Finally, the attentive recitation of the Breviary is a source of light and of grace and of merit.  How many lights in prayer spring from these divine words; how many maxims enter the soul, how many beautiful prayers are said, and if they be well said, they would obtain for priests treasures of grace, according to Christ’s infallible promise, “Ask and you shall receive”?  A person can merit several degrees of glory by one devout recitation of the Office, what an abundance of merit may be gained by the devout recitations in a life of twenty, thirty or forty years!  And it was this thought of lost opportunities and of the great treasures within the reach of priests, which caused St. Alphonsus when an old man, to study the Breviary psalms and to write his well-known work.

Nor was St. Alphonsus alone in his opinion of the great means of sanctification which the Breviary affords to priests.  St. Joseph of Cupertino (1603-1663) was asked by Monsignor Claver, Bishop of Potenza, to point out a means for the greater sanctification of the priests of his diocese.  The saint replied, “Monsignor, if you wish to sanctify your priests strive to procure two things for them, that they say the Office piously and that they say Mass with fervour.  Nothing more is necessary to ensure their salvation” (Life of St. Joseph Cupertino by Bernini).  The words of the wonderful Franciscan, whose life was a marvel of piety, were repeated a century later by St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1671-1751) and are often quoted as his own.

In every age of the Church earnest souls drew great sweetness and consolation from reading the psalms or from reading the canonical Hours.  Writers dealing with this part of priestly work quote the words of eminent servants of God, They quote St. Augustine, St. Gregory Nazianzan, St. Bernard, St. Catherine of Bologna, St. Philip Neri, St. Francis De Sales and St. Alphonsus.  It would make this section of this book too long to quote the words of these saints.  But the words of St. Francis De Sales seem to have a special force.  “Sometimes I am so low-spirited,” wrote the Saint, “by business and events, that I do not know where to turn nor at what end to begin:  but during the Office nothing annoys me, I have not even distractions, I imagine that I am in heaven singing with the angels the praises of my Creator; and on leaving the choir I find often that the mighty problems which had given me trouble are cleared away and, solved in an Instant.”  Biographies of God’s servants record many great favours bestowed on priests who recite the Breviary piously.  Cardinal Bona, recording a vision vouchsafed to St. Bernard, tells how the saint saw an angel beside each choir monk, recording his disposition of soul.  Some angels wrote in letters of gold, others in letters of silver, others in ink, others in water, and others held their pens but wrote nothing.  Our Lord explained to the saint the meaning of the vision; the writing in gold typified charity and the fervour of the recitation;