List of Liturgical Times
  • rjawad
    Posts: 14
    Hello,

    I was hoping someone could point me to a list of liturgical times (calendar?). I want to know when during the year these times occur. For example, 'this' occurs on Feb. 4th, or 'this' occurs on the 4th Sunday after Easter. Some of them are daily, too, I think. I know some of them but not all of them.

    I have things like:
    a) Dominica I et II quadragesimae
    b) in festis IX lectionum
    c) in vigil. unius mart. ad vesp. et ad noct.
    d) ad nocturnos
    e) ad primam omni tempore
    f) in sollemnitate corporis et sanguinis domini
    g) in s. Lucae ev. in mat. laud.
    h) omni dominico post trinit. usque adv. et post oct. epiph. usque quadrag. ad vesperas

    And so on. I'm trying to organize these.

    Any help is greatly appreciated.

    Thank you,
    --Ryan
  • I don't know of anything besides a very elementary handle on Latin. Some of these are for specific days (a, f), offices (d,e) or a combination (the rest). A would be the first 2 Sundays of Lent, f is Corpus Christi, g for Matins and Lauds of St. Luke. You would then apply them to whichever one of the Church's 2 calendars :-( you're using.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    The heavily abbreviated format suggests that you're dealing with rather old books, so I suppose we should answer this on the basis of the old liturgical calendar in use before Vatican II. Or are you looking for ways to bring some older music into new-rite services?
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    Here is a translation of these:

    a) Sundays I & II of Lent
    b) In feasts with Nine Lessons [at Matins]
    c) In vigils of one martyr at Vespers and at the Nocturn [of Matins]
    d) At the Nocturns [of Matins]
    e) At Prime at all times [of the year]
    f) On the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord [Corpus Christi]
    g) On [the feast of] St. Luke the Evangelist, at Matins & Lauds
    h) On all Sundays after Trinity until Advent and after the Octave of the Epiphany until Lent, at Vespers

    These seem like rubrics from an Antiphonal or the Breviary.
  • Following up on Salieri's post,

    1st and 2nd Sundays of Lent are measured from Easter, which is set each year according to the lunar calendar.

    Select feasts during the year have nine lessons, but beyond what is on the universal calendar there are local and parochial feasts which get raised to this dignity. (In my home diocese of San Jose, there are 3 patronal feasts (St Joseph's two, i.e., March 19 and May 1; St. Patrick because he is secondary patron of the diocese, so March 17) plus the feast day of St. Clare (in whose county the diocese resides.

    If you're on the new calendar, "Prime" makes no sense, because the office was (ill-advisedly) suppressed. On the other hand, your letter "h" seems to describe something which happens in "Ordinary Time" -- because it doesn't take any account of Septuagesimatide.

    Corpus Christi is a feast which falls just after Pentecost, on a Thursday unless you're in a modern Ordo, in which case it has been transferred to the following Sunday.
  • rjawad
    Posts: 14
    Thank you. This is helpful. Yes, they are old sources. I want to know when they were sung throughout the year back then. Translating the ones I gave is helpful, but see, I have like 300 of them. So I need a reference document that has all of them (or most of them), so I can understand better where they fit into the year. As Chris mentioned, I think a few might be specific to the local region. But I think most of them that I have are standard. Is there some place I can go for this? What do I search for?
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,369
    Are these English sources? The last entry refers to sundays after Trinity which is a characteristic feature of Sarum etc. calendars. Some of the Breviaries were translated into English and published by the Henry Bradshaw Society. Most are NOT online.
  • If you do a search on the first word(s) of the piece, it will frequently tell you additional information about where this would be used.

    For example, if you are looking specifically for Sacris Solemnis, when you search that text, it will indicate history pointing you to Corpus Christi.

    That would be - I think - a lot easier searching ad hoc and making connections over time than trying to translate all 300 of the headings. Just a thought.

    To be clear - search for the text of the music, not the headings.
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,767
    Google translate doesn't do very well on your examples, so I'd suggest comparison with another book. If you go to the CMAA page and click not on "music" or "books" but on resources you'll find a Liber Usualis with English rubrics.
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    The problem is that, from the information you have supplied, it is impossible to tell you when these things are actually done, particularly since all you have given are rubrics without any incipits (opening words) of the chants following the rubric.

