Some Useful Reminders in the Liturgy Debate

I have often brought to our readers attention the wise musings of Brian Holdsworth, certainly one of the smartest and most consistently interesting Catholic voices on social media. He recently posted this very useful video in which he responds to one of the most common tropes of the ongoing debate over liturgy in the Church, which runs more or less as follows, that it doesn’t matter so much how we celebrate the liturgy, and specifically, whether we celebrate it in the Ordinary Form (or “unique expression”, if you prefer), or the Extraordinary Form, because the really important thing is that the Eucharist is validly celebrated. And therefore, the argument goes, no one should contend that any given form of it is better than another; a fortiori, no one should contend that any practice permitted by the Church’s liturgical law, (say, never using the Roman Canon) is better than any other.

But as Mr Holdsworth rightly points out, this doesn’t just run altogether contrary to what the Church itself says and has always said about the liturgy. It runs contrary to the whole putative justification for the invention and imposition of the post-Conciliar Rite, which is premised on the idea that everything that we do in the liturgy does matter and is important. The liturgical reform itself is, or was supposed to be, an expression of the Church’s “grave concern” for every aspect of the rite of Mass, which in turn means that we ourselves should also be concerned that everything in it be done not just validly, but beautifully, reverently, and in manner consonant with tradition, as the Second Vatican Council wanted and asked for.

Speaking of which, on Sunday, another decimal anniversary of the most recent ecumenical council, the sixtieth since its closing, passed with the usual lack of fanfare; there were no celebrations of note, and even the Pope barely mentioned it in passing at the Angelus. But in matters liturgical it is always worth reminding ourselves that the Novus Ordo is not the liturgy of the Council, and does not represent what it wanted and asked for. Very few people are as well-versed in this matter as Dom Alcuin Reid, who offers a very useful of the problem in a column published two days ago in the Catholic Herald. As is always the case with Dom Alcuin’s writings on these matters, no summary or excerpt really does it justice, but the crux of the matter is this: 

“In marking the sixtieth anniversary of the closing of the Council it is important that we are clear about the facts. The Mass promulgated in the Missal of 1970, its successors and their various vernacular translations included, is not that which was called for or authorised by the Second Vatican Council. It is the product – duly authorised by the Pope, and sacramentally valid, but a product nonetheless – of a group of enthusiasts whose Secretary would later boast in respect of their work: “Fortune favours the brave.” In other words, what we have in our parishes in the modern rites, even faithfully celebrated, is not what the Council called for. It is in some part a broad interpretation of the Council’s Constitution on the Liturgy and in other parts an ideologically and politically motivated flagrant departure from what it authorised, ...

If we understand this we can see why it is possible to question and even reject the modern rites without being disloyal to the Council. ... The liturgical reform desired by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council – and glimpsed by them with satisfaction sixty years ago today – quickly became a runaway train. Its engineers took it far beyond its intended destination, and those who attempt to control it today are unwilling and/or unable to get it back onto the tracks the Council laid down for it.”

The Book of Hours of Étienne Alleaume

We are now in the midst of a period with various feasts of the Virgin Mary: the Immaculate Conception on Monday, Our Lady of Loreto today, and Guadalupe on Friday, plus the ongoing celebration of Rorate Masses, her Votive Mass in Advent, and the Ember days next week, which commemorate the Annunciation on Wednesday and the Visitation on Friday. So here is a look at a manuscript with many very beautiful images of the most important events of Her life, the Book of Hours of Étienne Alleaume. Apart from the date of its production, ca. 1500-30, and the name of the original owner, the website of the Bibliothèque nationale de France gives almost no information about it, or its original owner, nor was I able to dig any up on the internet. The style is clearly very heavily influenced by the art of the Italian Renaissance, but with a strong preference for highly detailed decorative backgrounds which is more typical of the 14th and 15th century International Gothic. The liturgical texts included (the Little Office of the Virgin, the Office of the Dead, the Gradual and Penitential Psalms, the Litany of the Saints etc.) are all standard. Like many people of that era, Étienne Alleaume, lord of the town of Verneuil-sur-Seine, was doing the trendy thing in liturgy at the time, and saying these not according to the local Use, but the Roman.

I ordinarily present all the images from a manuscript in order, but we should start with an image of the Virgin Herself, so I’ve moved this one up. This page introduces a Little Office of the Immaculate Conception with images and titles derived from various parts of the Bible, but especially the Song of Songs (“chosen like the sun”), and the liturgy (“star of the sea” etc.) This Little Office is quite different from the standard one, in that each Hour consists solely of a brief hymn, a versicle and a prayer. Within the manuscript, this Office is placed after the Hours of the Holy Spirit, a similarly brief devotional Office.

Each page of the calendar has above it an image with the sign of the zodiac that begins within the corresponding month, and representations of the ages of the life of man, from youth to old age.

A decorative band with the words “Satiabor cum apparuerit gloria tua. – I shall be sated when Thy glory shall appear,” the last words of Psalm 16. Several others appear in various places within the book to fill spaces between the end of a text and the bottom of a page.

Many books of Hours included a group of four Gospels, one from each of the Evangelists: John 1, 1-14, the Gospel of Christmas day; Luke 1, 26-38, the Annunciation; Matthew 2, 1-12, the Epiphany; and Mark 16, 14-20, the Ascension. This image introduces the Gospel from St John, but there are no concomitant images of the other Evangelists with their Gospels.

They are followed by the full Passion of St John. 

Continue Reading this Article. . .

Proposal for the Revised Apostolic Liturgy (RAL) of John Chrysostom - Part 2

Following the principles outlined in the first part of this article, here is the text of the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, revised according to all the ideas applied 60 years ago so fruitfully and beneficially to the reform of the Roman Rite, shared with us by intrepid scholar and reporter Petruk von Batavia. (Since more than one person seems to think that both the editor and I have suddenly, inexplicably and completely lost our minds, this is a satire, intended to demonstrate what an appalling mess the principles of the Roman liturgical reform would make if applied to another ancient and venerable rite.)

