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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA NOVEMBER 10, 1956,
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BREVIARY REFORM, TOPIC OF SPECIAL
IMPORTANCE AT ASSISI LITURGICAL
CONGRESS, BEING MADE OY HOLY SEE
Among the various topics dis
cussed at the International Con
gress of Pastoral Liturgy, which
took place in Assisi and Rome
from September 18 to 22, that
of the breviary reform aroused
special interest.
This was to be expected. For
the problem of the breviary and
its role in the spiritual life of the
priest, particularly under modern
conditions of the active priestly
ministry, is a real one.
That a thorough reform of the
breviary is being undertaken by
the Holy See is certain. His Holi
ness Pope Pius XII several years
ago appointed a committee for
the specific purpose of continuing
and completing the reform of the
missaland breviary begun by St.
Pius X but not carried through
to its logical conclusion because
of the inadequate knowledge of
liturgical history at that time.
At Assisi, previous to the big
Congress attended by representa
tives from nearly every country,
there took place an international
study meeting limited to 30
priests (including two from the
U. S.), which for three days list
ened to and discussed scholarly
papers on the history of the bre
viary. All four members of the
Pope’s Committee for Liturgy
Reform were present. And it is
no secret that His Eminence
Cardinal Lercaro, Archbishop of
Bologna, in his paper at the big
congress, that, followed, reflected
some of the views of the smaller
meeting insofar as they affected
the problem of breviary reform.
The many articles that have
appeared in clerical and liturgi
cal journals in recent years, and
the interest they arouse, give
evidence that a reform of the
breviary would correspond to a
strong, and widespread hope. As
a matter of fact, this is not a
recent phenomenon. Requests t’oi
a breviary that would be more
suitable to the daily life and
working conditions of priests in
the active ministry have been
voiced frequently and by respon
sible ecclesiastics for well over
: five centuries. And there have
been several major efforts at
solution.
One of the most interesting is
the breviary revised by Cardinal
Quinonez, commissioned by Pope
Clement VII and approved by
Pope Paul III in the first half
of the sixteenth century. Design
ed for private use only and not
for choir recitation, it met at
first with enthusiastic acceptance.
The first edition went through 17
printings in less than two years,
while the second had no less than
100 printings.
It represented a radical sim
plification and shortening. But
it was finally rejected because
in the effort to have the breviary
serve the spiritual needs of the
individual priest, it neglected
many of the ! features which had
traditionally characterized the,
Divine Office as the prayer ol
the Universal Church.
The request of the Fathers of
the Council of Trent for a bre
viary reform resumed in the bre
viary issued by St. Pius V. The
next general council, that of the
Vatican in 1870, again witnessed
petitions for reform, voiced by
the hierarchy of several countries,
including Canada. The archbish
ops and mshops of the provinces
of Quebec and Halifax • asked*
among ciher things, tor “an
abbreviation of the office on those
days when pastors and confessors
are most busy, e.g., on the vigils
of feasts, Saturdays, and the Sun
days especially of Advent and
Lent.”
The reform of St. Pias X in
our own century was admittedly
only partial and concerned chief
ly the redistribution of the psalms.
As to the specific elements of
the breviary that need reform,
. there is - such . agreement about
some of them that one may per
haps hopefully look for action in
their case. Such obvious and uni
versally desired improvements
include: a careful revision of the
historical lessons, that is of the
lives of the saints; a better choice
of patristic lessons, which would,
for instance, eliminate same of
the allegorical toying with num
bers that may have edified the
congregations of Augustine’s and
Gregory’s day, but seems far
fetched and artificial to modern
audiences; broadening the choice
of patristic readings to include
more of ‘our Easter Christian
heritage; revision of the Scrip
ture lessons, especially by elimi
nating the introductions, for ex
ample, that Sophonias was the son
of Chusi, the son of Godolias, and
so forth, and getting to the heart
of the respective book instead.
There is quite a general agree
ment, too, that the, office should
be shortened somewhat, "but a
great variety of opinion about
how this could best be accom
plished. Most seem to favor a dis
tribution of the psalter over two
or more weeks instead of the pres
ent one week.
And 3'et all these revisions, im
portant as they are, do not really
touch the heart of the problem:
how to make the breviary come
alive as the daily prayer of the
priest and of the Church. The
fact is that the hours of the Di
vine Office have in practice to
a large extent lost their basic;
purpose of sanctifying successive
parts of the day and have become
a formalistic anachronism—a sum
total of prayer formulas to be
“gotten in” somehow in the
course of 24 hours.
Cardinal Lercaro in his Assisi
address made clear how this prob
lem can only be solved in the
light of the original distinction
between the diocesan clergy’s
public '’prayer and the monastic
Divine Office. ■■■).-.-
The former consisted of morn
ing and evening prayers, Lauds
and Vespers, and a more lengthly
prayer that included more, ex
tensive readings, Matins. This
was the origins] core of the
(Continued on Page 9)
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