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HISTORY
OF
TiRE RO
IAN BREVIARY
HISTORY
OF THE
RO
lAN
BREVIARY
By PIERRE BATIFFOL, LITT.D.
TRANSLATED BY
AT'VELL
l. Y. BAYLAY,
l.A.
VICAR OF THURGARTON, NOTTS
WITH A NEW PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR
LONG}IANS, GREEN, AND CO.
B9 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK AND BOMBAY
1898
A.ll rights reserveù
FEB 6 1q!i2
,
PBJEF ACE
DE
L'ÉDITION ANGLAISE
--+;)+--
NOTRE Histoire cl1t Bréviaire romain, que Ie zèIe si soigneux
et si éclairé de lVI. Baylay a pris la peine de traduire en
anglais, a paru en français dans les premiers jours de 1893,
et six mois plus tard une seconde édition en fut donnée
par nous, qui différait de la première en ce que les pages
193-208 avaient été intégralement refondues. C'est cette
seconde édition qui est actuellement encore dans Ie com-
merce, et que la présente édition anglaise reproduit.
Toutefois, depuis 1893, des critiques qui m'ont été
adressés, des recherches que j'ai pu faire, des travaux
d'autrui qui ont été publiés, il y avait quelque fruit à re-
tirer dont la présente édition anglaise était en droit de
profiter. Sur mes indications 1\1. Baylay a bien voulu
carriger un certain nombre d'erreurs matérielles, et je dois
à son acribie de m'en avoir signalé plusieurs qui m'avaient
échappé. La Geschichte des Breviers de Dom Bäumer,
VI HISTORY OF THE ROMAN BREVIARY
parue en 1895, m' a fourni peu de chose: la raison en est
que cet ouvrage avait paru pour une bonne part en articles
de revues antérieurs à mon livre même, articles que je
connaissais quand j' écrivis mon Histoire du Bréviai1re
1"01nain; pour une autre part la Geschichte des Breviers
dépend de mon propre livre; pour une troisième part elle
Ie contredit et Ie critique. Mon intention ne saurait être
de transformer cette histoire en controverse, surtout en
controverse contre un religieux dont je m'honore d'avoir
été l'ami, et dont la mort prématurée m'a été un deuil
sensible. II me suffira de dire que sur les points capitaux
où mon opinion diffère de celIe de l'érudit Bénéàictin de
Beuron, sur ceux-Ià surtout OÙ il qualifie mon sentiment
de (neue Theorie,' ses raisons ne m'ont nullement con-
verti au sentiment qu'il défend. Pour la présente édition
anglaise, j' emprunterai à la Geschichte des Brcviers
quelques indications concernant les réformes du XVle
siècIe, indications que Dom Bäumer a été Ie premier à
produire. J e crois que pour la période qui va du concile
de Trente à Benoit XIV l'histoire du bréviaire est main-
tenant bien connue. Pour Ie moyen âge, je salue avec joie
la publication de M. Ehrensperger, Libri liturgwi Biblio-
thecae Apostolicae Vaticanae man
tscTipti (Fribourg-B.
1897), comme Ie commencement de cette inventaire
critique des manuscrits liturgiques, qui sera Ie travail pré-
paratoil'e indispensable à mener à bon terme avant de
pouvoir entreprendre une histoire définitive de la liturgie
l'on1aine de l' office divino J e salue aussi la grande æuvre
scientifique que nos Bénédictins français de Solesmes pour-
PRÉFACE DE L'ÉDITION A
GLAISE
..
Vll
suivent avec tant de zèIe, leur Paléographie M
lsicale;
on y voit que l' archéologie musicale est encore å sa pre.
mière période, C la période des fouilles et des coups de
pioche,' comme les Bénédictins Ie disent eux-mêmes;
mais déjà que d'indications heureuses et de trouvailles de
détail ! J é salue enfin la prom esse que nous font les
mêmes Bénédictins de no us donner bientôt un A uctarÏ1l'fJl"
où nous trouverons édités en une série complète les anciens
livres liturgiques, à commencer par les livres milanais.
Ce sont là autant d'entreprises de bon augure, et qui per.
mettent d' espérer bien des progrès pour les historiens qui
reprendront dans quelque vingt ans l'histoire des sources
du bréviaire romaine
Puisse mon livre, provisoire comme il est sur tant de
points, faire du moins aimer notre antique liturgie romaine.
Et puisqu'il est traduit en anglais en cette mémorable
année où d'un cæur également ému catholiques anglicans
et catholiques romains nous célébrons Ie centenaire de la
venue de Saint Augustin en Angleterre, Ie centenaire aussi
de l'initiation de l' Angleterre à la liturgie de Saint-Pierre,
puisse-t-il porter avec lui l'écho de cette unanimité des
anciens jours, et contribuer dans son humble mesure it
l'intégrale restauration d'un passé qui nous est si chert
P. B.
PARIS, 25 dëcemb'J'e, 1897.
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE
-..c+-
IT has been my effort, throughout this translation, without
any straining after literalness, to give the author's mean-
ing fully and faithfully, and, in so far as I have failed, I
can only beg forgiveness both of him and of my readers.
I have not felt it my business to put forward my own
opinions on any part of the subject.
As will have been seen in the foregoing Preface, this
translation is no mere reproduction of the second French
edition: it incorporates, in fact, a great deal, both in the
way of recasting and expansion, newly contributed by
1\'1. BATIFFOL, of whose kindness, not only in so willingly
giving permission for the publication of an English trans-
lation of his work, but in manifesting the \varmest and
most unwearied interest in its progress, I cannot speak too
gratefully.
The references and notes are 1\1. BATIFFOL'S, except a
few marked A. B. I have ventured to add English ver-
sions of the principal Latin passages quoted, as I hope
the book \vill be read with interest by many of my
x HISTORY OF THE ROMAN BREVIARY
countrymen who are not better acquainted with Latin than
with French.
My best thanks are due to the Revs. E. G. WOOD and
C. F. G. TURNER for many valuable hints, and to my
old friend Mr. LACEY for allowing me to avail myself
throughout of his well-known learning and acumen.
I hope that some
f my readers, not hitherto familiar
with the Breviary, will be led to desire its better acquain-
tance: I am sure that those who know and love it already
will love it all the more.
PREFACE
TO
THE FIRST FRENCH EDITION
-
THE author of this l\fanual, while calling it a History of
the Roman Breviary, has been far from supposing that so
great a subject could be exhaustively treated in so fe\y
pages. His object has been to summarise, and on some
points to state more precisely, and with all possible clear-
ness, the results reached or led up to by such learned
writers as Cardinal Bona, Cardinal Tommasi, Thomassin,
Dom Guéranger, and Monsignor de Roskovány. In sum-
madsing these results, he has in every case verified them
by reference to their original sources, being determined
that, though his work ,vas to popularise the subject, it
should be \york at first hand, and give direct information.
He has even been led to revise them, not considering him-
self forbidden to make researches on his own account, to
classify in accordance with his personal observation, and
to dra\v conclusions on his own responsibility and at his
Xll HISTORY OF THE ROMA
BREVIARY
own risk. But in thus treating this vast subject it has not
been possible for him to avoid seeing how many unex-
plored countrie
are still to be found in that ancient con-
tinent. Weare still without a critical edition of the Liber
Responsalis of the Roman Church; we have no collection
or scientific classification of the most ancient 01'dines
Romani; no catalogue of the Roman liturgical books from
the eighth to the thirteenth century; no catalogue or
classification of monastic breviaries of dates anterior to
the thirteenth century, or of breviaries, whether Roman or
non-Roman, from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century;
we have not even a descriptive account of printed Roman
breviaries! Not to speak of documents which might be
published relating to the various reforms of the Roman
Breviary in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth
centuries. A man might gladly devote years to such re-
searches, but then, the book he would write \vouid not be
a Manual: a collection such as the A nalecta Liturgica of
1\1r. Weale \vould be none too large. So one must needs
restrain oneself, and be content simply to strive to keep in
the right track, and guide others along it.
The author has endeavoured to avoid those practical
questions of ritual which depend either on moral theology
or on the decisions of the Congregation of Rites; and still
more to keep clear of the prejudices which, in France at
least, have too long embittered such questions. His aim
has been to treat the subject from the standpoint of
Christian archaeology and the history of Christian litera-
ture. J.\;Iore fortunate than some liturgical writers of the
PREFACE TO THE FIRST FRENCH EDITION
...
Xill
last generation, we are now able to speak of C liturgy'
without being influenced by external considerations; 'we
can criticise and we can admire without reference to any
other matter; taking for the guiding principle of our ap.
preciation those admirable words, worthy of S. Gregory,
though they are not his, non lJro locis res, sed pro reb
ts
.wca nobis amanda sunt. l
Newman, while still an Anglican, could write this re..
markable passage:
· There is so much of excellence and beauty in the services of the
Breviary, that, were it skilfully set before the Protestant by Roman
controversialists as the book of devotions received in their Commu-
nion, it would undoubtedly raise a prejudice in their favour, if he
were ignorant of the circumstances of the case, a
::l but ordinarily
candid and unprejudiced.' 'l
It is this excellence and beauty of the Roman office
which I have endeavoured to express, just as I have my..
self been sensible of it. And as to the 'circumstances of
the case,' alluded to by Newman, I have considered it
my duty to analyse them just as they are, without
attempting to minimise them, being well convinced that
they would not tend to diminish the general impression
of esteem and admiration which the Roman B...'eviary must
produce, whether considered as regards its cont9nts or the
sources from which they are drawn. It is the impression
I [' We are not to love things for the sake of the place where we
find them, but places for the sake of the good things we fnd there.'
