Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Brush up your rubrics for Advent - the chapter, versicle, responsories and hymns

Today the final part in the brush up your rubrics for Advent series, aimed at helping you to get ready for the complexities of the Advent Office.

 So far I have covered:

Today I want to focus on the parts of the Office that immediately follow the psalmody (other than the canticle and its antiphon at Lauds and Vespers and the closing prayers which we have already covered).

Lauds and Vespers - all change!

The most important thing to keep in mind when saying Lauds and Vespers during Advent is that all of the parts of the Office after the psalmody - that is the chapter, short responsory, hymn and versicle - change during Advent.  

That means you have to ignore what appears in the psalter section of your Diurnal or breviary and instead use the texts found under the 'Ordinary of Advent' (Diurnal page 9* onwards; Antiphonale Monasticum page 181 onwards).


The table below summarises the impact of Advent on these two hours.


Lauds and Vespers during the week

I&II Vespers of Sunday, Sunday Lauds
Opening prayers
As throughout the year


Antiphons for the psalms
As throughout the year until December 17, then of the week day in the period

Of the Sunday of Advent
Psalms
Of the day

Chapter, responsory, hymn, versicle
Ordinary of Advent
Of the Advent Sunday (mostly from the Ordinary)

Canticle antiphon
Of the Advent day or date

Canticle
As throughout the year

Closing prayers
Collect of the Advent week or day



The hymns (and hymn tones) of the season

Accordingly, this is the week to brush up (or learn) the hymns of the season, namely:
(Note the recordings I've linked to use slightly different texts to the monastic ones in some cases).

In the case of Prime, Terce to None and Compline the texts of the hymns do not change.  If you are singing them though, there are special chant tones for the season:
  • the chant tone for the hymn, Te Lucis ante Terminum (Compline) can be found on page 183 of the Antiphonale Monasticum; and
  • the chant tone for Iam lucis orto at Prime is also used at Terce to None, and can be found in the Antiphonale Monasticum on page 185.
Chapter and versicles for Terce to None

The chapter and versicles of the little hours are all of Advent, but because they are the same throughout Advent they can be found both in the Ordinary of Advent section and in the psalter section.

The table below summarises the impact of Advent on Prime, Compline and Terce to None.


PART OF THE HOUR
COMPLINE
PRIME
TERCE TO NONE




Opening prayers/section

As for throughout the year

Hymn
Text as for throughout the year; chant tone of Advent, AM 183

Text as for throughout the year; chant tone of Advent, AM 185
Antiphon and psalms
Unchanged (no antiphon)
Antiphon of the week or day of Advent with psalms of the day of the week
Antiphon of the week or day of Advent with psalms of day

Chapter/short reading and versicle

As for throughout the year

For Advent, as noted in the psalter section
Closing prayers
As for throughout the year
Collect of the Advent week or day

Matins

At Matins, the Ordinary of the season includes:
  • the invitatory antiphon (which changes from the Third Sunday of Advent);
  • the hymn;
  • antiphons on Sundays;
  • versicles at the end of Nocturn I; and
  • chapter.

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Brush up your rubrics for Advent - The canticle antiphons and collects in Advent

Image result for o antiphons


In the previous part of this series I talked about how the canticle antiphons and collects usually work; today I want to work on the canticle antiphons and collects of Advent.

Advent days and dates

The first thing you need to know is that during Advent, the antiphons for the Benedictus at Lauds and the Magnificat at Vespers are different each day, being either of the Advent day (eg Monday in the First week of Advent, Tuesday in the first week of Advent, etc) or of the date (unless, of course, displaced by a feast).

The trick is that between December 17 and 23, the Lauds canticle is generally (subject to two key exceptions) of the Advent day (not date), while the Vespers canticles of the Advent day are displaced by those of the date (viz the O antiphons).

So this year (2017) for example, at Lauds on Monday 18 November, the canticle is of Monday in the Third Week of Advent (Egredietur virga).

The O antiphons

At Vespers, however, you have to ignore the Magnificat antiphon set down for the Monday in the third week in your book and instead use the O antiphon of the date, O Adonai.
  • The Great O's as they are known, can be found in the Diurnal on page 35-6*, or in the Antiphonale on page 208-11.  In other books, look after the Third Sunday of Advent.
The O antiphons are ancient indeed, known to St Benedict's contemporary Boethius, and all have essentially the same melody, so are easy to learn, and there are numerous recordings of them available on youtube.

