Type of Submission
Podium Presentation
Proposal
Through the Medieval Era, the function of the Offices shifted from continual God-directed prayer to advancing and preserving local culture. The early form of the Offices found in the Rule of St. Benedict was built on the Psalms, engraining their words in the participants through the structure of the services and the weekly repetition. Commitment to primarily scriptural content is evidenced in early church traditions, papal decrees, and conservative efforts from clergymen. However, this focus changed with the emergence of cults of saints, which integrated the Offices into civic culture. As the number of feast days greatly expanded, cantors across Europe wrote versified Offices derived from saints’ vitae, drastically changing the textual content of the Offices and often with the purpose of aiding a specific political cause. The integration of religion into the broader culture demonstrated how worship in the Offices was gradually redirected away from God towards saints who could be used to lend authority to a ruler, a state, or church. This shift is explored through examining primary sources from the earliest years of the Offices and the later versified Offices, such as the Notre Dame setting for the Virgin Mary, the Beneventan Offices during the Carolinian invasion, and many less prominent Offices.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Publication Date
2023
Psalms and Saints in the Offices: From Prayerful Praise to Commemorating Cults
Through the Medieval Era, the function of the Offices shifted from continual God-directed prayer to advancing and preserving local culture. The early form of the Offices found in the Rule of St. Benedict was built on the Psalms, engraining their words in the participants through the structure of the services and the weekly repetition. Commitment to primarily scriptural content is evidenced in early church traditions, papal decrees, and conservative efforts from clergymen. However, this focus changed with the emergence of cults of saints, which integrated the Offices into civic culture. As the number of feast days greatly expanded, cantors across Europe wrote versified Offices derived from saints’ vitae, drastically changing the textual content of the Offices and often with the purpose of aiding a specific political cause. The integration of religion into the broader culture demonstrated how worship in the Offices was gradually redirected away from God towards saints who could be used to lend authority to a ruler, a state, or church. This shift is explored through examining primary sources from the earliest years of the Offices and the later versified Offices, such as the Notre Dame setting for the Virgin Mary, the Beneventan Offices during the Carolinian invasion, and many less prominent Offices.
