Canticle

CANTICLE. - I. GENERAL NOTIONS. - A canticle (in Greek 686) is generally said to be a poetic composition, intended for singing, for praise and thanksgiving to God. St. Paul, speaking of the euchological songs of the first Christians, expressly mentions canticles together with psalms and hymns. Writing to the Ephesians (Eph. 5:19) he says: « Loquentes vobismetipsis in psalmis et hymnis et canticis spiritualibus, cantantes et psallentes in cordibus vestris Domino ». He has a similar expression also in the letter to the Colossians (Col. 3:16). Ecclesiastical tradition has not preserved for us sufficient elements to distinguish with precision these three categories of songs, and especially the canticles in comparison with the psalms and hymns. However, liturgical discipline, following the cited Pauline texts, classifies with the same terms the poetic songs in use in the Church: psalms are the poetic texts contained in the Davidic Psalter; canticles, on the other hand, are those contained in the Bible outside the Psalter, and this is by now the specific sense of the word in Liturgy. They are very akin to the psalms, with the same poetic structure, founded on parallelism, and the same intent, which is to express in elevated form religious sentiments of special nobility and intensity. In particular they come close in content to the doxological psalms, because they predominantly express praise and thanksgiving, in accordance also with the generic meaning of the word canticle; however, supplications and elegiac touches are not lacking in them either.

II. LITURGICAL USE

The canticles had been composed not for liturgical use, but simply to express nobly the sentiments of their authors, and had been committed to writing solely to preserve their memory. It was obvious, however, that those formulas, so lofty, would be employed by pious persons to express or arouse similar sentiments in analogous circumstances, and in particular would also be taken up for use in public worship. Many psalms too (among them the Miserere itself, so well known and so widely used) had at first been composed for quite particular purposes, and were later inserted into the official collections of the Psalter. There is also the case of a canticle that was inserted integrally into the Psalter and used outright just like the other psalms: it is the canticle related in II Sam. 22:2 ff., composed by David when he saw himself free from all his enemies, and which later became, with slight variants, Psalm 17. Psalm 104 too, down to v. 15, forms part of the canticle related in I Par. 16:8 ff. Of the canticles, however, that were not inserted into the Psalter, there is no evidence that the Jews made use in public worship; Christians, on the other hand, made very extensive use of them, especially at morning Lauds, because their lofty style and doxological content make them very suitable for extolling the perfections of God, his works and his benefits. Even those that do not refer to the works of creation or generically to God's benefits, but to well-determined historical events of the Old Testament, such as the crossing of the Red Sea, can be employed by Christians in full accord with the new reality, since it is well known that the ancient events are taken as so many figures of the events of Christ and of the Church. The first to be employed were the aforementioned canticle of Moses at the Red Sea (Ex. 15:1 ff.) and that of the three youths in the furnace (Dan. 3:52 ff.), which are, one might say, the typical canticles. Later others were added, and in particular the Gospel canticles, which, chiefly through the work of St. Benedict, became of daily use. In the Roman Breviary the canticles of the New Testament are used at the end of Lauds, Vespers and Compline, almost as a complement to the hymn; those of the Old Testament, on the other hand, are used in the psalmody of Lauds, and precisely in the penultimate place.

Until the reform of Pius X (1911), 7 canticles were used for this purpose, one for each day of the week. Pius X gave greater impetus to this use. He established in fact for the psalmody of Lauds a double scheme, one for ordinary seasons, the other for seasons of penance, and this for the sake of precision, since the canticle expresses in general sentiments of praise and not of penance. In this way it was brought about that another 7 most noble formulas of praise passed from the simple occasional reading of the Bible to liturgical use.

In the Benedictine Breviary, which reflects a more ancient form of the divine office, the canticles of the Old Testament are used not only at Lauds but also at Matins: indeed on Sundays and the more solemn feasts, after two Nocturns with 6 psalms each, a third is added, made up of 3 canticles.

The Ambrosian Breviary too, which is likewise very ancient, makes use of canticles at Matins.

Besides in the divine office, the canticles are also widely employed in the Mass, especially in the chants that follow the Epistle. For the most part, however, only certain verses are used, more rarely whole canticles. Especially notable is the use of the canticle of the three youths, already mentioned, after the fifth lesson of the Saturdays of Ember Days, when, instead of answering Deo gratias, one proceeds immediately to sing a part of it. Also after certain prophecies of Holy Saturday, and precisely after the fourth, the eighth and the eleventh, some verses of the canticles of Moses and of Isaiah are sung. In processions there is wide use of canticles, especially Gospel canticles, together with psalms and hymns. Noteworthy is the singing of the Benedictus at the obsequies of adults.

