Idibus Decembris (13 December) Anno Incarnationis MMXXIII
The Feast of Saint Lucy of Syracuse, Virgin and Martyr (Day VI of the Octave of the Immaculate Conception)
(For a long time I labored under the opinion that the changes made by Pius X to the Breviary Psalter in 1911 were a good and necessary thing and that, unlike the changes made to the Mass in 1969, these were real and necessary reforms made to address a host of very real problems that had crept into the recitation of the Divine Office since the Council of Trent. It was however the discovery of what was done to the Office of Laudes in this so called ‘reform’ that shattered this illusion.)
The Psalms of the Roman Office of Laudes are extraordinarily ancient. The commonalities with Saint Benedict’s Laudes1 make it fairly clear that the Psalms of this Hour as we find them in the Breviaries of 1910 are in all probability the same as they had been more than fourteen centuries before in the early sixth century and in all likelihood had already been for quite some time before that. It is here at Laudes as well that we find some striking similarities with the East that are very likely as well a common inheritance from the ancient past. And yet it is precisely these same features that were ripped out of the clerical Office by the so called ‘reform’ of 1911.
The Office of Laudes is offered at first light and the Roman custom has been throughout the centuries that after two2 other initial Psalms have been sung, each with a Gloria Patri being recited at their conclusion, that Psalms 62 and 66 are recited together with nothing separating them and the Gloria Patri only being prayed at the conclusion of Psalm 66.
Both of these Psalms are eminently suited to be sung at the hour when light first begins to pierce the darkness. Psalm 62, Deus Deus meus, is David’s cry to the Lord when he had been driven into the Judean desert. As night passes into day the Church along with the prophet cries to God that her soul thirsts for Him and that she appears before her Lord in a trackless, barren, and waterless land just as she would in the holy place. Her only desire is to see his power and to praise Him. She then expresses her confidence in his protection and his power over the enemies that seek her life.
Immediately afterward begins Psalm 66, Deus misereatur nostri, in which the Church along with the prophet begs the Almighty to show mercy upon herself and upon all the nations of the earth. As the light of the sun makes its first appearance in the morning sky the Church beseeches Him to illuminate his countenance over all the earth that we may know his ways and that all the nations may praise and fear Him. Just stop and meditate for a moment on the unfathomable spiritual power of these ancient words and the immense benefit to both the Church and the world of them being recited at dawn every day:
God, my God, I have watched for you from the dawn! How my soul has thirsted for You and in manifold ways my flesh! I have appeared before You in the pathless land, the waterless desert, just as I would in the holy place: that I may see your power and your glory. For your mercy is better than life. My lips will praise you. So I will bless You in my life and in your Name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be filled as with the abundance of the fat of the earth and my rejoicing lips will praise your name. If I remembered You upon my bed in the morningtime I will meditate on You for you have been my help. And I will exult under the cover of your wings: my soul clings to you and your right hand lifts me up. But they have sought my life in vain; they will go down into the depths of the earth. They will be delivered into the hands of the sword and will be the foxes’ prey. But the King will rejoice in the Lord and they will be praised who swear an oath to the Lord - for the mouth of those who speak evil will be shut up.
May God have mercy on us and bless us – may his face illuminate us and may He have mercy upon us. That we may know your way upon the earth and your salvation among all the peoples. Let the peoples praise You God, let all the peoples confess your Name. Let the nations exult and rejoice - for You judge the peoples fairly and You guide the nations upon the earth. Let the peoples praise You God let all the peoples confess your Name: the earth has borne its fruit. May God our God bless us: may God bless us and let all of the ends of the earth fear Him.3
Unity with the East4
In the various liturgical hours prayed by our brethren in the ancient churches of the East we also find Psalm 62 being prayed at first light. In the Greek Horlogion5 it is the third of six Psalms found at the hour of Matins. In the Syrian Shehimo6 it is second of two Psalms, immediately following Psalm 50 the Miserere mei that are sung at the hour of Sapro which is equivalent to Roman Laudes. And in the Coptic Agpeya7 in the first hour of the morning after a long series of initial Psalms that bears somewhat of a resemblance to Roman Sunday Matins all of the sudden the arrangement skips forty Psalms and finds itself at Psalm 62 - which curiously enough just as in the Roman Office of Laudes is immediately followed by Psalm 66.