Model sanctuary

Text and Rubrics for Sunday Liturgy

[The proskomedia liturgy is abolished]

Liturgy of the Word

Invocation

Deacon: Reverend, give the blessing.
Priest: Happy is the realm of the + Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever.
All: Amen.

Great litany

[ Up to 12 lay readers may form a long, cycling queue for their turn to say a line from the great litany, to which all shall respond with “Lord, You are merciful”. ]

• Reader 1: In peace, let us pray to the Lord.
• Reader 2: For peace from above and for the salvation of all, let us pray to the Lord.
• Reader 3: For world peace, for the well-being of all and for unity, let us pray to the Lord.
• Reader 4: For this congregation, let us pray to the Lord.
• Reader 5: For the most holy universal pontiff, N., Pope of Rome, let us pray to the Lord.
• Reader 6: For our Major Archbishop N., the clergy and people, let us pray to the Lord.
• Reader 7: For this country, the government, and the world, let us pray to the Lord.
• Reader 8: For the original custodians of the land on which this temple stands, let us pray to the Lord.
• Reader 9: For the prevention of climate change, for Sister Earth and all creation, let us pray to the Lord.
• Reader 10: For travelers, for migrants and minorities, for women and the oppressed, let us pray to the Lord.
• Reader 11: That we may always be a Synodal Church, let us pray to the Lord.
• Reader 12: Remembering all the saints, let us commend ourselves and one another and our whole lives to Christ, our Lord.

All: To You, O Lord.
Priest: For all happiness, love and worship befit You, Father, Son and Spirit, now and forever.
All: Amen.

First antiphon

[ The term “soul” may express an imprecise notion of a disembodied mind and will, which had been undermined by modern neuroscience, hence we shall use the term “life” for the sake of intellectual honesty. ]

Psalm 102
All: Bless the Lord, O my life, and all that is within me bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my life, and forget not all His benefits.
He forgives all sins, heals all diseases.
He guides you away from corruption, crowning you with mercy.
Compassionate and merciful is God, abounding in mercy.
Bless the Lord, O my life, and all that is within me bless His holy name.
Blessed are you, O Lord.

[ Small litany is abolished ]

[ Second antiphon and Justinian’s hymn are abolished ]

The happy ones

Matt 5, 3-11
All: Remember us, O Lord, in Your realm.
Happy are the poor, for theirs is paradise.
Happy are the mourners, for they will be comforted.
Happy are the meek, for they will inherit Sister Earth.
Happy are they who desire righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Happy are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Happy are the pure, for they see God.
Happy are the peacemakers, for they are children of God.
Happy are the marginalised and minorities, for they shall have paradise.
Happy are you when they oppress you and accuse you because of me.
Be happy for your reward will be great.

Small entrance

[ The altar servers may optionally perform a joyful dance accompanying laypeople in the small entrance procession. ]

Deacon: Wisdom! Stand up.
All: Come, let us worship Christ. Son of God, You arose, guide us who sing to You: Alleluia.

Troparia and kontakia

<Refer to the propers for the day>

Thrice-happy song

Deacon: Bless, Reverend, the time of the thrice-happy song.
Priest: For You, our God, are holy and we make You happy, Father, Son, and Spirit, now and forever.
All: Amen.
All: Holy, mighty, and immortal God, you are compassionate to us.

Prokeimenon

Deacon: Let us pay attention.
Priest: Peace to all.
Deacon: Wisdom! Pay attention!
<prokeimenon here>

Epistle

Deacon: Wisdom.
Reader: A reading from ...
Deacon: Let us pay attention.
Reader: Siblings, ...
<reading here>

Priest: Peace to all.
Reader: Thanks. You also.
Deacon: Wisdom! Pay attention!

Alleluia

All: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Priest: Wisdom! Stand up! Let us listen to the gospel! Peace to all.
All: Thanks. You also.
Deacon: A reading from the gospel according to <name>.
All: Glory to you, O Lord, glory to you.
Deacon: Let us pay attention.
<gospel here>
All: Glory to you, O Lord, glory to you.

[ Insistent litany is abolished ]

Liturgy of the Eucharist

Cherubic hymn

[ Historically, handwashing takes place when a bishop presides before the great entrance, wherein, a subdeacon pours an ewer containing rose water for washing the bishop’s hands, all while the deacon censes the altar, iconostasis and congregation.

However, this may scandalise the faithful by appearing to diminish the dignity of the subdeacon and deacon with manual labour. Instead, the bishop may use a hand sanitiser from his pocket, or the temple may be installed with a faucet and an automatic hand dryer for the bishop to use, while the deacon simply burns incense on a bowl. ]

All: Let us who represent the cherubim and sing the thrice-happy song to the liberating Trinity, now lay aside all prejudices.

Great entrance

[ The altar servers may optionally perform a joyful dance accompanying laypeople in the great entrance procession, bringing the gifts. ]

Deacon: May the Lord remember in His realm all you people, always, now and forever.
Priest: May the Lord remember in His country the most holy universal Pontiff, N., the Pope of Rome, all clergy, our country, and everyone, always, now and forever.
All: Amen. That we may receive the Word of God, who became human. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

[ Litany of offerings is abolished ]

Sign of peace

Priest: Peace to all.
All: Thanks. You also.
Deacon: Let us love each other, that we may confess:
All: Father, Son and Spirit, the Trinity one in being and undivided.

