Re-Reading Sacrosanctum Concilium: Article 90

Having returned from a well-deserved winter vacation, I now continue our article-by-article re-reading of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.

Vatican website translation:

90. The divine office, because it is the public prayer of the Church, is a source of piety, and nourishment for personal prayer. And therefore priests and all others who take part in the divine office are earnestly exhorted in the Lord to attune their minds to their voices when praying it. The better to achieve this, let them take steps to improve their understanding of the liturgy and of the bible, especially of the psalms.

In revising the Roman office, its ancient and venerable treasures are to be so adapted that all those to whom they are handed on may more extensively and easily draw profit from them.

Latin text:

90. Cum praeterea Officium divinum, utpote oratio publica Ecclesiae, sit fons pietatis et orationis personalis nutrimentum, obsecrantur in Domino sacerdotes aliique omnes divinum Officium participantes, ut in eo persolvendo mens concordet voci; ad quod melius assequendum, liturgicam et biblicam, praecipue psalmorum, institutionem sibi uberiorem comparent.

In instauratione vero peragenda, venerabilis ille romani Officii saecularis thesaurus ita aptetur, ut latius et facilius eo frui possint omnes quibus traditur.

Slavishly literal translation:

90. Besides, so that the Divine Office, because [it is] the public prayer of the Church, might be a font of piety and nourishment for personal prayer, priests and all others participating in the Divine Office are exhorted in the Lord that in celebrating it their mind would correspond to their voice; toward achieving this better, let them acquire richer liturgical and biblical instruction for themselves, especially of the psalms.

Indeed by undertaking [this] through revision, let that venerable and age-old treasury of the Roman Office be so adapted, that all to whom it is entrusted could more widely and easily enjoy it.

 

Article 90 extends the Council Fathers’ concern for developing the prayer life of priests to “all others participating in the Divine Office,” whether in common or individually. Those familiar with the Rule of Benedict (one of the great sources for the codification of the Divine Office for monks) will recognize the allusion to the Rule in the exhortation that those praying the Liturgy of the Hours should take take that their cognitive and affective life (i.e., their “mens”) should correspond to the words that they speak (i.e., their “vox”). (When I was privileged to study liturgy at the Benedictine Ateneo S. Anselmo in Rome, I saw this sentence from the Rule prominently displayed at the entryway to the chapel as a reminder to the monks and to those who joined them for the liturgy that we should be “single-hearted” in prayer.) The article reiterates its perspective that study of the scriptures and of the liturgy will be of great use in praying the Divine Office fruitfully. (Notice that the same concern extends to, e.g., the preaching of the homily and the singing of liturgical chants that should normally be drawn from scriptural and liturgical sources.

Recalling SC 23, the Council Fathers emphasize that any revisions of the Liturgy of the Hours must take into account the history of this liturgical form as it developed in the Roman Rite so that the revision is not merely antiquarian or aesthetic, but that it would be of genuine assistance to monastic communities, active communities bound to the Office, clerics and those laity joining in the formal daily prayer of the Church.

Pray Tell readers might want to discuss: 1) the difficulty of providing a “font of piety and nourishment for personal prayer” for the diverse groups and individuals who pray the Divine Office daily; 2) what resources for deepening one’s appreciation of the psalms have appeared since Vatican II and how effective they have been in deepening people’s engagement with the Office (and for musicians whose repertoire includes a significant portion of psalmody); 3) how the present revision incorporates traditions from earlier forms of the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours.

Michael Joncas

Ordained in 1980 as a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, MN, Fr. (Jan) Michael Joncas holds degrees in English from the (then) College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN, and in liturgical studies from the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN and the Pontificio Istituto Liturgico of the Ateneo S. Anselmo in Rome. He has served as a parochial vicar, a campus minister, and a parochial administrator (pastor). He is the author of six books and more than two hundred fifty articles and reviews in journals such as Worship, Ecclesia Orans, and Questions Liturgiques. He has composed and arranged more than 300 pieces of liturgical music. He has recently retired as a faculty member in the Theology and Catholic Studies departments and as Artist in Residence and Research Fellow in Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota.

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Comments

2 responses to “Re-Reading Sacrosanctum Concilium: Article 90”

  1. Derrick Tate

    Dear Michael, Thanks for posting this series.

    1) the difficulty of providing a “font of piety and nourishment for personal prayer” for the diverse groups and individuals who pray the Divine Office daily
    It should be easy to provide a “font of piety and nourishment for personal prayer” for diverse groups and individuals–unless the assumption is made of a one-size-fits-all Divine Office.

    2) what resources for deepening one’s appreciation of the psalms have appeared since Vatican II and how effective they have been in deepening people’s engagement with the Office
    Within the LOTH itself, the aids for understanding the psalms include the psalm titles, head-ings/quotes, and psalm prayers. Aids for misunderstanding the psalms include the omission of verses and omission of psalms.
    The other question which you didn’t raise above is how have elements in the office been “adapted”? There are some papers on adaptations of the collects to make them “more widely and easily enjoy[ed]” (?) by people today (cf., Lauren Pristas’ work).

    3) how the present revision incorporates traditions from earlier forms of the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours.
    Almost all aspects (structure and elements) of the LOTH can find some precedent in earlier forms of the office. For example, most hymn texts in Liturgia Horarum from various rites and uses, hymn placement from the Ambrosian rite, multi-week psalm distribution from Ambrosian rite, psalm headings from Breviarium Tolosanum, psalm divisi from post-1911 Breviarium Romanum and others, psalm prayers from Mozabaric rite, thematic arrangement of psalms from Breviarium ad usum congregationis Sancti Mauri, and so on.

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  2. Jim Pauwels

    “2) what resources for deepening one’s appreciation of the psalms have appeared since Vatican II and how effective they have been in deepening people’s engagement with the Office (and for musicians whose repertoire includes a significant portion of psalmody)”

    While perhaps it lacks a certain exegetical panache to point to papal writings, I’ve found John Paul II’s series of short reflections/homilies on the psalms and canticles of Morning and Evening Prayer to be outstanding. In fact, they’re brief models of the sort of preaching recommended in the CDW’s Homiletic Directory that is currently being discussed on PrayTell.

    JPII’s reflections on the psalms and canticles can be found here:

    http://members.wolfram.com/billw/psalter/jp2-b16-commentaries.html

    Here is a sample – this is his reflection on a verse from this morning’s “Praise Psalm”, Psalm 24:

    “6. The last title, “Lord of Armies”, is not really a military title as may appear at first sight even if it does not exclude a reference to Israel’s ranks. Instead, it has a cosmic value: the Lord, who now comes to meet humanity within the restricted space of the sanctuary of Zion, is the Creator who has all the stars of heaven as his army, that is, the creatures of the universe who obey him. In the book of the prophet Baruch we read: “Before whom the stars at their posts shine and rejoice; when he calls them, they answer, “Here we are!’ shining with joy for their Creator” (Bar 3,34-35). The infinite, almighty and eternal God adapts himself to the human creature, draws near to meet, listen and enter into communion with him. The liturgy is the expression of this coming together in faith, dialogue and love.”

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