    Corpus Christi is the Thursday following Trinity Sunday (the Octave Day of Pentecost), and, as mentioned above, Lent I & II are reckoned as being the sixth and fifth Sundays before Easter: they move their exact date each year based on the date of Easter, as, incidentally, does Corpus Christi.

    Most of your other examples are probably from Commons, and can occur basically any day of the year. For example "In feasts of Nine Lessons" ("in festis IX lectionum") is completely unhelpful for us to help you, because it could apply to literally any antiphon or responsory in the entire office that might at some point be said in a Matins of Nine Lessons.

    More text and context!
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,369
    A very good source of Sarum information is McMaster University.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    Are you very familiar with the liturgical calendar, or are you looking for some orientation to its various parts: the movable feasts, the seasons, the fixed feasts, and the times of service in the day?
  • rjawad
    Posts: 14
    Chonak,
    Yes, that would help me a lot. Maybe then I can ask more specific questions. I'll try to search for those parts you listed and read about them.
    Thank you.


  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    Let me give you the seasons, in brief. The construction of the liturgical year centers on Easter, so we'll start there.

    I'll mark principal days in italics and seasons (and other periods of time) in bold.

    We can start with the principal movable feast:
    + Easter (Greek: Pascha) (Latin: Dominica Resurrectionis) varies annually. If you want to know: in the Roman formula, it's the Sunday after the first full moon that falls on or after the spring equinox, which is about March 21. Eastern Orthodox churches use a slightly different formula that usually selects a different Sunday.

    WORKING FORWARD FROM EASTER:
    + Pentecost (Dominica Pentecostes) is the Sunday seven weeks after Easter.

    Between the two is the
    * Easter Season (Tempus Paschale)

    Some prominent feasts are based on the dates of Easter and Pentecost:
    + Ascension, the Thursday forty days from Easter = nine days to Pentecost, the original novena
    + Trinity Sunday, the Sunday after Pentecost
    + Corpus Christi, the Thursday after Trinity Sunday
    + Sacred Heart, the second Friday after Trinity Sunday
    [Some of these are moved to Sunday in some countries.]

    * The Season of Pentecost starts at Pentecost Sunday and runs to the end of the church year; this season has a variable length because Pentecost is movable.

    Then, WORKING BACKWARD FROM EASTER:
    The three days before Easter are the Paschal Triduum (Triduum Paschale):
    + Holy Thursday (Feria V in Cena Domini)
    + Good Friday (Feria VI Passionis Domini)
    + Holy Saturday (Sabbato Sancto)

    They are part of:
    * Holy Week, the week before Easter, which begins with:
    + Palm Sunday, also called Passion Sunday (Dominica in Palmis; Dominica Passionis), the Sunday before Easter.

    * The Season of Lent (Quadragesima), the six and a half weeks before Easter, begins on a Wednesday:
    + Ash Wednesday (Feria IV in Cineres).

    The Sundays before Lent have special names:
    + Quinquagesima Sunday: the Sunday before Ash Wednesday
    + Sexagesima Sunday: the second Sunday before Ash Wednesday
    + Septuagesima Sunday: the third Sunday before Ash Wednesday; hence, the ninth Sunday before Easter

    * Together those two-and-a-half weeks are called Septuagesima, when Lenten asceticisms are phased in. It ends on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday: in common parlance, Mardi Gras.

    * Before Septuagesima is the Season of Epiphany, which has a variable length; it begins on a fixed day:

    + The feast of Epiphany is Jan. 6. In the US it has long been moved to a Sunday.

    That brings us into the feasts with fixed dates, and of course the most important is twelve days earlier:
    + Christmas, on December 25.
    * The Christmas Season (Tempus Nativitatis) runs from Christmas Day to Epiphany, though some aspects of Christmas continue until February 2, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.

    Prior to Christmas is:
    * the Season of Advent (Tempus Adventus), running back to the fourth Sunday before Christmas.

    The start of the new church year is the first Sunday of Advent, which is either the last Sunday in November or the first Sunday of December. That Sunday is where we leave the old year's Pentecost season and start the new year's Advent.

    Liturgical books usually begin with Advent.

    And that completes the seasons: Advent, Christmastide, Epiphanytide, Septuagesima, Lent, Passiontide, Eastertide, Pentecost.