S. Gregory's letter to S. Augustine, as given by Bede, i. 27.-A.B.]
2 Tracts for the Times, No. 75, 'On the Roman Breviary,' p. 1.
xiv HISTORY OF THE RO
IAN BREVIARY
I have experienced in tracing back from the sixteenth
century to the thirteenth, from the thirteenth to the
seventh, the traditions of the Roman Liturgy; in studying
in their authentic text the most ancient curs us of the
Roman basilicas, and of the Vatican basilica above all; in
transplanting myself, as it were, into ancient times, and
becoming like on3 of those Anglo-Saxon clerks of the
seventh century, who came on pilgrimage to the tomb of
the Prince of the Apostles, and who, at once influenced by
the authority and enthralled by the mystic beauty of ,the
Ordo ROman'llS and the Gregorian chant, asked of S. Peter
that he would teach them to pray, themselves repeatil1g
to him the Doce nos orare of the Gospel. lVlay the l\on1an
Church pardon me if my predilection for these ancient
forms of her liturgy has made me too severe or less judi-
cious a critic of those which are more modern, or if that
predilection has sometimes be
rayed itself in \vhat I have
\vritten.
PARIS: November 11, 1892.
CONTENTS
PRÉFACE DE L'ÉDITION ANGLAISE .
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE
PREFACE TO THE FIRST FRENCH EDITIO:"i
CHAP.
I. THE GENESIS OF THE CA:80NICAL HOURS .
II. THE SOURCES OF THE ROMAN ORDO PS.dLLENDI .
III. THE RmIAN CANONICAL OFFICE I
THE TIME OF CRARLE-
MAGNE
IV. THE MODERNUM OFFICIUM AND THE BREVIARIES ÙF THE
CUR1.d .
V. THE BREVIARY OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT
VI. THE PROJECTS OF BENEDICT XIV.
CONCLUSIO
PAG)t
v
ix
xi
1
39
HO
158
229
289
351
XVI HISTORY OF THE ROMAN BREVIARY
APPENDICES
PAGE
B. EXTRACTS FROM THE OEDO OF S. AMAKD
. 357
. . 360
A. EXTRACTS FROM THE ORDO OF 1\IONTPELLIER
C. EXTRACTS FROM THE ANONYMOUS LITURGICAL \VORK PRINTED
BY GERBERT
. 365
D. TRANSLATION OF SOME PASSAGES IN THE EXTRACTS
377
E. LIST OF M. BATIFFOL'S OTHER CONTRmUTIONS TO THE HIS-
TORY OF THE BREVIARY
. 384
INDEX
. . 385
HISTORY
OF THE
ROMAN BREVIARY.
CHAPTER I
THE GENESIS OF THE CANONICAL HOURS
THE Roman canonical Office, of which the Roman Breviary
is an adaptation, dates from the end of the seventh cen-
tury or the beginning of the eighth. But this Roman
canonical Office is not by any means a creation, formed in
all its parts at a given date, by some Pope whose name is
unknown to us. It is a composite ,vork: various ages
have contributed to it; some of the materials which find a
place in it have come from far: it is like the basilica of
St. Peter in the days of Pope Adrian the First.
In the second chapter we shall have to analyse the
materials furnished by Rome herself to this work of her
canonical Office, but we have in the first place to deal
with those ,vhich it owes to the common tradition of all
the Churches. To Rome belong its Kalendar, its appa-
ratus of antiphons and responds, its chant, and the actual
order of its psalmody; to Catholic usage belongs the pre-
scription of the various hours of prayer: that is to say, the
B
2 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN BREVIARY
principle of the Office itself, a principle whose origin and
primitive developments it is important to determine, in
order to be in a better position for understanding the in-
dependent application which was made of that principle
by t4e Roman Church.
The pr:incipal element in the Divine Office may be, at
all events oonjecturally, regarded as being connected with
one of the very earliest Christian ideas.
Our Saviour Jesus Christ died forsaken by His own
disciples, condemned by the Jews, crucified between two
thieves. He rose again the third day, He ascended into
Heaven; but was t4at the whole of the triumph which
the pr:ophets had foretold for the l\1essiah, the Son of
David? No! and what had been wanting to Him in His
passage t4rough t4is world, that royal glory of the Con-
queror, so clearly pro
ised by so many prophets, was yet
to be realised in a return which was near at hand, and
which would, in fact, be His acces
ion to His Kingdom.
Christ was going to return in triumph to judge the
world; the first generation would not pass before His
glory and His royal justice would manifest themselves
in the Holy City and to the whole world; or rather let us
say, that first generation and many
ore would pass a"way
without the loyal children of the new faith losing aught
of their hope and dread of that return, always close at
hand.
Moreover, if the year of His return was uncertain, if
as the Synoptic Gospels testified, its very season was
unknown, the impression was easily formed at an early
date that, as the night of the Holy Saturday which
THE GENESIS OF THE CANONICAL HOURS 8
ushered in the first Easter was that on \vhich the Saviour
came forth alive from the tomb, on such a night also
would He reappear, like the destroying angel \vho on the
night of the first pasoover had smitten the first-born of
Egypt and avenged the children of Israel. On that night,
then, it was meet that none should sleep, but watch and
pray till dawn, awaiting the coming of the Lord.
So, from the evening of Holy Saturday to cock-crow on
Easter morning the faithful remained gathered together
in prayer. This explanation of the origin of the vigil of
Easter is very ancient. S. Isidore of Seville (d. 636),
\vho mentions it,. borrowed it from Lactantius 2 (d. 325) ;
S. Jerome alludes to it as an Apostolic tradition. 3 The
1 Etymolog. vi. 17.
3 Comment. in Matt. iv. 25:
'Traditio Iudaeorum est Chris.
turn media nocte venturum in
similitudinem Aegyptii temporis,
quando Pasch a celebratum est et
exterminator venit, et Dominus
super tabernacula transiit, et san-
guine agni postes nostrarum fron-
tium consecrati sunt. U nde reor
et traditionem apostolicam per-
mansisse ut, in die vigiliarum
Paschae, ante noctis dimidium
populos dimittere non liceat,
expectantes ad ventum Christi.
Et postquam illud tempus trans-
ierit, securitate praesumpta, fes.
turn cuncti agunt diem. Un de et
Psalmista dicebat, Media nocte
s'ltrgebarn ad conjìtend'll'ln Tibi
super iudicia iustijìcationis
Tuae.'
2 Divin. Instit. vii. 19.
'The tradition of the Jews is
that Christ will come at midnight,
as at the time of the going forth
from Egypt, when the Passover
was celebrated, and the destt.oy-
ing angel came; when the Lord
passed over our dwellings, and
our door-posts were hallowed by
the blood of the lamb. Whence
also I think that the Apostolic
tradition has survived, of not
allowing the people to be dis-
missed before midnight on the
vigil of Easter, in expectation of
the coming of Christ. But after
that hour has passed, all, with
confidence of safety, celebrate the
festival. \Vhence the PRalmist
also said, "At midnight I will
rise to give thanks unto Thee,
because of Thy righteous judg-
ments" (Ps. cxviii. [cxix.], (2).'
B2
4 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN BREYIARY
vigil of Easter was, to use S. Augustine's expression, 'the
mother of all the holy vigils.' 1
The Paschal observance being the protot
ype of the
observance of the Sunday, just in the same way as
Easter had its great night vigil, each Sunday had its night
vigil. The institution of this vigil is as old as the insti-
tution of the Sunday itself. It has been remarked that
it already makes its appearance in the letter of Pliny
about the Christians, where we read: 'The Christians
affirm that their crime or their error consists in nothing
more than this, that they are accustomed to meet together
on certain fixed days before snnrise; to sing together a
hymn to Christ as God; . . . which being done, they
separate, and meet again afterwards to take a repast in
common: 2 This meeting befor-e sunrise on a fixed day,
a meeting distinct from the Eucharistic assembly, and
devoted to the singing of a 'hymn to Christ, can be
nothing else, so it is conjectured., but the Sunday vigil.
In strictness, the Sunday vigil, like that of Easter,
ought to have lasted all night, and hence came its ancient
Greek name of 7ravvvxíç. But, as à general rule, the Sunday
vigil only began at cock-crow, an hour varying with the
season, but always after midnight. In order, however, to
remain faithful to the primitive idea of the vigil, Christians
devoted to prayer the beginning of the night, the time
just after sunset, when the first lamps were lighted. This
hour \vas called in Greek ÀVXVLKÓV, in Latin lucernare,
or, as S. Ambrose some\vhere says, hora incensi, 'the
hour of incense.' So \vhat we call Vespers was, in its
origin, the first part of the night vigil. It is true, this
1 Scnn. ccxix.
2 Plin. Epist. x. 97.
THE GENESIS OF THE CA
ONICAL HOURS 5
idea of its original oneness with the night vigil "Tas early
lost. But Methodius (d. 311) is mindful of it, ,vhen he
ompares the life of virgins to a vigil, which, like all vigils,
had thr.ee periods: the evening watch, the second .watch,
and the third watch (vigilia vespertina, secunda, tertia),
representing youth, middle age, and old age. l So John
Cassian, at the beginning of the fifth century, preserves
the same tradition when he includes the office of Vespers
and that of the cock-crowing under the one. title of night-
office. 2 This, then, is my idea of the origin: of the' liturgy
of prayer.' Is there any need for me to call attention to
the fact that everything so far is of necessity uncertain?
Let us pass on rapidly to firmer ground.
The programme of the vigil office comprised three
different exercises: the psalmody, the reading of Holy
Scripture, and the prayers or collects. Tertullian, when
speaking of the Sunday observances, distinguishes these
three constituent parts: in ecclesia, inter DonÚnica
solemnia . . . psabni canuntur . . . scriptl.lrae leg1.tntl.lr
. . . petitiones delega1"ttur. Psalms, lessons, prayers:
such is the composition of the vigil office. 3
I Sympos
11. 2. 2 Coenob. Instit'll,," iii. 8.
