Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/490

 PRIME

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PRIME

dent. The Brief "Inter multiplices", 27 November, 1869 (Acta S. Sedis, V, 235), ranks the primates ac- cording to their date of promotion after the patriarchs, but adds: Ex speciali indulgentia, i. e. by special favour, for that occasion only, nor must it be inter- preted as conferring any right on them or diminishing the right of others. The history of the primacies in the Middle Ages is largely concerned with intermi- nable disputes concerning special rights, privileges, etc. The real primacies were at first those that did not bear the name. The Bishop of Carthage exercised a true primatial jurisdiction over the provinces of Roman Africa, without being called a primate; on the other hand, in the provinces, other than the Proconsular, the oldest bishop, who resembled a metropolitan, was called the primate. The title Primate of .\frica was restored again in 1S93 by Leo XIII in favour of the Archbishop of Carthage. The Bishop of Toledo was also a primate for the Visigothic kingdom. On the other hand, the Bishops of Thessalonica and Aries, in- vested with the vicariate of the pope, had authority over several provinces. We meet later with claims to primatial authoritj' in everj' country, and refusals to recognize these claims; the primates who have exer- cised a real authority being especially those of Mayence, the successors of St. Boniface, and of Lyons, made by Gregory VII, Primate of the Gauls, in reality of the provinces called formerly "Lugdunen- ses ". All kinds of reasons were invoked : the evan- gclization of the country, the importance of the see, pontiiical concessions, etc. It is impossible to give more than the mere names of primacies: in Spain, Toledo, Compostella, Braga; in France, Lyons, Reims, Bourges, Vienne, Narbonne, Bordeaux, Rouen; in Germany, Mayence, Trier, Magdeburg; in England, Canterbury, York; in Scotland, St. Andrews; in Ire- land, .■Armagh; in the Scandinavian countries, Lund. But of all these nothing but a title has remained; and at the Vatican Council the only bishops figuring as primates, in virtue of recent concessions, were those of Salzburg, Antivari, Salerno, Bahia, Gnesen, Tarra- gona, Gran, Mechlin, and Armagh (Coll. Lacens., VII, pp. 34, 488, 726).

Thom.\8sin, Vetus ei nova discipl., pt. I, bk. I, xxvii sq. ; Phil- lips. Kirchenrecht, § 62.

A. BOUDINHON.

Prime. — I. The Name. — The name Prime (prima hora) belongs with those of Terce, Sext, None, to the short, offices recited at the different hours of the day, called by these names among the Romans, that is, prima towards 6 a. m.; ierh'a, towards 9 a. m.; seita, towards noon; nana towards 3 p. m. At first Prime was termed malutina (hora), morning hour; later, in order to distinguish it from the nocturnal hours of Mat- ins and Lauds, and to include it among hours of the day, it was called -prinwi. The name is first met with in the Rule of St. Benedict. In the Bangor ,\ntipho- nary it is called secunda.

II. Origin. — This short office is one of those whose origin is best known. Cassian, speaking of Prime, says expressly "sciendum . . . hanc matutinam canonicam functionem (i. e. Prime] nostro tempore in nostro quoque monasterio primitus institutam"(In- stit.. Ill, IV).

As the chronology of Cassian's works has recently been established fairly accurately, the institution of Prime must be placed towards 382 (see Pargoire, op. cit. below, 288). Apropos of this monasterj-, of which Cassian speaks as the cradle of Prime, it has now been proved that it was not St. Jerome's mona,s- tery at Bethlehem, but another, perhaps one estab- lished beyond the Tower of .Vder (or of the Flock) be- yond the village of the Shepherds, and consetiuently beyond the modern Beth-saour; it has been identified either with Deir-er-Raouat (convent of the shepherds) or with Seiar-er-Ganhem (enclosure of the sheep).

We learn further from Cassian the reason that led to the institution of this office. The ofl5ce of the night, comprising Matins and Lauds, ended then at sunrise, so that Lauds corresponded to the dawn. After the night otfices at Bethlehem, as in the other Palestinian monasteries, the monks might retire to rest. As no other office called them together before Terce, those who were lazy seized the opportunity of prolonging their sleep till nine in the morning, instead of applying themselves to manual work or spiritual reading. To end this abuse, it was decided, in the above monastery, to continue the custom of reposing after the night office, but, to prevent an undue prolongation of sleep, the monks were recalled to choir at the hour of Prime, and after the recital of a few psalms they were to work until Terce (Cassian, "Instit.", Ill, iv). All this is es- tablished by authentic texts. The only difficulty is that some contemporaries of Cassian or even his pred- ecessors, as Eusebius of Ctesarea, St. Jerome, St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, speak of an office recited at sunrise, and which therefore would seem to be iden- tical with Prime. But it must be noted that they are speaking of Lauds, which in some communities was re- cited later, and so was identified with the hour but not with the subject matter of Prime.

III. Contents. — The matter composing the new hour was drawn from the office of Lauds; or rather Prime, as an office, was a repetition of part of Lauds, and added nothing to the ensem ble of t he psalmody, only Psalms i, Ixii, and Ixxxix, which were formerly part of Lauds, were recited at this hour. Such at least was the original composition of Prime; but the monasteries which gradually adopted it in the East and in the West changed its constitution as they liked. It is impossi- ble to describe here all the variations this office under- went in the different liturgies. We need only remark that one of the most characteristic features of Prime is the recitation of the famous symbol "Quicumque vult salvus esse", called the Athanasian Creed, which has recently been the subject of much controversy in the Anglican Church. St. Benedict orders to be recited at Prime on Sundays four groups of eight verses of Ps. cxviii; on week-days, three psalms, be- ginning with the first and continuing to Ps. xix, tak- ing three psalms each day (Ps. ix and xvii being di- vided into two). In that way Prime is symmetrical, like the other short hours of the day. It resembles these also in composition, the psalmody being accom- panied by a hymn, an antiphon, capitulum, versicle, and prayer. In the Roman Liturgj- the office of Prime is not composed so symmetrically. Usually it consists of Ps. liii, cxvii, the first four groups of eight verses of Ps. cxviii, and during the week Pss. liii, xxiii, xxv, xxiv, x-xii, and xxi. The capitulum and other elements are after the model of the short hours (cf. None).

IV. The Office of the Ch.\pter. — So far we have spoken only of the office of Prime properly so called, which ends like the other short hours. It is fol- lowed by some prayers which are called the office of the chapter, and are composed in the Roman Liturgy of the reading of the martyrology, of a prayer, "Sancta Maria et omnes sancti", a prayer concerning work, "Respice in servos tuos . . . Dirigere et sanctificare", and a blessing. This addition to Prime is a legacy bequeathed by the monks to the secular clergy. As has been said above, originally after Prime the monks had to betake themselves to manual work or reading. The office therefore ended with a prayer for their work " . . . et opera manuum nostrarum dirige super nos et opus manuum nostrarum dirige", and the prayer "Dirigere". Later the reading of the martyrology, the necrology, the rule, and a prayer for the dead were added (see Batimer-Biron, loc. cit., I, 361-62).

In view of its origin and constitution, Prime is to be considered as the prayer of the beginning of the day, whereas Lauds is devoted to recalling with the dawn the memory of Christ's Resurrection, Prime is the