Chapter I: Proper of the Time (2)

(4) Bacquez states that all the hymns do not join beauty of expression to the merit of the thought expressed, and that a certain number lack style and good prosody.

These opinions should not be extended to all, nor even to very many of the Breviary hymns. All serious critics agree about the beauty of such hymns as the _Aeterne rerum Conditor_, the _Somno refectis artubus, Splendor Aeternae gloriae, Verbum supernum prodiens_, and a good number of others.

The greater part of the Breviary Hymns are composed according to the rules of prosody, and their form is lyric, the popular form of Latin song, which preceded in Italy the prosodical system borrowed from the Greeks, and used by the classic pagan poets. The critics of the Renaissance period are very loud and very wrathful over the form of these hymns. Some of them accuse St. Ambrose, Prudentius and Gregory the Great of gross ignorance of the rules of Latin verse and, what to the critics was worse, ignorance of the ways of pagan classical models. But, was the rhymed, tonic accented lyric, which was to be sung by all sorts and conditions of men, in public, such an outrageous literary sin? Was it ignorance or prudence that guided the early hymn writers in their adoption of popular poetic form? It is not certain by any means that the early hymn writers wished to copy or adopt the classic forms of the Augustinian age. Nor is it clear that such men of genius as St. Ambrose, Prudentius, St. Gregory the Great, were ignorant of the rules and models of the best Latin poets. It seems that they did not wish to follow them. They wilfully and designedly adopted the popular lyric forms, so that they might give to their flocks in popular and easily remembered forms, prayers and formulas of faith.

_Second Proposition_:-The Breviary hymns have the principal elements of poetic beauty.

Briefly, these elements are sublimity of thought, beauty of sentiment, aptness of expression, unction of form. In these matters the Breviary hymns are not inferior to the classic poetry of paganism, nor to the much-belauded beauties of the Gallican Breviary hymns (_vide_ Bacquez, _Le Saint Office_, notes vi. and viii. in finem).

The composition of the hymns is in perfect harmony with the end for which they are intended, that is, liturgical prayer, chanted prayer. Their phrases do not display the vain and superfluous literary glitter of the much-lauded Gallican hymns, but their accents go out from the sanctuary and live in the hearts of the people. Their language is, like the thought and expression of the psalms, the word of a soul praying to God and adoring Him in fervour, in simplicity, and in faith. Of the piety and expression of the French hymns, Foinard, an ardent apostle of the French liturgical novelties, wrote: "Il ne parait pas que ce soit l'onction qui domine dans les nouveaux Breviaries; on y a la verite, travaille beaucoup pour l'esprit; mais il semole qu' on n'y a pas travaille autant pour le coeur." Letourneux, the fierce Jansenist, wrote to the Breviary-poet, Santeuil, his co-worker: "Vous faites fumer l'encens; mais c'est un feu estranger qui brule dans l'ensenoir. La vanite fait en vous ce que la charite devrait faire." And the Catholic De Maistre, so famed for his fair-minded criticisms, wrote of the new hymn-makers' works: "They make a certain noise in the ear, but they never breathe prayer, because their writers were all alone (_i.e._, unaided by the grace and guidance of the Holy Spirit) when they composed them." Of the Roman Breviary hymns he wrote: "They always pray and excite the soul to prayer." "Train your hearts to attention, and hear all their prayers. You will in them see the true religion, as clearly as you see the sunbeams."

_Fourth Proposition_:--The characteristic of the Roman Breviary hymns is to express with lively sentiments and with unction the noble ideas and beautiful sentiments of the supernatural order, in a simple manner, without prosodical pretension, yet having ever a true rhythm which sometimes vies with better compositions.

The characteristic mentioned in this proposition, which comes as a corollary from the three preceding propositions, is one which is clearly noted in our Breviary hymns. For by their very position in the Breviary, side by side with the Psalms, Scripture extracts and words of the Fathers, the Church shows her esteem and her use of these lyrics of prayer and praise. Again, the Church's mind is shown by her retention of her hymns in her liturgy, notwithstanding the many efforts made to substitute a new hymnal. Up to the sixteenth century these Breviary hymns were universally esteemed. They were admired by St. Augustine. They are quoted and praised by St. Thomas in his Summa. Deays the Carthusian {1402-1471} wrote a beautiful commentary on them. Amongst all priests, secular and regular, the hymns were venerated and loved. Although there were many men of genius in every age and in every part of the Christian Church, the hymns escaped until the renaissance under Leo X. (1475-1521).

