The Divine Office, Edward J. Quigley [best book reader .txt] 📗

"Omnipotens et misericors Deus qui beatam Joannam Franciscam tuo amore succensam admirabili spiritus fortitudine per omnes vitae semitas in via perfectionis donasti, quique per illam illustrare Ecclesiam tuam nova prole voluisti: ejus meritis et precibus concede ut qui infirmitatis nostrae conscii de tua virtute confidimus coelestis gratiae auxilio, cuncta nobis adversantia vicamus. Per Dominum …"

Translation-"Almighty and merciful God Who inflaming blessed Jane Frances with love, didst endow her with a marvellous fortitude of spirit to pursue the way of perfection In all the paths of life, and wast pleased through her to enrich Thy Church with a new offspring, grant by her merits and intercession that we, who, knowing our own weakness, trust in Thy strength, may by the help of Thy heavenly grace overcome all things that oppose us. Through our Lord" (Collect of St. Jane Frances Fremiot De Chantal, August 21).

Rubrics. In Vespers and Lauds the collect is said after the antiphons of the Magnificat and Benedictus, unless the Preces (q.v.) are to be said in these hours. Then the Preces are said after the antiphons, and the collects follow after them immediately. The collect of a ferial Office is found in Office of the previous Sunday, except in ferias of Lent and Rogation days which have special and proper collects.

At Prime and the other Hours the collect is said after the little respond, unless the Preces be recited. They precede the collect. At Compline the collect is said after the antiphon Salva nos if the Preces be not recited.

At Prime and Compline the collects of the Psalter are never changed except during the last three days of Holy Week. In this triduum, in all hours up to and including None on Holy Saturday the collect is said after the Psalm Miserere.

Before reciting the collect in the Office, everyone in deacon's orders or in priesthood says Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo, and this is said even if the Office be said privately. All others reciting the Office say Domine exaudi orationem meam. Et clamor meus ad te veniat. Then the word Oremus is prefixed to the recitation of the collect, and at the end, Amen is said. If there be only one collect, the Dominus vobiscum or the Domine exaudi with the responses Et cum spiritu tuo; Et clamor meus ad te veniat is repeated after the Amen. But if there be more than one collect, before each is said its corresponding antiphon and versicle and also the word, Oremus. After the last collect is said, the Dominus vobiscum and Et cum spiritu tuo are repeated. Then we add Benedicamus Domino; Deo Gratias, Fidelium animae…. This latter verse is not a constant sequel to the Benedicamus, as we see in Prime, where the verse Pretiosa succeeds it; and again in Compline it is succeeded by Benedicat et custodiet. The concluding words of the prayers or collects vary. If the prayer is addressed to God the Father, the concluding words are Per Dominum (see the collects given above). If the prayer be addressed to God the Son, the concluding words are Qui vivis et regnas—e.g., Deus qui in tuae caritatis exemplum ad fidelium redemptionem …. Qui vivis et regnas (Collect for St. Peter Nolasco's feast, 3ist January). If in the beginning of the prayer mention is made of God the Son, the ending should be Per eundem, e.g., Domine Deus noster? qui, beatae Brigittae per Filium tuurn unigenitum secreta coelestia revelasti; … Per eundem Dominum (collect for feast, 8th October). But if the mention of God the Son is made near the end of the collect, the ending is Qui tecum vivit et regnal, e.g., "Famulorum tuorum, quaesumus, Domine…. Genitricis Filii tui Domini nostri intercessione salvemur: Qui tecum vivit et regnat" (collect of Assumption, 15th August). If the name of the Holy Ghost occur in the prayer, the conclusion is, In unitate ejusdem Spiritus sancti, e.g., "Deus, qui hodierna die corda … in eodem spiritu recta … in imitate ejusdem Spiritus" (collect: for Pentecost Sunday).

The following lines, giving the rules for terminations, are well known and are useful, as a help to the memory:—

Per Dominum dicas, si Patrem quilibet oras Si Christum memores, Per eundem, dicere debes Si loqueris Christo, Qui vivis scire memento; Qui tecum, si sit collectae finisin ipso Si Flamen memores ejusdem die prope finem

When there are several collects an ending or conclusion is added to the first and last only. Dominus vobiscum is said before the first collect only, but each collect is preceded by the word Oremus, unless in the Office for the Dead.

Explanation of the Rubric. Where a feast is transferred either occasionally or always and its collect contains words such as Hanc diem, hodiernom diem, it is not allowed to change the wording, without permission of the Congregation of Rites (S.R.C., 7th September, 1916).

If the collect of a commemoration be of the same form as the prayer of the feast, the former is taken from the common of saints, in proper place.

Dominus vobiscum. This salutation is of great antiquity. It was the greeting of Booz to his harvestmen (Ruth, ii. 4). The prophet used the selfsame salutation to Azas. And the Angel Gabriel expressed the same idea, Dominns tecum, to the Blessed Virgin. It was blessed and honoured by our Lord Himself, when to His apostles he said "Ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus" (St. Matt. 28. 20). This beautiful salutation passed into Church liturgy at an early date, probably in apostolic times. Its use in liturgy was mentioned at the Council of Braga (563), and it is found in the Sacramentarium Gelasianum (sixth century). These words are called the divine salutation. They mean that the priest who utters them is at peace with all clergy and people and thus wishes God to remain with them—the highest and holiest of wishes. For the presence of God, Who is the source of every good and the author of every best gift, is a certain pledge of divine protection and of that peace and consolation which the world cannot give. This formula is used even in private recitation of the Office, as the priest prays in union with and in the name of the Church.

