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BREVIARY (Lat. breviarium, abridgment...
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See also:BREVIARY (See also:Lat. breviarium, abridgment, See also:epitome) , the See also:book which contains the offices for the canonical See also:hours, i.e. the daily service of the See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also: The Breviary rightly so called, however, only See also:dates from the 11th century; the earliest MS. containing the whole canonical office is of the year 1099 and is in the See also:Mazarin library. See also:Gregory VII. (See also:pope 1073–1085), too, simplified the See also:liturgy as performed at the Roman See also:court, and gave his abridgment the name of Breviary, which thus came to denote a See also:work which from another point of view might be called a Plenary, involving as it did the collection of several works into one. There are several extant specimens of 12th-century Breviaries, all See also:Benedictine, but under See also:Innocent III. (pope 1198–1216) their use was extended, especially by the newly founded and active Franciscan See also:order. These See also:preaching friars, with the authorization of Gregory IX., adopted (with some modifications, e.g. the substitution of the " Gallican " for the " Roman " version of the Psalter) the Breviary hitherto used exclusively by the Roman court, and with it gradually swept out of See also:Europe all the earlier partial books (Legendaries, Responsories), &c., and to some extent the local Breviaries, like that of Sarum. Finally, See also:Nicholas III. (pope 1277–1280) adopted this version both for the See also:curia and for the basilicas of See also:Rome, and thus made its position secure. The See also:Benedictines and See also:Dominicans have Breviaries of their own. The only other types that merit See also:notice are: (1) the Mozarabic Breviary, once in use throughout all See also:Spain, but now confined to a single See also:foundation at See also:Toledo; it is remarkable for the number and length of its hymns, and for the fact that the See also:majority of its collects are addressed to See also:God the Son; (2) the Ambrosian, now confined to See also:Milan, where it owes its retention to the See also:attachment of the See also:clergy and See also:people to their traditionary See also:rites, which they derive from St See also:Ambrose (see LITURGY). Till the See also:council of See also:Trent every bishop had full See also:power to regulate the Breviary of his own See also:diocese; and this was acted upon almost everywhere. Each monastic community, also, had one of its own. See also:Pius V. (pope 1566–1572), however, while sanctioning those which could show at least 200 years of existence, made the Roman obligatory in all other places. But the See also:influence of the court of Rome has gradually gone much beyond this, and has superseded almost all the local " uses." The Roman has thus become nearly universal, with the See also:allowance only of additional offices for saints specially venerated in each particular diocese. The Roman Breviary has undergone several revisions: The most remarkable of these is that by See also:Francis Quignonez, See also:cardinal of See also:Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (1536), which, though not accepted by Rome,' formed the See also:model for the still more thorough reform made in 1549 by the Church of See also:England, whose daily See also:morning and evening services are but a condensation and simplification of the Breviary offices. Some parts of the prefaces at the beginning of the See also:English Prayer-Book are See also:free See also:translations of those of Quignonez. The Pian Breviary was again altered by See also:Sixtus V. in 1588, who introduced the revised See also:Vulgate See also:text; by See also:Clement VIII. in 1602 (through See also:Baronius and See also:Bellarmine), especially as concerns the rubrics; and by See also:Urban VIII. (1623-1644), a purist who unfortunately tampered with the text of the hymns, injuring both their See also:literary See also:charm and their historic See also:worth.