The lovers of everything classic and pagan were pained and exasperated at the venerable simplicity, the lack of prosody, the vagueness and crudity of the wording of the liturgical hymns. In 1531, Wimpheling, a priest of the diocese of Spire, produced a work, _Himni de tempore et de sanctis_ ... _secundum legem carminis diligenter emendati_. Leo X., yielding to his own taste and the wishes of the learned innovators who were ardent students of pagan antiquity, commissioned Ferreri to compose a new hymnal for liturgical use. His book was allowed for liturgical use, but was not prescribed. It omitted all the old hymns sanctioned by the Church for centuries, and sung with fervour by thousands down the ages. "There are found in the work of Ferreri," wrote Dom Gueranger, "all the images and all the allusions to pagan beliefs and usages which we find in Horace. Sometimes, it is only fair to say, his hymns are beautiful and simple ... but they follow generally and too servilely the pagan models ... but they are the work of strong and clear inspiration, which under the mask of classic diction shows itself in every part." (_Inst. Liturg._ t. I., p. 370.) During the reign of Pope Paul III. new hymnals were issued, but the Breviary hymns were not removed. St. Pius V. in his reform of the Breviary did not touch the Breviary hymns. Clement VIII. in his reform added new hymns but did not remove nor retouch the old ones. This work remained for Pope Urban VIII. (1623-1644).

Urban VIII., Maffeo Barberini, was a poet of no mean rank. Before his election to the papacy, he was a recognised lover of classical literature and an adept in following classic themes and classic forms. Our Breviaries contain some few of his compositions and they show correctness of form, poetic merit, and piety. They are the hymns, _Martinae celebri, Tu natale solum_ (January 20); _Nullis te genitor, Regali solio fortis_ (April 13). His great desire was the correction of the Breviary hymns. This work of correction was not beyond the personal power of the Pope himself, if we judge him by his hymns. His views are expressed in the Bull _Divinam Psalmodiam_, issued to promulgate the corrected hymns. It found a place in all copies of the Roman Breviary in the last century. To carry out the corrections outlined by the Pope, four Jesuits were appointed, and whether the result of the corrections is the Pope's or the Jesuits' is a highly and hotly disputed point. First of all, the task set to the Jesuits was a very difficult one, and one demanding much prudence as well as learning. It may seem to us that to begin the correction, mutilation and reconstruction of the works and words of men so great in church history and liturgy as Prudentius, Sedulius, St. Ambrose, St. Paulinus, was a work of rashness, a sort of sacrilege, attempting to remodel the glowing piety of their poems to the pattern of Horace's verse. But the Jesuits had got their commands and they were bound to obey. They were chosen on account of their classical scholarship, which was kept sharp by their daily teaching in college, and they were specially bound by a vow of loyal obedience to Papal orders. "It is only fair to give them the credit that out of respect for the wishes of Urban VIII, they treated these ancient compositions with extreme reserve and, while they made some impressions clearer, they maintained the primitive unction in a large number of passages" (Baudot, _op. cit._, p. 185).

They corrected more than nine hundred false quantities found scattered through the Breviary, 58 in the psalter per hebdomadam, 359 in the proper de Tempore, 283 in the proper of Saints, and 252 in the common of Saints. They changed the opening words of more than thirty hymns. Some hymns were untouched--e.g., the three hymns of the Blessed Sacrament, the _Ave Maris Stella_, which is rhythmic prose, not verse, and the hymn of the Angels, which was sufficiently perfect. The metre of three hymns, _Tibi Christe splendor Patris_, and the _Urbs Jerusalem_ and _Angularis fundamentum_ were changed.

The Jesuits have been censured very bitterly for their work of correction. Perhaps they merited some censure, but surely they did not merit the censures heaped on them by hostile critics like Thiers, Henri Valois, and the Franciscan, Cavalli. They answered their critics splendidly and triumphantly by the works of Father Arevalo, S.J. But the wordy war lasts to the present day. Students who wish to see the unrevised and the revised hymnal of Urban VIII. may consult Daniel's _Thesaurus hymnologicus_ for examples. Other examples are given in Monsignor Battifol's work, and others in Dom Baudot's. If the reader read in the Breviary, the hymn _Te lucis ante terminum_, he may note a difference in that, the revised form, and this, the unrevised:--

Te lucis ante terminum,
Rerum Creator poscimus,
Ut solita clementia
Sis praesul ad custodiam.

