Chapter 14
part of that prayer, namely, ''And lead us not into temptation," be sung (aloud) by the superior, so that all may answer: "But deliver us from evil. Amen."1
FOURTEENTH CHAPTER
How the Vigils are to be conducted on the Birth-days of the Saints2 On the feasts of the Saints and on all Church festivals, let the same procedure be observed as we have prescribed it for Sun days, except that the psalms, antiphons, and lessons pertaining to these days shall be chanted as usual; but the (general) ar rangement as described above shall be adhered to.3
FIFTEENTH CHAPTER
The Seasons during which the Alleluja is to be chanted From the sacred feast of Easter until Pentecost, let the "Alle luja"4 be sung without a break with the psalms as well as with the responsories. From Pentecost on, however, until the start of the "Forty Days" (Lent), let it be sung with the second six
1 The early Church was familiar with the expiatory value of the Pater Noster and placed great store by it, especially since it was not acquainted with our modem practice of frequent sacramental confession. If mention is made here and in the following chapters of a Bittgebet (prayer-plea), it is usually or always the "Our
Father" that is referred to, since, as St. Benedict says, it should not be wanting in any of the other periods of prayer.
2 (When St. Benedict used the word Natalitiis in connection with the Saints, he meant, of course, the day of their death, their day of birth to everlasting life. This is a point to be borne in mind by monks in an age when so much importance is at tached to natural birth-days. The old monks, as well as many good monks in recent times, reversed the order. The translator)
3 In addition to the feasts of Easter and Pentecost in the primitive Church, ex pressly mentioned in the Rule, the feasts of the Ascension, Christmas, and Epiphany were surely celebrated in St. Benedict's monastery. We do not know whether or not, in the celebration of Saints' Days, he followed the usage of some particular diocese or church, say of Milan, Arles, or Carthage. Besides the feasts of St. John
Baptist and St. Martin of Tours, he most likely commemorated the feasts of Sts.
Peter and Paul. He was probably not yet cognizant of any special feasts of the Blessed Virgin. From the circumstance that St. Benedict is completely silent con cerning the penitential season of Advent, it need not follow that he did not know of it.
4 The "Hallelu-iah" (Praise the Lord) began with the Hebrew service in the tern-