Roman Breviary

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, is now, * and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Alleluia.

Come let us praise the Lord with joy: let us joyfully sing to God our saviour. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and make a joyful noise to him with psalms.

For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. For the Lord will not cast off his people: for in his hand are all the ends of the earth, and the heights of the mountains are his.

For the sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. (genuflect) Come let us adore and fall down: and weep before the Lord that made us: For he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.

Today if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts: As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, they proved me, and saw my works.

Forty years long was I offended with that generation, and I said: These always err in heart. And these men have not known my ways: so I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest.

77:1 Attend, O my people, to my law: * incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

77:2 I will open my mouth in parables: * I will utter propositions from the beginning.

77:3 How great things have we heard and known, * and our fathers have told us.

77:4 They have not been hidden from their children, * in another generation.

77:4 Declaring the praises of the Lord, and his powers, * and his wonders which he hath done.

77:5 And he set up a testimony in Jacob: * and made a law in Israel.

77:5 How great things he commanded our fathers, that they should make the same known to their children: * that another generation might know them.

77:6 The children that should be born and should rise up, * and declare them to their children.

77:7 That they may put their hope in God and may not forget the works of God: * and may seek his commandments.

77:8 That they may not become like their fathers, * a perverse and exasperating generation.

77:8 A generation that set not their heart aright: * and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

77:9 The sons of Ephraim who bend and shoot with the bow: * they have turned back in the day of battle.

77:10 They kept not the covenant of God: * and in his law they would not walk.

77:11 And they forgot his benefits, * and his wonders that he had shewn them.

77:12 Wonderful things did he do in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, * in the field of Tanis.

77:13 He divided the sea and brought them through: * and he made the waters to stand as in a vessel.

77:14 And he conducted them with a cloud by day: * and all the night with a light of fire.

77:15 He struck the rock in the wilderness: * and gave them to drink, as out of the great deep.

77:16 He brought forth water out of the rock: * and made streams run down as rivers.

77:17 And they added yet more sin against him: * they provoked the most High to wrath in the place without water.

77:18 And they tempted God in their hearts, * by asking meat for their desires.

77:19 And they spoke ill of God: * they said: Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

77:20 Because he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out, * and the streams overflowed.

77:20 Can he also give bread, * or provide a table for his people?

77:21 Therefore the Lord heard, and was angry: * and a fire was kindled against Jacob, and wrath came up against Israel.

77:22 Because they believed not in God: * and trusted not in his salvation.

77:23 And he had commanded the clouds from above, * and had opened the doors of heaven.

77:24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, * and had given them the bread of heaven.

77:25 Man ate the bread of angels: * he sent them provisions in abundance.

77:26 He removed the south wind from heaven: * and by his power brought in the southwest wind.

77:27 And he rained upon them flesh as dust: * and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea.

77:28 And they fell in the midst of their camp, * round about their pavilions.

77:29 So they did eat, and were filled exceedingly, and he gave them their desire: * they were not defrauded of that which they craved.

77:30 As yet their meat was in their mouth: * and the wrath of God came upon them.

77:31 And he slew the fat ones amongst them, * and brought down the chosen men of Israel.

77:32 In all these things they sinned still: * and they believed not for his wondrous works.

77:33 And their days were consumed in vanity, * and their years in haste.

77:34 When he slew them, then they sought him: * and they returned, and came to him early in the morning.

77:35 And they remembered that God was their helper: * and the most high God their redeemer.

77:36 And they loved him with their mouth: * and with their tongue they lied unto him:

77:37 But their heart was not right with him: * nor were they counted faithful in his covenant.

77:38 But he is merciful, and will forgive their sins: * and will not destroy them.

77:38 And many a time did he turn away his anger: * and did not kindle all his wrath.

77:39 And he remembered that they are flesh: * a wind that goeth and returneth not.

77:40 How often did they provoke him in the desert: * and move him to wrath in the place without water?

