On Divine Psalmody, its Causes, Mysteries and Disciplines, and on the Varied Rites of All the Churches in the Singing of the Divine Offices: A Historical, Symbolic and Ascetic Treatise, or The Harmony of the Psalm-Singing Church

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Original title: De divina psalmodia, eiusque causis, mysteriis et disciplinis, deque variis ritibus omnium ecclesiarum in psallendis divinis officiis, tractatus historicus, symbolicus, asceticus sive Psallentis Ecclesiae harmonia A long Latin treatise on the psalmody of the Divine Office, written by a Cistercian abbot general and consultor of the Roman Congregations of Rites and of the Index, and addressed to clerics and religious bound daily to the recitation of the hours. It is neither a chant manual nor a rubrical commentary but a work of learned liturgical inquiry that treats every element of the daily hours three times over: tracing it to a documented origin, reading it for its mystery, and converting it into a rule for the mind of the reciter. Its chapters move from the antiquity of praise and the causes of the canonical hours, through the individual offices (Matins and Nocturns, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, Compline) and the votive offices of the Virgin, the Dead and the Penitential Psalms, to an analytic dissection of the roughly twenty component parts of the Office (Pater noster, Creed, sign of the cross, Gloria Patri, Alleluia, hymns, antiphons, versicles, lessons, collects), then to ecclesiastical chant, a comparative survey of Roman, monastic, Ambrosian, Mozarabic, Gallican, Greek, Armenian, Maronite, Ethiopian and Coptic usages, and finally to the ascetic discipline of psalm-singing itself, closing with a collection of exemplary anecdotes. It draws on patristic, conciliar, Hebrew, astronomical, musical and comparative learning, prefaced by a Notitia auctorum et librorum in which each cited authority is assessed, and by a Marian dedication; its stated aim is that the mind of the one who sings should be in harmony with his voice. 👉 Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here 📜 View the original source file This text was transcribed and translated as part of the ExLatinis project—an effort by Leo to make English translations of every published text in Latin in early modern Europe (between 1450 and 1750) available to the public for free online.

• Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here
• View the original source file

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