Lauds canticles

Although Lauds mostly sticks to canticles of the Advent day, it does have some canticles of the date as well, namely for December 21 (Nolite Timere, used in the commemoration of the day as it is the feast of St Thomas) and December 23 (Ecce completa).

The table below summarises the source of the canticles between December 17 and the end of Advent - and of course don't forget that the first word of the O antiphons working backwards spells out Ero Cras - tomorrow I will come!


Lauds
Vespers

Dec 17
Of the Advent day (2017: Third Sunday of Advent)

O Sapientia
Dec 18
Of the Advent day (2017: Monday in the third week of Advent)

O Adonai
Dec 19
Of the Advent day (2017: Tuesday wk III)

O Radix Iesse
Dec 20
Of the Advent day (2017: Ember Wednesday of Advent)

O Clavis David
Dec 21
Of the Advent day (St Thomas – for the commemoration of the Advent Day, Nolite Timere)

O Oriens
Dec 22
Of the Advent day (2017: Ember Friday of Advent)

O Rex gentium
Dec 23
Of the date – Ecce completa est

O Emmanuel
Dec 24
Of the Vigil of the Nativity
Of I Vespers of the Nativity

The collects

The collects for Advent follow the normal pattern, generally being of the Sunday each week (except at Prime and Compline).

The key exception is the three Ember days (Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in the third week of Advent), which each have their own collect.


Friday, November 17, 2017

Brush up your rubrics (for Advent) Part III - How the canticle antiphons and collects work


Image result for Magnificat


I want to continue my series on getting ready for Advent today with a look at the antiphons for the Benedictus (Lauds) and Magnificat (Vespers), as well as the collects, work in the Office more generally.  In the next part I'll focus in on the peculiarities of the Advent set.

The normal pattern of canticle antiphons and collects

On normal days (Class IV ferias and Sundays) throughout the year, the antiphons for the two New Testament canticles follow the following pattern:
  • at Saturday Vespers, the Magnificat antiphon is of the following Sunday, and usually reflects the first Nocturn Scriptural readings of Sunday Matins;
  • on Sundays the two canticle antiphons usually refer to the Gospels said at (EF) Mass that day (and also read at Matins);
  • on weekdays, the canticle antiphons are of the particular weekday, and are the same throughout the year and so included in the psalter section of the Diurnal, breviary and Antiphonale.
The collects

The Saturday and Sunday canticle antiphons throughout the year are found in the 'temporale' section of the Diurnal and other Office books along with the Sunday collect.  The table below summarises where the collects are taken from.  It shows that the Sunday collect is usually used from Saturday Vespers until Vespers the following Friday at all hours except Prime and Compline (which have their own fixed collects used throughout the year).  

On Saturdays (or Friday Vespers if you are following the Le Barroux rubrics, which still includes Vespers of the Office of Our Lady, abolished in the 1962 rubrics), the normal weekly collect is displaced by that for the Office of Our Lady on Saturday.

Collects during the year (outside of Advent and Lent etc)


DAY AND HOUR
THE COLLECT IS OF…
NOTES

Saturday Vespers
Of the following Sunday
Unless displaced by a feast

Sunday Matins & Lauds, Terce to Vespers

Of the Sunday
Unless displaced by a Class I feast
Prime every day
Always the same – Domine Deus omnipotens…

 Subject to a few rare exceptions such as All Souls and the Triduum

Compline every day
Always the same – Visita quaesumus

 Subject to a few rare exceptions such as All Souls and the Triduum

Monday to Friday Matins & Lauds, Terce to Vespers
Of the previous Sunday
Unless displaced by a feast or higher level day

Saturday Matins & Lauds, Terce to None
Collect for Office of Our Lady on Saturday
Unless displaced by a feast or higher level feast.

In some monasteries, the Office of Our Lady starts with I Vespers on Friday night.

Where to find the antiphons and collects

Finding the canticle antiphons for Saturdays and Sundays can sometimes be a little tricky, as from the Second Sunday of Pentecost until the end of the liturgical year, they are typically on two different places in the 'temporale' (texts for the time of year).

This is because the First (and Second) Nocturn readings of Matins are not always 'attached' to the Mass cycle of Sundays of the year.  Instead, they follow an ancient cycle of Scriptural readings that originally enabled the entire Bible to be read in a year, with the readings from August to November being of the Sunday of the month rather than the Sunday Mass cycle.

In the Monastic Diurnal, the Saturday Vespers antiphons can be found (under the heading I Vespers) from pages 432* onwards; those for the equivalent Sundays from page 461*. 

