Practical Information
(General Remarks to Section 'NAT')


2
 
The 'Nat' section of the tables contains the incipits of the Office from the Matins of the Vigilia Nativitatis up to the beginning of the Lent period. The majority of the sources clearly define the Lenten structure from the 1st Vespers of prima dominica Quadragesimae on. Therefore the Offices of Ash-Wednesday and the subsequent three days are included in the Nat table.
Vigilia NativitatisThe 4th antiphon of the Vigilia Nativitatis is a variable item having the rank of the appropriate weekday ('secundum diem') different each year which has to be taken from the series of Lauds antiphons of the last Advent week (3490 etc.).
ChristmasThe Christmas night was provided in the old Roman tradition with double Matins, composed partly of different and partly of common items. In later centuries one of these series (the same all over Europe) was assigned to the feast itself, while the other one was transferred to the Octave. The rites, however, vary in the solution of this problem: some put the second set of antiphons on the first free day during the Octave, others on the Sunday infra Octavam or on the feast of Circumcisio. Dissimilarities can also be found in the selection and arrangement of the second set of responsories.
In most rites the Christmas Matins was closed by special celebrations (Genealogia Christi, one or more antiphons in commemoration de beata Virgine) and joined to the midnight Mass. These added components of the different rites are to be recorded in the notes and commentaries, not in the tables.
The Christmas Lauds preceded by the midnight Mass and followed by the missa in aurora was generally sung in an abbreviated form (5 psalms and the Benedictus, each with their own antiphons). The full form presented here in the tables was used extra chorum and also during the Octave.
2nd VespersThe 2nd Vespers of the dies Nativitatis did not close with the antiphon of the Magnificat, but were followed by subsequent antiphons for commemorationes. Nevertheless we shall include here first the Compline valid from December 25 on and then the table of commemorations in the following form:
The local traditions greatly differ in the choice, ordering and assignment of the antiphons for commemorationes during the Octave, and the differences of arrangement in the various codices make also difficult to gain a clear picture. To assist the readers in the comparison of rites all the antiphons are included in one list in the order of their appearance. In some cases the items are to be integrated into the customary commemoratio de nativitate vel/et de beata Virgine (at the end of the Lauds and Vespers), in others they are used as antiphona major to the Benedictus or Magnificat on the days free from the celebration of saints (see also the notes to 12560).
St.Stephen
St. John
Holy Innocents
All the items belonging to the Offices of St. Stephen, St. John and the Holy Innocents and preceding the Matins of the day are recorded as 1st Vespers, although they were used in most churches only as an extended commemoration (responsory+hymn, Antiphon+versicle+oratio, the former two not everywhere) after the 2nd Vespers of the previous day. The customary commemorations and the close of the Hour followed these anticipated items. (See the commentaries to each rite).
The Office of St. Stephen (sporadically also that of St. John and of the Holy Innocents) has two different forms in some rites, one for the feast itself and the other for the Octave (January 2-4). If there are only a few modifications they have been marked as additions to the chants of the feast (with rubrics at this day or at the Octave). These Offices had not Proper chants for all parts of the Liturgy, the missing pieces were taken over from the commune. In some rites the Saint's Proper was combined with some parts of the Christmas Office.
In cases when the local tradition required a special series for the Octave they will be recorded at the parallel section of the feast itself in the table provided with a sign + . These three days had an Octave of medium rank with a simple commemoration infra octavam and a full Office on the eighth day.
St. Thomas the MartyrThe local traditions and the individual sources differ also in the celebration of the feast of St. Thomas the Martyr (December 29). His feast is omitted altogether in some of them, in others only a commemoration is suggested, again others prescribe the officium commune with a few items of the Proper and in some traditions the whole rhymed Office is celebrated. The feast of St. Thomas is inserted most frequently into the pars temporalis of the books. Considering the great diversity of the customs, we transfer this day to the Sanctorale.
Octava of Christmas
Dominica infra Octavam
St. Sylvester
The selection, arrangement and assignment of the Proper chants for the Octava of Christmas is one of the most divergent elements of the medieval manuscripts. It was a general rule to take at least commemoration of Nativity each day, while some churches added the daily Offices from December 26 to the abbreviated Christmas Hours ad modum officii parvi BMV. December 30, or where the feast of St. Thomas was not celebrated, December 29, was the first day free for the ferial Christmas Office. Its order, a variant of the Office of Dominica infra Octavam and the material of the two dates are often mixed in the description of the codices. On December 31 the Office of Pope St. Sylvester is sung (combined with some Christmas chants) or the Christmas ferial Office (with commemoration of St. Sylvester). For an easier comparison this material is presented here in the following way:
(i)the antiphons of the commemorationes are grouped together at the end of the Christmas Office;
(ii)the special chants for the ferial Office (if any such items exist) are given after December 28;
(iii)the Sunday Office is recorded in full;
(iv)the adaptation of the Sunday chants to the ferial order is given in the commentaries.
In the tables here is no room for the octavae between January 2 and 4. The special items (if there are any) can be included under additional figures in the festal Office and the forms observed on the Octave day are recorded in the commentaries.
Vigilia EpiphaniaeThe order of the Vigilia Epiphaniae depends on whether it falls on Sunday or on ordinary weekdays. The most important information is gathered in the table (including the Am of the 1st Vespers which is to be sung, of course, only at the Sunday Office), leaving the details for the commentaries.
EpiphanyOn the day of Epiphany the Roman Liturgy omitted the invitatory and the hymn and included Psalm 94 in the 2nd Nocturn. In general usage the invitatory was sung again in the Octave and Psalm 94 was accordingly left out of the 2nd Nocturn. Therefore the order of psalms and antiphons must be rearranged for the Octave. The rites are not concordant, however, concerning the date when the festival order had to be replaced by the rearranged one. Consequently, the modifications will be recorded in our tables within the festive Office itself (distinguished by a sign + and the inscription 'Oct').
Octava EpiphaniaeDuring the Octave the festive Office was sung in a more or less modified form (there are rites singing one single Nocturn of the Matins of the feast, each day the next); they had three readings and three responsories at the Matins and proper Ab-Am antiphons for each day. The daily Office brought into harmony the following factors:
(i) the numbering of the day within the Octave;
(ii) the rank of the day within the week;
(iii)the insertion of the Sunday;
(iv)a combination of pro festo and pro octava items.
Our tables leave enough room open for an average ordering where the special features of the traditions can be fixed (completed with notes and commentaries). The 2nd and 3rd days are more elaborated leaving space for new items. On the subsequent days the pieces already introduced will be utilized (as recorded in the notes and commentaries), and in addition, of course, the daily antiphons for Ab and Am.
Per annumThe 2nd Sunday after Epiphany opens the weeks per annum structured by the ordinary Psalterium. The antiphons, hymns, versicles are to be taken de psalterio in this period (as described in the Ann section of the tables). In some of the Psalterium sections a double arrangement is given of which the hiemalis variant must, of course, be taken now.
Other chants of the Office belong also to the season, first of all the post-Epiphany with words borrowed from the psalms. (It can be supposed that this cycle was originally extended to a longer period of the year.)
The third layer of the period after Epiphany is made up of the antiphonae majores taken from the Gospel of each Sunday. If the source contains more than two of them for a week, the surplus items are listed in the sources after the Am of the Sunday (in our tables this method is followed always) or distributed among the subsequent feriae (when they were actually performed).
D70, D60, D50The chant material for D70, D60 and D50 Sundays follows partly the order of the per annum period, partly the seasonal scriptura occurrens (and also the sequence of the Gospels). The clearest arrangement (but not the only one used) was, to take the responsories of D70 from the Historia de Adam, those of D60 from the Historia de Noe and of D50 from the Historia de Abraham. In many rites, however, the responsories were identical on D70 and D60 (along with the antiphons of the Lauds) and on D50 responsories from both the Historia de Noe and de Abraham were selected.
The Pre-Lenten (and also the Lenten) Sundays had generally more responsories than the nine required by the cursus saecularis. The scriptors recorded the surplus pieces mostly after the ultimum dominicae, albeith they were actually sung on the subsequent weekdays (as shown by the rubrics or parallel sources). To facilitate the comparison of the different traditions we assign the surplus items continuously to f2, f3 etc., acccompanied by the necessary notes.
Days before LentThe four days before the 1st Sunday in Lent are of transitional character. The responsories and antiphons are taken from the per annum, de psalterio and the D50 material while the Ab-Am antiphons follow the sequence of Lenten Gospels. The penitential antiphons sung in the place of the customary suffragia and followed by a versicle and an oratio are recorded in the tables with the remark 'Ap' (antiphona pro peccatis or pro populo).
 
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