It is also important to note here that in the East there is no variation in the Psalms from day to day as in large parts of the Roman Office. The same Psalms are recited every day at every hour. Thus it is at the very least possible that this practice of reciting Psalms 62 and 66 together daily without fail at an hour where in the Psalter of Rome at least there is some day to day variation in the Psalms may have its origin in a distant time when as yet little substantive difference had developed liturgically between East and West.
The lack of a Gloria Patri as an additional sign of antiquity
At the conclusion of every Psalm in the Roman Office, or section of a Psalm in the case of Psalm 118, one recites in praise of the Most Holy Trinity Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper et in saecula saeculorum - except at the Hour of Laudes. There are two sets of Psalms at Laudes that are not separated by a Gloria Patri: Psalms 148, 149, and 150 at the conclusion of the Hour and Psalms 62 and 66 in the middle.
Why this departure here from the Roman tradition? Why should the Gloria Patri be omitted from these particular Psalms and no others? It is after all a very ancient custom unique to the West to add this praise of the Trinity at the conclusion to each Psalm. There is a tradition8 that has ascribed this practice to an initiative made by Pope Damasus during the latter part of the fourth century and while in recent times some have sought to ridicule the idea that Damasus is the author of this practice it is important to note that we already have a record the Gloria Patri being recited in the West some forty years after the death of Damasus. The monk John Cassian9 notes in his writings that he has observed on the south coast of Gaul near modern Marseilles and one would think within the liturgical orbit of Rome a custom he had never10 seen anywhere in the East: that of everyone standing at the conclusion of each Psalm and reciting Gloria Patri et Filio et et Spiritui Sancto…
Did that come from Damasus? We do not know. But the more important question is why were Psalms 62 and 66 at Laudes exempted and left without a Gloria Patri intervening between them? Is it because they were thought to have come out of the East with the Apostles and it just felt wrong, even in the fifth century, to stick a Gloria Patri in there?
All of these beautiful little oddities seem to have grated on the nineteenth century hyper-rationalist liturgical thinking that was the foundation of the changes that Pius X signed off on in 1911 when this incredibly ancient custom was ripped out of the clerical Breviary11 and has never returned.
Rule Chapter 13. Curiously despite the universal presence of Psalm 62 in both Rome and the East Saint Benedict limits its recitation to Sunday and assigns variable Psalms, (35, 56, 63, 87, and 75) to replace it. Psalm 66 is however recited daily at the beginning of Laudes. The variable Psalms of Rome however (5, 42, 64, 89, 142, and 91) are all found in the Rule of Saint Benedict except that Friday and Saturday Psalms, 142 and 91, have their days reversed.
On Ferial days the first Psalm is Psalm 50 the Miserere mei followed by one of the variable Psalms. On Sundays and Festal days Psalm 92 is recited followed by Psalm 99.
Author’s translation from the pre-Vulgate Old Latin Psalter found in the 1593 Breviary produced for Saint Peter’s Basilica here
The information on the liturgies of the East, especially concerning their history, available in English or any other Western language can be fairly limited. If a reader encounters errors or has better sources please contact me.
liturgy.io - Orthodox Horologion
LRD App produced by The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Diocese of South-West America
Coptic Agpeya App
Mention of this is made in the lectio for the Feast of Damasus in the 1962 Breviary of John XXIII
And to this day it never seems to have been adopted anywhere in the East.
Psalm 62 was retained by itself in a position of some prominence being recited on Sundays and many Feast Days but Psalm 66 was relegated to insignificance being recited only on Tuesday at Laudes and no other occasion with no hint of its former glory.