The Little Office of the Passion refers to a devotional office created by Francis of Assisi as a complement to the Divine Office of the Roman Catholic Church.
Contents
Order
The Little Office of the Passion is organized in a way reminiscent of the Liturgy of the Hours. It begins with the Our Father followed by the Glory Be. After these, a series of praises composed by Francis of Assisi is recited. Then the appropriate psalm is read, framed by an antiphon to the Blessed Virgin Mary also composed by Francis. After the psalm is read and the antiphon is repeated, a dismissal concludes the Office.
The text of the praises is as follows:
The text of the antiphon:
The Passion of Jesus
The Little Office of the Passion follows a pattern constructed by Francis of Assisi. He ordered this office around the medieval association of five specific moments in Jesus' Passion with specific hours of the day. Having then attributed these to hours of the Divine Office (This Little Office being recited following the Canonical Office), he arrived at this schema:
Psalms
The Psalms used in the Little Office of the Passion are not individual psalms from the Hebrew Scriptures, but are collages constructed by Francis of Assisi by taking passages from canticles, psalms, liturgical texts, and other sources to paint pictures of the scenes from the Passion of Jesus.
Sequences of the Office
The Psalms are organized into five sequences corresponding to the Liturgical Year of the Roman Catholic Church. The sequences are as follows:
Psalm Texts
The texts of the Psalms are as follow:
Psalm 1
Psalm 2
Psalm 3
Psalm 4
Psalm 5
Psalm 6
Psalm 7
Psalm 8
Psalm 9
Psalm 10
Psalm 11
Psalm 12
Psalm 13
Psalm 14
Psalm 15