The Hours of the Ambrosian Breviary

     The Breviarium Ambrosianum contains the 8 hours of the Divine Office as in the Roman Breviary.  They are Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline.  Their structure is different from the Roman Breviary, as is the psalm cursus.

     Those who are accustomed to the Roman Rite might probably be unfamiliar with some peculiarities found in the Breviarium Ambrosianum.

 

	For example, this essay's subtitle is  the Greek Kyrie, eleison 12 times.  It is prayed like this at Lauds, and there are a large number of sets of the triple Kyrie, eleison either alone, after versicles and responses (such as Dominus, vobiscum), after the antiphon to a psalm when the antiphon is repeated at the end, sometimes after a Capitulum, etc.
	Dominus vobiscum, etc. appears often throughout the hours, many more times than in the Roman Rite.
	The Milanese transliterate the Hebrew and say Hallelujah rather than use the Latinized form, Alleluia.
	While the Roman Rite office provides every psalm, or every section of a psalm that stands alone, with an antiphon, the Ambrosian Rite does not.  The one hour where the practice is the same is at Vespers, which, in the pre Vatican II form, was adopted through the influence of Roman authorities.  At many hours (Prime, Terce, Sext, None and Compline) there are no antiphons for the psalms.  At Matins, the system is different once again:  there are three nocturns;  one antiphon is assigned to one nocturn, the antiphon is prayed before the first psalm and after the last psalm of the nocturn.  (The doxology, Gloria Patri, also is said at the end of the nocturn).
	There are no divisi psalms (e. g., psalms which are separated into two or more parts) in the Breviarium Ambrosianum.  The only exception to this is Psalm 118, the longest of the Psalms,  which has been separated into several sections by both Roman and Milanese traditions.  In the Ambrosian breviary, at the Little Hours (Prime, Terce, Sext and None), the Gloria Patri is prayed after every 2 sections.
	One unique feature of the Ambrosian breviary is the system of decuriae.  In Roman times, a decuria was a unit of ten people and understood as a legal entity (e.g, ten soldiers, workers, or even a family grouping).  In the Ambrosian breviary, the days from Monday through Friday for two weeks are assigned a decuria.  For example, Monday of Week 1 would be Decuria 1, Tuesday, Decuria 2, etc.  In week two, Monday would be Decuria 6, Tuesday, Decuria 7, etc.  Saturday Matins are not part of this scheme and has a combination of canticle and portions of Psalm 118, for both weeks.  Sunday is the same each week: only canticles are assigned to Matins (e.g., Isaiah, Anna, Jonah).  (This can be seen in the layout of the Psalter schema.)
	Another feature is the Lucernarium.  The Lucernarium is found in many rites of the Eastern Church (both uniate and Orthodox), and also in the Ambrosian Breviary.  Scholars continue to question the source of the Milanese Lucernarium, as well as the origins of the Milanese Rite, but, it is true to say that in the Western Church, the Ambrosian Lucernarium has survived and lives, still.  Vespers is an evening prayer;  the Lucernarium always opens Vespers in the Ambrosian Rite.  Originally, before the modern period, lamps were lighted at dusk for a very practical reason.  Soon, the reason acquired Christian meaning and symbolism, and the lamplighting symbolized the light of Christ.  It is still done, though it is no longer needed for its practical purpose.
	While some antiphons for the Vespers in the Ambrosian Rite  psalms are the same as the Roman Vespers antiphons, others are slightly different, and still others, completely different.  This is true throughout the Psalter, where the are antiphons for psalms or canticles.  Other textual differences appear throughout the Breviarium Ambrosianum (e.g., substitution of words, such as in Compline's Converte, nos, etc.......Et averte iracundiam,....etc.  [In the Roman Rite, it is  Et averte iram,....etc].; placement of words, such as Fidelium animae.......per Dei misericordiam....etc.  [In the Roman Rite, it is Fidelium animae......per misericordiam Dei....etc.].
	Some elements in the Ambrosian Rite are named differently than in the Roman Rite.  For example, the "little chapter" or capitulum in the Roman Rite is the epistolella in the Ambrosian Rite.  At the same time, capitulum in the Ambrosian Rite is really what might be called a "one liner", a short sentence or so of praise, joy, other feeling, sometimes accompanied by Hallelujah or Kyrie, eleison, or both.
	The Milanese also include orations (prayers) to begin canticles (such as at Matins).
	The hymnody of the Psalter is sparse (there are several hymns throughout the breviary, but some of the more usual ones found in the Roman Breviary are missing, and others have a different, perhaps earlier, translation than that of the Roman Rite.  If we consider the time after Pentecost (the "green season" in the Roman Rite and the "red season" in the Ambrosian Rite [red is used until the 3rd Sunday in October, the Dedication of the Cathedral Church] or "ordinary time", as it is called today), we see that there is only one hymn for every Matins (Sunday through Saturday): Aeterne rerum Conditor; there is only one hymn for Lauds (Sunday through Saturday): Splendor Paternae gloriae; there is only one hymn for Prime: Jam lucis, Sext: Rector potens,  verax Deus, None: Rerum, Deus, tenax vigor, Vespers: Deus, Creator omnium and Compline: Te, lucis ante terminum.  Terce has two hymns: one for Sunday:  Jam surgit hora tertia, and one for weekdays: Nunc, Sancte nobis Spiritus.  For solemn feasts and some seasons of the year, other hymns are used.