    Some further notes:

    You may see references to "octaves", week-long periods that begin at the most important feasts: Easter, Christmas, Pentecost. Also, the term "octave" can refer to the day seven days after a feast. E.g., Jan. 1 is the Octave of Christmas.

    Some notes about the modern calendar: after Vatican II, the calendar was simplified a little. The season of Septuagesima was dropped. Pentecost lost the special treatment of its octave days. The seasons of Epiphany and Pentecost were lumped together and labeled "Ordinary Time" or "Time in the year" (Tempus per annum).

    So that tells you the basics about the movable feasts and the seasons.

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  • One small addendum to Chonak's excellent and helpful list:

    Passiontide is the name for the two Sundays (and the accompanying weeks) before Easter, on the venerable calendar. The difference between the calendars leads this trick question:
    "How many Sundays are there in Lent?" In the new calendar, the answer is 5. In the old calendar, the answer is 4.
    Thanked by 1chonak
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,703
    Maybe this will help,
    http://cantus.uwaterloo.ca/home/
    Although it can be tricky to use the index and search function.
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,369
    And another footnote to chonak's list that in English pre-reformation usage the big green wedge of Time after Penetecost is called Time after Trinity - just subtract 1 to get from P numbering to T numbering
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    Some further considerations: Since what you are dealing with includes rubrics from an older breviary or antiphonal, the date of which is unknown to us (Prior to Pius X? Pius XII? John XXIII?):

    The canonical hours are:
    Matins--Matutinum (referred to as "The Office of Readings" in the post-Concilliar Liturgia Horarum)
    In the Office after the reforms of Pius X and before those of Paul VI, Matins was either of One Nocturn, consisting of nine Psalms with Antiphons and three Lessons with Responsories; or of Three Nocturns, each consisting of three Psalms with Antiphons and three Lessons with Responsories, for a total of nine Psalms and Antiphons and Nine Lessons with Responsories---this is where the rubric 'in festis IX lectionum' originates. Regardless of whether Matins is of One Nocturn or Three, the Hour begins with the Invitatory (Ps. 94: Venite) and a Hymn, except in the Offices of the Paschal Triduum and in the Office of the Dead, when both are omitted, and the hour begins directly with the first Antiphon and Psalm. Unlike in the Paul VI books, the Old Office always begins with Matins, and the Invitatory is only said before this office, it is never moved. Then followed the Nocturn(s): as an example, an office of One Nocturn (three Readings): Nine antiphons with their psalms, followed by a Verse and Response, the Paternoster silently, except for the last to phrases (V: Et ne nos inducas in tentationem. R: Sed libera nos a malo), followed by a prayer called the Absolution, then the three Lessons, each preceded by a blessing, and followed by a Responsory, on Feasts, the last responsory is replaced by the Te Deum. Either Lauds follows immediately, or if not, a short conclusion is added to the Hour, consisting of the greeting (Dominus vobiscum, &c., or Domine exaudi orationem meam, etc, in private recitation or if led by someone not in Holy Orders), the Collect of the Day, greeting, Benedicamus Domino/Deo gratias, Fidelium animae, &c.

    Lauds--Laudes (Morning Prayer)
    Consists of the Introductory verse (Deus in adjutorium) followed by five Antiphons with Psalms (the fourth "psalm" is an Old Testament Canticle), a short reading called the Chapter (Capitulum), a hymn, a verse and response, the Benedictus with its Antiphon, the greeting (Dominus vobiscum, etc.), Collect of the day, [if a commemoration is made, it happens here, consisting of an antiphon, a verse/response, and Collect] greeting, Benedicamus, Fidelium animae, &c.---in the Office before Pius XII, the Seasonal Marian Antiphon would also be said after Lauds together with its verse and collect.

    Prime (literally, "First Hour")
    Begins with the Introductory Verse, followed by a hymn, then three psalms or divisions of psalms under one antiphon, the Chapter, a Short Responsory, the Verse and Response, the greeting, and an unchanging Collect, then the greeting, Benedicamus; then the Martyrology is read, followed by a verse/response, then another unchanging Collect; then the verse 'Deus in adjutorium' three times, followed by the Gloria Patri, then Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison, the Paternoster, silent until the Et ne nos, then a verse and response, the Gloria Patri, and another unchanging Collect, followed by a blessing, then the Short Lesson, then the Adjutorium nostrum and its reponse, then the concluding blessing.

