The old Book of Common Prayer had very little provision for seasons and festivals, generally providing only an epistle and Gospel for Mass and a collect for Mass and Morning and Evening Prayer. This greatly simplified things but led to a rather dry and spiritually unfulfilling office. One of the great joys of the new breviary is the restoration – in full – of the church's year.
As this page is quite long, quick navigation links are provided below to move swiftly through the sections:
It is now possible to pray a full office that really does express the church's seasons and festivals, helping us to live the church's year day by day. You will need to have a lectionary to hand, of course, to pray the breviary: this is a minimal breviary of one volume of slightly more than 800 pages and obviously doesn't print the lections in full.
In fact, in many cases, it doesn't print even references to lections, which is why you'll need a lectionary. And a bible to read the lections from. While this isn't particularly a problem, it does make travelling and praying the office more difficult than it would be with a complete breviary. One of the old names for a breviary was a portiforium, something portable in the sense it could be carried around while still containing sufficient to say the abbreviated office that had become the norm. I hope this is something the Commission may address in future editions.
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The Common Worship calendar has five classes of days:
Rubrics 11 and 12 (p xiii) deal with arranging the office on holy days and the collect but are not necessarily clear unless you have experience with the office. I shall explain them here for convenience.
In keeping with the ancient tradition of the Church, holy days, principal feasts and festivals begin on the evening before with Vespers. This first Vespers is, not suprisingly, called First Vespers and the office is of the following day. On the eves of principal feasts and holy days, and Sundays, an effort should be made to say a full vigil office, detailed on p291ff, with, of course, texts that are proper for the following day.
Vespers on the day of the feast or festival or Sunday is called Second Vespers and only gives way to First Vespers of a day ranked higher than it in the list above. It is good to commemorate the outgoing feast whose Second Vespers was displaced by First Vespers of the incoming feast by following the collect of the day with the Benedictus or Magnificat antiphon of the commemoration and the collect.
Days with commemorations are treated rather like ferial days and the person commemorated is done so with a proper collect, or a collect from the common if no proper collect is supplied.
There are certain privileged days and seasons when no feast, festival or commemoration may be made. These are detailed in the rubrics dealing with seasons on pxivff and these privileged seasons must never be disregarded.
Ferial – or ordinary – days, which have nothing for them in the calendar, do not have a First or Second Vespers, only Vespers. On these days, the Sunday office is resumed and the collect is of the previous Sunday. On most ferial days, one of the occasional offices on p270ff could be used.
On ferial Fridays in Advent, Lent and Ordinary Time, an additional service of Prayers at the Foot of the Cross is provided, used either before or after the ferial office. This service is very beautiful and includes veneration of the cross, and should be the norm in public office on ferial Fridays in permitted seasons. The service is on p283ff.
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If you are an astute reader of rubrics, you will not have failed to notice that commemorations are a bit vague in the new breviary. They are quite easy to spot – look for names in the calendar in italics that do not have a proper collect provided for them – but less easy to know how to commemorate. The rubric tells you to mention them during the intercessions, but does not go any further than that.
The scheme for making commemoration in the Sarum and Roman breviaries was rather complicated, so I am offering an alternative scheme here. My scheme is based on the system in the Sarum breviary, slightly adapting the texts to bring them in line with Common Worship: Daily Prayer, and simplifying the rubrics for commemorations. The scheme falls into two categories:
Ferial and commemoration days have their own distinct sets of commemorations, whether in Ordinary or Seasonal Time. Sundays, being in themselves a commemoration of the Resurrection, have their own distinct sets of commemorations.
At Vespers on Saturday evening, and Lauds and Vespers on Sundays in Ordinary Time, say the commemoration of the Resurrection:
And when the women looked, they saw that the stone had been rolled away from
the tomb, alleluia. And the angels said to them:
V. Why do you look for the living among the dead?
R. He is not here, but has risen, alleluia!
Let us pray. Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
has overcome death and opened for us the gates of eternal life: we humbly
pray that you pour upon us your special grace and put into our minds good
desires, so that with your continual help we may bring them to good effect.
Through the same Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever. Amen.
Spirit
On ferial days in Ordinary Time, after the collect of the preceding Sunday, say the following commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary and then the commemoration of All Saints, at Lauds and Vespers:
In you, and in your offspring, shall all the families of the earth be blest.
V. The Lord has chosen her
R. To be a dwelling-place for himself.
Let us pray. We beseech you, O Lord, mercifully pour your grace into the hearts of
those who commemorate the holy Mother of God and Virgin Mary; sanctify our bodies in
chastity, and our souls in humility and charity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Let the saints be joyful with glory; let them rejoice in their beds.
V. O God, you are wonderful in your saints
R. And glorious in your majesty.
Let us pray. Graciously behold, O Lord, the infirmity of your servants, and at the
prayers of [the Holy Mother of God and Virgin Mary, the Righteous Joseph, the Holy
Apostles Peter and Paul, your patron saint, and all] your saints, turn from
us all those evils which we most righteously deserve; through Jesus Christ your
Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit;
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
On commemoration days in Ordinary Time, after the collect of the preceding Sunday, say the following commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary and then the commemoration of All Saints with the person being commemorated, at Lauds and Vespers:
In you, and in your offspring, shall all the families of the earth be blest.
V. The Lord has chosen her
R. To be a dwelling-place for himself.
Let us pray. We beseech you, O Lord, mercifully pour your grace into the hearts of
those who commemorate the holy Mother of God and Virgin Mary; sanctify our bodies in
chastity, and our souls in humility and charity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Let the saints be joyful with glory; let them rejoice in their beds.
V. O God, you are wonderful in your saints
R. And glorious in your majesty.
Let us pray. Graciously behold, O Lord, the infirmity of your servants, and at the
prayers of [the Holy Mother of God and Virgin Mary, the Righteous Joseph, the Holy
Apostles Peter and Paul, your patron saint], N and all your saints, turn from
us all those evils which we most righteously deserve; through Jesus Christ your
Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit;
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Not done yet!
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Don't get hung up on rubrics and office arrangements to the detriment of the office. This sounds like an obvious warning, but it is very easy to do, and I speak from experience. Just remember, higher-ranked days take precedence over lower-ranked days, and the privileged days and seasons are sacrosanct. The rubrics permit considerable variety in how the office is arranged and it's not the end of the world if you don't quite 'get it right'. The office should be a source of joy, not of worry or guilt!
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