Young—Or do Prophet arum. 
23 
the first of the three Christmas Masses, and this first Mass is sung 
immediately after the Te Deum of Christmas Matins. This posi¬ 
tion may be shown schematically as follows : 12 
Lectio ix (the last lectio of Matins) 
Responsorium 13 
Te Deum 
Missa de Nocte (First Mass) 
Sermo Sancti Augustini 
Laudes 
Missa in Aurora (Second Mass) 
Prima 
Tertia 
Missa in Die (Third Mass) 
Clearly, then, the lectio is no longer connected with Matins, 14 
but is an independent liturgical piece for delivery more Salernitano. 
The mos Salernitanus for the delivery of the sermo in its new 
position is not difficult to discern. The Lector reads the introduc¬ 
tory address to the Jews, and then summons, in turn, the thirteen 
witnesses. That each testimony is read by a separate person repre¬ 
senting the appropriate witness, is shown by the rubrics giving 
the names of the speakers and by the absence of the word inquit 
in the testimonies. 15 
It will be observed that with the text of the sermo the Lector 
takes certain liberties: his own utterances are substantially reduced 
in length, and the summonses are given a new uniformity. 16 But 
most noticeable is the expansion into dialogue of the roles of David 
and Nabuchadnezzar. 17 The expansion of the latter’s dialogue in¬ 
cludes the introduction of an additional personage to speak the 
12 See, for example, U. Chevalier, Ordinaires de Vfiglise cathedrale de Laon, 
Paris, 1897, pp. 47-48. 
13 According to the mediaeval use, this last responsory of Christmas Matins 
was frequently followed by a reading of the genealogy of Christ (Liber Genera- 
tionis) from the Gospel of Matthew (i, 1—16). See Chevalier, Ordinaires de 
Vftglise cathedrale de Laon, p. 47 ; and the present writer, in Transactions of 
the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, Vol. XVII, Part I (1912), 
pp. 313, 385-386, 391. 
14 The closing formula Tu <^autem, Domine, miserere nobis^> may, or may 
not, be a survival from the use of the sermo as a regular lectio in Matins. 
15 The retention of inquit in connection with testimonies that are read by the 
Lector himself is illustrated in the Lector’s utterance immediately after the 
last speech of David. 
16 Note, for example, Die & tu, Simeon and Die & tu, Ioannes. 
17 This expansion of the role of Nebuchadnezzar anticipates the dramatic 
elaboration surrounding this personage in the more highly developed versions 
of the Ordo Prophetarum. See below, pp. 61-62, 65-66. 
