in western Europe. The compulsion to analyze and classify had always been prevalent among the chant theorists writing from the 9th century onwards ; but it reached a point of astonishing intensity among many of those Cistercians associated with the Bernardine reform. Where as the monk of an earlier age was happy enough simply to chant ecclesiastical melodies without worrying overmuch about how to classify them modally , monks of later generations, much influ enced by the abstract formulations of theorists, tended to g ive the theorists a credence not always deserved. The Cistercians, following the general trend , went so far as to rewrite a good many of the traditional melodies which were irreconcilable with the principles enunciated by professional theorists. In the present instance, the theorist would have found the Milanese melody neither overwhelmingly of the 1st mode nor 2nd mode.With its minor cadences on do and mi, and with only a passing nod toward the la which features notably in so many character istically 1st moae melodies , this modest hymn tune could not , on first hearing , be classified decisively as a 1st mode compo sition. Neither could a strong case be made out for the 2nd mode, in view of the absence of any note lower than do , and the lack of any really strong attraction exercised by fa-=- a note of considerable modal importance in this tonality.--Y-t is probab ly for this reason that the same melody which we today find eminently pleasing and quite in keeping with the best Gregorian style, was felt by at least some of our Fathers of an earlier age to be modally ambiguous, and therefore objectionable. The 12th century was indeed a century of musical 'rationalism'; and aswe see it from the vantage point of the 20th century , more

than one 12th century Cistercian played a role in music analogous to the role played by Abelard in theology.

- 43 -

Comparing our two melodies for "Magnum salutis gaudium" - the ancient Milanese one, and the later 12th century Cistercian replacement - more than one monk will regret the loss of the earlier melody. But it must still be adm itted that the bright, singable 7th mode Cistercian tune makes an almost ideal proces sional chanL

We may, then, sum up the preceding remarks by suggesting that our text, though no great literary masterpiece, neverthe less offers us ample material for serious theolog ical reflec-' tion. Without this text, with its explicit treatment of the Bethany anointing , our Palm Sunday celebration would be the poorer for it; for "Magnum salutis g audium", in spite of its limitations , provides us with thematic material all but lost for many centuries to our western Palm Sunday liturgy. As regards the melody , it serves admirably its present function as a processional chant. Any future reform of our Holy Week liturgy should ensure either the preservation of this hymn, or else its replacement by texts and melodies which are even more meaning ful and functional than the present hymn.

III. Additional Note

"Magnum salutis gaudium" raises a major problem for our liturgy in the mother tongue. Outside the Milanese Rite, the hymn has been in desuetude for centuries; and it is only re cently that it has been restored to the Cistercian liturgy , al beit in a place different from the one occupied earlier. It is no wonder, then, that this hymn has not invited the attentionof profess ional translators. True, almost every one of our houses has produced during the past several years some kind of Holy Week booklet for the use of those relig ious not versed in Latin - booklets containing l iteral , unpretentious transla tions of most of the texts. But of the several versions of "Magnum salutis gaudium" produced for such a purpose, none could be considered a serious candidate for incorporation into the Holy Week liturgy celebrated in the mother tongue. The re sult of this total absence of suitable translations was thecomplete omission of the hymn in the Holy Week booklet prepared and used at Gethsemani and a few other monasteries in 1966. In stead of "Magnum salutis gaudium", appeared Dom R. SCHOENBECH LER's fine Engl ish rendering of the hymn for the feast ofChrist the King , "Vexilla Christus inclyta" (45). The 1967 re vision of the same booklet retained this hymn, but only as an optional processional hymn (46). For, thanks to Fr. Martin of Our Lady of Guadalupe Abbey , there was now available an ·English metrical version of "Magnum salutis gaudium" . Accordingly , this venerable 9th century hymn has recovered its rightful p lace in the Palm Sunday music of at least a few of our monasterieswhere the processional chants are sung in the mother tongue.

For readers unacquainted with the booklet in question, the text and music are g iven in full below. The melody was newly composed for this particular text, and is easily recognizableas something of a distant cousin to "0 fili i et filiae" and other similar chants which, while being reducible to Gregorian notation, are strictly metrical. Anyone desirous of finding other suitable melodies of the foursquare type, can easily do

so by scanning the metrical indices of any reasonably good hym-

can be full glad thatto Beth- a- ny , out

1- the ills of2- SUS raised to

a

- 44 -

nal. Most of the hymns found listed under Long Meter or L.M.(88. 88) will serv,e the purpose very well, so far as the exi gencies of meter are concerned. Nor is it very difficult to find, among the many available long meter hymns, a handful of tunes stamped with the same qualities characteristic of our text, whether in its Latin form or in its Eng lish one.

HYMNMagnum salutis g audium Tr. Fr. Martin, O.C.S.O.

Monk of Guadalupe Abbey

1-a.-a a \\m

l:'I Ifi ·

1- Sal- va- tion is a joy- ous thing,2- Six days be- fore the Pas- chal feast 3- So Mar- y went and fetched a flask 4- Then he whose throne is on the clouds

a

a ca

1- and all the world2- he made his way

0O • CJ

3- of al- a- bas- tered spike-nard choice; she4- be- sat him- self up- on an ass; and

rof a a tn 8 g tl f§a I 0 ti'

1- Je- sus, our Re- deem- er Lord , has healed2- there where Laz- a- rus had died, whom Je-3- washed his feet in tears, she wiped and fra-4- on a colt the King rode in to cap-

1 0 a ac

fall- en Ilhtii .life a- gain.

II . I

3- grant- ly a- noint- ed them.4- i- tal Je- ru- sa- lem.

- 5 -

Ah what a gesture this from God! and what a deed of clemency!the Author of all Historyis jolting on a donkey' s back!

- 6 -

Indeed the Spirit noted it,

and taught the Prophet long before: "Cry out", he said to Sion Maid, "and take your fill of jubilee.

- 45 -

- 7 -

"For here he comes, your humble King, enthroned upon a donkey's back.No need for fear; he's coming now, a patient King , a King benign. "

- 8 -

So out the crowd came, numerous,to greet their blessed, longed for King , and wave their olive branch and palm:a grand procession down the road.

- 9 -

Then out in front, and far behind, there echoed songs in David's name; "Hosanna" went up resonant ,and "Blessed he who comes to us."

- 10 -

And many too ungirt themselvesand laid their coats upon the ground, or carpeted the path he trodwith springtime blossoms newly plucked.

- 11 -

And when he reached the city gate the very stones began to shoutand joined the children's temple glee and all the city's welcome song.

- 1 2 -

We too, today , come out to meetso great a King and Judge of ours; we come with psalms, hosanna songs, and soberly express our joy.

- 1 3 -

0 Father, Son, and Spirit, God; our Maker, Savior, Paraclete;how worthily you throne on high, for age on age, in majesty. Amen.

b. Chrysogonus Waddell , O.C.S.O. Gethsemani

- 46 -

N 0 T E S

1) As in our earliest known extant Cistercian gradual, now in the library of the Monastery of Tre Fontane, Rome; but until recently at our Alsatian monastery, Oelenberg , where it was classified as ms. 47. The manuscript was written originally at or for Clairvaux's daughter- house, Cherlieu. Cf. Rev. Mother MARIE- PIE, O.C.R., "Un graduel cistercien, Oelenberg 47", in · the special 1954 issue of Opus Dei; P. Maur COCHERIL , O.C.R.,"L'antiphonaire de Las Huelgas", in ctteaux , XII (1961), p. 157.·

2) E.g. in Cap. XVII (XLIIII) , "Ordo in Ramis Palmarum", of the Ecc les iastica Officia Cister.ciens is Ordinis , as found in ms. 1711 of the Biblioteca Comunale at Trent, we read: "...fiat prima static in parte (claustri) que extat iuxta dormitorium. Qua finita et subsequente alia anti hona 'Collegerunt' ..." The ms. dates from between 1130 and 113 , and has been edited byP. Bruno GRIESSER, S.O.C., "Die 'Ecclesiastica Officia Cister ciensis Ordinis' des Cod. 1711 von Trient", in A nalecta s.o.c., XII (1956). The text is cited according to p. 195 of this edi tion. Later versions of the Consuetudines reword the passage, but maintain the designation "antiphon"; e.g. Dijon, Bihl. Mu nicipale, ms. 114 (82), the ms.- type of the Order's liturgical codifications, written early in the 1180's, and edited (inpart) in Ph. GUIGNARD, Les monuments pr imitifs de la R g le C is tercienne , Dijon 1878, where our text, p. 108, now reads: "Fi nita antiphona 'Occurrunt turbe': incipitur antiphona 'College runt' . Et dum hec canitur. fiat prima static in parte que extat dormitorium ..."

3) Edited in Dom R.- J. HESBERT, O.S.B., Antip honale M issarum Sextup lex , Bruxelles 1935 , p. 221, section 212b.

4) H. SCHMIDT, S.J., H e bdomada Sancta, II, Romae - Friburg i Bris. - Barcinone 195 7, p. 695.

5) Pp. 73- 74. This edition perfects the earlier text edited and annotated by H. A. DANIEL, in his The saurus H y mno log icus , I , Lipsiae 1855, pp. 179- 180.

6) PL 178, 339 C.

7) Cf. Dom Bernard KAUL , S.O.C., "Le psautier cistercien", inCo l le ctane a 0.c.R., XIII (1951), pp. 48- 49, n. 20.

8) Cf. H. SCHMIDT, op. cit., pp. 701- 703.

9) Louvain 1961. The text is found in Cap. XXIII of Ordo L, which forms only a part of a larger compilation - the Romano G ermanic Pontifical. This compilation is now known to have been compiled at St. Alban' s monastery , Mainz, ca. 960- 962. At an earlier age , this voluminous patchwork tome, composed of pieces from many different and disparate sources, was thought to be a "pure Roman" compilation. For other editions of basically the same text , see H. SCHMIDT, op. cit., pp. 566- 568; C. VOG EL, Le Pontifical Ro mano-ge rmanique du dixieme s idc le: Le Texte , II , Citta del Vaticano 1963,

pp. 49- 51.

10) The first serious article to treat of the Milanese origins of the primitive Cistercian hymnal was by Dom P. BLANCHARD,

- 47 -

O.S.B., "Un monument primitif de la r gle cistercienne", inRev. bln&dictine , XXXI (1914), pp. 35- 44. The article edits and comments on St. Stephen Harding's ''Epistola ...de observatione hymnorum", known only through a singl e manuscript copy in the 12th century ms. catalogued in the Bibliotheque municipale, at Nantes, as Ms. lat. 9 .

. 11) In Chapters IX, 4, XII , 4, XIII, 11, and XVII , 8. Referen ces are to the edition by R. HANSLIK , in the series , CSEL, Vol. 75, Vindobonae 1960.

12) Cf. Pauli WARNEFRIDI , In Sanctam Regulam Comme ntar ium , Ty pis Abbatiae Montis 1880, p. 232: Ambrosianum enim divinum in telligitur; altero vero modo intell ig itur Ambrosianum , idest ab Ambrosio expositus, ubi subaudiendum est hymnus. SMARAGDUS, Ab bot of St-Michel , writing his Comme ntar ia in Regulam . Sancti Be nedicti between 817 and 820, reproduces in his exegesis of Cap. IX the same interpretation. See PL 102, 834.

13) Leipzig , 1908, pp. 73- 75. Anyone with access to this tome may disregard the references given by U. CHEVALIER, in his Re pertorium H y mno log icum , T. II , Louvain 1897, p. 71, n. 11014,where our hymn appears under the title, "Magn salutis gaudi"·

14) In Ponti e Paleog rafia de l Canto A m bros iano (=Arc hiv io A m brosiano VII) , Milano 1956, p. 4; and again p. 86.

15) Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Ms. T 103 Sup.

16) Vercelli, Biblioteca Capitolare, Ms. CLXXXVI , an 11th- 12th century gradual written for the church of San Vittore, Balermo, in the region of Lake Como; and Ms. CXLVI , another gradual written toward the beginning of the 12th century; the foliowith our hymn, however, is an addition of the 13th century. The notes g iven by Blume for his manuscripts C, K, and R have here been rectified in the light of the more accurate information provided by Ponti e Paleog rafia de l Canto A m brosiano (=Arc hiv io A m brosiano VII) , Milano 1956.

17) Now at Milan, in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Ms. H. 247 inf.

18) Cf. A ntiphonale Missarum juxta Ritum Sanctae Ecc lesiae Me diolanensis , Romae 1935, p. 158. The points of variance occur in lines 27 ('residens' for 'praesidens') , 31 ('procedens' for 'processit') , 34 ('Sancto repletus' for 'Sanctoque plenus' ), and 47 ('gloriae' for 'gloriam' ).

19) To be excluded from any serious attempt at collating texts is the version included in the edition of the Milanese hymnal edited in 1897 by Canon Emilio GARBAGNATI , and often referred to by musicologists, i.e. G li Inni de l Brev iario A m bros iano corredati de lle Me lodie liturg ic he , Milano 1897. The editor' s documentation for the melodies is helpful and, in g eneral , reliable; but his texts are g arbled versions tributary to the

va rious breviary reforms carried out in Milan since the 16th cen tury.

20) Missale Gothicum (=Rerum Ecc les iasticarum Documenta, Series Maior: Fontes V) , Roma 1961, n. 196, p. 53.

21) The Missale Galliaanum Vetus , ed. MOHLBERG - EIZENHOFER SIFFRIN (=Rerum Eaalesiastiaarum Doaumenta, Series Maior: Fon tes III), Roma 19S8, n. 81, p. 2S; and the Bo b bio Missal, ed.E. A. LOWE, in the Henry Bradshaw Society series, Vol. SS , Lon don 1920, n. 189.

22) Ibid., n. 199, p. S4.

23) Also in the Bob bio M issal, n. 193 of the edition cited in note 21.

24) Nn. 203 and 204, p. SS. Both texts are also found in the Missale Galliaanum Vetus , nn. 19 and 21, p. 8 of the edition referred to above in note 21.

2S) "La liturgie de Naples au temps de S. Gregoire", in Revue b,n,diatine VIII (1891) , p. 492.

26) I have found no evidence for the use of this gospel on Palm Sunday in the rite of Aquileia.

27) In all four of the chief Roman gospel- series types identi fied by Theodor KLAUSER, Das romisahe Capitulare Ev ang e liorum (=Liturg iegesahiahtliahe Que llen und Forsahung en 28), Munsterin West£. 193S, Jn. 12, 1- 36 is assigned to Monday of Holy Week.

28) "Un sst me inedit de lectures liturg iques en usage au VIIe/VIII siecle dans une eglise de la Haute Italie", in Revue ben,diatine XX (1903), p. 382.

29) Cividale, Museo civico, Cod. Foroiuliensis CXXXVIII. The manuscript is an early 6th century evangeliary, with a 7th cen tury fragment of a list of gospel pericopes, and with addition al marginal notations dating from periods between the 6th and the 8th centuries. The various lists do not always agree with each other.

30) Wiirzburg , Universitatsbibliothek, Cod. M. p. th. Q. la. Cf. p. Sl of the article by Dom P. SALMON, O.S.B., "Le systeme des lectures liturgiques contenu dans les notes marginales du ms. MP. Th. Q. Ia de Wurzbourg", in Revue benediatine LXI(19Sl), pp. 38- S3. The marginal notes in question derive fromvarious additions made between the 7th and 9th centuries.

31) Trier, Dombibliothek, Cod. 420 (olim 134). Edited and anno tated by Dom D. DE BRUYNE, O.S.B., "Les notes liturg iques du ms. 134 de la cathedrale de Treves", in Revue b,n,diatineXXXIII (1921), pp. 46- S2. Our pericope is listed on p. 214.

32) Tome V/l, cols. 8S6- 896 for the non- Roman series.

33) Episto la II , in PL 72, 96-97.

34) In laudem ahrismatis , in PL 88, 97; see also the accompany ing footnote.

3S) Liturg ies of the Past, Milwaukee 19S9, pp. 136- 137.

36)de E. BOISMARD, O.P., "La premiere semaine du

ministere in La v ie s iritue l le n° 41S19S6 . S93- 603.

- 49 -

37) P. 594 of the article referred to above , note 36.

38) In The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospe l, Cambridge 1954, pp. 297- 317 .

39) The Fourth Gosp e l, Westminster (Maryland) 1964, p. 168.

40) A. FEUILLET, "La composition litteraire de Jo. 9- 18", inM lang es bib liq ues r dig s en l'ho nneur de AndrRo be rt, Tour nai (s.d.), pp. 478- 493. The section which most concerns us be gins with p. 488 and continues to the end of the article. Eng lish translation in the collection of the author's essays , Jo hannine Studies , New York 1965, pp. 129- 147.

41) Op . cit ., p . 169.

42) The Gre at W ee k , London -- Westminster (Maryland) 1958,p . 49.

43) In Monume nta Monodiaa Medii Aev i, Bd. I: H y mnen (I}, Kassel Jund Basel 1956, p. 517.

44) Printed in Analecta s.o.c. VIII (195 2). See in particular the entire 2nd part , "Les principes th oriques de la correctionde 1134II ' PP• 47- 79•45) Taken from The N ew Saint Bas il H y mnal, Cincinnati 1958,n. 77, p. 88, but slightly adapted and set to freshly composed music.

46) The Gre at We e k , Gethsemani 1967, p. 2* of the Appendix.

- 50 -

THE CISTERCIAN PALM SUNDAY BLESSING OF THE BRANCHES

There was a time , not many years ago, when the Roman Rite Palm Sun day blessing of the branches called for an unusually rich, but also very prolix and repetitious formulary made up of many , yery many prayers.With the general decree of 1955, Maxima redemption s , the rite for the blessing of the palms and other branches was reduced to a single prayer of reasonably modest proportions. This helped make it very clear that the blessing of the branches was not an end in itself, but rather a pre paratory action wholly in function of, and orientated to the procession with the blessed branches.

We Cistercians have never had more than a sing le prayer for the blessing of the branches. The one prayer we have always had , however, easily equals in length the sum total of the five former prayers of the pre- 1956 Roman Rite books. Providentially, this lengthy formula, "Omni potens sempiterne Redemptor", was retained intact when our Cistercian adaptation of the Roman Ordo H ebdomadae Sanctae was effected back in 1959. Our satisfaction at the retention of our traditional formula should in no way be taken as an implied criticism of the present Roman Rite formula, "Benedic, quaesumus , Domine, hos palmarum ramos"; nor does it imply that our Cistercian text as it now stands does not also stand in need of a few textual emendations! No, our satisfaction at the survival of "Omnipotens sempiterne Redemptor" simply means that we think this blessing - formula is one of remarkable richness, and deserving to be retained in our monastic Palm Sunday liturgy. We may note in passingthat we share this good fortune with the faithful of the rite of Lyons (1), with the Carthusians (2) , and with the Dominicans (3).

The purpose of this note is not to provide a commentary on this rich text, but simply to offer a few details which, though of a rather technical order , might help us better to grasp the general structure of the prayer, and might also put us in a position to study with profit arallel texts useful for deepening our personal reflections and enrich ing our experience of our Palm Sunday celebration.

The Cistercian Text

Our Cistercian text has remained without genuine variants through out the last eight centuries. The same version which appears in our celebrated manuscript type of ca. 1182 (4) appears also in our relative ly recent Cistercian Ordo He bdomadae Sanctae Instauratus

(5). Perhaps this remarkable fidelity of our latest liturgical books to their earli est Cistercian prototype is not wholly a good thing. In 1961, the post humous last volume of Michel ANDRIEU's monumental edition of the Roman Ordines made available a critical edition of the text (6). A collation of our text with the one estab lished by the late liturg ist from Strass burg suggests that our own text could be emended here and there with profit. But here we intend simply to take our Cistercian text as it is at present. For the convenience of the reader, the text is g iven below, the four major divisions -- to be discussed shortly -- being indicatedby roman numerals.

LATIN TEXT

I

1 Omnipotens sempiterne Redemptor ,

i

r

-

'

- 5'1. -

qui de coelis ad terram descendere , et ad passionem voluntatis tuae

[venire dignatus es ,3 ut humanum genus tuo pretioso Sanguine liberares ,

adesto piis Ecclesiae tuae votis , et supplicationibus nostris.

II

Tu enim, Domine, mansuetus mansueti animalis aselli tergo insidens,6 ad passionem redemptionis nostrae spontaneus advenisti:

cum tibi ramis arboreis , occurrentibus discipulorum turbis, certatim[sterneretur via, et triumphatricibus

palmis, cum voce laudis occurrerent plurimae populorum catervae, resultantes

[pariter et dicentes:9 Hosanna filio David ,

benedictus, qui venit in nomine Domini.Tibi in monte Oliveti, olivarum ramis via constrata est.

12 Tu quondam Noe in area super undas diluvii gubernasti, et columbae ministerio per olivae ramum,pacem terris redditam nuntiari voluisti.

15 Sed et Jacob Patriarcha in mysterium g loriae tuae erigens lapidem,ex hujus arboris ramis oleum benedictionis in cacumen tituli infudit, unde unxisti reges, et Prophetas tuos.

18 Tu enim es Christus Dei,tibi competit fructus unctionis et pacis,

( in cujus ineffabilem laudem Psalmista cecinit, dicens:

1 21 Unxit te Deus , Deus tuus oleo exultationis prae participibus tuis:

III

!, Quapropter supplices te, Domine, deprecamur;· ut bene + dicas hos ramos arborum , quos tui famuli

insuis suscipien

f [tes manibus in occursum24 teque benedicere, et glorificare desiderant.

i

' IV

tui properare ,

Ecce Jerusalem sedens super asinum Rex mansuetus advenisti. Adveni erg o, rog amus, et nobis:

27 et in medium nostri consiste ,ut te advenire in nostris cordibus sentiamus

; ( et qui nos tune reparasti per Crucem ,t 30 iterum lapses repara per eamdem beatificam passionem.lt Oris nostri confessionem , ac jejunii humiliationem et fructum nos viriditatis habere

concede;33 quatenus tuis imbribus irrigati,

;t mereamur tibi suavium fructuum ubertate placere.

libens suscipe,

I Et sicut illi tibi processerunt obviam cum arboreis frondibus egressi,(- 3 6 ita nos, te redeunte in secundo adventu,t cum Palmis victoriae, laeti mereamur occurrere, Salvator mundi. [ Qui cum Patre in unitate Spiritus sancti vivis et regnas,

39 per omnia saecula saeculorum. R. Amen.

- 52 -

For the further convenience of our readers, we give the English text (7), with the same major divisions already indicated in the Latin text, but supplemented now with sub - titles which we shall straightway discuss.

ENGLISH TEXT

I: INVOCATION

Almighty and eternal Redeemer,you deigned to descend from heaven to earth, and to come to suffering freely chosen,that, through your precious blood , you might set free the human race.Heed, then, the loving prayers of your Church, and our supplications.

