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| | 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 Nativitatis | The 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.). |
| Christmas | The 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 Vespers | The 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: |
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| 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). |
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| 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.
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| | 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 Martyr | The 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: |
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| (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 Epiphaniae | The 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. |
| Epiphany | On 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 Epiphaniae | During 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: |
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| (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 annum | The 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, D50 | The 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 Lent | The 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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