Aberdeen Breviary: the Sunday office of the psalter (Scottish) (printed at Edinburgh, 1509–10, for Bishop William Elphinstone)

The Title of the Psalter

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Psalter of David, set out for the praise and honour of God according to the custom and use of the famous cathedral church of Aberdeen in Scotland, for the days of every week of the year, with invitatories, antiphons, chapters, hymns, lauds, hours and their preces carefully placed where they belong, and duly divided.

Sunday Matins: the Invitatories of the Year

Aberdeen gives the Sunday invitatory for each season at the head of the Psalter, where Sarum scatters them through the Temporale. Each is followed by Psalm 95, Venite.

First Sunday of Advent: Behold, the King cometh: let us go forth to meet our Saviour.

Second Sunday of Advent: Our King, Christ, shall come, whom John preached as the Lamb that was to come.

Third Sunday of Advent: Behold, now the fulness of the times is come, in which God sent his Son, born of a virgin, made under the law. O come, let us worship.

Fourth Sunday of Advent: Ye that wait for the Redeemer, lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.

From the first Sunday after the octave of the Epiphany (when the history Domine ne in ira begins) to Septuagesima: Let us come before the presence of the Lord, and show ourselves glad in him with psalms.

On Septuagesima and Quinquagesima only, and so to Lent: For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

From the first Sunday after the octave of Trinity (when the history Deus omnium begins) to the first Sunday after the Kalends of September: Let us praise Jesus Christ, for he is the Redeemer of all ages.

From the first Sunday after the Kalends of September to the first Sunday after the Kalends of October: Let us praise the name of the Lord, for he is sweet in hymns; give thanks unto him, for he is the Lord our God.

From the first Sunday after the Kalends of October: a further invitatory, which is not legible in the scan used here.

From the first Sunday after the Kalends of November to Advent: O Lord God, heavenly King, who sittest upon the throne, have mercy upon us.

Sunday Matins: the Hymns

In Advent, at Matins on all Sundays and weekdays when the office is of Advent, until the vigil of Christmas: The heavenly Word proceeding forth, who of old came out from the Father, who, being born, dost succour the world as the course of time declines: enlighten now our breasts and burn them with thy love, that, hearing thy proclamation, things that are wanton may at last be driven out. And when thou, the Judge, shalt come after to search out the deeds of the heart, rendering punishment for hidden sins and the kingdom to the righteous for their goodness, may we not be shut out among the wicked for the nature of our crimes, but, sharing the lot of the blessed, may we be eternal dwellers in heaven. Praise, honour, power and glory be to God the Father and the Son, together with the holy Comforter, for ever and ever. Amen.

From the octave of the Epiphany to Lent: Primo dierum omnium, as at Sarum, with its doxology Praesta, Pater piissime; and at Lauds, Jam nunc paterna claritas. Until the Purification the doxology is Gloria tibi, Domine.

From Deus omnium to Advent, when the office is of the Sunday: Rising by night, let us all keep watch, and ever meditate on the psalms; and with all our strength let us sing sweet hymns to the Lord: that, singing together to the holy King, we may with his saints be worthy to enter the court of heaven and lead the blessed life together. Grant us this, O blessed Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and likewise of the Holy Spirit, whose glory resounds in all the world. Amen.

Sunday Matins: the Antiphons of the First Nocturn

Psalm 1, Beatus vir, and the psalms following are said in course, as at Sarum. The antiphon on the first nocturn changes with the season:

On all Sundays from the first Sunday of Advent to Christmas: The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until he come that is to be sent.

On all Sundays from the octave of the Epiphany to Passion Sunday, when the office is of the Sunday: Serve the Lord in fear.

On all Sundays from Trinity Sunday to Advent, when the office is of the Sunday: He is rightly called blessed for his faith's sake, who meditateth on the law of the Lord day and night.

Then the further antiphons of the nocturn, by season. In Advent: He shall be the expectation of the nations; he shall wash his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes. From the octave of the Epiphany to Passiontide: O Lord my God, in thee have I put my trust. In summer: O God, just judge, strong and patient and kind, faithful defender of them that hope in thee.

At Compline from the Ascension, antiphon to Nunc dimittis: Alleluia. Christ ascending on high, alleluia, led captivity captive, alleluia, alleluia. So Compline is said daily until Pentecost, of whatever the office be, except in the commemoration of the Blessed Mary.

On the vigil of Pentecost and through its octave: antiphon on the psalms, Alleluia (four times). Psalm Cum invocarem. Chapter: Thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us. Hymn: Salvator mundi. V. Keep us. Antiphon to Nunc dimittis: Alleluia. The Holy Ghost, the Comforter, alleluia, shall teach you all things, alleluia, alleluia.

On the day of Pentecost and the three days following, in place of the hymn, this sequence: Let the kindly choir of the Lord now sing the names of the Most High: Messias, Soter, Emmanuel, Sabaoth, Adonai; the Only-begotten, the Way, the Life, the Hand, Homoousion; the Beginning, the First-born, Wisdom, Power; Alpha, the Head, the End, is he called, and is Omega; the Fount and Origin of good, the Paraclete and Mediator; the Lamb, the Sheep, the Calf, the Serpent, the Ram, the Lion, the Worm; the Mouth, the Word, the Splendour, the Sun, the Glory, the Light and the Image; the Bread, the Flower, the Vine, the Mountain, the Door, the Rock and the Stone; the Angel and Bridegroom, the Shepherd, Prophet and Priest; Athanatos, Kyrios, Theos, Pantocrator, Jesus: may he save us, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

The rest of Lauds, the hours, Vespers and Compline follow the Sarum order.