3 Speaking of a prophetess of his sect, the l\1ontanißts (D v
Anima, 9) :
'Est hodie seror apud nos
revelationum eharisro.ata SQrtita.
quas in ecclesia inter dominica
solemnia per ecstasin in spirito
patitur. . . . Iamvero prout
Scripturae leguntur, aut psalmi
canuntur, aut adlocutiones pro-
feruntur, aut petitiones delegan-
tur, ita inde materiae visionibus
subministrantur. '
, 'Ve have now among us a
sister gifted with revela,tions,
which she receives in spirit, in
an ecstasy, while the Sunday
observances in church are pro-
.ceeding. For according as.. the
Scriptures are being r
ad
m.: tbe
Psalms sung, or addresses.
-
livered, or pra.yers offered up,
so from each. is matter for her
visions supplied to her.'
6 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN BREVIARY
The number of those who knew how to read was
small, and books were scarce: the psalmody was not
executed by all the congregation together, but as a solo,
by a cleric (whether deacon or reader)t or by a chanter,
styled hypoboleus or modulator, who Was not a cleric.
He chanted the psalm to a musical phrase, sometimes
simple, like a recitative, sometimes more ornate. Custom
was divided, in different places, between these two modes
of rendering the psalmody. At Alexandria, as also at
Carthage and at Rome, the simple chant was preferred to
the more ornate. S. Athanasius ordered that the reader
of the psalms should use such slight inflexions of the
voice that he might seem rather to say than to chant them:
c Tal1
'lnodico flexu vocis jaciebat sonare lectorem psal111,i
1tt pronuncianti vicinior esset q1tam canenti.' 1 Meanwhile
the congregation listened in silence to the soloist as he
proceeded with the chant of the psalm. But the psalm
always ended with a fixed phrase set to a well-knovtn
chant, which the congregation sang all together. Such,
for in
tance, is the origin of the doxology Gloria Patri.
Even in the course of the psalm they interpolated similar
fixed phrases, which the congregation were to chant all
together, after each verse or pair of verses. Such a formula
was called åKPOUTíxtOv.2 The chant of the Invitatory
as still used with the Venite, or the refrain of the hymn
Gloria laus et honor, will give some idea of the psalmody
then called Psal1nus Responsorius. Sozomen, relating the
translation of the body of S. Babylas at Antioch in the
time of Julian the Apostate, speaks of chanters singing
psalms to which the multitude responded C Confounded
] S. August. Confess. x. 33.
2 Cons tit. Apost. ii. 57.
THE GENESIS OF THE CANONICAL HOURS 7
be all they that worship carved images' (Ps. xcvi.
[xcvii.], 7).1 So again: 'I took my place on the throne,'
writes S. Athanasius, 'and ordered a deacon to say a
psalm, and the congregation to respond "For his mercy
endureth for ever." , 2 And S. Augustine: 'Evodius took
the psalter, and began to chant a psalm, to which we
responded all together " My song shall be of mercy and
judgment: unto Thee, 0 Lord, will I sing'" (Ps. c.
[ci.],1).3 This simple form of psalmody had been
borrowed by the Christians from the custom of the Jews
(Euseb. H. E. ii. 17, 22).
We are assured by John Cassian that the monastic
cOlnmunities of Egypt at the end of the fourth century
remained faithful to this severe and ancient form of
psalmody. The office of the evening and that of the night,
the two portions of the night office, as Caseian calls them,
were each taken up with the recitation of twelve psalms.
And this number appears to have been fixed at a very
early period, for the Egyptians loved to assert that it
dated back to S. Mark, their first bishop, These twelve
psalms were executed as a solo by a reader
or rather by
four readers who relieved each other; each of them having
to recite only three psalms in succession. If the psalm
was long, a short pause was made after every ten or
twelve verses. There was no Doxology at the end of the
psalm, but simply a prayer, and at the end of the twelfth
psalm an Alleluya. Then they went on to the reading of
the Scriptures, which comprised two lessons, one being
from the Old Testament and the other from the New, on
every day but Saturday and Sunday, when both were
1 Boz. v. 19.
2 A pol. de Fuga, 24.
S Conf. ix. 12.
8 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN EREVIARY
from the New Testament. During the whole time occu-
pied by the psalmody and lessons the monks remained in
absolute silence: they were forbidden to spit, to cough, or
even to sigh in an audible manner; nothing was to be
heard but one voice; there seemed to be as it were but
one soul, so rapt was the attention of the congregation.
The two lessons being ended, the congregation, who had
hitherto been seated, knelt down to thank God in silence.
Then, all standing up, the officiant recited a prayer aloud..
In the Syrian churches, during the first half of the
fourth century, the vigil offices presented an aspect in
which one easily recognises the same features as in
Egypt, with some important differences. The vigil had
already ceased to be composed, as it was in Egypt, of
two offices of equal length, the evening and the night
office, and consisted of three unequal offices, the evening,
the night, and the morning. In the evening the bishop
assembled the faithful in the church; the psalms of the
vesper office having been said, the deacon recited a
prayer for catechumens, for the possessed, and for peni-
tents. Then, these classes of persons having been dis-
missed, he said, 'Let us, the faithful, pray,' and the
congregation, standing up, asked of God silently a quiet
night without sin. The bishop, in his turn, rose, recited
a prayer, and blessed the faithful, after \vhich the deacon
dismissed the congregation. The night office, which was
concluded in the same way,2 was in itself much what it
,vas in Egypt: they rose for it at midnight; there was a
psalmody of a fixed number of psalms with a prayer
after each; every group of three psalms was followed by
1 .cassian, Coenob. Instit. ii. 4-12
Cons tit. Apost. ii. 59.
THE GENESIS OF THE CANONICAL HOURS 9
an Alleluya; after the psalmody came the lessons. But,
as soon as the sun appeared, an office was recited, com-
posed, like the vesper offices after this time, of invariable
psalms, known as the psalms of the dawn (òp()pLvoí)-viz.
the Deus Deus meus, ad te de l1wc vigilo (Ps.lxii. [lxiii.]), the
Benedicite, and the Gloria in excelsis. 1 Thus to the night
office was added a morning psalmody, corresponding to
that of the evening; it is the origin of what we call
'Lauds.' But, everything being considered, the trilogy of
Vespers, N octurns, and Lauds was by no means a develop-
ment foreign to the idea of the primitive vigil; it formed,
on the contrary, its harmonious expression, and recalled
the three periods which Methodius in his definition
distinguished as entel'ing into the .composition of every
vigil.
We have just seen that in Syria, in the first half of
the fourth century, the Gloria in ,excelsis was reckoned as
one of the psalms oj the mornipg ,office. In the same
way they reckoned among the vesper psalms the fol-
lowing little hymn.;
'Ve praise Thee, we hymn TheE, we bless Thee for Thy great
glory, 0 LorJ our King. 0 Father of Christ the Lamb that
was slain and hath tak.en away the sin of the world, to Thee
be praise, to Thee the hymn, to Thee the glory, to Thee 'Vho art
God, even the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Ghost, for
ever
nd E;!ver. Amen. 2
These are two curiosities of euchology. They are
what used -to be called 'private psalms' (psal1ni idiotic1-).
This sort of Christian psalm had been, in the second and
1 Pseud.-Athanas. De Virginitate, 20.
2 Constit. Apost. vii. 47.
10 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN BREVIARY
third centuries, in great favour both with Catholics and
heretics. In a fragment of an anonymous Roman treatise,
'Against the Heresy of Artemon,' qrtòted by Eusebius,
the controversialist opposes to the urtitarian innovations
of that heresiarch of the end of the second century the
authority of the Popes Victor and Zephyrinus, who had
condemned him, as also of S. Justin Martyr, S. Clement,
S. Irenaeus, and lVlelito, who had so clearly affirmed
the Divinity of Christ . . . . 'and so great a number of
Christian psalms and hymns, compösed by the faithful
from the very beginning of the Chutch, wherein they cele-
brate Christ, the Word of God, proclaiming Him to be God
Himself.' I Paul of Samosata
who was Bishop of Antioch
from 260 to 270, had suppressed 'the psalms which
,vere chanted there in honout of our Lord Jesus Christ.'
Such is the expression used by the bishops in giving
sentence of deposition agaiiìst Paul. And what pretext
had the latter alleged in justification of this suppression?
'These psalms,' he had said, 'were not the ancient
psalms of David: they wete new, and the work of new
men.' 2
The names of söme authors of new psalms of this
sort are known. S. Basil mentions Athenogenes, a
martyr of the time of Septimius Severus, as the author of
a psalm, still famörts in the foutth century for the
remarkable expression of the dogma ol the '1'rinity which
it is said to have corttained. 3 The fragment of Muratori
testifies that Marcion, in the secönd half of the second
century, put in circulation a book of psalms of his own
1 Euseb. H. E. v. 28, 5. 2 Th. vii. 3Ö, 10.
S Basil, De Spiritu Sanæto, 73.
THE GENESIS OF THE CANONICAL HOURS 11
way of thinking. S. Dionysius of Alexandria (d. 265)
speaks in praise of 'the numerous psalms, so dear to a
vast number of the faithful,' composed by Nepos, an
Egyptian bishop of the first half of the third century..
V alentine
the great Roman Gnostic of the time of Anto-
ninus (138-161), had also composed psalms, which were
known to Tertullian. 2 Bardesanes, one of his disciples
(A.D. 223), was the author of a collection of 150 psalms,
which were widely used in Syriac-speaking churches; it
was an entire psalter, and a Gnostic one. 3 More than one
specimen of these psalms has come down to us, especially
in the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, which are in great
part Gnostic works of the second half of the second
century or the first half of the third; and we find these
anonymous works distinguished sometimes by a lofty
style of poetry. Such are the Gnostic hymns in the Acta
Iohannis and the Acta Tlwmae. Here is a hymn of the
kind, of Catholic origin, composed in the time of Clement
of Alexandria. 4
EVENING HYMN
o Jesu Christ, joyful Light of the holy glory of the Immortal
Father, the Heavenly, the Holy, the Blessèd: now being come
unto the setting of the sun, and beholding the light of evening,
we bless the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit of God.
Worthy art Thou at all times to be praised with holy voices,
o Son of God that givest Life.
Therefore doth all the world glorify Thee.
I Euseb. H. E. vii. 24, 4.
