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Rh plunge the reader into the very atmosphere of Florence; they contain delicate pictures of manners, charming portraits, noble female figures, of which last point it is possible to judge by reading the biography of Alessandro Bardi (ed. Mai, 593). The general tone is that of a grave moralist, who shows the dangers of the Renaissance, especially for women, warns against the reading of the noveUsts, and reproaches the Florentines with usury and illicit gains. Vespasiano is a panegyrist of Nicholas V, the great book-lover; he is severe to the point of injustice against Callistus III, the indifferent lender of books, which, liowever, he did not give over to pillage, as Vespasiano accuses him of doing.

BuRcKHARDT, Die CuUur der Ilenaissance, I (3rd ed., Leipzig, 1877), 198. 236-39. 261. 354; MttNTZ and Fabre, La biblio- thiiiue du Valitxin au XV> siMe (Paris, IS87), 116; Sandys, A Hialory of Classical Scholarship, II (Cambridge, 1908), 95.

Paul Lejay.

Vespers.^This subject will be treated under the following headings: I. Vespers in the sixth century; II. The origin of Vespers: Period anterior to the sixth century; III. The Office of Vespers in the Middle Ages: Variations; IV. The latest changes; V. Sym- bohsm: the Hymns; VI. Importance.

I. Vespers in the Sixth Century. — In the sixth century the Office of Vespers in the Latin Church was almost the same as it has been throughout the Middle Ages and up to the present day. In a docu- ment of unquestionable authority of that period the Office is described as follows: The evening hour, or vespertina synaxis, is composed of four psalms, a capit- ulum, a response, a hymn, a versicle, a canticle from the Gospel, litany (Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison), Pater with the ordinary finale, oratio, or prayer, and dismissal (Regula Sancti Benedict!, xvii). The psalms recited are taken from the series of psalms from Pss. cix to cxlvii (with the exception of the groups cxvii to cxxvii and cxx-xiii to cxhi); Pss. cxxxviii, cxUii, cxliv are each divided into two portions, whilst the Pss. cxv and cxvi are united to form one. This disposition is almost the same as that of the "Ordo Romanus", except that the number of psalms recited is five instead of four. They are taken, however, from the series cix to cxlvii. Here, too, we find the capitulum, versicle, and canticle of the "Magnificat". The hymn is a more recent introduction in the Roman V'cspers; the finale (litanies, Pater, versicles, prayers) seems all to have existed from this epoch as in the Benedictine cursus. Like the other hours, therefore. Vespers is divided into two parts; the psalmody, or singing of the psalms, forming the first part, and the capitulum and formulae the second. Vesper time varied according to the season between the tenth hour (4 p. m.) and the twelfth (6 p. m.). As a matter of fact it was no longer the evening hour, but the sunset hour, so that it was celebrated before the day had departed and consequently before there was any necessity for artificial light (Regula S. Benedicti, xli). This is a point to be noted, as it was an innovation. Before this epoch this evening synaxis was celebrated R'ith all the torches alight. The reason of this is that St. Benedict introduced in the cursus, another hour — that of Compline — which was prescribed to be cele- brated in the evening, and which might be considered as a kind of doubling of the Office of Lucernarium.

II. Origin of Vespers: Period anterior to the Sixth Century. — The Rule of St. Benedict was wTitten about 5.30-4.3 and represents the Office of Vespers drawn up in the manner shown above. Much earlier than this we find an evening Office corresponding to both that nf Vespers and that of Compline. Its name varies. In St. Benedict we find the name vespera which has prevailed, whence the French word vepres and the English vespers. Ca-ssian calls it Vespertina synaxis, or Vespertina solemnilas (P. L., XLIX, 88-9). The name, however, by which it was moat widely

known during that period was Lucemalis or Lucer- naria hora (1. c, 126). This name is characteristic. It was so called because at this hour a number of candles were lighted, not only to give light, but also for symbolical purposes. The "Peregrinatio", which gives the liturgical order as practised at Jerusalem and the date of which is probably the fourth century, calls it Lichnieon. This is the Latin transcription of the Greek word Xvxii-nbv, which corresponds to the word Lucernarium (cf. .\mbrosian Liturgy and Rite). The author tells us that this Office took place at the tenth hour (four o'clock in the evening); it is really the Office des lumiires, i. e. of the lights; it was celebrated in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; all the lamps and torches of the church were lighted, making, as the author says, "an infinite light". The Lucernal psalms were sung, after which followed the recitation of the supplication and commemorations or litanies, then the prayers, and finally the blessing and dismissal. In the "Antiphonary of Bangor", an Irish document of the sixth century. Vespers are called hora duodecima, which corresponds to six o'clock in the evening, or hora incensi, or again ad cereurn henedicendum. All these names are interest- ing to note. The hora incensi recalls the custom of burning incense at this hour, while at the same time the candles were lighted. The term ad cereum hene- dicendum presents a still greater interest because it reminds us that the ceremony of the lights at Vespera was sjTnbolic and very solemn. In Prudentius (fourth century) we find a hymn entitled "Ad incensum lu- cerna; " which, according to some critics, would appear to have been composed for the hour of the Lucer- narium (Arevalo, "Prudenti carmina", I, 124, ed. 1788; cf. also Cabrol, "Les ^glises de Jerusalem, la discipline et la liturgie au IV<= siMe", 47). Others see in this an allusion to the ceremony of the paschal candle. However, the Lucernarium may have had, at that time, some analogj* with the ceremony of Holy Saturday, and the hymn could thus be adapted to one or the other. In the "Old Galilean Sacr:imen- tary" (Thomasi, "Opera", VI, 395) we find for Holy Saturday an oratio ad duodecima, designed to celebrate the light as well as the Resurrection, which would seem thus to favour our hypothesis. St. Basil also speaks of a hymn being sung at the moment when the torches were lighted, doubtless the famous hymn — "Lumen hilare" (cf. Cabrol, 1. c, 47-S).

Vespers, then, was the most solemn Office of the day and was composed of the psalms called Luccrnales (Ps. cxl is called psalmus biccrnalu by the Apostolio Constitutions, VIII, xxxv; cf. II,lix; aisoCabrol, 1. c). The "Peregrinatio" does not mention the number of psalms sung at this hour, but Cassian, who, a short time after the "Peregrinatio", describes this Office as it was celebrated by the monks of Egypt, says they recited twelve psalms as at Vigils (Slat ins). Then two lessons were read .as at Vigils, one from the Old, and the other from the New, Testament. Each psalm was followed by a short prayer (P. L., XLIX, 83-4, 88-9). For the rest Cassian agrees with the "Pere- grinatio". He says the Office was recited towards five or six o'clock and that all the lights were lighted. This evening synaxis is looked upon as a souvenir of the evening sacrifice of the Old Law. The use of in- cen.se, candles, and other lights would seem to suggest the Jewish rites which accompanied the evening sac- rifice (Ex., xxix, 39; Niim.,xxviii,4; Ps.cxl,2; Dan.,ix, 21; Par., xxiii, 30; cf. Haneberg, "Die relig. Alterth. der Bibel", Munich, 1869, p. 362). It may thus be seen that the Lucernarium v:asf, together with Vigils, the most important of the Offices of the day, being composed of almost the same elements as the latter, at le.ist in certain regions. Its existence in the fourth century is also confirmed by St. Augustine, St. Am- brose, St. Basil, St. Ephraem, and, a little later, by several councils in Gaul and Spain, and by