In the Antiphonale Monasticum (AM), the Saturday antiphon sequence starts at the fourth Saturday after Penteocst, on page 575 (labelled 'Tempore post Pentecosten...antiphonae dicendae in sabbatis).  The Sunday sequence starts on AM 593.

Advent and the other exceptions

The key exceptions to the patterns described above are:
  • feasts, where the canticle of the feast will normally displace the canticle antiphon and collect  that would otherwise be said (except at Prime and Compline);
  • some special feasts through the year when the Benedictine Office is displaced by the Roman (such as during the Sacred Triduum and on All Souls) which affect Prime and Compline;
  • higher level 'days', such as the four sets of Ember Days during the year, which have their own collects; and
  • special seasons of the year such as Advent.
But more on this in the next part of the series.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Brush up your rubrics for Advent - The antiphons for the psalms Part II

In the last part of this series aimed at preparing for Advent I gave a bit of an overview on the antiphons, and ended on where to find them in your Office book.

Today I want to say a bit more about their use in general, as well as cover the antiphons for the particularly tricky period of Advent between December 17 and 23.

The Lauds antiphons as the core

The first thing to keep in mind not only for Advent, but also for feasts and seasons throughout the year is that 'core' set of antiphons are usually those for Lauds.

During the first part of Advent for example, the antiphons for Sunday Lauds are also used (omitting the fourth) at I Vespers of Sunday (ie Saturday Vespers) and at Prime to None.

So during the first week of Lent, the antiphon 'In illa die' is the first antiphon sung for Advent, at Saturday Vespers (MD 1*/AM 187), is repeated at Lauds (MD 4*), and then used at Prime throughout the week (MD 6*).

Which antiphon at which hour?

Office books will sometimes simply refer to you the antiphons of Lauds (or in the case of Prime, just expect you to know!), without spelling out which is for which hour. 

An important example of this is the antiphons used between December 17 and 23, which can be found on page 37* of the Monastic Diurnal, or page 212 of the Antiphonale Monasticum.

In these cases, the basic principle you need to remember is that on feasts and during Advent, the antiphon for Prime is the first antiphon of Lauds (either of the feast itself or from the Common of the type of feast or saint); the second antiphon of Lauds is used at Terce; the third antiphon of Lauds is used at Sext; and the fifth is used at None.  The table below provides a summary.

Hour of the Office
Antiphon for the hour
Notes

Prime
1st antiphon of Lauds
The antiphon is the only thing that changes at this hour for most feasts and seasons

Terce
2nd of Lauds
Chapter, versicle and collect (but not hymn or psalms) also change for seasons and feasts

Sext
3rd of Lauds
None
5th of Lauds

(Sunday) Vespers
1st of Lauds=1st of Vespers
2nd of Lauds=2nd of Vespers
3rd of Lauds=3rd of Vespers
5th of Lauds=4th of Vespers
Some feasts have their own sets of Vespers antiphons.

Psalms and chapter, responsory and rest of texts other than canticle may change for feasts and seasons.

Compline
No antiphons used with psalms



The antiphons for December 17 to 23

The most important application of this during Advent is the special sets of antiphons for the day of the week during the second part of Advent.

As noted earlier, from December 17 onwards, Advent becomes much more intense, with antiphons for the day of the week.

In 2017, December 17 is a Sunday, so the antiphons are for the (Third) Sunday of Advent.  On Monday December 18, though, you use the set for Monday (or feria secunda in the Antiphonale or a breviary).

That means 'Ecce veniet Dominus' to start Lauds, Prime and Vespers.

Note that these antiphons are used with the normal psalms that are said on the particular day of the week.

Antiphons at weekday Lauds and Vespers during Advent

The other key point to note is that while Lauds and I&II Vespers of Sunday use the antiphons for the first week of Advent, on weekdays in the first part of Advent, the antiphons (and psalms) at Lauds and Vespers are just the usual ones used throughout the year.

It is only from December 17 onwards that the Advent psalms are used at all the hours.

Antiphons for Matins

For those who say Matins, there is one set of Advent antiphons, noted in the psalter, for use on Sundays during Advent; the normal antiphons are used on all other days.

Want to learn to sing the Advent antiphons by ear?

And for those wanting to sing the Office, a very useful resource to be aware of is the archive function of the site the Chant of Le Barroux - provided you know the date of the relevant feast from last year, you can retrieve many of the hours there.

So if you can't read music (or even if you can but want to check you are doing it correctly), just go to the recording for the relevant date last year (try here for the First Sunday of Advent in 2022) and go over it until you know the antiphons for the first week. 

