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CARDINAL QUIGNON'S BREVIARY. 307
The daily offices,— so beautiful in their theory, which
called upon the priests of God to commence their
songs of praise as soon as the midnight hour was past
and before the faintest streak of a summer's dawn
could be seen in the eastern sky, and to continue
them at stated intervals till the darkness of night
closed in,—were too often carelessly attended and
negligently rendered. Far-sighted men must have
seen that a reaction was at hand. There was a
growing conviction in the minds of many thoughtful
persons, both clerical and la}', that it would be well if
the offices of the Church could be made more simple
in their form, less complicated in their structure.
The idea was not altogether discouraged at Rome.
The sanction of Pope Clement VII. was given to a
revision of the breviary by Cardinal Quignon, and
his work was published with that pope's approval in
1535. Its use was sanctioned also by Paul III. on
condition of a license from the Apostolic See being
obtained. The cardinal's arrangement reduced the
number of lections to three, on all occasions, one
from each Testament and one from a homil)-. The
length of the Scripture lections was materially increased,
giving increased prominence to the teaching
of the inspired writings. It was abolished, however,
in 1568 by a bull of Pius V. There can be no doubt
that our Prayer-book owes to this
breviary a portion
of its preface, and the idea, in all probability, of its
table of lessons.
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