II: N.T. REALITY AND O.T. TYPES

For you are meek, 0 Lord ,and it was seated on a meek colt of a donkeythat you came of your own accord to the suffering which redeemed us.

Throngs of disciples came out to meet you, a path was eagerly spread with branches,and crowds with palms of triumph in their hands gathered together with the resounding shout of praise, "Hosanna to the Son of David!Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" Thus was the way bestrewn for you,with olive branches on the Mount of Olives.

Long ago you piloted Noe over the billows of the deluge,and willed to make known by the ministry of a dove with olive twig , that peace was now restored to earth.

So also the Patriarch Jacob set up a stone to the mystery of your glory, and poured upon the top of this memorial pillaroil from the branches of this tree the oil of blessing. With it you anointed your kings and prophets.

Fur you are the Christ, the Anointed of God. Yours are the fruits of anointing and peace;for in your ineffable praise the psalmist sang ,"God , your God, has anointed you with the oil. of gladness above your fellow kings."

III: BLESSING

0 Lord, we therefore humbly beg you, bless + these branches;for your servants long to take them in their hands and hasten forth to meet you,to glorify and bless you.

IV: N.T. REALITY MADE PRESENT IN OUR COMMUNITY

Behold, to Jerusalem you came,a meek king, sitting on a donkey.

I

- 53 -

Come then, we ask, come also to us! Halt in our midst ,that we may feel your coming in our hearts. You once restored us through the cross.Through that same blessed Passion once more restore us, fallen as we are!

. Be pleased to accept the confe sion of our lips and the humble ab asement of our fasting ;and grant us to put forth green leaves in abundance, so that , watered by your showers,we may please you with an abundance of sweet- tasting fruit.

ESCHATOLOGICAL FULFILLMENT

Just as rhey went forth to meet you, bearing leafy branches,even so, at the second coming , when you return, may we bear palms of victoryand go forth rejoicing to meet you, 0 Savior of the world!Who live and reign forever and ever. R. Amen.

. (The English text obviously follows ·the ·Latin text rather closely, although the translation has been based on a different grammatical divi sion of the Latin text in lines 7- 11. The defective divisions of our present text are in complete conformity with the early Cistercian proto type. )

. The General Structure

In both Latin and Eng lish texts given above, four roman numerals)articulate the chief divisions of the text. Long as the prayer is, it1 forms a profound unity , and flows along from beginning to end in a logi.cally defined structure which is both wholly traditional and rich with;theolog ical implications.

Invocation - paradigms - blessing and epiclesis - petition for

.the fruits of the rite celebrated: these, more often than not, form the:chief articulations of the classic kind of consecration text. Generally these open with an invocation addressed to God the Father , and couched in terms which prepare for the body of the text which follows. From in·vocation to paradigms , the transition is easy. The paradigms are exam-,ples taken from Scripture, showing how God has acted in the Old Testa;ment or New Testament in such a way as to provide the basis for the sol emn moment of the consecration or blessing which is now about to take lace. For in the third , central section, the prayer takes on the form:of a special invocation or epiclesis , asking that the fulfillment of the.realities referred to in the paradigms may now become present and opera:tive in the worshipping community. Finally, it is the function of the fourth and final section to treat of the fruits of this communication in ithe faithful, and to conclude the whole with a doxological finale. The.over- all movement follows a rhythm rich with theological implications. 'The events of past holy history become the surety for God's intervention among us here and now; what was done in the past becomes present andomehow reactualized in the praying community. This reactualization ends to find its full dimension in the personal lives of the worship-ers. What could be more in keeping with the deepest reality of the sac

amental economy?

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We find this same "sacramental rhythm" in the structure of the vast majority of Eastern anaphoras , in which the Eucharistic prayer begins with the praise of God by the whole of creation, and then proceeds to enumerate the more signal of the Old Testament mirabi lia Dei. These lead to the New Testament economy , in which the deeds of Christ are enumer ated in a series that builds up to the institution of the Eucharist in the context of the Lord's passion and death. But this is not the ''cli max" . There follows the epiclesis -- in this case a consecratory invoca tion in which God is asked to make present, through the action of the Holy Spirit, the Body and Blood of Christ. The prayers after the epicle sis tend to ask that the Church and this particular community may re ceive the fruits of the Sacrifice of Christ now rendered present. A splendid example of this classical type of anaphora is the most ancient of the extant Western anaphoras, i.e. the one offered by St. Hippolytus in his Traditio A posto lica (ca. 215) as a norm to be followed in the composition or quasi- improvisation of similar anaphoras (8). The same general structure is found , however, in the less prolix formulae givenby Hippolytus for the ordination of a bishop (9), of a priest (10), and of a deacon (11). Here we shall cite only the last of these examples, setting off the main sections with subtitles. For our text, we shall adopt Dom BOTTE's translation of H. DUENSING's critical edition of the Ethiopian recension (12).

ORATIO ORDINATIONIS DIACONII: G eneral invocation

1 Deus, qui omnia creasti et verbo tuo ornasti, pater domini nostri Iesu Christi,

II: Paradigm

3 quern misisti ministrare in tua voluntate et manifestare nobis consilium tum,

III: Epiclesis

da spiritum gratiae tuae et sollicitudinis in hunc servum tuum,6 quern elegisti ut diaconus sit in tua

ecclesia et offerat in sancto sanctorum tuoquod tibi offertur a constitute principe sacerdotum tuo ad g

loriam[nominis tui,

IV: Petition for fruits

9 ut sine reprehensione et puro more ministrans, gradum maioris ordinis assequatur,et laudet te et glorificet te per filium tuum Iesum Christum dominum

[nostrum,

Doxology

12 per quern tibi gloria et potentia et laus, cum spiritu sancto,nunc et semper et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

The general structure is clear enough. After a brief general invo cation (lines 1- 2), a single paradigm of deaconship is g iven -- our Lord himself (lines 3- 4) (13). Then follow in quick succession the

petition for the sending of the Spirit to constitute the ordinand a deacon (lines 5- 8) and the petition for the graces of the deacon's office (lines 9- 11);

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all of which is terminated by a doxology. Similar examples could easily be multiplied.

Our own blessing of branches has the identical general structure.The firs t section consis ts of an invocation (lines 1- 4) and has this pe culiarity: it addresses the Son rather than the Father " In the second section (lines 5- 21) we are presented with a series of paradigms which:form a point of reference both for the bless ing of the branches and for the procession which is to follow. First and most obviously, the New Testament entry of our Lord into Jerusalem (lines 5- 11); then three par adigms taken from the Old Testament: the olive twig that features in the conclusion to the flood episode in Ge ne s is , the oil used by Jacob to consecrate the memorial stone that marked the place of his vis ion of God at Bethel, and, finally , the 'oil of gladness' reserved for the messianic king in the nuptial ode, Psalm 44, 8. Part I I I , consisting only of lines 22- 24, is the blessing formula in the restricted sense, and representsthe essential link between the events of holy history referred to inPart I I and the continuation and fulfillment of the same in our own com-

: munity , which is the essential theme of the fourth and last part. Should anyone desire to identify lines 25- 30 as part of the epiclesis- formula, and therefore belonging by rights to Part I I I , he may well be opting for a better division of the text, as we shall see in just a moment. At any rate, the whole of Part IV (lines 25- 37) deals with the reactualization,(ih the context of our own celebration, of Christ's entry into Jerusalem.f It deals further with the effect brought to bear on our own moral life t (lines 31- 34) , and points forward to its eschatolog ical fulfillment at!'the time of the Second Coming , when the community of the saved will go forth to meet the Lord coming in g lory (lines 35- 37).

f'"' 'f. It is at this point that we may well ponder with profit what our:own basic attitude toward such texts really is. The texts are , indeed, rich wit theology ; b t liturgy is ot primarilf conerned ith the _(formulation of dogmatic truths or with catechetical instruction. It is

,rather, a question of our participation as individuals and as a communi in the Mystery of Christ. As Pope St. Leo so profoundly expressed it, "Quad Redemptoris conspicuum fuit in sacramenta

transivit" (14) - "Whatfwas vis ible in the Redeemer has passed over into the mysteries. '' By (hese mysteries, by these sacred actions of the Church celebrated withJ faith, we meet Christ in his person and in his saving deeds. Texts such f as the one under consideration share something of the character of the gospel texts proclaimed in the assembly. They are less concerned with lnarrating events than with placing us in the presence of the salvific levent commemorated. What Fr. DALMAIS, O.P. has written about liturgy inf general applies equally well to many of our liturg ical texts in particular:

f[' The liturgy ...relates to situations utterly beyond our human condi -

tion, at least as it is in the present historical order of duration. Liturg ies appeal to a different order of time - in i i "l o t empo re -

· which, according to thedcircu stan(cesdand part)icular form ohf each re

. lig ion, may be a primor ial time or uration anterior to istory

1(e.g. myths of origin in nature religions) , an eschatological time

t towards which history is moving , an atemporal and abstract duration asin Islam, or, finally , in the unique case of religions founded on bib

' lical revelation, to historical events which are signs of God's inter

.·.·.•.•:···.1

vent ion in human history ... These events ...are endowed with a perma-nen significance and power through which they are made actual whenev er they are ritually recalled. There is no liturgy which does notclaim, more or less explicitly , to effec t what it signifies and it is this claim which distinguishes liturgical action from every other mode

of representation (15).

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A particular application of Fr. Dalmais' general formula serves as the conclusion of Dom S. MARSILI' s recent article on the Palm Sunday procession, "La procession des rameaux: reconstitution historique ou myst re?" (16), where the author sums up the chief emergent from his study of the sources:

The procession with branches is not a historical reconstruction of events which took place in the past, but rather a celebration of the mystery of salvation in which we actually take part, and of which to day's liturgy constitutes a stage (17).

Such a formulation would have rejoiced the hearts of our Cistercian Fathers, and we can conclude this section in no better way than by quot-. ing a text of William of St. Thierry which suggests that the principle involved has its application not only in the celebration of the liturgy, but in the reading of Sacred Scripture as well. The text is excerpted from the preface to William' s Ea:pos itio super Cantiaa ·cantiaorum:

Sancte Spiritus, te invocamus,ut amore tuo repleamur, o amor, a intelligendum canticum amoris,ut et nos colloquii Sponsi et Sponsae aliquatenus efficiamur partici- ut agatur in nobis quod legitur a nobis (18).

[pes,

Sources and Parallel Texts

In spite of all that has been said about the wonderfully coherent structure and inner unity of our text in its present form, the practiced eye of the reader versed in textual criticism can easily note certain inconsistencies in the formula - inconsistencies which suggest that ou text might be a conflation tributary to disparate ources. Here we need not discuss these inconsistencies. We shall, however, deal briefly with the fact that our Cistercian blessing of branches derives from three, if not four or more, separate texts!

Let it be said at the outset, of course, that our text is found as such in the important liturgical compilation to which our own Rituaie owes so much - the PontifiaaZ e Romano-ge rmaniaum , redacted in the scriptorium of St. Alban' s Abbey, Mainz, not long after the turn of the mid- 10th century (19). This is not to say that our Cistercian text was taken directly from this important codification, which passed , in the 12th century, as an authentically Roman collection of high antiquity.There is just as much likelihood that the Cistercian text derives imme diately from some other source, and depends on many intervening links for its ultimate derivation from the PontifiaaZ e. But what is the sourceof the version in this 10th- century compilation? Perhaps the eventual publication of the notes and commentaries accompanying the critical di tion of this PontifiaaZ e will provide a conclusive answer (20). In the meantime , we may point to several important manuscripts pre- dating the compilation at St. Alban's by several centuries.

A. The "Bobbio Missal" has been the object of intense study and discus sion for many decades. This manuscript, now in Paris, at the Bib lio theque Nationale (Ms. lat. 13246) , is a lectionary- sacramentary

written in North Italy, sometime not long after 700 (21). Nos. 189- 193, in the edition of the text by E. LOWE (22), present us with a "Missa in Symboli Traditione" harking back to the days when, on the day we .now call Palm Sunday , the four Gospels and the Lord' s Prayer were given to the aompe tentes , with a short commentary on each (23). The second formula of the

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Mass reads as follows: COLLECT IO

Bone redimtur noster domine qui mansuet1 ·animalis ·aselli ·terga · insedens ·ad pass ionem red1mcionis ·nostre:spontaneus

adpropinquans. cum

3 tibi ramis arboribus ·certatim externitur uia• et triumphatricibus palmis ·cum uoce laudes· occurrunt, praesta quaesumus maiestatem tuam ut sicut i lli in ·tua fuerunt ·obuiam ·cum arboreis·uirg alis• egressi

6 ita nos te redeunte in secundo aduento cum palmis Uicturiae meriamuroccurrere leti · (24)

Once our surprise at our scribe 1 s refreshingly nalve (even by 8th£entury standards) orthography has worn off, we immediately recognize several phrases common to our present blessing of branches and the for mula given abov e o The 'bone redimtur' o·f the "Bobbio Missal" is now a solemn 'Omnipotens sempiterne Redemptor', followed by a rather long in vocation formula. But , beg inning with 'domine' of line 1 of the ''Bobbio Missal" formula, and continuing through the better part of line 4, to 'occurrunt', we find a phrase remarkably parallel to lines 5- 8 of ourresent blessing of branches text. Further , 'ut sicut illi', line 5 ,

to the end of the prayer is no less parallel to the concluding portion of [the longer and later text of our present b lessing , lines 35 37.

' Yet another formula from the same "Bobbio Missal" reappears in:slightly different guise in our blessing of branches prayer. No. 193 of fthe edition already cited is easily identifiab le as a preface formula. nhe texts runs as follows: CONTESTATIOIi UERE DIGN UM ET IUSTUM EST OMNIPOTEN S DEUS Ab omni sexu aetatef. et sensum dicere laudem in hac diae ieiunii , et laudis tuae·triumphalil3 preconio; quo ab hierusolimis et bettania• occur-r erunt tibi plurime

populorum cat erue una uoce perstripentes• Osanna filii dauid benedic tus- qui uenit in nomine domini tibi enim cum lingua 0 coma seruiuit ·ar

j borea ·cum arenosa• itenera•ramis·uiruerunt conposita·plebis quoque•indumentum tuis plantis·sternitur nudatisque uiris. uestitu nouopopulus prestat triumphum·surgit·totus . clamor in laude uoces clamanci um penetrant temp lum icentes• Benedictus qui uenit in nomine domini Ecce hierusalem qualiter ·tibi rex tuos - sedens•super asinum mansuetus aduenit•adueni ergo rogamus et in medio nostri adsiste et qui nos tune 2reparasti per crucem•per istum immolatum panem et sanguenem iterum 1apsus repara ut te aduenire in nostris cordibus sencientes. exiamus • obuiam tibi et cum supernis il lis uirtutibus clamemus dicentis•sanctus

In lines 3- 5 , we recogni ze lines 8- 11 crf our Cistetcian formula;. hd' th greater part of the Bobbio Missal formula, lines l G- 13, has a omewhat rearranged p arallel in lines 2 5 - 30 of our own b lessihg of bran¢hes.

Even more interesting , however, are the p arallels provided by the: allowing manuscript.

·. The "Missale Gothicum" has been and still is an object of controversy s regards place of origin. Luxeuil? Autun? or the Kloster Gregorien-

. iltister in Alsace (25)? The date of the manuscript would b e, according· a its best and most recent editor, sometime betwe n 690 and 710 (26) .· ike the Bobbio Missal , the Gothic Missal has a "Missa in Symbuli Tradi ione" which includes several of the formulae contained in the Bobbio issal formulary. Two texts are here ad rem:

Jl' ·. ..

COLLECTIO SEQUITUR. Bone r demptor noster domine, qui mansuetus mansueti animal is aselli terg$ l?.4iI1 qnem redemptionis

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3 nostrae spontaneus adpropinquas, cum tibi ramis arboreis certatim sternitur uia et triumphatricibus palmis cum uoce laudis occurriur; quaesomus maiestatem tuam diuinam, ut oris nostri confessionem atque· ·

6 corporis in ieiunii(s)humiliationem libens suscipias et fructum nosuiriditatis habere concedas, ut sicut illi in tua fuerunt obuia cum arboreis uirgis egressi, ita nos te redeunte in secundo aduentu cum

9 palmis uicturiae mereamur occurrere laeti, saluator mundi.IMMOLATIO MISSAE. Uere <lignum et iustum est, tibi, domine, ab omni

sexu aetate et sensu dicere laudem in hac die ieiunii et laudes tuae12triumphali praeconio, quo ab Hierosolimis et Bethania occurrerunt tibiplurimae populorum cateruae una uoce perstripentes Osianna fili David, benedictus qui uenit in nomine domini. Tibi enim cum lingua coma ser

lSuiuit arborea, cum arenosa itenera ramis uiruerunt conposita, plebis quoque indumentum tuis planti[bu]s sternitur nudatisque uiris uia uis titur, uicturi nouo populus praestat triumphum. Surget totus clamor in

18laude, uoces clamantium penetrant templum dicentes Benedictus qui ue- nit in nomine domini. Ecce, Hierusalem, qualiter tibi rex tuus sedens super asinum mansuetus aduenit. Adueni ergo, rogamus, et in medium

2lnostri adsiste, et qui nos tune reparasti per crucem, per istum immo latum panem et sanguinem iterum lapsos repara, ut te aduenire in nostris cordibus sentientes, exeamus obuiam tui et cum supernis illis

24uirtutibus clamemus dicentes: Sanctus.

The ao Z Zeatio formula, compared with the version given earlier, is somewhat more ample, and we discover precisely in the 'amplified' sec tion, linesS - 7, yet another text parallel to our Cis tercian formula, lines 31- 32. If we look closer, too, we see that our own text follows, for the parts common to the two early manuscripts, the version proper to the Gothic Missal. It is clear the compiler of our present text had be fore his eyes a manuscript more akin to the Gothic Missal than to the Bobbio Missal (27).

The ao Z Zeatio had a function analogous to that of our present- day collect. It preceded the lessons, but followed the chanting of the Bene diatua, which occupied a place akin to our G loria in exae Zaia. On

east days, the ao Z Zectio generally alluded specifically to the theme of the feast. ln the text under consideration, the markedly eschatological character of the prayer should be noted. The aonteatatio or immo Zatio corresponded to our preface, which explains in part the eucharistic res onance of the text as it stands in the two ancient manuscripts.

We have already found parallels for at least 18 of 37 lines of our Cistercian text (39 lines, if we include the doxology) . There is yet an other 'bloc' of 10 lines --- lines 12 through 21 --- which not only deals exclusively with the symbolism of the olive and the oil derived from the olive, but could very easily have been more or less intact from somepre- existing formula for the blessing of oil. A single line suggests as much --- line 17. Students familiar with the Latin text of the Traditio Apoato Ziaa of Hippolytus will remember the blessing of oil attached to the end of the anaphora:

Ut oleum hoc sanctificans das, d (eu)s, sanitatem utentibus et percipi entibus, unde uncxisti re es, sacerdotes et rofetas, sic et omnibus gustantib us con ortat1onem et san1tatem utent1 us illud praebe-at (28).

Far from being proper to Hippolytus, however, the formula is found, with variatiQns, in literally dozens of Eastern rituals representative of al most every conceivable liturgical family: Ethiopian, Coptic, Greek By-

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antine, Syrian, Armenian, Chaldean. o o Fr o J o M. HANSSENS, S o J., has·ade a long list of such 'unde unxisti' texts (29); and a glance through hese many formulae shows that the texts invariably are destined for the lessing or consecration of oil or/and chrism o The phrase under consid" ration occurs much less frequently in the West. It is still found, how ver, in our present- day Holy Thursday Mass of the Chrism, where the" ords "unde unxisti sacerdotes , reges, prophetas et martyres" twice ap ear: first , in the blessing of the oil of the sick, "Emitte , quaesumus, omine, Spiritum" - a formula found in the early G elasian sacramentary ,.everal of the 8th- century G elasian sacramentaries , in manuscripts ofhe Gregorian sacramentary tradition, as well as in various ordines and ontif'icalia (30); second, in the long b lessing of the chrism, "Vere ignum ...Qui in principio" - one of the 'constants' in the Holy Thurs ay blessing of oil and chrism , whether in the Roman system or the G ela 'ian one (31). Quite possibly our 'unde unxisti' formula is to be found n other contexts ; but so far, these have escaped my notice. As thingsow stand, the presence of line 17 in our blessing of branches text sug ests that this line and those which form its immediate context - lines 2- 21. - have been purloined (perhaps with adaptations) from an earl ier lessing of oil or chrism formula. Moreover , it may be noted that the resent- day Roman Rite blessing of chrism formula provides several close arallels with the section of our b lessing of branches now under scrutiy. It is not surprising that the paradigms of the Roman Rite text hould include the olive twig from the flood episode, but the words,. columba demons trans per olivae ramum, pacem terr is reddi tam nuntiavi t", re remarkably close to our own "columbae minis terio per olivae ramum, acem terris redditam nuntiari voluisti '' . Further, though it is not sur rising , either , to find both texts utilizing Psalm 44, 8, it is not e orthy that, in either instance, this citation brings the preceding par digms to a close, and forms the transition to the blessing proper. This s not to imply that one formula depends on the other directly or indi- ectly. It does suggest, however, that lines 12- 21 of our text may well. ave once existed in a context different than the pres ent one. Further, ince A. CHAVASSE has demonstrated convincingly that, in Gaul , the lessing of the oils originally took place not on Holy Thurs day, but arlier in Lent, and that the earlies t evidence for the blessing of the " ils taking place in G aul on Holy Thursday dates only from the very end f the 7th century (32) , it is not too fanciful to surmise that the re actor of the long text found in the Pontificale Romano-g ermanicum and 'ater adopted by the Cistercians probably had beneath his eyes an oldallican compilation in which a b lessing of oil and chrism formulary oc urred in close proximity to the texts making up the "Missa in Traditio e Symboli", from which so much of our present- day blessing of the bran hes formula derives.

In passing, a single remark concerning the G allican "Missa in Tra itione Symboli". Fr. JUNGMANN, S.J., following the hypothesis formu ated by Anton BAUMSTARK (33) , refers to this Mass as "an authentic G al ican feast. of later date, whose Mass, however, bears the old name: 'in ymboli traditione'" (34). Presuming that Fr. Jungmann and Anton Baum tark are correct in referring to this Mass in its present place as

'ate', we may nevertheless note that there is at least one indication

at some of the formulae which make up the Mass are of an earlier date: the Mass formulary found in the Gothic Missal, allusions to the daya fast day abound, one of the clearest be ing the inc ipit of the Immo tio M1.- s sae : "Uere <lignum et iustum est, tibi, domine, ab omni sexutate et sensu dicere laudem in hac die ieiunii. o " (35). (It may beted, too, that even our Cistercian formula contains a reference to the nten fast, in line 31: "Oris nostri confessionem , ac je{unii humilia

libens suscipe.'' Since all Sundays of the year exc uded fasting

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- even in the Gallican rite - we must conclude that this immo latio text and analogous ones probably date from a period earlier than the Gothic Missal and the Bobbie Missal, which assign these formulae to the Sunday we now designate as 'Palm Sunday' or the 'Second Sunday of the Pass ion'.

