Chapter IV — On the obligation of reciting the Canonical Hours in choir; and on the time, order, and place at which they must be recited

I. By the name of choir is understood not only the material place in which the divine praises are sung, but also, nay chiefly, the assembly of Religious who sing such Hours. These are indeed bound by precept to sing the Canonical Hours in choir — a precept denied by no Theologian, and which binds all cathedral, collegiate, and Regular Churches.

II. Question I. Are all cathedral, collegiate, parochial, and regular Churches bound under grave fault to recite the Canonical Hours in choir? Answer. The rigor of the law being regarded, all are bound. But custom being considered, which has tempered the precept, some are subject to this burden only on Sundays or feast days; others are altogether exempt, as the Theologians commonly teach, and usage makes plain.

III. The Orders of Regulars who frequent choir are bound under grave fault to recite the Canonical Hours in choir. This obligation is founded on the common Law, from which there has never been derogation. This precept regards the whole Community, whose head is the Prelate, who by force of his office is bound under grave fault to see to it that the divine praises be celebrated in choir. He can dispense his subjects, as shall seem expedient for the common good.

IV. Question II. How many Religious are required that the precept of reciting the Canonical Hours in choir be fulfilled? Answer. Tamburini, with others, says it is probable that a Community is excused from choir if it consists of only four or five. This opinion is false and lax. That four Religious, not to say five, suffice for fulfilling the precept of choir, the common opinion teaches. Some teach that three suffice, so that they be bound to choir for some not-lengthy time. For it is too burdensome that three or four alone should sustain the yoke of choir for a long time. Wherefore, in this case, the Religious ought to urge the Prelate to increase the number.

V. Question III. Can Novices alone fulfill the precept of choir? Answer. The Salmanticenses, Pellizzari, Tamburini, and others affirm it: because, they say, in favorable matters Novices, though not yet professed, enjoy the privileges of the professed. This opinion does not seem true to me. For this precept affects the Community of Religious. Novices, before profession, are not part of the Community, nor are they bound by precept to recite the office. If, therefore, professed Religious are present in the Monastery, at least some of them ought to be present in choir.

VI. Question IV. At what time must the Canonical Hours be recited in choir? Answer. In the Clementine constitutions On the celebration of Mass it is commanded that the Canonical Hours be paid devoutly in the Churches at their due hours. The fitting times at which, the ancient law being regarded, the Canonical Hours must be celebrated, are these. Matins about midnight, as is gathered from chapter 1, On the celebration of Mass — a time always designated by the ancient Fathers Athanasius, Basil, and others, and indicated by David: At midnight I arose to give praise to thee. This custom has varied with the passage of time. Let each Church keep its own approved custom.

VII. In the four Mendicant Orders of Regulars a very ancient custom has prevailed of reciting Matins about midnight. This time not only suits the state of Regulars, which is one of penitence and perfection, but also brings the advantage of applying oneself to the study of letters, since more time remains free for it. This point of time moderates all the other hours of regular discipline. Religious who must rise for Matins are compelled to go to sleep at the due hour, and thus superfluous conversations are prevented.

VIII. Question V. Is it a grave obligation to recite the divine praises at fixed and definite hours? Answer. Cajetan, Bonacina, Laymann, Diana, Caramuel, and others deny it, because the circumstance of time is extraneous to the divine office. The opposite opinion, which Navarrus, Suárez, Soto, Tamburini, Castropalao, and others defend, is more probable. This time is not indivisible, but admits latitude. The Prelate can, for a legitimate cause, anticipate or postpone the recitation of these Hours. Parvity of matter is also given both with respect to time and with respect to one or another Hour. These things being established, a Prelate who, without legitimate cause, and from mere caprice or negligence, notably anticipated or deferred the recitation of the divine office, would sin gravely. For not only do the sacred canons command that the divine office be recited in choir, but also at fixed hours and times. Doubtless the circumstance of time is extraneous to the recitation of the office, but this circumstance has been prescribed by the sacred canons.

IX. A disturbance of the order of reciting the Canonical Hours, if it happen for an urgent cause, is free of fault; if it happen without cause and from caprice, it is nevertheless, in choir, a grave fault, as the Theologians cited defend.

