RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Bres Breviary
BREVIARY: The name of the Roman Catholic service-book containing what is called the " divine office " or the services for the canonical hours, as distinguished from the missal, which contains the altar-service, and the ritual, which has the rites for the administration of the sacraments, etc. It is a practically arranged, well-divided collection of prayers with numerous brief extracts from Scripture, and the Fathers and ancient hymns. From the subdeacon upward every Roman cleric is bound to recite the whole office daily.
The breviary is based on the idea of realizing, in thd spirit of the Church, at least symbolically, the apostolic command to " pray without ceasing"; the whole life of the Christian is to appear as a continuous prayer, not only in heart and works, but also in words; at all hours and places of the earth the prayer of the Church is to ascend to God. The custom of the synagogue (Dan. vi, 10, 13; Ps. iv, 18) in regard to morning and evening hours (I Chron. xxiv, 30) as well as other The times of prayer (Ps. cxix, C2, 64) Canonical was taken as a standard. At first
Hours. there were the three hours, the third, sixth, and ninth, or 9 a.m., noon, and 3 p.m. (cf. Acts ii, 15, 46; hi, 1; x, 9). To these were added midnight, the hour when Paul and Silas prayed in the prison (Acts xvi, 25), and the beginning of the day and the night. This arrangement of prayer is mentioned in Tertullian, Cyprian, Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and the Apostolic Constitutions. In the fourth century, Athanasius (De virginitate, xii-xx) knows of seven hours; Gregory Nazianzen speaks with approval of the nightly vigils and the antiphonal singing. All these hours were adopted in the monasteries especially, as Jerome (Epist., vii, cviii, cxxx), Basil, and Augustine attest. From the monasteries these hours of prayer (called canonical as a part of canonical life) spread to the cathedral and collegiate chapters. Benedict added the seventh (compline, completorium) , and since the sixth century the order and number of hours have not varied. The day-hours are prime (normally at 6 a.m.), terce (9 a.m.), sext (noon), none (3 p.m.), and vespers (6 p.m.); nowadays compline and lauds are usually reckoned with them. (See the articles under these titles.)
Matins, answering to the three Roman vigils, is divided into three nocturnes, and was originally followed by the present lauds.
The bulk of the prayers for all these hours was taken from the Psalms, to which antiphons were added, giving the psalms a special meaning appropriate to the occasion. Afterward collects were added, which were intended to pre-
Sources vent distraction and excite devotion,
and Revi- and are accordingly brief. The pos-
sions of the ture varied between standing, sitting,
Breviary, and kneeling. The whole structure
was enriched and completed by the
addition of other prayers, responsories, versicles,
etc. The musical element was provided for by
official books known as antiphonaries, especially
that composed under Gregory I, and the so-called
Micrologus (twelfth century). Cassian attests
that each three psalms at matins were followed by three lessons, taken from Scripture, on Sunday only from the New Testament; later on the lives of the saints and exegetical passages from the most prominent teachers of the Church were inserted. The introduction of metrical hymns was long opposed (Council of Braga, 553), especially in Rome. So many arbitrary additions made the offices too long, and Gregory VII reduced them; other revisions were made under Gregory IX, Clement VII, who had the assistance of the Franciscan general, Cardinal Quignonez (1536), Clement VIII (1602), and Urban VIII (1631). The late Vatican Council also introduced some changes.
At present the Roman breviary, which has at
last succeeded in supplanting the many local or
diocesan uses, consists of four parts, corresponding
to the four seasons of the year. Each