The Rule of Saint Benedict

Ler the verse, O God, incline unto mine aid; O Lord, make haste to help me, with a Gloria, always come first, followed by the hymn of each Hour. Then, on Sundays, at Prime, four divisions of the hundred and eighteenth Psalm are to be said; and at the other Hours of 'Tierce, Sext and None three divisions of the same. On Monday, at Prime, psalms first, second and third are recited, and so on each day till Sunday, three other psalms in order up to the nineteenth Psalm: the ninth and seventeenth Psalm being each divided in two by a Ghria. In this way the Sunday Matins may always begin with the twentieth Psalm.

On Mondays, at Tierce, Sext and None let the remaining nine divisions of the hundred and eigh-

teenth Psalm be said, three at each Hour. The

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hundred and eighteenth Psalm being finished on the two days, Sunday and Monday, therefore on Tuesday, at Tierce, Sext and None the three psalms at each Hour shall be the nine from the hundred and nineteenth to the hundred and twenty-seventh. And these same psalms are to be repeated at the Hours till the Sunday. A uniform order of the hymns, lessons and versicles is to be likewise observed, so that the hundred and eighteenth Psalm is always begun on the Sunday.

Four psalms are to be sung each day at Evensong. These begin with the hundred and ninth Psalm and conclude with the hundred and forty-seventh, omitting those already set apart for the various other Hours, that is to say, from the hundred and seventeenth Psalm to the hundred and twenty-seventh; the hundred and thirty-third and the hundred and fortysecond. All the rest are to be said at Evensong, and because this leaves three psalms short the longest

of them, namely, the hundred and thirty-eighth, the

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hundred and forty-third, and the hundred and fortyfourth, are to be divided. "The hundred and sixteenth, however, since it is brief, is to be joined to the hundred and fifteenth.

The order of the psalms for Evensong being thus arranged, let the other parts, such as the lessons, responsories, hymns, versicles and canticles, be used as before directed. At Compline the same psalms are repeated every day, namely, the fourth, the ninetieth and the hundred and thirty-third.

The order of the psalmody for the day office being thus settled, all the rest of the psalms are to be equally portioned to the seven night watches (or Matins). Those that are too long are to be divided into two ; and twelve psalms are to be arranged for each night. If this distribution of the psalms displease any one we specially desire him to arrange otherwise, if he think something else better, provided that care be taken that every week the whole Psalter of a hundred and

fifty psalms be sung, and that at Matins on Sunday it 4

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be begun again. Monks, indeed, show themselves in their service too negligent and indevout who sing less than the Psalter, with the usual canticles, once in the week, when we read that our holy Fathers courageously performed in one day what I would

that we who are tepid may do in a whole week.