	On Sundays and weekdays throughout ordinary time, there are no orations taken from the Sunday propers (e.g., 5th after Pentecost);  orations are provided in the Psalter, and they are generic and recur each week.  There are other elements from the proper which are used in the Sunday office: readings, responsories,  antiphons, psallendae, etc.  On some feast (of a solemn nature), a prayer is used from the proper.
	The Milanese use the completorium and psallendae:  both are short bursts, one liners of thought or praise or supplication, etc. Responsories are of several kinds: the Lucernarium is a responsory, for example.  Most are identified by their placement in the office, or in the physical space of the office, though this latter sense is not in use these days.  So, we have: ad Crucem, in Choro, in Baptisterio, cum Infantibus, inter lectiones. During Lent, there are Quadragesimalia.  When chanted, these are done in the Milanese chant manner, which is different from Gregorian chant in many features.
	The Direct Psalm (Psalmus Directus) is another feature of the Ambrosian office.  At Lauds and some Vespers, this psalm is sung/said by everyone together, rather than antiphonally or in some other choral fashion (responsorially, for example).  On ordinary Sundays (time after Pentecost - "of the year"), Psalm 92 is the Psalmus Directus at Sunday Lauds.  No antiphon is assigned to it.
	There is also a " psalm of 4 verses" at Lauds and Vespers.  An antiphon is assigned to it.
	The Latin Psalter of the Ambrosian breviary (and throughout the other liturgical texts in the Ambrosian Rite) does not use the usual Vulgate translation, but is the first of St. Jerome's Latin translations of the Bible, made at the request of Pope Damasus,  about AD 383;  it is also used at St. Peter's in Rome.  It is called the Romana.  The translation was a revision of the Vetus Itala, the oldest Latin version of the Bible. The Vulgate version which became official was his second revision, popularly called the "Gallican" Psalter.      An urban, "Cathedral" Office            Scholars look at the Ambrosian breviary as a mix of Cathedral and Monastic offices. While we don't know the details of the long gone Cathedral office, more than one of its principal elements have been integrated into the Milanese office: the principle of simplicity.      Cranmer once wrote, when he was preparing the Book of Common Prayer, that people were so busy and confused trying to find what parts of the office to say, that when the time came to pray the Hours, they didn't.  He was referring to the rubrics and the devotional additions (little offices, penitential psalms, gradual psalms, etc., which were obligatory for those who were required to pray the office) of the various editions of the Roman Breviary.  They were complicated and remained so until the reform of the Liturgy of the Hours after the Second Vatican Council.      The Ambrosian Office, even with its different terminology and some elements, is not a complicated prayer.   Many elements of the office (hymns, canticles, prayers, etc.) are changed infrequently.   The placement of hymns at the beginning of all the hours (except Lauds) is a people-oriented concept: a pastorally beneficial boost to prayer.   Frequent short acclamations are also beneficial: the many Hallelujah's, Kyrie's, psallendae, capitula.  This custom is seen in the Eastern Rites, too. Frequent repetition of some elements (Psalm 50, Benedicite, Benedictus, Magnificat) A simplified hymnal for regular use (ordinary time, for example) Frequent dialogue throughout the office (e.g., Dominus vobiscum  with Et um spiritu tuo as a response), etc.      Some of the "short" breviary compilers took several of the Ambrosian office principles and used them in their own texts:  repetition, infrequent changes, simpler proper and common offices, etc.       Whoever compiles any office would find a rich resource in the Ambrosian office;  it has timeless value for those who wish to pray the liturgy of the Hours well. The current text of the new Ambrosian Liturgy of the Hours is issued in various formats:  The complete edition is called Liturgia Ambrosiana della ore, in 5 volumes, in Italian.  It is in its second edition.  It is currently being reprinted. There is also an edition containing all the day hours and Night Prayer called Lodi mattutine, ora media, vespro, completa per ogni giorno.   Lay people, alone or in groups, have adopted Diurna Laus as their own.  It contains the 4 week Psalter, 2 festal offices from the Proper and 2 offices from the Common (BVM & Office of the Dead).  It is also in Italian, only.   Home Page "Short Breviaries" Prime (1957) Ambrosian Rite Today's Office Psalter Schemas Terce, Sext, None (1957) Diurna Laus Psalter Schema Ambrosian Rite (Background) Vespers (1957 1957  Ambrosian Psalter Schema Matins & Lauds (1957) Compline (1957) Ambrosian  Resources and Links The 1957 Ambrosian Rite Officium Parvum Vespers' Chants (1939 Vesperale)     Updated, February 7, 2001 Added July 23, 2000