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faitliful, and generally for all the wants of tho Church. Sozomon (in a passafio, ho\vo\('r. which is not consid- ered very authentic) si)cak,s of Ihrcp psahns which the monks recited at None. In any case, this number be- came traditional at an early period (Sozonien, "Hist, eccl.", Ill, xiv, in P. G., LXVII, 107i;-7; cf. Baiimer- Biron, op. cit., I, 136). Three psalms were recited at Terce, six at Scxt, and nine at None, as Ciissian informs us, though ho remarks tliat the most common practice was to recite three psalms at each of these hours (Cassian, "Dc ccrnob. instit.", Ill, iii, in P. L., XLIX, IIG). St. Ambrose speaks of three hours of prayer, and, if with many critics we attribute to him the three hymns "Jam surgit hora tertia", " Bis ternas boras cxplicas", and "Ter horas trina solvitur", we shall have a new constitutive element of the Little Hours in tiie fourth century in the Church of Milan (.Ambrose, "De virginibus". III, iv, in P. L., XVI, 225).

In the "Pcregrinatio ad loca sancta" of Etheria (end of fourth century), there is a more detailed description of the Office of None. It resembles that of Sext, and is celebrated in the basilica of the Anastasis. It is composed of psalms and antiphons; then the bishop arrives, enters the grotto of the Resur- rection, recites a prayer there, and blesses the faithful ("Peregrinatio", p. 46; cf. Cabrol, "Etude sur la Per- egrinatio Sylvia;", 45). During Lent, None is cele- brated in the church of Sion ; on Sundays the office is not celebrated; it is omitted also on Holy Saturday, but on Good Friday it is celebrated with special sol- emnity (Peregrinatio, pp. 5.3, 66, etc.). But it is only in the succeeding age that we find a complete description of None, as of the other offices of the day.

III. None in the Roman and Other Litukgies PROM THE Seventh Century. — In the Rule of St. Benedict the four Little Hours of the day (Prime to None) are conceived on the same plan, the formulae alone varying. The office begins with Deus in ad- jutorium, like all the Hours; then follows a hymn, special to None; three psalms, which do not change (Ps. cxxv, cxxvi, cx.xvii), except on Sundays and Mon- days when they are replaced by three groups of eight verses from Ps. cxviii; then the capitulum, a versicle, the KjTie, the Pater, the oratio, and the concluding prayers (Regula S. P. Benedicti, x\ni). In the Roman Liturgy the office of None is likewise constructed after the model of the Little Hours of the day; it is composed of the same elements as in the Rule of St. Benedict, with this difference, that, instead of the three psalms, cxxv-vii, the three groups of eight verses from Ps. cxviii are always recited. There is nothing else char- acteristic of this office in this liturgy. The hymn, which was added later, is the one already in use in the Benedictine Office — "Rerum Deus tenax vigor". In the monastic rules prior to the tenth century certain variations are found. Thus in the Rule of Lerins, as in that of St. Ciesarius, six psalms are recited at None, as at Terce and Sext, with antiphon, hymn, and capi- tulum.

St. Aurelian follows the same tradition in his Rule "Ad virgines", but he imposes twelve psalms at each hour on the monks. St. Columbanus, St. Fructuosus, and St. Isidore adopt the system of three psalms (cf. Martene, "De antiq. monach. rit.", IV, 27). Like St. Benedict, most of these authors include hymns, the capitulum or short lesson, a versicle, and an oratio (cf. Martene, loc. cit.). In the ninth and tenth centuries we find some additions made to the Office of None, in particular litanies, collects, etc. (Martfine, op. cit., IV, 28).

