Monday, September 13, 2010

Our Lady of Sorrows

Her feast is very soon. I was happy to see that according to the Ordo Cantus Oficii,all the antiphons are taken from the two old offices: That of the Compassion of the Blessed Virgin, suppressed in 1960 by John XXIII, and that of the Seven Sorrows, which survived (sans first vespers) in the 1960 breviary. The antiphons of the office of the 1969 breviary, which follow, are taken from both offices:

AD LAUDES:
1.Ant. Tuam ipsius animam
2.Ant.Fili,quid fecisti nobis sic?
3.Ant.Oppressit me dolor
Responsorium: Per te salutem hauriamus
Ad Ben. Ant. Venite, ascendamus ad montem Domini

AD VESPERAS:
1.Ant.Attendite universi populi
2.Ant.Non est ei species
3.Ant. A planta pedis usque ad vertice, capitis
Responsorium:Stabat sancta María, cæli regína et mundi Dómina
Ad Magnif.Ant. Cum vidisset Jesus Matrem

Once again, it seems that the horrors of what appeared to be a totally ruined office were not so. In the breviary, all the antiphons are new, except the Magnificat and Benedictus*. But it was rectified in the 1980s, when the Ordo Cantus Officii gave the texts that were to replace these antiphons. As such, the texts in the Ordo are the actual antiphons, since the breviary is simply a non-notated form of the office. (And traditionally, that's how it has always been: Notated office books were simplified into the breviary, to provide a portable prayer book for priests, religious , and some laity.)

So it is that these are the antiphons that I'll be using in my private office. (They speak much more eloquently of Our Lady's sorrow than the new office does.)
Of course, just as in the feast of the Compassion of Our Lady, the Stabat Mater is divided up to be sung or said at the various hours of the office.

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