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Morning Prayer
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Morning Prayer (also Mattins or Matins), in the various editions of the Book of Common Prayer and other Anglican liturgical texts, was, until the last half of the twentieth century, the main Sunday morning service on most Sundays in all but the most high church Anglican parishes, with Holy Communion being the main Sunday morning service once or twice per month or quarterly in some rare instances.
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Morning Prayer (also Mattins or Matins), in the various editions of the Book of Common Prayer and other Anglican liturgical texts, was, until the last half of the twentieth century, the main Sunday morning service on most Sundays in all but the most high church Anglican parishes, with Holy Communion being the main Sunday morning service once or twice per month or quarterly in some rare instances. Like Evensong (and in contrast to the Eucharist), it can be led by a layperson and is recited by some Anglicans daily in private (clergy in many Anglican jurisdictions are required to do so).
History
Immediately prior to the English Reformation, while the Mass — the sacrament of Holy Communion — was celebrated as the main Sunday morning parish service, it was the custom for parishioners to "communicate" only once a year, at Easter. Thus, the Reformers’ institution of quarterly communion at which all present were expected to communicate was a considerable increase in the frequency of communion for ordinary parishioners.
On other Sundays, the Reformers instituted Mattins as the main service, and its classic form, in the standard 1662 version of the Prayer Book, is essentially unchanged from Archbishop Thomas Cranmer’s Second Prayer Book of Edward VI, published in 1552. It draws on the monastic offices of Matins, Lauds and Prime, beginning with opening versicles and responses, continuing with the invitatory "Venite" (Psalm 95), the "Te Deum" and "Benedictus", interspersed with Bible readings, as well as recitation of the Apostles’ Creed, and ending with closing versicles adapted from the Breviary. The Prayer Book lectionary provides for a virtually complete reading of the Bible in the course of a year.
The usual practice in medieval parish worship was for the congregation to attend the office of Matins, followed by the Latin Mass according to the Roman Rite, followed by the Litany of the Saints, sung in procession. Following the Reformation, the usual Sunday Service followed a similar pattern, but with the English Litany said between Mattins and Holy Communion. On Sundays when there was no celebration of Communion (i.e. most of them), only the ante-Communion would be said. Even so — and taking into account the legal requirement to read one from the specified set of printed Homilies — the post-Reformation service lasted more than twice as long as as its pre-Reformation equivalent.
Origins of liturgical shape
The Breviary in its original monastic context contemplated recitation by two alternating groups of monks or nuns. This evolved into a recitation between parson and clerk on behalf of the congregation; in the 19th century the role of the clerk was increasingly given over to the whole congregation and choirs and congregations began singing the psalms and canticles to a musical setting known as Anglican chant. With the development of the Oxford Movement and increasing liturgicalism among high church-inclined clergy and parishes, Anglican chant was increasingly displaced by plainchant in very Anglo-Catholic constituencies, to the extent that Morning Prayer survived at all other than as a minor devotional exercise prior to the celebration of the eucharist.
One naturally thinks of the Prayer Book offices of Morning and Evening Prayer as the quintessential Evangelical or Low Church expression of Anglican worship. In fact, Nicholas Ferrer’s 17th century religious community at Little Gidding, commemorated in T.S. Eliot’s eponymous poem, required daily recitation of Morning and Evening Prayer, as well as the entire Psalter and inspired a not unsuccessful Victorian attempt at reviving monastic life within the Anglican Church. That being said, perhaps the most famous Anglican divine of the period from 1660 till the great 19th century Anglican reformers in both evangelical and catholic traditions was Jonathan Swift, the Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin: he preached in a black academic gown, as was the custom of his time, but he also celebrated weekly Holy Communion — and was thought decidedly eccentric for it.
Possibly more consistent with 18th century religiosity, though astonishingly incongruous in view of subsequent developments, the daily office of Morning and Evening Prayer as set out in the Book of Common Prayer was the essence of John and Charles Wesley's "method", which also included scriptural study, fasting and regular reception of Holy Communion.
Elements
Traditional prayer books
In classical Anglican prayer books (such as the 1662 English, 1959 Canadian and 1928 American editions), the rite consists of the following elements:
- One or more sentences of scripture, traditionally carrying a penitential theme.
- An exhortation urging the worshippers to repentance and also expressing the nature of worship.
- A general confession.
- A lengthy absolution by the priest detailing the conditions for forgiveness.
- Preces — a series of responsory prayers including, in the English prayer book, "O Lord, save the Queen, And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee" altered in the American prayer book to "O Lord save the state" and in Canada with the response truncated to "And evermore mightily defend us."
- A portion of the Psalter, usually two or three psalms.
- Two lessons (readings) from the Bible.
- Two canticles plus the Te Deum
- The Apostles' Creed.
- Several prayers and responses, including the Kyrie Eleison and the Lord's Prayer and prayers for "Our Sovereign Lady Elizabeth" in Commonwealth Realms and for the state in the United States.
- An anthem following the third collect ("In quires and places where they sing, here followeth the anthem," in the well-known phraseology of the 1662 edition of the English prayer book).