2 De Carne Christi, 17; cf. Philosophum. vi. 37.
S Boz. iii. 16.
4 Wilh. Christ and M. Paranikas, Antlwlogia Graeca Carminum
Christianorum, Leipzig, 1871, p. 40; cf. Clem. Alex. Paedag. iii. 12
(Christ and Par. Ope cit. p. 37). [Routh, Bel. Bacr. tom. iii, 515.]
12 HISTORY OF THE ROl\IAN BREVIARY
Thus in the second and third centuries an original
Christian lyric poetry was developed. It was its misfor-
tune to be made all too easily the medium of Gnostic and
Marcionite ideas, and it became f later on, an instrument
in the hands of worse heretics. In the fourth century
the Donatists and Arians made use of similar psalms to
propagate their do
trines. Arius composed to ne'v
melodies 'songs for sailors' and 'songs for travellers,'
which insinuated his perniciou3 teachings into simple
hearts through the charm of their music. 1 It ,vas quite
enough to discourage the Catholic Church from the use
of such psalms. The metrical hymns of S. Gregory
N azianzen ,vere nev
er honoured ,vith a place' in the
liturgy. By that time, the secoud half of the fourth
century, the psalmi idiotici had been banished from
Catholic liturgical use. Yet they have not entirely
perished. The beau.tiful evening psalm quoted above
still forms part of the caRonical Office of the Greek
Church. The morning psalm, GlO1'ia in excelsis, banished
from the office of La"Ç.Q.s, found, before the sixth century,
a place in the Roman 01'do ]Vlissae. And the Te Dmt1n,
still sung at the end of N octurns, is nothing else than a
psalmus idiotic1tß.
The vigil office, ,vhich originally ,vas peculiar to the
observance of Sunday, was early introduced into the
observance of the festivaìs of martyrs. Each such anni.
versary, or na,tale, as it was called, was observed, like
the Lord's Day, with a Eucharistic assembly preceded by
a vigil (coet1tS antelucanus). The antiquity of these anni-
1 Philostorg. ii. 2 i Socrat. vi. 8.
THE GENESIS OF THE CANONICAL HOURS 13
versaries is attested by a document of the year 155:
I mean the encyclical letter of the faithful at Smyrna,
announcing the Inartyrdom of S. Polycarp. It mentions,
as an already established custom, the idea of celebrating
the natale of a martyr by the assembly of the faithful at
the place where his body reposes.! It is the same custom
to which allusion is made in the' Passion of S. Cyprian,'
when it is mentioned as a providential circumstance that
the people of Carthage were celebrating a vigil on the
night which preceded the Inartyrdom of their bishop:
, Concessit ei tunc Divina bonitas . . . 'lll Dei populus etiarn
in sacerdotis passi01w vigilaret' 2: as if God had caused
the natale of the saint to be celebrated even before his
death. And the author of the' Passion of S. Saturninus
of Toulouse' has described this custom in excellent
terms, writing thus: 'The anniversaries of the days on
which the martyrs were crowned in Heaven we celebrate
by vigils and by a Mass.' 3 These vigils of martyrs were
not celebrated in city churches, but outside the walls, in
the cemetery where the martyr was buried. 'Assemble
yourselves,' say the 'Apostolic Constitutions' in the
fourth century, 'in the cemeteries, to read the Holy
Scri ptures and sing psalms over the bodies of the martyrs
\vho sleep there, and to offer there the Eucharistic
sacrifice.' 4
1 :NIartyrÏ1.I/YJt Polyc. 18.
2 Ruinart, Acta Since'ra, p. 186: 'The divine bounty granted to
him that the people of God were keeping vigil at the very time of the
passion of their Priest.'
3 lb. p. 109: 'Illos dies, quibus in Dominici nominis confessione
luctantes, beatoque obitu regnis caelestibus reFlascentes . . . coronan-
tur, vigiliis, hymnis, ac sacramentis etiam solemnibus honoramus.'
.. Const. Apost. vi. 30.
14 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN BREVIARY
Moreover, the Sundays and the anniversaries of the
martyrs were not the only solemnities which in the early
Church had their vigils-' noct1trnáe ccynvocationes,' as
Tertullian calls them. l The' station days' were added
to them at an early date. Just as the Jews fasted' t\vice
in the week, t so did the Christians. The '- Teaching of
the Apostles,' at the end of the first century, mentions
these two fasting days. The' Shepherd" of Hermas, at
the beginning of the second century, a1so speaks of them,
and gives them for the first time the name of '- stations:
In the third century the stations on Wednesday and
Friday were a matter of Catholic custom. And every
station involved a vigil. 'Die s.tationis, 'nocte vigiliae
meminerim1ts/ writes TertulliaI\.2
II
Sunday vigils, station vigils,. vigils in cemeteries, each
comprising a triple office
evening,. night, and morning.
The literature of the first three centuries affords no trace
of any other assemblies for prayer than these. It is not
until we come to the fourth century that we see the service
of public prayer undergoing modification, and it does so
under the influence of new causes.
The fourth century witnessed the birth of Christian
ecclesiastical architecture. The poor and narrow limits
",-ithin which Christian worship was so long confined,
owing to the smallness of the earliest churches, such as
those of l\fount Syon at Jerusalem, or the old churches
of S. Theonas at Alexandria and S. Theophilus at
1 Ad Uxorem, ii. 4.
2 De 01'at. 29: 'On the station day let us not fail to keep vigil
by night.'
THE GENESIS OF THE CANONICAL HOURS 15
Antioch, were suddenly expanded in accordance with the
magnificence of the basilicas of the age of Constantine,
such as the 'Basilica A urea' of S. John Lateran, the
, Dorninicum' of Alexandria,' the' Anastasis' of Jerusalem,
the Church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople, and
many others. What religious joy must these beautiful
buildings have inspired in the hearts of the faithful! At
Alexandria they were so impatient to begin their assemblies
in the Domìnic1tm that, in the midst of Lent, A.D. 354, they
implored their bishop, S. Athanasius, to open it for wor-
ship, though it was not yet consecrated, or even completed;
nor was the saint able to withstand their entreaties. l
And was it only at rare intervals that they were to
assemble in such a beautiful house of the Lord ? Were
its grand and holy aisles to stand silent and prayerless for
hours and days together? Were there not pious souls
ready to carry on there a never-ceasing service of prayer?
True, one could no longer reckon upon the whole body
of the faithful. With increased numbers the Christian
community had been far from growing more fervent.
They were beginning to neglect even the Eucharistic
assmnbly on the Sunday, to the great -grief of their
pastors. 2 But, just in proportion as the Church in
extending itself had grown colder, there had taken place
within its bosom a drawing together of those souls which
were possessed with the greatest zeal and fervour. These
consisted of men and women alike, living in the world
and without severing themselves from the ties and obliga-
tions of ordinary life, yet binding themselves by private
1 S. Athan. Apol. ad Constant. 14.
2 Chrysost. Homil. IV. in Annam, 1; HOl1Ûl. de Bapt. Chr. ct
de Epiph. 1; S. August. Berm. Append. ix.
16 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN BREVIARY
vow or public profession to live in chastity all their life,
to fast all the week, to spend their days in prayer. They
were called in Syria monazontes and parthenae-ascetics
and virgins. They formed, as it were, a third order-a
confraternity without a hierarchy and without organisa-
tion; a connecting link between clergy and laity, the
ascetics not having any of the pOWers of the clergy, but
only duties more strict thatr those of the laity. The
religious life properly so called was in fact only a
development of this secular institution. In the first half
of the fourth c.entury "ve find these associations of
ascetics and virgins established in all the great Churches
of the East-at Alexandria, Jerusalem, Antioch, Edessa.
Well then, their rule of life hnposed on these ascetics
and virgins the duty of daily prayer. They were not to
be contented with the a;ppointed vigils of the Church, but
were to celebrate privately daily vigils. Their life ,vas, in
fact, to be a perpetual vigi
In the treatise' De Virgini-
tate' which has been ascribed to S. Athanasius, but "vhich
is in reality a hyperascetic and perhaps Cappadocian work
of about the year 370, virgins are told to rise every night
for prayer, an office entirely private, but which is nothing
else than the vigil office Inade a daily exercise. l A
similar exercise is recommended by Clement of Alexandria
to his 'Gnostic.' 2 Soon this exercise became public.
S. John Chrysostom, speaking of the ascetics of Antioch,
"vrites: 'Scarcely has the cock cro"ved when they rise.
Scarcely have they risen when they chant the Psalms of
David; and with what s"veet harmony! N either harp
1 Pseud.-Athan. De Virginitate, 20; cf. Römische QuartalschTift,
tom. vii. (1893), p. 286.
2 Clem. Alex. Paedag. ii. 9.
'THE GENESIS OF THE CANONICAL HOURS 17
nor flute nor any other instrument of music can utter a
melody comparable to that which is heard to rise, in the
silence of that lone hour, from the lips of these holy
men. And so with the angels-with the angels, I say,
they sing" 0 praise the Lord of Heaven," while we men
of the \vorld are still asleep, or, it may be, half awake,
and even then thinking of nothing but our o\vn
miserable affairs. Not until daybreak do they take any
repose, and sC9xcely has the sun appeared when they
once more betake themselves to prayer, and perform their
morning service of praise.' 1
s. John Chrysostom and the author of the treatise
De VirgÙÛtate both go on to say that, not only every
morning at cock-cro.wand at the hour of dawn do the
ascetics and virgins devote themselves to united psalmody,
but yet again, every day, at the third, sixth, and ninth
hour. So ancient a custom is it for Christians to conse-
crate by prayer the times \ve call Terce, Sext, and None.
The faithful took delight in associating the commemora-
tion of Christian mysteries with these three points of time,
\vhich divided the day into three stages: at the third
hour (9 A.:\I.), the commemoration of the condemnation of
the Saviour; at the sixth hour (noon), of His crucifixion;
at the ninth (3 P.M.), of His death. 2 And each of these
hours, as it sounded, ,vas to recall to the faithful their
obligation, not to allo,v their hearts to lose their hold on
the mysteries of the faith; as says Tertullian 3: 'Tres
) Chrysost. Ham. in 1 Tim. XIV. 4.
