Evening Prayer
A brief knock from the Prior and all rise to stand facing forward. A well-timed note from the pitch pipe and the priest (known as the hebdomadary) whose duty it is to lead office that week solemnly intones the “Deus in adjutorium meum intende..”Turning to face in for the Gloria, the monks pause, waiting for the Prior to intone the first antiphon, which on major feast days is chanted in its entirety before and after the Psalms.
In some respects Vespers is similar to the office of Lauds from the Midnight Office. One major difference is that Vespers does not have an Old Testament Canticle after the fourth antiphon, but rather a Psalm instead. After the first Psalm is complete, the choir repeats the antiphon and returns to the seated position, all except the Subprior and second cantor, who remain standing, ready for the intonation of the second antiphon. Once the Subprior intones the second antiphon, the cantor intones the start of the Psalm verse, which is continued by that side of the choir. Alternating back and forth, verse by verse, the choirs take up the Psalm seamlessly one from another. The monks' voices meld in such fashion that if one were to listen to the chanting without seeing the monks, he might imagine it to be a single choir.
The psalms finished, the hebdomadary chants the capitulum, a short reading from Scripture that is assigned for the day's feast. After a resounding Deo Gratiasfrom the choir, the two cantors go to the middle of the choir to begin the hymn. The hymns of Vespers are particularly devotional, with some ancient hymns attributed to St. Ambrose himself. After the hymn and a short verse and response, the monks again face inwards, preparing for the Magnificat.
The hebdomadary intones the first words of the Magnificat antiphon, which is then taken up by both sides of the choir. The first cantor, whose place in choir is on the same side of the hebdomadary, begins the Magnificat, which is continued by his side of the choir. The second choir alternates verses with the first, with all the monks uniting their praise of God to that of the praise offered by the Immaculate Virgin, using the words that flowed out of Her Most Pure Heart: the Magnificat.
With the antiphon repeated, all that remains in Vespers is the prayer of the day, followed by the Salve Regina, and the oft-repeated Fideliumprayer for the faithful departed. The chanting of Vespers being finished, the monks now recite together the prayers after Vespers, thanking God for His benignity and petitioning Him for manifold graces for the entire world.
The Prior gives a final knock and prayers the Veni Sancte Spiritusprayer to begin Mental Prayer. The monks remove their white mantles and carefully hang them before returning to Mental Prayer.