III. THE CANTICLES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

We have said that the canticles of the Old Testament used in the Roman breviary are fourteen: more properly one should say thirteen, because the two canticles taken from the prophet Daniel are strictly speaking nothing but two portions of the same canticle placed in the mouths of the three youths in the furnace.

Following the biblical order of the book from which they are taken, a brief review of them will be given here, indicating their place in the office, that is, the day of the week and schema I and II of Lauds, to which they are assigned.

1. 2. Moses in his first canticle (Ex. 15, 1-19: Thursday II) celebrates the wonders of the Red Sea; in the second (Deut. 32, 1-43: Saturday II) he sings of God's covenant with Israel and his immense love for the chosen people, often repaid with the blackest ingratitude. - 3. Hannah, mother of Samuel (I Sam. 2, 1-10: Wednesday II) blesses the Lord for the prodigious motherhood granted her and for the divine kindness toward the humble. This canticle has a close connection with the psalm Laudate pueri and with the Magnificat. - 4. David (II Par. 29, 10-13: Monday I), while he is gathering materials and treasures for the building of the Temple, celebrates God as the supreme being, master of all things, to whom it is most fitting to dedicate what man possesses of most beautiful and precious. - 5. Tobit (Tob. 13, 1-10: Tuesday I) celebrates the goodness of God and his designs of mercy upon the Jews even in the Babylonian captivity. - 6. Judith (Jud. 16, 15-21: Wednesday I) sings of the power of God in creation and in the defense of his people. - 7. Jesus son of Sirach, author of Ecclesiasticus (Eccl. 36, 1-16: Saturday I) prays to God for the Israelites dispersed throughout the world, that he may make himself recognized by all peoples, gather Israel together and restore to Jerusalem her ancient glory. - 8. 9. Isaiah in the first canticle (Is. 20, 1-6: Monday II) invites us to praise God, proclaiming the liberation from Babylonian slavery; in the second (45, 16-26: Friday I) he raises a hymn of jubilation to the invincible God, savior of Israel and author of all things, absolute arbiter of human destinies. Of Isaiah one should also remember the canticle reported in ch. 6 vv. 1, 2, on the benefits done by God to his beloved vineyard, that is, to the people of Israel; it is sung on Holy Saturday morning after the fifth prophecy. - 10. Hezekiah, prodigiously freed from a mortal illness (Is. 38, 10-20: Tuesday II) poetically sets forth the anguish of extreme peril and the joy of sudden recovery. - 11. Jeremiah (Jer. 31, 10-24: Thursday I), comforted by God with the vision of Israel's forgiveness, sings the joy of the return from Babylon. - 12. 13. The three youths, Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael (Dan. 3, 52-56; 3, 57-88: Sunday II and I), moved at seeing themselves prodigiously delivered from an atrocious death, feeling themselves incapable alone of thanking God sufficiently, turn to all creatures that they may join them in divine praise. It is the biblical canticle most used in the Church from the earliest times and is also used in the Mass of the Saturday of the Ember Days after the fifth lesson. It has a movement of great simplicity, passing in review one after another all the works of God that fill heaven and earth, inviting them to bless, praise and extol their Lord. It gave the inspiration to St. Francis for the canticle of the creatures. - 14. Habakkuk (Hob. 3, 1-19: Friday II) exalts divine Providence, which with terrible justice and at the same time with ineffable mercy directs all human events.

IV. THE GOSPEL CANTICLES

The Gospel canticles (Benedictus, Magnificat, Nunc dimittis), the last flower of inspired Hebrew poetry, blossomed around the cradle of Jesus and sing of his divine mission as Savior of the world. For this reason the Church has deemed it fitting to have them recited every day at the end of the most important canonical hours. In the office they receive special honors, which in some way recall the solemnity of the Gospel at Mass. They are sung standing, making the great sign of the cross at the beginning and repeating the musical intonation at each verse: if desired, a more ornate and solemn tone may be used. In the solemn Vespers, moreover, which is the evening parallel of the Mass, during the singing of the Magnificat the most important and most evocative ceremony takes place, which is the incensation.

Pietro Alberici