2 Canst. Apost. vii. 34.
3 De Ieiun. 10: 'Just as these three hours are reckoned as more
important in the affairs of this world, since they are publicly sounded
and divide the day into its parts, so let us understand that they are
more especially to be observed with prayer to God.'
c
18 HISTORY OH 'I'HE RUMAN BREVIARY
istas horas
tt insigniores in rebus humanis, quae diem, dis-
trib1t1tnt, quae negot'ia disting1.t1tnt, quae publice resonant,
ita et solemniores fltisse in Q1"ationib1.ts divinis [intellegamus J.'
But what was for the faithful of the third century nothing
more than a counsell had become for the ascetics and
virgins of the fourth cep.tury a rule. They prayed at Terce
and Sext and None, and they united ip psalmody at each
of these hours, just as they united at the cock-crowing
or at the hour of the l1Wf}rnarÙnn. 2
One step
et remained to be taken; namely, that the
Church should offer the hospitality of its aisles to these
ascetics and virgins, and that the clergy should undertake
the direction of these exercises, \vh
ch had been originally
voluntary and private. This step was taken to\vards the
middle of the fourth century. All the passages that \ye
see quoted from authors previoQ.s to. the fourth century
Inentionipg the daily observance of exercises of çommca
prayer morning and evening, Qr at Terce, Sext, and None,
testify to the existence of voluntary and private exercises,
and nothing wore. The first occasion on which we meet
\vith the mention of the daily observ
nce of a public
exercise of common prayer-and even then nothing more
is mentioned than the mor
ing office at the cock-crowing
and the evening office at sunset-is to be found in a
ocu-
ment of the middle of the fOl.1.rth century, and of Syrian
origin, the second book of the 'Apostolic Constitutions.'
There we see the fai thfQ.I urged by the bishop to come to
the church on the Sunday and Saturday-' praecipue die
Sabbat'i et die DonÛnica studiosÏ1.ts ad ecclesiam acm/;Trite '
1 Clem. Alex. Strom. vii. 7.
2 Chl'YSost., see note 1, p. 17; and Pseud.-Athan., see note 1,
p. 16.
THE GE
ESIS OF THE CANONICAL HOURS 19
-but the point is the sanctification of the Saturday, which
,vas still a liturgical innovation to\vards the end of the
fourth century I; and, moreover, \vhether as regards
Saturday or Sunday, the passage so far does not allude to
anything beyond the E1.lCharistic assembly. However, the
bishop is also, to the utmost of his po\ver, to encourage
the faithful to come to the church every day, morning
and evening, to take part in the psalmody and prayer
conducted by the clergy: 'sing1.Ûis dieb1ls congrege1nini
mane et vespere psallentes et orantes in å6!dib1.tS Donzinicis.' 2
And in fact we find a Syrian bishop, Zeno of l\laiuma,
,vho died, a hundred years old, just at the end of the
fourth century, praised for having made a point of never
failing to be present at the morning and evening service. 3
This custom of throwing open the church every
morning and evening to the more zealous among the
faithful, in order that they might there, under \ the
direction of the clergy, celebrate their devotional exercises
-that is, the daily vigils-had be8n inaugurated at
Antioch in the time of the semi-Arian bishop Leontius
(344-357), a charitable but inconsistent prelate, very un-
fortunate in finding himself at the head of a Church
\vhere the partisans of the Nicene faith \vere numerous
and zealous. The ascetics of the place formed the main
body of the Nicene party, which had for its heads two
laymen of high rank, Flavian and Diodorus. The potent
influence which an association led by such men was able
to bring to bear on Leontius induced him to Inake con-
cessions. In 350 he banished the Arian Aetius, a man
w horn he himself had had the \veakness to ordain deacon
J Funk, Apost. Konst. (1891), p. 93. 2 Const. Apost. ii. 59.
3 Soz. vii. 28.
c2
20 HISTORY OF THE ROMAX BREVIARY
and receive into the Church of Antioch. He did more.
Just as the guest-houses (xenodochia) were administered
by lay prefects appointed by the bishop, so he decided that
the brotherhoods (asketeria) should be governed by
prefects of his choosing, and he advanced Diodorus to
that office. This event must be dated bet"veen 350 and
357, and most likely nearer to 350, the year \vhen Aetius
was banished. And it is .with this appointment that the
introduction of the daily office into the Church service is
connected. For Leontius had no intention that the con-
fraternities should meet "vithout the clergy, or in irregular
sanctuaries: their meetings \vere to take place in the
principal basilica of Antioch.
In t\venty years' time the reform carried out at Antioch
under the episcopate of Leontius established itself in all
the Greek-speaking Churches of the East. S. Basil
introduce:l it at Caesaraea (A.D. 375), in spite of the
opposition of a party among the clergy, disturbed in their
customs by this liturgical innovation. l At Constantinople
S. John Chrysostom imposed it on his clergy, and an old
author tells us that they were very much put out at not
being allowed to sleep all the night as had been their
\vont. 2 At Milan, S. Ambrose, a personal friend of
S. Basil, having become bishop in 374, introduced the
Oriental custom of daily vigils. 'At this time,' writes
Paulinus, his biographer, 'the vigils first began to be
celebrated in the Church of Milan.' 3 At Jerusalem,
where the ascetics and virgins 'were more numerous than
anywhere else, this daily public office assumed a still
g
.eater solemnity.
I S. Basil. Epistul. ccvii. 2-4.
3 Paulin. rita Amb'r. 13.
2 Pallad. Dial. Hist. 5.
THE GENESIS OF THE CANONICAL HOURS 21
s. Silvia, a Gallo-R
. .:v
Y' $) \:
SOURCES OF THE ROMAN ORDO PSALLENDI 41
institution, and their duties included the management of
the hospitals for the poor and for pilgrims, and the dis-
tribution of alms. Later-that is to say, after the fifth
century, but before the end of the seventh-while the
number of districts remained unchanged, the number of
deaconries was gradually extended to sixteen; under
Pope Adrian 1. it reached eighteen. And by this time
each deaconry had a church belonging to it, which bore
the name of the deaconry. These deacons also had
under them a hierarchy of inferior clergy, subdeacons
and acolytes, who formed the body of district clergy.
Finally, a fourth class of churches and oratories con-
sisted of the various sanctuaries in the suburban
cemeteries, the serving of ,vhich belonged to the clergy
of the 'titles.' 1 Thus the Roman clergy was divided
into t\VO hierarchies, the clergy of the titles and the
clergy of the districts:: hierarchies which are both of
them distinct from that to which at a later time were
entrusted the duties of the Apostolic Chancery, and which
\ve call the ' Curia.' The execution of the Divine Office
at Rome, at all events from the fourth to the eighth
century, \vas in the hands of these two hierarchies, and
the distinctive character of the Roman Office is o\ving to
the part \'vhich they took respectively in its performance.
But first we have to go back to the very origin of
this Roman Office.
I
The document of earliest date which throws any light
upon the liturgical customs of the Roman Church is that
] Libcr Pontificalis (ed. Duchesne), tom. i. pp. 165 and 364;
d. Mabillon, Musaeu'1n Ital. tom. ii. p. xi sqq.
42 HISTORY OF THE ROl\IAN BREVIARY
collection of thirty-eight canons in Greek, which has
come down to us bearing the name of S. Hippolytus, but
which in reality is rather a Roman synodical document
contemporary \vith Pope Victor (190-200). These
Canones Hippolyti bear the following testimony to the
discipline of the Roman Church in the closing years of
the second century. 1
We observe in them the ancient distinction between
the lit1u.gical assembly, devoted to the celebration of the
sacred mysteries (oblatio), and the euchological assem-
blies employed only in praising God (oratio). Whenever
the liturgical assembly is celebrated, the bishop assembles
his deacons and priests, vested in robes of dazzling white,
more beautiful than those of the people. He assembles
also his readers, wearing their festal attire. These take
their place at the ambo, where first one reads and then
another, until the whole congregation is assembled.
Then the bishop recites a prayer, and proceeds to the
celebration of the Liturgy. Here we have the pro-
gramme and the ceremonial surroundings of the Roman
l\Iass at the end of the second century: the celebration
of the sacred mysteries, preceded by a series of lessons
and a prayer said by the bishop.2 The euchological
assemblies have a different programme and ceremonial.
Nothing is said of the presence of the bishop, but only of
his clergy, aeacons, and readers. Nor is anything said
about festal vestments. The euchological assembly is
celebrated at cock-crow, and in church; but it is not
a matter of daily observance, for these same canons
provide for days .when there is no such morning assembly
] Cf. Revue HistoTique, tom. xlvii. (1892), p. 384 sqq.
2 Can. Hipp. (ed. Achelis), 37.
SOURCES OF THE ROl\IAN ORDO PSALLENDI 43
at the church, on which the faithful are to supply its
place by private exercises of devotion, each one for
himself: 'Quocunque die in ecclesia non orant, S1tmaS
Scripturam ut legas in ea: sol conspiciat matutino tel1
pOTe
Script1tram super genua tua.' 1
On certain days, then, but not daily, they assemble at
the church at the hour of cock-crow. This assembly is
of obligation for the clergy. The cleric who absents
himself without grave reason is to be excommunicated:
'De clero autent qui conl'enire negligunt, neque morbo neque
itinere impediti, separentur.' 2 And this assembly at cock-
crQ"w is devoted to three exercises, the psalmody, the
reading of the Holy Scriptures, and the prayers:
'. . . . v{1(Jentque psalrnis et lectioni Scriptltrarum CU1n
orationibus.' 3
If we compare these passages ,vith those which we
have quoted in the preceding chapter, especially with
those from Tertullian, it is easy to recognise, in these
euchological assemblies prescribed on
ertain days at
cock-crow, the vigils of the Sundays and the station days.
