Some editions of the Horæ contain short offices "of the compassyon of oure Lady." These also refer each hour to a particular sorrow which the blessed Virgin endured during the Passion.

But I must not omit upon this subject, an account which is occasionally found in the Prymers, "Howe the sayenge of the houres fyrste began, and why they are so called." I quote now from an edition printed at Rouen, by Le Roux. 1538. 8vo.

"The fyrst that euer we fynde in scripture to haue used the worshyppynge of god, at certeyne set houres of the daye, was Daniel the prophete, as it appered in his .vi. chapi. And in the newe testament in the Actes of the apostles the .x. chapitre, we rede, that saynt Peter thapostle accustomed hym selfe to certayn houres of prayer. By whiche examples (as saynt Cypriane testefied) the catholyke church of Chryste did fyrst receyue and admyt suche maner of prayeing. Whereupon the same usuall seruice that we call (Pryme and houres) was fyrste instituted to be sayde and songen here in the Churches of Englande, accordyng to the custome and vse of the diocese, somewhere after the vse of Sarum, and somwhere after the vse of Yorke. And therfore whan we rede Hora prima, tertia, sexta, and nona, that is, the fyrste, the thyrde, the sixte, and the nynth houre, euyn as they make mention of seuerall houres, so were they and may be vsed at seuerall tymes of the daye, to be sayde in remembrance of Christes passion, and the compassion of the virgin his moder."

These daily offices were called Hours, (Hora) either "ab orando, nam ora idem videtur esse, ac hora," or rather because they were to be recited at certain hours of the day appointed by the Church. Canonical, be

cause according to the canon, or rule, of the Church. Some add, because they are the prayers to be said by Canons in choir, or because canonical simply means ecclesiastical.21

TH

CHAPTER II.

HE earliest mention of the word Breviary to denote the Divine Office, is to be found in Micrologus, the author of which treatise flourished about the year 1080. He is speaking "de officiis Jejuniorum,” and alluding to the Gospel Egressus Jesus adds "sicut etiam in antiquis Breviariis ordinatum reperimus.” 22 A manuscript was some years ago remaining in the monastery of Casino, entitled Breviarium, written about A. D. 1100. But it seems rather to have been an Ordinale, from the account given by Zaccaria.23

21 Gavantus. Thesaurus. Tom. 2. cap. 1.

22 Cap. 28. Cit. Gavantus. Tom. 2. §. 2. 1. He does not give the passage. This tract "Micrologus" de ecclesiasticis observationibus is especially valuable. The first edition of any part of it, was by Cochlæus in his Speculum antiquæ devotionis de Missa: soon afterwards entire by Pamelius, then the first 22 chapters, by Cassander, and again the whole by Hittorpius in the Auctarium to the Bibl. Patrum. Cassander, Opera, p. 121, speaks in the most contemptuous

terms of the first edition, as being from an incorrect M.S.; for there can be no doubt that Cochlæus himself deserved the commendation which Hittorpius gives him, in his preface to another work, "vir eruditissimus, et diligens Ecclesiasticæ antiquitatis scrutator," and again, "Doctoris Cochlæi judicium, quod fuit exactissimum." Auct. Bibl. Patr. Tom. 1. p. 1166.

23 He says that it contains "totius Ecclesiastici officii rubricas, ritus etiam, et cæremonias tam officii recitandi, quam missæ ce

However this may be, we cannot doubt that we are to understand by the title, as used by Micrologus," an abbreviation as well as an amended arrangement of the more ancient offices. And this abbreviation chiefly was made by the authority of Pope Gregory the 7th.