Praesta pater omnipotens
Per Jesum Christum Dominum
Qui tecum in perpetuum regnat
Cum Sancto Spiritu

Again, see Lauds for Passion Sunday, _Lustra sex_, second verse, unrevised reads:--

Hic acetum fel arundo
Sputa clavi lancea
Mite corpus perforator
Sanguis unda profluit
Terra, pontus, astra, mundus
Quo lavantur flumine.

_Iste Confessor_, unrevised reads:--

Iste confessor domini sacratus
Festa plebs cujus celebrat per orbem
Hodie laetus meruit secreta
Scandere coeli.

Qui Pius, prudens humilis judicus,
Sobrius, castus fuit et quietus
Vita dum praesens vegetavit ejus
Corporis artus.

The imitation of Breviary hymns has for centuries formed a notable part of sacred Latin poetry. A great amount of Latin poetry dealing with sacred themes finds no place in Missal or Breviary. Every nation has ancient Latin hymns, generally modelled on the then existing liturgical models; and these hymns are found in national hymnals and in works dealing with Christian antiquities, but they find no place in modern liturgy. Thus the Latin poetry of the ancient Irish Church is formed for private and not choral use. The oldest purely rhythmical Latin hymn is that of St. Sechnall (1448), "Audite omnes amantes Deum, sancta merita." But neither it, nor any other of the old Latin hymns by Irish writers, finds place in the Breviary. Collections of Latin hymns by Irish writers of early Christian Ireland are to be found in Todd's _Book of Hymns of the Ancient Irish Church_ (Dublin, 1885-1891); the _Irish Liber Hymnorum_ (London, 1898), the _Antiphonary of Bangor_ (Warren's Edition, London, 1893).

One of the most difficult works for a scholar to attempt and to carry out to his satisfaction is the translation of prose or poetry into another language. The work of translating the Latin of the Roman Breviary into English was attempted and completed years ago. The work was great and creditable, but not renowned as a feat of translation. The hymns of the Breviary have been translated by several authors in every country of Christendom, and with different degrees of success. The study of the Breviary hymns is a highly interesting one, and when it is supported by the different efforts of different translators, it yields new delights, and new beauties are discovered in verses which are sometimes said too rapidly for earnest thought and attention. In the list of books given in the bibliography below, there are given the names of books of translated hymns. Any one of them is of great interest.

NOTE B.

PARTICULAR EXAMEN ON THE RECITATION OF THE DIVINE OFFICE.

I. How preparation for saying the Hours is to be made:--

(a) Have we before commencing to recite the Breviary made a fervent act of faith in the presence of God and in the sovereign majesty of Him to Whom we are going to speak?

Have we endeavoured to purify our hearts by an act of contrition, in order that we may escape the terrible reproach which God addresses to the sinner--"to the sinner God hath said, 'Why dost thou declare my justices and take away covenant in thy mouth?'" (Psalm 49, v.16)?

Have we taken particular care to clear off from our souls everything which can distract us, and above all others these things to which we are attracted and to which our minds may return during our prayer?

"Ante debes facere quod ait propheta: scopebam spiritum meum donec incalescat spiritus tuus ex devota meditatione et affectum et desiderium concipiat" (D. Gerhard Zutp. de spir. Ascen.). "Studeat oratione devota et recollectione animi interna divinum praevenire officium" (St. Bona. spec, di., p.2, c.7).

Have we recollected ourselves and remained silent for a time, particularly when passing from study or from a secular business, in order to banish vain or worldly thoughts, and to make ourselves ready to receive the Holy Ghost?

Have we united ourselves to Jesus Christ, Who is the perfect praise of God, the Father? Have we united ourselves in spirit to the Church, in whose name we are going to praise God? "In unione orationum ac meritorum Christi Jesu gratiam ad officium debite persolvendum petat" (St. Bona. _ibid_.)

Have we begged the Holy Ghost by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin and the saints, whose offices we read, that we may be allowed to join our praises to those which they give God?

Have we always formed intentions general and particular, not forgetting to form intentions embracing the intentions of Christ and His Church?

Have we adopted some pious thought prior to our reading, so that distractions may be excluded and fervour fostered during our recitation? Have we chosen suitable time and place to pray?

Have we taken pains to mark the places in the Breviary and looked over the rubrics? Has not negligence in these matters caused innumerable distractions?