IV. Meaning and Symbolism of None. — Among the ancients the hour of None was regarded as the close of the day's business and the time for the baths and supper (Martial. "Epigrams", IV, viii; Horace, "Epistlea", I, vii, 70). At an early date mystical rea-

sons for the division of the day were sought. St. Cyp- rian sees in the hours of Terce, Sext and None, which come after a lapse of three hours, an allusion to the Trinity. He adds that these hours already conse- crated to prayer under the Old Dispensation, have boon sanctified in the New Teslanu'nt by great mys- teries — Terce by the descent of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles; Sext by the prayers of St. Peter, the recep- tion of the Gentiles into the Church, or yet again by the crucifixion of Our Lord; None by the death of Christ ("De oratione", xxxiv, in P. L., IV, 541). St. Basil merely recalls that it was at the ninth hour that the Apostles Peter and John wore wont to go to the Temple to pray (" Regida' fusius tract.", XXXVII, n. 3, in P. G., XXXI, lOi:! sq.). Cassian, who adopts the Cyprian interpretation for Terce and Sext, sees in the Hour of None the descent of Christ into hell (De coenob. instit.. Ill, iii). But, as a rule, it is the death of Christ that is commemorated at the Hour of None.

The writers of the Middle Ages have sought for other mystical explanations of the Hour of None. Araalarius (III, vi) explains at length, how, like the sun which sinks on the horizon at the Hour of None, man's spirit tends to lower itself also, he is more open to temptation, and it is the time the demon selects to try him. For the texts of the Fathers on this subject it will suffice to refer the reader to the above-men- tioned work of Cardinal Bona (c. ix). The same writ- ers do not fail to remark that the number nine was considered by the ancients an imperfect number, an incomplete number, ten being considered perfection and the complete number. Nine was also the number of mourning. Among the ancients the ninth day was a day of expiation and funeral service — novemdiale sacrum, the origin doubtless of the novena for the dead.

As for the ninth hour, some persons believe that it is the hour at which our first parents were driven from the Garden of Paradise (Bona, op. cit., ix, § 2). In conclusion, it is necessary to call attention to a prac- tice which emphasized the Hour of None — it was the hour of fasting. At first, the hour of fasting was pro- longed to Vespers, that is to say, food was taken only in the evening or at the end of the day. Mitigation of this rigorous practice was soon introduced. Tertul- lian's famous pamphlet "De jejunio", rails at length against the Psychics (i. e. the Catholics) who end their fast on station days at the Hour of None, while he, Tertullian, claims that he is faithful to the ancient custom. The practice of breaking the fast at None caased that hour to be selected for Mass and Com- munion, which were the signs of the close of the day. The distinction between the rigorous fast, which was prolonged to Vespers, and the mitigated fast, ending at None, is met with in a large number of ancient docu- ments (.see Fast).

Francountts, De temp, horar. canonicar. (Rome, 1571), xxi; Amalarius, De ecde.^. njUcit.^, IV. vi: Durandus, Rationale, V, i eq.; BotiA, De divi'Ki /- ^ilni.'^ii.i, iw'DvCA'SOE.GlossaTiuTninfima Latinitatis,9.v. U'T' ] \'ir\i, Glossariummediw GrcEcita-

tis, 8. v.'JJpai; Mil: I. I /', nch. rit., IV, 12, 27, 28, etc.;

Haeften. ZJisguiNi/, 1/, , '■ i i r:i(-t. ii, ix, etc.; Probst, fireiner u. Breviergebet (Tuhingcn, islj.s), 22 etc.; Baumer-Biron, Hist, du Breviaire, I, G3, 7'.i, 11(3, etc.; Cabrol and Leclercq, Monum. Liturg. (Paris, 1902), gives the texts from the Fathers to the fourth century: Talhofer, Handbuch der kathol. Liturg., II (1893), 458..

F. Cahrol.

Non Espedit (It is not expedient). — Words with which the Holy See enjoined upon Italian Catholics the policy of abstention from the polls in parliamen- tary elections. This policy was adopted after a period of uncertainty and of controversy which followed the promulgation of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Italy (1861), and which was intensified by laws hos- tile to the Church and, especially, to the religious orders (1865-66). To this uncertainty the Holy Penitentiary put an end by its decree of 29 February,