Sunday 18 May 2014

Fourth Sunday after Pascha


The fourth Sunday after Pascha is of semi-double rite and its liturgical colour is white. The Gospel pericopes are from the sixteenth chapter of St. John's Gospel where the LORD talks of His ascending to Heaven and the coming of the Paraclete.

At Vespers yesterday afternoon the psalms of Saturday were sung under the single antiphon Alleluia. The Office hymn was Ad regias Agni dapes. After the collect of the Sunday commemorations were sung of the preceding Office of St.Pascal Baylon and of St. Venantius. The Commemoration of the Cross was omitted due to the double feasts. At Compline Te lucis was sung with the Paschaltide Doxology and the Dominical preces were omitted.

At Mattins the invitatory and hymn are sung as previous Sundays of Paschaltide. In the first nocturn the lessons are the Incipit of the Epistle of St. James. In the second nocturn the lessons are taken from the Treatise of St. Cyprian on the boon of patience. In the third nocturn the homily is from St. Augustine. The Te Deum is sung. At Lauds the Sunday psalms are sung under a single antiphon, Alleluia. After the collect of the Sunday a commemoration is sung of St. Venantius. The Commemoration of the Cross is omitted.

At the Hours the hymns have the Paschaltide Doxology, the psalms are sung under a single antiphon consisting of a triple Alleluia. At Prime the Dominical psalms are sung (Pss. 117, 118i & 118ii). The Dominical preces are omitted because of the commemoration of the double feast.

Mass is sung after Terce. The Gloria is sung, the second collect is of St. Venantius. There is no the third collect today. The Creed is sung and the preface is of Paschaltide.

Vespers are of the Sunday. The Sunday psalms are sung under the single antiphon, Alleluia. The Office hymn is Ad regias Agni dapes. After the collect of the Sunday commemorations are sung of the following feast of St. Peter Coelestine, of St. Venantius and of St. Pudentiana. The Commemoration of the Cross is omitted as are the Dominical preces at Compline due to the commemorated double feasts.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' there are no commemorations at either Vespers. Mattins is reduced to a single nocturn. At Lauds there are no commemorations. The hymns at the Little Hours do not have the Paschal Doxology. At Mass there is but a single collect.

Art: Jerome Nadal

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Could you please explain the rule on commemorations. On the 3rd Sunday after Easter the commentary said that, "There is no third collect as it is a Sunday within an Octave." What would be the reason for none on the 4th Sunday?

Thanks for your help. I think your commentary has done a lot to help see the deficiencies in the 1962 Reform Missal.

Downey

Rubricarius said...

Downey,

Thank you for your comment.

On Sundays within Octaves the 'prayer(s) of the season are omitted - c.f. R.G. IX, 10. So the second collect is of the Octave.

Following the changes of 1911-13 when a double feast falls on a Sunday it is commemorated and the prayers of the season are omitted. (Prior to then the double feast would have been celebrated and the Sunday commemorated). In both cases above if another feast falls on the same day then there would be three orations, or even four if two feasts occurred.

If a semidouble or a simple feast falls on a Sunday it displaces one of the prayers of the season so that if, for example a semi-double had occurred last Sunday then its collect would be sung after that of the Sunday and the third collect would have been Concede nos.

Peter said...

It seems that the only drawback of the reform of Pius X was that the 'prayers of the season' (and Quicumque at Prime) are almost never recited because Double Feasts, although they no longer outrank Sundays, when commemorated do still 'over-ride' the Suffrages, etc., that belong to the office de tempore. That is a pity.
Unless I am mistaken, in the high Middle Ages a number of simple feasts were 'inflated' into the rank of double, and then when feasts (in large number) were added to the calendar in the centuries after the Council of Trent ALL those feasts were double. Perhaps at some future time of liturgical sanity, the rubrics of Pius X could be restored, but with all but the most important double feasts (for example those of Our Lady) reduced to the simple or semi-double rite.

Rubricarius said...

Peter,

Indeed it creates a new hybrid that fuses the characteristics of doubles with lesser feasts to the detriment of both.

Clearly there are far too many doubles and when liturgical sanity is restored a conservative revision of the calendar deflating most of the 'modern' doubles would be an excellent measure.