A. Name and Definition
The Mass is the complex of
prayers and ceremonies that make up the service of the Eucharist in the
Latin rites. As in the case of all liturgical terms the name is less
old than the thing. From the time of the first preaching of the
Christian Faith in the West, as everywhere, the Holy Eucharist was
celebrated as Christ had instituted it at the Last Supper, according to
His command, in memory of Him. But it was not till long afterwards that
the late Latin name Missa, used at first in a vaguer sense, became the
technical and almost exclusive name for this service.
In the first period, while
Greek was still the Christian language at Rome, we find the usual Greek
names used there, as in the East. The commonest was Eucharistia, used
both for the consecrated bread and wine and for the whole service.
Clement of Rome (d. about 101) uses the verbal form still in its
general sense of "giving thanks", but also in connection with the
Liturgy (I Clem., Ad Cor., xxxviii, 4: kata panta eucharistein auto).
The other chief witness for the earliest Roman Liturgy, Justin Martyr
(d. c. 167), speaks of eucharist in both senses repeatedly (Apol., I,
lxv, 3, 5; lxvi, 1; lxvii, 5). After him the word is always used, and
passes into Latin (eucharistia) as soon as there is a Latin Christian
Literature [Tertullian (d. c. 220), "De pr scr.", xxxvi, in P.L., II,
50; St. Cyprian (d. 258), Ep., liv, etc.]. It remains the normal name
for the sacrament throughout Catholic theology, but is gradually
superseded by Missa for the whole rite. Clement calls the service
Leitourgia (1 Corinthians 40:2, 5; 41:1) and prosphora (Ibid., 2, 4),
with, however, a shade of different meaning ("rite", "oblation"). These
and the other usual Greek names (klasis artou in the Catacombs;
koinonia, synaxis, syneleusis in Justin, "I Apol.", lxvii, 3), with
their not yet strictly technical connotation, are used during the first
two centuries in the West as in the East. With the use of the Latin
language in the third century came first translations of the Greek
terms. While eucharistia is very common, we find also its translation
gratiarum actio (Tertullian, "Adv. Marcionem", I, xxiii, in P.L., II,
274); benedictio (=eulogia) occurs too (ibid., III, xxii; "De idolol.",
xxii); sacrificium, generally with an attribute (divina sacrificia,
novum sacrificium, sacrificia Dei), is a favourite expression of St.
Cyprian (Ep. liv, 3; "De orat. dom.", iv; "Test. adv. Iud.", I, xvi;
Ep. xxxiv, 3; lxiii, 15, etc.). We find also Solemnia (Cypr., "De
lapsis", xxv), "Dominica solemnia" (Tert., "De fuga", xiv), Prex,
Oblatio, Coena Domini (Tert., "Ad uxor.", II, iv, in P.L., I, 1294),
Spirituale ac coeleste sacramentum (Cypr., Ep., lxiii, 13), Dominicum
(Cypr., "De opere et eleem.", xv; Ep. lxiii, 16), Officium (Tertullian,
"De orat.", xiv), even Passio (Cypr., Ep. xlii), and other expressions
that are rather descriptions than technical names.
All these were destined to
be supplanted in the West by the classical name Missa. The first
certain use of it is by St. Ambrose (d. 397). He writes to his sister
Marcellina describing the troubles of the Arians in the years 385 and
386, when the soldiers were sent to break up the service in his church:
"The next day (it was a Sunday) after the lessons and the tract, having
dismissed the catechumens, I explained the creed [symbolum tradebam] to
some of the competents [people about to be baptized] in the baptistry
of the basilica. There I was told suddenly that they had sent soldiers
to the Portiana basilica. . . . But I remained at my place and began to
say Mass [missam facere coepi]. While I offer [dum ofero], I hear that
a certain Castulus has been seized by the people" (Ep., I, xx, 4-5). It
will be noticed that missa here means the Eucharistic Service proper,
the Liturgy of the Faithful only, and does not include that of the
Catechumens. Ambrose uses the word as one in common use and well known.
There is another, still earlier, but very doubtfully authentic instance
of the word in a letter of Pope Pius I (from c. 142 to c. 157):
"Euprepia has handed over possession of her house to the poor, where .
. . we make Masses with our poor" (cum pauperibus nostris . . . missas
agimus" -- Pii I, Ep. I, in Galland, "Bibl. vet. patrum", Venice, 1765,
I, 672). The authenticity of the letter, however, is very doubtful. If
Missa really occurred in the second century in the sense it now has, it
would be surprising that it never occurs in the third. We may consider
St. Ambrose as the earliest certain authority for it.