    Terce ("Third Hour"), Sext ("Sixth Hour"), and None ("Ninth Hour") all follow the same format:
    Begins with the Introductory Verse and a hymn, followed by three psalms or divisions under one antiphon, then the Chapter, the Short Responsory, verse/response, greeting, Collect of the Day (as at Lauds), greeting, benedicamus, fidelium animae.

    Vespers--Vesperas (Evening Prayer)
    Follows an identical pattern to that of Lauds: Introductory Verse, five Psalms with Antiphons (all from the Book of Psalms, no canticles), the Chapter, the Hymn, verse/response, Magnificat with its Antiphon, greeting, Collect of the day [if a Commemoration is to be made, it happens here: Antiphon, verse/response, Collect], greeting, Benedicamus, fidelium antimae. Compline follows immediately [Or, if Vespers is sung separately from Compline, the Marian antiphon with its verse and collect is sung at this point].

    Compline--Completorium (literally "Completion", Night Prayer)
    Begins immediately with the Blessing and Short Lesson, then Adjuorium nostrum & its response, the Pater completely silently, then the Confiteor, Misereatur, and Indulgentiam, follwed by a verse/response, then Deus in adjutorium, then follows three Psalms (or divisions) under one antiphon, followed by a hymn (always Te lucis ante terminum), then the Chapter, Short Responsory, Verse/Response; then the Nunc Dimittis with its Antiphon (always Salva nos, Domine), then the greeting, an unchanging Collect, the greeting, Benedicamus, and blessing; Fidelium is not said, but the Marian Antiphon follows at once, with its verse and collect, then the verse Divinum auxilium.
    -----
    Now, Feasts are ranked as being of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th Class. Feasts of the 1st and 2nd class usually have special offices with a Matins of Nine Lessons (three Nocturns); feasts of the 3rd class have a Matins of Three Lessons (one Nocturn); and feasts of the 4th class are simply commemorations made in the ferial office.

    Sundays have an office with a Matins of Three Lessons (one Nocturn), as do ferias (non-festal weekdays). Sundays begin with First Vespers of Sunday on Saturday evening.

    Some feasts (particularly ancient ones) of the 1st or 2nd class have Vigils: these Vigils are not like the 'vigils' in the New Rite, which is simply an anticipated Mass of the feast the night before, but a whole office, the liturgical color of which is usually purple. Vigils are of the 1st, 2nd or 3rd class and follow that pattern, though sometimes there are unique features to these offices. Some Vigils (like that of All Ss., Oct. 31, were removed in the revision of the Office by Pius XII). Feasts with Vigils include Christmas, Epiphany, the Ascension, Pentecost, St. Lawrence (deacon, martyr), certain Apostles, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, the Assumption, and (formerly) All Ss, as well as some other saints. Feasts with vigils always begin with First Vespers the evening before, so Vigils properly end after None.

    Certain major Feasts get an octave, these were (sadly) reduced greatly by Pius XII:
    The octaves in place in the 1962 books are: Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. Before Pius XII's reform, additional Octaves included: St Stephen, Holy Innocents, St. John, Epiphany, Solemnity of St. Joseph, Ascension, Corpus Christi, Sacred Heart, Nativity of John the Baptist, Ss Peter and Paul, Assumption, St. Lawrence, Nativity of Mary, All Saints, Immaculate Conception.
    ----
    The Marian Antiphons for the seasons are thus (per before Pius XII, when the Antiphon was also said after Lauds)--it was also customary in religious houses to sing the Marian Antiphon after the last choral office of the day, even if it happened to be one of the minor hours (Prime, Terce, Sext, or None):

    Alma Redemptoris Mater: from I Vespers of Advent Sunday until None of February 1st.

    Ave Regina Caelorum: from I Vespers of the Purification (Feb 2nd) until Wednesday of Holy Week, inclusive. [NB: the Marian Antiphon is omitted at the Offices of the Triduum]

    Regina Caeli: from Easter Sunday until None on Saturday in the Octave of Pentecost.

    Salve Regina: from I Vespers of Trinity Sunday until None on the Saturday before the Advent Sunday.
    Thanked by 1Incardination
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,148
    Minor arithmetic (counting) points:

    Ascension is 39 days after Easter, but there are 40 days from Easter to Ascension, inclusive; ie. Ascension is the 40th day of Easter.

