Saturday 26 September 2015

Nidaros ordo

Sunday 27 September. Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity. Commemoration of Saints Cosmas and Damian, martyrs. Anthem after Compline: Ave regina celorum.
Monday 28. Feria II. Sub tuum presidium.
Tuesday 29. ST MICHAEL, archangel, major double. O florens rosa.
Wednesday 30. St Jerome, presbyter and confessor, semidouble. Rogamus te.
Thursday 1 October. Ss Remi and German, bishops and confessors. Ave stella matutina.
Friday 2. St Leodegar, bishop and martyr, three lessons. Mundi domina.
Saturday 3. Sabbath. Salve regina.

Is that the third St German(us) in the calendar? I will not attempt to "disambiguate" them! St Leodegar is also known as St Leger; the horse race, being named after a Colonel St Leger, does not take place on the feast day.

Monday 21 September 2015

Nidaros ordo

Sunday 20 September. Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity. Anthem after Compline: Ave regina celorum.
Monday 21. SAINT MATTHEW, apostle and evangelist, double. Sub tuum presidium.
Tuesday 22. St Maurice and his companions, single. O florens rosa.
Wednesday 23. Feria IV. Rogamus te.
Thursday 24. Feria V. Ave stella matutina.
Friday 25. Saint Firmin, bishop and martyr, three lessonsMundi domina.
Saturday 26. Sabbath. Salve regina.

Thursday 17 September 2015

Fingergull 850

As you'll know, I try not to be more than a few hundred years behind the curve with this blog, so I'll not worry that I am nearly a week late in reporting this news:

Exactly 850 years ago last Saturday, a relic of the Holy Blood of Christ arrived at Nidaros Cathedral (Trondheim, Norway), having been sent as a gift from Jerusalem. A liturgical office was composed in honour of this relic, and the Feast of the Reception of the Holy Blood was kept at the Cathedral on 12 September until the Reformation. The Norwegian choir Schola Sanctae Sunnivae, a few years ago, released a CD of excerpts from Matins from this office (the Fingergullofficiet, or 'Finger Gold Office', presumably so called because the relic was enclosed in a gold ring).

Well, now they have recorded the whole thing! (Or at least, the musically distinctive elements of the office.) The new CD Fingergull was launched at Nidaros Cathedral on Saturday.

Sunday 13 September 2015

Nidaros ordo

Sunday 13 September. Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity. Commemorations of the Octave of the Nativity of Mary, and of Saints Cornelius and Cyprian, martyrs. Anthem after Compline: Ave regina celorum.
Monday 14. EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS, major double. Com. Oct. Nat. Mar. Sub tuum presidium.
Tuesday 15. Octave day of Mary the Virgin, semidouble. Com. S. Nicomed, martyr. O florens rosa.
Wednesday 16. St Eufemia, virgin martyr, three lessons. Com. Ember day. Rogamus te.
Thursday 17. St Lambert, bishop and martyr, three lessons. Ave stella matutina.
Friday 18. Ember dayMundi domina.
Saturday 19. VIGIL OF ST MATTHEW, apostle and evangelist. Com. Emb. day. Salve regina.

Euphemia has long been, and, rather wonderfully, still is, a popular name in the Northern Isles.

Sunday 6 September 2015

Nidaros ordo

Sunday 6 September. Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. Anthem after Compline: Ave regina celorum.
Monday 7. Feria II. (The office of St Adrian is celebrated today by anticipation.) Sub tuum presidium.
Tuesday 8. NATIVITY OF THE VIRGIN MARY, double (?). St Adrian, bishop and martyr, three lessons (see yesterday's entry). O florens rosa.
Wednesday 9. Feria IV in the Octave of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Commemoration of St Gorgon, martyr. Rogamus te.
Thursday 10. Feria V in Oct. Nat. Mar. Com. St Audomarus, bishop. Ave stella matutina.
Friday 11. Feria VI in Oct. Nat. Mar. Com. Ss Prothus and Iacinctus, martyrs. Mundi domina.
Saturday 12. Sabbath in Oct. Nat. Mar. Salve regina.

With St Adrian and the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we have a situation similar to that involving Ss Hermes and Augustine a couple of weeks ago: an annual clash of celebrations. Here the same solution has been arrived at - to anticipate the lesser feast on the previous day, which happens to be vacant - but here the transfer has not gone as far as changing the date of Adrian's feast day. Instead, we have a rubric on the 7 September: Hic cantentur de eo iii. lc. noct. (Here the three matins lessons about him are sung.) All this doesn't leave the kalendarist enough room to give us the rank of Mary's feast, but as it is printed in red and has an octave, we can assume it is at least a double feast.

The Nativity of the Virgin is one of those offices which survives in the Choir Antiphoner of Nidaros Cathedral, and it has been recorded by the Schola Sanctae Sunnivae.