II. Dispositions which we should have in saying the Office:--

Let us find out with what dispositions we recite the Divine Office, and if we say it in the manner in which the Church wishes it to be said, digne, attente, ac devote. (Orat. rec. ante offic.).

1. Have we considered well that God is present and that we speak to Him? Do we look on ourselves as instruments which need to be animated with God's holy spirit in order to bless His holy name? Have we said the Office with all the respect and all the veneration which His almighty majesty calls for? Cum timore et humilitate, tanquam Deo visibiliter presente, psallant (S. Bona, spec, discip., p. 1, c. 15).

2. In order to say it attentively have we taken great pains to put away all kinds of distractions?

"Munda cor meum ab omnibus vanis perversis et alienis cogitationibus" (_ibid._).

Have we rejected even good thoughts which were unsuitable for the time of recitation, and above all have we banished idle or indifferent ones?

Have we tried, following the example of the saints, to excite in ourselves the different sentiments expressed by the Psalms, or to dwell on some perfection of God, or on some mystery of our Lord, or on some virtue of the saint whose office we read? Have we piously dwelt on these, or on some other subject proper to the Church's season or according to our needs?

"Si orat psalmus, orate; si gemit, gemite; si gratulatur, gaudete; si timet, timete" (St. Aug. in Ps. 30).

In order to say the Office devoutly, have we said it with love, having our hearts and souls fully alive to the advantages and the excellence and the beauties of the Divine Office?

Have we said it with fervour, abandoning ourselves to a good emotion, to holy affections, and to joyous transports, which the Holy Ghost usually works in fervent souls? Have we done this work with joy, taking a peculiar pleasure in this holy labour, recognising the great honour it is to be a partaker in the songs of praise offered to God by the heavenly company, whose hosts are filled with His glory?

III. How we must keep watch over ourselves in reading the Office:--

Let us examine ourselves to find out if in reading the Breviary we keep the rules of good recitation, as laid down by the saints--Distincte, integre, continue, reverenter, ordinate (St. Bonav., spec. discip. p. 1, c. 16).

1. _Distincte_, Do we recite distinctly, observing the ordinary pause at the middle and at the end of each verse, not hurrying the one on the other? Do we articulate every word, not adopting a careless or too speedy pronunciation?

"Non in gutture vel inter dentes, seu deglutiendo et syncopando dictiones vel verba" (Con. Basil, sess. 22).

2. _Integre_. Do we say the Office in its entirety, being scrupulously careful not to omit the smallest part, and taking great care that a part that we should wish or try to say by heart shall not slip out of our recitation altogether or be mutilated?

"Integre, ut de dicendis nihil omittant" (St. Bona., spec, discip., p. 1).

3. Continue. Do we say our Hours without interruption? Do we love this holy exercise? Or do we easily interrupt our prayer on any trifling pretext, and on the first opportunity?

"Interruptiones in eo non fiant, nisi urgente necessitate" (_ibid_.).

4. _Ordinate_. Do we say our Office with order, that is, order both in substance (not substituting one Office for another) and in manner, according to the rubrics arranging the several hours?

"_Ordinate in substantia, tempore et modo_" (St. Bona. spec., _ibid_.).

5. Have we said our Hours piously, with all the modesty and all the reverence which so holy an action demands? With becoming attitude, not lying prone, not crossing our legs; without saluting or speaking to those passing by?

"In officio curando magnopere reverentia et honestas, cum ubique sit eadem cui tune loquimur et adstamus Deitas et majestas" (_ibid_.). (From _Examens Particulers sur l'Office Divin_, par M. Tronson).

NOTE C.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Priests are provided in their text-books of College days with reliable guides dealing directly and indirectly with liturgy. Hence, some of the books quoted here may already be favourites with many readers; but, perhaps, some books in the list may be brought to the notice of students of liturgy for the first time, and may be useful in introducing priests and church students to easy, pleasant paths in liturgical studies. The prices quoted may be useful to book-buyers,

1. Dom Gueranger, _The Liturgical Year_ (1895, Duffy, Dublin, 16 vols. £3 9s.)--This work is a favourite with all lovers of liturgy, It studies and comments on the Church's liturgy day by day, week by week. It gives readers of the Missal and the Breviary a new interest and an additional fervour in their daily prayers. It is a standard work and holds its own wonderfully against all competitors.

2. _Cours De Liturgie Romaine Le Breviare_, L'abbe Bernard, Sulpician (Paris. 1887, 2 vols, 7 francs). This is a text-book written with great care, showing fine scholarship and deep piety. It is the work of a skilled teacher.