77:41 And they turned back and tempted God: * and grieved the holy one of Israel.

77:42 They remembered not his hand, * in the day that he redeemed them from the hand of him that afflicted them:

77:43 How he wrought his signs in Egypt, * and his wonders in the field of Tanis.

77:44 And he turned their rivers into blood, * and their showers that they might not drink.

77:45 He sent amongst them diverse sorts of flies, which devoured them: * and frogs which destroyed them.

77:46 And he gave up their fruits to the blast, * and their labours to the locust.

77:47 And he destroyed their vineyards with hail, * and their mulberry trees with hoarfrost.

77:48 And he gave up their cattle to the hail, * and their stock to the fire.

77:49 And he sent upon them the wrath of his indignation: * indignation and wrath and trouble, which he sent by evil angels.

77:50 He made a way for a path to his anger: * he spared not their souls from death, and their cattle he shut up in death.

77:51 And he killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt: * the firstfruits of all their labour in the tabernacles of Cham.

77:52 And he took away his own people as sheep: * and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

77:53 And he brought them out in hope, and they feared not: * and the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

77:54 And he brought them into the mountain of his sanctuary: * the mountain which his right hand had purchased.

77:54 And he cast out the Gentiles before them: * and by lot divided to them their land by a line of distribution.

77:55 And he made the tribes of Israel * to dwell in their tabernacles.

77:56 Yet they tempted, and provoked the most high God: * and they kept not his testimonies.

77:57 And they turned away, and kept not the covenant: * even like their fathers they were turned aside as a crooked bow.

77:58 They provoked him to anger on their hills: * and moved him to jealousy with their graven things.

77:59 God heard, and despised them, * and he reduced Israel exceedingly as it were to nothing.

77:60 And he put away the tabernacle of Silo, * his tabernacle where he dwelt among men.

77:61 And he delivered their strength into captivity: * and their beauty into the hands of the enemy.

77:62 And he shut up his people under the sword: * and he despised his inheritance.

77:63 Fire consumed their young men: * and their maidens were not lamented.

77:64 Their priests fell by the sword: * and their widows did not mourn.

77:65 And the Lord was awaked as one out of sleep, * and like a mighty man that hath been surfeited with wine.

77:66 And he smote his enemies on the hinder parts: * he put them to an everlasting reproach.

77:67 And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph: * and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

77:68 But he chose the tribe of Juda, * mount Sion which he loved.

77:69 And he built his sanctuary as of unicorns, in the land * which he founded for ever.

77:70 And he chose his servant David, and took him from the flocks of sheep: * he brought him from following the ewes great with young,

77:71 To feed Jacob his servant, * and Israel his inheritance.

77:72 And he fed them in the innocence of his heart: * and conducted them by the skilfulness of his hands.

78:1 O God, the heathens are come into thy inheritance, they have defiled thy holy temple: * they have made Jerusalem as a place to keep fruit.

78:2 They have given the dead bodies of thy servants to be meat for the fowls of the air: * the flesh of thy saints for the beasts of the earth.

78:3 They have poured out their blood as water, round about Jerusalem, * and there was none to bury them.

78:4 We are become a reproach to our neighbours: * a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.

78:5 How long, O Lord, wilt thou be angry for ever: * shall thy zeal be kindled like a fire?

78:6 Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that have not known thee: * and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.

78:7 Because they have devoured Jacob; * and have laid waste his place.

78:8 Remember not our former iniquities: let thy mercies speedily prevent us, * for we are become exceeding poor.

78:9 Help us, O God, our saviour: and for the glory of thy name, O Lord, deliver us: * and forgive us our sins for thy name’s sake:

78:10 Lest they should say among the Gentiles: Where is their God? * And let him be made known among the nations before our eyes,

78:10 By the revenging the blood of thy servants, which hath been shed: * let the sighing of the prisoners come in before thee.

