BREVIARY. – It is the liturgical book that contains the Divine Office (v.) according to the rite of the Roman Church. The term *b.* (a brief note, compendium), already used in theological language (*Breviarium fidei*), administrative (*Breviarium imperii*, of Augustus), and juridical (*Brevierium extravagantium*), in liturgical language at first indicated a leaf or booklet placed at the beginning of the Psalter, which noted the Divine Offices to be performed in a given time, along with their respective formulary and references.
In its current arrangement, the *b.* consists of the following parts:
1) The bulls (*Quod a nobis* of St. Pius V, 9 July 1568, in which the reasons for the publication of the new text and the work done to ensure its correction are set forth, as we shall see below, and *Divino afflatu* of 1 Nov. 1911, by which Pius X ordered a new arrangement of the Psalter for ferial days).
2) The treatise *De anno et eius partibus*, which is a collection of brief astronomical notions, necessary in antiquity when each person had to make these calculations themselves, but now superfluous due to the use of the *Ordo divini Officii*, which is published every year with all the necessary rules for the recitation of the *b.*
3) The Calendar, with all the feasts to be celebrated according to their proper rite.
4) The General Rubrics, a novelty in the *b.* of St. Pius V. They were corrected and expanded under Clement VIII and Urban VIII (1602 and 1635) and form the text of the rules governing the recitation of the Divine Office. Other particular rules are scattered throughout the body of the *b.* A valuable source for the rubrics are the ancient *Ordines* or *Ordinarii* (v.).
5) The Ordinary of the Divine Office, which contains the general structure of the individual canonical Hours with those formulas (hymns, chapters, responsories, etc.) that are said daily throughout the year, or at least in its principal liturgical divisions: Advent, Ordinary Time after Epiphany and after Pentecost (called *per annum*), Lent, Passiontide, Eastertide.
6) The Psalter, the fundamental element of the *b.* In antiquity it was said according to the order given by Holy Scripture (*Psalterium non feriatum*). Under the influence of monks and popes, certain psalms were chosen for particular canonical Hours, first simply indicated by marginal notes, then according to the order of the Office (*Psalterium feriatum*). The current Psalter contains the psalms and canticles distributed according to the days of the week, with the hymns for the Hours in Ordinary Time. It follows the text of the Vulgate, corrected by St. Jerome in 389 and first adopted in Gaul, known as the *Psalterium gallicanum*; the *Psalterium romanum*, i.e., the version of the Vetus Latina, in use in the Roman basilicas and almost throughout the Latin Church until the time of St. Pius V, was preserved in St. Peter’s in Rome, St. Mark’s in Venice, Milan, and a few other churches. Pius XII, by a *motu proprio* of 24 March 1945, permitted in the public and private recitation of the psalms the use of the newest critical version from the original Hebrew text, prepared by the Pontifical Biblical Institute and arranged according to the disposition given to the Psalter by Pius X. 7) The Proper of Time, with the parts proper to each day of the Christological cycle, beginning with the First Sunday of Advent (v. *Temporale*), followed by the Proper of Saints, with the parts proper to the feasts of the saints, which begins with the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, closest to the First Sunday of Advent (v. *Santorale*). Both cycles, according to the order of days and months, extend to the last week after Pentecost (v. *liturgical year*).
8) The Common of Saints, which provides the common parts for all offices of saints that do not have their own, arranged according to the order of the Litany of Saints: Apostles, Evangelists, one or more Supreme Pontiffs, individual or multiple Martyrs, Confessor Pontiffs, Doctors, Abbots, Confessors who are not Pontiffs, Virgins, non-Virgins; in addition, the Common of the feasts of the Dedication of a Church, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Office of the Dead.
9) Finally, some formulas of common prayers and blessings necessary or useful in priestly practice are added, along with the gradual and penitential psalms and the Litany of the Saints.
The *b.* developed slowly, and each century contributed to II. The authority of the Popes did not intervene until relatively late, more to protect progress and development than to halt II.
1) The period of formation up to the first complete *b.* (11th century);
2) From the 11th century to St. Pius V;
3) From 1568 to the present.