But, further, "\ve remark that nothing is said about the
vesper office. At Rome, at the end of the second
century, the vigil begins at cock-crow; the public vesper
office, celebrated by the Churches of the East, is here un-
known. And unknown it will remain for many years yet
to come. Finally, if the Canons of Hippolytus prescribe
prayer at Terce, Sext, and None, and at Sunset, 'because
I Can. Hipp. 27: 'On each day when there is no prayer in church,
take the Scripture and read in it: let sunrise find the Scripture spread
open upon your knees.'
2 'As for the clergy who neglect to attend, not being hindered by
sickness or absence from home, let them be put apart.' 3 lb. 21.
44 HISTORY OF THE RO:\L\..N BREYIARY
that is the end of the day: 1 such prayer is put exactly on
a level with those private and individual exercises by
'which, in the early morning, a Christian was to compen-
sate for the absence of the solemn assembly at the
church. And while the canons 'put apart' the cleric
,vho without grave reason fails to assist at the vigils in
church, indicating thereby that those are matters of
precept and not of mere counsel, no canonical obliga-
tion attaches to the observance of Terce, Sext, and
None, any more than of private prayer, morning and
evenIng.
It was still the same at the end of the fourth century
With S. Jerome the observance of Terce, Sext, None, and
Vespers is, in the case of a Roman lady like Paula
Eustochium, or Laeta, a private and individual exercise
At precisely the same date at Jerusalem, on the one
hand, S. Silvia ,vas attending the basilìca of the Ana-
stasis, to take part in the solemn and public daily
celebration of 1'erce, Sext, None, and Vespers; while at
Rome, on the other, it was in the solitary seclusion of
her mother's house that the daughter of Laeta had tc
practise these devotional exercises along with her virge
'ccterana (her governess, as we might call her), \vho was
always with her: 'Assucscat . . . . r/Lane hyrnnos canere,
tcrtia, scxta, nona hora starc in acic quasi be llatricenl
Christi, acccnsaq1.tC l1.wernula redde1'c sacrificium vespcr-
tin1t1n.' 2 In fact, beside Mass, there was no other publir
1 Can. Hipp. 27.
2 'Accustom her to sing hymns every morning; to stand in the
ranks of Christ as a faithful warrior at the third, sixth, and ninth
hour, and to offer her evening sacrifice at the time when the lamp
is lit.'-S. Rier. Epist'llL xxii. 37, and eviL 9; ef. Pelag. Epist. ad
Dcmetriadem, 23.
SOURCES OF THE RO:\IAN ORDO PSALLENDI 45
office at which she had to assist, except the vigils. But
at these solemn vigils, both of the Sunday and of the
stations, which were celebrated in this or that church,
and in which the Roman clergy took part, all the faithful
attended. The crowd was considerable, the attraction
very great, and sometimes there was deplorable disorder. l
S. Jerome advises Laeta not to allow her daughter to go
without her; he tells her to keep her close by her side
when there: ' VigiliaTU1TL dies et solemnes pe1"noctationes
sic vÙ'guncula nostra celebTet, ut ne transverso quide1J
ung1.te a rnatre discedat.' 2 And he thus lets us see that it
"vas not without some ground that Vigilantius demanded
the suppression of the nocturnal office of the vigils, on
account of the scandals that arose from it. But that
would have been to make a very foolish concession to
the perversity of a few libertines (cuJpa iuvenunt l'ilissi-
n
ar1t1nq1te rnulieru1n), and so the Roman Church con-
demned Vigilantius, thus showing how great a value she
put upon these solemn nocturnal vigils.
Yet we must not suppose that at the end of the fourth
century these solemn vigils at Rome, however well
attended they were, possessed the same attractions as the
vigils which were celebrated daily in other places, as, for
instance, at Constantinople in the time of S. John Chry-
sostom, or at lY1ilan in the time of S. Ambrose. The
Greek style of music (canendi l1WS orientaliul1
paTtÙl1n),
as S. Augustine called it when speaking of the Ambrosian
I S. Riel'. Contra TTigilant. 9.
2 Epistztl. cvii. 9: 'Let our young damsel keep the days of the
vigils with their solemn night-services; but so that she depart not so
much as a finger's breadth from her mother.'
46 HISTORY OF THE RO)IA
BREYIARY
. vigils, that melos cantilenaru17
which gave so thrilling a
charm to the daily nocturnal office of the basilicas at
l\Iilan, was an innovation as yet unknown at Rome.
The psalmody was executed there, as at Alexandria in
the time of S. Athanasius, in solo, and with such simple
inflexions of the voice that the ohant was as nearly as
possible the same as that of the lessons: 'sic cantet
servus Ch1-isti, 'ltt non vox canentis sed verba placeant quae
legllntllr.' 1 In the time of Pope Damasus and S. Jerome
there is no sign of psalmody rendered by two choirs:
nothing, it would seem, more than psal1ni responsorii,
psalms executed in the same way as litanies. To the
deacons appertained the duty of thus executing the
psalmody; and in many instances the epitaphs of deacons
allude to the skill they possessed in this sort of chant.
Thus, that of the deacon Redemptus, an inscription of the
time of Damasus, in the cen1etery of Callixtus :
: . . Redemptnm
Levitam subito rapuit sibi regia caeli :
Dulcia nectareo promebat mella canore,
Prophetam celebrans placido modulamine senem:
Haec fuit insontis vitae laudata iuyentus. 2
The 'ancient prophet' is of course, no other than
David. In the epitaph of another deacon, contemporary
,vith Redemptus, we read:
) S. Hier. COm111,. in Eph. v. 19: 'So should the servant of Christ
chant, that not the voice of the singer but the words which he recites
may cause delight.'
2 De Rossi, Roma Sottcrranea,' tom. iii. p. 239: 'Suddenly did
the Palace of Heaven catch up to itself the Levite Redemptus: with
honeyed accents was he wont to set forth sweetness, in gentle
melody uttering the words of the ancient Prophet: praiseworthy
for innocence of life was his youth.'
SOURCES OF THE ROl\fAN ORDO PSALLENDI 47
Hic levitarum primus in ordine vivens
Davidici cantor carminis iste fuit. J
We see that the chant of the psalms of David was in the
time of Damasus executed as a solo by the Roman
'Ievites,' and that in a style sufficiently severe to be
described as 'fnOd1(Ja17
en placid'lll1
. They were still a
long way off choral psalmody rendered antiphonally.
At what date did the canendi mos orientalÙl1n partiunt,
the antiphonal choral psalmody, reach Rome? It is
impossible to determine this point with precision. The
'Liber Pontificalis' attributes this innovation to Pope
Coelestine (422-432): he, we are there told, caused the
hundred and fifty psalms of David to be chanted before
the sacrifice of the l\Iass, a custom unknown previously.
This is the reading of the most ancient text of the book.
The second edition, 'which dates from the sixth century,
adds that the chanting instituted by Coelestine was anti-
phona1. 2 So in the sixth century choral psaimody'was
regarded at Rome as having been instituted by Pope Coeles-
tine. The evidence furnished by the' Liber Pontificalis ' is,
as a matter of fact, very slight, and I attach the less impor-
tance to it because this unlucky passage has been found
to lend itself to the most contradictory interpretations.
The establishn1ent at Rome of daily vigils is a matter
of greater interest. With S. Hippolytus, or even with
J De Rossi, op. cit. p. 242: 'Famous was he while he lived, among
the order of Levites, as a chanter of the song of David.' Cf. De 'Vaal,
'Le Chant liturgique dans les Inscriptions Romaines du IVme au IXme
Siècle,' Comptes Rendus du Troisiè1ne Congrès Scientifique Inter-
national des CatJwliques, Bruxelles, 1894, f. ii. p. 310 sqq.
2 L. P. (Duchesne), tom. i. p. 280: '. . . Constituit ut psalmi
David CL ante sacrificium psalli antephanatim ex omnibus, quod
ante oon fiebat.'
48 HISTORY OF THE ROl\L-\..N BREVIARY
S. Jerome at the end of the fourth century, there was no
question of anything more than vigils for Sundays and
station-days (festivae dies). That \vas the old 1'égÙne as
regards liturgy. Ordinary days, called in the fifth century
privatae dies, 'private days,' were not, up to that time,
furnished .with vigils. It is only in the course of the
fifth century that they began to have them at Rome.
The most ancient mention to be found of daily vigils at
Rome is in the Rule of S. Benedict. Having to settle
the programme of the vigils for' private days,' S. Benedict
ordains that at these one of the canticles of the Old
Testament shall be chanted every day, 'as does the
Roman Church,' , [privatis] diebuÆ canticu/Jn '111Ut1Ttquel1
que
die suo ex prop he tis , sicut psallit ecclesia R017zana,
dicantur.' 1 Here \ve observe that at the end of the fifth
century the Roman Church had a daily canonical Office,
or, in other \vords, vigils for' private days.' The Roman
Church was late in falling in with the régÙne adopted a
century before at Jerusalem, Antioch, Constantinople, and
Milan. But the innovation adapted itself, nevertheless,
\vithout difficulty to the previously existing ROlnan
customs.
The vigils of the station-days \vere arranged in connec-
tion with the 1\,fass of the station; \vith it they were
celebrated in a specified basilica, the whole Church being
supposed to take part in the celebration, the Pope, the
clergy of the seven ecclesiastical districts or the particular
district specified for the occasion, and the general body of
the faithful. 2 The daily vigils, on the other hand, stood
in a similar relation to the private l\lass celebrated d:1ily
I Bened. Reg. 13.
2 S. Leo, Epist. IX., 2.
SOURCES OF THE ROl\IAN ORDO PSALLENDI 49
in each presbyteral ' title'; and just as this private 1\lass
,vas celebrated by the priest of the title, assisted only by
his acolytes, and with no other than a voluntary congrega-
tion-some of the faithful of the neighbourhood and
perchance some pilgrims-so the daily vigils were cele-
brated in each presbyteral title only by the clergy
attached to that title, and the congregation was composed
of such of the layfolk of the neighbourhood as might be
disposed to attend.