Note however that Le Barroux generally sings the antiphons and psalms 'recto tono' at Lauds, so start with Vespers for this purpose.

Monday, November 13, 2017

Brush up your rubrics for Advent - The antiphons for the psalms, Part I



Image result for o antiphon


We are rapidly approaching the end of the liturgical year and thus approaching Advent, which is surely the most complicated period for the Office of the entire year.

Time to get ready!

Accordingly, I thought this might be a good time to do a little brush-up your rubrics series, with a particular emphasis on how to say the Office is during Advent.

This series is particularly aimed at those who are relatively new to the Office, but others may find it of use as well, by way of a refresher.

In particular, for those who want to follow along with the Le Barroux monks or sing the Office themselves, I have now added page references for the Antiphonale Monasticum to my Ordo notes.  So I thought it might also be helpful to make a few comments along the way about how to adapt that book to the 1960 (and Le Barroux variant) rubrics.

The antiphons - a brief introduction

Today I want to start looking at the antiphons for the psalms, the short refrain used at the beginning and end of each psalm or group of psalms.

St Benedict specifically mentions the use of antiphons in his description of the Office in his Rule, including the use of particular sets of antiphons for festivals, in a way that seems to make it pretty clear that he is talking of antiphons in the same way we use the term (and not just the psalms sung antiphonally).   The actual sets of antiphons for various feasts and seasons though, gradually expanded over the centuries as seasons and feasts were added or became more elaborated.

Singing the Office

The antiphons are particularly important musically, as their 'mode' determines the chant tone that the psalm is sung on.

If you take a look at page 3 of the psalter section of the Antiphonale Monasticum (from page 1 in Part I if you download it), for example, you will see annotations of 'VIII G' next to the start of the antiphon (incipit) for Monday Prime during the year (Feria Secunda ad Primam...In Feriis Officio per Annum, Antiphona).

That means that the psalms that follow (Psalms 1, 2&6) are sung to Tone 8.

Textual function

But their key textual function is to introduce and conclude the psalm, either by highlighting a particularly important verse in what is being sung, or by reminding us of an aspect of the feast or season.

For this reason, Advent has several sets of antiphons just for the season:
  • one set of antiphons for Sunday Matins in the season of Advent to replace those used throughout the year; 
  • a set of antiphons for each week of Advent, used at I Vespers of Sunday (Saturday), Sunday Lauds to Vespers, and Prime to None each day up until 16 December; and
  • a set of antiphons for Lauds to Vespers for each day of the week used between December 17 and 23.
Finding the antiphons for Advent

For much of the year the antiphons used at each hour are included in the psalter section of your Diurnal, breviary, psalter or other Office book.

If you look again at page 3 of the Antiphonale for example, you will see that it provides the leads in to the antiphons for time throughout the year (Officio per annum), Lent (Tempore Quadragesimae), Passiontide and Easter (Tempore Paschale).   You can find the same selection of antiphons in the Monastic Diurnal at the start of its psalter section (MD  2-3 in the 2004 onwards editions).

For Advent though, with the exception of Sunday Matins (where the Advent antiphons are included in most books) because they change each week or day, they are found in the 'temporale' section of Office books, which provide the texts for the special seasons of the year.

Accordingly, your first bit of preparation for Advent is to make sure you can find the antiphons.  For the first part of Advent (up to and including December 16):
  • in the Monastic Diurnal, look in the Proper of the Season section near the start of the book - the first page provides the antiphons for 1 Vespers of the First Sunday of Advent which are also used at Lauds (with the addition of the missing fourth antiphon, MD 4*), and then for subsequent weeks.  The antiphons for Prime to None for each week are also included in the Ordinary of the ferial office of Advent, MD 9* ff;
  • in the Antiphonale Monasticum, the antiphons for the first Sunday of Advent (also used at I Vespers, viz Sabbato ante Dominicam I Adventus) are on AM (Part I of the download version) on page 187, with subsequent weeks following; 
  • if you are using a breviary, make sure you have the right volume, and look for them in the temporale.  In the 1962 breviary the relevant section starts on page 3 and is headed Tempus Adventus;
  • in the Psautier Monastique, the antiphons for Prime to None can be found in the Ordinary of Advent section, which starts on page 560.
Antiphonale shortcuts

And one final point - I noted earlier that on page 3 of the Antiphonale it provides just the 'incipits' of the Prime antiphons.  That is because in earlier versions of the Office, the antiphons were not always sung in full before the psalms.  In many cases, only the incipit was sung before; the full thing after. 

In the 1962 Office though, it was decided to restore what was almost certainly the original practice of singing the antiphon in full both before and after the psalm(s).  So if you are using the Antiphonale, in some cases you may need to turn over to the end of the psalms to find the full antiphon written out (unless of course you know them by heart and just use the incipits as a memory prompt).

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Australian monastic news - upcoming discernment weekend for young women




Just a quick update on some positive news for Australians, with a request for prayers for the success of our emerging traditional religious communities.

Daughters of the Maternal Heart of Mary

There will be a discernment weekend for the emerging community of the Daughters of the Maternal Heart of Mary on November 24-26 in Sydney.

The Daughters of the Maternal Heart of Mary is a semi-contemplative traditional community of women based in Sydney, Australia, living a life of prayer and work according to the spirit of St. Benedict.

If you are a single woman aged  18-35, please do consider going to the weekend - you can find more information by following the link.

Notre Dame Priory

And Australia's emerging men's monastery in Tasmania takes a big step forward in a few weeks, with the clothing of the first group of novices.

Please keep these young men in your prayers as they take the next step on their path.

You could also take a look at the monk shop to help support them.

Thursday, August 17, 2017

New antiphonale released




I want to alert interested readers to the release of the first volume of a new monastic Liber Antiphonarius (aka Antiphonale, providing the chants and other texts for the day hours of the Office).

The Liber Antiphonarius will mainly be of interest to monasteries and Oblates using the Novus Ordo calendar, but the work on chant reflected in it may also be of broader interest.

In addition it may be of interest to those looking for a shorter version of the Liturgy of the Hours than the traditional monastic one, as it uses an arrangement of the psalms over a week but with no repetitions.  Note however that the book is Latin only.

The project 

The book is the product of twenty years of research by monks from Praglia Abbey, in collaboration with the nuns of the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, who undertook the encoding and typesetting.

Volume 1 of the Liber Antiphonarius provides the texts for the proper of times and daily texts of the Office, including the hymns.    It includes the psalter (using the neo-Vulgate), proper of time (including Sunday canticles for years A, B and C of the new calendar), and texts for feasts of Our Lord. In total it comes in at around 900 pages.

The second volume, scheduled for the end of 2019, will provide the texts for the feasts of saints, as well as the Office of the Dead.

Liber Antiphonarius pro Diurnis horis

The Liber Antiphonarius is printed in red and black print on 50 grams ivory paper with gold cut, and is available with either a canvass or leather cover.

It has three particular features:
  • it is aligned with the modern Benedictine Confederation Schema B (rather than St Benedict's own psalm cursus as set out in the Rule and used in the Monastic Diurnal), which is used by a large proportion of modern (Benedictine) monasteries; 
  • it provides more than one set of antiphons for Vespers and Lauds each day, and for some major feasts, in order to increase variety; and
  • it includes Benedictus and Magnificat antiphons aligned with the new calendar.
It is worth noting that this new Liber Antiphonarius does not simply reproduce the Sunday canticles from the Solesmes 2005 Antiphonale Monasticum, but instead provides new versions of them.

Overall the governing principle for the chants has been to:
  • include rhythmical signs (episemes and puncti mora) in squared notation;
  • source chants from a particular manuscript source, with no interpolations (such as taking one antiphon from different manuscripts making a sort of "common version");
  • use the traditional chant tones;
  • minimise the use of newly-composed melodies, privileging medieval compositions; and 
  • use the original texts of hymns, not the versions 'corrected' and 'mitigated' in the twentieth century.
I haven't actually seen a copy, so can't attest to the results, but this certainly sounds like an advance on the approach used in the 2005 Solesmes equivalent volume (which is largely based around Benedictine Schema A).

You can read more details on the approach taken here.

Ordering a copy

The Liber Antiphonarius costs Euro 57 (canvas cover) or E75 (leather cover) plus shipping. There is a special discount price for orders before 30 September of E45/63.
It can be ordered by mailing or emailing the monastery:

Praglia Abbey - Shipping
Via Abbazia di Praglia, 16
I-35037 Teolo PD - Italy
spedizioni@praglia.it

Orders will be processed from 2 October 2017.

Return to tradition?

Regular readers will know that my hope and prayers are for a return to the traditional Benedictine Office, using the psalm cursus set out in the Benedictine Rule (and the Vulgate rather than the neo-Vulgate), and this blog is dedicated to that purpose.  While it is true that St Benedictine allows for the use of other weekly arrangements of the psalms, I think his particular one embodies a particular spirituality reflecting the Rule, and so is an important element of the Benedictine charism and patrimony.

