October 4th - St. Francis of Assisi

The feast of St. Francis of Assisi is of double rite and its liturgical colour is white. The seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, and the first Sunday of October, is commemorated in the Office and at Mass.

At Vespers yesterday afternoon the antiphons Domine, quinque talenta etc from the Common of Confessor non-pontiffs were sung, doubled, with psalms 109, 110, 111, 112 & 116. The Office hymn was Iste Confessor. After the collect of the feast a commemoration of the Sunday was sung, the antiphon on the Magnificat being Adaperiat Dominus for the Saturday before the first Sunday of October. The Suffrages were omitted as were the Dominical preces at Compline.

At Mattins the invitatory is Regem Confessorum etc and the Office hymn is Iste Confessor. In the first nocturn (Pss. 1, 2, 3) the lessons are the Incipit of the first Book of Machabees. The first lesson is the same as in mondern editions. The second lesson is longer and continues with what are the first sentences of the modern third lesson ending ... in oculis eorum. The third lesson begins Et destinaverunt... and continues beyond the end of the modern third lesson (ut facerent malum.) until ... et accepit spolia terrae Aegypti, i.e. vv. 17 - 20 are included. In the second nocturn (Pss. 4, 5 & 8) the lessons for St. Francis are the same as those found in the modern books. In the third nocturn (Pss. 14, 20 & 23) the seventh and eighth lesson are as on the feast of St. Matthias with the Gospel Confiteor tibi Pater... These lessons are now found (in a slightly shorter version) in the Common of Abbots. The ninth lesson is formed of the three lessons of the homily of the seventeenth Sunday, a homily from St. Chrysostom on St. Matthews's Gospel. The eighth and ninth lessons (of the Sunday) are longer than those found in modern editions. The Te Deum is sung.

At Lauds the antiphons Domine, quinque talenta are again sung, doubled, with Pss. 92, 99, 62-66, Benedicite 148-49-150. The Office hymn is Jesu, corona celsior. After the collect of the feast a commemoration is sung of the Sunday. The Suffrages are omitted.

At Prime and the Hours the antiphons from Lauds are sung in the usual order. At Prime the lectio brevis is Justum deduxit etc.
The Dominical preces are omitted.

Mass is sung after Terce. The Gloria is sung, the second collect is of the Sunday. The Credo is sung, the Common Preface is sung and the last Gospel is of the Sunday.

At Vespers the anitphons Domine, quinque talenta etc are sung, doubled with Pss. 109, 110, 111, 112 & 116. The Office hymn is Iste Confessor. After the collect of the feast a commemoration of the Sunday is sung. The Suffrages are omitted. At Compline the Dominical preces are omitted.

Icon of St. Francis, shewing his life, from here.