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  THE ORDER OF PSALMODY FOR THE DAY HOURS BEING THUS ARRANGED
  by St. Benedict of Nursia
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Summary: St. Benedict emphasizes the importance of completing the
Psalter every week and living up to the monastic vow of devotion to
Psalmody.

Topics: "Monastic Life", "Psalmody"
Scripture References: Psalm 119:164

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St. Benedict of Nursia emphasizes the importance of chanting the Psalms
in the monastic community, urging for the full 150 Psalms to be sung
every week and restarted each Sunday at the Night Office. He encourages
flexibility in the distribution of Psalms among the seven Night Offices
if the initial arrangement is unsatisfactory, as long as the full
Psalter is maintained. St. Benedict highlights the dedication of the
holy Fathers who completed the Psalms and canticles in a single day,
contrasting it with the lukewarm commitment of some monastics who fail
to fulfill this task within a week.

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CONTENT
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The order of psalmody for the day Hours being thus arranged, let all the
remaining Psalms be equally distributed among the seven Night Offices by
dividing the longer Psalms among them and assigning twelve Psalms to
each night.

We strongly recommend, however, that if this distribution of the Psalms
is displeasing to anyone, she should arrange them otherwise, in whatever
way she considers better, but taking care in any case that the Psalter
with its full number of 150 Psalms be chanted every week and begun again
every Sunday at the Night Office.

For those monastics show themselves too lazy in the service to which
they are vowed, who chant less than the Psalter with the customary
canticles in the course of a week, whereas we read that our holy Fathers
strenuously fulfilled that task in a single day. May we, lukewarm that
we are, perform it at least in a whole week!

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/st-benedict-of-nursia/the-order-of-psalmody-for-the-day-hours-being-thus-arranged/
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