Part 6 (1/2)

The liturgical use however was generally confined to the Song proper, commencing with v. 29, and not always extending to the whole even of that. In the Greek Church it is divided into two odes, said at Lauds on two different days, vv. 3--34 (A.V. verses) forming one, and the remainder of the Song the other (art. _Canticle D.G.A._). In the Ambrosian rite the first part only of the Song is used as an invitatory before the Matin Psalms, under the t.i.tle, somewhat confusing to us, of ”Benedictus” (_D.G.A._ art. _Benedictus_).[27]

For some reason not easy to a.s.sign, the Song, whether divided or entire, has always been treated as a morning canticle, although there is nothing in its words to suggest any time of day as specially appropriate.

Rufinus, according to Dr. Salmon (_Speaker's Comm._ Introduction to Apocr. XXVIIb), speaks of the Song as ”sung on Festivals in the Church of G.o.d.” No reference is given to the pa.s.sage quoted. But in Rufinus'

_Apol. in Hieron._ II. 35 we find the words, ”Omnis Ecclesia per orbem terrarum... quicunque Hymnum trium puerorum in Ecclesia Domini cecinerunt,” etc. Whether this be the pa.s.sage Dr. Salmon intends or not, it is at any rate sufficient to prove that the canticle was in use in and before Rufinus' time, who is believed to have died in the year 410.

Bishop Barry (_Teacher's P.B._) notes that it was used at Lauds (t?

??????) in the East as well as in the West: and so Mr. Hotham in his art. _Canticle_ in _D.C.A._ In his art. _Psalmody_, however, no mention is made of its Eastern use; but in the Western Church in the Gregorian and its derived rites, including the Roman and cognate Breviaries, he says, ”Benedictiones sive cantic.u.m trium puerorum” comes in Sunday Lauds, and likewise in the Benedictine Psalter.

In the Ambrosian Psalter, while the first part ”Benedictus es” is said daily at Matins as stated above, the usual _Benedicite_ is said at Lauds on Sundays. In the Mozarabic Psalter an abridgment of both parts is said at Lauds, but not ”in feriis.” ”Benedictus es” also comes on weekdays at Prime. In the Mozarabic Missal _Benedicite_ occurs in the service for the first Sunday in Lent. In the use arranged by Caesarius of Aries (542) for the Gallican Church _Benedicite_ was sung at Sunday Lauds.

d.u.c.h.esne says (_Christian Wors.h.i.+p_, Eng. tr. S.P.C.K. 1903, p. 195), ”In the Gallican Ma.s.s between the Apostolic and the Evangelic lections the Hymn of the Three Children was sung. It was known also by the name of the Benediction (_Benedicite_) because in it the word 'Benedicite' is continually repeated.” In a note he adds, ”The Luxeuil Lectionary, however, prescribes for the Nativity, _Daniel c.u.m Benedictione, i.e._, the Hymn of the Three Children before the Apostolic Lection. It is true that in the Ma.s.s of _Clausum Paschale_ it places it after this lection.”

The fourth council of Toledo in 633, condemns the omission of the Song at Ma.s.s, threatens with excommunication those who in Spain or Gaul (or Gallicia, margin) persist in leaving it out, and styles it ”Hymnum quoque trium puerorum in quo universa coeli terraeque creatura dominum collaudat et quem ecclesia catholica per totum orbem diffusa celebrat”

(Mansi, _Concil._, Florence, 1764, X. 623).

In the Roman Missal at the end of the Canon, the last Rubric is ”Discedens ab Altari, pro gratiarum actione dicit Antiphonam Trium Puerorum c.u.m reliquis, ut habetur in principio Missalis;” where is given as an antiphon before it these words, ”Trium puerorum cantemus hymnum quem cantabant sancti in camino ignis, benedicentes Dominum.”

Possibly there is a reference to this Eucharistic use in Bishop Wordsworth's Michaelmas Hymn, No. CII. in his _Holy Year_, 1864.

Angelic voices we shall hear Joined in our jubilee, In this thy Church and echoing Our Benedicite.

Angelic faces we shall see Angelic songs o'erspread Above thy holy Altar, Lord, And Thou, the Living Bread.

