04.27.08
365 Verses or 365 Prayers?
In the introductory matter of the 11th century Irish Liber Hymnorum’s abbreviated psalter, there is an instruction that “the number of prayers given from the Psalter is 365″ (McNamara, p. 77). Exactly what this means is unclear to me.
Scholars have taken this to mean that abbreviated psalters are to have 365 verses. However, neither of the two surviving copies of the abbreviated psalter included in the Liber Hymnorum has 365 verses, but rather 240 verses. Both surviving copies are incomplete. Likewise the abbreviated psalter in the Book of Cerne (Bishop Æthelwald’s psalter, 8-9th century) only has 272 verses. It also has an obvious lacuna. The only early abbreviated psalter that I know of to be reconstructed completely is Bede’s because it can be reconstructed from three surviving copies of the same age, about 100 years after his death. The editor Browne notes that no individual copy of Bede’s psalter is complete. Interestingly, Bede’s reconstructed breviate psalter has 383 verse abbreviations by my count of Browne’s text.
Bede’s text provides an interesting question on the how to interpret 365 verses/prayers. As I have discussed before, Bede often took only partial verses and then spliced them together with partial verses from other psalms. So how do we count 365 verses? Are they abbreviations of psalm verses or are they constructed verses in the new psalter? The 383 verses represented in Browne’s text refer to abbreviations of psalm verses. I haven’t counted the spliced verses (assuming I know where he intended verses to begin and end, which I do not presume to know). For that matter in Bede’s time — he died in 735 — biblical verses had not yet been numbered. So how he counted verses may have been different that how we would count verses. Given all these caveats it may be that Bede’s 383 verses is close enough to 365 to say that is what he was aiming for. This may also explain why his abbreviations get shorter as he goes along. With a few exceptions, the abbreviations of psalms are much shorter in the last half to third of the psalter than in the first half, although by then he would have been reaching many more repeated themes.
However one of Bede’s surviving copies, apparently coming through the influence of Alcuin, does possibly give us another clue. The Cologne copy of Bede’s psalter says that the abbreviations are handy verses to be used in the creation of new prayers. In other words, they were handy phrases that could be mined while trying to compose a new prayer for a particular need or occasion. If this is the meaning of 365 prayers, it may mean that one could write 365 prayers using phrases from the abbreviated psalter — in effect write a prayer for every day of the year.
This also brings us to the overall purpose of the abbreviated psalter. Was it intended to be a shorter version of the psalter used for prayer or was it used as a reference for writing prayers (and maybe sermons)? There seems to be some evidence that it was used for both.
References:
Browne, Gerald M. trans. (2002) The Abbreviated Psalter of the Venerable Bede. Wm B Eerdmans.
Brown, Michelle P. (1996) The Book of Cerne: Prayer, Patronage, and Power in the Ninth-Century England. British Library and University of Toronto Press.
McNamara, Martin. (2000) The Psalms in the Early Irish Church. Journal of the Study of the Old Testament.
Leslie Webber Jones. (1929) “Cologne MS.106: A Book of Hildebald” Speculum 4(1): 27-61.
‘Irish’ Psalter Divisions
From the time of the earliest surviving Irish psalters, they have an equal three-fold division using the Vulgate translation and numbering system.
- Book I: psalms 1-50
- Book II: psalms 51-100
- Book III: psalms 101-150
These books would be marked in psalters with an ornate capital letter for psalm 1, 51, and 101. There are references to early medieval people saying their ’50s’ or requesting someone to say a ‘50′ on their behalf (sometimes in wills where it would be for the repose of their soul).
The origins of the three-fold division are unresolved. McNamara has suggested that the three-fold division may have been known to Hilary and Augustine of Hippo. He believes that Hilary only knew of three-fold divided psalters based on his Prologue to the Psalms. He also asserts there is evidence that it was known to Augustine and Cassiodorus. If these church fathers knew of the three-fold divisions of the psalter then it appears to have died out after them. The Irish appear were its greatest proponents. Given the impact that is found in Anglo-Saxon England, it appears that these divisions appeared very early. The Vespasian Psalter, probably compiled at Canterbury in c. 730 CE, uses the three-fold divisions as does the Salaberga Psalter (Northumbrian, early 8th century) and other southumbrian psalters from the late 9th to early 10th century. However, I think some caution is warranted as the oldest Irish psalter, the ‘Cathach of St Columba’ and the Old Irish Treatise on the psalms, do not have or mention the three fold division. Yet, the Irish Teaching Bible, used for seminary training in c. 800, uses the trifold division and McNamara believes it is assumed in the Old Irish Treatise. Still yet, a psalter from Canterbury seems to be among the earliest opening up other questions.
The three-fold division is also found in the breviate psalter of Æthelwald in the Book of Cerne, produced about c. 825 CE. In this breviate psalter, the purpose of dividing the psalter into three equal divisions is lost because the abbreviated psalter omits some psalms completely, meaning that none of the three ‘books’ of psalms in Cerne actually has 50 psalms. So by c. 825, the divisions had become so standard their original meaning — whatever was behind that meaning — had been lost.
Some of you might be thinking that the Celts (Irish and Welsh) had a fondness for three-fold divisions, particularly shown in the Welsh Triads and later Irish Triads. These triads were mnemonic devices used by bards (poets) to remember stories on similar topics, such as three most generous kings or three greatest pack horses, etc. Each of these snippets of legend in the triad was intended to remind the poet of an entire story. Groupings in three do abound all over the place in early medieval writings. There are also triads within Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English people, such as Aidan of Lindisfarne’s three miracles worthy of memory. Sometimes Bede’s triads are grouped together, such as Aidan’s miracles, or other times spread out across the History, such as three stilling of the stormy sea miracles (Germanus of Auxerre, Aidan by proxy through Utta, and Œthelwald of Farne). So it is true that early medieval peoples, Celts in particular, but also perhaps the English (as shown by Bede), had a fondness for traids, but recall that all these sources survive in Christian texts by Christian writers, even if they record pre-Christian traditions. It is quite possible that the trinity, preached fervently as early as St Patrick in Ireland was the inspiration.