    Pentecost is 49 days after Easter, but there are 50 days from Easter to Pentecost, inclusive.

    Also, Ascension is 10 days before Pentecost, not 9 days.

    Of course, this correlates with the "octave" terminology for a one week after an event. In former times (and to some extent still) it was customary to count intervals of days inclusively. And, musically, it is still customary to count intervals of notes in a scale inclusively; e.g. an interval of a fifth comprises 5 notes, inclusively, but a "fifth" higher than a note is actually 4 scale notes higher.

    Thanked by 3tomjaw chonak Carol
  • rjawad
    Posts: 14
    Yes. Great. That is exactly what I need. Chonak and Salieri, thank you especially. I did not expect you to write all that up. I figured it was available on some website that I have not been able to find. Anyway, that is great. And the Latin you provided is very helpful. I will probably have a few more specific questions, but this information will get me through most of it.
  • rjawad
    Posts: 14
    I have some questions about what was written above.

    1. in feria, in feriis - is this weekday or just any day (weekends too)?
    2. ad noct. per ebdomadam - the Nocturns of Matins for any day of the week?
    3. in nocturno, ad nocturnum - how is this different than just saying at Matins?
    4. I read that prayers happen at the following times for Christians:
    Matins (nighttime), Lauds (early morning), Prime (first hour of daylight), Terce (third hour), Sext (noon), Nones (ninth hour), Vespers (sunset evening), Compline (end of the day).
    Where does the Sunday Mass fit into this? Is this for non-Sundays only? I thought Matins and Lauds only happened on Sundays, and Vespers on Saturdays.
    5. Is a Vigil basically like a more elaborate form of Vespers?
    6. ad tertiam III lect. - at Terce with 3 lessons. Do each of the canonical hours have several lessons? Does it change based on the time of year?
    7. festa sanctorum - is this just Feast Day? How is it different than sollumn. festis?
    8. I don't understand what a Common is. The Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Common of a single martyr. Are these feast days? It seems like they have Vespers and other services attached to them.
    9. Lauds in Week 2. What does that mean? Is that counting from the first Sunday in Advent? There is no further context given.
    10. sabbato in passione domini ad laudes. Is this Saturdays during Passiontide? And there are only 2, right?

    Thank you.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    1. A ferial day is a generic day observed according to the season: not a Sunday, not a feast of any rank.
    2. per hebdomadam = through the week (after Sunday)
    4. Mass is offered daily in addition to the liturgy of the Hours which you cited. Traditionally it was celebrated in the morning because fasting rules forbade eating breakfast at all before receiving Holy Communion. That is no longer the case.
    7. festa sanctorum = "feasts of saints": that would exclude feasts of Our Lord such as the Ascension, Epiphany, etc.
    8. Some observances on the calendar do not have a specific set of texts designed for them. For example, if a priest-saint doesn't have his own proper texts, his Mass would be offered with a suitable Common: such as the Common for a Martyr, or for a Religious, etc., according to the particular case.
    9. "Week 2" (in English) sounds like a reference to the modern version of the Liturgy of the Hours, which is organized around a four-week cycle of psalms.
    10. I think "Sabbato in passione Domini" would be the first of the two; Holy Saturday appears as "Sabbato Sancto", at least in the books I have here.