The words Et cum spiritu tuo add a new and further significance to the salutation; for it is the spirit, the human soul, that prays, and when the spirit prays in the name of the Church for her children, its work is a work of high spiritual order, demanding the use of all the soul's powers,

Oremus. This exhortation is of very great antiquity, and in this form is found in the liturgies of St. James and of St. Mark. In those days it was said by the priest in a loud voice. The priest, the mediator, following the example of the great Mediator, Christ, calls others to join with him in prayer. St. Augustine tells us, that sometimes after pronouncing the word Oremus, the priest paused for a while and the people prayed in silence, and then the priest "collected" the united prayers of the congregation and offered them to God, hence the name collect (St. Augustine, Epistle 107), (cf. Probst., Abendl Messe, p. 126).

Invocation and Conclusion. Prayer is addressed generally to God the Father. This practice is in accordance with the example and doctrine of Christ, "Father, I give Thee thanks" (St. John, xi, 41); "Amen, amen, I say to you; if you ask the Father anything in My name, he will give it to you" (St. John, xvi. 23). "And He taught us to say 'Our Father.'" In the early ages of the Church, seldom was prayer addressed to God, the Son. Innocent III. tells us that the reason for the practice was a fear that such prayer might lead the catechumens, the Jews or the Pagans converted to Christianity, to allege or to believe that Christians worshipped several Gods. However, with the advent of the early heresies, it became necessary to formulate prayers witnessing the divinity of Christ and His equality in all things to the Father and the Holy Ghost. In some of the great prayers of the liturgy, the three Persons of the Holy Trinity are named to show their equality and unity of nature and substance. Nearly all the prayers of this kind are the products of the Church during the storms of early heresy against the divinity, nature or personality of Christ.

The conclusions of the prayers generally contain the words Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, because all graces come through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Who pleads, as Mediator between God and Man, as He Himself has said, "No man cometh to the Father but by Me" (St. John, xiv. 6).

Hence, in every collect, we may distinguish five parts: the invocation, the motive, the petition, the purpose, the conclusion.

(1) The Invocation takes some form such as Deus, Domine.

(2) The motive is commonly introduced by the relative qui; e.g., Deus, qui corda fidelium sancti spiritus illustratione docuisti.

(3) The petition, the body or centre or substance of the prayer, is always noted for the solemn simplicity of language, which marks liturgical prayer, e.g., Multiplica super nos misericordiam tuam.

(4) The purpose is an enforcement of the petition. It has reference, generally, to the need of the petitions and is marked usually with the word ut. "Multiplica super nos misericordiam tuam, ut quae, nobis agendis praecipis, te miserante adimplere possimus" (prayer for feast of St. Patrick).

(5) The conclusion varies, e.g., "Per Dominum nostrum," "Per eundem Dominum," etc.

"Those who pay intelligent attention to the liturgical chant at High Mass, and in particular to the chant of the celebrant, will be able to discover for themselves that the intonations used in the singing of the collect and the Post-Communion serve, as a rule, to mark off two at least of the main divisions indicated. Two inflections, a greater and a lesser, occur in the body of the prayer, the greater for the most part coming at the close of the 'motive,' while the lessor concludes the 'petition' and produces the purpose of the prayer. When the prayers are correctly printed, as in the authentic 'Missale Romanum,' the place of the inflexions is indicated by a colon, 'punctum principals,' and a semicolon, 'semi-punctum,' respectively. These steps, it will he observed, indicate, not precisely 'breaks in the sense' (as Haberl incorrectly says) but rather the logical divisions of the sentence, which is not quite the same thing" (Father Lucas, S.J., Holy Mass, chap, vi.).

The question is often asked, why Dominus vobiscum is said after the collect, or prayer. Writers on liturgy reply that it is so placed because Christ frequently used the salutation Pax vobis, and the priest in public prayer holds the place of Christ, and as he, the priest, used this formula of salvation before the collect to obtain the spirit of prayer and the grace of God, he repeats it so that these gifts may be retained.

In the collects, the fatherland of the saints is rarely found, because the saints' true home and fatherland is heaven, where they were born again to life eternal, and their fatherland is not this valley of exile where they spent their temporal life. Nor are their surnames given in the collects (see the collect of St. Jane Frances Fremiot de Chantel given on p. 180). But it is not infrequent in the collects to find certain appellations characterising a saint or noting some special prerogative or wonderful gift of grace. The Church's collects record the wonderful gifts of St. John Chrysostom ("the golden-mouthed"), St. Peter Chrysologus ("qui ob auream ejus eloquentiam Chrysologi cognomen adeptus est") (Rom. Brev.). Sometimes the nation or earthly home of a saint is given in a collect to distinguish one saint from another. This is seen in the case of saints bearing the name of Mary, which if used absolutely or unqualifiedly refers to the Mother of God. See the collects for St. Mary Magdalen, St. Mary of Egypt, etc.

The collect or prayer is placed at the end of the Hours to collect or gather up the fruits of all the prayers that precede; to beg from God that His grace may follow our actions as it precedes them; that the prayer may be a shield and buckler against all temptations which may be encountered. The prayers at Prime and at Compline never vary, to remind us, the old writers tell us, that all our acts should be invariably referred to God. In the early ages of the Church, all public prayers, both in Mass and in Office were offered up by both priests and people with outstretched arms. This practice is observed still, in