is Ave regina coelorum, with versicle Dignare me ..., Da mihi, Oremus, Concedemisericors.  From Holy Saturday until Saturday after Pentecost, the anthem is Regina coeli with versicle, Gaude... and response, Quia surrexit.... Oremus and prayer, Deus qui per resurrectionem.  From Holy Trinity Sunday to the Saturday before Advent, the antiphon is Salve Regina with versicle, Ora pro nobis... response, Ut digni, Oremus and prayer, Omnipotens semipeterne Deus.  Then the versicle Divinum auxilium....  Amen. Pater Noster, Ave, Credo, in silence, are said.  The Sacro-sanctae is added (see pp. 133-135).

The study of the component parts of this Hour are of great interest.  After the Abbot had given his blessing and begged of God to grant the two-fold favour of a quiet night and a good death, a monk read from Holy Scripture, and when a suitable portion was read, or at the end of a Scripture chapter or theme, the Abbot said, “Tu autem,” and the reader “Tu autem, Domine, miserere nobis.”  This was to ask God to pardon faults both of reader in his reading and of monks, who, perhaps, were drowsy and inattentive.  The Abbot terminated the exercise by the Adjutorium nostrum (the Pater Noster is of more recent introduction).  Monks who were absent substituted for the Scripture lesson which they had missed, the pithy extract from St. Peter, “Fratres; sobrii estote,” which we now read.  The whole company of monks and their abbot then proceeded to the chapel where each made his examination of conscience, and at a sign from the abbot, the monks, two by two, in a subdued tone of voice, said the Confiteor, Misereatur, Indulgentiam and Converte nos.  Gavantus and Merati hold that the Converte nos does not belong to this introductory matter, but formed part of Compline proper.  This prayer is very beautiful:  “Convert us, O God, our Saviour.  And turn away Thine anger from us.  Incline unto my aid, O God; O Lord, make haste to help us.  Glory be to the Father,...  Praise be to God.”

The new arrangement of the Psalter did not retain the old traditional psalms, 4, 90, 133, in Compline, except for Sundays and solemn feasts.  But the selection of psalms accords well with the idea of the hour—­night prayer—­and with the other prayers, which go to make up the close of the Office of the day.  The hymn, Te lucis, so chastely simple, has ever been admired.  Its ideas suit so admirably for the prayer before sleep and for reminding us of sleep and her sister death and the solemn petition made to God to be our guardian and defence in the solemn hour of death, are simply and solemnly set out in this daily hymn.  How beautiful it reads in Father Caswall’s translation:—­

     “Now with the fast departing light,
      Maker of all, we ask of Thee
      Of Thy great mercy, through the night,
      Our guardian and defence to be.