We have now given a few indications regarding the protohistory of the greater part of our blessing of branches text. Excluded from our discussion so far have been the opening four lines, the three lines of the blessing proper (22 - 24), and lines 33- 34. Concerning the last men tioned lines, I have nothing to say. Concerning the blessing formula, lines 22- 24, I rather doub t that any truly earlb source will be found for it. Though the Bobbie Missal already has a lessing of palm and olive bran hes (36), Dom MARSI LI , O.S.B. is entirely correct in noting,against GRAF (37) and FRANZ (38), that the blessing of branches does not imply necessarily a trocession with branches. The text in questionspeaks only of branc es to be carried to one's own home, and of oil from the blessed olive branches, destined to be drunk by the faithful (39).In the present instance, however, the blessing is clearly with a view to providing blessed branches for a procession; and Dom Marsili , following

( the indications of Graf, insists that such processions appear with cer tainty in the West only at the end of the 8th century. We may conclude, then, that lines 22- 24 are of a later vintage than the other sections of our text, and may even be the work of the compiler of the Pontificale Ro mano-g ermanicum. However this may be , it is a bit surprising that, somewhere along the line, the grammatically clumsy phrase, "quos tui fa muli ...desiderant" (lines 23- 24) has not been emended by some grammar conscious scribe. We may also note that these lines are not really fectly integrated in the general structure. By themselves, they form the equivalent of the climactic epiclesis- formula of the classical consecra tion- type prayer. In point of fact, however, this section is followed by a genuine epiclesis, lines 25- 30, quite different from the preceding section I I I. (This is why it was suggested earlier that some readers might wish to include lines 25- 30 in section I II.)

As regards the opening section, lines 1- 4, very much could be said, since almost every group of words has interesting parallels elsewhere , and is packed with rich theological content. Here let us remark onlythat the "Bone Redemptor" of early Gallican- type texts has been trans formed by the compiler of our prayer into the more honorific "Omnipotens sempiterne Redemptor". The reade.r who is surprised at finding such along prayer addressed to Christ rather than to the Father would do well to read the pertinent observations of Fr. A. JUNGMANN in his chapter on liturg ies of the Gall ican type, in the dissertation which once gainedhim a university lectureship in pastoral theology - The P lace of Chr ist in Liturg ical Pray er (40). There is, however, one expression in this in troductory invocation, too deserving of notice for us to pass over with out at least a nod of recognition - the expression in line 2, "ad pas sionem voluntatis tuae".

Rather strange phraseology , is it not - "passio voluntatis"? Why not "passio voluntaria"? The translator has almost no choice but to turn the noun 'voluntas' into an adjective, in order to come up with some thing like "voluntary suffering" or "suffering freely chosen" or some thing equivalent. At this point , the reader familiar with Greek might

erecall that, even in classical Greek, the adject:j,ve £ 1< 0 0 1 o s 1 issometimes replaced by the combination E l "0 u IJ'" l '1< f or /<d.0' E. l<Ou <r u Cl! v.(literally , 'from a will', 'according to a will' ); and it is easy enough to see that a somewhat literal-minded Latin translator, coming across such a construction in a Greek text, might easily render it in Latin by

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in the genitive , instead of by the adjectival form ,

'voluntaria'. The linking of the words 'voluntary' and 'passion' are

frequent in_ iturgical texts - at least in the East, where "passio voluntaria" or "ts equivalents occur right and left in anaphora formularies. One hasnly to thumb through collections of such texts to see how true this is.,o cite only a few examples, among the anaphorae edited in the series ,nap horae Sy riacae (41), the institution narrative is preceded by a spe- ific reference to these voluntary sufferings in the Anaphora of Timothy f Alexandria (42), the Anaphora of St. Gregory Nazianzen (43), the sec nd Anaphora of the Twelve Apostles (44), the Anaphora of St. James45), the Lesser Anaphora of St. James (46), the Anaphora of Gregoryohn (47). So, too, in the specifically Maronite tradition, the identi al usag e is frequent ; and M. HAYEK, in his recent Liturg ie Maro nite: istoire et textes euc haristiq ue s (Paris 1964) , offers proportionately umerous examples (48), as does Brightman in his Liturg ies Easte rn and estern I (49). Accordingly , it is not surprising to read in our earli st known extant western anaphora - the one ascribed to St. Hippolytus, nd contained in Chapter 4 of the Traditio A posto Z ica: "...qui ...trade etur uoluntariae passioni" (S O) . Further, such references are by noeans confined to Eucharistic texts. Omitting all reference to untold umbers of Patristic texts combining 'voluntary' with 'passion' ordeath of Christ' (51), let us note that the Byzantine Rite Palm Sundayiturgy abounds in similar phrases. To quote a few examples:

Let us offer , my brethren, the palms of our virtues to Christ God , who comes, for our sake , as man, to suffer voluntarily that he might g ive to all of us, in the strength of his divinity , freedom from suffering (S 2).

He who thrones upon cherubim, and who, for our sake , mounts an ass to hasten to his voluntary assion, today hears the children who cry to·him, "Hosanna"; the crow s also shout , "O Son of David , blessed J esus, hasten to save those whom you have created , for it is for this thatyou have come, that we may come to know your g lory'' (S3).

s regards the next citation, I would not dare claim for it any degree.f great antiquity. Readers who have access to Dom P. DE MEESTER' siturg ia By zantina II/vi will find there details about the manuscript radition of this text (S4) ; but with the documentation at my disposal , he best I can say is that our text already appears in GOAR's Euc ho Z og i n siv e RituaZe Graecorum , first printed in 1647 (SS) . The Latin trans- ation reads in part as follows:

Domine Deus noster , qui sedes super cherubim , qui potentia tua excita ta, unigenitum Filium tuu Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, ut per cru cem, sepulturam, et resurrectionem suam salvaret mundum , misisti: quo ad spontaneam passionem in Jerusalem adveniente ...

.he Greek words corresponding to the underscored Latin t ext are: f l;:,fTO

l K ooo-1 o v nJ B os ( S o ) . So, too, in the final idiome Zon accompanying

O TOV

_ he concluding versets of the "laudes-psalms" of Orthros:- Showing forth, before your voluntary passion (Tr f

' "'€. K O U Cf lIO U

lT 8o v s crou ) the general resurrection ...(S 7)

Adolph FRANZ, in his discussion of the Palm Sunday blessings, goes ven further , and speaks of the co Z Z ectio of the Bobbio Missal, "Bone edemptor noster", where our formula first appears, as unmistakably be ray ng the influence of a Greek original (S8) ; and he offers in a · foot-

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note the incipit and de sinit of a prayer edited in a typiko n not acces sible to me at the present moment.

It would not be at all surprising if what A. Franz says is true. After all, one has only to think of our obviously Greek- inspired Palm Sunday responsory, "Ingrediente" or the Magnificat antiphon, "Coeperunt omnes turbae", to realize that there is more than one contact between East and West in our Palm Sunday liturgy. Would it really be so remark able , then, if sections of our blessing of branches formula derive ulti mately from Eastern texts?

Having said this much, however, I must admit that, in the final analysis, the question of the precise sources of our present formula is far less important than is the question of our coming into a richer pos session of the realities which these texts celebrate. Our blessing of branches is a b it like a patchwork quilt. It is sewn together from every kind of scrap of material, and these scraps are of unequal value. Fur ther, the stitching together of these scraps has not always been too successful: sometimes the seams show more than they should. It is, ad mittedly, interesting (for some of us) to be able to trace the orig ins of this or that patch. But this will be to very little purpose, if it does not enable us to participate at greater depth in the mystery cele brated.

At any rate , the preceding historical notes have provided only a starting point for the reader's reflections. I f the reader, as a result of the preceding pages, decides to investigate for himself the texts of the Gothic Missal or the counterparts in the Bobbio Missal, nothing could be more in accord with the purpose of this article. It is even more to be hoped that the reader will take this occas ion to acquainthimself or herself with the magnificent formulae from the Eastern litur gies, to the extent that these are accessible either in the original versions or in translations. Perhaps this or that reader might even be interested in studying the use of the term "voluntary sufferings", as used in the Fathers and the liturgy. All such exercise of personal in itiative cannot fail to open one more to the riches of the mystery of Christ.

By way of conclusion, two observations. The reader may have noticed that, in our blessing of branches text, the symbolism of the olivebranch is just as central as the symbolism of the palm branch, if not more so. Thanks to· the kindness of the Abbot of Our Lady of New Clair vaux , Dom Eusebius WAGNER, O.C.S.O., G ethsemani has recently had the good fortune of being able to have branches conformed with the symbolism expressed in the blessing formula. Olive and palm branches combine won derfully we ll; and so long as we have our present blessing formula, the ideal will be to have both kinds of branches , even though obtaining them may require some little effort.

Finally , there is the question of the revision of our Palm Sunday blessing of branches rite. It would be easy enough to write a lengthy article dealing with all the neg ative points of our present blessing text. For myself, I would not hes itate for a moment to see the present blessing replaced by another provided the new formula were as rich and substantial as the present one. It makes little difference how 'in teresting' a text is from a historical standpoint , if it fails here and now to help us enter deeper into the mystery of Christ. Certainly, the present formula is clumsy, a b it redundant , somewhat illog ical in points of detail ... But, all in all, do we have at hand another formula that offers us as much as our "Omnipotens sempiterne Redemptor" ? Let

us be

I

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clear- sighted about its defects ; let us also be just as clear- sighted about its positive points. But above all else, may this venerable bless\ing formula help us to find Christ in his Mystery.

B o Chrysogonus addell , O.C.S.O.

'f·.·'

i

Gethsemani

N 0 T E S

r.) Cf. A. KING , Liturg ies of the Pr imatial Sees , Milwaukee 1957, p. 51.r

1 Cf. A. KING , Liturg ies of the Re lig ious Or ders , Milwaukee 1955 ,p . 28 0

t3) Ibid., p. 355.) Dijon, Biblioth que municipale, Ms. 114 (82), f. 143v.

S) Supp lementum Mis salis , Westmalle 1959, pp. 3- 4. In the 4th l ine from he bottom of p. 3, read terg a for tergo , which is either a mistake or

;an unwarranted "correction" at variance both with the manuscript trad i tion (Cistercian and non- Cistercian) and with previous printed editions.

) Les 'Or dine s Romani' du haut mo y en ag e V, Louvain 1961, pp. 170- 171.

R) From the Holy Week booklet , The Great Wee k , G ethsemani Abbey 1967,p . 1- 3.

')Cf. op. cit., Cap. 4, pp. 10- 17 of Dom B. BOTTE's recent edition, La radition A posto liq ue de Saint H ippo ly te (=Liturgiew iss ensohaftliohe ' ue llen und F orsohung en 39) , Munster 1963.

3) Reference to Christ as model for the deacon is in line with the hought of St. Ignatius of Antioch, for whom the bishop stood for Godhe Father, the presbyters for the apostles , and the deacons for Christ. ee Ignatius' Letter to the Mag ne sians 6, 1. In later formulae for the rdination of deacons, St. Stephen Protomartyr is usually g iven as the eacon's exemplar.

4 ) Sermo 7 4 , 2 , in PL 5 4 , 398 A .

5) Introduction to the Liturg y , trans. R. CAPEL , Baltimore 1961,p . 8- 9.

6) In Tome 37 of the series, A ssem b lie s du Seig neur , i.e. Deuxi me D i anohe de la Pas sion , Bruges 1965 , pp. 7- 20.

7) Art. cit., p. 20. (Best Copy Available)

18) PL 180, 475 A.

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19) Cf. C. VOGEL, Introduction aux source s de l'histoire du cu lte chrd tien au mo yen ag e , Spoleto, s.a. (1965) , pp. 190- 197.

20) The text has been edited by C. VOGEL in collaboration with R. ELZE,i.e. Le Pontifical Romano-g ermanique du dix ime sic le (=Stud i e Testi226- 227) , Citta del Vaticano 1963.

21) Cf. K. GAMBER, Sakramentarty pen, Beuron/Hohenzollern 1958, pp. 39- 43.

22) Henry Bradshaw Series, Vol. 58, London 1920, pp. 59- 60.

23) Cf. A. KING , L iturg ies of the Past, Milwaukee 1959, p. 135.

24) P. 59 of the edition referred to in Note 22.

' 25) See L. C. MOHLBERG , O.S.B., Missale Gothicum (=Rerum Ecc lesiastica rum Documenta, Fontes V) , Roma 1961, XXI I I -XXVI.

26) Pp. XXII- XXIII of the critical edition referred to in the preceding footnote.

27) Writing in the middle of the last century, J. NEALE and G. FORBES opined that our long bl essing of branches pre- existed the formulae quoted from the Gothic Missal. This hypothesis is mentioned by H. BANNISTER, in his notes to the M is sale Gothicum , Henry Bradshaw Society se ries, Vol. 54, London 1919, p. 46. I have been unable to check the source, which is evidently The A ncient Liturg ies of the Gallican Churc h, Burntisland 1855. Careful collation of the sources demonstrates just the opposite of Neale's and Forbes' allegation.

28) Cited according to p. 18 of the edition by Dom B. BOTTE referred to above, Note 8.

29) La liturg ie d'H ippo lyte (=Or ientalia Chr istiana A nalecta 155), Roma 1959' pp. 416- 422.

30) Detailed references in J. M. HANSSENS, op. cit., Note 29, pp. 412- 414; or else in H. SCHMIDT, S.J., H ebdomada Sancta I I , Romae - Friburgi Brisg. - Barcinone 1957, p. 720, n. 115, and p. 722, n. 126.

31) Cf. H. SCHMIDT, op. cit., pp. 759- 760. The formula is used sometimes for blessing of the chrism , sometimes for the blessing of the oil of the catechumens.

32) A. CHAVASSE, "La b ndiction du chrgme en G aule avant l'adoption in tegrale de la liturg ie romaine", in Revue du Mo y en-8g e Latin I (1945), pp. 109-128.

33) In Vom g e schichtlichen W erden der Liturg ie (=Ecc lesia Orans X), Freiburg i. B. 1923, p. 86.

34) The P lace of Chr ist in Liturg ical Pray er , trans. A. PEELER, Staten Island 1965, p. 92.

35) N. 200, p. 54 of the MOHLBERG edition, already cited.

36) N. 558 of the edition by LOWE already referred to above.

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37) Palme nw eihe und Palmenp roz ession in der lateinischen Liturg ie , Steyl 1959, p. 12. I have been unable to check the reference.

38) Die kirch lichen Benediktionen im Mitte lalter I , Freiburg i.B. 1909, p. 418"

39) Art. cit., p. 9.

40) Staten Island 1965 , pp. 86- 104. See especially pp. 92 ss., where Fr. Jungmann refers to several of the formulae cited in this article. After noting that the whole Palm Sunday formulary is addressed to Christ , he suggests that "it may well be said that the character of the feast, of which the theme is above all homage to Christ, was a determining factor in the address."

41) Edited by the Pontifical Institute of Eastern Studies, Romae, from 1939 onwards.

42) Op. cit., I , p. 19 (Latin translation of Syriac

text) . 43) Ibid., p. 115.

44) Ibid, , p. 245.

45) Ibid. , Vol. II , p. 145.

46) Ibid. , p. 197.

47) Ibid., p. 219.

48) Op o cit. , pp. 343, 352 , 360, 376.49) Oxford 1896 (reprint 1965).50) P. 14 of the edition by Dom BOTTE, O.S.B., already cited above, Note 8. Dom Bette's Latin translation of the Ethiopic version reads: "Qui traditus est in sua voluntate passioni. .."

Sl) Many references under f.1< 0 0 cr 1 os and related words in G. LAMPE (edi tor) , A Patristic Gre ek Lexicon, fascicle 2 , Oxford 1962, p. 435.

S2) Fourth of the stichera for the lucernarium psalmody of Little Ves pers. English text based on the French version of La Pr ire des Eg lises de Rite By zantin II/ii, edited and translated by Dom E. MERCENI ER, O .S.B., Paris 1948, .pp. 71- 72. At the moment, I do not have access to the Greek text.

S3) Troparion for the cathism of Orthros , ibid., p. 79.

54) According to A. BAUMSTARK, "La sollenite des palmes dans l'ancienne et la nouvelle Rome", in Ir nikon XIII (1936) , p. 23, n. 1. The refer ence is to p. 436 of Dom De Meester' s commentary.

SS) Currently availab le to all in a Graz reprint (1960), based on the emended edition of 1730. The text is found on pp. 589- 590 (the reference in the Index is erroneous) .

56) Ibid., p. 589.

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57) MERCENIER, op. cit., p. 88; Megas H ieros Sy ne k Z emos , Athens 1959,p . 397 .

58) P. 479 of the work cited in Note 38.

59) Ibid.; the Greek citation is taken from PAPADOULOS, AnaZ ekta H iero so Zy mitikes staahy o Zogias II , St. Petersburg 1894, p. 16.

- 67 -TOWARD THE EVENTUAL RESTRUCTURING OF THE ENGLISH OFFICE

FOR BRETHREN NOT BOUND TO CHOI R

The title chosen for the following notes was a rather difficult one to formulate. A few weeks ago, I probably would have settled for some thing along the lines of "Toward the Restructuring of the English Office for Brethren Not Bound to Choir" . At the present moment, I still incline to hesitate between the title actually chosen, in which 'eventual' isthe operative word, and a somewhat more pessimistic, "Toward the Re structuring of the English Office for Brethren Not Bound to Choir ???", in which the question marks at the end add an important nuance.

Not that there is any real reason for pessimism. Indeed, quite the:ontrary is true. Thanks to the returns from the recent Office

question aire distributed to the brethren of our Eng lish speaking communities ,

it has now become possible for the first time to obtain a certain amount of objective information reg arding many of the questions connected with the project at hand. My own personal opinion, after a fairly objective study of the returns, is rather different from what it was two months ago. Excellent; I can only rejoice at the fact. Having at last a clearer picture of the complex situation which ob tains in the English speaking part of our Order , it now becomes easier to act in accordance with the real situation. And to act thus - who can doubt it? - is to take astep in the right direction.

All of which remarks may well puzzle the reader not already ac quainted with the general subject. The subject concerns an ad experimen tum revision of the Office now prayed by many of those of our brethren who are not bound to choir. It was to have begun (and perhaps will actu ally begin) as a local project in one or a few or even many af our Eng lish speaking communities. In order to determine more precisely the ex tent to which such a project was advisab le, and the general lines which an eventual revision of the present English Office should follow, a uestionnaire was prepared and distributed.

Since returns were received from all but a remarkably few communi ties, it can be presumed that most of the religious not b ound to choir are already well acquainted with the contents of the questionnaire. The same cannot be presumed with the choir religious , however; so it is chiefly for their sake that we here reproduce (with the exception of a few sentences dealing only with the practical details of filling out the forms) the questionnaire itself, along with the letter which accompanied it. These two related documents will form the first part of this arti cle" Those already familiar with the material should skip to the second part, where further details are g iven, and the major results are tabu lated and briefly discussed.

But before going further, I wish to stress in a most particular way that my own personal judgments are precisely that - personal judgments.)thers may interpret the evidence in another, more objective manner. Nor is it impossible , in view of a complex situation, that the same evidence ive rise to multiple solutions, each of which can be justified by an appeal to the objective evidence.

(Best Copy Available)

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LETTER ACCOMPANYING QUESTIONNAIRE

Gethsemani Abbey January 27, 1967

Dear Brother,Sister,

Peace and joy in the Lord! This letter - - the first of sveral which will probably follow in the course of the next few months - - asks for your help in an area which concerns manyof us at a deep level.

The precise problem is that of a vernacular Office for those of us who are not choir monks or nuns.

In 1961 appeared an experimental project prepared according to precise norms laid down by the Order' s competent author ty - - The Da Hours of the Cistercian Breviar . Since 1961, many _things aye hap_p_e_ned, and we are now face with the imperative necessity of preparing a revision of the Office.

Our present Day Hours tjll retains, of course, its official approbation. This is clear from art. 81 of the Instruc tion for the Right Imlementation of the Constitution on Sacred Litury , where we rea that forms of the Little Office already legitimately approved , and containing the elements of the tradi tional choral Office (psalms, lessons, hymn , prayers) " retain their official character.

At the same time, the version prepared in 1961 is no longer adequate for our present needs. Since 1961 there have been major changes in our Cistercian liturgy , and our calendar has been particularly affected. This alone would call for a newedition of The Day Hours. But the situation has also changed in other ways.

Even before the appearance of the 1961 project, many of us were aware of several very real defects inherent in the shape of the new Office.- The truncated form of Lauds with the·daily repetition of the same psalms was sure to cause discomfort in some quarters , especially since the desire to be able to pray the entire psalter seemed rather widespread. It was inevitable,too , that many of us would be disappointed to find that the English Office was no more than a translation of the Latin Office destined for choral performance. Many of the rubrics and liturg ical forms explicable in a Latin Office celebrated in choir, and sung to Gregorian melodies , simply make for complications when retained .in an Office of the sort we are now concerned with. Then, too, anyone even slightly acquainted with problems of hymn- translation knew in advance that, so long a we were limited to

providing translations of the Latin hymns; the question of the hymns would be insoluble.

A year ago , an initial consultation -0f the Superiors of our Eng lish- speaking comm.unities was made, with a view to find ing out whether or nQt it ws advisable to think in terms, not oply

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of a re- translation, but of a re- structuring of the vernacular Office. Only a singl e Abbess seemed to favor the principle of strict adherence to the Office as prescribed in the Holy Rule. (Though she did not r ealize it , this would

entail a notable restructuring of the present Office, since the traditional form of the Office now c elebrated in choir departs considerably from the prescriptions of the Holy Rule" _ Any app ication of the principle of fidelity to the letter of the Rule would necessarily entail no less of a revision than a re- structuring of the Office made on the basis of the spiritual needs of our brothers and sisters not obliged to the choral Latin Office. )

In view of the quasi- unanimous feel ing that a re structuring , rather than just a re- translation, was called for, why was nothing done right away? The answer is found in the high expectations many of us had back in 1965 and 1966, of having for the entire community an Office in the mother- tongue, and of sucha nature that everyone could participate actively in at least the more important Hours. At that time , however, the acceptance of a re- structured Office for our rel igious not bound to choir would have meant canonizing . the principle of two more or less parallel Offices dividing the brethren into distinct groups.