In the Saram Breviary (and in Cardinal Quignon's) _Benedicite_ is a canticle at Lauds on Sundays only. It is to be said without ”Glory”; ”dicatur sine Gloria Patri per totum annum quandocunque dicitur”

(Procter, p. 188); but a doxology is provided in the Roman Breviary, ”Benedicamus Patrem et Filium c.u.m Sancto Spiritu,” etc., and 'Amen' is directed not to be said at the end. This doxology is said to have been added by Pope Damasus I., who also transposed v. 56 to stand as the finale of the Song (_see_ James M'Swiney, _Psalms and Canticles_, Lond.

1901, p. 643). This R.C. writer calls the use of the canticle on Sundays ”a thanksgiving for the resurrection of the Crucified, the earnest of the glories wherewith nature is to be invested at His second coming.”

But this sounds like an _ex post facto_ reason for its appropriateness.

_Benedicite_ appears, at any rate sometimes, to have been said subsequently to _Te Deum_ after the election of an Abbot (_see_ Jocelin of Brakelond's _Chronicle_, Sir E. Clarke's ed., 1903, p. 38). It also appears in the _Cantica_ after the Psalter, between _Te Deum_ and _Benedictus_, in the Scottish _Breviarium Bothanum_, which is thought to be of about 15th century (Lond. 1900).

Thus it is evident that the use of this hymn became general at an early period, and so continued, having never receded in Christian esteem as a valued factor in public wors.h.i.+p.

Besides the use of the Song, or part of it, as a canticle, verses or small portions often occur in liturgies; _e.g._, vv. 28--30 are borrowed in an ??f???s?? before the offertory prayers in the Liturgy of St.

James; at the censing of the Gospel in that of St. Mark; in a Byzantine Liturgy of the ninth century in the second prayer of the faithful; in that of St. Chrysostom immediately before the lections in the Ma.s.s of the Catechumens; and v. 19 in the ?p????s?? in that of the Coptic Jacobites (Brightman's _Liturgies_, I. Oxf. 1896). In the Leonine _Sacramentary_, in a Preface, Mense Junio, IIII. 1. 13, ad Fontem, the last words of the Song appear to be cited ”plena sunt omnia saccula misericordia tua” (Dr. Feltoe's ed., Camb. 1896, p. 31). The verse ”Benedicite omnes angeli” occurs in a ”Communio” for Michaelmas in the Rosslyn Missal; ”Benedictus es Domine patrum nostrorum” occurs in the Ma.s.s of the Holy Trinity in the Westminster Missal as a ”gradale,” also in a Ma.s.s ”pro sponsis”, and other places (Hen. Bradshaw Soc., Lond.

1899, p. 70, 1897, p. 1239). v. 34 (56) occurs in the Sarum Compline after the Creed, as also in the Roman.

In the Greek Euchologion a great part of the Song is embodied, with other Scripture odes, in what is styled ”the Canon at Great Matins in the All Night Vigil” (_Euchology_, translated by G.V. Shann, Kidderminster, 1891, p. 34).

LATER ENGLISH USE.

Burbidge (_Liturgies and Offices of the Church_, 1885, p. 268), gives a number of instances of the use of _Benedicite_ in foreign service books, and says, ”In other churches _Benedicite_ has been held in higher esteem than amongst ourselves.” Esteem for it has never been entirely lacking, however, as its prominence in the P.B. shews.

In a Prymer of circ. 1400, as given by Maskell (_Mon. rit._ 1882, Vol.

III. p. 21), _Benedicite_ occurs in Matins, beginning ”Alle werkis of the Lord, bless ye to the Lord: herie ye and overhize ye him in all time.” On the same page, note 49, he gives a quotation from _Gemma animae_, II. 53, ”cantic.u.m trium puerorum est festivius et ideo in omnibus festis dicitur.” Also in his _Append, to Prymer_, p. 243, another version is given, from Bodl. Douce MS. 275, fol. 9b: ”Alle werkes of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: praise and overheie ye him in to the worldes.” There was an authorized translation into Welsh early in the 14th century, according to H. Zimmer (_Urtext und Uebersetz_, Leipzig, 1897, p. 172), together with _Magnificat, Benedictus_, and several Psalms, evidently for liturgical purposes.