The term applied to a psalter whose arrangement reflects the distribution of the 150 psalms according to the daily and weekly cycle of the Divine Office. It may also signify the Latin text form of the psalms used in a particular medieval rite (Roman, Gallican, Ambrosian). All these Latin text forms of the psalms were translations of the Septuagint, itself a Greek translation (3rd century bce) of the original Hebrew text. The earliest Latin translations of the psalms originated in Africa during the 2nd century ce. These translations, dependent on the private initiative of individual Christians, generated a wide array of variant readings, manuscript evidence for which survives from the 5th century to the 8th.
In about 383, partly to resolve the confusion of these multiple renderings, Jerome undertook a revision and correction of the psalter text. Although this revision has been lost, it was for a long time erroneously identified with the ‘Roman’ psalter. The Roman psalter remained in use for the Divine Office in the city of Rome and its environs throughout much of the Middle Ages. In England, evangelized by Augustine at the behest of Pope Gregory I (pontificate 590–604), the Roman psalter was the favoured liturgical text until the Norman Conquest. It is the source from which the Mass chants of the medieval Roman liturgy were derived.
Jerome, after moving to Palestine in 385, made another revision of the Latin psalter (386–97), for which he was able to draw upon the resources of the Hexapla edition of the Old Testament compiled by Origen (d 254). The Hexapla displayed in parallel columns the Hebrew text, the same transcribed into Greek characters, together with the Greek versions produced by three Jewish translators (Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion); a quinta column contained Origen's own critical edition of the Septuagint. Since Jerome intended his revision to be a critical edition of the Latin text, he borrowed Origen's system of textual markings (obelus and asterisk) to indicate passages in which the Latin text contained more (obelus) or less (asterisk) than the Hebrew. As part of the Carolingian liturgical reforms in the late 8th century and the early 9th, this revised psalter (minus the critical apparatus) gradually replaced the Old Latin ‘Gallic’ psalter. The Irish Church had embraced this version at an early period and was responsible for its exportation to the Continent. Known as the ‘Gallican’, or sometimes the ‘Vulgate’, psalter, it was incorporated in most medieval bibles and was the text employed in the Divine Office for the weekly psalm cursus. Jerome revised the psalter a third time, relying primarily on the work of the three Jewish translators recorded in the Hexapla; this psalterium iuxta Hebraeos was never employed for liturgical purposes, but it found its way into some complete bibles.
The oldest monastic practice assigned a certain quantity of psalms to each of the prayer times. The number of daily psalms depended on the varying lengths of day and night in different seasons of the year. Thus a given psalm could occur on any day of the week or at any time of the day or night. The name psalterium currens is applied to this practice. The systematic weekly distribution of the 150 psalms probably originated in an urban monastic milieu. Benedict of Nursia in his monastic Rule (c530) adapted the weekly psalter distribution of the Roman basilical monasteries. The Roman system divided the psalter into two large groups of psalms: i–cviii for the night Office (Nocturns, also known as Matins) and cix–cxlvii for Vespers. (Psalms cxlviii–cl had a fixed place in the morning Office of Lauds.) The regular weekly traversal of the psalms could be interrupted by feasts of the temporal or sanctoral cycle, for which special psalms were required.
A liturgical psalter adapts the biblical text to the requirements of the weekly cursus of psalmody. It can include the antiphons (with music in the case of a ‘noted’ psalter) assigned to the psalms for weekdays, and it can either rearrange the biblical order or indicate how the psalms are to be fitted into the weekly cycle. The monastic or secular origins of a manuscript containing a liturgical psalter may be ascertained by examining the capitals that indicate the beginning of each day's psalmody. A psalter designed for secular use will have large initials at the beginning of Psalms i, xxvi, xxxviii, lii, lxviii, lxxx, xcvii and cix (the latter begins the vesper block, which may carry indications of daily subdivisions). The monastic sources are more complex: Psalms xx, xxxii, xlv, lix, lxxiii, lxxxv, ci and cix constitute the comparable points of reference, but capitals corresponding to the secular division may also be present. Indications pointing to the division of certain long psalms, a practice not permitted in medieval secular use, is another sign of monastic origins or adaptation. In addition to the Old Testamant canticles required for Lauds (and for the 3rd nocturn of Matins in monastic use), the three New Testament canticles and the Te Deum, a liturgical psalter might also include titles that ‘christianize’ the psalms, psalter collects, invitatories and litanies. Breviaries almost always contain a liturgical psalter. (For brief descriptions of typical psalter manuscripts, see Salmon, 47–9.)
At Milan the liturgical psalter was divided into groups of (generally) ten psalms called ‘decuriae’. The group of psalms assigned to Matins (i–cviii) covers two weeks, Monday to Friday, with a different arrangement for Saturday (Psalm cxviii and canticles) and Sunday (three canticles). The psalms assigned to Vespers, on the other hand, are sung through in a single week, perhaps the result of Roman influence. They may be displaced by special psalms for feasts.
The most radical revisions of the primitive Roman cursus occurred during the pontificates of Pius X (1903–14) and Paul VI (1963–78). The first of these reforms permitted the division of the longest psalms, and the number of psalms at Matins was reduced from 18 to nine. Daily recitation of Psalm cxviii was replaced by psalms deleted from Matins. The 1971 revision of the Roman breviary introduced even more profound changes: the recitation of the psalter now covered four weeks instead of one, and certain ‘imprecatory’ psalms (lvii, lxxxii, cviii in the Vulgate numbering) were eliminated. A few psalms (lxxvii, civ, cv) were reserved for special times of the liturgical year, while others were repeated in the course of a month. The traditional numerical ordering of the psalms was disrupted in favour of thematic congruence with either the time of day (morning, evening) or the day of the week (Friday as a weekly remembrance of the Passion, and Sunday of the Resurrection).
The liturgical changes resulting from Vatican II have stimulated the production of ‘liturgical psalters’ for use between the readings that form part of the eucharistic liturgy. These psalters are coordinated with lectionary cycles and make varied provision for congregational participation. Although musical styles vary widely, the form of the settings is generally responsorial, and the biblical text may be altered in order to make the language ‘inclusive’.
The liturgical psalter of the Byzantine Church divides the psalms into 20 sections called kathismata; each kathisma is further divided into three staseis. During most of the year, two or three kathismata are sung at the morning Office (Orthros). Kathisma 18 (Psalms cxix–cxxxiii) is chanted daily at the evening Office (Hesperinos) in the autumn and winter except on Saturday, which employs Kathisma 1 (Psalms i–viii). After Easter and in the period from 20 December to 14 January Orthros has two kathismata and the vesper kathisma changes daily. During Lent a different distribution of kathismata at Orthros is adopted, and some of the kathismata are repeated at the day hours.
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JOSEPH DYER