According ly , many Superiors , while realizing the need for a drastic revisionof the Day Hours, feared that such a revision would prove an obstacle to our obtaining an Office in which everyone who wishes to participate actively could do so.

Our recent Decree of Unification, equally recent leg islation of the Holy See, as well as the tenor of subsequent directives g iven by our Holy Father , have all comb ined to dampen the hopes of many for the more or less imminent introduction of Engl ish into the choral Office. Present legislation, then, im poses on us the principle of a plural ity of groups praying various forms of the Office within one and the sam e community. Since this is so , the question of a new version of the English Office once again becomes a matter of immediate concern.

The present plan is to proceed as follows:

1- An initial project wil l be prepared as soon as possible here at Gethsemani. This project will be prepared partly on the basis of studies already made, but also in the light f repl ies received in answer to the questions about to be proposed here and in subsequent letters.

2- As soon as possible, the F athers of the G eneral Chapter will be given information about the general outl ine and principles to be followed in the shaping up of the experimental Office. They will also receive detailed projects for a few particular Hours.

3- At the G eneral Chapter , the Fathers will thenbe in a position to accept , reject , or modify the proposed project in its entirety or in points of detail. If the project is

retainedat least substantially - - the question of the implementat ion

of the project in various houses will be considered.

4- On the basis of results obtained from the experi-

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mental use of such an Office (or Offices , if other similar pro jects are approved and imp,lemented) , a more definitive projectof a greater international scope can be drawn up at a later date.

_ By the time the last stage is reached , the situation wil1 probably have changed radically , and everyone will be free to pray together if he so wishes. Still , all the work expendedon the present project will help immensely in any other project dealing with the Office in any form whatsoever.

Several clarifications are in order at this point.

1- Though the project will beg in as a local project(cf. the Acts of the 1966 Central Commission, p. 51 of the French text) , its international scope must be clearly recognized fromthe outset.

2- The initial projects will be no more than tentative and will be subject to many future modifications - - perhaps sub stantial ones. At every stage of the development , every effortwill be made to invite your own collaboration.

3- There will be considerable difficulty in our ob taining an international English version of an Office.

Current legislation requires that a particular rite - - such as ours - adopt for texts shared in common with the Roman Rite the transla- , tion officially approved for the Roman Rite in any given territory. In the States , this principle excludes our use of the popularGrail Psalter , since only the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Psalter has been approved for use in the Office. · Few of our brethren in England or Ireland would find the CCD Psalter a pass able substitute for the Grail Psalter. Nevertheless, agreementon an international level among our English- speaking communities should be possible as regards principles of structure, content, and many points of detail. And perhaps even the question of the official psalter text will not prove insoluble.

4- The following remarks are of major importance.There is no need to belabor the point that our Order is currently in a state of transition. It is only to be expected that, even within the same community , extremes of positions regarding the same question are to be found. It is no surprise, then, that thequestion of the Divine Office raises different problems for differ ent religious. There are some exemplary religious who feel that any form of the Office other than the traditional Pater and Ave Office is opposed to the spirit of the vocation of the religious . not bound to choir.

Others are all but outraged at the thoughtof a variety of forms of the Office within one and the same pray ing community. Between these extremes , every shade of opinion exists, and these should be respected. Already there are certain lines of convergence discernible. But the solution still lies in the future - - how far distant , no one knows. Whatever proves to be the ultimate answer , however, will be arrived at only as the

fruit of much experience and spontaneous response to somethingthat is felt as an inner exigency of our way of life. In the mean• time, the unique quality of each individual vocation must be re spected. This is why so far as in me lies, the utmost will bedone to ensure a maximum of flexibility as regards the Office of

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those not bound to choir. Those who come under this category should be able to choose between the following:

a) the Pater- Ave Office;b) the vernacular Office (with which this letter deals) ;c) the Office now celebrated in Latin by those bound to

choir;d) the same Office, but in the Eng lish version now

being p repared for our nuns.

This plurality of Offices is certainly questionable in the ab stiact - - especially at a time when the Office is becoming more and more appreciated as the prayer of the entire local community , rather than as an official prayer offered according to set norms by a fraction of the community del egated to pray in the pame of the Church. But present legislation and the actual state of ourcommunities make it imperative that we provide a solution suitable to the concrete reality.We must provide for the possibil ity of spontaneous convergence towards the ideal , whil e respecting and fostering each individual vocation in its absolute uniqueness.

This initial series of questions touches only on certain points of a g eneral a_ture. The questions asked , however , are of such a kind that they will do much to orientate the present project of Office reform. Your answers will contribute todetermining the direction this project will take. Don't be alarmed if you don't find certain important questions touched on in thenext few pages. This is only an• exploratory questionnaire. Also, you will be given the opportunity of adding observations which you feel would be helpful. You might also indicate those questio.,ns which you would like to see treated in the subsequent series of questions.

The next list of questions wil l probably be sent to you shortly after the next G eneral Chapter. Please don't g et the impression tat you wil l be deluged with questionnaires.

It's only reasonable and just, however, that you be placed in a position to cooperate actively in a proj ect which concerns you personally.

I· Each question will be preceded by a paragraph or two of ex _ , planatory notes to give you something of the background of the question being asked o

Some of the questions will require considerable thought.Most of them deal with rather essential points. But noe of them call for much by way of scientific precision.

Ever gratefully in the Lord Jesus Christ,

b o Chrysogonus ,o .c.s.o.

(Best Copy Available) - 72 -

-QUESTIONNAI RE rPRELIMIN A RY QUESTIONS

A- Monastery:

B- Are you a novice, a simply p_rofessed religious , or a solemnly professed religious?

C- If you have pronounced your simple or solemn vows, how many years has it been since your simple profession?

D- Which form of the Office do you pref er to pray as a general rule?

The Pater-Ave Office?

Or the Day Hours in English?

Question 1 - Many of our re lig ious hav e objected to the fact that the Eng lis h Office is identical w ith the Latin Office as reg ards structure and content. The s e re lig ious

fav or a simp lification -- sometimes a drastic simp lification -- in structure, content, and manne r of p erformance. On the o.ther hand, some re lig ious w ish to maintain a c lose paraZ Z e Z betw ee n the Latin and the Eng lis h forms of the Offjae. What is the g eneral driftof y our ow n fee ling?

1 a )b )

c )

Do you favor a radical re- structuring of the English Officef Or do you favor rather a new translation and up- dating ofthe Day Hours, leaving the structure intact in its present form?Would you please indicate briefly the chief reasons you have for the preference you have indicated?

N ote: The fo llow ing questions are based on the hy pothesis

that·a -

rev ision of the Eng lis h Office wi Z Z inv o lv e a re-st r · u ·atu r ·in ·process carried out in the lig ht of tradition and w ith our ow n concrete situation in fuZ Z v iew. It is b y no means certain, howeve: that the r -struaturing p rincip le w iZ Z aatuaZ Zy be adopted.

It should be further noted that the fo l low ing questions take for g ranted certain princip les concerning w hic h ag reement is or should be fair ly unanimous -- princip les of authenticity, a strong t scriptural basis, continuity w ith the best of our tradition, _ re Ze• v anae for our times, corresponde nce of the particularOffice w ith the feast or s eason and w ith the time of y ear, ta.

Question 2 - In the present Office, there is no prov i?ion for Vigi Some hav e objected to this omiss ion: there is a

spe aifia character attached to the time of the Z iturg iaaZ day w hen Vig ils are ce leb rated, and if the Office is supposed to sanatify the day of the re lig ious w ho pray s the Office, then the omission o Vigils is a serious defeat. Further, Vig ils are a aharaat ristiaa

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monastic H our (soon to be turned into a "neutral H our" pray ab le at any time of day by diocesan c lerg y and mem bers of many nonmonastic Institutes), with a thematic content not found in any of the other H ours o Others fee l that the introduction of a Vig ils Office wou ld turn the re lig ious not bound to choir into a choirmonk or nun; or that such an Office would ov e rburde n the re lig ious,or e ls e crow d too many thing s into the ear ly part of the day.

I presume that both positions w ill hav e their ad herents, and that the reasons for either position are g ood ones. Pe rhaps theso lution is a form of Vig ils w hich w ill be facultativ e; that is to say, it could be adopted at the discretio n of the Superior and those who are concerned. Such a form of V ig ils w ould be s hort;it would also be of a nature to be pray ed eas ily in v arious p

laces in chapter, in the scriptorium, in the w ork- room befo re, during,

or after the pre paration of the day 's v eg etab les.

2 a) Do you think a fo rm o f Vig il s sho ul d b e ad opt ed in the Eng l i sh O ffi c e?

b) I f y ou favo r such an Hour, do you think it shoul d b e ob l i g at o ry ?

c) O r facult at iv e?

Qu est i on 3 - Leav ing open the question of Vig ils, most of us w il l ag ree that the v arious H ours s hould correspond to

important mome nts in the day of the re lig ious, and that they s hould

1 be so structured as to allow them to be pray ed w ith ease in the1 normal context in w hich the mo nk or nun liv es and w or ks. It

is sugg ested, then, that prov is ions be made for the fo l low ing li ou r s :

LA UDS, as near daw n as reasonab ly conv enient, and before morning work beg ins; to be

h pray ed ins ide the monaster y.f\

TERCE, toward mid-morning, i.e. 9 A.M. or so; to be pray ed w herev er one is wor king.

SEXT, at the en& of the morning wor k, before dinner; to be praye d either at the p lace of wor k or in the monaster y pro per.

N ONE, at the beg inning of the P.M. w or k; to bepray ed in the monaster y or at p lace of wor k.

VESPE RS, at the traditional time; to be pray ed in the mo nastery proper.

COMPLIN E, at the traditional time; to be pray ed

in the monastery pro per.

It would be possib le to prov ide a s ing le boo k w ith al l the Office material under one cov er. But, in addition, boo k lets containing only the Little Hours on wor k- day s cou ld easily be prov ided. These could be stuc k in one's pocke t, taken to wor k, and easily rep lacedwhe n worn out. It is also possib le that the structure of the Little Hours w ill be of such a sort tht no boo ks will b e required b y most of the b rethren participating.

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3 a) Does the above schema eet with your approval as a basis of discussion?

b) Do you think that the Little Hours should be drawn up as Offices which are optional?

c) Have you any other specific recommendations to make regard ing the number of Hours, the times and places of celebration?

d) Have you any further remarks (for instance, your reasons for answering Yes or No to Question 3a )?

Question 4 - The Psalter. To dateJ many re ligious hav e requested our adoption of the integ ral Psalter.

Some w ish toe liminate all repetitions of the same psalms w ithin a giv en periodJ in order to prov ide more variety and make possib le the use of more psalms; others insist on the value of daily or quasi-daily repetiti of certain ps alms -- for instanceJ those of Comp lineJ or the Gradua Psalms ass ig ned to the Little Hours on most wor k-day s. To chang e the Comp line psalms ev ery day would distur b the spirit characterist of" this Hour; and too much v ariation in the psalms of the Little Hours would make it difficult to pray these Hours at the p lace of work without recourse to boo ks. ·

Most of us ag reeJ howev erJ on the fo l low ing:

l - Thi choice of psalms should harmonize at least in g eneral with the spirit of the day (e.g. Sunday ) and the particular H our (e.g. Lauds or Comp line);

2- Extremes of constant variety and excessiv e repetition s hould be avoided;

3- The use of all the psalms of the Ps alterJ or at least the use of a g reater number than w e now hav eJ is much to be desired.

The fo llow ing pro posal mig ht possib ly satisfy these and other exig encies. LAUDS and VESPE RS would hav e a two-wee k cy c le of 3 psalms per day. On w ee k-days J the LITTLE H OURS would hav eGradual Psalms so arrang ed that one series would fall regularly on Monday J Wednesday J and Friday; a second series would fal l on Tues day J Thursday J and Saturday . Ov er a period of timeJ these could eas ily be memoriz edJ so that one would hav e both eas e of perfor mance and an av oidance of monotony in the daily repetition of the identical psalms. COMPLIN E would retain two of the three psalmswe now hav e. VIGILS would hav e a month- long cy c le of two psalms per day. As reg ards choice of psalms J the special character of certain day s (Sunday especial ly ) would be respected. In g eneralJ Lauds would alw ay s hav e the prog ress ion ev ident in St Benedict'sarrang ement of Lauds psalms -- an introductor y psalm of penitential ' etamp J a psalm dealing w ith the lig ht- resurrection themeJ a final · psalm of praise. Numerous other details could be g iv enJ but the abov e will suffice as a point of departure for y our reflections.

4 a) Do you think that a schema for the distribution of psalms drawn up along the lines suggE;!sted above would be satis factory?

b) Do you think that the principle of the recitation of theintegral Psalter within a given period should be insisted on?

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c) If the above schema does not meet with your approval , what would you suggest as a basis of initial discussion?

d) If the above schema meets with your approval in at least a general way , have you any specific modifications to suggest?

Question 5 - Our manne r of p ray ing the Psalter in community -- i.e. alternatio n betw een two sides -- is only one of the

kinds of psalmody canonized b y tradition. It is a g ood manner ofp ray ing the psalms; but many of the b rethren w ould like to see in troduced other kinds of p salmody, particular ly the so lo recitation of a psalm w hi le the community

liste ns in sile nce. In v iew of the div e rg ence of op inion and the v arious contexts in w hic h the Office w il l b e ce leb rated, pe rhaps the best so lution would b e to prov ide for a "built-in" flexibility , and al low for v arious manners of psalm-sing ing .

5 a)b )

Does this particular solution meet wi th your approval? Have you any further qual ifications to make?

Question 6 - Vatican Council II expre ssed a commo nly accepted persuasion w hen it urg ed that Scripture be g iv en

a more p rominent p lace in our liturg ical ce le brations. In part icular, Lauds and Vespers call for a real bib lical lesso n, rathe r than the ·all too b rief litt l.e chapter w e now hav e.

Per haps w e could ev en restore the e ar ly structure of Lauds and Vespe rs, andprov ide for two introductor y psalms recited in directum (i.e. w ith out antip hons or responses) , fo llow ed b y a substantial reading,fo llow ed in turn b y another psalm -- this time sung responsorial ly (our present sho rt responsor y is only a re lic of the ear lier prac tice of a comp lete psalm) . A short reading could alw ay s be sub stituted for the long er on , at the discretion of those pray ingthe Office.

Vig ils w ould hav e a two-y ear cy c le, in w hic h patris tic reading s and other appro priate w riting s could find a p lace.

6 a) Does this proposal meet with your general acceptance?b) Do you agree to allowing the option between a reading

of suitable length and a much shorter reading , more or less l ike our present little chapter?

c) Have you any further observations to make , either for or against the above proposals? ;

Question 7 - According to art. 80 of the Instruction for the Rig

ht Im lementation o the Co nstitution on Sacred Litur ,

an Offiae sua as ours w y mns. N ot ng s speai- fied as to the num ber, kind, or frequenc y. A ny one ev en s lig htly acquainted w ith the pro b lem of adequate hy mns trans latio ns basedon Latin metrical texts realiz es how difficu lt this pro b lem is. At the present time, Fr. Martin , monk of Our Lady of Guadalupe, has prov ided some fine trans latio ns w hic h w ill be used in the Eng lis h trans lation of the Latin Office, now being pre pared fo r the use of some f our nuns. But our ow n Office project need not be limited.

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to this type of hy mn. Perhaps other hy mn-formssuch as those found in Scripture, in the ancient liturg ie s, in many non-W estern cultures, and among certain modern poets, would fit in w e ll w ith the g eneral context of our Office.

7 a )

b )

c )

d )

Are you open to the idea of the creation of a new repertory of hymns not based on metrical Latin hymns , but drawn from traditional sources (Scripture, Fathers, various liturgies?) Are you open to the idea of the incorporation of freshly composed hymns- texts into a repertory made up in part of material from traditional sources?Do you wish to exclude completely hymn translations of the rhymed , metrical type?Have you any further suggestions or qualifications or ex planations of the answers you have indicated in 7 a-b- c?

Enormous areas hav e been left untouched. In particular, nothing has been said about the detailed structure of eac h Hour or about many of the constitutiv e e lements of the v arious Hours.But your answ ers to the abov e questions w il l suffice to p rov ide a bas ic orientation to the initial project , and w il l also determine the shape of the next se ries of questions.

Question 8 - Have you any further general observations , questions, or recommendation s to make concerning the material

touched upon in this questionnaire? Any observations concerning the method of shaping up this project? Any precise ideas about the form subsequent questionnaires should take?

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Copies of the questionnaire were sent to all our English- speaking.ommunities, even to the several African houses where English is one of e official languages. I say "even to Africa" advisedly; for our Afri-

·an communities are now in a very special, very privileged situation.ly a few months ago, the Hol¥ See gave them permission for rather ex

;ensive experimentation with the canonical Office. Our brethren in Afri a, then, may already , here and now, celebrate, without distinction ine categories of religious, a common Office in the m6ther tongue. Ac prdingly, the question of an Office for a special group in our African uses . .is no longer a d rem. Nevertheless, letters were received fromach of the African communities. These gave details about the Office as elebrated in each of the communities in question, and provided many lpful suggestions, particularly regarding the redistribution of the salms.

The number of houses represented in the returns from communities tside Africa ws rather higher than I had anticipated. Though a cover g let.ter had be en sent to each Superior, insisting on the completeiberty of the Superior in distributing or not distributing the ques io:p.naire to the members of his or her community , very few chose not to· so. Indeed , of the community of men, only our house in Wales sent no turns. Of the community of women, our single English nunnery and two

f our American lfouses of women remained silent. This is a far cry from imes past, when only 11 out of 24 or 25 Superiors consulted on

particu ar questions concerning the Cisteroian Day Hours offered the benefit of

eir counsel!

Considerably less imposing, however, is the number of returns when aken as a whole. It is, of course, necessary to make distinctions. In a ew communities, the number of questionnaires returned almost equallede number of brethren to whom the questionnaire was addressed in those articular communities. In general, however, the returns averaged be-. een one third to half of the brethren concerned. Excluding the repliesom Africa, as well as the several questionnaires filled out (and atefully received) by choir monks or nuns, 244 questionnaires remained Qr tabulation. Probably only the Definitory has accurate statistics re. rding the actual number of brethren "chore non· addicti"; but, granted e extremely fluid situation of our personnel since our recent decree

, unification, I doub t if even the most official statistics will always rrespond in all respects with the concrete reality.

One might presume that , of those not answering , many were brethreno are perfectly , or at least reasonably well satisfied with the Pater e Office, and who are not particularly interested in, or affected by,e question of a revision or retranslation of the English Office. I ow at least one monastery where , according to indications given by'me of the brethren themselves, this is precisely the case. Is it al ys the case? Not necessarily. In another monastery concerning which I ve rather detailed information, the number of brethren who pray theter-Ave Office is minimal. Yet the percentage of returns was no higher·an in the first instance. This is wy it would be rather risky to as gn a uniform reason for the silence of so many of the brethren. At one treme, we would find those brethren who, by their silence, meant to press their positive disapproval of any kind of Office rather than the ter- Ave one; at the other extreme , would be those who , by their si

nce, meant to express their complete readiness to go along with what er -might be provided; and in between would be various attitudes runng the gamut between these extremes. I know of a few instances inich the two extremes are verified. But it wold be extremely dang rous. generalize overmuch about any in-between position. Note, then,

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please , that 244 by no means represents a majority of our brethren who are not bound to choir. But note also that 244 does represent those who have expressed an option on some or all of ''the questions included in the questionnaire.

It would be interesting to compare the percentage of returns of this questionnaire with the percentage of returns by the same group of brethren in the case of the official questionnaire recently circulated by the Definitory. Unfortunately , information presently available does not allow a very high degree of precision in making such a comparison. As already explained, I myself am not at all sure exactly how many - pardon the expression - "choro non addicti" we have among our English speaking brethren. Also, accurate information about the relative propor tion of returns in reply to the Definitory questionnaire is available only for the States, where the percentage of returns from those not bound to choir was lower than in the case of choir monks and nuns. Was the same true of Ireland and England? If it was, and I am not the least bit sure that it was, then the percentage of returns for the present questionnaire might not be radically different from the percentage ofreturns for the same group in the more general questionnaire prepared by

·the Central Commission last October. It will have to be remembered, too, that the Office questionnaire was not distributed in three of our commu nities of nuns (three out of five), and in one of our communities of men.

Now for a few g eneral remarks, the first of which will be about the form of the Office questionnaire, i.e. explanatory paragraphs followed 'D}'two or three specific questions. One of our Superiors felt that a simplified form would get better results. In fact, he drew up such a questionnaire, and reduced it to two questions: "Do you think that the vernacular office should have a form of "Vig ils" office in addition to what it has at present? Yes or No. Do you favor a project for a restruc tured (possibly simplified) form of the vernacular office, or do you prefer the present "translated" office? Restructured or Translated. "Such a questionnaire form is certainly infinitely easier to tabulate than the one actually sent to the brethren. But it also provides pre cious little of the really important information needed. Just as impor tant as the options expressed are the reasons for the options. The same Superior - whom I know personally , and both love and reverence - thought that it would have been etter had a ''liturg ically 'correct' project been drawn up by someone liturgically competent" . This project would have been presented to those concerned, who would then have pro nounced on its acceptability or non- acceptability. The chief objection to such a procedure is one which I shall touch on, even insist on, at the conclusion of these notes: there can be no 'liturgically correct' project unless it truly corresponds with the concrete situation of the brethren for whom it is intended. A 'liturgically correct' project does not mean so much an Office that respects a set of abstract norms, as an Office that answers to the concrete needs of worship of a g iven communi ty of believers. In this respect , much of the work currently undertakenby the Consilium is of great significance. In almost every instance, the shape of the work is determined less by scholars who spend most of their lives closeted in a library study , as by scholars who, while enjoyingthe maximum of a technical and scientific formation, also .have the keen est appreciation of the concrete pastoral needs of the faithful at large. If someone in our Order already has a very clear, accurate pic ture of-rhe situation obtaining in our Order, he might possibly be ab

le to produce a reasonably acceptable project .for an Office in the mother tongue, without having to g o to the trouble of making preliminary stud ies of the sort entailed in the Office questionnaire. I myself had no

( Best Copy Ava i lable ) _ 79 -

such clear, accurate picture; and I can never be too grateful either for aving made the decision to adopt the questionnaire method of consulting he brethren, or for having opted for the of questionnaire actually drawn up and distributed.

