Chapter 12
Te Deum Laudamus.1 After this has been chanted to the end, he shall read the lesson (pericope — excerpt) from the Gospels, during which all shall stand out of reverence (for the word of God). At the end of it, all shall answer "Amen." Then let the abbot at once intone the Te decet laus (a short prayer addressed to the Most Holy Trinity). And the benediction prayer2 having been recited, let Lauds follow immediately.
The foregoing order in the performance of the night-watches shall be adhered to in the same way on Sundays in all seasons, winter as well as summer; unless by chance—and let this by all means be avoided—the brethren should rise too late; then let the lessons or the responsories be somewhat shortened. Never theless, care should be taken that this does not occur. But if it does happen, let the one through whose negligence it took place make appropiate satisfaction to God in the oratory.
TWELFTH CHAPTER
How the Office of Lauds is to be conducted At Lauds on Sunday let the 66th psalm first be chanted straight through (that is, quite simply) without an antiphon.
Thereupon, preceded by the antiphon "alleluja," there shall follow the 50th psalm, the 117th, and the 62nd; then the can ticle from Daniel (iii, 57-58), the Laudes (Psalms 148-150), a lesson out of the Apocalypse (vii, 12) from memory, the responsory, the hymn (Ambrosianum), the versicle, the canticle from the Gospel (Luke i, 68-79), the Litany (Kyrie eleison), and the conclusion.
1 The hymn, Te Deum laudamus (compare the German Grosser, Colt, wir loben dich, or our English, "Holy God, we praise thy Name") originated probably at Lerins. The Church at Rome adopted it only later. The short hymn Te decet Laus, after the Gospel is a translation of an earlier Greek hymn (before 400).
2 By the benediction prayer at the end of Matins, or night office, St. Benedict meant the Pater Nosier. In our modern Matins the oration (or collect of the day) is an addition that was appended at a much later date.