Chapter Eighteen
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
In What Order the Psalms Are to Be Said
FIRST of all, the daytime Hours should begin with this verse: Deus, in adjutorium meum intende; Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina (Ps. 69:2; 70:2, Vulg.), and the Gloria, followed by the hymn proper to each Hour. At Prime on Sunday there are to be said four sections of the 118th psalm. At the other Hours—namely, Terce, Sext, and None—let three sections of the same psalm be said. But at Prime on Monday let three psalms be said—namely, the first, the second, and the sixth; and thus each day at Prime until Sunday, let three psalms be said each time in consecutive order up to the 19th psalm, yet so that the 9th psalm and the 17th be each divided into two Glorias; and thus it will come about that at the night Office on Sundays we always begin with the 20th psalm.
At Terce, Sext, and None, on Monday, however, let the nine remaining sections of the 118th psalm be said, three sections at each of these Hours. The 118th psalm having thus been parceled out for two days—namely, Sunday and Monday—let there be sung on Tuesday for Terce, Sext, and None, three psalms each, from the 119th to the 127th, that is, nine psalms. These psalms will always be repeated at the same Hours until Sunday—the arrangement hymns, lessons, and versicles should nevertheless remain the same each day, so that on Sunday one always begins with the 118th psalm.
Let Vespers be sung daily with the four psalms sung in a richer mode. Let these psalms begin with the 109th to the 147th, but omitting those which are set aside for the other Hours—namely, from the 117th to the 127th, and the 133rd, and the 142nd. All the rest are to be said at Vespers; and as the psalms fall three short, those of the aforesaid psalms are to be divided as they are somewhat long—namely, the 138th, the 143rd, and the 144th. But because the 116th is short, let it be joined to the 115th. The order of the psalms for Vespers having thus been arranged let the rest, namely, the lessons, the responsories, the hymns, the verses, and the canticles, be said as we have directed above.
At Compline, however, let the same psalms be repeated every day—namely, the 4th, the 90th, and the 133rd.
Having arranged the order of the Office, let the remainder of the psalms be distributed equally into seven Night Offices; this is to be done by dividing the longer ones into two and making sure that twelve are fixed for each night. We wish to be absolutely clear that, if this distribution of the psalms should displease anyone, he should arrange them as he deems appropriate, so long as he takes particular care that the whole Psalter of one hundred and fifty psalms be said every week, and that it always start again from the beginning at during the Night Office (vigil) for Sunday. This is enjoined since monks who in a single week chant less that the whole Psalter with the customary canticles show themselves to be slothful in the service of their devotion. For we read that our holy forefathers promptly fulfilled in one day what I hope we lukewarm monks may be capable of performing over the course of a whole week.