, Of the 244 brethren returning the questionnaire, two remarked that hey had found the questionnaire tendentious ; and of the two, one was

s eciall strong. I hope that this observation does not have any real as1s 1n actual fact. A tendentious question is one phrased in such aay that it suggests the answer. There is certainly every possibility of· endentiousness creeping in without one's adverting to the fact; after

, 11, no one is completely immune to prejudice and a priori ideas. But my eneral intention was certainly to provide the individual with every op ortunity of adopting any conceivable position with regard to the ques ions asked. Of course , several of the questions may well have touchedn points which this or that religious had never thought about ; thisould easily lead to the feeling that ideas were being foisted on him by he questionnaire itself. The feeling would doubtless be correct; buthe question would be tendentious only to the extent that it would sug est a precise answer. Perhaps this or that relig ious might also have ound objectionable questions involving precise details, such as ques ion 3, regarding a basis of discussion for the distribution of Hours apart from Vigils) over the course of the day. Here a number of pre ise, concrete suggestions are made; but there are four parts to the uestion, making it possible for the one answering to reject the propos- 1 in whole or in part, and to offer his or her own concrete proposals.

Somewhat related to the same area of discussion was the remark made one Superior, who had decided against the idea of a group discussion

rior to the filling out of the questionnaire. He felt that, without uch previous discussion, each religious would express himself morepontaneously , without havi g been unduly influenced by any of his con rares. Here there seems to be a bit of confusion. Evidently , the maxi m of spontaneity and personal liberty of choice should be guaranteed. ut this has nothing to do with the question of being exposed to, andearning from, ideas expressed by others, whether this be through books , etters, or group discussions. Thanks to group discussions, many of us ave had occasion to change our ideas on this or that point. Perhaps our iginal idea was false in whole or in part, and this became evident ony in the course of an exchange of ideas with someone else. The original dea could have been spontaneous to the nth degree, and could have epresented a personal choice uninfluenced by anyone else. But spontane ty and liberty do not imply that the idea in question is always partic

)arly sound. Neither does an idea derived from another person necessar ly imply any attenuation of personal spontaneity and liberty of choice. f I see that someone else has a more valid position than the one I my lf have held up to now, then I can and should make that position mywn; and I can express it with the same spontaneity and liberty ofhoice I had with regard to my original option. This is not to say that e Office questionnaire necessarily called for previous group discus

}on. The situation differs from monastery to monastery; and, just as ach Superior had to decide whether or not to distribute the question aire, so also each Superior who distributed the questionnaires was enirely free to decide whether the questionnaire would be filled out withr without benefit of prior group discussion.

Yet another general remark deals with the nature of most of the ecise points touched on in the various questions. From time to time, I

. ceived the impression that the relig ious answering felt that there was ly one possible solution for each question, and that all alternatives

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were b ad. This reminds me of some remarks I once heard made by Dom Cipriano VAGAGG INI , O.S.B., who observed that not all questions are of the either/or type. In many instances, the answer lies at some point be tween two extremes. Since the optimum solution depends on the conver gence of numerous contingent·factors, it is easy enough to see how vari ous individuals can opt for solutions at varying points between the two extremes; and there are not always present objective norms to pinpoint the precise area where the best possib le solution will be found. Also, the contingent historical :circumstances are often. in flux, so that the solution agreed pon last year may be less good this year. It is easy enough, for instance, to thumb through the Acts of the General Chapter, and to find many decisi-0hs hich, at the time they were adopted, werethe fruit of wise , enlightened deliberation; yet were the same question to be presented today, th ·wise enlightened solution would be alongquite different lines. At any rate, many of the questions appearing in the Office questionnaire admitted of several choices, any of which could be considered good. The adoption of one particular solution, then, need not imply that any other solution would be particularly bad. Almost ev ery solution, in such instances, has its pros and its cons; and when these balance rather evenly, decisions in· the practical order are rather difficult to make f'

It is in the context of thi general observation that I want to make the following remark. It often,. even usually happened, that , eventhough opinions expressed by our relig ious differed radically on this or. that question, the ones answering were always able to appeal to reasons involving authentically Christian and monastic values. To cite only one , example , as a result of many suggestions received during the past two or three years, I raised the possibility of having a form of the LittleHours which would involve no books for most of the brethren, and which could easily be prayed at the place of work , thanks to the repetition of the same easily memorized psal.ms. I was surprised to find that a number of our brethren were opposed to the idea, because they find that con stant repetition ieads to routine, pro forma recitation, whereas con stant variety fosters (for them) closer attention and a deeper spirit of prayer. Yet , many of the brethren were delighted at the idea of the sim plified form of the Little Hours, because it made it easier to pray the Office at the _ place of work, and this connection between Office and the place of work was seen as bringing out a connection between our work and our prayer. Here there is no question of evaluating the relative merits of each kind of an'swer. The point , rather, is that both those for and those against the proposal based their position on reasons connectedwith an authentic life of prayer in a monastic context.

Yet one further remark , before we go on to a few of the specific questions treated of in th questionnaire. A prnfessional stati tician would probably be horrified at the unscientific nature of much about the• questionnaire. The truth is , the questions were chosen and formulated in the way they were simply because these touched on some of the areaswhere I felt I most needed the concrete help and advice of the brethren themselves. Of the several concrete proposals sugg ested, some represent ed ideas to which I myself was particularly attached; others represented ideas which I myself did not particularly favor, but which others have suggested, and which many might find more acceptable than I did.

Now to a few specific questions. The one question which I now wish had been phrased different ly is Question I , which dealt with the form

of a new Eng lish Office. In this question I offered the choice between two extreme (or almost extreme) positions, between a radical restructuringof the present Office and a revision limited chiefly to retranslation

r,'. (Best Copy Available) - 81 -br and updating. Actually , a number of our relig ious would prefer an 'in between' choice; and it is providential that part c) of this question, ias well as other questions raised elsewhere in the questionnaire , madelit possible for such religious to express their 'in between' preference. Of the 244 returns, 39 either left the question unanswered, or else gave·answers not related to the question asked. Of the 205 classifiable anwers, 119 (a bit more than 58%) favored a radical restructuring ; 86 (or

,, bit more than 41%) preferred retranslation and slight revision only.

These figures do not suffice, however, to g ive an accurate picture·!.Of the real situation in most places. Reg ion differs from region, and ommunity from community. If we take the monasteries in the States, the roportions varied more radically - 64.56% for radical treatment, and

·5.44% for retranslation. (These figures are based on the 127 classifia le returns provided by the 156 questionnaires returned from the

States. ) If we take Nunraw and Mount St. Bernard as forming a reg ional,··nit , the statistics are almost identical with the general ones - 58 .8% for restructuring , 41.1+% for retranslation. Our Irish communities al-" ost exactly reverse the proportions - 43.1% for restructuring , 56.8+%, or retranslation. Whereas Southern Star and Tarrawarra, if taken to. ether, emerge 50/50.

Yet even this hardly represents the true picture, since individual onasteries often differ within the same area. In Ireland, for instance, he one community of nuns is 100% in favor of the retranslation princi le; whereas the brethren of one of the monasteries of men are almost 64% n favor of more radical methods of revision. Elsewhere in the same re ion, proportions vary 25/75, 60/40, 41.7/58.3. Within the Nunraw- Mount.t. Bernard group, 75% at the latter monastery want radical restructur- ng, as opposed to only 20% at Nunraw. The same situation obtains in the, ther regional groups.

Already there appears, it seems to me, a fairly clear emergent. In he present situation, in spite of an over- all majority in favor of rad cal revision, the majority option is by no means verified in all our ouses. If it is true that each of our communities is a concrete mani estation of the Church at the local level, then the idea of the imposi- ion of a form of Office not really responding to the desires of the rethren concerned becomes intolerable. Accordingly , it would seem that, t the resent time, any solution to the Office problem must allow fore option, at t e local level, of one or the other of the Offices en isaged by the question. (Some reader may remark that it would be log i a!to propose also the possibility of the 'in between' form, already lluded to earlier. Actually , this type of Office, in practice, would educe to one of the type covered by the retranslation- updating propos- 1.) One religious, in his comments on the questionnaire, regretted very uch the fact that the idea of multiple solutions to a question shoulde envisaged. He made a strong case in favor of the proposition that we hould provide one, and only one, kind of Office in keeping with the way.f life of those for whom the Office is intended. We all know, too, howidiculous it becomes at times , when multiple solutions are adopted in. e attempt to keep everybody happy. In the present instance, there

:

uld be little difficulty in a simplist solution, provided those reponsible for shaping up the project really knew, and understood well, e nature of the life led by those for whom the Office was intended.ut, need it be said , at the present it is precisely this search for

our. identity which is behind so much of the work and soul- searching un-

'rtaken by the Order. Is there any one type of 'chore non addicti' vo. tion? If so, what is it, and what are its characteristics? Add if the ader has clear ideas on the matter, why are so many of his brethren

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and so many of the Superiors in the Order of a different persuasion? My own impression, on reading the questionnaire replies, is that , at the present time , the vocation of those who are not choir monks or nuns is conceived of in every possib le way. I myself would be the last person in the world to define the true nature of the vocation in question, espe cially since I am not at all sure that I could reduce my own vocation to any clear- cut formula, even were I to wish to do so: which I do not. At any rate, I would be very much opposed, just now, to obliging the sis ters of Glencairn to pray a radically restructured Office, even as I would be opposed to obliging the _sisters of Our Lady of the Redwoods to pray an Office identical in structure to the present one. In either in stance, the sisters who replied were, within the community, unanimous; but the two communities opted for two different solutions.

But we have not finished with Question I. Most of the religious consulted answered part c) of the question, and listed one or more rea sons for the choice made. A great variety of reasons were g iven by those in favor of a radical revision: greater variety in the choice of psalms, use of the integral psalter, revision of the hymnal , the desire for greater simplicity, respect for man' s present psycholog ical condition ing , etc. Those who favored, rather, the retention of the present Office in its basic structure presented less variety of answers expressing the justification of their choice. Of those who expressed themselves against a restructured Office, by far the larger number gave as their reasonsthe desire to maintain a close parallel with the Latin Office (29.3%) , with an express view toward eventual unification of Offices (23.3%) . A few of the brethren were simply opposed to the idea of any unnecessary change (9.5%). Other reasons given rarely appeared more than once or twice in other returns; and though these should be considered with close attention, they cannot be said to represent any particular prevailing trend.

In a closer study of remarks made in answer to Question I c), I found, however, that in many instances , those who specifically urged maintainance of a parallel with the Latin Office did so with a view toward the present unity of the Community. Of these, a number expressed their regret at the fact of there being two separate Offices, but felt that , in the circumstances, two Offices of parallel structure and con tent manifested already a certain unity of the brethren within the same praying community. It would be difficult, on the b asis of the present returns, to say precisely how many of the 29.3% group are really reduci ble to the second , 23.3% group. These two groups, if taken together, would total 52.6%.

In point of fact , however, reasons other than the desire for litur gical unity of a certain kind within the community can sometimes be as signed to this or that person' s desire to see the 'classic' Office structure maintained. Some of the brethren, desiring to pray a strictlt liturgical Office, are under the mistaken impression that the only rea liturgical Office recognized by the Church is the Latin canonical O'fI'TCe celebrated by the choir brethren. This is a view which contradicts the chapters on the Divine Office in the Constitutio n on the Sacred Liturg y , and in the Instruction of September 26, 1964; it also contradicts the actual practice of the Church. To offer only a single example, our com munities in Africa are now praying radically restructured Offices, and these are recognized by the Church as being the exact equivalent of the Latin canonical Office prayed by any community of monks or nuns. This is not the place to develop this point, since the question is serious

enough to deserve more extensive treatment (perhaps in a future issue of this bulletin?) . For the moment , however, the following can be taken as :

l

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ertain: a restructured Office in no way necessarily implies an attenua ion of its strictly liturgical nature, even if we take 'liturgical' in

.a very limited sense. True , were a restructured Office to eliminate salms or hymns or biblical readings, or any of the other traditional components of the Western- type Office enumerated by the Instruction ofeptember 26, 1964 (n. 80) as properly belonging to a liturgical Office, uch an Office would no longer be recognized by the Church as liturgical

trayer (though it might well be authentically Christian prayer in the eepest sense). As it is, however , 'restructuring' does not mean 'de

,liturgifying' .

In the preceding paragraph, I underscore d in the opening sentence·the words, "of a certain kind", in deference to those who desire very much unified communities, but who feel that the diversity of vocations.calls for a diversity of kinds of community prayer within each monas ery, and that such a diversity is not at all opposed to the basic unity of the monastic family. Accordingly, it would be quite wrong to assume that those who favor a restructured Office have less at heart the trend toward unification.

Which leads to a related observation. From time to time, I became aware in reading the questionnaire returns, that 'unification' has dif ferent meanings and different overtones for many of our brethren. A few f our religious expressed their indignation, for example, over the facta a new versi n of the Office wo l no automaticall* have a

form of V1g1ls: for, having accepted the un1f1cat1on statute , t ey were now onks, with all the rights and obligations attached to this state, in.eluding the one of praying a form of Vigils. At another extreme, and;rmore numerous (though I would hesitate long before trying to state a;precise number) , were those brethren who saw in the unification decree he direct negation of the kind of life to which they committed them

\selves when they entered our Order. For such a brother, any move in the 'direction of 'parallel' Offices or even of an eventual single Office can.:understandably be experienced as a threat to his vocation. And perhaps t . is. Here again, I have no particular charism for the discernment of

.spirits; but at least I can try to understand and respect the anguish of spirit recent changes have involved for some of the brethren.

At this point, I am almost on the verge of getting to the conclu iSion of this report. But I wish first to mention briefly a few

details concerning other questions less basic than Question I , but not without

·interest.

One of my major surprises in tabulating the returns came with Ques 'tion 2, dealing with the possible provisions for a form of Vig ils ..Though the introduction of such an Office had been suggested to me by a,number of the brethren during the past few years, I suspected, a pr iori,that the number of religious actually desiring such an Office would be;minimal. I was startled to find in favor of such an Hour no less than:72.1% of those who answered this question. Moreover, the pro- Vigils ma- jority prevailed in each of the four (somewhat artificial) groupings,. i.e. Southern Star- Tarrawarra (90%), Nunraw- Mount St. Bernard

(73.8%),;Ireland (88.7%), U.S.A. (63.3%). Only in the States, and then only in:four houses, did those opposed to the adoption of such an Hour obtain a ajority , and, in one instance , a substantial majority.

. I suspect that one of the reasons for so relatively high a number of returns in favor of Vigils is found in Question 2a-b , which dealsith the obligation of praying such an Hour, in the case of its adop ion. 32% of the brethren were quite willing to see Vig ils made a matter

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of obligation, as opposed to the almost 68% who took the contrary posi tion. We may conclude , then, that, though most of the brethren answering Question 2 were definitely in favor of a form of Vig ils, this option centered, in most instances, on a facultative Office.

I was particularly interested to read a number of remarks made about this question and the following one, both of which touched on the question of obligation. The entire question of juridical oblig ation as related to community prayer raises real problems for many of us, and this was reflected in a number of answers received. Already a number of the brethren are so aware of the liturgy as the sphere of a special presence of Christ and his mystery , that distinctions in kinds of obli gations and in kinds of penalties incurred for non- fulfillment of one's obligation to pray in common no longer seem particularly relevant. Atthe same time, several of the brethren felt strongly that any kind of an Office celebrated in common represents such a minimum in a life dedi cated to prayer, that no one is justified in refusing to accept this minimum as a true obligation.

I must admit that I am more inclined to favor the latter view when it is a question of my own, personal situation; but if there is question of imposing an obligation on someone else, then I tend to incline more toward the former attitude. I suppose that in the present historical context, questions about obligations and spiritual sanctions in the con text of the Office are inescapable. But may such questions never deflect ; our vision from the broader, more fundamental reality of what it meansto pray together and to manifest in the concrete the reality of the praying Church, the reality of the mystery of Christ present and effec tive in this or that concrete assembly of the brethren.

From Question 3, very little of a clear nature emerged , though this was one of the questions which elicited the most varied particular sug gestions. Most of the brethren were apparently quite willing to accept the proposed schema as a basis of discussion; and even of those rela tively few who were not willing , it usually happened that their own sug gestions were only modifications of the schema proposed. A good two doz en or more of the brethren objected to the idea of an Office prayed at the place of work; as many expressed themselves in the contrary sense. A few expressed hesitation, but thought it worth a try. And, of course , in many of our houses , the brethren already gather for Office at the place of work, at least for some of the Hours (in most instances, Terce). A number of objections were voiced to the possible oversimplification of the Little Hours, in the interests of avoiding monotony and routine.Perhaps an Office providing alternative forms of the Little Hours would be the solution. In a few of the American houses, and notably in a sin gle one, the elimination of the three Little Hours in favor of a single noonday Office was suggested. All in all, however, there was no clear indication that the situation of our non- choir brethren resembles that of the diocesan clergy , and that the three Little Hours usually cele brated in our communities are felt as making excessive demands on a crowded horarium.

The replies to Question 4 occasioned no major surprises. As I had anticipated, there was a quasi- unanimity as regards the desire for ei ther a larger number of psalms , or even the integral psalter (though two of the brethren did sugg est the psalms be eliminated as not lending themselves to prayer very well) . A relatively small , but nevertheless significant number of individuals raised the problem of the 'cursing psalms' . Here I am in a rather delicate position, because I have re

ceived through authorized channels information concerning the solution

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" roposed by the Consilium. So far as I know, however, the final word is ot officially public. Hence, I hesitate to suggest the Consilium solu- ion (which still awaits a definitive vote by the members) as being ormative for our own practice. I must admit, too , that though I am not articularly committed at a deep personal level to the cause of the in egral psalter, I am rather prejudiced against the elimination of any articular psalm simply because it is one of the 'cursing psalms' . This s not to say that I fail to appreciate the problem; nor is it to say..hat I myself have the solution, and that I myself do not have to grap le with the problem. Even though, percentage- wise, not too many of our·eligious seem to be overly worried about these difficult psalms, I do ot want to discountenance the importance of the problem for us, espe

_ ially since the solution adopted by the Consilium is bound to have its: epercussions in our own Order. Accordingly, I hope that a future issue f Liturg y will be devoted in part to a discussion of the problem as iewed by members of our Order. As regards the question of the recita ion of the integral psalter within a given period , at least 50% ofhose who expressed themselves favored such a principle; but there was o clear indication of any kind of consensus as to what the period en:isaged would be.

The replies to Question 5 surprised me a bit. During the past few ears so many brethren have asked me about the possibility of periods of ilence and solo- recitation of psalms during the Office , that I fully xpected to find a widespread positive attitude toward these possibili ties. It was refreshing to learn how very many are quite happy with ourraditional alternation between choirs; though at least half of those 'nswering this question approved the adoption of the proposed method of 'erformance with expressions ranging from hesitant caution to a somewhat xplosive enthusiasm. The great argument against solo- recitation was.hat it might foster the wrong kind of passivity. On the other hand ,:any of those favoring solo- recitation appealed to the very nature of· he community Office, ·in which various individuals have precise solo unctions to perform. At one time, solo- recitation of the psalms was the orm in many different traditions, East and West. The re- introduction of his practice in our Benedictine tradition, it was argued, w_ould help nject a deeper contemplative note in the celebration of ou bffice. rankly, I do not believe that any real problem is involved, since it " hould be easy enough to provide for various possibilities. Oniy ,con rete experience will decide the issue; and then it may well be ihat the olution will differ from region to region, if not from house to house.!

Question 6 led to the conclusion that, yes, there is a quasi'nanimity in the affirmative among those who expressed themselves con terning the use of biblical readings in greater abundance. Many also pecifically insisted on patristic readings. Even in an Office basically he same as the present one, there should be little difficulty in pro yiding for an optional cycle of biblical readings which, at the discre tion of the local Superior, could be used at Lauds and Vespers in place

f the short chapter.I'

Question 7 resulted in yet another surprise for me. Among the ob ections voiced against the present edition of The Cisteraian Day Hours ,

the first one usually concerns the hymns. The critic sometimes has inind the translation, which is the work of many hands , and is of unequal ' alue from hymn to hymn; sometimes he has in mind the hymn itself, even

·n its original Latin form. Many of these texts seem to form too much of rupture with the other lyric portions of the Office, i.e. the psalms,

.he greater number of the biblical antiphons , versicles, etc. I have·eard such opinions expressed so often that I had all but concluded that

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no one was very much in favor of retaining hymn translations of the rhym metrical type. (Here let it be noted, please. that the hymn translation of The Cistercian Day Hours are neither rhymed nor metrical, but are bas on an accent- schema; still, the over- all effect often coincides with tha of the familiar rhymed , metrical type of hymn familiar to us all. ) In k". ing with my a priori expectation, almost everyone was at least open to th idea of introducing new kinds of hymns; but an impressively large number were no less opposed to the idea of excluding hymns of the 'offending' t on general principle: 78.4% ! In the concrete, of course, the acceptance non- acceptance of a hymn would depend on its own merits. I might add, th14 or 15 of the brethren had special words of high praise for the present hymnal incorporated in The Day H ours. (My own personal impression is tha a number of the hymn translationsin this Office are about as good as one can get for certain texts; there are others which, though quite good as translations, have miserably bad Latin models to follow, and are all too faithfui to the spirit of the Latin text; then there are a number of tran lations which are quite simply mediocre or worse. It is to be regretted that Fr. Bruno WALKER, of Mount St. Bernard Abbey, who authored so many o the better translations, was unable to finish a translation of the entire Cistercian hymnal in time for the publication in the present Office book .

Before getting to the final emergent, however, I feel that it is nee sary to insist once again on the purely relative value of the precise sta tistics or general proportions given in the preceding paragraphs. The qu tionnaires were returned only by a limited number of the brethren. Not everyone answered all the questions; and of those who answered questions, not all the comments could be tabulated with any high degree of certainty Sometimes the same questionnaire netted contradictory replies from the s person. It should also once more be remarked that the precise statistics in the relatively few instances g iven, are based only on the number of re turns made for the question under discussion, and not the number of retur made for the entire questionnaire. A further explanation needs to be giv for my failing to give precise details regarding specific communities.Though I am quite certain that many Superiors and their brethren would be quite happy to see lists of comparative statistics showing in detail the returns from each house and its situation relative to other houses, not a Superiors would want this information diffused abroad in even. so unpreten tious a bulletin as the present one.

For my own part, I am too well awar of the amateurish method adopted for the preparation and tabulation of th questionnaire, to allow me to display tables of statistics which, while c tainly accurate so far as I can determine, nevertheless can be misleading A case in point would be the new Irish foundation at Moone, County Kildar from which a single, but helpful and much appreciated return was made. I each instance, Br. X's replies represented 100% of the returns from his m astery, so that there results a remarkable consensus of opinion in his mo tery, a consensus not found in other monasteries from which 20 or 25 ques tionnaires were returned.

I am also well aware of the rather dry nature of this report, which , originally had intended to enliven with quotations from the questionnaire returned. But in view of the confidential nature of much of the material and in spite of its anonymity , I thought it best to avoid such quotations especially as regards negative reactions. These often are really meant t

be offered in a spirit different from what the text suggests.