3. _Le Breviare Romain, Commente_ par L'abbe Maugere. Paris. 1887, 6 francs.--A very concise and useful work, which I have used often in compiling my book.

4. The articles in the _Catholic Encyclopedia_, on the Breviary and liturgy generally.

5. Duchesne, _Christian Worship_ (London. 1904. 10s.). Very readable and serviceable to students of early Church history.

6. Battifol, _History of the Roman Breviary_. (London, 1912. 15s.)

7. Biron-Baumer, _Histoire du Breviaire_. (Paris. 2 vols. 11 francs.)

8. Baudot, _The Roman Breviary_ (London. Cath. Truth Society. Price 4s.6d.)

Monsignor Battifol's book is well and favourably known. It is in English, and has had a large circulation. It received searching and severe criticism from Dom Baumer, the author of _Geschichte des Breviers_. Baumer's work (translated into French by Biron) is a work showing wonderful industry, learning and critical acumen. The great German Benedictine was aided in several parts of his work by Mr. E. Bishop, the English liturgiologist, who intended to translate the work into English. Dom Baudot's book gives in concise form the results of the labours of Battifol and Baumer. The book is readable, accurate, and is excellent value for the price.

9. _The Calendar_. The introductory matter given in the Breviary suffices for the wants of the ordinary student of liturgy. But those who wish for an exhaustive study of times and seasons may safely read _Kalendarium Manuale_, Pars I. _Festa immobilia_, Editio secunda; price 9 lire; and Pars. II. _Festa Mobilia_, price 13 lire, by Rev. N. Nilles, S.J. Calendar study is highly interesting, and the articles in the _Catholic Encyclopedia_ and Father Thurston's articles in the _Month_ on Calendar affairs are always instructive.

_The New Psalter_ (Myers and Burton. London. 1915. 3s.6d.) is a very useful and practical help to the understanding and application of the new rubrics. I have quoted several times from its pages,

_Heortology_, a History of Christian Festivals from their Origin to the Present Day, by Dr. Kellner, Professor of Catholic Theology in Bonn, is a translation of a text-book written for German students preparing to pass Government examinations. It is a fine book, and if a student of liturgy knew its contents well he would have no poor knowledge of this and, incidentally, of other questions of liturgy. Gueranger, Duchesne and Kellner constitute the beginnings of a student's liturgical library (London, Keegan, Paul. 1908. Price 10s. 6d.). An excellent little volume by Father McKee, dealing with the same subject, is published by Catholic Truth Society, London, 2s, 6d. It is introductory and elementary.

10. Thousands of works on the Psalms have been published. But any priest or student who studies Steenkiste's work on the Psalms learns nearly all that is needed to recite his psalms digne, attente ac devote. His work is a mine of useful, pious, and, in the main, accurate comment on the inspired text. Breviary students studying this commentary need little else to help them to admire, to understand and to use their psalmody in a prayerful manner. Steenkiste, _Liber Psalmorum_ (3 vols, Bruges. 1886. Price 15s.).

_The New Psalter of the Roman Breviary_, by Fillon, S.S. (London, Herder. 1915. Price 6s.).

Father Fillon was consultor to the Biblical Commission. His notes are short and useful to those who, having studied the psalms, can recall their meaning by a few brief hints. Its comments are too brief, but it gives the Latin text, English translation, notes on psalms and newly added canticles, and is arranged in the order in which they stand in the Pian psaltery.

_Sing Ye to the Lord_, by Rev. R. Eaton (London, Catholic Truth Society. 2 vols. 4s. each).

In these books the leading idea or ideas of the Psalms are taken up, and beautiful explanations and spiritual readings given. The books are delightful reading, and give Breviary readers, old and young, fresh thoughts on psalms which through familiarity and constant repetition may have lost some of their pious meaning and prayerfulness.

Books of Scripture commentary by non-Catholic writers should be read with caution, and often ecclesiastical permission for their perusal must be sought. Neale and Littledale's _Commentary on the Psalms_ (6 vols. London. 1867) is a compilation by two Anglican scholars, from the commentators of the Middle Ages. The wonderful piety of these men of old, saints and scholars, their beautiful comments, their glowing fervour, and above all their knowledge and love of the Bible text, surprise us all. Sometimes, of course, these mediaevalists run into far-fetched, outlandish comments, but the compilers give always the comments of the Masters, St. Thomas, St. Bede, etc.

