_Lessons._ In the early days of Christendom, the Divine Office consisted in the singing of psalms, the reading of portions of Sacred Scripture and the saying of prayers. The principle of continuous reading of the books of the Bible bears an early date. Later were added readings from the acts of the martyrs, and later still, readings from the homilies of the Fathers. Till the seventh century the ferial Office had no lessons and the Sunday Office had only three, all taken from the Bible, which was read in its entirety, yearly. In the seventh century, ferial Offices received three lessons. About the time of St. Gregory, (died 604) the Office for Matins was divided into three parts or nocturns, each having lessons. The lessons for the second and third nocturns were not taken from the Bible, but from the works of the Fathers. These extracts were collected in book form--the _homilaria_. The collection of extracts made by Paul the deacon (730-797) and used by Charles the Great (742-814) in his kingdom, form the foundation of the collected extracts in our Breviaries. The scripture lessons in our Breviaries are generally known as "the scripture occurring," and are so arranged that each book of scripture is begun at least, except the books, Josue, Judges, Ruth, Paralipomenon and the Canticle of Canticles. Quignonez arranged in his reform that the whole Bible should be read yearly. But his book was withdrawn by Pope Paul IV. in 1558. Although the ecclesiastical year begins with Advent, the beginnings of the Bible are not read till March. Hence, we begin the lessons from Genesis, after Septuagesima Sunday, and not, as we should naturally expect, at Advent, the beginning of the ecclesiastical year. The order in which the Scripture lessons are read does not follow the order in which the books of the Bible stand in the sacred volume. Thus, the Acts of the Apostles begin on the Monday after Low Sunday and are read for a fortnight; The Apocalypse begins on the third Sunday after Easter and is read for a week; then the Epistle of St. James begins, and so on, with special regard to the feasts of the time, rather than to the order of the books of the Bible.