[ The clergy and congregation shall give each other the sign of peace by a simple nod. Making physical contact should be avoided to maintain hygiene standards. The congregants shall reverence each other, in the Christian spirit of love and charity towards neighbour with: Namaste. ]

Nicene creed

[ All recite the creed. Historically, the priest will hold the Aër above the Gifts and waive it slowly, indicating the activity of the Holy Spirit. However, this is superstitious and the use of any veils, including the Aër, will now be forbidden. ]

Deacon: In wisdom, let us pay attention.
All: We believe in one God, …

Anaphora

Deacon: Let us stand up, let us stand with respect, let us awake to offer in peace the holy offering.
All: A mercy of peace, an offering of praise.
Priest: The kindness of Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the friendship of the Spirit is with you all.
All: Thanks. You also.
Priest: Let us lift up our hearts.
All: We lift them up to the Lord.
Priest: Let us thank the Lord.
All: It is correct and good.
Priest: It is correct and good to bless, praise, thank, worship You everywhere; for You are God. You created the universe. So, we thank You, even though there stand before you many angels, singing, crying, shouting, and saying the happy song:
All: Holy, holy, holy is the Sovereign wonderful and powerful. The universe is filled with your glory. Happy is the Person who comes in the name of God. Hosanna in the highest.
Priest: With these angels, O God, who loves people, we say: Happy are You – truly, all happy – You and Your only-begotten Son and Your Spirit. Happy are You – truly all happy – and great is your happiness. You so loved Your world as to give Your Son, that whoever follows Him shall be happy. After He had come and taught us with His teachings, He was given over – or rather, gave Himself over for the world. He took bread into His hands, gave it to His friends, saying:

<usual words>

All: Amen.
Priest: When the meal was ended, He took the cup in the same way, saying:

<usual words>

All: Amen.
Priest: Remembering the love, example and teachings of Jesus Christ, our beloved Lord: We offer to You, Yours of Your own, in behalf of all and for all.
All: We sing, bless, praise, and thank You, and pray to You, our God.

Epiclesis

[ The priest may not make the sign of the cross over the bread and wine, as this fosters superstition; instead, he gently touches the bread and cup. ]

Priest: Further, look with your tender eyes how thankful we are for this bread and wine, the fruits of Sister Earth, and work of comrade’s hands: And send Your Spirit upon us and these gifts present,
And make this bread the body of Your Christ <touch the bread>,
And that inside this cup the blood of Your Christ <touch the cup>,
Changing them by your Holy Spirit,
So that they may be for recipients, nourishment and medicine, friendship with the Spirit, guide to happiness, and confidence before You.

Diptychs

Priest: Further, we offer you this good and sanitary worship for those who have gone to sleep before us: ancestors, parents, teachers, saints, and especially for the most Holy Mary, who actively chose to carry on with gestation by her own volition.
All: It is correct and good to bless you, the biological parent of Christ. Greater than the cherubim and happier than the seraphim; you gave birth to Christ our Lord, O true Theotokos, we honour your choice!
Priest: Among the first, remember, O God, the most holy universal Pontiff, N., Pope of Rome, and all the clergy. For the sake of your churches grant that they may live peacefully and happily for many years.
All: And remember all people.
Priest: And grant that with one voice and heart, we may praise and worship Your name, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and forever.
All: Amen.
Priest: And may the mercies of our great Guide and Lord, Jesus Christ, be with you all.
All: Thanks. You also.

[ Litany for the sanctified gifts is abolished ]
[ Litany of supplication is abolished ]

The Prayer

Priest: As Christ taught us, we say:
All: Father in heaven,
Holy is your name,
Your realm come,
Your will is done,
On earth and sky.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And pardon our sins,
As we pardon them that sin against us.
And do not allow us to be tempted,
But deliver us from evil.
Priest: For the realm, sovereignty, and happiness are yours, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever.
All: Amen.
Priest: Peace to all.
All: Thanks. You also.
Deacon: Bow to the Lord.
All: To You, O Lord.
Priest: We give you thanks, O Lord, through the kindness, mercies and compassion of Your only-begotten Son with Whom You are happy together with Your holy, good, and liberating Spirit, now and forever.
All: Amen.

Communion

Deacon: Let us pay attention.
Priest: The happy things for the happy.
All: One is happy, one is Lord, Jesus Christ, to the gladness of the Father. Amen.
Praise the Lord from heaven: praise Him in the highest. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

[ “I believe, O Lord, and confess that You are truly Christ ... ” is abolished. ]

Communion of the people

Deacon: Approach, all you people.
All: Happy is the person who comes in the name of the Word who appeared to us.

[ Communion is either received on the hand or taken directly from the diskos by the recipient. The recipient will then dip the bread into the wine and consume immediately. The use of liturgical spoon is discouraged to prevent the spread of bacteria or viruses.

Recipients come relaxed, without the requirement to cross their arms over their chest.

The priest distributing the eucharist says: The bread of life and our spiritual drink. ]

Blessing with the gifts

Priest: Save all people, O Lord, and bless your inheritance.
All: We have seen the light. We have received the teaching. We have found happiness. We worship the undivided Trinity for guiding us.
Priest: Happy is God, now and forever.
All: Amen.

Thanksgiving hymn

Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He's given
Jesus Christ His Son
And now let the weak say I am strong
Let the poor say I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us
Give thanks
We give thanks

[ Thanksgiving litany is abolished ]

Ambo prayer

Deacon: Let us go in peace.
All: In the name of the Lord.
Deacon: Let us pray to the Lord.
All: The Lord is merciful.
Priest: You bless those who bless You, O Lord, and make happy those who trust in your guidance. And we give glory, thanks, and worship to You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever.
All: Amen. Happy is the name of the Lord, now and forever.

Final blessing

Priest: May the blessing of God be on you with His kindness and love for people, always, now and forever.
All: Amen.

Dismissal

Priest: Glory to You, Christ our Lord, Glory to You.
All: Glory to the Father, Son, and Spirit, now and forever. Amen. The Lord is merciful. Give the blessing.
Priest: Christ + our Lord, through the prayers of Mary, His mother, of John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Istanbul, and of all the saints, will guide us, for He is good and loves all people.
All: Amen.

