June 23, 2014

Liturgical Guide: Nativity of St. John the Baptist

Painting by Rogier van der Weyden - Courtesy of Wikipedia

The hymns used in the Liturgy of the Hours for the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist speak of his role in Salvation History as the precursor of the Lord. It is one of the oldest feast days of the Church, already well established by the 6th century. Paragraph #523 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church says this about John the Baptist: "John surpasses all the prophets, of whom he is the last. He inaugurates the Gospel, already from his mother's womb he welcomes the coming of Christ, and rejoices in being 'the friend of the bridegroom', whom he points out as 'the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world'".


Reflection by the Apostleship of Prayer

LITURGY OF THE HOURS (1975)
57. Be Consoled, My People
146. The Great Forerunner of the Morn

DIVINE OFFICE (1974)
God Called Great Prophets

4 comments:

  1. Many thanks for this! I love Great Forerunner of the Morn but will stick in private to Ut queant laxis: the other people in the house wouldn't much thank me for giving in to the temptation to actually sing it at dawn. :-)

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    1. After you tweeted me about "Ut Quant Laxis", I thought about doing a post for it that day, but decided I didn't have enough time to do it justice. I like how the one hymn has been divided into 3 parts - sung at vespers, matins, and lauds.

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  2. There are other long hymns used but in tres partes divisa, ha. But without investigating I can't say what they are. :-)

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  3. (Am going ahead and typing this because you moderate comments before posting-- I may or may not have sent this from my mobile. Such devices and I often fail to agree on how to do things.) Surely there are other hymns that are used in the Office, in tres partes divisa? But I cannot think of any off the top of my head.

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