    I'll leave the other items for others with more experience to answer.
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    1. in feria/in feriis - this would refer to a non-festal weekday (i.e. a day of the Season without a Saint) Monday to Friday. But it's impossible to say more without the exact text/chant that the rubric is referring to.
    2. ad noct. per [h]ebdomadam - at the nocturne of Matins through the whole week (Mon. to Fri.).
    3. in nocturno, ad nocturnum - it isn't, it's just standard nomenclature.
    4. Those are the traditional times kept in religious houses (Monasteries, Abbeys, and Convents), secular clergy (like parish priests) recite the hours of the Divine Office when it is convenient for them to do so. Generally, the Conventual of Community Mass of a religious house takes place after Terce. The Hours of the Office are the Same every day, that is, every day has Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, & Compline. In parishes or cathedrals, it might be common for Matins and Lauds only to be celebrated publicly by the Cathedral's clergy on Sundays, and Vespers on Saturday night, but the clergy are bound, under pain of sin, to recite the office each day.
    5. No, a Vigil is a penitential day in preparation for a big feast: it has its own Mass and Office, and the Liturgical Color is Violet/Purple; they are also traditionally days of fasting and abstinence from meat. The office of the Vigil, however, ends after None, so for example the Vigil of All Saints (31 Oct.) begins with Matins, then continues thru Terce and Mass, then concludes with None--these Offices and the Mass are all with violet vestments, no Gloria; The Feast of All Saints then begins that evening with First Vespers of All Ss. (Nov. 1) followed by Compline (with white/gold vestments); the office continues the Following day with Matins, Lauds, etc., and Mass, concluding with Second Vespers of All Saints and Compline. The next day, All Souls (2 Nov.) begins with Matins of the Dead, and continues, with Mass, through Compline, all with Black Vestments.
    6. What this is read as is: At Terce in a Feast of Three Lessons at Matins: Terce only ever has the Capitulum (Short Chapter) followed by a Short Responsory, never a Lesson. (This rubric is also found in the Cistercian Kyriale (the music for the Ordinary of the Mass) where certain settings are designated for Feasts of III Lessons, etc.
    7. Can't be answered without more context--what text/chant is attached to this/these rubric(s)?
    8. There are certain common texts that recur again and again for different classes of Saints, for the Blessed Virgin, Apostles, Martyrs, single and multiple, Confessors, bishop and non-bishop, Virgins, Holy Women, Dedication of a Church, etc., and this is true of both the Mass and the Office, and so to avoid having to reprint the same texts over and over and over again every time a feast of a Confessor shows up in the Calendar, these common texts are gathered into the various "Commons", that way in the Sanctoral section, only those texts which are truly proper (thus the "Proper of Saints") to a specific Saint needs be reprinted, with notations of what is to come from the Common. Eg. "29 February: St. Elsgarf, Abbot (III class): All from the Common of a Confessor, not a Bishop, except what is given below as proper".
    9. That would more than likely be correct.
    10. Sabbato in Pasione Domini, is the Saturday of Passion Week (the First week of Passiontide---Lent V in the New Calendar), Holy Saturday (Sabbato Sancto), indeed all the Days of the Triduum: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, have a special Office.
  • "Lauds Week 2" doesn't make sense, since the relevant office isn't called Lauds any more in the Liturgy of the Hours (unless it might be in the Latin original?) and there isn't a Week 2 within the Divine Office. Can you give us more context for that one?

    You asked about "festa sanctorum". Feasts come in various grades, or levels within a hierarchy. First Class feasts are always more important than 2nd class feasts, and 2nd always outrank 3rd class, and 3rd class always outrank 4th class feasts. What is a 3rd class feast on the universal calendar, however, can be made a 1st class feast on the local calendar -- in fact, it isn't merely a question of possibility, but obligation -- when the patronal feast of a diocese, a parish, a religious order (etc) is involved. St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, is a 1st class feast in parishes under his protection, even though on the universal calendar his feast is 3rd class. Feasts of the saints, however, don't usually outrank feasts of Our Lord. (So, December 8 this year is an unusual circumstance, since the Immaculate Conception will displace the 2nd Sunday of Advent, and not just in the United States, where she is the patroness.)

    Just to complicate matters, the new calendar, which was introduced in 1970, displaces the celebration of the Immaculate Conception to the following Monday (the 9th)... and Holy Days of Obligation are merely Holy Days in the U.S. (i.e., no obligation) when they fall on Mondays and Saturdays.

    One more point, this time about nocturnes. While it may be the functional equivalent of "at Matins", since Matins can have 1 or 3 Nocturnes, there are times when something happens in one nocturne, but not in the others. (2nd class feast... I think it was Ss. Simon and Jude has specific reading in one of the nocturnes, but the other nocturnes' readings came from the Common of Evangelists.

    You haven't yet asked about the feast of Our Lady on Saturday......
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    "Lauds Week 2" doesn't make sense, since the relevant office isn't called Lauds any more in the Liturgy of the Hours (unless it might be in the Latin original?) and there isn't a Week 2 within the Divine Office. Can you give us more context for that one?

    It isn't called Lauds in the American LotH, but it is in the Latin editions, including the new Antiphonale Monasticum, and will be also in the Antiphonale Romanum (if and when that ever gets printed); it is also called Lauds in certain vernacular collections, e.g. Fr. Weber calls it Lauds in his chant scores, and the Trappists at Spencer (MA) have Matins, Lauds, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline, even though they use a revised office with a two-week Psalter; I would guess that it is also called Lauds in the edition of the Divine Office (Ordinary Form) used in other countries.
  • GerardH
    Posts: 410
    I would guess that it is also called Lauds in the edition of the Divine Office (Ordinary Form) used in other countries.