78:11 According to the greatness of thy arm, * take possession of the children of them that have been put to death.

78:12 And render to our neighbours sevenfold in their bosom: * the reproach wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.

78:13 But we thy people, and the sheep of thy pasture, * will give thanks to thee for ever.

78:13 We will shew forth thy praise, * unto generation and generation.

80:2 Rejoice to God, our helper: * sing aloud to the God of Jacob.

80:3 Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel: * the pleasant psaltery with the harp.

80:4 Blow up the trumpet on the new moon, * on the noted day of your solemnity.

80:5 For it is a commandment in Israel, * and a judgment to the God of Jacob.

80:6 He ordained it for a testimony in Joseph, when he came out of the land of Egypt: * he heard a tongue which he knew not.

80:7 He removed his back from the burdens: * his hands had served in baskets.

80:8 Thou calledst upon me in affliction, and I delivered thee: * I heard thee in the secret place of tempest: I proved thee at the waters of contradiction.

80:9 Hear, O my people, and I will testify to thee: * O Israel, if thou wilt hearken to me; there shall be no new god in thee: neither shalt thou adore a strange god.

80:11 For I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt: * open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

80:12 But my people heard not my voice: * and Israel hearkened not to me.

80:13 So I let them go according to the desires of their heart: * they shall walk in their own inventions.

80:14 If my people had heard me: * if Israel had walked in my ways:

80:15 I should soon have humbled their enemies, * and laid my hand on them that troubled them.

80:16 The enemies of the Lord have lied to him: * and their time shall be for ever.

80:17 And he fed them with the fat of wheat, * and filled them with honey out of the rock.

82:2 O God, who shall be like to thee? * Hold not thy peace, neither be thou still, O God.

82:3 For lo, thy enemies have made a noise: * and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

82:4 They have taken a malicious counsel against thy people, * and have consulted against thy saints.

82:5 They have said: Come and let us destroy them, * so that they be not a nation: and let the name of Israel be remembered no more.

82:6 For they have contrived with one consent: * they have made a covenant together against thee; the tabernacles of the Edomites, and the Ismahelites:

82:8 Moab, and the Agarens, Gebal, and Ammon and Amalec: * the Philistines, with the inhabitants of Tyre.

82:9 Yea, and the Assyrian also is joined with them: * they are come to the aid of the sons of Lot.

82:10 Do to them as thou didst to Madian and to Sisara: * as to Jabin at the brook of Cisson.

82:11 Who perished at Endor: * and became as dung for the earth.

82:12 Make their princes like Oreb, and Zeb, * and Zebee, and Salmana.

82:13 All their princes, * who have said: Let us possess the sanctuary of God for an inheritance.

82:14 O my God, make them like a wheel; * and as stubble before the wind.

82:15 As fire which burneth the wood: * and as a flame burning mountains:

82:16 So shalt thou pursue them with thy tempest: * and shalt trouble them in thy wrath.

82:17 Fill their faces with shame; * and they shall seek thy name, O Lord.

82:18 Let them be ashamed and troubled for ever and ever: * and let them be confounded and perish.

82:19 And let them know that the Lord is thy name: * thou alone art the most High over all the earth.

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Lesson from the book of Daniel

11 Wherefore those men carefully watching him, found Daniel praying and making supplication to his God.

12 And they came and spoke to the king concerning the edict: O king, hast thou not decreed, that every man that should make a request to any of the gods, or men, for thirty days, but to thyself, O king, should be cast into the den of the lions? And the king answered them, saying: The word is true according to the decree of the Medes and Persians, which it is not lawful to violate.

13 Then they answered, and said before the king: Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Juda, hath not regarded thy law, nor the decree that thou hast made: but three times a day he maketh his prayer.

14 Now when the king had heard these words, he was very much grieved, and in behalf of Daniel he set his heart to deliver him and even till sunset he laboured to save him.