The Altar and Relics of St Syrus of Pavia

Today is the feast of St Syrus, the first bishop of the little city of Pavia in northern Italy, located about 22 miles south of Milan. The Roman Martyrology states that he “became famous with apostolic signs and virtues”, a nod to a charming legend about him, that he was the boy whose five barley loaves and two fish Our Lord multiplied, as recounted in John 6, 1-15. This tradition, which is first attested only in the 14th century, goes on to say that he remained a companion of the Apostles, and traveled to Rome with St Peter, who sent him to evangelize in the north of Italy, and that he preached in various city before becoming bishop of Pavia and dying there. His relics are housed in a beautifully decorated altar of the cathedral; here are some pictures from Nicola de’ Grandi.

The marble and alabaster altar was created by Tommaso Orsolino between 1645 and 1650, and originally placed in the cathedral crypt. It was translated to the building’s right transept in 1932.

On the front of the altar is shown the episode of the boy Syrus bringing the five loaves to the Lord, and on the right, the crowd at the multiplication.

To the left, St Marcian, a disciple of Syrus and the first bishop of Tortona, about 27 miles to the south-southwest of Pavia, martyred there ca. 120 A.D.

To the right, St Maternus, a native of Pavia whom Syrus is said to have sent north, where he became the first bishop of Triers, Liège and Cologne.

St Syrus receives keys directly from the hands of the Christ Child in the arms of his Mother, while angels hold his crozier, Gospel book, and the basket with the five loaves.   

Continue Reading this Article. . .

The Fire of the Godhead Which Miraculously Consumes, Cools and Conceives

Lesson from the Liturgy in Words and Pictures

Here are four stanzas from Ode 8, a commentary on the canticle of the Three Young Men (Daniel 3, 57-88), from Orthros (Morning Prayer in the Byzantine Liturgy) on the feast of St Nicholas, December 6th. The Canticle of the Three Young Men is their hymn of praise to God, inspired by the glory and beauty of Creation, sung when they were thrown into the furnace. Here we can see how the hymns give us a theological lesson that poetically connects the fire to God, to the Holy Spirit and to the Virgin, to the Burning Bush and to the saint being commemorated, St Nicholas. The refrain of the Canticle, “Oh you works of the Lord, bless the Lord”, appears in the first stanza.

If you’re thinking that what I am describing here is very similar to several recent posts by me, you are correct! These, and other core typological themes, come up time and time again in the Byzantine Liturgy. Every single week, there will be numerous references to them, very often, as in this case, placing them into the additional context of the feast being celebrated. This is the pedagogical method of the liturgy: important themes are repeatedly and beautifully prayed, sometimes in a variety of ways, sometimes the repetitions are identical, so that they are remembered and grasped deeply by the faithful. Aside from the theological point being made, the effect is to emphasise the unity of the liturgy in which every aspect of our worship is a facet of a whole that is directed to a single end and summit.

Here are the troparia stanzas: “In Babylon of old, the fiery furnace wielded its power in two distinct ways. By the decree of God, it consumed the Chaldeans, while it became refreshing dew for the faithful who sang: ‘All you works of the Lord, bless the Lord!’ ”

The three children in the furnace, 3rd century AD, from the Catacombs of Priscilla in Rome.

“O blessed saint, gracious and compassionate, deliver those held captive by trials; by your intercession to the Savior, free them from the ills possessing them, O priest initiated into the divine mysteries.”

Saint Nicholas resurrecting the three butchered children, from the Grandes Heures d’Anne de Bretagne (1503-8)

“The furnace moist with cool dew prefigured a wonder surpassing nature: as it left unharmed the young men that were thrown into its midst, so also the fire of the Godhead descended within the Virgin’s womb, leaving it unscathed. Wherefore let us sing a hymn of praise and say: ‘Let the whole creation bless the Lord and exalt Him forever.’ ”

The Annunciation, Domenico Beccafumi; Italian 1545

“The strange sight of the bush burning but unconsumed on Sinai in times past prefigured the mystery of your birthgiving, O spotless Maid. For the Fire of the Godhead dwelt in you, keeping you unharmed. Therefore, we praise you forever.”

The Burning Bush, by Nicholas Froment, French, in Aix Cathedral, 1475-76

Liturgical Notes on the Immaculate Conception

In the liturgical books of the Tridentine reform, the feast of the Immaculate Conception has no proper Office or Mass; the texts were those of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, with the word “Nativity” changed to “Conception” wherever it occurs. Apart from that, the only difference is the proper readings of the first and second nocturns of Matins, from the book of Ecclesiasticus (24, 5-31) and St. Ambrose’s treatise “On the Virgins.” The proper Office and Mass of the feast currently used in the Roman Rite were promulgated by Bl. Pius IX in 1863, nine years after he made the official dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception on the feast day in 1854.

The Immaculate Conception, by José Antolínez, 1650

However, the Franciscans kept a proper Office for the feast well before the decree of 1863, even though in most respects they had from the very beginning followed the liturgical use of the Roman Curia, and hence also the Missal and Breviary of St. Pius V. The Order, and famously among them, the Blessed Duns Scotus, had been the great champions of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, and kept the feast as that of the “Principal Patron and Protectress of the Order.”

The Office in question was originally composed by Leonardo Nogarolo, a notary in the court of Pope Sixtus IV, who formally approved it in the year 1480. Sixtus IV had been the Minister General of the Franciscans until two years before his election in 1471; and as Pope, he issued two important decrees on the subject of the Immaculate Conception. The first of these, Cum praeexcelsa of 1477, gave formal permission and encouragement to celebrate the feast, which was still not kept in many places. The second, Grave nimis, was issued in 1483, condemning the “preachers of certain orders” who had dared to assert that belief in the Immaculate Conception, and the celebration of the feast, was heresy, while likewise imposing silence on those who asserted the contrary, that denial of the dogma was heresy. “Preachers” refers quite obviously to the Dominicans, who were at the time largely opposed to the idea of the Immaculate Conception as taught by the Franciscans, and particularly Duns Scotus’ explanation of it. In their liturgical books of the later 15th century, the feast on December 8 is usually called the “Sanctification of the Virgin Mary”, reflecting a theory that the Virgin was sanctified in the womb like John the Baptist.

