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<\/a>It was a jackpot. \u00a0I ended up using this manuscript in my 4’33” Spotlight on Scholarship in the Arts Poster competition. \u00a0Comparing the contents of the Hargrett Hours Office of the Passion to the British Library manuscript, I was able to narrow my focus of how to look at the textual contents. \u00a0Psalms and hymns were the meat of each hour in both of the Books of Hours, so they were the right place to start looking for standardization of the Passion texts.<\/p>\n
In a sense, this poster project felt like a return to middle school for me. \u00a0I competed in science fair for years, and even after that regularly helped my siblings with their projects. \u00a0The basic contents and layout of a research poster were easy for me. \u00a0The hard part was the actual presentation of my research at the judging. \u00a0I’ve never really had a problem with public speaking, and even in middle school, I was never horribly nervous about explaining projects to judges. \u00a0This poster, however, did \u00a0make me nervous. \u00a0I suppose that it’s the fact that I was presenting actual scholarly research that meant something to me and potentially to other people. \u00a0The comparison of the Psalms and Hymns in each manuscript wasn’t just a random topic that I picked out with the help of my parents that I knew was doable — it was research that was personally important to me. \u00a0It held meaning. \u00a0Everything paid off though. \u00a0I won the category for Clearest Presentation of Research, so that was incredibly satisfying.<\/p>\n
The research that I presented in the poster was the source of a realization for me. \u00a0Looking at a Latin\/English parallel translation of Psalm 21, I noticed that the second verse was familiar. \u00a0After some thought, I realized that it was because the same words were spoken by Christ before his death in several of the Gospels. \u00a0I was amazed. \u00a0Something like that had slipped by me without me noticing, and yet there I was wondering why certain Psalms were appearing in the Long Hours of the Passion. \u00a0As I worked on cataloguing the Psalms in the Offices from the other manuscripts, I definitely noticed a pattern. \u00a0Certain Psalms appeared more frequently, especially in specific hours. \u00a0Already, data was pointing to at least this aspect of the Office being potentially standardized, or at least following a pattern. \u00a0Further research done with a modern day study Bible led me to verses in the Gospel accounts of the Passion that were connected to many of these Psalms. \u00a0There did seem to be a reason for the most common selections’ appearances! \u00a0And based on my findings, the Hargret Hours actually features the same Psalms in Laudes\/Prime through Vespers that I found occurred the most often in each liturgical hour. \u00a0For example, Psalm 21 appeared most frequently in sext, and was the most common Psalm to be used in that hour. \u00a0The Hargrett manuscript features that Psalm in sext.<\/p>\n
So ultimately, I know that at least one aspect of the Office of the Passion might be standardized. \u00a0I need to find more manuscripts with those Hours in them so that I can create an even larger sample in order to truly solidify that hypothesis, but right now it looks plausible. \u00a0To fully understand the whole of the Long Hours of the Passion though, I need to do the same type of research on the hymns that appear in each manuscript. \u00a0From there, I might be able to determine if there are common hymns for the Long Hours of the Passion, as well as for each individual hour. \u00a0It’s exciting that the research has come so far since the class was originally trying to determine the contents of Hargrett MS 836, and realized that it had the Long Hours of the Passion, but not the Hours of the Virgin. \u00a0I can only look forward to more this Spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
School has officially ended, and finals are over; Spring semester will soon begin. \u00a0Despite this, the Hargrett Passion project is still on my mind. \u00a0So…<\/p>\n