Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/253

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OFFICIAL


221


O FILII


For the Ambrosian Liturgy see Magistretti, "Man- uale Ambrosianum", I (Milan, 1905), 67; for the Greek Kitual, see Burial, pp. 77-S.

II. History. — The Office of the Dead has been at- tributed at times to St. Isidore, to St. Augustine, to St. Ambrose, and even to Origen. There is no founda- tion for these assertions. In its present form, while it has some very ancient characteristics, it cannot be older than the seventh or even eighth century. Its authorship is discussed at length in the dissertation of Horatius de Turre, mentioned in the bibliography. Some writers attribute it to Amalarius, others to Al- cuin (see Batiffol, "Hist, du Brev.", 181-92; and for the opposing view, Baumer-Biron, "Hist, de Br^v.", II, 37). These opinions are more probable, but are not as yet very solidly established. Amalarius speaks of the Office of the Dead, but seems to imply that it ex- isted before his time ("De Eccles. officiis", IV, xlii, in P. L., CV, 1238). He alludes to the "Agenda Mortu- orum" contained in a sacramentary, but nothing leads us to believe that he was its author. Alcuin is also known for his activity in liturgical matters, and we owe certain liturgical compositions to him; but there is no reason for considering him the author of this office (see Cabrol in "Diet. d'arch(5ol. et de liturgie", s. V. Alcuin). In the Gregorian Antiphonary we do find a mass and an office in agenda moriuorum, but it is admitted that this part is an addition; a fortiori this applies to the Gelasian. The Maurist editors of St. Gregory are inclined to attribute their composition to Albinus and Etienne of Liege (Microl., Ix). But if it is impossible to trace the office and the mass in their actual form beyond the ninth or eighth century, it is notwithstanding certain that the prayers and a ser- vice for the dead existed long before that time. We find them in the fifth, fourth, and even in the third and second century. Pseudo-Dionysius, Sts. Gregory of Nyssa, Jerome, and Augustine, TertuUian, and the in- scriptions in the catacombs afford a proof of this (see Burial, III, 76; Pr.wers for the Dead; Cabrol, "La priere pour les morts" in "Rev. d'apologetique", 1.5 Sept., 1909, pp. 881-93).

III. Practice and Obligation. — The Office of the Dead was composed originally to sati.sfy private devo- tion to the dead, and at first had no official character. Even in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centu- ries, it was recited chiefly by the religious orders (the Cluniacs, Cistercians, Carthusians), like the Office of Our Lady (see Guyet, loc. cit., 465). Later it was pre- scribed for all clerics and became obligatory when- ever a ferial office was celebrated. It has even been said that it was to remove the obhgation of reciting it that the feasts of double and semi-double rite were multiplied, for it could be omitted on such days (Baumer-Biron, op. cit., II, 198). The reformed Breviary of St. Pius V assigned the recitation of the Office of the Dead to the first free day in the month, the Mondays of Advent and Lent, to some vigils, and ember days. Even then it was not obligatory, for the Bull "Quod a nobis" of the same pope merely recom- mends it earnestly, like the Office of Our Lady and the Penitential Psalms, without imposing it as a duty (Van der Stappen, "Sacra Liturgia", I, Malines, 1898, p. 115). At the present time, it is obligatory on the clergy only on the feast of All Souls and in certain mortuary services. Some religious orders (Carthu- sians, Cistercians etc.) have preserved the custom of reciting it in choir on the days assigned by the Bull "Quod a nobis".

Apostolic ConsliltUions. VI, xxx; VIII, xl; Ps.-Dionts., De hierarch. eccL, vii, n. 2; Amalahius in P. L., CV, 1239 (£)c eccles. officiis. III, xlix; IV, xlii); Durandus, Rationale, VII, xxxv; Be- LETH, Rationale in P. L., CII, 156. 161; Raoul de Tongues, De ohscTVantia canonum, prop, xx; PirroNue, Tractatus de octavis festorum (1739). I (towards end), Brevis tract, de commem. omnium fidel. defunct.: Horatics a Turre. De mortuorum officio dissertatio postuma in Collectio C'alogiera, Raccolta d'opuscoli, XXVII (Ven- ice, 1742), 409-429; Gavanti. Thesaur. Htuum, II, 175 aqq.; MartIine, De antiq. ecdesiaritibus, II (1788), 366-411; Thomas-