It need scarcely be observed that during 1500 years the public worship of the western Church must have occupied at various periods the attention of her rulers. It does not fall in with my plan in these volumes to detail the changes which were made: they are well · told in Merati's additions to the Thesaurus of Gavantus 24 to which I would refer the student. He will be struck with one circumstance: that through so many ages, in spite of so many old customs given up, and new ones introduced, as nation after nation was con-, verted to the true Faith, yet the same general character was retained, and the same spirit breathed through the long line of the authorized offices of the Church: and this is the more remarkable in the case of important particulars, which one could not have supposed would have stood the violent assaults of her enemies, or the more insidious attacks of heretics and false friends. Nor would it have been so, if the Power by which she was always actuated, had not been the Spirit of God.

lebrandæ, ac præterea peculiares quasdam præcipuarum solemnitatum observantias. Unde Quesnellus a Cangio laudatus colligi posse censebat, primitus Breviarii nomine solas rubricas, seu ordinem officiorum olim innotuisse." Zaccaria. Bibl. Ritualis. Tom.

1. 107. If the conjecture in the text is right, the evident error of Quesnel is shewn to rest upon a mistaken title.

24 Tom. 2. p. 11. And more at length, Zaccaria. Bibl. Ritualis. Lib. 1. cap. iv. Artic. 4.

1

But the last settlement of the Breviary may be mentioned. This was under the pontificate of Pius the 5th, and his Bull, dated July 1568, is that by which the present daily office of the Roman communion is authorized and enforced. For the succeeding Bulls of Popes Clement viij. and Urban viij. affect the correctness of the editions, and the licensing of the printers. The chief points of the Bull of Pope Pius are, that this edition of the Breviary had been undertaken in consequence of the variety of Uses at that time existing it recites the decree of the council of Trent, which had referred the consideration of the matter to the college of Sacred Rites at Rome: it abolishes the use of the breviary arranged some few years before by Cardinal Quignonius: and not only that, but all other breviaries, which could not prove a prescription of 200 years: it decrees that no alteration should be made in the worship and service now appointed: and imposes the observance of the newly arranged and amended edition upon all who were bound to say the Canonical Hours. Hence the power which previously had been permitted to the Bishops of each diocese, to alter and correct or to add to the services of their particular churches, was restrained, and made subject to dispensations from the See of Rome. I must not omit to add that one of the chief persons to whom this whole business was referred had been an English Bishop, Thomas Goldwell of S. Asaph.

The exception in favour of such breviaries as had been in use for 200 years, would have reached, if the church of England had still acknowledged the supremacy of Rome, the breviaries of Salisbury and York. I shall now give as short an account as possible of the

usual contents of the "Breviarium ad Usum Sarum." I take for an example an edition in two volumes, 4to. 1555.25

The first volume opens with a calendar, followed by a table of the moveable feasts. After this a short tract on the value and efficacy of the book of Psalms, directions how properly to say the Hours, and the office of the benediction "Salis et Aquæ." All this is preliminary matter, occupying one sheet. A. i. begins the Breviary itself.

Upon fol. j. sign. "In nomine sanctæ

et individuæ Trinitatis. Incipit ordo breuiarii seu portiforii secundum morem et consuetudinem ecclesiæ Sarum Anglicana: una cum ordinali suo: quod usitato vocabulo dicitur Pica sive directorium sacerdotum. In tempore paschali. Pars Hyemalis." Then follow the Dominical and Ferial Offices from Advent Sunday to the Friday after Pentecost, inclusive; with those of some of the greater festivals of Saints, the Innocents' day, S. Stephen, S. Thomas of Canterbury, and a few others. To this first part of the volume succeed, with a new set of signatures and foliation, 1st. the Psalter, which was gone through once a week : 2nd. the seven penitential Psalms: 3rd. the Litany: 4th. the vigils of the dead: 5th. the common offices of apostles, confessors, virgins, &c. : 6th. the offices of the blessed Virgin, of the dedication of a church, benedictions "ad lectiones," the Ordinary and Canon of the mass, some votive masses, the mass of requiem,

25 Portiforium seu Breviarium ad insignis Sarisburiensis ecclesiæ usum : accuratissime castigatum, cum multis annotatiunculis ac literis alphabeticis, Evan

geliorum et Epistolarum, capitulorumque originem indicantibus: quæ nusquam hucusque fuerunt additæ." 2 vols. 4to. London. 1555.