Unfortunately the traditional Office was largely abandoned (voluntarily and otherwise!) in the wake of Vatican II, with most monasteries following the Roman Office in suppressing Prime, and seeking to eliminate some or all of the repetitions of psalms in the Office.  This antiphonale obviously reflects this, in my view, unfortunate direction.

Nonetheless, every step in the direction of tradition is to be applauded, and so the development of a new monastic Antiphonale utilising the original chants wherever possible, and thus allowing Schema B to be readily sung in Latin and chant, is at least a step in the right direction!

Monday, August 14, 2017

Feast of the Assumption (August 15)

 Titian's Assunta (1516–18).


And a suitably grand version of Vespers for the feast:

Friday, August 4, 2017

Notre Dame Monastery Australia

The process of forming a traditional monastery in Australia has taken a few steps forward recently, so I thought it was time for an update!

You may recall that I posted on this a while back, and noted that the monastery is led by a monk from Flavigny in France, and is following their charism of offering Ignatian retreats.

The latest news is that the group of candidates have now progressed, so that the priory now has four postulants.  Please do keep them in your prayers.

Secondly, the monastery has acquired some land on which to build the monastery, and is therefore now in full fundraising mode - please do take a look at the video below, and see if you can contribute.  Details of how to do so can be found on the monastery's website (note that US donations are tax-exempt).





Thursday, August 3, 2017

St Germanus of Auxerre (August 3) (with a postscript on Office history)


St Patrick being taugt by St Germanus,
Gloucester Cathedral

Today is the feast of St Germanus, a fourth century (378-448) bishop of Auxerre.

His feast is also celebrated by some English monasteries because he made at least one, and possibly two trips to that country to counter the Pelagian heresy.

One of his claims to fame is that St Patrick may have been part of his entourage on that occasion.  There is another possible English connection though, that has some relevance to the history of the Office in the seventh century that I've set out below for those interested.

First though, the saint himself - and he's a saint with a great story.

Life of St Germanus

Originally trained as a lawyer, Germanus rose to become a governor in Gaul, but was far from saintly in his behaviour, antagonising his bishop by hanging the products of his hunting expeditions from a tree with pagan associations.  The bishop had the tree chopped down and the trophies burnt; to prevent retribution he had him forcibly tonsured and ordained a deacon.

Overnight Germanus became a changed man, distributing his goods among the poor, practising great austerities.  When he became a bishop, he built a large monastery to which he often retired.

On his English trip (or trips) he was instrumental in promoting the cult of St Alban, the first recorded British martyr.  He was most famous though, for personally leading a battle against the invading Picts and Saxons.

The story goes that the pagans were lured to attack, thinking that the Christians would be busy celebrating Easter.  St Germanus, though, started the service, and at the end of it ordered his small band of fighters to spread themselves out on the hills to surround the invaders. He told each group to build some huge fires, but wait until the signal to light them. At some point after midnight, Germanus ordered the men of his group to strike their shields with their weapons, light their signal fire, and begin to shout, "Alleluia! Alleluia!"  The enemy were taken by surprise and panicked, ran, some of them drowning while attempting to cross a nearby river, the only casualties of the "Alleluia Battle."