    A good guess, but not correct. HarperCollins' "The Divine Office" names the hours Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, Prayer during the Day (before noon, midday, after noon), Evening Prayer and Night Prayer.

    The widely-used Universalis app uses a mix of new and traditional naming, often with the alternative given in brackets. "Vespers" and "Compline" have the most currency of traditional terminology in my experience.
  • rjawad
    Posts: 14
    Hello again. Work has been busy; sorry for the delay.

    From the info you all gave me and from a few other sources, I was able to make sense and translate 391 of the 404 rubrics I have. I found an online Latin dictionary that is a lot better than GoogleTranslate. Then there is a church calendar at Universalis which spells out the whole liturgical year in detail. I also found a 200+ page document online called "Instructions for the Recitation of the Divine Office" by Hausmann.

    Here are the last ones I couldn't figure out. I've include the hymn names, too:

    1. ad privatas vesperas de domina - Ave, maris stella
    2. ad primam hiemal (i tempore) - Iam lucis orto sidere
    3. quando convenit super formas - Iam lucis orto sidere
    4. ad tertiam per totam settimanam - Iam surgit hora tertia
    5. ad tertiam in festis IX lect. et per oct. soll. et in oct. sollemnibus - Nunc, sancte nobis Spiritus
    6. ad vesperas, von der Drinaltichait - O lux beata Trinitas
    7. de libro sapientiae sabbato ad vesperas - O quanta qualia sunt illa sabbata
    8. ad sextam in tertiis et totis duplicibus - Rector potens, verax Deus
    9. in capis - Rector potens, verax Deus
    10. ad nonam in tertiis duplicibus - Rerum Deus tenax vigor
    11. sing. dieb. excepto quando convenit super formas ... ad complet. - Te lucis ante terminum


    I still am confused about the word Feria. I get that it is for ordinary/regular days when nothing special is going on. But I don't know whether to include Sat and Sun. Some places say it refers to Mon-Fri where no feast day falls. But then Sunday is called Feria I, and Saturday is called Feria VI. The Cantus Index translates 'Dom. per annum' as 'Sunday, Ferial Office.' I would have translated that as 'Sundays during the year'.

    The thing about Week 2 or Week 1 is from an modern English text (1990 or around that). I think the author is Irish. He'll say things like: "Appointed for Second Vespers on Sundays of Week 2" or "Office of Readings on Monday of Week 1". That calendar I mentioned about has Psalm weeks that seem to have a 4-cycle. Maybe that is what he's referring to. I think someone already mentioned this.

    Thank you,
    --Ryan
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,369
    'Feria' is a confusing word. In Latin it originally meant a festival/holiday and we get the English word fair, as in fun-fair, from that. But in liturgical use in Latin it came to mean just day-of-the-week, counting from Sunday as the first day of the week. So Feria II to Feria VI are Monday to Friday, Saturday is usually called Sabbato (sabbath), and Sunday is Dominica (the Lord's day). In English feria (and ferial) came to mean 'a day on which there is no special feast'.
  • From your list, the following are all office hymns:

    Ave Maris Stella - December 8th at Vespers, but also in the fall-back position for all feasts of Our Lady.
    Iam lucis orto sidere Lauds
    Iam surgit
    Nunc, Sancte, nobis Spiritus Tierce
    Rector Potens Sexte
    Rerum Deus tenax vigorNone
    Te Lucis ante terminumCompline

    Does your #6 contain German or Dutch?
    von der Drinaltichait



    in festis IX lect. et per oct. soll. et in oct. sollemnibus


    "In festis IX lect" is "on feasts of 9 lections", what is usually a what is now called a First Class feast.

    "et per oct soll" - and throughout the octave (some important feasts are celebrated on each of the days of the week following the day itself).
    "et in oct. sollemnbus" - I take this to mean and on the octave day itself -- so, what is done on Christmas Day is done also on Jan 1, for example. [Nit-pickers, please hold your fire.]

