Benedicite, Deus; Domine nos benedicat...in pace, Amen. To the lectio
brevis at Prime, Tu autem Domine, miserere nobis, is added.

_The Athanasian Creed_. In the Roman Breviary prior to the reform of
1911, the title given to the formula of faith was Symbolum S. Athanasi.
In the new Breviaries the title stands Symbolum Athanasianum. Why was
the change made?

During the past two hundred years the authorship of this formula has
led to great discussion and its reading has led to much bitter and
heated controversy in Anglican and Protestant churches. Many contended
for its retention in Protestant services and many rejoiced at its
partial exclusion, its truncated revision and clamoured for its
rejection everywhere from service. Controversy led to the study of its
origin. In 1872 a Protestant author, Ffoulkes, maintained that it was
not composed by St. Athanasius (296-373) but by Paulinus of Aquileia
(A.D. 800). But the literature of the age of Charlemagne proves that
this creed had at the beginning of the ninth century an antiquity of at
least more than a century (Ommaney, _History and Structure of the
Athanasian Creed_, Oxford, 1897). Scholars, basing their opinions on
words found in the _Expositio Fidei Fortunati_, date the origin of
this symbol from the fifth century. It contains certain expressions
which a writer subsequent to the Council of Chalcedon (451) would have
been most unlikely to employ, and omits certain expressions which such a
writer would have been most unlikely to omit. However, it is likely that
the creed dates from the fifth century. Who its author was, is quite
doubtful. It was not St. Athanasius, it may have been St. Hilary of
Aries, or St. Vincent of Lerins, or some local bishop in southern
France, "But let us only suppose that the real author was some local
bishop--or the theologian employed by some local bishop--and that it was
composed in the first instance for purely local use in some district of
southern France--then does not the difficulty disappear, and are not
the facts of its silent and gradual adoption suitably explained? Not
coming from an author of wide reputation, it would not at first have
attracted much attention and would have been used only in the locality
of its origin; from there its use would have spread to neighbouring
districts; as it got more known it would have been more widely adopted,
and the compactness and lucidity of its statements, and the
enthusiasm-inspiring character