What about the final emergent? I am not at all sure that my own in terpretation of the facts is wholly accurate, but so far as I can determi and please weigh each word of the following carefully I myself cannot my way clear to encouraging any major project for a restructured Office f more or less immediate implementation. I shall try to explain why in jus

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But first a few preliminary remarks.

1- No matter what is done with regard to a restructured or retranslated ; this need in no way affects those brethren who prefer the Pater-Ave

2- There is no reason why an updated , retranslated version of The oieDay Hours could not be prepared as. soon.as possible, to replace he

.,sent version. Though just now there is little urgent need for an English istercian breviary in most of our nunneries , many of our choir monks prefer e mother tongue when making up Offices missed in choir; further, we never ow when the next concession will be made with regard to the use of the rnacular in the choral Office of monks. Accordingly , an English version

the Cistercian breviary should be prepared as soon as possible (and is ing prepared) . Since the bulk of The Cisteraian Day Hours is

identical. th the parallel portions of the Latin Office, any new translation of the stercian breviary could effectively be used for the updated , retranslated rsion which represents the option of some of our communities. There is, 'mittedly, a problem involved. It was easy enough, six or seven years ago,.· shape up an international version of the Day Hours. Current leg islation 'verning translations of liturgical books , however, ob liges relig ious to opt, for texts shared with the Roman Rite, the translations approved for·e Roman Rite in the territory in question . This could entail, then, as ny English versions of our breviary as there are territorial conferences Eng lish- speaking hierarchies with Cistercian houses situated in their.rders. Attempts made in the States to derogate the principle of conform.Y with local Roman Rite translations failed. But the situation changes pidly, and what cannot be done today might well be allowable tomorrow.

With regard to an updated, retranslated version of The Cisteraian Day 'urs, it should be easy enough to satisfy the desire of those who wish to "ay a greater variety of psalms. Instead of the three 'Laudate' psalms 'ich have proved somewhat unacceptable as steady and exclusive fare for uds, three variable psalms could be used optionally , and in such a wayat most of the psalter would be covered in the course of a month. Re ests for longer biblical readings and greater variety of readings could satisfied thanks to an optional lectionary cycle, the lessons of which uld be substituted for the short chapters of Lauds and Vespers. The option of these two options, then, would satisfy the needs expressed by ny who favored the programme of a radical restructuring of the present 1ice for those not bound to choir.

As regards a restructured Office I must admit that my earlier oughts had moved in the direction of such an Office. They still do , but th qualifications. I had thought , earlier, that conditions were such as. favor the shaping up of such an Office for more or less immediate use.

:am now less sure of this. If our liturgy is truly to be the manifestati, the mystery of Christ , it must, in the liturgical forms adopted, spring om and give expression to the mystery of Christ as experienced with_in the· cal community of believers. Even when the liturg ical forms have been de ved from many different sources, the character of the local communityves them an imprint rather much its own. This kind of collective

e

exper nce is what lies behind so many of the chang es currently being effectedr the Roman Rite. The pe riti of the Consilium are not just armchair schol,

. s Rather, they know the concrete needs and aspirations of the faithful ' large; they know, too, that the mystery of Christ, as experienced by the . ithful in the war years and the post- war years now demands changes of the

, rt effective since even the last years of the reign of Pius XII. In brief1

shape of the present liturgical reform of the Roman Rite is in larg e asure determined by the collective, existential experience of the

People

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No less should be true of our own liturgical reform within our own Order. If it involves no more than changes imposed 'from without', so to speak, and if it does not somehow have its roots in the authenticallyChristian and monastic experience of the members of our Order, it can nev be more than a symptom of a certain kind of unrest that tries to find ap peasement in programme after programme of reform.

So far as I can see, the roots of our own Order' s liturgical reformdo sink deep into an authentically Christian experience. (Obviously, one ; must here and there recognize the presence of other factors of a question able nature, but I am now speaking of the general trend within the Order.) With regard to the specific question of a special Office for those of the· brethren not bound to choir, however, the situation seems to be immensely complex. For myself, it is rather difficult to find among the group con cerned indications of a more or less collective experience at the levelof the entire Order. Even within individual monasteries, not only are different trends discernible, but too often, divisive forces. Attitudes that make for suspicion or resentment , do not provide a very good atmos phere for liturgical renewal , even when these attitudes are present in relatively small proportions. In these conditions, it seems (to me) some what unrealistic to think in terms of a major project which could be said to come from th•e brethren themselves .

I am not speaking , I hope, as a prophet of doom! On the contrary, I think we have every reason to be optimist ic. When our Fathers thought of our Order, it was in terms of a union in charity; and it was this concept which gave birth to the Charter of Charity. It is only to be expected that the same concerns characteristic of our Fathers should be our own concerns in the 20th century; and it is only to be expected, too, that ouproblems be of such a nature that they call for a deepening of our apprec · ation of such fundamental realities. We are rediscovering at depth what · means to be members of a community of believers. This process of redisco ery is, perhaps, painful, and raises many problems.

It can hardly be oth erwise, then, that the present historical context be one of tensions and even crises. But these, surely , are sign of life and give great hope for the eventual flowering of all that is deepest and best in our Order.

In the meantime, humility, a deep poverty of spirit , fidelity ...and hard work are the order of the day. Even if I do not believe that presen conditions favor the emergence of a restructured Office of relatively de finitive import, I do believe, and very strongly, that we can do much to prepare the way for-:rhe future.

Instead of a major project for a restructured English Office, then, I suggest a series of minor projects. These with proper authorization, could be used optionally for this or that feast , or during a particular liturgical season. On the basis of such experiences, much could be learn which would be useful in some future, more far- reaching project. Perhaps optional form of Sunday Vigils would be a good starting point. No special authorization for this would be needed, since it would be an Office overand above what is prescribed at present for our brethren not bound to c But I intend also to shape up a few projects for occasional feast days.Reactions to these celebrations would help to determine the shape of futuwork.

Everyone, then, can help a great deal. Some by their comments and practical suggestions; everyone by his prayers and good will.

B. Chrysogonus Waddell, O.C.S.O. Gethsemani

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PROJECT FOR AN OFFICE FOR CISTERCIANS NOT BOUND TO

CHOIR ST. JOSEPH'S ABBEY: 1964

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

. The following pages form a fruitful follow- up to the precedingones, which were devoted to the Office questionnaire. As the title indi cates, they date back several years; but they might well have been writ ten more recently , as a valuab le response to the recently circulated Of fice questionnaire.

.. Chief architect of this project was Fr. Gabriel BERTONI ER,·.O.C .S.0., monk of St. Joseph's Abbey , Spencer. I say 'chief architect' advisedly, because there were certainly others who played a determining;role in the shaping up of this project - the very monks Fr. Gabriel had in mind when he prepared the following notes for private circulation ..The current issue of Li t u r g y will never boast of an excessively large Jreading public; but perhaps it will serve to bring the project to the 'attention of more readers than would otherwise have been the case.

As already stated above, this project dates back to 1964. Had it been possible for Fr. Gabriel to prepare the material for publication in these pages, he might have revised this or that detail. But the project would substantially have remained the same. Accordingly , nothing hasbeen changed, either in the explanatory notes or in the proposed texts, apart from the following exceptions: the explanatory notes (Part I) now recede the model Offices (Part II), and a few of the sample biblical·readings originally offered as examples of other selections for various arts of the Office (Part III) have been omitted.

No more need be said, for this project is eloquent enough to speak for itself.

B. Chrysogonus Waddell, O.C.S.O. Gethsemani

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P A R T I

A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE THEORY UPON WHICH THE MODEL DAY HAS BEEN CONSTRUCTED.

In the words of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy

(#89a): "By the venerable tradition of the Universal Church,

Laudsas morning prayer and Vespers as evening prayer are the two hinges on which the daily office turns ; hence they are to be considered as the fchief hours 'and are to be celebrated as such." Thus it would seem that a shortened form of liturg ical prayer should con centrate on these two hours , and should so preserve their ancientcharacter as morning and evening prayer that the Christian's prayer revolve about them as the 'hinges' of his praise and awareness of God.

Both hours in the sch-ema proposed above have the same four parts, and these constitute the basic structure of all prayer as it is revealed to us in the Old and the New Testaments, as well as the ancient liturg ies. These parts are:-

Invocation or entrance into the presence of God.Proclamation by which is meant the faithful presentation

and open acceptance of the messag e of God.Song which is the harmonious response of the whole man to

the Word of God, andPetition in which man affirms his reality as a creature

and child of God by asking the Father in the name of Christ for those things of which he and the whole world stand in need.

This whole rhythm is aptly summed up in the words of the Con:stitution (#33)

'For in the liturgy G od speaks to his people and Christ is still proclaiming his gospel. And the people reply to God both by song and prayer.'

Part 1 - Invocation or Introduction

This is a short series of ejaculations , designed .. .. to recall the participants to the awareness of God's presenceand to ask his blessing. The wording of these invocation should make some reference to the part of the day , the theme of the sea son, the vocation of the group praying , etc. There wil l be a series of these invocations to be used throughout the year on cer tain days of the week, and these will be changed on the occasionof the greater feasts, etc.

Part 2 - The Reading

The reading of the Sacred Text "for our instruction "

is meant to ensure that "the treasu+es of the bible ...be openedup more lavishly , so that richer fare may be provided for the faith

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ful at the table of God's word" ( # 51) . This is accomplished_ by presenting the story of those special works of God in.whichHe,.entered history and by means of his loving initiative showed himself ·conerned for the world he has created , and especially for man because of whom this world was made and in whom it- has wandered from God. As the Scriptures portray the history of God's personal activity within our world , they lead us to anunderstanding of that act of love in the soul of the dying Christ in which he passed to the Father and became radiant with the Spirit; the Sacramental sign and cause of the love which re conciles us to this same Father.

The readings chosen should , therefore, be so arranged that they convey within the space of a year the total span of Salva tion history (cf Const. #102) . The best way to accomplish this end , while staying within the limits of a small breviary, seemsto be F o provide a series of selected pericopes drawn from thetexts traditionally associated with the various liturg ical seasons. The morning readings would usually be from the Old Testa ment , selecte in such a way that the passages most redolent of the myst ry:of the .season and more explicitly related to the New· Testament would be seen in the course of the liturg ical season.The readings used in the evening would b e from the New

Testament d would be taken mostly from the Gospels , seleted according

to their relev nce to the particular aspect of the Christ-Mystery·which the Liturgy is cosidering. It should be recognized that any attempt to make an exact eorreiation between morning and

.. evening reading each day, or perhaps even each we k, could only result in a forced unity which would be unfaithful to the nature of the Sacred Text. However, as the season progresses , the re lation between the Old testament teaching and its transcendent fulfillment in Christ will become increasingly apparent, since the New Testament authors themselves are at pains to show this unity in God's plan. It will also be possible to prepare people to see this relation in the introductory prefaces to each liturgical season, and this could be made more specific by a paragraph preceding the office for each week , or even by inserting a few lines of explanation before the reading itself, to be said aloud by the reader .

Part 3 - Song

The response to the Word of God is expressed in song (cf. Ex. 15 :1) . And these songs themselves are composed by the Spirit of God, inspiring poets with thoughts and sound adequateto the Word which they speak within the assembled People of God, either as constituted by the Old Covenant or realized in the New.

There will be one song at each; hour , which is to b e said or sung to a refrain (antiphon) . The psalms (or parts of the psalms) which will go to make up the majority of the songs, will be printed according to he system used by the Grail Publication, inditating

the place of the melodic accents. There will be simple music (a laG elineau) , printed at the back of the breviary for those who wishto sing this part of the office .· Any other songs used , for example those taken from the New Testament, or some of the "mosaics" from the Caillou Blanc breviary , will also be printed according to the same system.

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There will be 12 songs printed for the weekdays of each liturgical season, Monday Lauds and Vespers, Tuesday Laudsand Vespers, etc., and these will be repeated each week duing the season. Each Sunday office will contain different songs which could also . be used during the week for variety. It may also be that there will be those who will wish to have more songat the office. The songs from Sunday could be then used in addi tion to those for the day, or recourse could be had to a supple ment in which there would be found more psalms, some modern hymns, etc. It might be noted that the office as it is now takes about7 - 8 minutes to recite.

The refrains or antiphons should express various aspects of the liturg ical season, but also since they are the response to God's initiative, they should express as well the continued real ity of the response in Christian concern for our neighbor, the Apostolate , etc.

Part 4 - Prayer

Prayer unfolds in the context of an awareness of the communion in Christ of all those who share his life. In re sponse to our Lord's injunction to "ask the Father in his name" for those things that we need , the Leader of the group proposes a series of petitions on behalf of the Church on pilgrimage in this world , while the others make response. The prayer in dia logue continues as the Leader makes petition for the needs of those present and of those who sleep - in the Lord , and concludes by calling to mind the Church in Glory , pausing especially tocontemplate this Glory as it shines in the Mother of God , and to make mention of some of the saints .(patron of the group, saint of the day , etc.); ·

This series of petitions (about 12 in number) is followedby a period of silence in which each member continues his prayer according to his attraction. This pause can be as long or as short as seems feasible, but the experience of the ancients as summed up in the Rule of St. Benedict is that "prayer in community should be quite short" .

At the end of the period of silent prayer, (let's say a minute. or two) the Leader addresses the Father directly in the name of Christ in a prayer that is meant to sum up as well as can be donein one formula, the needs and desires of the group and of the whole Church. ·

The ancient rhythm of Dialogue or Monition, Silent Prayer, and Summation or Collect is repeated at every hour of the office, but parts of it will vary. There should first of all be room for some improvization, such as addition of a special petition on theoccasion of some special event (anniversary , death, disaster, etc.) as well as a variety in the petitions to correspond to the various seasons. The Collects will vary according to the pattern described for the songs (12 for the weekdays of a season with 2

differentones for each Sunday) , but here too there could be some room for improvization or the substitution of some other prayer. (cf. Part III for further examples. )

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Additional Observations:

1. The size of the breviary will be determined to a great extent by whether or not it is judged necessary to repeat each Monday , Tuesday, etc. those parts that are to remain the same throughout the season. It is suggested that the complete office be printed the first week, and then, since only the readings vary after that, print only the readings. This would mean one change of page in each office (necessary only for the reader when the office is recited in a group) .

2. According to this reckoning the total breviary would be 3 or 4 small pocket- size volumes for the vhole year. Anyattempt to get everything in one volume could only be accomplished by reducing the readings to the point of monotony or by making ··a book too large to be easily carried.

3. The liturgy for the major feast days would be printed in the back of the volume to which they pertain. In the eventthat a feast might occur in one of two seasons, its liturgy would be printed in each of the relevant volumes.

4. It might be possible, and even desirable, to compose a short office consisting of three psalms (taken from those chosen for the season) and an Our Father. This office could be used by those who want to have something to say in the middle of the day. Since the psalms would be the same every day during the season, they would be easily memorized (as with our BrothersJ office) , and could be said without the necessity for recourse to a book.

5. The question of translation will be a problem. The 'C6h fraternity of Christian Doctrine' translation is uneven and incom plete. Parts of it are excellent (e.g. the Prophets) , but other sections are not as well done. The only sections of the New Testa ment readings which .are finished (as of Sept. '64) are those need ed for the present Missal.

In the passages given here, the 'Confraternity of Christian Doctrine' edition has been used for Isaia, while the 'New English Bible' has been used for the New Testament readings (it was slightly amended here and there) . The psalms, as has been noted , were taken from the 'Grail' translation.

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P A R T II

OFFICE FOR THE FIRST MONDAY IN ADVENT

M o r n i n g P r a y e

r INTRODUCTION

Stand Make the sig n of the aross.

LEADE R: Rise up in splendor, for your light has come! Is

60:1 ALL: The Glory of the Lord shines upon you.

LEADE R: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me , for He hasanointed me. Is 61:1

ALL: He has sent me to bring the Good News to the lowly.

READING

Sit.

Is 6:1-13

In the year King Ozia died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple. Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings:with two they veiled their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft.

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts! " they cried one to the other. "All the earth is filled with his glory! " At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke.

Then I said, "Woe is me , I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King , the Lord of hosts! " Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

He touched my mouth with it. "See," he said, "now that this has touched your lips , your wickedness is removed , your sin purged."

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying , "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" "Here I am," I said; "send me! " And he replied: Go and say to this people:

Listen carefully , but you shall not understand! Look intently, but you shall know nothing!You are to make the heart of this people sluggish, to dull their ears and close their eyes;Else their eyes will see, their ears hear, their heart understand ,and they will turn and be healed.

"How long , 0 Lord?" I asked. And he replied:

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Until the cities are desolate, without inhabitants ,Houses, without a man,and the earth is a desolate waste. Until the Lord removes men far away,and the land is abandoned more and more. If there be still a tenth part in it, then this in turn shall be laid waste;As with a terebinth or an oakwhose trunk remains when its leaves have fallen. [Holy offspring is the trunk. ]

ALL: Praise be to You, 0 Christ!

SONG

Stand.

Pa 4 1

REFRAIN: You are blessed, 0 Mary, because you believed.

Like the deer that yearns for running streams - so my soul is yearning for you, my God.My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life; when can I enter and see the face of God?

* You are blessed, 0 Mary, because you believed.My tears have become my bread, by night, by day.As I hear it said all the day long: "Where is

your God?"These things will I remember as I pour out my soul: how I would lead the rejoicing crowd into the house

of Godamid cries of gladness and thanksgiving , the throng

wild with joy.

* You are blessed, 0 Mary, because you believed.'

Why are you cast down, my soul, why groan within me?Hope in God; I will praise him still, my savior and

my God.

* You are blessed, 0 Mary, because you believed.My soul is cast down within me as I think of you, from the country of Jordan and Mount Hermon, from

the Hill of Mizar.Deep is calling on deep in the roar of waters: your torrents and all your waves swept over me.

* You are blessed , 0 Mary, because you believed.By day the Lord will send his loving kindness; by night I will sing to him --praise the God of my life.I will say to God, my rock: Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning oppressed by the foe?

With cries that pierce me to the heart ,

Stand.

- 96 -

my enemies revile me,saying to me all the day long: "Where is your God?"

* You are blessed , 0 Mary, because you believed.

Why are you cast down, my soul , why groan within me?Hope in God; Iwill praise him still, my savior and

my God.

* You are blessed, 0 Mary, because you believed.

Give glory to the Father Almighty; to his Son Jesus Christ , the Lord;to the Spirit who dwells in our hearts both now and forever. Amen!

PRAYER

From the Brev iary of Taize

LEADER: 0 God the Father, desiring neither sacrifice nor offerings, you sent your Beloved to reconcile all things in heaven and on earth, and to bring them to peace by the blood of His cross.

ALL: Father of your Church, keep us in your love.

LEADER: 0 God the Son, Savior of the world, who shared our flesh and blood; you were like your brothers in all things except sin.

ALL: Savior of the world, send down your blessing upon us.

LEADER: 0 God the Holy Spirit , it was you who came down upon Christ in whom dwells substantially all the fullness of divinity.

ALL: Spirit of the living God , make your pesence manifest to us.

LEADER: From incredulity , from self-

righteousness,•from

lukewarmness and dryness of heart, from indifference to your self- abasement and suffering.

ALL: Preserve us, 0 Lord.

LEADER: May your incarnation and your lowly birth make dear to us our human condition; may your exile here below constantly remind us that we are strangers on the earth; may the simplicity of your childhood open our heartsto true joy.

ALL: Hear us , 0 Lord.

LEADER: May your perfect understanding of the Holy Scriptures

confirm us in the Word of Truth, and may your docility bring forth in our hearts true obedience.

ALL: Hear us, 0 Lord.

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LEADER: May your fidelity to work make each of us faithful to his vocation and may the humility of your hidden life help us to live in humility.

ALL: Hear us, 0 Lord.

LEADER: Let us pray. A Z Z pray in siZ enae.

From the Sy riaa Liturgy

LEADER: As the morning light breaks upon us, 0 Lord, we offer you our homage, for you are the Savior of all. In your kindness, give us a day filled with peace and grant us the pardon of our sins.

Let not our hope be in vain nor close upon us the gates of your mercy, and never cease to watch over us. Do not deal with us according to our merits, you who aloneknow the depths of our weakness.

In this world of yours, 0 Lord, sow the seeds of peace and of love. Raise up priests and apostles, heal the sick, protect those who are well, and remit the debts of all men, you to whom belong the world and all who dwell upon it, through your only- begotten Son,Jesus Christ, our Lord.

ALL: Amen .

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E v e n i n g P r a y e r

INTRODUCTION

Stand Make the sig n of the cross.

LEADER: 0 joyous lightfrom the immortal Father's glory sprung heavenly, holy , and blestJesus Christ

ALL: Now that we have come to the setting of the sun, and see the evening's light return -We praise the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

LEA DER All times are fittingto sing your praise with pure voices Son of God , giver of life,through whom the whole world rejoices.

ALL: Now that we have come to the setting of the sun, and see the evening's light return -We praise the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

READING

Sit.

M k 1:1-13

Here begins the gospel of Jesus the Son of God.

In the prophet Isaiah it stands written: "Here is my herald whom I send on ahead of you, and he will prepare your way.A voice crying aloud in the wilderness -- 'Prepare a way for the Lord; clear a straight path for him. '" And so it was that John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness proclaiming a baptism in token of repentance, for the forgiveness of sins;and they flocked to him from the whole Judaean country- side and the city of Jerusalem , and were baptized by him in theRiver Jordan, confessing their sins.

John was dressed in a rough coat of camel's hair, with a leather belt round his waist, and he fed on locusts and wild honey. His proclamation ran: "After me comes one who is mightier than I. I am not fit to unfasten his shoes. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with theHoly Spirit."

It happened at this time that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. At the moment when he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn open and the Spirit, like a dove , descending upon him. And a voice spoke from heaven: "Thou art my Son, my Beloved, on thee my favor rests." Thereupon the Spirit sent him away into the wil derness, and there he remained for forty days tempted by Satan. He was among the wild beasts ; and the angels waited on him.

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ALL: Praise be to You, 0 Christ!

SONG

S t and .

Ps 9 7

REFRAIN: The Spirit and the Bride say , Corne!

Sing a new song to the Lord, for he has worked wonders.His right hand and his holy arm these have wrought salvation.

* The Spirit and the Bride say, Corne!The Lord has made known his salvation; has shown his justice to the nations. He has remembered his truth and love for the house of Israel.

* The Spirit and the Bride say, Corne!All the ends ·of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.·Shout to the Lord all the earth; sing out with holy joy.

* The Spirit and the Bride say, Corne!Sing psalms to the Lord with the harp with glad strains of music.With trumpets and the sound of the horn acclaim the King the Lord.

