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Rubrical references. Lee Saturday, February 12, 2005

Question:

Here are the relevant rubrics. I might note, they also provide yet another of the many examples of where the English translation can be misleading, and needs be to interpreted according to the entire body of liturgical law:

34. The whole office begins as a rule with an invitatory.

204. The office of Sunday begins with evening prayer I, which is taken entirely from the four-week psalter, except those parts that are marked as proper.

The Latin here for "as a rule" is "regulariter". In legal Latin, if the word were "absolute", it would mean there are no exceptions. The exception here, of course, is when the day begins the night before. Thus rubric 204.

With all due respect, it's simply a fact in the Roman Rite that some days begin the night before. While it is true that the extended Matins is optional, and while it is true that the rubrics do not explicitly say "on days when the new liturgical day starts at First Vespers, you may not celebrate the Matins of the preceding day after First Vespers", it is also true that the liturgical rubrics make clear certain days begin at Vespers the night before, and that there is no good reason for doing Matins of the old day after Vespers of the new one: just do Matins the night before, in which case Saturday Matins is done late Friday or early Saturday, or as late as midafternoon Saturday. Why do it on the new liturgical day?

One would not "lose" Saturday Matins if one wanted to recite Matins in the evening; one would simply do it on Friday night.

So on the bottom line question, i.e., is it "legal" to pray Saturday Matins on Saturday night, after First Vespers, 1) the question should not arise, because after First Vespers, one should be celebrating the new day that has begun, not the old day that ended with Midafternoon Prayer, 2) if one always does Matins in the evening, there is no problem, because Saturday Matins was anticipated on Friday night, and on Saturday night one can celebrate Sunday Matins, with the optional elements.
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM


Dear Lee:

It must remembered that this is not a debate forum.

I will accept your interpretation of when the Sunday liturgical day begins since you apparently have access to the Latin text. I recant that off-handed analysis concerning the Invitatory and the beginning of thne liturgical day.

This, however, is beside the point. There is still no indication from the official texts, as you admit, that it is improper to say the Saturday Office of Readings after Vespers I on Saturday; and that is the real issue of this thread.

If you wish to offer an opinion that there is "no good reason for doing Matins of the old day" I have no problem with that opinion. But it is opinion. Others have different opinions.

The question on this forum was a simple question of whether or not Saturday Readings may be said after Vespers on Saturday. The answer to that is and remains that there is no prohibition for that in the GILOH or the Ordinary, and on its face, the GILOH and especially the Ordinary can imply either position. The lack of a specific note on this is glaring.

Baring a definitive decision on this by a competent authority such as the Congregation for Divine Worship, which perhaps I will ask to clear this up, all we can do consider what is before us in the GILOH and Ordinary and make a decision according to our own understanding and conscience.

Personally, it doesn't matter to me, but since the question was asked, it was answered, in this case, from your understanding and from mine.

The readers can now choose for themselves. Let us move on.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary