![]() ![]() If we were to visit a cathedral in 1549 for the daily services of the Divine Office one week, and then hear their transformation. It might seem at first that the Anglican tradition of daily prayer was not in continuity with the Middle Ages at all, but was in fact a dramatic break with the immediate medieval past. Bradshaw has drawn attention to "the recovery of more ancient patterns of daily prayer in official publications," which, he argues, may "better serve the needs of new generations of worshippers." (2) He acknowledges, however, that "the traditional Anglican emphasis on daily psalm recitation and Bible reading"-which, as he points out, was not the practice of the early Church but rather a liturgical contribution of the Middle Ages-"continues to offer spiritual sustenance to those who are familiar with its rhythms." (3) It is the purpose of this paper to trace the development of a Divine Office spirituality shaped by the medieval emphasis on the liturgical recitation of scripture, in which the worshipper comes through the "words" of scripture to a living encounter with the Word of God in Christ, and to suggest that this spirituality may yet have something vital to offer, not just to those already familiar with it, but to those approaching the Divine Office afresh. It seems timely that an examination of the "medieval" dimension of Anglican Office spirituality should be offered, because the medieval background of the Anglican offices is today commonly seen as a weakness. And from the time of the Reformation the daily offices were proposed not just as a clerical or monastic discipline (as, for example, in the Roman communion), but as the joint prayer of the whole worshipping community, lay and ordained. Until very recently, the offices of Mattins and Evensong, not the Eucharist, were for Anglicans the principal act of Sunday worship. The Divine Office has arguably been more important for Anglicans than it has been for any other Christian denomination. ![]() This paper addresses just one aspect of Anglican worship, the Divine Office, the daily services of Mattins and Evensong. But the Middle Ages made their own distinctive contribution to Anglican worship that invites our attention. The order of prayers, praises, and readings proper to each season, day, and time of day in the Book of Hours serves to sanctify time. A book containing the Office is known as an Office Book, Breviary, or Book of Hours. It is also known as the Liturgy of the Hours or the Divine Office. But I imagine that he would be disappointed that I was not going to show how Anglican liturgical spirituality could be traced right back to the Fathers of the early Christian centuries. The Daily Office is the official prayer of the Church. Robert Darwin Crouse (1930-2011), Professor of Classics at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and several times Visiting Professor of Patrology at the Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum of the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, was indeed deeply learned in the history and theology of the Middle Ages, that is, the millennium following the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West (conventionally dated ca. The title of this paper (1) is perhaps not one that would have been chosen by the priest and scholar in whose memory it is offered. ![]()
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