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Vir_Iucundus
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Could a trad help me understand the old way feasts used to be classifyed ? What is the difference between, for instance, a “class one feast” and a “second class feast” ? Thank you in advance.
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bpbasilphx
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It depends on how trad you get. Before the mid-50’s? Before the 60’s? As of 1962?
Before the mid-50’s, feasts in the Roman rite were Doubles (which could themselves be 1st Class, 2nd Class, Greater, or Lesser–some doubles had octaves, some didn’t), Semi-Doubles, and Simples.
Doubles and Semi-Doubles had First and Second Vespers. Doubles had the antiphons “doubled,” that is said entirely before as well as after the Psalm or Canticle. Semi-doubles and Simples did not.
In the mid-50’s, Semi-Doubles were suppressed, and all reduced to Simples. Former Simples were reduced to commemorations.
Sometime after this, all antiphons, regardless of the rank of feast, were to be doubled–that is, repeated in full before and after the Psalm or Canticle. This has continued to this day.
Furthermore, only major feasts had First Vespers. All other days began with Matins (not at Vespers the day before, as previously.)
In 1960 or so, ALL Doubles of the First Class were renamed First Class Feasts, and only these retained First and Second Vespers.
ALL Doubles of the Second Class became Second Class Feasts. Their Vespers got recited on the day itself.
ALL other Doubles became Third Class Feasts–aka Commemorations.
Obviously, the higher the rank of a feast, the more “proper” material it had. Feasts of the Lord and the Virgin were all, or almost all, entirely proper. Some other saints would be either entirely proper, or from the Common of the Saints, or a mixture.
I’m speaking only of the Divine Office. I won’t even get into how these changes affected the Mass. Some days there could be three Collects, some days 5, and some days just 1, for example, and some days the priest might even have choice of other collects to add.
If you think all this is confusing, don’t worry. It is. Even many priests were tripped up by this. As you can guess, more than one priest would wonder if he had said his Office “correctly,” and hence “validly.”
There’s an old famous saying that there was frequently more trouble to find out what prayers were to be recited, than to say them when it was found out.
One advantage of the revised Liturgy of the Hours is that the Office once more becomes prayer (which it should be), rather than an exercise in rubrical correctness.
(At least in the Byzantine office, the next to the last word is, “As the Superior sees fit.” The last word is, “As the Cantor can find it.”)
Before the mid-50’s, feasts in the Roman rite were Doubles (which could themselves be 1st Class, 2nd Class, Greater, or Lesser–some doubles had octaves, some didn’t), Semi-Doubles, and Simples.
Doubles and Semi-Doubles had First and Second Vespers. Doubles had the antiphons “doubled,” that is said entirely before as well as after the Psalm or Canticle. Semi-doubles and Simples did not.
In the mid-50’s, Semi-Doubles were suppressed, and all reduced to Simples. Former Simples were reduced to commemorations.
Sometime after this, all antiphons, regardless of the rank of feast, were to be doubled–that is, repeated in full before and after the Psalm or Canticle. This has continued to this day.
Furthermore, only major feasts had First Vespers. All other days began with Matins (not at Vespers the day before, as previously.)
In 1960 or so, ALL Doubles of the First Class were renamed First Class Feasts, and only these retained First and Second Vespers.
ALL Doubles of the Second Class became Second Class Feasts. Their Vespers got recited on the day itself.
ALL other Doubles became Third Class Feasts–aka Commemorations.
Obviously, the higher the rank of a feast, the more “proper” material it had. Feasts of the Lord and the Virgin were all, or almost all, entirely proper. Some other saints would be either entirely proper, or from the Common of the Saints, or a mixture.
I’m speaking only of the Divine Office. I won’t even get into how these changes affected the Mass. Some days there could be three Collects, some days 5, and some days just 1, for example, and some days the priest might even have choice of other collects to add.
If you think all this is confusing, don’t worry. It is. Even many priests were tripped up by this. As you can guess, more than one priest would wonder if he had said his Office “correctly,” and hence “validly.”
There’s an old famous saying that there was frequently more trouble to find out what prayers were to be recited, than to say them when it was found out.
One advantage of the revised Liturgy of the Hours is that the Office once more becomes prayer (which it should be), rather than an exercise in rubrical correctness.
(At least in the Byzantine office, the next to the last word is, “As the Superior sees fit.” The last word is, “As the Cantor can find it.”)
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