At the beginning, for the recitation of the Divine Office, several books were needed: the canticles were taken from the Psalter or the antiphonary, the hymns from a special hymnal, the biblical passages directly from the Bible or from a special lectionary, the readings from the Fathers from a sermonary or homiliary, the lives of the saints from a passionary (v.); the prayers to be recited at the end of the individual Hours or, at first,
Brief – The oldest *b.* known to date: Boniface IX to F. Gonzaga (17 Oct. 1390).
Mantua, State Archive, Gonzaga Folder 833.
(from V. JALABERT, LOUIS, *Les bréviaires manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de France*, Paris, BSI, s.d.) Breviary — Presentation in the Temple. B. of Montecassino (1099–1105) — Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, ms. 364, f. 19.
Of the individual psalms, the texts were taken from the sacramentary (v.) or from special collections (collectary [v.], oratory). When, however, it became obligatory for ecclesiastics to recite the Divine Office not only in the choir of a church but also privately, and moreover to adhere to the form used in common recitation, the gathering of all these books into a single volume became indispensable. To the psalters were first added the antiphons, verses, and orations. Cod. Vat. Reg. II (8th–9th cent.) is the oldest example of a psalter with a hymnal. In the 11th and 12th centuries, the plenary breviaries began to take shape and soon became common. With the multiplication of rural parishes, the need arose to shorten the Office, to avoid the inconvenience of having to carry many books for its recitation. The Roman Curia set an example. Indeed, as Radulph of Tongern says, whether at the Pope’s command or on their own initiative, the clergy constantly shortened the Office and often modified it to suit the convenience of the cardinals (PL 87, 1273 sqq.). Thus in the 12th century there arose the *Breviarium secundum consuetudinem Romanae Curiae*, which spread widely because it was also adopted by the Order of Friars Minor when it was founded and expanded throughout the West. This new form of breviary was of a diminished liturgy, intended not to be solemnly sung in abbatial or cathedral churches, but to be recited privately by those attached to the Curia during intervals of office work, by university students and professors, amid the labors of the apostolate, and during the pauses of travel. Nevertheless, the ancient liturgical Office seemed still intact in its entirety: the Roman Curia and the Franciscans had done no more than render it shorter. Subsequently, however, the suppression or abbreviation of certain traditional parts of the Office gave rise to the introduction of other secondary elements, such as the multiplication and development of particular feasts, local devotions, new hymns, the daily Office of the Blessed Virgin, the Office of the Dead, the penitential and gradual psalms. In the second half of the 15th century, triumphant humanism attempted to transform the breviary, substituting classical Latin for the usual form, while some, for reasons of taste, even preferred to recite it in Greek. The hymns were also restored to classical form. The premature death of Leo X prevented this trend from spreading. Yet Clement VII permitted the private use of the new hymns. Faced with the opposing current of traditionalists who defended ancient rites and forms, the moderates prevailed, among whom were Cardinals Francisco Quiñonez, Sadoleto, Contarini, and Gregorio Cortese. Quiñonez was entrusted with preparing a new breviary, faithful in all respects to the institutions of the Holy Fathers, neither difficult nor long. It appeared in 1535 and was called the *Breviarium Sanctae Crucis*, from the cardinalatial title of Quiñonez. Though it had its merits, it also had defects, especially that of having broken too sharply with tradition and admitted many novelties into the liturgical sphere. After only a few years of use, Paul IV in 1558 forbade its reprinting. In 1562, the question of a complete reform of the breviary was placed before the Council of Trent, and a commission appointed for the purpose prepared one that St Pius V published in 1568 with the bull *Quod a nobis*. This new breviary decisively returned to the ancient form, while taking account of changed circumstances: it abolished every other breviary then in existence, except those that had existed for more than 200 years or had been directly approved by the Holy See. Thus the right to order or alter the breviary was reserved to the Holy See itself, and the principle of the unity of the Office in the Latin Church was established. Despite universal approval, this reform drew some criticism for the suppression of certain feasts and the inadequate correction of historical errors. Gregory XIII and Sixtus V restored some suppressed feasts, and the latter in 1588 established the Sacred Congregation of Rites for the purpose of regulating all Latin liturgy and liturgical books. Clement VIII published a new edition of the breviary in 1602 with additions and corrections. Finally, Urban VIII with the bull *Divinam Psalmodiam* of 25 January 1632 ordered another edition with emendations and with the correction of the hymns prepared by himself and by some Jesuit Fathers. This breviary has remained in use until the present, apart from the addition of new feasts made by the successors of Urban VIII. Meanwhile, in almost all of France various particular breviaries had come into use that too much reflected the ideas of their compilers, steeped in Jansenism or Gallicanism. More popular were those of Msgr. de Harlay of 1680 and of Cardinal de Ventimille prepared in 1736. At the beginning of the 19th century, after the Concordat of 1801 and the confusion caused by the new diocesan circumscription, the French bishops thought to unify the liturgy of France, but full agreement was lacking; thus other novelties emerged, which ended by producing a reaction. Meanwhile, the need to conform to Rome was felt ever more strongly. The first to adopt the Roman breviary was Msgr. Parisis, Bishop of Langres, in 1840, followed by Cardinal Gousset, Archbishop of Reims, and soon by all the other French bishops, so that Pius IX in 1853 could congratulate the French episcopate on the return of France to the unity of the Roman liturgy. An attempt at reform had meanwhile been made by Benedict XIV, who appointed a special commission for the purpose, but for various circumstances the desired conclusion was not reached. Further reforms were considered by Pius IX, Leo XIII, and Pius X, who, with the bull *Divino afflatu* of 1 November 1911, ordered a new arrangement of the Psalter so that all the psalms would be recited during the week.