X. The place for reciting the Canonical Hours is the Church, or the choir, which is a part of the Church. The Salmanticenses defend that those who celebrate the divine office in the Sacristy or the Chapter room sin gravely. But if the Sacristy be adjacent to the Church, and custom prevails, as in very deed it does prevail in some places, as it seems to me, no fault occurs. Those who come to choir after the office has begun are bound to supply the part of the office recited before their arrival. If those who serve in choir should omit a notable part of the office — for instance one or another psalm — they would have to supply it. The choir must recite in a subdued voice the verses that are played on the organ.

XI. Question VI. Is it a grave sin to omit in choir the office of the dead, and the little office of the Blessed Virgin? Answer. St. Pius V declared that those who recite the Roman Breviary do not sin mortally if they omit the aforesaid offices in choir, as is plain from the Bull prefixed at the beginning of the Breviary. But those who follow a rite other than the Roman Breviary the Pontiff does not exempt from the obligation by which they are bound either by force of their constitutions or by force of custom. The precept of reciting the aforesaid offices affects the Community and the choir, but not private persons, unless there be a peculiar law commanding this — as there is in the Order of Preachers, in which the general Chapter celebrated at Bologna under Master Cloche declared that individuals outside choir are bound to recite this office of the Blessed Virgin. On the second day of November all are bound under grave fault to recite the office of the dead. This office, however, cannot be recited on the feast of All Saints after Vespers in choir, unless the Bishop be present, or custom favor it on account of the concourse of the people; but Matins with Lauds must be recited on the 2nd of November, as the Rubrics and the Decrees of the Sacred Congregation declare. But the private recitation of the office of the dead, for their general commemoration, can licitly be discharged after the evening hours of the feast of All Saints, as the Sacred Congregation of Rites answered on September 4, 1745, in the case of Ratisbon. Those who follow the Roman rite are bound to recite the Litanies on the feast of St. Mark and on the three Rogation days, as the more common and more probable opinion holds.

XII. When the divine office is recited in choir, one part of the choir ought to listen attentively to the other, because each one is bound to recite the whole office; but he who neither pronounces nor hears half the office in no way recites it. If one part of the choir should recite the office so confusedly and in so subdued a voice that it could not be heard by the other, then the precept would not be fulfilled. For then there would be no communication between these two parts. Each part is bound to recite its verses so clearly and distinctly that it can be heard by the other part of the choir. But it does not matter if one or another individual pronounces in so subdued a voice that he cannot be heard by the other part, provided he pronounces clearly and distinctly.

it be pronounced. For it suffices that the whole part be heard by the other part, even though individuals do not hear individuals.

XIII. Question VII. What rite must those who recite the Breviary keep? Answer. All ecclesiastics, both secular and regular, must pay the divine praises according to the form of the Roman Breviary published by order of Pius V — those alone excepted who enjoy a peculiar privilege. The Churches of Milan and of Laodicea, and others, have a peculiar rite, as do also the Benedictine and Dominican Orders. Those who should change this rite would sin gravely, necessity being absent. For he who lacked the Roman Breviary, and had in his hands the Dominican Breviary, or the contrary, would have to use it. Now the precept of reciting the office prevails over the precept of reciting according to this or that rite. And although there were but one precept, the principal part must be kept, such as the recitation of the divine praises — whatever the Salmanticenses, with certain others, say to the contrary. I likewise reckon false the other opinion of the Salmanticenses, who teach that private Religious of some Order — for instance Dominican or Benedictine — who have their own Breviary, can use the Roman Breviary. Orders can indeed renounce their own privilege; but so long as the privilege stands, and the rite is commonly kept, all and each must keep such a rite, even while dwelling at Rome. Otherwise great confusion and deformity would follow. Wherefore neither can the Benedictines use the Breviary of the Dominicans, nor conversely. A Religious made a Bishop must use the Breviary of his own Church, of which he is the head, the rite of his own Order being left aside. A Bishop of several Churches, which use different Breviaries, ought to keep the rite of that Church in which he resides. Read St. Thomas, Quodlibet I, article 13, where he distinguishes several points. No one can recite the Breviary before the appointed time with a companion having the privilege of so reciting it, nor more briefly than usual, because the privilege of one does not extend to another — whatever Leander says to the contrary, with others. A Cleric attached to a Church, and initiated with a patrimony into sacred orders, cannot choose a Breviary, but is bound to use the Roman by the precept of St. Pius V. Nor can a Bishop dispense Clerics to embrace a rite other than their own. Those would also sin who altered the rite of the Roman Breviary, and those who, in the Latin Church, should pay the office in Greek, or Hebrew, or the Vernacular tongue, because they would violate the rite prescribed by St. Pius V.