These daily vigils, inaugurated in the fifth century,
,vere destined for a long time to form the chief part of
the office of the Roman clergy. Let us proceed to follow
up such few traces as they have left in history and canon
law.
The 'Liber Pontificalis' furnishes us with some
interesting information ,vhen it relates that Pope
Hormisdas (514-523) 'composuit clerum et psal1nis eT1t-
divit.' 1 If this had meant that he instructed the clergy
in the knowledge of Holy Scripture, nlention would not
have been made of the Psalms alone. The reference is
to chanting the psalms. Here, then, this chanting of the
psalms is spoken of as a duty in \vhich it ,vas necessary
to instruct, or to the performance of \vhich it ,vas even
necessary to compel, the clergy: erZldirit . . . composuit.
We may, in fact, see in these efforts of Pope Hormisdas
the same intention \vhich the Emperor Justinian expressed
at about the same date in his Constitution of A.D. 529,
\vhen he recalled the clergy to the duty of chanting the
psalms at the daily vigils of the churches to which they
were attached.
) L. P. (Duchesne), tom. i. p. 2ß9: 'He set in orùer the clergy,
and instructed them in psalms.'
E
50 HISTORY OF THE R.ol\IAN BREVIARY
A much more definite expression of the same duty
appears in a fragment of a Decretal incorporated in the
'work of Gratian. It bears in the manuscripts sometimes
the name of Pope Gelasius, sometimes of a Pope Pelagius.
One cannot be certain to \vhom it ought really to be
assigned, but we may certainly see in it an authentic
document of the second half of the sixth century at
latest. And what do 'we read in it? A suburbicarian J
bishop had given a pledge to the Holy See that he would
cause the office of the daily vigils to be performed by
his clergy. But the latter, deeming the obligation too
onerous, have not responded to the call of their bishop,
who therefore refers the matter to the Pope, and the
Pope replies that the bishop is to recall his clergy by
every means in his po'wer to their liturgical duty, which
he thus defines: ''La cottidian'is dieb'lts vig'iliae celebrentur
in ecc lesia.' 2
One would like to know what was the programme of
these daily vigils, which thus in the fifth and sixth
centuries fonned the entire office recited by the Roman
clergy. Well, a document closely connected with the
fragment of Decretal which I have just quoted \vill tell
us. Here is a form taken from the ' Liber DÙtrnus '-the
actual form of that ple.dge 'which the suburbicarian
bishops gave to the Pope on receiving consecration from
him. This form describes the liturgical office to which
these bishops bound themselves in their o\vn name and
P The suburbicarian Churches, says Canon Bright, were probably
those of Picenum Suburbicarium, Campania, Tuscia and Umbria,
Apulia and Calabria, Eluttii and Lucania, Valeria, Sicily, Sardinia
and Corsica.-A. E.]
2 Friedberg, tom. i. p. 316.
SOURCES OF THE ROl\IA
ORDO PSA.LLENDI 51
that of their clergy. It is the most ancient Ordo of the
Roman Office which ,ve possess:
lUud etiam prae omnibus spondeo atque promitto, me omni
tempore per singulos dies, a primo galla usque n1ane, cum omni
ordine c1ericorum meorum vigilias in ecclesia celebrare, ita ut
minoris quidem noctis, id est a Pascha usque ad Aequinoctium
XXlVa die mensis Septembris, tres lectiones et tres antiphonae
atque tres responsorii dicantur; ab hoc vero Aequinoctio usque
ad aliud vernale Aequinoctium et usque ad Pascha, quatuor lec-
tiones cum responsoriis et antiphonis suis dicantur; Dominico
autem in omni tempore novern lectiones cum antiphonis et
respoDsoriis suis persolvere Deo pro:fitemur. l
Thus, at all times of the year, every day, from the
first cock
crowing to sunrise, the whole clergy, with the
bishop at their head, assembled at the church to celebrate
the vigils. On every Sunday in the year these vigils
comprised psalmody ,vith antiphons, nine lessons and
their responds. Daily there was psalmody with anti-
phons, lessons and responds, varying in number accord-
ing to the season: three lessons from Easter to September
the 24th, four lessons from then to Easter. Let us
study the passage point by point.
(1) Each day there is a vigil office. The anonymous
Decretal quoted by Gratian told us this, but the 'Liber
Diur11/ltS ' is more precise: it shows us that this office is
to be performed on every day in the year, at ,vhatever
season; that it begins at the first cock-cro"\ving; and that
it is obligatory for the whole body of clergy. Such ,vas
also the state of things contemplated by the Spanish and
Frankish councils of the sixth century.
(2) This vigil office is distinct from the early morning
I Liber Diurnus, iii. 7.
E2
52 HISTORY OF THE RO:rrIAN BREYIARY
office 'which we call Lauds. The vigil office is celebrated
a primo gaUo usque 1nane-from the first cock-crowing to
sunrise; the office of Lauds at sunrise, i.e. just after the
vigil office properly so called. It is true that the' Liber
Diz117t1[;S' does not mention this office of Lauds, but
S. Benedict (who, in accordance with monastic custom
both in the Greek- and Latin-speaking Churches, pre-
scribes the observance of Lauds at sunrise, at the end
of the nocturnal vigil office) gives us to understand that
such \vas also the lcustom of the Roman Church.
(3) On the other hana, the ' Liber Diurnus ' says not
one \\.ord about the office of Vespers. Nor does the
Decretal quoted by Gratian. We are thus led to recall
the fact that, 'while the Spanish and Frankish councils of
the sixth century, in common \vith Byzantine law at the
same period, distinguish clearly between the evening
and nlorning offices- the rnissae vespertinae and the missae
1natläinae-there ,vas at Rome at the same date no such
distinction; at Rome nothing but a nocturnal vigil.
(4) The vigil office from Easter to September 24,
when the nights are shortest, comprises three lessons,
three responds, three antiphons; from September 24 to
Easter, \vhen the nights are longest, it has four lessons;
but on all Sundays, without exception, nine lessons. It
appears that the number of antiphons in the three
specifications above is meant to correspond váth the
number of lessons, just as is the case with the responds;
but what relation has the number of antiphons with the
number of psalms? In other words, how many psalms
\vere chanted at an office of three, of four, or of nine
lessons respectively? I am unable to say.
(5) The lessons, \vhether three or four or nIne In
SOURCES OF THE nO:\IAN ORDO PSALLE1,rDI 53
number, will all have been from Holy Scripture. It is,
however, certain that, in the time of S. Gregory (590-604)
they were also taken from other than canonical writings.
C It has been reported to me,' he writes, C that our very
reverend brother and fellow-bishop lViarinianus uses our
commentary on Job for reading at the vigils. I am not
pleased at this, for that work is not composed for the
people. . . . Tell him to substitute for it our commentary
on the Psalms (com1nenta psalmoT1lm legi ad vigilias faciat),
as that is more suited for the instruction of the minds
of the laity in right conduct' (Epist1tl. xii. 24).
In fact, we find that this Ordo, the most ancient we
possess of the Roman Office, is not very explicit. It
nevertheless furnishes us with some precious materials
for the purpose of comparison, sufficient to enable us to
show by-and-by how that which was to be definitively the
canonical Roman Office was eventually formed, on a
different plan, after the opening of. the seventh century.
vVe have said that the vigils of the C private days'-
the ferial vigils- \vere the province of the priest and
clergy attached to each ' title' or parish church. Among
these inferior clergy \ve must assign a special place to
the readers. They belonged to the titles, not to the
districts. Inscriptions of the fourth century mention
a lector tituli Pallacinae (S. Mark's), a lector tituli Fasciolae
(88. N ereus and Achilles'), a lector de P1ldentiana. In an
inscription of the seventh century we find mention of a
lector tituli Sanctae Caeciliae. I There is one important
detail to be remarked here, viz. that in the fourth century
1 De Rossi, Bullettino, 1883, p. 20.
54 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN BREVIARY
the readers of Rome were not only grown-up men, but of
ripe age: the reader of the basilica of Pudentiana is
hventy-four years old; he of the basilica of Fasciola is
forty-six. But in the seventh century, on the contrary,
the readers are children: the reader of the basilica of
S. Caecilia is twelve years old. Thus between the
fourth and seventh oenturies the condition of the Roman
readers was completely changed, and that because the
Roman chant itself "vas completely changed. They had
broken 'with that ancient and severe style of chanting the
psalms which an inscription of the time of Damasus, as
,ve have seen, characterised as 1nodllla1nen plaeid1l1Jl.
Choral psaln10dy had at last gained its foothold in the
Roman city. That is why these clerks, with their grave
and manly tones, had given way to choirs of children
with flexible young voices, as had already been the case
elsewhere for a considerable time: in Africa, for exan1ple,
where we come across the twelve little clerks of Carthage
-infantztli eleriei, . . . strenlli atq1le apti 'fIlOcllllis eænti-
lenae-"vhose touching martyrdom is related by Victor
Vitensis. 1 To children now belonged the principal part in
the liturgical chant. The epitaph of Pope Deusdedit
(615-618) records that he started on his clerical career as
a reader :
Hie vi?- ab eX01.tll PetTi est nzttritus o'Vili,
and that his duty as reader ,vas to chant at the vigils:
Exc1lbians Christi eantib1ls hY17tnisonis. 2
I Viet. Vito De Persecut. Vand. V. 10.
2 De Rossi, Inscrip. Christ. tom. ii. p. 127: 'He from his birth
was nourished up in the fold of Peter . . . keeping wateh by night
in hymns of praise to Christ.' .
SOURCES OF THE ROl\IAN ORDO PSALLENDl 55
In the same way it is recorded of Pope Leo II.
