e nine psalms are said, and not twelve, as in the
old order of the Breviary. The psalms found arranged in the new Breviary
for three nocturns are to be said with nine antiphons up to the versicle
of third nocturn--the versicle of the first and second being omitted
(Tit. I., sec. 7). Hence the psalms are to be said straight through
(_sine interuptione_) omitting in the first two nocturns, the versicle
and response, Pater Noster, absolutions and all pertaining to the
lessons. This simplifies things and makes the ferial office shorter than
the office of feasts.

TITLE VI.--THE OFFICE OF VIGILS.

_Etymology, nature and synonyms_. The word _vigil_ is from the Latin
_vigilare, to keep awake, to watch_, because in old times the night
before any great event, religious or worldly, was spent in watching.
Thus, the night prior to ordination to the priesthood, the night prior
to a great battle, was spent in watching before the altar. Hence, the
word vigil came to mean the prayers said during the time of watching or
waking, preparatory to the great event. It signified, too, the fast
accompanying the watching, and lastly it came to mean the liturgical
office of Mass and Breviary fixed for the time of vigilance. In the
Roman Church it was sometimes called the nocturn or night office. The
Greeks call the vigil _profesta_, the time before the feast.

The custom existed among the pagans, almost universally, before the time
of Christ. The Jews practised this ancient night prayer, as the
scripture in several places shows, _"in noctibus extollite manus
vestras in sancta"_ (Psalm 133). Our Saviour sanctified this use by His
example, and the early Christians were, on account of these night
assemblies, the objects of fear and dread, of admiration and of hatred.
Organised vigils lasted till the thirteenth century in some countries,
but owing to abuses and discord they became not a source of edification,
but the occasion and cause of grave scandals, and were forbidden
gradually and universally. The Church now retains for the faithful one
congregational vigil, the vigil of Christmas. Formerly, it was customary
to observe a fast on a day or night of a vigil, but that custom was
suppressed sometimes, or fell into disuse. Vigil fasts are now few.
Almost the only relic of the vigil now remaining is the Mass and Office.

When were vigils held? In the early ages they were held only on Saturday
nights and on nights preceding great solemnities o