Here is the description of what happened from the life of the saint by Constantius of Lyon, written around 480:
Meanwhile, the Saxons and the Picts had joined forces to make war upon the Britons. The latter had been compelled to withdraw their forces within their camp and, judging their resources to be utterly unequal to the contest, asked the help of the holy prelates. The latter sent back a promise to come, and hastened to follow it. Their coming brought such a sense of security that you might have thought that a great army had arrived; to have such apostles for leaders was to have Christ Himself fighting in the camp.
It was the season of Lent and the presence of the bishops made the sacred forty days still more sacred; so much so that the soldiers, who received instruction in daily sermons, flew eagerly to the grace of baptism; indeed, great numbers of this pious army sought the waters of salvation. A church was built of leafy branches in readiness for Easter Day, on the plan of a city church, though set in a camp on active service. The soldiers paraded still wet from baptism, faith was fervid, the aid of weapons was thought little of, and all looked for help from heaven.
Meanwhile the enemy had learned of the practices and appearance of the camp. They promised themselves an easy victory over practically disarmed troops and pressed on in haste. But their approach was discovered by scouts and, when the Easter solemnities had been celebrated, the army--the greater part of it fresh from the font--began to take up their weapons and prepare for battle and Germanus announced that he would be their general [dux proelii, "leader for this battle"]. He chose some light-armed troops and made a tour of the outworks. In the direction from which the enemy were expected he saw a valley enclosed by steep mountains. Here he stationed an army on a new model, under his own command.
By now the savage host of the enemy was close at hand and Germanus rapidly circulated an order that all should repeat in unison the call he would give as a battle-cry. Then, while the enemy were still secure in the belief that their approach was unexpected, the bishops three times chanted the Alleluia. All, as one man, repeated it and the shout they raised rang through the air and was repeated many times in the confined space between the mountains.
The enemy were panic-stricken, thinking that the surrounding rocks and the very sky itself were falling on them. Such was their terror that no effort of their feet seemed enough to save them. They fled in every direction, throwing away their weapons and thankful if they could save at least their skins. Many threw themselves into the river which they had just crossed at their ease, and were drowned in it.
Thus the British army looked on at its revenge without striking a blow, idle spectators of the victory achieved. The booty strewn everywhere was collected; the pious soldiery obtained the spoils of a victory from heaven. The bishops were elated at the rout of the enemy without bloodshed and a victory gained by faith and not by force.(trans Robert Vermaat
On his return to Gaul, he proceeded to Armorica (Brittany) to intercede for the Armoricans who had been in rebellion. Their punishment was deferred at his entreaty, till he should have laid their case before the emperor. He set out for Italy, and reached Milan on 17 June, 448. Then he journeyed to Ravenna, where he interviewed the empress-mother, Galla Placidia, on their behalf. The empress and the bishop of the city, St. Peter Chrysologus, gave him a royal welcome, and the pardon he sought was granted

Postscript: Which St Germanus?

There is another possible English connection to St Germanus though, and this is one for Office history tragics, as it is rather obscure!

The possible connection is a reference to a St Germanus in Ordo Romani XIX.

The Office in the seventh century and the Ordines Romani

The Ordines Romani are kind of a combination between a customary and a rituale, describing how the liturgy should be performed, but also covering aspects of daily life in the monastery (such as the table blessings included in Ordo XIX).

Most of them date from the seventh to the ninth centuries, and were probably written by monks and others from Gaul and elsewhere, but purport to describe Roman practice, typically as the exemplar all should follow.

A small sub-set of them, though, have been argued to be the work of an actual Roman monk of the seventh century, Abbot John of St Martin's, one of the four monasteries attached to St Peter's at the Vatican, aka St Bede the Venerable's John the Archcantor. [1]

One of this group, Ordo XIX, contains an intriguing section naming various popes and others who contributed to the development of the Roman liturgy, exhorting obedience and conformity, and talking about the dark clouds of heresy that were swirling around.  And in this discussion it names four bishops as exemplars, namely SS Hilary, Martin, Germanus and Ambrose.

Both the editor of the Ordines Romani, Andrieu (who rejected the claim that it was written by John the Archcantor)[2], and the most recent commentator on it, Constant Mews (who argues for John's authorship) [3] identified the Germanus in question as the sixth century bishop of Paris, presumably because of his liturgical interests.

I wonder though, if Germanus of Auxerre isn't a much better fit, and indeed helps make the case that the document is indeed the work of  'John the Archcantor', abbot of the monastery of St Martin's, attached to St Peter's in the Vatican, who visited England around 680.

The date and authorship of the document is important, because it potentially provides some hard evidence for the use of the Benedictine Office in Rome (contrary to the claims of Guy Hallinger back in 1957)[4], and even more importantly, perhaps, its use and transmission to England, countering the claims most recently by Jesse Billett, in his The Divine Office in the Middle Ages, [5] for example.

Ordo Romani XIX

I'm not going to go into all of the arguments for and against its identification, I just want to focus on the four bishops mentioned in the text.

Andrieu, the editor of the Ordines, dated it to the late eighth century because of its references to a swirling seventh heresy, which he saw as iconoclasm, addressed in the eighth ecumenical council in 787.

But a century earlier, heresy was just as much a focus, and indeed while St Bede focuses primarily on John the Archcantor's role in running chant classes for monks from Wearmouth-Jarrow for monks from all over the province, he also discusses what was in reality, probably John's main mission, namely to consult the foremost theological expert on the heresy in question, Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury [6], and to drum up support for the Pope's plan to take on the Eastern Church - and more importantly Emperor - on the heresy of Monethelitism.

In the run up to the Third Council of Constantinople in 680-1, a series of regional synods were held, and John was the Pope's representative at the one held in Hatfield in England.

This was delicate ground for the Western Church - the last Pope who had confronted the Emperor on this subject, Martin I - who is probably not coincidentally the last Pope named in Ordo Romani XIX - was martyred for his efforts.