* The Spirit and the Bride say, Corne!

Let the sea and all within it thunder the world and all its peoples.Let th rivers clap their hands, and the hills ring out their joy.

* The Spirit and the Bride say, Corne!

Rejoice before the Lord , for he comes he comes tc)rule the earth.He will rule the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.

* The Spirit and the Bride say,

Corne! Givi glory to the Father

Almighty;to his Son, Jesus Christ the Lord; to the Spirit who dwells in our hearts both now and forever. Amen!

* The Spirit and the Bride say, Corne!

Stand.

From th Gree k Liturg y

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PRAYER

LEADE R: In peace let us pray to the Lord.

ALL: Lord have mercy.

LEADER: For the peace that comes from on high, and for our salvation -- let us pray to the Lord.

ALL: Lord have mercy.

LEADER: For the peace of the world; for the good of the holy Churches of God, and for the unity of all men -- let us pray to the Lord.

ALL: Lord have mercy.

LEADER: For His Holiness, Pope Paul, the Bishop of Rome;for our Most Reverend Bishop N.; for the priests and deacons in Christ, and for all the clergy and people let us pray to the Lord.

ALL: Lord have mercy.

LEADER: For the civil authorities and the armed forces of our country -- let us pray to the Lord.

ALL: Lord have mercy.

LEADER: For this city and for every city and country and for the faithful who live in them -- let us pray tothe Lord.

ALL: Lord have mercy.

LEADER: For the souls of our brethren who have gone on before us and who sleep in the peace of the Lord -- let us pray to the Lord.

ALL: Lord have mercy.

LEADER: Let us ask the Lord that this evening may be perfect, holy, peaceful and sinless.

ALL: Grant this, 0 Lord.

LEADER: Let us ask the Lord for an angel of peace -- a faithful guide and guardian of our souls and bodies.

ALL: Grant this, 0 Lord.

LEADER: Let us ask the Lord for pardon and forgiveness of our sins and offenses.

ALL: Grant this, 0 Lord.

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LEADER: Let us ask the Lord for what is good and profitable for our souls and for peace in the world.

ALL: Grant this, O Lord.

LEADER: Let us ask the Lord that we may spend the rest of our life in peace and in repentance.

ALL: Grant this, O Lord.

LEADER: Let us ask the Lord for a Christian and peaceful end to our lives, and for a good account of ourselves at the tribunal of Christ.

ALL: Grant this, 0 Lord.

LEADER: Let us commemorate our most holy and glorious Lady, the Mother of God and ever- virgin Mary, together with all the saints , and commend ourselves, each other, and our whole life to Christ, our God.

ALL: To you, 0 Lord.

LEADER: Let us pray. A ll pray in silenae.

LEADER: In the evening, in the morning , and at midday, we praise, we bless and we thank you, 0 Master of all; and we beg you, 0 Lord, lover of mankind, that our prayers may - rise as incense ascending to you. Let not our hearts incline to evil thoughts, but deliver us from all those who seek after our souls, for to you,0 Lord, do we lift our eyes; it is in you that we have hoped.

Do not leave us, O God, for to you, in the Holy Spirit, belong all praise, honor and adoration through youronly- begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

ALL: Amen!

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P A R T III

OTHER EXAMPLES OF THE SELECTIONS FOR THE VARIOUS PARTS OF THE OFFICE

INTRODUCTIONS

1 - LEADER: Awake sleeper - Arise from the dead!

ALL: And Christ will dawn upon you. Eph 5:14

.LEADER: God who said let light shine out of darkness has caused his light to shine in our hearts; 2 Cor 4:6

ALL: To g ive the light of the knowledge of God's Glory, shining on the face of Christ Jesus. 2 Cor 4:6

2 - LEADER: With the Word of Godthe child-bearing Virgin,

ALL: Comes down the road,if you give her a dwelling.Poem of St. J ohn of the Cross

LEADER: The night will come when no man works. Jn 9:4

ALL: In the evening of life we will be judged by love.St. J ohn of the Cross

3 - LEADER: 0 Shepherd of Israel give ear, you who lead Joseph like a flockand sit enthroned upon the cherubim, let your radiance shin forth. Ps ?9:2

ALL: God the Word , born of the Father, took the form of a slave,not that of the angels,but of the line of Abraham.He became manand came to save our race from error.

LEADER: In God - I praise the Word;in the Lord - I praise the Word. Ps 55:11

ALL: God the Word, born of the Father, took the form of a slave,not that of the angels,but of the line of Abraham.He became manand came to save our race from error.

LEADER: He who is enthroned from the beginning With whom there is no change. Ps 55:19

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ALL: God the Word , born of the Father, took the form of a slave,not that of the angels ,but of the line of Abraham.He became manand came to save our race from error.

From the Chalde an Liturg y

4 - LEADER: Blessed be the evening which brings us together,

ALL: In your house so filled with joy.

LEADER: Blessed be your Cross which guards us ,

ALL: By day and by night.

LEA DER: All your works give thanks to you, 0 Lord,

ALL: By day and by night.

LEADER: All your saints shall bless you,

ALL: By day and by night.

TOGETH ER: As you guarded Israel in the pillar by night,so may your Cross guard us from the evil one and his host,

From the Maronite Liturg y

SONGS

1 - L k 1 : 4 6 - 5 5

REFRAIN: Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord.

Tell out , my soul, the greatness of the Lord, rejoice, rejoice, my spirit , in G od my savior; so tenderly has he looked upon his servant, humble as she is.

* Tell out , my soul, the greatness of the Lord.

For, from this day forth,all generations will count me blessed, so wonderfully has he dealt with me, the Lord , the Mighty One.

* Tell out , my soul, the greatness of the Lord.

His name is Holy;his mercy sure from generation to generation toward those who fear him;the deeds his own right arm has done disclose his might:

- 104 -

2 - Ps 71

the arrogant of heart and mind he has put to rout, he has torn imperial powers from their thrones,but the humble have been lifted high.The hungry he has satisfied with good things, the rich sent empty away.

* Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord.He has ranged himself at the side of Israel his

servant;firm in his promise to our forefathers,he has not forgotten to show mercy . to Abraham and his children' s children, forever.

* Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord.

REFRAIN: Rejoice 0 daughter of Sion; behold your king is coming!

0 God, give your judgment to the king , to a king's son your justice,that he may judge your people in justice and your poor in right judgment.

* Rejoice 0 daughter of Sion; behold your king is coming!

May the mountains bring forth peace for the people and the hills, justice.May he defend the poor of the people and save the children of the needy [and crush the oppressor] .

* Rejoice 0 daughter of Sion; behold your king is coming!

He shall endure like the sun and the moon from age to age.He shall descend like rain on the meadow, like raindrops on the earth.

* Rejoice 0 daughter of Sion; behold your king is coming!

In his days justice shall flourish and peace till the moon fails.He shall rule from sea to sea,from the Great River to Earth' s bounds.

* Rejoice 0 daughter of Sion; behold your king is coming!

Before him his enemies shall fall, his foes lick the dust.

The kings of Tarshish and the sea coasts shall pay him tribute.

- 105 -

* Rejoice 0 daughter of Sion; behold your king is coming!

The kings of Sheba and Seba shall bring him gifts.Before him all kings shall fall prostrate, all nations shall serve him.

* Rejoice 0 daughter of Sion; behold your king is coming!

For he shall save the poor when they cry and the needy who are helpless.He will have pity on the weak and save the lives of the poor.

* Rejoice 0 daughter of Sion; behold your king is coming!

From oppression he will rescue their lives, to him their blood is dear.[Long may he live,may the gold of Sheba be g iven him. ] They shall pray for him without ceasing and bless him all the day.

* Rejoice 0 daughter of Sion; behold your king is coming!

May corn be abundant in the land to the peaks of the mountains.May its fruit rustle like Lebanon; may men flourish in the citieslike grass on the earth.

* Rejoice 0 daughter of Sion; behold your king is coming!

May his name be blessed forever and endure like the sun.Every tribe shall be blessed in him, all nations bless his name.

* Rejoice 0 daughter of Sion; behold your king is coming!

Bl essed be the Lord, God of Israel , who alone works wonders,ever blessed his glorious name.

Let.his glory fill the earth .

Amen! Amen!

Give glory to the Father Almighty; to his Son Jesus Christ , the Lord;

to the Spirit who dwells in our hearts both now and forever. Amen!

* Rejoice 0 daughter of Sion;h P. h n l d vour kinQ is coming!

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l - Litanies

PRAYERS

Some of the litanies in the new St. Andrew's Bible Missal are quite beautiful and could be used. The followingis from the third Sunday in Advent:

Intentions for this Celebration

That the pastors of the Church by their spirit of restraint proclaim themselves the messengers of the glorious Kingdom of God:we pray to the Lord.

That the grace of God g ive us the strength and courage to uproot our vanity and pride and be converted to the way of the Lord:we pray to the Lord.

That Christian priests and people by their true conversion of life may be worthy heralds of the message ofGod's word:we pray to the Lord.

That our ill- treated brothers find in the solitude of their sufferings the way of the Lord that leads to the glory of salvation:we pray to the Lord.

That the Jewish people recognize in the prophets those whom God has chosen to proclaim his Christ and his Church:we pray to the Lord.

That the members of this holy assembly find in the celebration of the Eucharisttheir conviction as witnesses to the Kingdom of God: we pray to the Lord.

From the Brev iary of Taizd (Tuesday in Adv ent)

LEA DER: 0 God who created all things by your Word -- Sovereign Monarch of the universe, powerful in holiness,in grace, and in truth;

ALL: Yours is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory forever.

LEA DER: 0 God who manifested your reign in the world in the Person of your Son, Jesus Christ -- King of kings, Lord of lords -- come not to be served but to serve;

ALL: Yours is the Kingdom, the Power and the G lory forever.

LEADER: 0 God , ever at work in the world by the Creative Power of your Holy Spirit to make all things new;

ALL: Yours is the Kingdom , the Power and the Glory forever.

- 107 -

LEADER: We give you thanks, 0 God, for the revelation of your power in the creation of the universe and for the reve lation of your providence in the life of the world;for man made in your image that he might have dominion and kingship in your Name over all other creatures;

ALL: We bless your Holy Name.

LEADE R: For the victory of Light over darkness, and of Truth over error; for the knowledge of your prophetic Word which has freed us from despair and from fear; for the advancement of your reign of justice and of peace -of holiness and of love;

ALL: We bless your Holy Name.

LEADER: For the revelation of your Kingdom in our midst byour Lord Jesus Christ, come to earth to make known and accomplish your will ; for his humble birth and holy life; for his words and miracles; for his sufferings and death; for his entry into his Kingdom by his triumphal resurrection and ascension;

ALL: We bless your Holy Name.

LEADER: For the foundation of the Universal Church and its expansion to the ends of the earth; for the comtqg of your Kingdom within us by the work of your Holy Spirit, and for the fulfillment of your Kingdom at the ena of time when you will be all in all;

ALL: We bless your Holy Name.

2 - Co llects

A good translation of the Collects for the Sundays of the season will be used, as well as some of those in the Breviary of Taize, etc., and a selection taken from oter Catholic liturgies, as well as some specially composed for this Breviary.

Co l lect foP the thiPd Sunday of Adv ent (St. AndPew's Bib le Missal)

0 Lord , incline your ear to our prayer. Lighten the darkness of our minds by the grace of your coming: You who live and reign.

- 108 -

From the Sy rian titurg y

Grant, 0 Lord, to us whose bodies are now at rest from the labors of the day, and whose souls are at peace from the thoughts of this world , to stand quietly in your presence in this moment of the evening and to offer youceaseless praises and unending thanks, and to praise your goodness , 0 Creator - Guide of our lives - who watch over our souls and save them, to you we g ive glory,praise and honor, now and always, unto ages of ages. Amen!

PRAYER OF EVE ... Creator of every good, we adore you, we give you glory - 0 Light of our souls - and we beseech you - Source of every blessing - just as in your mercy you have bestowed upon us the fading lights of evening , so also in your goodness make us worthy of Eternal light, so that in this world and in that whichis to come we may thank, adore, and glorify yourTrinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - for all ages. Amen!

Almighty and merciful God, you have sent your Son to us to be our wisdom and our joy; you have sent your Spirit into our hearts that we may pray to you. We ask of you, then, let us always live in this Spirit so that our words and actions may manifest to the world your great love for all men, and bring them to the peace and unity of your Holy Church. Grant this, 0 Father, to whom wehave entrance in the freedom of the Spirit. Through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.Am.en!

•.

1

(Best Copy Available) - 109 -

INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO THE ARTI CLE "ON TRANSLATING THE HYMNS"

1 Only the particular circumstances in which the current issue of lturgy was prepared can explain the allocation of Fr. Martin' s impor ant contribution to the final pages of this bulletin. I am not at all ure to what place magazine editors generally assign, for psychological easons, their feature art icles. Perhaps toward the beginning , perhaps

. n the middle section. But wherever feature articles belong , Fr. Mar in's article should be there or thereabouts.

A word about the context in which the article was written. Work on the U.S. Cistercian Breviary translation project has been going on for, uite some time. Many difficult problems of translation are involved,· ut none of them are more difficult than these problems concerning the mns. According to present legislation, there is no doubt about our ob

, igation to provide English hymns based on the Latin texts of our breviry. In theory, there is also no doub t that we should borrow for our own·se those official Roman Rite translations which correspond to our own ymn texts. In practice, this would be disastrous. One of the two offi ial U.S. translations is a prose translation, accurate enough as a'eans of understanding the conceptual content of the orig inal, butorlds removed from the spirit and form of the orig inal. The adoption of uch a translation would also necessitate recto tono choral performance,ince each stanza has its own peculiar prose structure. The other offi ial U.S. Roman Rite translation is metrical enough, and rhymed. Snatch s of it are excellent , but this is true all too rarely. The transla-

. ions were purloined from many different sources of unequal value; they ave been 'doctored up' here and there , but with occasionally ludicrous,ffect as when 'Spirit' is substituted for 'Ghost', only to break the'etrical pattern with a bang. Providentially , permission has been g iven or us to provide for our own hymn needs as best we can, provided, of ourse, our translations are based on the Latin texts of our breviary.

We need, of course, hymns which admit of choral performance. This xcludes the better hymns of The Cistercian Day Hours , translated on the asis of accent- patterns, with an ever varying number of syllables per ine. Numerous hymns in our repertory exist in no available English. ranslation; others exist in no acceptable English translation. Further, ttempts to modify the archaisms and stylistic pretensions of various lder, generally acceptable translations, have proved unsatisfactory as rmanent solutions to the hymn problem.

It was with all this weighing heavily upon me that, during the losing months of 1966 , I wrote Fr. Martin, O.C.S.O., monk of Our Lady f Guadalupe. I had already had occasion to correspond with Fr. Martinoncerning various translation problems, and had come to respect and ap reciate his mastery of Latin diction, and his deep concern that as many. s possible of the beauties of the Latin texts be carried over into the nglish parallel. I suggested to Fr o Martin that he undertake a project,nvolving no less than the englishing of the entire Cistercian H y mnarium.

The reply came almost by return mail, and consisted of an initial atch of translations. From that time on, new bundles of material kept rriving in incredibly short intervals , until, not long after the begin 'ing of 1967, the final batch of texts was received. This marked the end

f the initial stage of the project.

A second stage in the project is now at its inception. The fruits Fr. Martin' s prodigiously fertile muse must be brought to the atten-

- 110 -tion of everyone who can contribute to the final shaping up of an Eng lish Cistercian hymnal acceptable to our .American communities, and per haps even to English- speaking Cistercian communities outside the States.

I suggested to Fr. Martin that perhaps the best modus ag endi would be to circulate a few sample translations, accompanied by introductory notes explaining some of the problems involved , and giving the back ground of the particular solutions he chose as his answer to such prob lems. As might have been expected , his reply arrived with impressivedispatch, and in the form of the extremely rewarding essay which immedi· ately follows, and to which is appended a batch of sample hymn transla tions selected by Fr. Martin himself.

It is only to be expected that these translations will give rise tc the most varied reactions in their readers. Nor is it just a question of the axiom, "De gustibus non disputandum est" . Many can and will express their likes and dislikes on the basis of objective norms. Criticisms of this sort are helpful and much appreciated. It is also to be hoped that suggestions will be kept within the limits determined by nature of the project. Many of us dislike the idea of metrical renderings of Latin verse. This prejudice is understandable, and one need not feel guilty if he prefers the more flexible accentual, but non-metrical hymn patterns of The Cisteraian Day Hours. But only a metrical treatment will allow the hymns to retain the lyric form requisite for the normal celebration of the Divine Office; and it is within this context that Fr. Martin had to work. Another possible area of misunderstanding could lie in one's failure to distinguish between the original Latin hymn and the transla tion of the same. We have in our repertory more than one or two hymns of dubious, very dubious merit. A faithful translation will have many of the failings of the original Latin text. In this case, criticism should be directed more against the original than against the parallel English version of the same. I am fairly confident, for instance, that Fr. Martin would have preferred not to translate certain hymns such as our tru· ly horrendous "Bernardus DOCtor inclytus" . But he had no choice.

No part of our liturgical 'chant repertory has undergone as many ex· tensive changes since the beginning of our:. . Order as has our hymnal. The evolution has by no means halted. Whatever developments the futureholds, we are faced, for the moment , with the necessity of providing as best we can Engl ish renderings of the present Latin hymnal. This is a problem for which, perhaps, there is really no wholly satisfactory solu· tion. But perhaps Fr. Martin's project will help further us along theway to the best possible solution in present circumstances. We shall see.

B. Chrysogonus Waddell , O.C.S.O. G ethsemani

. '

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ON TRANSLATING THE HYMNS

I - LITERARY GENUS, "TRANSLATED HYMN"

Trans lated and Untranslated Parts of the Latin Offi e

The Latin Psalms are translations. We ake it for granted.They are used less for their intrinsic worth than for the fact that they stem from the Temple wors ip of the People of God and as such are uniquely capable of putting us in nison with out standing _ epochs of the History of Salvation. The use of trans lation jargon adds to the local color needed in such a case.

The lessons are often translations too. But there , wherethe intellect is addressed , we do appreciate clarity and accuracy of expression.

But the hymns, like the collects, are purely Latin. The "Kyrie Eleison" has survived iri Greek, and the "G loria 1n Excel sis" has been translated from the Greek; but these are rare ex ceptions. By and large the hymns are very Latin. And it is understandable that they should be so.

They are the "psalmi idiotici" of popular devotion.It should be unthinkable for us to read a psalm from

a book in the way we read a lesson. Evento recite a hymn without music is to abuse it. Hymns , of their very nature, should be sung,_ _ and sun in the language of their composition

If, however, we do introduce translated hymns into the Office, then - their role is close to that of the "Kyrie eleison", the i_'Alleluia" '

the "Hosanna" the "Ame.

n" '

the "Gloria ·in excelsis" ,

and.

so on. They become borrowings from an earlier Testament, just as the Psalms are borrowings from the Old Testament. I myself def initely favor such an enrichment of the Liturgy, provided however that it does not exclude the eventual possibil ity of new and spon taneous "psalmi idiotici" chosen and even composed by the local community. It seems to me that the experiences of each a.g.e_ of.the Church's life have left a \V'Orthy mark in our corpus of. hymns.;... as each season or type of feast brings back another hymn, so we are transported back to experience, as pilgrims , the piety of a by gone age.

It seems to me worthwhile to feel ag ain the throb of enthusiasm · of the "Urbs Jerusalem Beata", or the inno.cent triumphalism of the "Pange lingua" of Passiontide, or the assurance of the great Ambrosi ana, or the post- ultramontanism of Leo XIII's hymns for the Holy Family , and s6 on.

II - UNIFORM METER

I kept the meter of the orig inal preciselj because I th6ght · it helped to transport the singer to the piety of the age that produced the hymn. The function of the translated hymn is to

take us out of ourselves to the Communion of Saints and the events ofHistory , and this is done as much with meter as with words and musi .

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Major defect of Received Translation s

The received translations of the hymns have drawn greatly . upon the prestige of the original and have sought to compensate for their own literary poverty by the fact that they are faith ful to the sacred original.

The translators have had to be very careful to keep the syllable count, and have usually taken it upon themselves to introduce some pattern of rhyme.. These1 two added burdens have seemed to them to justify many displacements of stress and many quite artificial inversions. All this has seemed to us to be part and parcel of "translation English ", and the prestige of the Liturgy has covered a multitude of sins.

I have been at special pains to minimise the inversions, or, rather, to use · inversion only as a deliberate device for poetic emphasis. I have also tried to situate strongly meaning ful syllables on the points of greatest stress.

III - THE QUESTION OF RHYME

Rhyme in Traditional English Verse

I am not aware of the origins of rhyme in English verse.As a device for aiding the memory, rhyme is certainly to be com mnded. A proverb like,mA stitch in time saves nine'', certainly becomes more memorable, and therefore better literature, by the distracting little element of rhyme, or qua.&i- rhyme. This is a distraction that draws attention to the speaker in order to em phasise his stress on the spoken . Like the oath, and every other enhancement of eloquence, it involves the emotions.

Rhyme in Later Latin Verse

English verse easily ends in a monosyllable, and as often as not, this monosyllable is a root-word of major importance to the thought. Latin rhyme, on the other hand , is mainly a rhyme of grammatical endings. St Thomas Aquinas used a good deal ofingenuity in creating diversity within these grammatical endings, but was he really more successful than the plain uniformity of:

"Jesu dulcis memoriadans vera cordi gaudia, sed super mel et omnE,.. . . ejus dulcis praesent ''

.As far as I am concerned this earlier form of rhyme leav·es

nothing to be desired. But the rhyme of the "Gloria in Excelsis" already strong in the Greek, is to be preferred again to this.

"Lauda- - - - -mus te, benedici- -mus te, adora- - - - -mus te,

glorificawmus te,gratias agi-mus tibi

...."

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Here the real effect of grammatical rhyme comes into play.With the constant repetition of the 1st and 2nd persons with.ever new interpersonal verb forms , there is _ a_ grqping for a termto name the relationship envisaged. No sing le term seems adequate; more and more must be heaped on. It is like a volley of gunfire,or the action of a steam- rollr.

Nor need the repetition come at the end. In the "Te Deum" it comes very effectively at the beg inning. In Eng lish it ismore natural for it to precede the root-word , because mos t of our grammar cons ists in preceding auxiliaries, prepositions and con junctions.