Very many metrical arrangements of the Psalms by non-Catholic authors exist in English. Most of these metrical efforts are very poor, unreliable in giving the sense, and awkward and ungainly in poetic forms. An interesting book is Prothero's _Psalms in Human Life_. The author was a Protestant, hence his numbering of the Psalms may at first sight be confusing,

Sermons fresh and beautiful, full of unction, and full of texts, sublime and practical, are to be found in the Psalms. A work, little known in our islands, is Monsignor Doublet's fine work, _Psaumes etudies en vue de la Predication_ (3 vols. 8th Edition. 12s.).

A charming booklet, dealing chiefly with the Psalms as prayers, is Rolland Gosselin's _Prieres et Meditations bibliques_ (Paris. 1917. Bauchesne. 3s.).

_10. Hymns._ Immense labour has been devoted to the study of Latin sacred poetry. The _Analecta Hymnica_ in 60 huge volumes testifies to the learning and zeal of its Jesuit authors. Ordinary mortals content themselves with lesser works, such as Pimont's _Hymnes du Breviare Romain_ (Paris Poussielgne. 2 vols, 12-1/2 francs), or with _La Poesie du Breviaire, Les Hymns_, by l'abbe C. Albin. Price 6 francs. The opinions and judgments in neither book are infallible; and some of Pimont's findings have been roughly criticised and sometimes rejected. But both books give good, sound knowledge of Breviary hymns and thus help to make their recitation a pious and a rational exercise, not a mechanical, soulless labour.

Translation of poetry has ever been a study and a pastime. Every cleric is familiar with the prose translations which aided his boyhood's labours in rendering the poetry of Horace and Euripides into modern speech. But prose efforts are one thing, and poetical efforts are another, and just as many have laboured to present Virgil and Homer in modern language, in metre, in rhyme, in rhythm; so, many poets and verse-makers, in different ages and in different climes, have laboured to turn into modern poetic form and into their own national tongue the poems of the Breviary. The Breviary hymns have met with several good, kind, translating poets; but very often they have been rudely handled by well-meaning verse builders. Passing over in charitable silence the indifferent efforts of those people, it may interest some students of the Breviary to read the efforts of well-known authors to translate the liturgy, its anthems, responses, collects, hymns, into good English.

(1) _The Day Hours of the Church_.--A translation of the Horae Diurnae, with the psalms, etc., arranged according to the reform of Pope Pius X. This is a good book, giving in parallel columns on the same page, Latin and English translations. It includes the very best hymn translations by Catholic authors, John Dryden, Cardinal Newman, Father Caswall, etc. (Burns & Gates. 8s.). This book is intended for the use of the laity, and, owing to the strict regulations issued for the printing of the new Roman Breviary, this book may not lawfully be used to replace the Breviarium Romanum. But, as it is a complete translation of the little Hours of the Church, it is a very useful aid to the attentive and devout recitation of the Hours. A look at its pages before each hour's recitation, or a glance to see the meaning of some verse of psalm or hymn will repay anyone. It is a wonderfully careful production, has a beautiful _format_, and is good value at the price marked.

(2) _Annus Sanctus_, by Orby Shipley (Burns & Oates. 1884). This book contains the work of many Catholic translators, and their translations of Breviary hymns vary in merit. It contains a good introduction, the translations attributed to Dryden, and it gives some things which are always interesting, the efforts of several minds, poets and verse-makers, to render the same Latin hymn into English verse. It includes verses from several Irishmen.

(3) _Hymns from the Roman Breviary_, translated (Catholic Truth Society, London. Price 1s. 6d). A good selection from Catholic and non-Catholic translators. The translations of Dr. Neale, Anglican--held to be superior in fidelity and in poetic form to that of any English translator--are given in this booklet. Neale's _Collected Hymns_ (Hodder & Stoughton, 6s.) are useful for translators and composers of vernacular hymns. But his work is, I think, over-rated.

(4) Other translations of Breviary hymns are found in the collections of hymns used in Anglican churches: _Hymns, Ancient and Modern; The English Hymnal; The Hymner from the Sarum Breviary_ (Plain-song and Mediaeval Society, London); _Songs of Sion_, by Woodward, etc.

For advanced study of liturgy, Dom Cabrol's _Dictionaire D'Archeologie Chrietienne Et Liturgie_ (Paris: Letouzey et Ane) is indispensable. Its study delights and consoles those who possess it.