The calendar page for December of a Dominican Missal printed in 1484 (the last year of Sixtus IV’s reign), showing the feast as the “Sanctification of the Virgin Mary”.

Pope Sixtus is of course known especially as the man who commissioned the most famous chapel in the world, the Sistine Chapel, which is nicknamed for him. He also constructed a second chapel within the old basilica of St Peter next door, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, and the Office mentioned above was written by Nogarolo specifically for use therein as the proper Office of the titular feast. (Following the normal custom, I will refer to this Office as “Sicut lilium”, the first words of its first antiphon.) For this reason, the first two antiphons at Lauds are borrowed from Lauds of the Dedication of a Church, and do not refer to the Virgin Mary.

The text of most of the other antiphons and responsories is taken from the Bible, and predominantly from the Books of Proverbs, Ecclesiasticus and the Song of Songs. At Second Vespers, however, a rather unique set of antiphons was composed for the Psalms, consisting of quotations from the Church Fathers; some of the texts cited are also read at in the lessons of Matins in Nogarolo’s original version of the Office. In the pre-Tridentine liturgical books, the name of each Father is printed before the antiphon.

Jerome Nihil est candoris, nihil est splendoris, nihil est numinis quod non resplendeat in Virgine gloriosa. – There is no part of brightness, no part of glory, no part of the godhead, such that it does not shine forth in the glorious Virgin. (In the post-Tridentine use, “godhead” was evidently felt to be a bit of an exaggeration, and changed to “virtutis – virtue.”)
Origen Quæ neque serpentis persuasione decepta, nec ejus venenosis afflatibus infecta est. – Who was not deceived by the coaxing of the serpent, nor infected by his poisonous breath.
Augustine (speaking in the person of Christ.) Hanc, quam tu despicis, Manichaee, mater mea est, et de manu mea fabricata. – This woman whom you despise, Manichean, is my mother, made by my own hand. (The text from which this is taken is not an authentic work of Augustine.)
Anselm Decuit Virginem ea puritate nitere, qua major sub Deo nequit intelligi. – It was becoming that the Virgin shine with that purity, than which no greater can be understood beneath God.
Ambrose Hæc est virga, in qua nec nodus originalis nec cortex actualis culpæ fuit. – This is the rod, on which there was no knot of original guilt, nor the bark of any actual guilt. (referring to the rod of Jesse in Isaiah 11, 1)

A similar custom is still observed by the Premonstratensians, who sing the following antiphon for the Nunc dimittis on the Immaculate Conception, with the annotation at the end, “the words of our father Saint Norbert.” (St Norbert and the Premonstratensian Order were, of course, champions of the dogma even before the Franciscans, and in the Middle Ages had an entirely different proper Office of their own for the feast.)

Ant. Ave Virgo, quæ Spiritu sancto præservante, de tanto primi parentis peccato triumphasti innoxia. – Hail, o Virgin, who by the preservation of the Holy Spirit, didst triumph unhurt over the sin so great of our first father.

If I remember correctly, I once read somewhere that “Sicut lilium” was also musically very beautiful, and back in the days when attendance at solemn Vespers was the norm on major feasts, people would flock to Franciscan churches to hear it. If any of our readers can confirm or deny this, I would be interested to hear from you in the combox.

The decree that promulgated the new Office and Mass in 1863 required all religious orders to accept them, and those who preserved their own proper Uses to adapt it to their own particular customs, subject to the approval of the Sacred Congregation for Rites. Since the Franciscans (unlike the Dominicans or Premonstratensians) had always used the Roman Breviary, “Sicut lilium” then ceased to be used; a few parts of it were taken into the new Office, most notably the prayer, which reflects Duns Scotus’ insight on how the Immaculate Conception is possible.

O God, Who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, prepared a worthy dwelling place for thy Son; we beseech thee, that, as by the foreseen death of Thy same Son, Thou preserved Her from every stain, so Thou may grant us also, through Her intercession, to come to thee with pure hearts.

One of the most notable features of the 1863 Office is the readings at Matins for the feast and its octave. In the third nocturn, the readings (with one exception, a passage from St Bernard on Dec. 10) are taken from Eastern Saints whose writings had never, to the best of my knowledge, appeared in any form of the Breviary hitherto. These are two patriarchs of Constantinople, Ss Germanus (715-30) and Tarasius (784-806); St Sophronius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem (634-38) and great enemy of the Monothelite heresy, and St Epiphanius of Salamis (died 403), a great enemy of heresies generally. (This last is incorrectly attributed.) These passages are unusually long, and rhetorically effusive in the manner of their age, but were clearly chosen to witness the belief of the Universal Church in the Immaculate Conception. The reading of St. Germanus on the feast itself begins thus: “Hail Mary, full of grace, holier than the Saints, more exalted than the heavens, more glorious than the Cherubim, more honorable than the Seraphim, and venerable above every creature.” This is a clear reference to the hymn Axion esti, which is sung in the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom.

It is truly right to bless thee, O Theotokos, ever most blessed, and wholly pure, and the Mother of our God. More honorable than the Cherubim, and incomparably more glorious than the Seraphim, without corruption thou gavest birth to God the Word, the true Theotokos, we magnify thee.