Rhyme in a Non- Western Language . _

Some beautiful poems in the Aztec language have long been associated with the Mexican shrine of Guadalupe after which our monastery is named. May I quote some "rhyming" passages:

"no- te- tlasotla- - lis no- te- ikno- itta- lis

in-no- te-palewil - - - lis in-no- te-manawi- - - - lis

and:

(my counting them dear)(my eyeing the ir neediness) (my coming to their aid)(my coming to their defense)

"ka-ni- mekapa- - - - li ka-ni- ka-kash- - tli ka-ni- kwitlapil - li ka-n'- atlapal- - - li ka-n'- itkoka-ni- nimamalonik'- amo- no- ne-

nemi-yan k'- amo- no- ne- keza-yan"

(for I am harness) (for I am hod)(for I am shoulder) (for I am neck)(for I am pack- man) (for I am carrier)(for it is not my place to exist there) (for it is not my place to stand there)

Add to this the fact that the accent always (or almost always) belongs on the penultimate of each such phrase - - and therefore on a root syllable - - the effect of "steamrolling" the meaning can scarcely be avoided,

Wherever this kind of "rhyme" occurred in the Latin, I was very sensitive to its hymnodic value. I may even be guilty of intruding it at times where the Latin did not have it.

Rhyme in Modern Poetry. , . _

My acquaintance with modern Eng lish poetry is shamefully limited, but I do have experience of producing a number of sub jectively satisfying pieces , some of which have a little in com mon with the modern.

A poem , I bel ieve, is the fruit of an intense emotional ex perience, but it does not emerg until a moment of emotional re laxation. On waking at night, or on going to sit in the woods, or on settling down to some hum- drum manual work , the mind·often waxes eloquent with the mood of the recent experience. With themood comes the tone and figures of speech, and surprisingly enough,

I

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the form. Soe moods bring rhyme with them. These are the deeply meditative and introspective, "neurotic", poems, in which the mood elicits jumbled sounds in which a keenly sensi tive ear hears several different sounds and wants to utter themall. This, I believe, was the source of Hopkin strong alliter ation and internal rhyme. I can be certain that it was the source of the following "wild" rhymes of my own, drawn from several dis tinct poems:

"How get a God , I say, adored and done with?a daughter and un-wed ..?

Wife?Pubert dreams

of more of me to moor me to

to home with and to share

Who?Who but dreams?

my me- nessmy mean- ness?

On earth a wall's a hostile thing ,- - - embarrass serf, embarrack king 's tough stuff, of brick or stone, drab- opaque, shabby- tone.But wall and dome

is here expansion to entanse you on and enhance yon der, many- mansion,

Welcome Home.

While the "mood" and "tone" dictates such rhymes more or less at random, it can also dictate quite rig id syllable- count:

"What heart or ear would dare,

uncircumcised, distrust

the Spirit's own small voice,

whose whisper wanes or wax-

es to a shout: 'We are

the sons of God' ."

Given the utter spontaneity of these devices in·my own case, I have come to abhor rig id "a priori" end rhyme in English. And, , since it was not needful to the work in hand, I did not use it at all. The one and only exception is the hymn to Our Ldy of Guadalupe, which has already been published (in a slightly different version) , and in which full-word rhyme plays an abnormally

large part even in the Latin.

IV - VOCABULARY

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ygcabulary of the Doxologies -:· !

Bfre - trnslating the - various hymns I attempted to trans late the SO- odd doxologies.Some of the variants were so minor that I ignored them. Others could be reduced to a handful of themes diversified only by one or more of the following factors:

meter - - to match the meter of the hymn. rhyme - - where the hymn itself rhymed.petition - - where petitipns took the place of praise. allusions - - to the theme of the hymn or of the season.

The next problem was to decide which English terms to use. If I could allow myself freedom to standardise, I thought I could also make a choice of which themes should show up in the various English doxologies. So I assembled the full vocabulary , and then went toa source that seemed to be transcendently suited to liturgical doxology - - the "worthiness" hymns of the Apocalypse and the Trinitarian expressions of St Paul. To name the Trinity, I chose first the "proper" names of the Persons., and then the name that denoted each one's role in the History of Salvation. Hence, for the iambic meter, I have:

Pure doxology:"0 Father, Son and Spirit , God: our Maker, Savior, Paraclete:how worthily you throne on high, for age on age, in majesty. Amen. "

Seasonal doxology:"O Christ .....to you and to your Father , praise, and glory to the Paraclete,for age on age, in majesty. Amen. "

Pure Petition:"O grant us this, Eternal God ,through Christ , your own co- equal Son, and in the Spirit Paraclete ,0 loyal Father, fond and kind. Amen. "

It will be noted that this last comes quite close to the "Praesta Pater piissime" of the day hours. The first line is variable whena petitionary "doxology" asks for something more specific. I thought it important to confine the variants to the first line or two, be cause we all know how distracting are those arbitrary changes . from "sempiterna saecula" to "saeculorum saecula", and the like.

Only in the rather clumsy meter of the "Iste Confessor" did I attempt to find more modern doxoiozical vocabulary:

"God one and three, wegreet , acclaim , _a,pplaud

you: yours is_ prest;jg_e, Lord,_

yours is sway transcen_d_iAg: yours universal

mastery of all, Lord, balancing , cosmic. Amen. "

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Here indeed transliteration would probably have served less unhappily. But "salus illi" is, surely, a "salute" - - and hencea "greeting" . Just what "decus atque virtus" might add to that is not too clear. I thought that "acclaim and applause" might serve. The "cacumen" of "coeli" should be. reminiscent of the devotion that produced the doxology , but I modernised it to "transcending" . I confess that "sway" and "prestige" are not mutually contemporary.The final "balancing , cosmic" probably renders the idea of "machina gubernat" quite accurately, but what is left to be desired still looms large.

Vocabulary of Penitence

I did not do the same amount of research and planning forthe questions of sin and penitence as I had done for the doxologies My ventures into modern concepts of unworthiness ("guilt", "fulfill ment", and the like) were very modest. Often enough I yielded to the universal tendency to reduce all garden tools to spades and all naughtiness to "sins".

Vocabulary of Maternity

The same euphemising tendency that inhibits our naming of "sin" also inhibits our translating the rather shameless expres sions of the physical side of Our Lady's maternity - - - uterus, vulva, alvus, venter, viscera, claustrum, etc.

I would have l iked to exploit instead our much richer concept of the psychology of maternity; but my role was not to provide new hymns on a subject beyond my experience, but rather to help the singer enter into the sentiments of the Latin Testament.

Thus I tried to sound bold and literal without going beyond convention.

Examples include the Lauds hymn for Christmas and the Vigils hymn for our Lady's feasts.

Riches of the Latin Vocabularyl' i

Beyond the topics specified above, the Latin Vocabulary is usu:ally very rich. Admittedly some things are said "in obliquo" and then the vocabulary is poorly chosen. An example would be the hymn for Al l Saints: the emphasis is on naming the categoriesof Saints , and "in obliquo", there is added a petition. This latter is often carelessly worded.

But often the force of the Latin seems "forced" in English. vg.: "Dignare promptus ingeri nostro refusus pectori"

So come, we beg , intrude in us; infuse yourself as once youpoured.

and:

and:

"Quando pomi noxialis morsu in mortem corruit"Devil's teasing , deadly teething of that one forbidden tree

"Sumens illud AvE Gabrielis ore funda nos in pace

mutansnomen.

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Gabriel has taught us how we should address you: Hail, new, bright- eyed LiaH; AvE _peaceful EvA.

Should one be as liteJal as that, or should one not? .It depends on what ·one thinks of the literary genus of translated hymns.After al1'_ we have gotten along with "Rex· virtutum dilecti dilecti" for a ·long time now, and ·have thought the communion of Saints worth the effort.

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V - SHIFT OF THEOLOGICAL VIEW- POINT

What follows. is something of a "vaticinium ex eventu", or a rationalisation, rather than a policy I had preconceived before I began. I did however find many of the hymns extremely dense in their use of nut-shell terms that needed a certain amount of exe gesis in order to be understandable in English. Sometimes this exegesis ran to the extent of a complete "desacralisation ", or some other radical 'shift in theological view- point.The morevenerable the hymn, the less I indulged in such shifts, but with . regard to modern ones, like those for the Rosary, I was often quite radical.

My objection to the Rosary hymns was that they seemed to treat the Gospel narratives as a kind of Family Itinerary, and little more. The stanza:

"Temple puellus sistitur,legique paret Legifer;hie se Redemptor, paupe e pretio redemptus, immolat"

is certainly dense and worthy. But it is sung only once a year, and seems to profit by a little bit of exegesis:

"The Child who here obeys the Law Is he who gave it binding force;and he whom th' poor- man's price buys back is he who'll give himself for all" .

Perhaps I ·should have presumed upon more capacity in my "readers", but I thought it better to set forth firstly the "visible sign" and then to point to the admirable ulterior dimension.

When however, it came to the scene of the Ascension, I was no little pset by the way that the author failed to mention somany things of extreme importance. He seemed to regard the Ascen sion as simply another step at the end of a visible itinerary:

"Visus satis mortalibus ascendit ad coelestia, dextraeque Patris assidet censors Paternae gJoriae" .

Which I changed to:"And while he waits to come again, his seat is at the Father's side;

his own have heard his brief farewell, have seen him vanish to the sky."

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Those acquainted with recent discussions of the Ascension will probably sympathise with this change of approach. Perhaps even more radical is the change with regard to the Visitation. Here the "itinerary" 6f Mary of Nazareth and Elizabeth, the motherof John, becomes an encounter of two great movements, Christi anity and Joannism , comparable to that of the two peoples Edom and Israel in the womb of Rebecca. Again it is only those ac quainted with recent questions in this regard that will sympa thise with my shift of view- point. Perhaps I would have been more faithful to'my function of producing "translated hymns" true to their genus if I had avoided all this. But Iconsidered the Rosary hymns as post- latin, and as lacking the personality of Leo XIII's Holy Family hymns.

"Then Christ and John, from womb to womb, already show their friendship forth;the Virgin Mother serves her kin; exultant John proclaims the Lamb" .

At least it does not impoverish the original:

"Virgo propinquam sanguine Matrem Joannis visitat,qui clausus alvo gestiens, adesse Christum nuntiat" .

One example where everyone will probably appreciate this kind sfiift of view- point, or explicitation, is the Terce hymn for the Triduum Sacrum. If anyone would care to write and let me know what he could make of that hymn,

Iwould be grateful. Likewise with the hymns for St Bernard But here Itook the liberty of going to the Vita Prima and making quite a lot ofre-casting and even re- choosing of scenes.

VI - MOOD

Probably the greatest objection to my translated hymns will be their "mood" . Some will find it reminiscent of Msgr. Knoxand eri.entate themselves pro or con in the same way that they were orientated to him. Others will make other accusations, all of which will have elements of truth. But it must be remembered that the "mood" of the orig inal is of'cardinal importance. If I have captured that mood, then what I have captured should be accepted, and the blame should go to the original composer. It is the sane way with the psalms.

The literary genus of "translated hymn" will always, of its very nature, be esoteric in mood. Otherwise it, and the psalms too for that matter, would be better scrapped in favor of more moving pieces, in the way that certain Evangelical groups have already done. For them the Psalms have use only as private "lectio divina" .

Mood-setting Factors

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The mood is not only a question of the words used in the hymn.Certainly St Ambrose' s bold vocabulary of light, and vigorous ·vocabu lary of night-watching, do add much to his hymns. But the meter can also influence a great deal. Is there not a great deal o sameness in the mood of the "Iste Confessor" series, and again in the "Pang elingua" series, and the "Sanctorum Meritis", and in the "Aurea Luce"? Is not the uniqueness of the "Ave Maris Stella" and the "0 quam glo rifica" intimately linked with the uniqueness of their meters?

Again, the melody is very important in setting the mood. Icould be enthused by almost anything sung to the melody of the "Pange lingua" or the "Sanctorum Meritis" (simple tone). But melodies like "Jesu dulcis memoria" or the vesper hymn for Ascension so depress and frustrate me as to hide the whole beauty of the words.

Behind what looks like abominable melody and puerile rhyme, these are deeply mooded love- songs of the age of Chivalry and of "Commentarii in Can tica". Take them quietly to the woods with you one day and try to apply them to some human person whom you dearly love, for whose presence you spontaneously long, and whose name alone is enough to bring light to your eyes. You will find that the mood of the. "Jesu dulcis memoria" is akin to what you are experiencing. l

There are other hymns which simply are not poetry or music or anything. A notable example is the old hymn for the Votive Office of the Blessed Sacrament. This was frustrating from every point ofview. In such cases (which, happily, were few) I have tried to bor row a mood more or less akin to analogous hymns with more personality.

Examples

Mood should communicate itself without commentary. And what I have said, and tried to stress, about the necessarily esoteric charac ter of the mood of "translated hymns" should justify most of my ren ditions.

esu decus ange ZicumHoly Name of Jesus: Lauds

The Angels, Lord, are proud of you; the ear enjoys to hear your name:a honeyed word upon the lips,a nectar thought within the heart.

In tasting you we long for more; we hunger, thirst, and only know that you alone can satisfy ,our Jesus, whom alone we love.

0 Jesus, friendliest of friends, for whom my aspi rations hope,

.whom wordless weeping seeks to name, to whom my inmost self appeals .

..I I .

'

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Abide with us , 0 Jesus , Lord , and clarify the night of Faith;let but our vision glimpse your light refl ected in this world you made.

0 Jesus , Fruit of Virg in womb ,whom all that's best in us must love: we honor you, and praise your Name; rejoice that you, in bliss , are king. Amen.

Iste Confesso rCommon of a Confessor Bishop: Vespers and Vig ils

This is the feast- day for a Confessor,loved by the people,

praise

Limbs of his body yet was he kindly , sober and modest ,

celebrated world-wide witness to the Lord God, consecrated , holy; ·

him today, then.

once were flesh as ours are; wise and pure and humble, mortified and loyal ,

peaceful

So at the tomb where crowds often gather; sickness , affliction,

and gentle.

now his limbs are lying miracles occur there; handicap and ailment ,

all can be

Come then, in chorus , pay him his hommage, think how for ever-

cured there.

sing his hymn, and gladly seek his intercession; lasting he will keep you

in his

God One and Three, we

communion.

greet , acclaim, applaud you;

yours is prestige, Lord, yours universal

balancing ,

Yours is sway transcending ; mastery of all , Lord ,

cosmic.Amen.

Urbs J e rusalem beataCommon of the Dedication of a Church: Vespers and Vigils

Blest Jerusalem , the cityspread abroad and built in heaven turreted in stone angelic ,

Mounting fresh on blue horizons , dressed to please her Roy al Lover, See her

wall , her street , her plaza, called the Vision, scene of ] out of human masonry,decked as bride in wedding g1

ready for the bridal bow'r, fit to meet a groom divine glittering in solid gold.

(Best Copy Available)

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Portals pearled and incandescent, free access and welcome alwaysthere where nothing else is counted ,

Thump of hammer, scraping chisel, Skill of God the Master Builder plumb and flush, secure, enduring ,

Glory to our God , and honor, Father, Son and Holy Spirit:praise be theirs as theirs is power,

trove recesses open wide;on the strength of suffering: only what is borne for ChTist.

polish up the earthen stone. edges each adjoining pair; fitting in their sacred place.

God all holy , God sublime: equal glory be to each: ruling all the ag es through.

Amen.

Sanatorum meritisCommon of Several Martyrs: Vespers

Together let us chant their joy so genuine, an outburst of the mind

that better race

When clinging Earth would lure, they spurn the withered bloom, and follow you instead

the merits of the Saints, heroic, manly deeds:to sing , to chant , to hymn of victor men!

in horror and disgust , the dull, enticing pull, to values high above,:

0 Christ our

For you they face the wrath they trample on the shame, the lash, the slashing claw,

Lord , and best of Kings

of wild torture-men,and bear the savage whip, till ev'ry torment fails

and leaves unscathed the inner man.

Their flesh is stabbed and but nev'r a murmur sounds, the heart in quiet peace,

maintain

carved, like meat upon a spit;no whisper, no complaint ; the mind in firm control,

a humble, patient calm.

What languag e, music, song ,tpe welcome you will giveWhere ruddy wounds had flowed,

and such a g ift

is fitted to express your Martyr witnesses.the g ilded laurels

glow. you call a wage.

0 lofty Godhead , Lord , unique Divinity,we beg you, wash our guilt , remove our prone offense; and g ive your household peace; receive its poor return

of glory, everlastingly.Amen.

Av e maris ste Z ZaFeasts of Our Lady: Vespers

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Hail, 0 Star of Seaways, welcome Gateway skyward, lone, and ever Virgin, yet divinely Mother!

Gabriel has taught ushow we should address you: HaiL! New, bright- eyed LiaH! AvE! Peaceful EvA!

Be a Star of Freedom ;light to dim- eyed blindness; sign to end- misfortune;omen of all blessing.

Show yourself a Mother to the God you bore us ; bid a Son so loving recognize his brothers.

Star unique and Virgin, gentle as no other:free us bonded sinners ; make us chaste and gentle.

Purify our living ; guide us in our travel; let us see your Jesus' everlasting gladness.

Praise to God the Father; to his Son be honor;glory to the Spirit; God triune and single.

Amen.

Sp Z endor Paternae g ZoriaeFeria!Days, Winter Season: Lauds

The Father's glory flashes forthtoo bright, but You distill his light:You, th' splendid glow; You th' tempered glare; You daylight essence of the day.

You, th' truer sun, come, beam on us; come, shine with sheen unfading , sure;Come, flood our wits with torch and flare; come, pour the Spirit's floodlight in.

Our worship calls on th' Father too: the Father ever g lorious,The Father gracious, powerfulto stabilize our slipping feet.

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Yes, his our firmness under strain; and his to blunten Envy's fangs;From his success when all has failed; by grace of his are duties done. --

Leave him control with scope to act, restrain, retrain a loyal flesh,Make faith's response more fervent, keen, in unreserving honesty.

Let Christ this day become our food; and let the drink of all be faith;In sober gladness all drink deep the Spirit who inebriates.

In gladness let the day run through,with conscience' blush as ready 's dawn, with faith as bright as noonday' s glare, and never a twilight dim th' mind.

In eastern skies developinga total sun will soon be born:as first in th' Sire the total Son; then total Speaker in the Word.

To God the Father glory be, and honor to his only Son, and to the Spirit Paraclete, both now and for eternity.

•.

Amen .

Nunc sancte nobis SpiritusTerce

The Holy Spirit' s hour has struck: Come, we beg, intrude on us;Infuse Yourself as once You poured,High Heaven' s gift, when Christ went home.

Lip, language, thought and energy conspire, co-witness, loud proclaim: Your gift , your fire- enkindled love, mus.t spread, must warm , our fellow men .

Oh grant us this, eternal God,through Christ, your own co- equal Son and in the Spirit Paraclete,0 loyal Father, fond and kind.

Amen .

SaZv ete, cedri LibaniFeast of our Holy Founders: Lauds

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0 Fathers of the open air, expand your limbs on Lebanon:be leafy Cedars, tall and broad; and flourish always, far and wide.

Enjoy the Blessed Trinity,whose glory silhouettes your soul! enjoy the zephyr tendernessof Mary's loving company.

And join the Angels' carefree dance with nothing more to worry you;or bathe, relaxing in the cool, refreshing streams of Paradise.

But in your bliss, remember us, remember your paternity;do not forget the seed you sowed,the saplings sprouted from your trunk.

0 Christ , with whom our Founders live, to you and to your Father, praise;and glory to the Paraclete, for age on age, in majesty.

Amen .

Pange Zingua••.prae Zium aertaminisPassiontide : Vigils

Chant , 0 Tongue, the hymn of glory, echoing the battle-song

of that Cross, that triumph- banner; ballad out its history;

tell how once, upon that gibbet, Christ won victim victory.

All that story starts with Adam, pitied by the Lord his God;

Devil's teasing, deadly teething, from that one forbidden tree.

God was there to note the timber; timber would undo the woe .

Such the order he must followwhen he'd come to win us back:

matching craft for craft and cunning;point by point outwitting guile;

wielding to serve our welfareweapons that had wrought our harm.

Then a course of sacred timemarched along and was fulfilled:

he who'd built that ancient worldleft the Father's citadel,

found a Virgin Mother' s womb,issued forth in human flesh.

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God, Creatoi, weeping, speechless, hemmed n that created crib;

handled too; and bound, and bundled, limb 6n limb, in sathing bands;

'til the Virgin Mother tightens 'round his frame that final knot.

G lory to' our God, and honor, God all- holy , God sublime:

Father, Son and Holy Spirit: equal glory be to each:

praise be theirs as theirs is power, ruling all the ages through.

Amen. ,

' ,...J am .s urgit ho rq. t e r t ia. Sacred Triduum: . .Terce '!'

The morning hour of Terce has come: we think of Christ upon the Tree:the mind, must drop all random thought,· :· '

attending carefully to prayer.

Embracing Christ within the heart, imagination purifies,and praying , at this morfting hour, prepares the Spirit's dwelling place.

For .this same hour saw the end of Adam's sinful heritage,of Death, and all that Death entails, of guilt and worldly slavery.

Again, this hour saw beginthe Christian epoch, time of grace, the rapid spread of Faith and Truthfrom Church to Church, throughout the world.

So , from his thone upon the Tree, he saw his Mother there and spoke: "Behold, 0 Mother, this , your son";"And this , your Mother, John, behold" .

That mystic word was marriage vow and wed to him a holy Church, conferred on her a motherhood,and yet preserved virginity.

And Jesus kept his wedding troth, as Pentecostal signs would show; but still the loveless disbelieve; believers win salvation free.

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We do believe our God was born, begot us of a Virgin Church,and took away our world-wide sin, is throning at the Father's right.

0 Father, Son and Spirit , God, our Maker, Savior, Paraclete:how worthily you throne on high, for age on age, in majesty.

Amen.

VII CONCLUSION

All I can say by way of conclusion is that it is a very profitable experience to attempt a large scale translation like this. I have grown intellectually and emotionally every time I have undertaken such a project. If producing a poem gives me an indulgence of 7 years, the repetition of it adds 7 quaranties. Poetry, and especially hymns, must be emotional. But it is of the nature of the Liturgy to be a thing received from the pastas well as a spontaneous product of the local community. While I can deeply sympathize with the Evangelical desire fr ·mQvinghymns, I do think there is a real place for the new literary genus of the transl•ted hymn''. After all, the most emotional of allour songs are :,.often i-n.·archaic English - - and even the Evangelicals cling to the JCing James English. Who among us understands what "Auld Lang Sy1nh"' ( or however you spell it )means? The most forceful of •ongs in the Psalter build on the emotional richnessof proper ham · This is true of modern mi1itary songs, and ofthe songs of the Battle of Britain during the early part of WorldWar II. Even Alleluia, Hosanna, Maranatha were tolerated by St Paul. Christianity is an historical religion, and there is no · history without a past, no Communion of Saints without esotericism in some degree and in some parts of the Liturgy.

martinus Guadalupe Abbey