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| | Section P of the table contains Eastertide beginning with the 1st
Vespers on Easter-Day and leading up to the end of the Pentecost Octave. This period shows a
great many peculiarities and local characteristics both with regard to distribution and material, and
even the performance itself (consuetudines) had undergone changes in the course of
centuries. In fact the arrangement of the liturgical books is rather different in this section. All these
factors would make the comparison extremely difficult, if not impossible, unless we accept the
existence of a unified system against which the identities as well as the divergencies of the local
customs can be weighed. This normalized form is based on the actual correspondences; the
varying usage and repertory of the individual rites and sources can be demonstrated by means of
the additional numbers in the table and also by the commentaries. |
| | The numbering of Sundays applied in the table differs from the medieval custom which
started either at the dominica in octava or at the dominica post octavam. For
the sake of clear arrangement our tables follow the present-day usage: Easter-Day will be the 1st
Sunday, the feast of Whit-Sunday the eighth. |
| Easter-Day | On Easter-Day the 1st Vespers is replaced by a single antiphon to Psalm 116 and
by another to the Magnificat which is attached to the end of the Easter Vigil. The structure of the
Compline is also irregular on this eve. |
| | The Matins of this Sunday consists, according to the cursus saecularis, of one
Nocturn only which has three antiphons and three responsories. At Lauds on this day and during
the whole week the Gradual and the Alleluia of the Mass are sung after the psalms, and the Hour
ends with the Benedictus (and Oratio). All other parts are omitted. During this week the Little
Hours are also restricted to the psalms and the Oratio. |
| Vesperae baptismales | On the other hand, Vespers is celebrated in a special extended form during the whole
week, following the ancient traditions of the basilics of Rom (Vesperae baptismales).
The Hour begins with Kyrie, then the 1st to 3rd psalms of the Vespers are sung. The first part
closes with the Gradual and the Alleluia of the Mass, the Magnificat and Oratio, after which a
procession goes to the baptistry accompanied by a processional antiphon in most
churches where the rest of the vesperal psalms and some other chants are performed (varying in
the different rites, e. g. a 2nd Alleluia, a 2nd Magnificat, a versicle and orationes). Then
the community returns to the choir singing another processional antiphon, and a versicle + oratio
finish the ceremony. This rite is repeated with alternating psalms, antiphons and the verses of the
Gradual and Alleluia during the whole week. |
| Compline and
Pro octava Offices | Following the Vespers the table presents the order of the Compline for the whole week,
and then all the variable parts of the pro octava Offices. The Saturday liturgy differs,
however, from that of the other days, and in many places the regular order of Eastertide is
introduced on that day. |
| Paschal Sunday Office | The order of the paschal Sunday Office is a crux for all who wish to interpret
the medieval choirbooks. In principle the medieval churches had two possibilities: either to
introduce a three-Nocturn form at Matins or, what was more frequent, to create a one-Nocturn
variant. The other Hours could follow in their own way and the weekdays could agree with the
Sunday arrangement. After about 1000 a new usage was, however, introduced in many churches
at a different time and in a different form each: on Sundays the Office and the Mass of Easter-Day
were repeated while the Proper of Sundays was transferred to the next Monday. By doing so the
following characteristic situation emerged for these days: on Saturdays the 1st Vespers was sung,
made up of the elements of Eastertide and Easter-Day; the Sunday itself repeated the liturgy of
Easter-Day in most parts (occasionally enlarged by some items omitted there, e. g. the hymn). The
Vespers on Sunday evening played a double role being the last part of the previous Office and at
the same time the overture to the actual Sunday Office celebrated on Monday. The Sunday Office
followed on Monday and was closed by a third Vespers. The liturgical weekdays started only on
Tuesday and thus the number of weekdays decreased. Taking these changes and variations into
consideration the number of combinations was rather high and different in the various rites. |
| | If we wish to compare the sources in real terms, we have to create order in the tables. The
first is to declare that the majority of the medieval sources (at least those written in the 12th or
13th centuries and later) prescribe the Office of Easter-Day for Sundays. However, in the Sunday lines we
give the Proper of Sundays, although this was sung on Mondays). The 1st
Vespers follows here in the usual form while the 2nd Vespers must be sung twice: first on Sunday
evening then on Monday. If there is any difference between the two days' celebration we have to add two antiphons for
Magnificat. What is beyond this scheme will be recordered in the additional lines of the
table or in the notes and commentaries. |
| | After the 1st Vespers the schedule of the Compline is presented for the whole Eastertide,
while the ferial form/forms of the Easter season come after the 2nd Vespers. |
| Responsories | Another problem is that the responsories attached to the scriptura occurrens
appear on D2 (transposed to Monday). The distribution of these responsories is different
according to the structure of the Matins (1- or 3-Nocturn scheme) and the number of responsories
retained. At any rate, it is a common rule that the surplus responsories (above 3 or 9 respectively)
are to be sung on weekdays. The local traditions vary in defining the week when the first cycle
('Historia de Apocalypsi') was to be replaced by the second one ('Historia de libro
Psalmorum'). Thus we are compelled to separate the two sets of responsories from the order
of weeks and to present the first cycle before the day of D2 and the latter before D4 (albeit
it was actually imposed according to local usage). The individual solutions can be interpreted along the lines
of this normalized form by the means of commentaries and notes. |
| Benedictus and Magnificat antiphons |
The pieces of a third layer of in tempore paschali are connected with
individual Sundays: they are the antiphons of the Benedictus and the Magnificat, taken mainly
from the words of the daily Gospels. The number of the pieces in each set is higher than necessary
and the surplus items are sung during the next week. There are two possibilities for listing them:
either distributed among the various days (in which case it is rather difficult to compare the rites)
or enumerated after the Sunday antiphons. We will follow this second method even if the given
source did otherwise. |
| | The three days before Ascension (dies Rogationum) may have had their own
antiphons for Benedictus as it appears from the tables. |
| Ascensio | The feast of Ascension (6f5 in the tables) was celebrated with three-Nocturn
Matins in some churches and with a one-Nocturn form in others. In the latter case the N2-N3 were
shifted to the following days of the Octave. We have chosen to present the material in the three-
Nocturn scheme and to explain the actual practice in the commentaries. The Proper antiphons for
the various days of the Octave appear in the table according to the succession of days if the
distribution is clear, or in one group if the distribution is optional or impossible to determine. |
| Pentecostes | Whit Sunday was celebrated with a one-Nocturn Matins everywhere. The
additional responsories were introduced during the Octave. On days f2 to f4 some space has been
left blank for new items while the reorganization of the already known chants between the
remaining days will be clarified in the commentary. On Whit Sunday (and also on Ascension Day
in some places) the antiphons of the Lauds reappear at Vespers with certain additions or changes,
therefore some place has been left blank for introducing new items into the tables. |
| | The Octave of Pentecost generally ends on Saturday. The ancient practice of
celebrating the eighth day on next Sunday left, however, its traces on the liturgical order of some
traditions or sources. Whenever they are characteristic of the rite we include them in the tables. If
they are devices of certain individual sources they will be registered in the notes. |
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