  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,767
    I found an online Latin dictionary that is a lot better than GoogleTranslate.
    What I like about this forum is that people can be generous about sharing what they have learned. What dictionary would that be? Providing details can also help one get more relevant answers: for instance, unless I missed something we still don't know the actual book rjawad is dealing with. Nevertheless
    Sunday is called Feria I, and Saturday is called Feria VI
    to me sounds improbable.
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,369
    Richard Mix - the OP, rjawad, says he is confused by the term Feria, and he is just spelling out the confusion. He is right to say that 'Feria I' would refer to Sunday, but then the term 'Feria I' is never used AFAIK. And similarly 'Feria VII' is never used, 'Feria VI' is of course Friday, as in 'Feria VI in Passione Domini' (Good Friday).
  • rjawad
    Posts: 14
    Chris, I think Drinaltichait is German, but maybe an old form. It's kind of close to Dreifaltigkeit which means Trinity, and in the context, I think it is reasonable.

    So then, I guess "in festis IX lect. et per oct. soll. et in oct. sollemnibus", is something like:
    On the feast of 9 lessons and during the octave of solemnities and on the octave of solemnities".
    Thanks for your help. Do you know any of the other ones? Like 'in capis' or 'de libro sapientiae'?
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    'de libro sapientiae' is a fairly easy one: from the Book of Wisdom. This will usually be followed by a citation, such as: de libro sapientiae (4:36-5:3) [n.b.: numbers are completely random, just what my fingers happened to fall on while typing].
  • rjawad, Salieri,

    De libro sapientiae doesn't exclusively refer to the one Old Testament book called Wisdom.

    Could Drinaltichait end in "-heit", rather than "-keit" in some form of the word, and make sense?

    In capis could, I guess, be "at the beginning", because that's where Rector Potenswould come.
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,703
    @Richard Mix
    "I found an online Latin dictionary that is a lot better than GoogleTranslate."
    What I like about this forum is that people can be generous about sharing what they have learned. What dictionary would that be?

    Perhaps this one, the famous Lewis and Short...
    http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,148
    "drinaltichait" - also appearing as "drinaltigkeit" - in early German sources does indeed correspond to the modern German "Dreifaltigkeit" (which is "Trinity" in English).

    Here is a stanza from an early Marian hymn (titled "Marienpreis"):
    Ob allen hymneln ein ros aufgat
    und gar in vollem blüde stat,
    Den leucht in der drinaltichait,
    got selb hat sich mit ir bechlait,
    Der edelist öbrist chünich her
    mit deiner magtleichen er :
    Er spricht, du seist ervelt und chlar
    der magenchraft zu ainem tempel zwar.

    More: It seems that the "n" in "drinaltichait"/"drinaltigkeit" is often replaced by a "u" (or possibly a "v"?). And thus "driualtichait" - which reflects the Mittelhochdeutsch "drīvaltecheit" - allowing for some free and easy variation in orthography. Indeed, at least one of the printings of the above hymn has "driualtichait" instead of "drinaltichait" - which makes it possible that "n" in place of "u" is a bit on the spurious side.
    Thanked by 2tomjaw Richard Mix
  • rjawad
    Posts: 14
    Richard, the dictionary I found is just one that comes up in a google search. https://www.online-latin-dictionary.com
    I like it better than googletranslate because it gives declensions/conjugations. For what I'm doing, that is very helpful.
    Thanked by 2tomjaw Richard Mix
  • rjawad
    Posts: 14
    ok great, I'll go with Trinity for drinaltichait.

    Salieri, I guessed that 'de libro sapientiae sabbato ad vesperas' was 'for the book of wisdom, Saturday at Vespers.' But I don't understand how that is a rubric. Is that part of the Bible read on Saturdays typically? Or is a song sung after a reading from the book of Wisdom? There are no numbers after it.
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,767
    Aha. That it's an English version of dizionario-latino explains the instruction
    search for one word at once
    must mean "at a time".
  • VilyanorVilyanor
    Posts: 388
    Wiktionary is another great resource, it mostly draws from Lewis and Short for Latin and links to them. Very handy.

    https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Main_Page
  • 7. de libro sapientiae sabbato ad vesperas - O quanta qualia sunt illa sabbata

    Very interesting. What book is it taken from? O quanta qualia seems to be a hymn composed by Pierre Abelard and thus likely was used for a limited time in one single monastery. Perhaps this is why we see there other unusual terminology "vesperas privatas", "super formas", etc.