In the 17th and 18th centuries a See also:movement of revision took See also:place in See also:France, and succeeded in modifying about See also:half the Breviaries of that See also:country. Historically, this proceeded from the labours of Jean de Launoy (1603-1678), " le denicheur See also:des saints," and See also: This was inaugurated by See also:Montalembert, but its literary See also:advocates were chiefly Dom Gueranger, a learned Benedictine See also: It is particularly valuable for the trustworthy notices of the early See also:history of Scotland which are embedded in the lives of the See also:national saints. Though enjoined by royal See also:mandate in 1501 for general use within the See also:realm of Scotland, it was probably never widely adopted. The new Scottish See also:Pro prium sanctioned for the Roman Catholic See also:province of St See also:Andrews in 1903 contains many of the old Aberdeen collects and antiphons. The Sarum or See also:Salisbury Breviary itself was very widely used. The first edition was printed at See also:Venice in 1483 by Raynald de Novimagio in See also:folio; the latest at Paris, 1556, 1557. While modern Breviaries are nearly always printed in four volumes, one for each See also:season of the year, the editions of the Sarum never exceeded two parts. Contents of the Roman Breviary.—At the beginning stands the usual See also:introductory See also:matter, such as the tables for determining the date of See also:Easter, the See also:calendar, and the general rubrics. The Breviary itself is divided into four seasonal parts—winter, See also:spring, summer, autumn—and comprises under each See also:part (I) the Psalter; (2) Proprium de Tempore (the special office of the season); (3) Proprium Sanctorum (special offices of saints); (4) See also:Commune Sanctorum (general offices for saints); (5) Extra Services. These parts are often published separately. 1. The Psalter.—This is the very backbone of the Breviary, the groundwork of the Catholic prayer-book; out of it have grown the antiphons, responsories and versicles. In the Breviary the psalms are arranged according to a disposition dating from the 8th century, as follows. 
Psalms i.-cviii., with some omissions, are recited at See also:Matins, twelve each day from See also:Monday to Saturday, and eighteen on See also:Sunday. The omissions are said at Lauds, See also:Prime and Compline. Psalms cix.-cxlvii. (except cxvii., cxviii. and cxlii.) are said at See also:Vespers, five each day. Psalms cxlviii.-cl. are always used at Lauds, and give that hour its name. The text of this Psalter is that commonly known as the Gallican. The name is misleading, for it is simply the second revision (A.D. 392) made by See also:Jerome of the old Itala version originally used in Rome. Jerome's first revision of the Itala (A.D. 383), known as the Roman, is still used at St See also:Peter's in Rome, but the " Gallican," thanks especially to St Gregory of See also:Tours, who introduced it into See also:Gaul in the 6th century, has ousted it everywhere else. The Antiphonary of See also:Bangor proves that See also:Ireland accepted the Gallican version in the 7th century, and the English Church did so in the Toth. 2. The Proprium de Tempore contains the office of the seasons of the Christian year (See also:Advent to Trinity), a conception that only gradually See also:grew up. There is here given the whole service for every Sunday and week-day, the proper antiphons, responsories, hymns, and especially the course of daily Scripture-See also:reading, averaging about twenty verses a day, and (roughly) arranged thus: for Advent, See also:Isaiah; See also:Epiphany to Septuagesima, Pauline Epistles; See also:Lent, patristic homilies (See also:Genesis on Sundays); See also:Passion-See also:tide, See also:Jeremiah; Easter to Whitsun, Acts, Catholic epistles and See also:Apocalypse; Whitsun to See also:August, See also:Samuel and See also:Kings; August to Advent, See also:Wisdom books, See also:Maccabees, Prophets. The extracts are often scrappy and torn out of their context.