Manuscript breviaries are found everywhere. One of the oldest, from the 11th century, is kept in the Vatican Library (Lat. 7018), where are also preserved that used by Francesco Petrarca (Vat. Borg. 364) and another made for Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary (Vat. Urbinate 112). In general, choir breviaries are more lavishly illustrated than portable ones. Those of princes, bishops, abbots, and other dignitaries are illuminated; for example, that of Jean d’Amboise contains 172 miniatures (15th cent.), that of Philip the Good 134, that of Charles V 186, and that of the Duke of Bedford several thousand. In Italy the oldest are those of the Cassinese Benedictines; the most important were those of the papal court: *Breviarium de Camera*, *Breviarium secundum usum Curiae Romanae*, which were established at least from the time of Innocent III (1198–1216). The subjects of the miniatures are drawn from Holy Scripture, the liturgical theme of the day, or are symbolic attributes of the months, scenes of religious and profane life, and ornamentation. A list of the earliest printed breviaries from the years 1468–1543 is given in *Enc. Ital.*, VII, p. 838.
For the Divine Office and its various parts, see ORF CANONICHE.
(Filippo Oppenheim)
II. THE BREVIARY IN ART
The illustrations of the breviary are linked to various artistic schools. Those of medieval breviaries do not differ substantially from the miniatures of gospel-books or Bibles; at the end of the 14th century, however, a type of illustration proper to the breviary emerges, informed by the liturgy of Paris (or more precisely of the royal chapel of the 15th century, itself largely derived from the cathedral of Notre-Dame). The names of the first miniaturists of this category are largely unknown. The artistic centre formed in the second half of the 15th century around the court of Burgundy gave rise to the school of Bruges, to which belong the Breviary of Philip the Good (Brussels Library) illuminated by Vrelant and J. le Tavernier before 1467 and the Grimani Breviary of the Marciana Library in Venice. This breviary, which is the most precious of those known, was illuminated around 1510 by various artists, including Horenbout, Gossart, and the Bening brothers, who sought to surpass even the *Livre d’heures* of the Limbourg brothers of Chantilly. Three fine miniatures from the Breviary of John the Fearless are preserved in the British Museum, attributed to Paul de Limbourg.After the invention of printing, the use of the breviary spread ever more widely; but the illustrations, which, even for their rarity, remain notable documents for the history of engraving, are of little iconographic value. — See Pl. V. BIBLICA.: S. de Vries and S. Morpurgo, Das Brevier Grimani, Leipzig 1912; G. Coggiola, Il Breviario Grimani della Biblioteca Marciana di Venezia, Leiden 1910; H. Leclercq, s. V. in DACL, II, i, cols. 1262-1316; T. De Marinis, in Enc. Ital., VII, pp. 834-38 (with bibliography); V. JALABERT, LOUIS, Le Bréviaire de Philippe le Bon, Paris 1919; P. Durrieu, La miniature bourguignonne au temps de la Cour de Bourgogne, Brussels 1921.
Guilielmus Fridericus Volbach