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Editor’s note: to promote the observance of the traditional Corpus Christi Octave as a part of our Crusade of Eucharistic Reparation, we will publish each day the Patristic readings from the Octave, as contained in pre-55 breviaries. The following readings and responsories come from the Roman office as promulgated after Trent in 1570.
Nocturn II
V. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. May God the Father Omnipotent, be to us merciful and clement. Amen.
Reading 4
From the Letter written to Caecilius by the Holy Martyr Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage.
Bk. ii. Ep. 3
In the deed of the Priest Melchisedek we see a type of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Sacrifice. For thus it is written in the writings of God “And Melchisedek King of Salem brought forth bread and wine for he was the Priest of the Most High God and he blessed Abraham” (Gen. xiv. 18). That Melchisedek was a type of Christ, the Holy Ghost Himself doth testify in the Psalms, where the First Person of the Holy Trinity, even the Father, is set before us as saying unto the Second Person, that is, the Son, “Before the daystar have I begotten thee. Thou art a Priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedek” (cix. 3, 4). And verily that sameness of order cometh of this sacrifice, and procedeth from this, that Melchisedek was the Priest of the Most High God that he offered bread and wine and that he blessed Abraham.
V. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to God.
R. As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blest it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said:
* Take, eat this is My Body.
V. The men of my tabernacle said: O that we had of his flesh, we cannot be satisfied.
R. Take, eat this is My Body.
V. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. May Christ to all His people give, for ever in His sight to live. Amen.
Reading 5
What Priest of the Most High God is there, more so than is our Lord Jesus Christ, He Who hath made an offering unto God the Father, and the same offering that Melchisedek made, bread and wine, that is to say, His Own Flesh and His Own Blood. And, as touching Abraham, that ancient blessing was spoken likewise by fore-knowledge upon us. For if Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, verily, whosoever believeth God and liveth by faith, the same is found righteous, and is shown unto us that he is already blessed in faithful Abraham, and justified as the Apostle Paul proveth, where he saith: “Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, ‘In thee shall all nations be blessed.’” (Gal. iii. 6:8).
V. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to God.
R. Jesus took the cup, after supper, saying: This cup is the New Testament in My Blood.
* This do in remembrance of Me.
V. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
R. This do in remembrance of Me.
V. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. May the Spirit’s fire Divine in our hearts enkindled shine. Amen.
Reading 6
In Genesis, therefore, in order that the Priest Melchisedek might in due order pronounce the blessing upon Abraham, there was first offered a typical sacrifice, consisting of bread and wine. This was the offering which our Lord Jesus Christ completed and fulfilled, when He offered up bread and a cup of wine mingled with water. This fulfillment by Him Who came to fulfill (Matt. v. 17) utterly satisfied the truth of the image which had gone before. The Holy Ghost doth by Solomon also clearly foreshadowed, as it were in a parable, the Lord’s Sacrifice, pointing to the victim slain, and the bread and the wine, and the Altar likewise, and the Apostles as it is written, “Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars, she hath killed her beasts, she hath mingled her wine, she hath also furnished her table. She hath sent forth her servants, she crieth upon the highest places of the city, saying, ‘Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither unto me.’ As for them that want understanding, she saith to them, ‘Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled for you’” (Prov. ix. 1:5).
V. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to God.
R. I am that Bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
* This is the Bread Which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
V. I am the living Bread Which came down from heaven, if any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever.
R. This is the Bread Which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost.
R. This is the Bread Which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
Nocturn III
V. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. May the Gospel’s holy lection be our safety and protection. Amen.
Reading 7
From the Holy Gospel according to John
John 6:56-59
At that time: Jesus said unto the multitudes of the Jews: “My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed.” And so on.
Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo.
26/A Tract on John.
“Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead.” Wherefore did they eat and die Because they believed only that which they saw and that which they saw not, they understood not. Therefore, were they your fathers, because ye are like unto them. Doth this death, my brethren, mean that death which is outward and bodily, “And do not we also die, who eat of that Bread Which cometh down from heaven,” hat death died they, and so shall we also, as far, as I have said, as is meant, that death which is outward and bodily.
V. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to God.
R. He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood,
* Dwelleth in Me, and I in him.
V. What nation is there so great, who hath gods so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is to us
R. Dwelleth in Me, and I in him.
V. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. God’s most mighty strength alway be His people’s staff and stay. Amen.
Reading 8
But the death whereof the Lord doth sound the alarm, the death that their fathers died, is another death than that which is outward and bodily. Moses ate manna, Aaron ate manna, Phinehas ate manna, many ate manna in whom the Lord was well pleased and these are not dead. Wherefore, because they understood spiritually that outward bread, spiritually hungered thereafter, spiritually tasted thereof, and spiritually were satisfied therewith. So also do we this day feed on a visible food, but the Sacrament is one thing, and the grace of the Sacrament is another.
V. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to God.
R. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father,
* So he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me.
V. With the bread of life and understanding hath the Lord fed him.
R. So he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me.
V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost.
R. So he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me.
V. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. May He that is the Angels’ King to that high realm His people bring. Amen.
Reading 9
That eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself” (1 Cor. xi. 29). Is it not written, “When Jesus had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, and after the sop Satan entered into him” (John xiii. 26:27). And yet he took it. And when he had eaten it, the enemy entered in and possessed him. Not because what he ate was evil, but because he, being evil, dared to eat that which was good. Look to it well, then, brethren, that ye take spiritually the Bread Which cometh down from heaven. Bring innocency with you to the Altar. Though your sins be daily, let them not be deadly. Before ye draw near to the Altar, think well what it is that ye say “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.” “For, if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matt. vi. 14) and ye may draw near boldly, for unto you It is Bread, and not poison.
V. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to God.