3. The Proprium Sanctorum contains the lessons, psalms and liturgical formularies for saints' festivals, and depends on the days of the See also:secular See also:month. Most of the material here is hagiological See also:biography, occasionally revised as by Leo XIII. in view of archaeological and other discoveries, but still largely uncritical. Covering a See also:great stretch of time and space, they do for the worshipper in the See also: They contain passages of great literary beauty. The lessons read at the third See also:nocturn are patristic la milies on the Gospels, and together form a rough See also:summary of theological instruction. 5. Extra Services.—Here are found the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Office of the Dead (obligatory on All Souls' Day), and offices See also:peculiar to each diocese. It has already been indicated, by reference to Matins, Lauds, &c., that not only each day, but each part of the day, has its own office, the day being divided into liturgical " hours." A detailed See also:account of these will be found in the See also:article IIouxs, CANONICAL. Each of the hours of the office is composed of the same elements, and something must be said now of the nature of these constituent parts, of which mention has here and there been already made. They are: psalms (including See also:canticles), antiphons, responsories, hymns, lessons, little chapters, versicles and collects. The psalms have already been dealt with, but it may be noted again how the multiplication of saints' festivals, with practically the sane special psalms, tends in practice to See also:constant repetition of about one-third of the Psalter, and correspondingly rare See also:recital of the remaining two-thirds, whereas the Proprium de Tempore, could it be adhered to, would provide equal opportunities for every psalm. As in the See also:Greek usage and in the Benedictine, certain canticles like the See also:Song of See also:Moses (See also:Exodus xv.), the Song of Hannah (I Sam. ii.), the prayer of See also:Habakkuk (iii.), the prayer of See also:Hezekiah (Isaiah xxxviii.) and other similar Old Testament passages, and, from the New Testament, the Magnificat, the See also:Benedictus and the Nunc dimittis, are admitted as psalms. The antiphons are short liturgical forms, sometimes of biblical, sometimes of patristic origin, used to introduce a psalm. The See also:term originally signified a See also:chant by alternate choirs, but has quite lost this meaning in the Breviary. The responsories are similar in form to the antiphons, but come at the end of the psalm, being originally the reply of the choir or congregation to the See also:precentor who recited the psalm. The hymns are short poems going back in part to the days of Prudentius, See also:Synesius, Gregory of Nazianzus and Ambrose (4th and 5th centuries), but mainly the work of See also:medieval authors. Together they make a See also:fine collection, and it is a pity that Urban VIII. in his mistaken humanistic zeal tried to improve them. The lessons, as has been seen, are See also:drawn variously from the Bible, the Acts of the Saints and the Fathers of the Church. In the See also:primitive church, books afterwards excluded from the See also:canon were often read, e.g. the letters of Clement of Rome and the Shepherd of See also:Hermas. In later days the churches of See also:Africa, having See also:rich memorials of martyrdom, used them to supplement the reading of Scripture. Monastic influence accounts for the practice of adding to the reading of a biblical passage some patristic commentary or exposition. Books of homilies were compiled from the writings of SS. See also:Augustine, Hilary, See also:Athanasius, Isidore, Gregory the Great and others, and formed part of the library of which the Breviary was the ultimate compendium. In the lessons, as in the psalms, the order for special days breaks in upon the normal order of ferial offices and dislocates the See also:scheme for consecutive reading. The lessons are read at Matins (which is subdivided into three nocturns). The little chapters are very short lessons read at the other " hours." The versicles are short responsories used after the little chapters. The collects come at the See also:close of the office and are short prayers summing up the supplications of the congregation. They arise out of a primitive practice on the part of the bishop (local president), examples of which are found in the See also:Didache (Teaching of the Apostles) and in the letters of Clement of Rome and See also:Cyprian. With the See also:crystallization of church order improvisation in prayer largely gave place to set forms, and collections of prayers were made which later See also:developed into Sacramentaries and Orationals. The collects of the Breviary are largely drawn from the GeIasian and other Sacramentaries, and they are used to sum up the dominant See also:idea of the festival in connexion with which they happen to be used. The difficulty of harmonizing the Proprium de Tempore and the Proprium Sanctorum, to which reference has been made, is only partly met in the See also:thirty-seven chapters of general rubrics. Additional help is given by a kind of Catholic Churchman's Almanack, called the Ordo Recitandi Divini Officii, published in different countries and dioceses, and giving, under every day, minute directions for proper reading. Every clerk in orders and every member of a religious order must publicly join in or privately read aloud (i.e. using the lips as well as the eyes—it takes about two hours in this way) the whole of the Breviary services allotted for each day. In large churches the services are usually grouped; e.g. Matins and Lauds (about 7.30 A.M.) ; Prime, Terce (High See also:Mass), Sext, and None (about to A.M.) ; Vespers and Compline (4 P.M.) ; and from four to eight hours (depending on the amount of See also:music and the number of high masses) are thus spent in choir. Laymen do not use the Breviary as a See also:manual of devotion to any great extent. The Roman Breviary has been translated into English (by the 'See also:marquess of See also:Bute in 1879; new ed. with a trans. of the See also:Martyrology, 1908), French and See also:German. The English version is See also:note-worthy for its inclusion of the skilful renderings of the ancient hymns by J. H. See also:Newman, J. M. See also:Neale and others. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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