15 But those men perceiving the king's design, said to him: Know thou, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, that no decree which the king hath made, may be altered.

16 Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of the lions. And the king said to Daniel: thy God, whom thou always servest, he will deliver thee.

17 And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den: which the king sealed with his own ring, and with the ring of his nobles, that nothing should be done against Daniel.

18 And the king went away to his house and laid himself down without taking supper, and meat was not set before him, and even sleep departed from him.

19 Then the king rising very early in the morning, went in haste to the lions' den:

20 And coming near to the den, cried with a lamentable voice to Daniel, and said to him: Daniel, servant of the living God, hath thy God, whom thou servest always, been able, thinkest thou, to deliver thee from the lions?

21 And Daniel answering the king, said: O king, live for ever:

22 My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut up the mouths of the lions, and they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him justice hath been found in me: yea and before thee, O king, I have done no offence.

23 Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and he commanded that Daniel should be taken out of the den: and Daniel was taken out of the den, and no hurt was found in him, because he believed in his God.

24 And by the king's commandment, those men were brought that had accused Daniel: and they were cast into the lions' den, they and their children, and their wives: and they did not reach the bottom of the den, before the lions caught them, and broke all their bones in pieces.

Didacus was a Spaniard from the town of San Nicolas del Puerto in the diocese of Seville. From his early youth he served his apprenticeship in the life of holiness under the guidance of a good priest. Then, in order to unite himself more closely with God, he was professed as lay brother in the convent of Arizafa under the rule of St. Francis of Assisi. There he submitted eagerly to the yoke of humble obedience and regular observance, devoting himself primarily to contemplation. And God's life was so wonderfully poured on him that, although he was unlettered, he used to speak of heavenly things in remarkable way which was clearly due to divine inspiration. At a mission in the Canary Islands he endured many hardships, burning with the desire for martyrdom, and brought many unbelievers by his words and example to faith in Christ. He was sent to care for the sick at the convent of Ara Coeli at Rome, and carried out this work in a wonderful spirit of charity, the grace of healing shining out from him. Finally at Alcala he departed this life, in most holy way in the year 1463. Famous for miracles, he was numbered among Saints by Sixtus V.

We praise thee, O God, * we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.

All the earth doth worship thee, * the Father everlasting.

To thee all Angels cry aloud, * the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.

To thee Cherubim and Seraphim * continually do cry.

bow head Holy, Holy, Holy * Lord God of Sabaoth;

Heaven and earth are full * of the Majesty of thy glory.

The glorious company of the Apostles * praise thee.

The goodly fellowship of the Prophets * praise thee.

The noble army of Martyrs * praise thee.

The holy Church throughout all the world * doth acknowledge thee;

The Father, * of an infinite Majesty.

Thine honourable, true, * and only Son;

Also the Holy Ghost, * the Comforter.

Thou art the King of Glory, * O Christ.

Thou art the everlasting * Son of the Father.

During the following verse all make a profound bow: When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, * thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.

When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, * thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.

Thou sittest at the right hand of God, * in the glory of the Father.

We believe that thou shalt come * to be our Judge.

Kneel for the following verse We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, * whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious Blood.

Make them to be numbered with thy Saints, * in glory everlasting.

O Lord, save thy people, * and bless thine heritage.

Govern them, * and lift them up for ever.

Day by day * we magnify thee;

During the following verse, by local custom, all make a profound bow. And we worship thy Name * ever, world without end.

Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us * this day without sin.

O Lord, have mercy upon us, * have mercy upon us.

O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, * as our trust is in thee.

O Lord, in thee have I trusted, * let me never be confounded.

Let us pray.

O Almighty and everlasting God, Who in thy wonderful ordinance dost choose the weak things of the world to bring to nought the things that are strong, mercifully grant unto us thine unworthy servants, at the kindly prayers of thy blessed Confessor Diego, worthily to attain unto everlasting glory in heaven.

Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.