Likewise, the litanies of the Divine Liturgy refer repeatedly to the Virgin Mary as “immaculate” at the conclusion, “Having made memory of our all-holy, immaculate, (“ ἄχραντος ”) blessed above all and glorious Lady, the Mother of God and ever Virgin Mary, with all the Saints, let us commend ourselves and one another and all our life to Christ our God.”

The original version of “Sicut lilium” makes only one brief mention of the Virgin Mary’s mother St Anne, in whose womb the Immaculate Conception took place. In the Byzantine Rite, on the other hand, the feast is called “the Conception (in the active sense, ‘σύλληψις’) of Saint Anne, Mother of the Mother of God”. In the icon below, the upper left shows St Joachim in the desert, where he has gone to mourn his and Anne’s barrenness, for the sake of which his offering in the temple had been refused. An angel has come to tell him to return to Anne, and that God will grant them a child who will become the Mother of the Redeemer. In the upper right, the same message is delivered to Anne herself.

The legend on which this image is based goes on to say that Joachim and Anne then went to find each other, meeting at the gate of Jerusalem called “the Golden Gate.” The depiction of their embrace and kiss is often used not only to decently represent the act of Anne’s conceiving, but to distinguish the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin from that of the Virginal Conception of Christ. This legend is referred to in a prayer found in some pre-Tridentine missals and breviaries, such as that of Herford in England; it also commonly depicted in Western art, as seen below in Giotto’s frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua.

O God, who by an angelic prophecy foretold the Conception of the Virgin Mary to her parents; grant to this Thy family gathered here, to be protected by Her assistance, whose Conception we happily venerate in this great solemnity.

The Meeting at the Golden Gate by Giotto, 1304. The mysterious female figure in black standing in the middle of the gate may represent the devil, whom Christ begins to defeat in the Conception of His Holy Mother. This figure seems also to have been the inspiration for one of the most sinister representations of the devil in modern art, in the movie The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson.

The Ambrosian Gospel of the Fourth Sunday of Advent

This article is partly based on notes by our Ambrosian expert Nicola de’ Grandi.

In many medieval uses of the Roman Rite, e.g. that of Sarum, the Gospels of the Sundays of Advent are arranged differently from what we find in the Missal of St Pius V. On the first Sunday, the Gospel is that of Palm Sunday, Matthew 21, 1-9, and the other following Gospels of the Roman tradition are pushed forward one week. None of the Roman Gospels is omitted in this system, since that of the 4th Sunday, Luke 3, 1-6, is also read on Ember Saturday.

Part of an ivory diptych made in the 5th century, now kept in the museum of the cathedral of Milan; the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem is represented in the lower part of this section. 

The Ambrosian Advent begins two weeks earlier than the Roman, making today the Fourth Sunday, and the Gospel is this same passage from Matthew 21. In the following table, I have noted the Advent Gospels of the Roman Rite, the Sarum Use (as an example of the common medieval tradition), and the Ambrosian Rite; it also includes the 24th Sunday after Pentecost, which was originally part of the Roman Advent. As you can see, the Ambrosian Rite shares all of its Advent Gospels with the Roman Rite, but orders them differently (as indicated by the red characters), and presents four of them in a longer form. Two Gospels are noted for the Sixth Sunday of the Ambrosian Advent, which has two different Masses assigned to it at two different stational churches.

The placement of this Gospel in Advent is attested in all the most ancient Ambrosian lectionaries; it is also found in the Mozarabic Rite on the 3rd Sunday, and in various lectionaries of the Gallican Rite.

The question naturally arises: Why is the Gospel of Palm Sunday, the beginning of the Lord’s Passion, read in the season which celebrates His Incarnation, and looks forward to the revelation thereof at His Birth?

In the middle days of their republic (perhaps in the 4th century BC), the Romans had instituted the custom of the “triumph”, a formalized procession through the city to celebrate an important military victory. To be voted a triumph by the Senate after such a victory was the pinnacle of a public career. But as the republic devolved into an empire, triumphs came to be devalued by overuse, and the right to hold one was reserved to the emperor alone. Hence, at the very end of the first century AD, the historian Tacitus could write that “the triumphs celebrated over (the Germans) in recent times have been in honor of imaginary victories.” (Germania 37, cited by The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th edition, in the entry for “triumph”, p. 1510.)

A bas relief preserved from the no-longer-extant arch of the emperor Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-80), showing him in a triumph after his (legitimate) victories against various Germanic tribes. Now in the Capitoline Museums in Rome. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons by Wilfredor.) 

But the human need for public spectacle and celebration, if denied in one quarter, will reemerge in another, and in late antiquity, even as Christianity was becoming more and more of a force in Roman society, there emerged the “adventus – arrival” as a ceremony to replace the triumph. It is described thus in The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity (p. 23).

“The ceremonial ‘arrival’ of a person of high rank, especially an emperor, but also provincial governors, bishops and holy men, and even relics, at a city was ‘the ceremonial par excellence of late antiquity.’ * A procession of dignitaries and citizens met the honorand some way from the city walls. After formal greetings, the honorand entered the festively decorated city to music, hymns, and ritual acclamations; the climax of the ceremony was a formal public panegyric.”

The words noted above with the * are cited from the book Art and Ceremony in Late Antiquity by Sabine MacCormack (Univ. California Press, 1981), which goes on to say this about the character of the ceremony under the Tetrarachs, the last emperors before the peace of the Church under Constantine. (pp. 22-23) ~ “… the ceremony highlighted the visible presence and activity of him who was welcomed, for which the Romans used the term deus praesens. (‘god present’; my emphasis) … the emperor able to aid and protect his subjects because he was present and available.”

Seen in this light, the Gospel of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem is read in Advent not as a prelude to His Passion, as it is on Palm Sunday, but as a symbolic representation of His two “arrivals”, a constant theme of the Advent season, first to the earthly city in His incarnation and birth, and second to the heavenly city at the end of time.

The triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem, depicted in the 6th century Gospel manuscript of Rossano. (Image from Wikimedia Commons by Michele Abastante, CC BY-SA 4.0.)

This idea of the Roman adventus ceremony is also echoed in the ingressa of the Ambrosian Mass for this Sunday, the equivalent of the introit, “The voice of one crying in the desert, ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.” Likewise the first prayer of the Mass, the only one in the Ambrosian Missal which describes Christ as “gloriosissimi – most glorious”, language very reminiscent of the panegyrics delivered as part of the ceremony.

“Praesta, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus: ut adventus gloriosissimi Filii tui et peccata nostra abluat, et populo tuo pacem conferat, et salutem. Qui tecum. ~ Grant, we ask, almighty God, that the coming of Thy most glorious Son may both wash away our sins, and confer upon Thy people peace and salvation; who liveth.”

The Second Sunday of Advent 2025

The following is taken from book V, chapter 2 of Sicard of Cremona’s Mitrale, or Summa on the Offices of the Church, one of the main sources for our friend Durandus’ liturgical commentary. On the Second Sunday of Advent, the former is far clearer, but still requires a bit of paraphrase. Sicard was born in Cremona, roughly 51 miles to the east south-east of Milan, in 1155, and elected bishop in 1185, holding the office until his death 30 years later.  

The Introit is the consolation of a pilgrim people, the son of a pilgrim mother, wailing for the absence of the father, whom he has not yet seen. … And as he weeps, because his sojourning is prolonged in misery (Ps. 119, 4), the mother, commiserating with him, but also bringing him joy and consolation, cries out with the trumpet of prophesy, “People of Sion, behold the Lord shall come to save the nations, and shall make the glory of His voice to be heard,” namely, the words, “Come, ye blessed of my Father.” (Matt. 25, 34)

Introitus, Isa. 30 Pópulus Sion, ecce, Dóminus veniet ad salvandas gentes: et audítam faciet Dóminus gloriam vocis suae in laetitia cordis vestri. Ps. 79 Qui regis Israël, intende: qui dedúcis, velut ovem, Joseph. Gloria Patri... Pópulus Sion... (People of Sion, behold the Lord shall come to save the nations; and the Lord shall make the glory of His voice to be heard, in the joy of your heart. Ps. Give ear, o thou that rulest Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. Glory be... People of Sion...)

But because without prayer there is no consolation of the mind… she adds, “Give ear, o thou that rulest Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep,” and the collect, “Stir up our hearts, o Lord.” The Epistle that follows (Rom. 15, 4-13) agrees with this, as it invites us to patience, and the consolation of the Scriptures, that through these things, we may have the hope of those things which the ancient fathers promised, namely, the salvation of the nations, and the rejoicing of the Saints.

The gradual, as it sings clearly that He is to come whose comeliness is from Sion, (that is, salvation is from the Jews (John 4, 22)), announces this to the Saints who are to be gathered at His right hand, because they have set the New Covenant before sacrifices. (Ps. 49, 5, “Gather ye together his saints to him: who set his covenant before sacrifices.”)

Graduale Ex Sion species decóris ejus: Deus manifeste veniet. V. Congregáte illi sanctos ejus, qui ordinavérunt testamentum ejus super sacrificia. (Out of Sion the comeliness of his beauty. God shall come manifestly. V. Gather ye together his saints to him, who set his covenant before sacrifices)

The son, having heard the mother’s consolation regarding the coming of the father, about the salvation of his people, about the gladness of his fellow, rejoices in the Alleluia, “I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord. Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem.”

Allelúja, allelúja. Ps. 121 Laetátus sum in his, quae dicta sunt mihi: in domum Dómini íbimus. Allelúja. (I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord.)

The Communio concludes this Mass by exhorting the pilgrim Jerusalem, that is, the Church in this world, to bear with patience the exile of this life, and bearing it, to rise, rising, to stand in the high place, so that standing it may see the rejoicing which shall come to her from the Lord. “To rise and to stand” … that is, “to despise the things of earth, and love those of heaven,” as is said at the end of the Postcommunion.

Communio, Bar. 5, 5 et 4, 36) Jerúsalem, surge et sta in excelso, et vide jucunditátem, quae veniet tibi a Deo tuo. (Jerusalem, arise, and stand on high, and see the rejoicing that shall come to thee from thy God.)

Therefore, rightly on this day is the Roman station church that of the Holy Cross ‘in Jerusalem’, since the whole Mass aims to bring consolation to the heart of that city. (Photo by our Roman pilgrim friend Agnese Bazzucchi.)

The Feast of St Nicholas 2025

An icon of St Nicholas with episodes of his life, by the Cretan painter Theodore Poulakis (1622-92). Clockwise from upper left: his episcopal ordination; his imprisonment in the time of persecution; he is released by order of Constantine; destroying a pagan temple; participating in the Council of Nicaea; brings food to a merchant in Myra; saving from execution three officers who had been falsely accused; appearing in a dream to Constantine; rescuing sailors in danger of shipwreck; his death.

Many of the proper Offices commonly used in the Middle Ages make an addition to the last responsory of Matins called a Prose (“Prosa” in Latin, sometimes also “Prosula”), an interpolation which often begins and ends with the same words as the repeating part of the responsory. It is similar to the Sequence of the Mass, and in fact, “Prosa” or “Prosula” was often used in medieval Missals instead of “Sequentia.” Some of them were inordinately long; I have heard one for the Office of Christmas which extends the responsory to about 15 minutes. They effectively disappeared at the time of the Tridentine reform, with a single exception, “Inviolata,” which is found in many editions of the Liber Usualis and other chant collections; this was kept by the Dominicans on the Purification, and by the Premonstratensians in their Little Office of the Virgin. In the commonly used medieval Office of St Nicholas, the ninth responsory includes a fairly short prose, as heard in the following recording. Below is a longer version, in which part of the responsory is repeated several times, extending it to over 13 minutes.

