VIII Idus Aprilis (6 April) Anno Incarnationis MMXXIV
Sabbato in Albiis
Way back in the depths of winter in what now seems like the distant past when the liturgical year transitioned from the time after the Octave of Epiphany into Septuagesima the Divine Office began the process of stripping itself of some of its most characteristic features.
First and most famously the Alleluia disappears after First Vespers of Septuagesima Sunday. As well the Te Deum, while it does not completely vanish, is no longer sung on Sundays from this point on. Instead it is reserved for great feast days which in the blissfully unmanipulated and non-agenda ridden calendar of days gone by are few and far between during the period from the middle of February until the latter part of April when Lent and Easter usually fall. Other than that however the structure of the Office remains fairly stable until the commencement of Passiontide six weeks later. From First Vespers of Passion Sunday onward various references to the Trinity throughout the day are lost and with the onset of the Triduum a week and a half later the structure of the Office as we have known it dissolves.
Gone are the opening invocations Domine labia mea aperies and Deus in adutiorium meum. As well the Invitatory Psalm with its antiphon. No more hymns are sung. The chapter readings disappear along with the versicles. The Marian Antiphon is gone from Laudes and Compline. The little hours lose even their antiphons. And the Gloria Patri is omitted everywhere. The Divine Office becomes very bare bones – like unto Christ Himself scourged and stripped and hanging on the Cross.
And then comes the Octave of Easter where the Divine Office begins to regain its form. Well, almost. A little bit. We are definitely in a different place than we were during the Triduum, or even during Passiontide, but are we really back to normal? No we are not.
The Divine Office from Easter Sunday Matins until None of the following Saturday, Sabbatho in Albiis, when the proper Offices of the Octave conclude is a basically a daily repeat of the Easter Sunday Office with only a few daily alterations1 that do nothing to change its structure. This is an Office with some very curious features which help to create a mood that sets this week apart from all others during the year.
We begin at Matins. The Matins of Easter Sunday, and that of the entire Octave, is extremely and surprisingly short. At the beginning of the Hour the invocations Domine labia mea aperies and Deus in adiutorium meum intende reappear with of course their concluding Alleluia. In addition the Invitatory Psalm as well is back to be sung along with the antiphon Surrexit Dominus vere * alleluia. But following this there is no hymn and just three psalms are sung: Psalms 1, 2, and 3 none of which are particularly long. Each of these are sung with their own proper antiphon and at their conclusion is found one of three versicles depending on the day of the week.
Following this is the Pater Noster in its usual2 form and one of the three Abolutios (which again vary depending on the day of the week) accompanied by Benedictions preceding each lectio both of which had been removed during the Triduum. Then comes the Gospel3 followed by a Homily by one of the Fathers on that particular Gospel to make three lectios. Following each of the first two lectios are a set of responds with the second containing the invocation Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto that had been removed with the onset of Passiontide. Then following the third lectio the Hour concludes by singing the Te Deum which will be sung each day whether festal or ferial until the close of the Octave of Pentecost. The entire Hour can be recited inside of ten minutes which for Matins is shockingly short.
Laudes then begins and it of course as all hours from here on out it will begin with the invocation Deus in adiutorium meum. Then the Sunday Psalms are recited each with its own proper antiphon as on any normal feast day. But after the fifth antiphon the normality comes to an abrupt end. No chapter, no hymn, no versicle just the antiphon: Haec dies quam fecit Dominus exultemus et laetemur in ea. This is the day the Lord has made: let us exult and rejoice in it!
Following this we immediately transition to the Benedictus sung with its own proper antiphon according to the day and a concluding Oratio that is also proper to the day. Then the hour concludes with the standard invocations except that at Laudes and Vespers to Benedicamus Domino and Deo gratias are each added alleluia, alleluia which curiously recalls the form they were sung that eventide so long ago at First Vespers of Septuagesima Sunday when the alleluia went into hiding. Then of course the Marian Antiphon, now the Regina Caeli, returns with its accompanying prayer to close the Hour.
The Little Hours of Terce, Sext, and None4 are recited very simply starting with the invocation Deus in adiutorium and then proceeding directly to Psalm 118 with no antiphon. Psalm 118 is then recited in its usual fashion with the Gloria Patri at the conclusion of each of the three sections assigned to each hour. Then following the final Gloria Patri the antiphon Haec dies is recited and the Hour closes with the day’s Oratio and the usual invocations.
Vespers follows the same pattern as Laudes with the same antiphons for the Psalms. The only difference is that the Psalms are those of Sunday evening 109, 110, 111, 112, and 113 and the Magnificat of course has its own proper daily antiphon. But the form of the Hour is the same as Laudes save that the Marian antiphon is not recited.
Compline is again somewhat back to normal but not quite. The hour starts with the Iube domine benedicere followed by its famous Lectio Brevis Fratres: Sobrii estote et vigilate… and the rest of its distinctive introduction followed by Deus in adiutorium meum. Then the four Psalms are recited without an antiphon. The hymn, the chapter, the versicles, and the antiphon for the Nunc Dimittis are all omitted and replaced with four Alleluias. Then the Nunc Dimittis is recited and followed by a Gloria Patri and to close out the Hour we again recite the antiphon Haec dies followed by the concluding Oratio Visita quaesumus Domine and its invocations followed by the Regina Caeli antiphon along with its accompanying prayer. And so the day closes.
So what is the purpose behind all of this? We do not know who structured the Easter Office in this way or what their purpose was, although there are indications that at least some of its aspects such as the three Psalms at Matins are very ancient and go deep into the first millennium. However after having recited it several times during my life I would like to offer what is at least a plausible hypothesis.
This feeling of being somewhat back to normal following the Triduum but not quite, of everything falling kind of back into place but not really, strikes me as mimicking in some way shape or form the experience of the women at the Tomb, the Apostles, and the first followers of Christ during those initial days immediately following the Resurrection.
It was Him but his appearance was not the same as it had been. He was not always easy to recognize. He did not interact with them in anything like the way He had done before. He walked through locked doors. He showed up out of nowhere and then just as quickly disappeared. It certainly looked like Him. It sounded like Him. Yet for all that He seems very different and we are still not one hundred percent sure of what is going on here.
For my money if this was not the reason these Offices were originally composed in this manner then it may at least be the reason that the Church in the West at some point in its history decided to keep them this way.
The only daily changes are the antiphons at the Benedictus and Magnificat, the concluding Oratio, and the reading from the Martyrology at Prime.
That is reciting the words Pater noster in a normal tone of voice and then the following words from qui es in caelis in a very low voice until one resumes the normal tone of voice with et ne nos inducas… The entire Pater Noster is recited silently during the Triduum.
Each Octave day has its own proper Gospel recounting one of the resurrection appearances.
Prime follows a slightly different pattern due to some of its unique characteristics but the basic idea is the same. No hymn, no antiphons for the Psalms save the Haec dies, then concluding with the martyrology and fade out (if I can use that term) of a lectio brevis and various Oratios.