To hear 30-second samples on your Windows Media Player, just click on SAMPLE.
First Nocturne
1 Antiphon and Psalm Astiterunt and Psalm 2 VIII 1:08 (SAMPLE)
2 Antiphon and Psalm Diviserunt and Psalm 21 VIII 1:06
3 Antiphon and Psalm Insurrexerunt and Psalm 26 VIII 0:58
4 Responsory Omnes amici III 3:18
5 Responsory Velum templi II 3:09
6 Responsory Vinea mea VIII 2:59
Second Nocturne
7 Antiphon and Psalm Vim faciebant and Psalm 37 VIII 0:52 (SAMPLE)
8 Antiphon and Psalm Confundantur and Psalm 39 II 1:00
9 Antiphon and Psalm Alieni and Psalm 53 II 1:05
10 Responsory Tamquam VIII 3:30
11 Responsory Tenebrae VII 3:05
12 Responsory Animam meam VIII 4:01
Third Nocturne
13 Antiphon and Psalm Ab insurgentibus and Psalm 58 I 1:10 (SAMPLE)
14 Antiphon and Psalm Longe fecisti and Psalm 87 VIII 0:59
15 Antiphon and Psalm Captabunt and Psalm 93 VIII 0:56
16 Responsory Tradiderunt VI 2:39
17 Responsory Iesum tradidit VI 2:46
18 Responsory Caligaverunt V 2:36
Lauds
19 Antiphon and Psalm Proprio Filio and Psalm 50 VII 1:22 (SAMPLE)
20 Antiphon and Psalm Anxiatus est and Psalm 142 IV 1:13
21 Antiphon and Psalm Ait latro and Psalm 84 I 1:29
22 Antiphon Dum conturbata and canticle I 1:04
23 Antiphon and Psalm Memento mei and Psalm 147 VIII 0:55
24 Antiphon Posuerunt and Benedictus I 4:13
25 Responsory Christus factus est V 3:20
26 Hymn Pange lingua I 4:39
27 Responsory Insurrexerunt III 3:30
28 Responsory Vadis propitiator VII 3:11
29 Hymn Vexilla regis I 3:42
Lent
Lent (Great Lent, or the Great Fast in Eastern Christianity) is the period of the Christian liturgical year leading up to Easter (Pascha), the purpose of which is the preparation of the believer --- through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial --- for the annual commemoration, during Holy Week, of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.
Lent probably originated in the early church with the pre-Easter baptismal preparation of catechumens; the number of days set aside for fasting was variable. In time, the 40 day fasts of Moses, Elijah, and especially Jesus, probably inspired the institution of 40 days as the duration of Lent, first mentioned by the Canons of Nicaea (AD 325). Initially the 40 day fast began on a Monday, and was intended only for the catechumens preparing to enter the Church at Easter; eventually the whole church observed the fast. Like Western Lent, Great Lent lasts for forty days, but unlike in the West, Sundays are included in the count. Great Lent officially begins on Clean Monday, seven weeks before Pascha (Ash Wednesday is not observed in Eastern Christianity). The practice of Lent was virtually universal in Christendom until the Protestant Reformation. Some Protestant churches do not observe Lent, but many, such as Lutherans, Methodists, and Anglicans do.
The earliest fasts of Lent tended to be very strict, allowing one meal a day, plus abstinence from many foods. The Eastern Churches retain this strictness; the foods traditionally abstained from are meat and dairy products, fish, wine and oil. Now, in the Western Church, only Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are enjoined as strict fast days, but Fridays are set aside for abstinence from meat. Sundays are not a part of the Lenten fast, because Sunday is always a feast of the resurrection. The Western liturgical color of Lent is violet, symbolizing royalty and penitence. Certain devotions and liturgies have developed during the Lenten season, including (in the West), the Stations of the Cross.
In Latin the term quadragesima (translation of the original Greek tessarakoste, the "fortieth day" before Easter) is used for the season of Lent. In the late Middle Ages, as sermons began to be given in the vernacular instead of Latin, the English word "Lent" was adopted. This word initially simply meant spring (as in German language Lenz and Dutch lente) and derives from the Germanic root for "long" because in the spring the days visibly lengthen.
St. Peter's Abbey: Solesmes, France
Solesmes Abbey (Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes) is a Benedictine monastery in Solesmes, France, famous as the source of the restoration of Benedictine life in France after the Revolution.
It was founded in 1010 as a Benedictine priory. Maintaining a mostly quiet existence for centuries, it began a slow decline in the 17th century, and was dissolved in 1791 during the French Revolution.
In the 1830s a locally-born priest, Prosper Guéranger, inspired by the vision of a restored monastic life in France, acquired the remaining buildings for a new Benedictine community. By 1837 Solesmes was elevated to the rank of an abbey and made the head of the newly created French Benedictine Congregation, now the Solesmes Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation. The abbey was closed several times by French legislation, and between 1901 and 1922 the monks were forced into exile in England. The community survived those trials and those of two world wars and is still at Solesmes.
The abbey is noted for its crucial contribution to the advancement of the Roman Catholic liturgy through its work in Gregorian chant: restoration of melodies, scholarly research, publication of liturgical books for the Church, and recordings of the liturgy.
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