R. Ex ejus tumba marmorea sacrum resudat oleum; quo liniti, sanantur caeci, * surdis auditus redditur, et debilis quisque sospes regreditur.
V. Catervatim ruunt populi, cernere cupientes quae per eum fiunt mirabilia. Surdis auditus redditur, et debilis quisque sospes regreditur.
Prosa
Sospitati reddit aegros olei perfusio.
Nicolaus naufragantum affuit praesidio.
Revelavit a defunctis defunctum in bivio.
Baptizatur auri viso Judaeus indicio.
O quam probat sanctum Dei farris augmentatio!
Vas in mare mersum, patri redditur cum filio.
Ergo laudes Nicolao concinat haec concio.
Nam qui corde poscit illum, expulsato vitio,
Sospes regreditur.
Gloria Patri et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto.
Et debilis quisque sospes regreditur.

R. From his marble tomb comes forth a sacred oil; and when they are anointed with it, the blind are healed, * hearing is given back to the deaf, and every lame man walks away healthy.
V. In crowds the people rush, wishing to see the wonders that take place through him. Hearing is given back to the deaf, and every lame man walks away healthy.
Prose
The pouring of the oil brings the sick back to health.
Nicholas was present as help to sailors risking shipwreck.
At a crossroad, he raised a dead man from the dead.
A Jew is baptized when he sees the miracle of the gold.
Oh how the multiplication of grain proves God’s Saint.
A vessel sunk into the sea is given back to a father with his son.
Therefore, let this assembly sing praises to Nicholas,
For he that seeks him in his heart, vice being driven away,
walks away healthy.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
And every lame man walks away healthy.

The reference to the baptism of a Jew “when he sees the miracle of the gold” is one of the less known posthumous miracles of St Nicholas. The story is told in the Golden Legend of Bl Jacopo de Vorgine that a man who had borrowed a sum of money from a Jew tried to cheat him by claiming falsely that he had already repaid it. Going to court, he filled his hollowed out walking-staff with small pieces of gold, to a value greater than what he owed, and then handed the staff to the Jew to hold for him, while he solemnly (and in a certain sense, truthfully) swore his oath that he had given him what he owed and more. While returning from court, however, the cheat was run over by a chariot at a crossroads and killed, and his staff broken, revealing the fraud. When it was suggested to the Jew that he reclaim his money, he refused “unless the dead man should return to life by the merits of the blessed Nicholas,” which did indeed happen, leading to his conversion and baptism.

St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Sun: Praise for the Creator

Lost in Translation #150

The first two stanzas of St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Sun (which we began examining last week) are:

Altissimu, omnipotente bon Signore, Tue so le laude, la gloria e l’honore et onne benedictione.

Ad Te solo, Altissimo, se konfano, et nullu homo ène dignu te mentouare.

Which I and others translate as:

Most High, Almighty, good Lord, Yours are praise, glory, honor, and every blessing.

To You alone, Most High, do they belong, and no man is worthy of mentioning You.

Saint Francis begins his song about creation with praise of the Creator, for creation owes all its goodness to its Creator. Two themes emerge: the transcendence of God and the lowliness of man.

The key thing to understand about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is that He is not the highest point in the pyramid of existence: He is above the pyramid altogether. As C.S. Lewis writes: “If there was a controlling power outside the universe, it could not show itself to us as one of the facts inside the universe – no more than the architect of a house could actually be a wall or staircase or fireplace in that house.” [1] Just as an architect utterly transcends the house that he makes and is made of an entirely different stuff than a house, so too does God utterly transcend His creation and has an Essence entirely different from that of His creation.

C.S. Lewis and his house

That said, divine transcendence does not mean divine distance. As St. Augustine notes, God is closer to us than we are to ourselves: He is secretissimus et praesentissimus, most hidden and most present. [2] Unlike the architect who can walk away from and forget about the house that he built, God remains utterly present to His creation at all time; if He forgot about it for one moment, it would cease to exist. And creation abounds with God’s fingerprints, eloquently pointing back to its Creator. Again Augustine comes to mind. “Tell me of my God, since you are not He,” the Bishop of Hippo dramatically says to all creatures. “Tell me something of Him.” And they cried out in a great voice: “He made us!” Augustine adds that “their answer was their beauty.” [3]

From the book Gus Finds God

In his Canticle, Saint Francis indicates God’s transcendence with the words “Most High” (which he uses twice) and “Almighty” and by ascribing to God all praise, glory, honor, and blessing. This glorious, Supreme God is then contrasted with measly man, who is not even worthy of mentioning God. (Francis may have in mind the Jewish convention of never uttering the holy name of God, YHWH, a name too lofty to pass over sinful human lips.) It is a curious paradox: man can know that he has a Creator, but his own creatureliness and sinfulness make him unworthy to talk about Him.

And yet that is precisely what Francis does in this canticle. Unworthy though he is, he knows that he has been redeemed and given the gift of Faith which enables him to know, love, and serve his Creator. And he does so because giving God all praise and admitting one’s own lowliness is paradoxically liberating and exhilarating. Francis’ posture in the Canticle once more calls to mind Augustine, who begins his Confessions with:

Great art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is Thy power, and of Thy wisdom there is no number. And man desires to praise Thee. He is but a tiny part of all that Thou hast created. He bears about him his mortality, the evidence of his sinfulness, and the evidence that Thou dost resist the proud: yet this tiny part of all that Thou hast created desires to praise Thee. Thou dost so excite him that to praise Thee is his joy. For Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee. [4]

This article appeared as “Holy Creation” in the Messenger of St. Anthony 127:3, international edition (March 2025), p. 21. Many thanks to its editors for allowing its publication here.

Notes

[1] Mere Christianity.

[2] Confessions 1.

[3] Confessions 10.6.9.

[4] Confessions 1.1.1