References:
Martin McNamara (2000) The Psalms in the Early Irish Church. (Collected studies). Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement series 165.
Michelle P Brown (1996) The Book of Cerne: Prayer, Patronage, and Power in Ninth Century England. British Library and University of Toronto Press.
04.21.08
A Modern Book of Hours
Hour by Hour
Forward Movement Publications, 2007. ISBN 0-88028-240-1, 128 pages. $17.95
Well, it may have taken me a while, but I seem to have found a modern book of hours. Its not quite a medieval style Book of Hours, but its a nice compromise.
Hour by Hour contains the four hours of daily prayer available in the Book of Common Prayer — Morning prayer, Noon, Evening prayer, and Compline– for one week. This means that there are seven sets of prayers. To make it more seasonal and applicable for daily life there are a collection of prayers at the end for the church seasons and major feasts, and for life events (births, sickness, anxiety, thanksgiving, death etc). These prayers can be added to any hour as needed. Because these seven sets of prayers are repeated every week the lessons are good for all seasons.
What it is not is a breviary. Monastic offices aim to be comprehensive, to cover the entire psalter every x days and to read scripture in a systematic way. Books of Hours make no attempt to do this. Sometimes, perhaps most of the time, for medieval people their Book of Hours was the only book they owned so it was not complimented by a bible. I have been using Hour by Hour for a couple of weeks so far and I really don’t mind the repeating weekly. Having a full week’s worth is enough variation. That is not to say that I may not make the same choices, but that I don’t mind repeating. If I really like an office, I wouldn’t mind repeating it even more often. I like it when an office gels together well so that the lessons, psalms, and prayers all reinforce each other. This is something that the daily office doesn’t achieve for me.
Choices for readings etc brings me to another key topic in Books of Hours — they were very personal. I might make some different choices if I were to design one week’s worth of offices. I know I would choose some different prayers for the optional prayers in the back. I’ve already pasted two onto the back flyleaves of Hour by Hour. I also really miss the calendar and one that I could have added my own dates to. Hour by Hour comes completely from the Book of Common Prayer, filling in bible selections for the lessons.
Differences between Hour by Hour and medieval Books of Hours are significant. In some ways this book has more to offer. It has different offices for seven days. Medieval books of hours did not . They had two or three specialized sets of offices: The Little Office of the Virgin (seven psalms of accent), an Office of the Dead (seven penitential psalms), and sometimes another office also more themed. Late medieval Books of Hours and Breviaries had seven daily hours; the Book of Common Prayer calls for four offices daily. Books of Hours always began with a calendar to which owners could add their special memorial days (births, deaths etc); this one lacks a calendar. The earliest Books of Hours were very specialized for their patrons at least in their illustrations and in their extra content.
With all this being said, Hour by Hour is still the best book of hours I have found to date. It would be a excellent book to travel with, whether that is commuting or vacations.
04.19.08
Praying the Psalms
[reposted from Heavenfield]
Walter Brueggemann, Praying the Psalms: Engaging Scripture and the Life of the Spirit. Second edition. Cascade books, 2007. 97 pages.
One of the specific aims of the distilled prayer project is to review modern scholarship on the psalms. There is quite a diversity of material available, much of it devoted to discussing individual psalms. This little book by Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann is one of the best I have found so far.
In the first chapter he introduces his theory that the psalms can be divided into three categories: secure orientation (status quo), painful disorientation, and surprised reorientation. Most of the psalms are disorientation, where the world is turned upside down for the psalmist. Reorientation occurs when things suddenly reverse course and psalmist is in thanksgiving. Orientation, or psalms of the status quo, are the least common and this state is best reflected in Proverbs. Overall I think these categories work well and are in terms that appeal to our generation.
The second and third chapters deal with the language of the psalms. Brueggemann wants us to appreciate the raw power and candor of the language. The depth of the language and the metaphors allows a catharsis that is necessary to move on beyond the crisis. He warns us that this catharsis is necessary and that we should not sanitize or edit offending verses. Metaphors are meant to have full range of our imagination, not restricted to mere descriptors. Brueggeman gives a rich discussion of some of the metaphors found in the psalms.
His fourth chapter focuses on Christian attitudes toward the Jewishness of the psalms. He believes that Christians must embrace this Jewishness, rather than avoid the most awkward verses. He gives a useful discussion of the meaning of Jerusalem as a place and a metaphor.
Brueggemann’s last chapter is on vengeance in the psalms. Here I think he makes two very important points. First, for all the raw, cathartic vitriol in the psalms, ultimately, vengeance is yielded to God. The psalmist never asks God to help him take vengeance or asks for forgiveness for vengeance he has already taken. Vengeance is God’s to dispense. This leads to the second point on the sovereignty of God. It is God’s decision on whether to dispense vengeance or show compassion. Several of the psalms express confusion on why God has not taken vengeance. Brueggemann stresses that judgment and vengeance are discussed in the New Testament in the same ways as the psalms. He quotes Hebrews 10:30-31: “For we know him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay’. And again, ‘the Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.’ This last line should be familiar to those who study the venerable Bede, as Cuthbert’s letter claims that this verse is one that Bede repeated over and over in his last days.
