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 TERENUTHIS

515

TERESA

the Fathers of the Church and the ecclesiastical writers of the third century of Terce, Sext, and None as hours for daily prayers. For example, TertuUian, Clement of Alexandria, and the Canons of Hippolytus (see Clement, ".Stromat.", VII, vii, in P. G., IX, 455- 458). TertuUian says expressly that we should always pray, and that there is no prescribed time for prayer, but adds: ''As regards the time, there should be no lax observationof certain hours — I mean, of these common hours which have long marked the divisions of the day, the third, the sixth, and the ninth — and which we may observe in Scri])ture to be more solemn than the rest" (De Orat., XXXIII, x.xv, in P. L., I, 1191-1193).

Clement and TertuUian in these passages refer only to private jjrayer at these three hours. The Canons of Hippolytus also .speak of these three hours as suit- able for i)ri\ate jirayer. However, on the days called "days of station", that is to say Wednesday and Fri- day, which were set ajiart as especially consecrated to prayer, and Sunday, these hours were recited in pub- lie (Canon, xx, xxvi). St. Cj^prian remarked that these three houre had been observed in the Old Testa- ment, anti that Christians should also observe them (De Oratione, XXXIV, in P. L., IV, 541). In the fourth eenturj' the custom of praying at these hours became more frequent, and even obligatory, at least for monks (see the texts of the Apostolic Constitu- tions, of St. Ephrem, of St. Basil, of the author of " De Virginitate" quoted in Baumer-Biron, "Histoire du brcviaire", 116, 121, 129, 186). Our texts say noth- ing as to what were the elements of the prayer of Terce, Sext, or None before the fourth centurj'. Doubtless, like all praj-ers at that time, they were composed of psalms, canticles, hymns, and litanies. It is from the fourth century onwards that we can gather a more precise idea as to the composition of the hour of Terce. In the fourth centurj-, as we have said, the custom of prayer at Terce spread, and tended to become obligatory, at least for monks. There is no mention in the " Peregrinatio ad Loca Sancta" of an office of Terce on ordinarj- days. Some authors have misunderstood the text here, but there is no mention of a meeting at this hour, except on Sunday and dur- ing Lent (see Cabrol, "Etude sur la Peregrinatio Sil- vi£e", Paris, 1895, p. 45, 46). The hour of Terce is also mentionedinSt. Jerome, "Ep. ad Lactam." in P.L., XXII, 875:"Ep.adEustoch."in P. L., XXII, 420; in the Life of St. Melania the Younger, "Analecta Bol- landiana", VIII, 1889, p. 16; in Cassian, "De instit. ccenob.", in P. L., LXIX, 112, 126, etc.

At this period it is composed of the same elements as the hours of Sext and None; the distribution is the same, and it is clear that the three "little hours" were composed at the same time and that they have the same origin. The psalms of Terce are different from those of the other two hours. There were also cer- tain varieties of composition. Thus, in certain coun- tries, three psalms wer? assigned to Terce, six to Se.xt, nine to None, in virtue of the symbolism.

The composition varies also in the various liturgies. In the Creek Church Terce is composed of two parts, each made up of psalms (two for the first, three for the second), with invitatory, troparia, and final prayer. (See Neale and Littledale, "Commentary on the Psalms", I, p. 34.) In the Benedictine Rite, Terce comprises, on week days, the Gradual Psalms, 119, 120, and 121, with a capituhnn, verse, Kyrie, Pater, and prayer. On Sundays and Mondays the Gradual Psalms are replaced by three octonaries (i. e. three sections of eight verses each) of Psalm cx\'iii. In the Mozarabic Rite, three octonaries of Ps. cxviii are also recited, the composition otherwise differing very little. In the main, the recitation of three psalms at Terce, as at the other two "little hours" of the day, is founded on a universal and very ancient tradition. Divergencies on this point are only exceptional. The practice of the Roman Liturgy, which at first sight

appears to be somewhat different, may be traced to this tradition also. In this rite a part of Ps. cxviii is recited at Terce as well as at (lie other "little hours", the psalm being divided into three double octonaries. After the new Psalter aiTanged in 1911-12, thepsalma are: on Sunday, Ps. cxviii (tlu'ee divisions) ; on Mon- day, Ps. xxvi (two divisions) ; on Tuesday, Ps. xxxix (three divisions) ; on Wednesday, Ps. Uii (two divi- sions) ; on Thursday, Ps. Ixxii (three divisions) ; on Friday, Ps. xxxix (two divisions); on Saturday, Ps. ci (tlu-ee divisions) . The number three is therefore preserved in each case. The hymn "Nunc Sancte nobis Spiritus" recalls. the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles. The other elements are the same as for Sext and None.

The Fathers of the Church and the liturgists of the Middle Ages considered the hour of Terce as corre- sponding to the hour of Christ's condemnation to deat h. They also often point out on this occasion the mysteries of the number three, which in ecclesiastical symbolism is a sacred number (see Bona, loc. cit.). What gives to it its especial dignitj', however, is its association with the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost at this very hour ("seeing it is but the third hour of the day". Acts, II, 15). In several liturgies, and particularly in the Ro- man, this connexion is brought to mind by one or other of the formula;. Again, this is the reason why, from the earhest times, the hour of Terce was chosen as that of the Mass on feast days. Sometimes, also, this hour is called in liturgical language hora aurea or horn sacra (see Duraiiilus, " De rit. eccles.", c. viii).

FnANfOiiNics, /)■ I' ,:: ■ ii.i.i,.; Neale and Littledale, Commentary on Che Psalm.^, I. 34; B.vtiffol, Iii.tt. du frr^riaire (1911 — ), See also bibliographies under None; Sext.

F. Cabrol.

Terenuthis, titular see, suffragan of Antinoe in Th.'bais Prima. Le Quien (Oriens chri.st., II, 611) mentions two of its bishops: Arsinthius in 404; Eulo- gius at the Council of Ephesus in 431. The monks .sometimes sought refuge there during incursions of the barbarian Maziks (Cotelier, "Ecelesia; gra?caemon- umenta", I, 393). John Moschus went there at the beginning of the seventh century (Pratum spir- ituale, LIV, CXIV). There is frequent mention of this town in Christian Coptic literature. The present village of Tarraneh in the Province of Beherah replaces Terenuthis, the ruins of which lie about a mile and a quarter to the west. It has 1330 inhabitants. About nine and a quarter miles distant arethe Lakes of Nitria and Scetis, nearwhich were the lauras of these names.

Georgii Cyprii Descriplio orb. rom., ed. Gelzer, 125; Am^lineatj, La giog. dc I'Egypte d Vipoque Copte (Paris, 1893), 493.

S. VAILHfi.

Teresa of Jesus, Saint (Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada), b. at Avila, Old Castille, 28 March, 1515; d. at Alba de Tormos, 4 Oct., l.'")82. The third child of Don Alonso Sanchez de Cejieda by his second wife. Dona Beatriz Davila y Ahumada, who died when (he saint was in her fourteenth year, Teresa was brought up by her saintly father, a lover of serious books, and a tender and pious mother. After her death and the marriage of her eldest sister, Teresa was sent for her education to the Augu.stinian nuns at Avila, but owing to illness she left at the end of eighteen months, and for some years remained with her father and occasionally with other relatives, notably an uncle who made her acquainted with the Letters of St. Jerome, which determined her to adopt the re- ligious life, not so much through any attraction to- wards it, as through a desire of choosing the safest course. Unable to obtain her father's consent she left his hou.se unknown to him on 2 Nov., 1535, to enter the