rom the Fathers are well chosen, and suitable for the greatest
prayer and for the greatest prayerbook the world has ever known. The
hymns are the wonder and study of scholars of every religion. St.
Augustine, after his conversion even, felt a repugnance for the holy
Scriptures as unequal to Cicero in form. But in his mature age and
considered judgment, the saint reversed his judgment; "_non habent_," he
wrote of the Pagan classics, "_illae paginae vultum pietatis, lacrymas
confessionis spiritum contribulatum cor contritum et humiliatum_"
(Confess. Bk. 7, c. 21).

VII. To think of Christ's Passion is another aid to good Breviary
recitation. We have seen in the theological part of this book (page 4)
the seven principal stages of the Passion which correspond with the
seven principal parts of the Office. And this devout thought on some
scene of the Passion is recommended by all writers on the Divine Office,
as an easy and very profitable means and aid to attentive and devout
saying of the Hours. It is a means practised by thousands of priests.

St. Bonaventure recommended that at each Hour some thought of the
mysteries of the life and death of Christ should be held in mind. Thus,
Matins, the night Office, might be offered up in honour of the birth and
infancy of Christ; Lauds, in honour of His resurrection; Terce, in
honour of the coming of the Holy Ghost; None, in memory of Christ's
death; Vespers, in thanksgiving for the Eucharist.

VIII. To remember the presence of God, of our angel guardian, and of the
demons, is a practice recommended by writers on recitation of the Office
in or out of choir. This thought of the presence of God was one of the
aids recommended by St. Benedict to his religious, to aid their devout
fulfilment of the great work of reciting their Hours worthily,
attentively, and devoutly. Centuries after St. Benedict's death we find
St. Bonaventure repeating this advice to his novices. Blessed Peter
Faber, S.J., to make his Breviary prayer more fervent, used to picture
to himself the presence of his guardian angel at his side recording his
pious and holy thoughts, and the demon recording his distractions.
"Dearly beloved priest," wrote St. Alphonsus, "when you take the
Breviary in your hand, imagine that an angel stands on one side to
register your merits in the Book of Life if you say the Office with
devotion, and on the other a devil who, if you recite it with
distraction, writes your faults in the book