Office of the Dead

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Composition of the office

This office, as it now exists in the Roman Liturgy, is composed of FirstVespers, Mass,Matins, andLauds. TheVespers comprise psalms, cxiv, cxix, cxx, cxxix, cxxxvii, with the Magnificat and thepreces. TheMatins, composed like those of feast days, have three nocturns, each consisting of three psalms and three lessons; theLauds, as usual, have three psalms (Ps. lxii and lxvi united are counted as one) and a canticle (that of Ezechias), the three psalms Laudate, and the Benedictus. We shall speak presently of the Mass. The office differs in important points from the other offices of the Roman Liturgy. It has not the Little Hours, the SecondVespers, or theComplin. In this respect it resembles the ancient vigils, which began at eventide (FirstVespers), continued during the night (Matins), and ended at the dawn (Lauds); Mass followed and terminated the vigil of the feast. The absence of the introduction, "Deus in adjutorium", of thehymns,absolution,blessings, and of thedoxology in the psalms also recall ancient times, when these additions had not yet been made. The psalms are chosen not in their serial order, as in the Sunday Office or the Romanferial Office, but because certain verses, which serve asantiphons, seem to allude to the state of the dead. The use of some of these psalms in the funeral service is of high antiquity, as appears from passages inSt. Augustine and other writers of the fourth and fifth centuries. The lessons from Job, so suitable for the Office of the Dead, were also read in very early days at funeral services. The responses, too, deserve notice, especially the response "Libera me, Domine, de viis inferni qui portas æreas confregisti et visitasti inferum et dedisti eis lumen . . . qui erant in poenis . . . advenisti redemptor noster" etc. This is one of the few texts in the Roman Liturgy alluding toChrist's descent intohell. It is also a very ancient composition (see Cabrol, "La descente du Christ aux enfers" in "Rassegna Gregor.", May and June, 1909).

The "Libera me de morte æterna", which is found more complete in the ancientmanuscripts, dates also from an early period (see Cabrol in "Dict. d'archéol. et de liturgie", s.v. Absoute). Mgr Batiffol remarks that it is not of Roman origin, but it is very ancient (Hist. du brév., 148). The distinctive character of the Mass, its various epistles, its tract, its offertory in the form of aprayer, the communion (like the offertory) with versicles, according to the ancient custom, and the sequence"Dies Iræ" (q.v.; concerning its author see alsoBURIAL), it is impossible to dwell upon here. The omission of theAlleluia, and thekiss of peace is also characteristic of this mass. There was a time when theAlleluia was one of the chants customary at funeral services (see Dict. d'archéol. et de liturgie, s.v.Alleluia, I, 1235). Later it was looked upon exclusively as a song ofjoy, and was omitted on days of penance (e.g.Lent and ember week), sometimes inAdvent, and at all funeral ceremonies. It is replaced today by a tract. A treatise of the eighth-ninth century published by Muratori (Liturg. Rom. vet., II, 391) shows that theAlleluia was then suppressed. The omission of thekiss of peace at the Mass is probably due to the fact that thatceremony preceded the distribution of the Eucharist to the faithful and was a preparation for it, so, as communion is not given at the Mass for the Dead, thekiss of peace was suppressed.

Not to speak of the variety of ceremonies of the Mozarabic, Ambrosian, or Orientalliturgies, even in countries where the Roman liturgy prevailed, there were many variations. The lessons, the responses, and other formulæ were borrowed from various sources; certain Churches included in this office the SecondVespers andComplin; in other places, instead of the lessons of ourRoman Ritual, they readSt. Augustine, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiasticus, Osee, Isaiah, Daniel, etc. The responses varied likewise; many examples may be found in Martène and the writers cited below in the bibliography. It is fortunate that theRoman Church preserved carefully and without notable change this office, which, like that ofHoly Week, has retained for us in its archaic forms the memory and the atmosphere of a very ancient liturgy. The Mozarabic Liturgy possesses a very rich funeral ritual. Dom Férotin in his "Liber Ordinum" (pp. 107 sqq.) has published a ritual (probably the oldest extant), dating back possibly to the seventh century. He has also published a large number of votive masses of the dead. For the Ambrosian Liturgy, see Magistretti, "Manuale Ambrosianum", I (Milan, 1905), 67; for the Greek Ritual, see Burial, pp. 77-8.

History

The Office of the Dead has been attributed at times toSt. Isidore, toSt. Augustine, toSt. Ambrose, and even toOrigen. There is no foundation for these assertions. In its present form, while it has some very ancient characteristics, it cannot be older than the seventh or even eighth century. Its authorship is discussed at length in the dissertation of Horatius de Turre, mentioned in the bibliography. Some writers attribute it to Amalarius, others toAlcuin (see Batiffol, "Hist. du Brév.", 181-92; and for the opposing view, Bäumer-Biron, "Hist. du Brév.", II, 37). These opinions are more probable, but are not as yet very solidly established. Amalarius speaks of the Office of the Dead, but seems to imply that it existed before his time ("De Eccles. officiis", IV, xlii, in P.L., CV, 1238). He alludes to the "Agenda Mortuorum" contained in a sacramentary, but nothing leads us to believe that he was its author.Alcuin is also known for his activity inliturgical matters, and we owe certainliturgical compositions to him; but there is no reason for considering him the author of this office (see Cabrol in "Dict. d'archéol. et de liturgie", s.v.Alcuin). In theGregorian Antiphonary we do find a mass and an officein agenda mortuorum, but it is admitted that this part is an addition; a fortiori this applies to the Gelasian. TheMaurist editors of St. Gregory are inclined to attribute their composition to Albinus and Etienne ofLiège (Microl., lx). But if it is impossible to trace the office and the mass in their actual form beyond the ninth or eighth century, it is notwithstanding certain that theprayers and a service for the dead existed long before that time. We find them in the fifth, fourth, and even in the third and second century.Pseudo-Dionysius, Sts.Gregory of Nyssa,Jerome, and Augustine,Tertullian, and the inscriptions in thecatacombs afford aproof of this (see Burial, III, 76;PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD; Cabrol, "La prière pour les morts" in "Rev. d'apologétique", 15 Sept., 1909, pp. 881-93).

Practice and obligation

The Office of the Dead was composed originally to satisfy private devotion to the dead, and at first had no official character. Even in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, it was recited chiefly by thereligious orders (the Cluniacs,Cistercians,Carthusians), like the Office of Our Lady (see Guyet, loc. cit., 465). Later it was prescribed for allclerics and becameobligatory whenever aferial office was celebrated. It has even been said that it was to remove theobligation of reciting it that the feasts of double and semi-double rite were multiplied, for it could be omitted on such days (Bäumer-Biron, op. cit., II, 198). The reformedBreviary ofSt. Pius V assigned the recitation of the Office of the Dead to the first free day in the month, the Mondays ofAdvent andLent, to some vigils, andember days. Even then it was notobligatory, for theBull "Quod a nobis" of the samepope merely recommends it earnestly, like the Office of Our Lady and the Penitential Psalms, without imposing it as aduty (Van der Stappen, "Sacra Liturgia", I, Malines, 1898, p. 115). At the present time, it isobligatory on theclergy only on the feast of All Souls and in certain mortuary services. Somereligious orders (Carthusians,Cistercians etc.) have preserved the custom of reciting it in choir on the days assigned by theBull "Quod a nobis".

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