Friday, November 4, 2016

Brush up your rubrics: Getting ready for Advent - Matins

Continuing this little series on getting ready for Advent, today a quick look at Matins during Advent.

Matins during Advent


Matins during Advent is actually fairly straightforward - although there are some seasonal texts, unlike the day hours, Matins doesn't become more complicated in the second half of Advent!

The key changes are that:
  • instead of the daily invitatory verses that are normally used with Psalm 94, there are two seasonal ones; 
  • the hymn  (Verbum supernum) is of the season rather than the day of the week; 
  • on Sundays there are antiphons for the season;
  • the versicles at the end of the first Nocturn are of the season; 
  • there are three readings each day, generally from Isaiah; 
  • the final chapter is of the season; and 
  • on Sundays the third Nocturn canticles are of the season.
If you are using a breviary to say Matins, all of this is set out in the Ordinary (pgs 14-15 of Volume 1 for the 1963 edition of the breviary).  It is also nicely set out in the new Nocturnal Monasticum at page 14.

If you are using the Clear Creek booklet, however, not all of these texts are included, so I'll point you to sources for the missing parts.

Invitatory and hymn


The invitatory verse up until the third Sunday of Advent is the same as the Roman Office, viz:

 Regem venturum Dominum * Venite adoremus.

The Lord, the King who is to come * O come, let us adore Him.

Note though that there are a couple of different versions of the chant around; the monastic one can be found in the Liber Hymnarius (pg 146).  

From the third Sunday, the invitatory becomes:

Prope est iam Dominus * Venite adoremus.
The Lord is now near * O come, let us adore Him.

The hymn is also the same as the Roman Office, and so the text can be found at Divinum Officium.


Nocturns


The antiphons, versicles and so forth needed are generally listed in psalters, so it is just a matter of making sure you use the ones noted for Advent. Note that on week days the antiphons are as for throughout the year.  


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