Part 6 (2/2)
Doubts have arisen in connection with time changes made by various States in Europe. The various schemes of new time, of daylight saving, of co-ordinations of time, uniformity of time all through certain States, have given rise to doubts and queries regarding the time for fulfilling the precept of the office and also regarding the time for lawful antic.i.p.ation of Matins and Lauds. These doubts were solved several years ago, and now there is no longer any difficulty or anxiety over ”true time,” ”new time,” ”legal time,” in relation to matters ecclesiastical. In reply to queries, Dr. M. J. O'Donnell, in the _Irish Ecclesiastical Record_ (Vol. III., p. 582), explains clearly this time difficulty and its solution by the Congregation of the Council on 22nd July, 1893. The Bishop of Trier explained to the Congregation of the Council that owing to the State legislation in the German Empire all public clocks should register the same time, and that this meant that in his diocese the legal computation differs by half an hour from the mean time. ”May clerics follow the legal time in reciting the Divine Office?”
was the bishop's question. The Congregation of the Council answered by a simple affirmative. In 1892, Greenwich time was introduced for State purposes into all railway, postal, and Government offices in Holland.
The query was put to the Congregation of the Inquisition if the clergy and people might, for the purpose of fast and other ecclesiastical obligations, follow the new time, or were they obliged to retain the true time? The reply was ”_affirmative ad primam: negative ad secundam partem_.” ”In a word, the constant Roman answer has been 'Do as you please'; so far as the approval of the legal time is concerned it confirms the conclusion of the editor of the _Acta_ (x.x.xii-251) that in computing time the Church follows the rule that regulates all business concerns in different localities....
”In the meantime, taking into account the conventional character of 'time' and the liberal principles of Rome in the past, we have no doubt that everyone, priest or layman, is fully justified in following the new time if he feels so inclined.” (See _Codex Juris. Canon._, Can. 33).
Are priests bound to recite Matins and Lauds before Ma.s.s?
The first sentence of the _Ritus servandus in celebratione Missae_ in the Missal contains the clause ”_saltem Malutino c.u.m Laudibus absoluto_,” The word _saltem_ indicates that the Church notifies the minimum and expects a further hour, Prime or even others of the small hours, to be finished before Ma.s.s. But theologians hold that there is no grave obligation for such prior-to-Ma.s.s recital, and that any reasonable cause excuses from the obligation (Lehmkuhl II., 628). In connection with this matter a very instructive and devotional essay in the _Irish Ecclesiastical Record_ (Fourth Series x.x.xI., n. 533) by Father M.
Russell, S.J., is well worth reading. It is ent.i.tled ”A Neglected Adverb”; the adverb being _saltem_, from the clause quoted.
At what times should the small hours be recited? Prime may be, and, probably with more appropriateness, should be used as morning prayer and said before Ma.s.s. Terce and s.e.xt may be said before mid-day, or s.e.xt and None may be said after mid-day. Vespers should be said after mid-day.
Compline was the night prayer of the monks, who probably inst.i.tuted the hour. It should be borne in mind that the substance of the law of recitation is fulfilled if the whole office of the day be recited before midnight, and that the obligation for entire and complete recitation is grave; while the recitation of the hours at set hours of the day is a light obligation.
ARTICLE IV.-OF THE PLACE OF RECITATION AND THE ATt.i.tUDE IN RECITING THE OFFICE.
Where should the Divine Office be recited? The Divine Office should be recited in the place intended and set apart by the Church for that purpose--viz., in the choir or in the Church (Con. Trid., sess. 24).
Canons and religious are bound to recite their office in choir; of course, this refers to Canons in residence at a cathedral for daily service, and to religious in the strict application of the term. The Divine Office may be recited by priests anywhere, in the church, in a dwelling-house, walking, in the fields, etc.
In reciting the office a priest should observe an att.i.tude in harmony with the great work in which he is engaged, prayer to G.o.d. Hence, his att.i.tude should be becoming, on his knees, standing, sitting, walking, but not sprawling or lying. The rubrics which prescribe kneeling, sitting, standing, apply to choir recitation only. But writers recommend that in private recitation these directions should not be altogether omitted, and they say that the practice of these rubrics of kneeling, bowing, standing, etc., is laudable and an aid to devout recital.
ARTICLE V.--p.r.o.nUNCIATION OF THE WORDS.
What kind of p.r.o.nunciation is to be attended to in the recitation of the Divine Office? The p.r.o.nunciation should be vocal--that is, there should be some sound, _aliquis sonitus verborum_, as St. Alphonsus writes (n.
162). Hence, to read the Breviary merely mentally or with the eyes only, does not satisfy the obligation.[A] Although the reader may not hear the sound produced, he must be careful to form with his lips every syllable.
This must be done, not necessarily in a throaty way. The formation of the words clearly with the lips suffices. But writers on this point emphasise the importance of audible recitation as a preventive of slurred, mutilated Latinity, which often leads to careless, or even invalid recitation. They note, too, that the reading with the eye merely, is a habit which readers bring from the reading of other books to their reading of the Breviary. German authors dwell at length on the fact that many priests, very early in their career, contract the habit of faulty vocalisation of liturgy, and that they never seem to notice their fault, or at least never seem to attempt an amendment. These authors attribute the defect to sub-voce recitation and recommend audible recitation, long and frequent audible recitation, to all priests reading their hours.
[Footnote A: The privilege of mental recitation was granted to the Friar Minor by Pope Leo X. and Pius V., but it is probable that the privilege was withdrawn by Pope Gregory XV. in 1622, in his letter _Roma.n.u.s Pontifex_; and Urban VIII., 1635, withdrew all privileges granted _vivae vocis oraculo_. The text of the doc.u.ment granting the privilege is obscurely worded. Still, several theologians of repute maintain that the privilege still exists and extends to the whole office. This is taught by the Salaraenticenses, _De hor. can. cap._ 3, n. 55; Tamburini, Rodriguez, etc., others opposed this view of the privilege existing after Pope Urban's letter _Alias_. This privilege extends to secular priests who are Franciscan tertiaries, if it exists at all.]
Can a priest fulfil his obligation by reciting the office with a companion? Yes, he can, for such recitation is the Church's ideal; and the priest who says his part (alternate verses, etc.), as in choir, fulfils his obligation, even when his companion is a layman or an inattentive person. In such recitation a priest should be careful (1) that his recitation be of alternate verses, (2) that the verse recitation be successive and not simultaneous, (3) that the verses, etc., chanted by one companion (or by one choir) be heard by the other companion or choir. There is no necessity for a priest at such recitation to say one verse in a loud voice and to say his companion's verses in a low, inaudible voice. Some priests do this with distressing results. Imperfect vocal recitation often leads to doubts and scruples in old age when remedies either cannot be applied or prove useless.
Those who recite the office in choir are bound by the rubrics concerning kneeling, sitting, standing, etc. Secondly, they are bound to observe the rules of the liturgy, especially the rule as to the stop in each verse at the asterisk mark. Thirdly, they are bound to recite clearly and distinctly; but even if they cannot hear distinctly the alternate choir, or even if they recite in a low voice, they fulfil the obligation of recitation; and canons are bound at Cathedral offices to sing and chant or to lose their manual distributions and the fruits of their prebends. If a person reciting his office with a companion or in a choir does not understand the words recited by his companion or by the choir, he is not bound at the end to repeat the part which he did not understand, because such a person has the intention of offering prayer and praise to G.o.d, and that intention suffices. Moreover, the Church's precept of reciting the office should he interpreted benignly, otherwise it must give rise to many scruples; for, companions in recitation, then, always, should be anxious as to the duty of repet.i.tion or the non-fulfilled duty of complete recitation.
p.r.o.nunciation of the words of the office should be _integral_. That is, the words and syllables are to be repeated fully without mutilation or abbreviation. Hence, if mutilation of the words occur to such an extent that the sense or meaning of the words is notably changed, mortal sin may be committed. But if the mutilation be small in quant.i.ty there is only a venial sin committed, and often no sin at all may be committed, as the mutilation of words or syllables may be quite involuntary, or may be done inadvertently, or may arise from an inveterate habit very difficult to correct, and in the attempt to cure it time and patience may have been spent (St. Alph., 164-165). This bad habit, if it extend over a large portion of the recitation and destroy notably the sense of the words, may bind _sub gravi_ to repet.i.tion, as this fault or habit affects the very substance of recitation. Priests seldom are bound to such a repet.i.tion, as the mutilation is not destructive to the sense of a notable part of the office and hence does not affect the substance of the obligation to vocal recital. St. Alphonsus holds (n. 165), that the obligation is fulfilled as long as the meaning is not destroyed, _quando servatur aliqua significatio verborum_.
p.r.o.nunciation should be _continuous_. That is, the recitation of each hour should be continuous, non-interrupted, and every notable stoppage or break in the recitation of a canonical hour is a venial sin, if there be no excusing cause for such an interruption. Any reasonable cause for interruption (e.g., to obey a bell call, to see a paris.h.i.+oner who calls, to hear a confession) excuses from all fault (St. Alph., n. 168).
If the recital of the office for any canonical hour be interrupted, should the whole hour be repeated? Some theologians say that it should be repeated. But the more probable opinion denies that there is any such obligation; it holds that the union of the prayers prescribed by the Church is not broken, as each psalm, each lesson, each prayer, has a complete signification and they are united sufficiently in one round of prayer by the intention formed of continuing the Hour, or even by the actual continuation. Gury states that a priest interrupting the office between the verses of a psalm is not bound to repeat the entire psalm on resuming the recitation, as he says each verse has its own signification.
May Matins be said separately from Lauds without any excusing cause?
Yes, for it was the practice of the early Church to say these parts of the liturgy at times separated by intervals. But if Matins be said separately, without Lauds following immediately. _Pater Noster_ with Dominus Vobisc.u.m and the prayer of the day should be said at the end of the _Te Deum_, If Lauds follow Matins immediately the _Pater_ and _Ave_ should not be said, for the Congregation (same decree) says ”_Laudes incohandas ut in Psalterio_,” but in the Psalter the _Pater_ and _Ave_ are not a.s.signed for the beginning of Lauds.
<script>