Spicilegium Friburgense 44

Chrysogonus Waddell, The Primitive Cistercian Breviary (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Ms. Lat. oct. 402). With variants from the “Bernardine” Cistercian Breviary, 2007. 728 S. ISBN 978-3-7278-1561-4

The manuscript Ms. Lat. Oct. 402 from the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz is foremost among the sources for an understanding of the Cistercian Divine Office in its origins and in its 12th-centmy evolution. Dating from 1132, it is the sole extant breviary known to have survived the massive liturgical reform carried out in the Cistercian Order under the general direction of St. Bernard and his collaborators, a reform which ended around 1147. For the first time we have the means of knowing exactly the texts used in the Divine Office in the early days of the Order; and for the first time we have a means of identifying precisely the texts revised by Bernard and his fellow-editors. We can thus gain an insight into the mind and spirit of those responsible for the shaping up of the Order’s Office.