(682-683), that in early youth he had been instructed in
the science of psalmody and chanting (cantilena ac
psall1wclia praaecipu/llS) ; of Pope Benedict II. (684-685),
that he had distinguished himself from his childhood in
chanting (in cantilena a pnerili aetate); of Pope Sergius
(687-701), that when quite young he had been entrusted
to the prior of the chanters for instruction, because he
,vas industrious and had a talent for chanting (qltÏa
stlldiosus erat et capax in officio cantilenae priori cantor1l11
pro doctrina est traditus).1 Thus we see appear in the
seventh century the Roman chant, and straightway with
the chant comes forth a school for chanters.
Each title had its readers. It was thought good that
the t\VO great basilicas of Rome, those of the Vatican and
the Lateran, should have their readers gathered together
in a sort of college, like those Scholae Lectorll./In which
already existed at l\lilan, at Lyons, at Rheims, at Con-
stantinople. 2 The two colleges of readers thus founded,
and destined to bear in common the name at first of
O".phanotrophaeu1n,3 afterwards of the Schola Cantoru1n,
formed t,yO distinct establishments: the one built in front
of the great staircase of S. Peter's, the other situated on
the groundfloor of the palace of the Lateran. At all
events, such was the case in the ninth century 4 under
John VIII. (872-882), at the time \vhen John the Deacon
"Tote the Life of S. Gregory, to whom he attributes the
foundation of the Schola Cantorunt.
I L. P. (Duchesne), tom. i. pp. 350, 363, 371.
2 De Rossi, Bullctti1w, 1883, p. 19.
S L. P. (Duchesne), tom. ii. p. 92.
4 lb. tom. ii. p. 86; cf. p. 102, note 18.
56 HISTORY OF THE ROJ\iAN BREVIARY
One cannot but be struck with this fact: the simul-
taneous appearance at Rome of the chant and the school
for chanters dates back to the age of S. Gregory. Yet
I cannot believe that in reality the Schola Cantoru17
,
such as we find it in the ninth century, was instituted by
that great Pope. John the Deacon, it is true, positively
affirms it.
Like a wise Solomon, knowing the compunction which is
inspired by the sweetness of the music in the house of the
Lord, S. Gregory compiled for the advantage of the chanters
the collection which we caJl the Antiphonary, which is of so
great utility. So also he instituted the school for chanters, whose
members still execute sacred song in the holy Roman Church
according to the instructions received from him. To this school
he assigned property, and built for it two dwelling-houses, one
at the foot of the steps of the basilica of the Apostle S. Peter,
the other close by the buildings of the patriarchal palace of the
Lateran. They still show there the couch on which he rested
while giving his lessons in chanting; and the rod with which
he threatened the children of the choir is still preserved there,
and venerated as a relic, as is also his original Antiphonary.
By a clause inserted in the act of donation, he directed under
pain of anathema that the property given by him should be
divided between the two parts of the Schola as a remuneration
for their daily service. I
.But the testimony of John the Deacon merely repre-
sents the opinion of the ninth century, by \vhich time the
name of S. Gregory was too glorious for an institution
such as the Schola not to be somewhat tempted to
appropriate it. And his assertion is not corroborated by
any other author of the same or any earlier date. The
, Liber Pontificalis,' \vhose notice of S. Gregory is of the
seventh century, says not a word of this alleged founda-
tion of the Schola Cantor'llm. More than that, we have
I Ioann. Diac. ii. 6.
SOURCES OF THE RO:i\IAN ORDO PSALLENDI 57
the constitutions of a council held at Rome by S. Gregory
in 595, which have been inserted by Gratian in his
, Decretum': and what is the substance of what we read
there? ' In the holy Roman Church there is a custom of
old standing, but most reprehensible, of having the
chanting done by deacons and other persons who are
engaged in the 1;llinistry of the holy altar: ,vhence it
comes about thftt, in advancing J?ersons to the order of
deacon, less attention is often paid to their conduct than
to the quality of their voices: a gr
ve abuse, for which a
speedy remedy is to be found by forbidding the deacons
to act as chanters, and confiping their duties to those of
the sacred ministry; as foJ;' the chanting" it is to be
performed by the subdeacons, or, if necessity requires, by
those in minor orders' (Psalnws vero ac reliquas lectiones
censeo per subcliaconos vel si necess'itas f1lerit per 1ninm"es
ordines exhibeTl).l Observe the si necessitas fuerit; the
psalms and lessons are in the holy Roman Church the
province of the subdeacons by right, and only by way of
exception belong to the readers, ,vhen no other arrange-
ment can be made. It is certainly a singular settlement
of the question which this regulation of S. Gregory's
proposes, and its effect does not seem to have been lasting;
but so far as it goes the regulation is quite against the
hypothesis of the foundation by S. Gregory of a college of
readers, or even of simple chanters, intended to undertake
the very office which he here regards as reserved gene-
rally for the subdeacons.
If the idea of the institution by S. Gregory of the
Schola Cantorum is a tradition of late origin, to ,,,hich we
I Migne, Patr. Lat. tom. lxxvii. p. 1335.
58 HISTORY OF THE RO:\IAN BREVIARY
find no testimony earlier than the very end of the eighth
century, and ,vhich is traversed by documents of the
seventh, 'what are \ve to say to the tradition which
attributes to this pontiff the creation of the Roman chant-
in other words, of the actual music of the antiphons and
responds of the Divine Office? Fervent partisans of the
theory of the Gregorian origin of plain-chant have
laboured to collect together all the passages \v hich make
S. Gregory the author of this music, 1 and in them I see
one thing very clearly, viz. that, just as the Ordo of the
1\Iass was attributed to S. Gregory, so the authorship of
the pieces of music \vhich found a place in that Ordo was
assigned to him; the authenticity of the Gregorian
Sacramentary suggested that of the Antiphonary. Such
,vas the view taken by Egbert, Bishop of York (732-766),
the earliest author who witnesses to the Gregorian origin
of the Antiphonary. Speaking of the Embertide fast, he
says: 'It is S. Gregory w"ho in his Antiphonary ahd his
1\lissal has marked the \
eek which follows Pentecost as
that in \vhich the Church of England ought to observe
this fast; it is not only our Antiphonaries which attest
this, but also those which, \\Tith the 1\lissals which belong
to them, we have consulted in the basilicas of the holy
Apostles Peter and Paul' (Nostra testantur antiphonaria,
sed et ipsa quae CU1n 1nissalibus suis conspexim1ts ap1td
Apostolorum Pet1"i et Pauli limina).2 \Vhatever authority
there is for assigning the Sacratnentary to S. Gregory, the
same there is for attributing to him the Antiphonary, and
I Dom :Morin, Les 1:éritables Origines du Chant Grégorien,
Maredsous, 1890, pp. 7-33 (cf. Gevaert, Lcs 01"igines d'lt Chant
liturgiquc de l'Eglise LatiTte, Ghent, 1890).
2 :Ñlorin, p. 28.
SOURCES OF THE ROl\IAX ORDO PSALLENDI p9
no more: and everybody kno,vs what a limited right the
Sacramentary has to be called' Gregorian,' 1 being in fact
partly more ancient, partly more modern, than the time
of S. Gregory. And even were the Sacramentary abso-
lutely Gregorian, and the Antiphonary no less so, we
should still have no right to say that the composition of
the antiphons and responds of the Divine Office is due to
S. Gregory. For, in fact, in the language of the eighth
century, the word' Antiphonary' designates the collection
of music sung at l\lass-what we now call the Gradual,
Liber Gradualis-and not that sung in the Divine Office,
the Liber Responsalis. And therefore the whole question
of the authorship of this collection of antiphons and
responds, this Liber Responsalis, stands entirely apart
from the question of the origin of the Gregorian Anti-
phonary.
l\fuch better founded was the opinion of that anony-
mous liturgical author of the end of the seventh century,
an earlier writer, therefore, than John the Deacon or
Egbert of York, and more familiar also, it would seem,
with the traditions and usages of the Vatican basilica,
who attributes the creation of the Roman chant of the
antiphons and responds, not to anyone pontiff, but to
many: S. Leo (440-461), Gelasius (492-496), Symma-
chus (498-514), John 1. (523-526), Boniface II. (530-533),
and only finally to S. Gregory. N or was it at the hands
of S. Gregory that it received its full development: the
work ,vent on being perfected by the labours of Pope
1\1artin I. (649-653), and by others after him, unkno,vn
to fame, "whose names are recorded for us by this same
) Duchesne, Origines, p. 117.
60 HISTORY OF THE RO::\LtS BREVIARY
author, men of the latter part of the seventh century,
Catalenus, l\Iaurianus, and others.. And thus what was
called in the seventh century the Roman chant has no
right to bear distinctively the name of S. Gregory.
II
We have seen that each presbyteral 'title' had a
daily vigil office, celebrated by the clergy who served the
title,2 a custom inaugurated in the fifth century, and,
as we have seen, flourishing in the sixth. Now while
the office connected with the station-days \vas not
destined to undergo any development, this of the daily
vigils, on the contrary, \vas going to lend itself to
changes fun of influence on the future: and it is here
that for the first time in the history of the Roman
liturgy monastic influence makes itself apparent. It
seems to have been a tradition with the Eoman clergy in
the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries to evince a perse-
vering ill-will towards monastic institutions. 'Ve all
know what sort of reception they gave S. Jerome, the
first who undertook the advocacy of monachism at
Rome: he has taken good care to let us hear of it, and,
indeed, to give his adversaries aB good as they gave.
Less well known are certain prefaces of the Leonine
Sacramentary,3 which 1\1. Duchesne believes may be dated
back to the latter part of the fourth century, and which
on no supposition can be later than the first half of the
sixth, in which Roman priests do not shrink from ex-
pressing their grievances even in the Liturgy. 'They are
1 Anon. ap. Gerbert, v. 6; see App. C. 2 See above, p. 48.
3 Migne, Patr. Lat. tom. Iv. pp. 28, 64, 65, 74.
SOURCES OF THE ROMAN ORDO PSALLENDI 61
regular diatribes against the monks. . . . The attention
of the Almighty is called to the fact that nowadays His
Church contains false confessors mingled among the true;
much is said about enemies, 