Standing up to Emperors - and winning

Andrieu saw the list of four bishops - all from Gaul or Northern Italy - as evidence of its non-Roman origin.

But in fact all four of these bishops, at least if we count Germanus of Auxerre rather than Paris, have other claims to fame, that might have made them appropriate models for John the Archcantor's cause, namely associations with countering key heresies that afflicted Rome at various points, and of having stood up to Emperors, and won.

St Hilary of Poitiers (310-367), apart from being known as a writer of hymns, was famous as the 'hammer of the Arians' and had confrontations with two Emperors on the subject.

St Martin of Tours (316-397) was initially a disciple of Hilary's, and affected by his various Arian-related exiles.  But he also famously told Julian the Apostate that he could no longer serve him as a soldier; he also later interceded for some Priscillian heretics with the Emperor, seeking for them to be dealt with by the Church rather than State.  And of course his inclusion on the list perhaps fits neatly with the fact that John was abbot of a monastery dedicated to him, and had stopped over at Tours on the trip to England, and promised to visit on the way back (he died before he could make it, but St Bede relates that because of his devotion to St Martin, his friends carried his body to Tours and he was buried there).

St Ambrose (340-397) is famous on several grounds for his liturgical contributions, but also for converting St Augustine from Manichaeanism, refusing demands from two Emperors to turn over churches to the Arians, and actually outright excommunicating the Emperor Theodosius, and making him do penance.

Germanus of Auxerre (378-448) also has some claim to liturgical fame in the form of the cult of St Alban and the Alleluia Battle, was associated with countering another key heresy that made it to Rome, in the form of Pelagianism, and also successfully interceded with the Emperor of his day, and of course his English associations would make him particularly appropriate to call upon in the context of John the Archcantor's visit to that country.

So we have four, more or less contemporary bishops, all with liturgical associations but also all famous for combatting heresy, and all famous for surviving encounters with emperors (and though I haven't gone into these, all also with some monastic associations).  And Germanus of Auxerre, particularly appropriate for a work written for the English monks...

Just speculation though!

For those interested, the paragraph in question is:

39. Nescio qua fronte vel termitate presumptuoso spiritu ausi sunt beatum Hilarium atque Martinum sive Germano vel Ambrosio, seu plures sanctos Dei, quos scrimus de sancta sede romana a beato Petro apostolum [et] soccessoribus suis directus in terra ista occidentale et virtutis atque miracolis curuscare...


Footnotes

[1] The original identication of the group of Ordines was made by C Silva-Tarouca, Giovanni 'archicantor' di S Piero a Roma e 'l's Ordo' romanus da lui composto (anno 680), Alli della Pontificio Academia rom. di archeologica, Memorie, vol 1, Parte 1, Rome, 1923, pp150-219.  St Bede's description of the visit of John the Archcantor can be found in his History of the English Church and People, Book 4, chapter 18.

[2] Michel Andrieu (ed), Les Ordines Romani du haut moyen age (ed) Louvain : Spicilegium Sacrum Lovaniense Administration, 1956-1974.  Ordines XIX is in volume 3, pp 217-227, but the discussion on its date and authorship is spread between the overall introduction to volume 3 (pp 3-21) and that for the particular Ordo (pp 211-13).

[3] Constant J. Mews,  Gregory the Great, the Rule of Benedict and Roman liturgy: the evolution of a legend, Journal of Medieval History, 2011, 37:2, 125-144.

[4] Guy Hallinger, Early Roman Monasteries Notes for the history of the monasteries and convents at Rome from the v through the X century, Pontificio Istuto di Archeologia Cristiana, Rome, 1957.  Hallinger's claims have come under increasing fire in recent times; apart from Mews above, see for example Marios Costambeys and Conrad Leyser, To be the neighbour of St Stephen: patronage, martyr cult, and Roman monasteries c, 600-900 in Kate Cooper and Julia Hillner ed, Religion, Dynasty, and Patronage in Early Christian Rome, 300-900, CUP 2007, pp 262-287.

[5] Jesse D. Billett, The Divine Office in Anglo-Saxon England 597-c. 1000, Henry Bradshaw Society: London, 2014

[6] Archbishop Theodore was originally an Eastern refugee monk who ended up at Rome.  He almost certainly attended the Lateran Synod of 649 (mentioned by Bede in his account) on the monthelite heresy as a periti: see Michael Lapidge, The Career of Archbishop Theodore in Lapidge (ed) Archbishop Theodore: Commemorative Studies on his life and influence, CUP, 1995.