Other than in some cathedrals and college chapels, usually only one psalm is said or sung. A sermon or homily may be preached at the end on Sundays or other special occasions, such as important feast days, but does not form a set part of the liturgy. However, when Mattins has been the principal Sunday morning service, the sermon has been of central importance and indeed in Samuel Pepys's Diary, documenting domestic habits of the 1660s in the London professional class and nobility, the reference is to going to hear a particular preacher — the term during the Restoration period, as under the Puritans, was "minister" and indeed as it is in the Prayer Book in the morning and evening offices — speak.
Common Worship
Common Worship: Daily Prayer offers a contemporary form of the liturgy. After the opening versicle, a hymn, prayer, and/or canticle are said or sung. A prayer is followed by psalms, canticles, and readings. The service concludes with intercessions, the collect, and the Lord's Prayer. Provision is also made for the continued use of the rite found in the Alternative Service Book. This rite is largely a contemporary rendering of the Prayer Book rite. The structure is:
Preparation:
- an opening versicle, 'O Lord open our lips', its response, and a second seasonally appropriate versicle and response.
One or more of the following:
- a prayer of thanksgiving, varying according to season and ending with “Blessed be God for ever.”
- a suitable hymn
- an opening canticle
- an opening prayer, if desired
One of the following may replace the Preparation:
- a Form of Penitence
- The Acclamation of Christ at the Dawning of the Day. This includes provision for the Invitatory--Psalm 95 or verses from it--that may be used with antiphons.
The Word of God:
- psalmody, each with an optional antiphon and psalm prayer.
- an Old Testament canticle
- provision is given for a "Psalm of Praise" to be said after the canticle, or if desired, before it. The psalms suggested for this purpose are Psalm 117 on Sunday, Psalm 146 on Monday, half of Psalm 147 on Tuesday, the other half on Wednesday, Psalm 148 on Thursday, Psalm 149 on Friday and Psalm 150 on Saturday.
- reading(s) from Holy Scripture
- a Responsory. This varies according to the season, and in ordinary time, the same is used as the Responsory in Evening Prayer.
- the Benedictus as the Gospel Canticle, preceded and concluded with optional antiphons specific for each day, with ferial, festal and seasonal variations. Another canticle may replace the Benedictus if desired.
Prayers:
- intercessions and, especially in the evening, thanksgivings
- the Collect of the day, or the prayer which is printed in the service, or another prayer or collect.
- the Lord’s Prayer, preceded by an optional seasonally-appropriate introduction.
Conclusion:
- on Sundays and feasts outside of Lent the Te Deum Laudamus (or other canticle) may be used.
- a blessing or the Grace
- a concluding response, if desired
- the Peace may replace or follow the Conclusion
American Episcopal Church
In the Episcopal Church, like Evening Prayer and the Eucharist, Morning Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer (1979) is provided in two forms. Both are substantially similar, but one retains some concessions to traditional Elizabethan "Prayer Book" language.
After a sentence of scripture a General Confession is made. A priest if present, absolves the people. Then follows the opening versicle, an antiphon and the Venite or another psalm or canticle. The appointed psalms are then said or sung, one or two lessons are read, each with a canticle. The Apostles' Creed and Lord's Prayer follow, then the suffrages, and various prayers. The service concludes with the grace.
Book of Alternative Services
The Book of Alternative Services of the Anglican Church of Canada provides a simple form for Morning Prayer. The service may begin with the Penitential Rite or proceed directly to the preces. The Venite is said or sung, followed by one to three readings and one or more canticles. The Apostle's Creed or the Summary of the Law is said before the intercessions. The service concludes with the Lord's Prayer and dismissal.
Canticles
In Morning Prayer according to the Book of Common Prayer, the first canticle of Mattins is always the Venite, Psalm 95 ("O come let us sing unto the Lord: let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation..."). The Te Deum — not, strictly speaking, a canticle as such — ("We praise thee O God, we acknowledge thee to be the Lord: all the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting...") usually follows, but may be replaced by the Benedicite, particularly in Lent. The Benedictus ("Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people: and hath raised up a might salvation for us, in the house of his servant David...") may be replaced with the Jubilate (Psalm 100, "O be joyful in the Lord all ye lands: serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a psalm..."), Salvator Mundi ("O Saviour of the world who by thy cross and precious blood hath redeemed us, save us and help us we humbly beseech thee O Lord: thou didst save thy disciples when ready to perish; save us and help us we humbly beseech thee..."), Surge illuminare ("Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee: for behold, gross darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people..."), Benedicite omnia opera ("O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord...") or other canticles as the liturgical year proceeds.
Music
See above regarding Anglican chant, used for psalms and canticles.
Throughout post-Reformation English history significant events in national life have been commemorated with specially commissioned church services. Traditionally these have been services of Morning Prayer and thus the famous Te Deums and Jubilates of Purcell, Handel and others. Handel's Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate (as with many other settings of the Mattins canticles, though the Te Deum is not strictly speaking a canticle), is of course a festal setting of Morning Prayer.
"In quires and places where they sing, here followeth the anthem," it says after the Third Collect in the 1662 Prayer Book, and the vast majority of church anthems composed prior to the latter part of the 20th century were contemplated as complying with that rubric. These anthems were also sung, from the second half of the nineteenth century onwards, in British Nonconformist churches.
As a principal Sunday church service Morning Prayer includes several congregational hymns.
See also
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