Holy Rule for February 15
10 views
Skip to first unread message
St. Mary's Monastery
Feb 14, 2026, 5:19:20 PM (6 days ago) Feb 14
to holyrule
+PAX
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
February 15, June 16, October 16
Chapter 13: How the Morning Office Is to Be Said on Weekdays (1-11)
On weekdays the Morning Office shall be celebrated as follows. Let Psalm 66 be said without an antiphon and somewhat slowly, as on Sunday, in order that all may be in time for Psalm 50, which is to be said with an antiphon. After that let two other Psalms be said according to custom, namely: on Monday Psalms 5 and 35, on Tuesday Psalms 42 and 56, on Wednesday Psalms 63 and 64, on Thursday Psalms 87 and 89, on Friday Psalms 75 and 91, and on Saturday Psalm 142 and the canticle from Deuteronomy, which is to be divided into two sections each terminated by a "Glory be to the Father." But on the other days let there be a canticle from the Prophets, each on its own day as chanted by the Roman Church.
Next follow the Psalms of praise [148-150], then a lesson of the Apostle to be recited from memory, the responsory, an Ambrosian hymn, the verse, the canticle from the Gospel book, the litany, and so the end.
REFLECTION
Again, we have the gentleness of St. Benedict, insisting on the slow recitation of Psalm 66, to give all the stragglers and strugglers time to arrive! But we have it here in other respects, too. Check out the length of the Canticle from Deuteronomy. Pack a lunch!! St. Benedict divides it, drops one Psalm and lets one half of the very long canticle take its place.
Even though St. Benedict went out of his way to shorten the Roman Office of his day, here he says that the canticles chosen by the Roman Church for most of the week should be used. When he sees a good idea, he embraces it. When he sees a need for change, he does that, too. It is very evident that he did not care for lengthy services, that he did not want his monastics to become liturgical gymnasts, spending ALL their time working out! As always, he wanted balance.
We must always be careful NOT to read St. Benedict with purely 21st century eyes. Liturgy and uniformity were very, very different in his time. If anything, uniformity was little known. The greatest ascendancy of the Roman usage before Trent in Europe-and even that was far from complete-would come hundreds of years later, under the aegis of Charlemagne. The enforced uniformity of Trent was over a thousand years away.
(Trivia: We forget that the Roman rite of Trent was not used everywhere before the 16th century, or even used everywhere afterwards. One of the minor complaints to arise about the priests of the post-Reformation English mission was that some used the new Roman Mass of Trent, while others clung to the more ancient and properly English rite of Sarum. Dominicans, Carmelites, Cistercians and Carthusians retained their own rites, with Gallican peculiarities, right up until the late 1960's. Carthusians still use their own rite for Mass and Office.)
Hence, when we see St. Benedict setting up his own complete Psalter that is not unusual: every monastery would have to do that for itself, some better than others. It was that "some better than others" part that St. Benedict wished to avoid: he set a standard for his monasteries that would protect them from the surrounding extremes of too much or too little.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Br. Jerome Leo’s Daily Reflection on the Holy Rule
February 15, June 16, October 16
Chapter 13: How the Morning Office Is to Be Said on Weekdays (1-11)
On weekdays the Morning Office shall be celebrated as follows. Let Psalm 66 be said without an antiphon and somewhat slowly, as on Sunday, in order that all may be in time for Psalm 50, which is to be said with an antiphon. After that let two other Psalms be said according to custom, namely: on Monday Psalms 5 and 35, on Tuesday Psalms 42 and 56, on Wednesday Psalms 63 and 64, on Thursday Psalms 87 and 89, on Friday Psalms 75 and 91, and on Saturday Psalm 142 and the canticle from Deuteronomy, which is to be divided into two sections each terminated by a "Glory be to the Father." But on the other days let there be a canticle from the Prophets, each on its own day as chanted by the Roman Church.
Next follow the Psalms of praise [148-150], then a lesson of the Apostle to be recited from memory, the responsory, an Ambrosian hymn, the verse, the canticle from the Gospel book, the litany, and so the end.
REFLECTION
Again, we have the gentleness of St. Benedict, insisting on the slow recitation of Psalm 66, to give all the stragglers and strugglers time to arrive! But we have it here in other respects, too. Check out the length of the Canticle from Deuteronomy. Pack a lunch!! St. Benedict divides it, drops one Psalm and lets one half of the very long canticle take its place.
Even though St. Benedict went out of his way to shorten the Roman Office of his day, here he says that the canticles chosen by the Roman Church for most of the week should be used. When he sees a good idea, he embraces it. When he sees a need for change, he does that, too. It is very evident that he did not care for lengthy services, that he did not want his monastics to become liturgical gymnasts, spending ALL their time working out! As always, he wanted balance.
We must always be careful NOT to read St. Benedict with purely 21st century eyes. Liturgy and uniformity were very, very different in his time. If anything, uniformity was little known. The greatest ascendancy of the Roman usage before Trent in Europe-and even that was far from complete-would come hundreds of years later, under the aegis of Charlemagne. The enforced uniformity of Trent was over a thousand years away.
(Trivia: We forget that the Roman rite of Trent was not used everywhere before the 16th century, or even used everywhere afterwards. One of the minor complaints to arise about the priests of the post-Reformation English mission was that some used the new Roman Mass of Trent, while others clung to the more ancient and properly English rite of Sarum. Dominicans, Carmelites, Cistercians and Carthusians retained their own rites, with Gallican peculiarities, right up until the late 1960's. Carthusians still use their own rite for Mass and Office.)
Hence, when we see St. Benedict setting up his own complete Psalter that is not unusual: every monastery would have to do that for itself, some better than others. It was that "some better than others" part that St. Benedict wished to avoid: he set a standard for his monasteries that would protect them from the surrounding extremes of too much or too little.
Br. Jerome Leo Hughes, OSB (RIP)
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages