OPUS DEI
The noblest of the liturgical occupations was the Work of
God, "over which nothing must take precedence" (Ergo
nihil operi Dei praeponatur).[95]
This began at two o'clock
in the morning, when, after seven hours' sleep, the brothers
rose from their beds to celebrate what to St. Benedict was
known as the Nocturne (to later monasticism as Matins).
In the course of the day that followed they attended seven
additional services: Lauds (called by St. Benedict Matutinas),
held at the break of dawn; four shorter ones—Prime,
Terce, Sext, and None[96]
—held at the first, third, sixth,
and ninth hours of the day; Vespers at sunset; and, on
the advent of darkness a last one, Compline.
Generally, these services began with an invitatory and a
hymn, followed by three to six psalms or canticles, three to
four readings from the Gospel, a responsory, and on
Sundays and feast days, a mass.
The central and longest phase of these services was the
chanting of the psalms. St. Benedict devoted no less than
nine chapters of his Rule to the order and manner in which
they were to be sung throughout the year.[97]
He makes allowance
for changes, provided "that the psalter with its full
hundred and fifty psalms be chanted every week and begun
afresh every Sunday at Matins."[98]
He makes clear on
which occasion the psalter should be sung "straight
through" (in directum) and on which occasion "with
antiphons" (cum antiphonis).[99]
The structure of the Hebrew
psalms renders it probable that the division of the religious
congregation into choirs singing separate parts in alternation
may have originated in the ancient Jewish Church. In
the Eastern Church antiphonal song was introduced by
Ignatius Bishop of Antioch (d. 115). In the West it was not
practiced prior to St. Ambrose (d. 379). Firmly established
in the ecclesiastical liturgy by Pope Gregory the Great
(d. 604), by the ninth century antiphonal singing had
developed into an elaborate sequence of responses which
soloists sang in alternation with various other groups of
singers under the guidance of a conductor. The performance
of this art was held in such high esteem that on the
days of the great feasts, visiting bishops did not hesitate to
join the rows of chanting monks to sing under the direction
of their former teachers.[100]
The supervision of this important
phase of the divine service was sometimes the
office of the cantor, at other times that of the master of the
library and scriptorium (armarius).[101]
In his commentary on
chapter 8 of the Rule of St. Benedict, Hildemar lists those
who perform specific functions in the chanting of the psalms:
the cantor, the praecentor, the succentor, and the concentor.
The cantor is a soloist "who modulates his voice" (vocem
modelatur in cantu), the praecentor "opens the song"
(vocem praemittit in cantu), the succentor "responds"
(subsequenter canendo respondet), and the concentor is the
one who "harmonizes" (consonat).[102]
The very existence
of these names is evidence of the extent to which the various
phases of the antiphonal chant had around 845 already been
delegated to specialists.