sin, De disciplxna eccles., I-II, Ixxxvi, 9; ZACCAni.\, Bibt. ritualis, II, 417-8; Idem, Onomasticon, 1, 110, s. v. Defuncti; Bona, Rerum liturg., I, xvii, §§6-7; Hittorp, De div. cathol. eccles. officiis, 1329; Guyet, HeoTtotogia, 462-73 (on tfcie rubrics to be observed in the office of the dead); Catalanus, Rituale Romanum, I (1757), 408, 416 etc.; Cerianai, Circa obligatiotiem officii defunctorum; Baumer- Biron, Hist, du Brev., II, 30, 37, 131 etc.; Batiffol, Hist, du BrSv., 181-92; Plaine, La piete envers les morts in Rev. du clergi frantais, IV (1895), 365 sqq.; La fete des morts, ibid., VIII (1896), 432 sqq.; La messe des morts, ibid., XVI (1898), 196; Ebneh, Quet- len u. Forschungen zur Gesch. des Missale Romanum. 44, 53 etc.; Thalhofer, Handbuch der kathol. Liturgik, II (Freiburg, 1893), 502-08; Keferlohbr, Das Todtenofficium der rdm. Kirche (Mu- nich, 1873); HoEVNEK, Officium defunctorum (Kempten, 1892); Idem, Zur Gesch des Officium defunctorum in KatholUc. II (1893), 329. See also the literature of the article Burial and other articles cited above. Cemetery, Cremation etc.

Fernand Cabrol. Official. See Vicar-General.

O'Fihely, Macrice, Archbishop of Tuam, b. about lltid; (1. ;it. ( ialway, 1513. He was, according to Dr. Lynch, ;i native of Clonfert in Galway, but, according to Ware and Anthony a Wood, a native of Baltimore in Cork. He is sometimes called Maurice a Portu, Baltimore being situated on the sea coast. Part of his education was received at the University of Oxford, where he joined the Franciscans. Later he studied at Padua, where he obtained the degree of Doctor of Eivinity. After his ordination he was appointed professor of philosophy in the University of Padua. He was a student of the works of Duns Scotus, and wrote a commentary on them (published at Venice about 1514). O'Fihelyactedforsometimeascorrector of proofs to two well-known publishers at Venice, Scott and Locatelli — in the early days a task usually entrusted to very learned men. O'Fihely was ac- knowledged one of the most learned men of his time, so learni'il that his contemporaries called him Flos .Miiiiili ( I'lower of the World). In addition, his piety and administrative capacity were recognized at Rome, and in 1506 he was appointed Archbishop of Tuam. He was consecrated at Rome by Julius II. He did not return to Ireland till 1513, meantime attending aa Archbishop of Tuam the first two sessions of the Lat- eran Council (1512). On leaving for Ireland to take formal possession of his see, he procured from the pope an indulgence for all those who would be present at his first Mass in Tupm. He was destined not to reach Tuam, for he fell ill in Galway, and died there in the Franciscan convent.

Harris's Ware (Dublin, 1764); Wood, Athena: Oxonieiises (Lon- don, 1691) ; Burke, Archbishops of Tuam (Dublin, 1882).

E. A. D'Alton.

O Filii et Filiae, the first line of a hymn celebrat- ing the mystery of Easter. As commonly found in hymnals to-day, it comprises twelve stanzas of the form:

O filii et filia;. Rex CEelestis, Rex gloria;, Morte surrexit hodie. Alleluia. It was written by Jean Tisserand, O.F.M. (d. 1494), an eloquent preacher, and originally comprised but nine stanzas (those commencing with " Discipulis ad- stantibus", "Postquam audivit Didymus", "Beati qui non viderunt" being early additions to the hymn). "L'aleluya du jour de Pasques" is a trope on the ver- sicle and respon.se (closing Lauds and Vespers) which it prettily enshrines in the last two stanzas:

In hoc festo sanctissimo

Sit laus et jubilatio:

BENE Die A M US DOMINO.— Alleluia..

De quibus nos humilfimas,

Devotas atque debitas

DEO dicamus GRATIAS.— Alleluia.. The hymn is still very popular in France, whence it has spread to other countries. Gu(5ranger's Liturgical Year (Paschal Time, Part I, tr., Dublin, 1871, pp. 190- 192) entitles it "The Joyful Canticle" and gives Latin