From the fourth century the
term becomes more and more common. For a time it occurs nearly always
in the sense of dismissal. St. Augustine (d. 430) says: "After the
sermon the dismissal of the catechumens takes place" (post sermonem fit
missa catechumenorum -- Serm., xlix, 8, in P.L., XXXVIII, 324). The
Synod of Lérida in Spain (524) declares that people guilty of incest
may be admitted to church "usque ad missam catechumenorum", that is,
till the catechumens are dismissed (Can., iv, Hefele-Leclercq, "Hist.
des Conciles", II, 1064). The same expression occurs in the Synod of
Valencia at about the same time (Can., i, ibid., 1067), in Hincmar of
Reims (d. 882) ("Opusc. LV capitul.", xxiv, in P.L., CXXVI, 380), etc.
Etheria (fourth century) calls the whole service, or the Liturgy of the
Faithful, missa constantly ("Peregr. Silviæ", e.g., xxiv, 11, Benedicit
fideles et fit missa, etc.). So also Innocent I (401-17) in Ep., xvii,
5, P.L., XX, 535, Leo I (440-61), in Ep., ix, 2, P.L., LIV, 627.
Although from the beginning the word Missa usually means the
Eucharistic Service or some part of it, we find it used occasionally
for other ecclesiastical offices too. In St. Benedict's (d. 543) Rule
fiant missae is used for the dismissal at the end of the canonical
hours (chap., xvii, passim). In the Leonine Sacramentary (sixth cent.
See LITURGICAL BOOKS), the word in its present sense is supposed
throughout. The title, "Item alia", at the head of each Mass means
"Item alia missa". The Gelasian book (sixth or seventh cent. Cf. ibid.)
supplies the word: "Item alia missa", "Missa Chrismatis", "Orationes ad
missa [sic] in natale Sanctorum", and so on throughout. From that time
it becomes the regular, practically exclusive, name for the Holy
Liturgy in the Roman and Gallican Rites.
The origin and first
meaning of the word, once much discussed, is not really doubtful. We
may dismiss at once such fanciful explanations as that missa is the
Hebrew missah ("oblation" -- so Reuchlin and Luther), or the Greek
myesis ("initiation"), or the German Mess ("assembly", "market"). Nor
is it the participle feminine of mittere, with a noun understood
("oblatio missa ad Deum", "congregatio missa", i.e., dimissa -- so
Diez, "Etymol. Wörterbuch der roman. Sprachen", 212, and others). It is
a substantive of a late form for missio. There are many parallels in
medieval Latin, collecta, ingressa, confessa, accessa, ascensa -- all
for forms in -io. It does not mean an offering (mittere, in the sense
of handing over to God), but the dismissal of the people, as in the
versicle: "Ite missa est" (Go, the dismissal is made). It may seem
strange that this unessential detail should have given its name to the
whole service. But there are many similar cases in liturgical language.
Communion, confession, breviary are none of them names that express the
essential character of what they denote. In the case of the word missa
we can trace the development of its meaning step by step. We have seen
it used by St. Augustine, synods of the sixth century, and Hincmar of
Reims for "dismissal". Missa Catechumenorum means the dismissal of the
catechumens. It appears that missa fit or missa est was the regular
formula for sending people away at the end of a trial or legal process.
Avitus of Vienne (d. 523) says: "In churches and palaces or law-courts
the dismissal is proclaimed to be made [missa pronuntiatur], when the
people are dismissed from their attendance" (Ep. i). So also St.
Isidore of Seville: "At the time of the sacrifice the dismissal is
[missa tempore sacrificii est] when the catechumens are sent out, as
the deacon cries: If any one of the catechumens remain, let him go out:
and thence it is the dismissal [et inde missa]" ("Etymol.", VI, xix, in
P.L., LXXXII, 252). As there was a dismissal of the catechumens at the
end of the first part of the service, so was there a dismissal of the
faithful (the baptized) after the Communion. There were, then, a missa
catechumenorum and a missa fidelium, both, at first, in the sense of
dismissals only. So Florus Diaconus (d. 860): "Missa is understood as
nothing but dimissio, that is, absolutio, which the deacon pronounces
when the people are dismissed from the solemn service. The deacon cried
out and the catechumens were sent [mittebantur], that is, were
dismissed outside [id est, dimittebantur foras]. So the missa
caechumenorum was made before the action of the Sacrament (i.e., before
the Canon Actionis), the missa fidelium is made "-- note the difference
of tense; in Florus's time the dismissal of the catechumens had ceased
to be practised --" after the consecration and communion" [post
confectionem et participationem] (P.L., CXIX 72).
How the word gradually
changed its meaning from dismissal to the whole service, up to and
including the dismissal, is not difficult to understand. In the texts
quoted we see already thefoundation of such a change. To stay till the
missa catechumenorum is easily modified into: to stay for, or during,
the missa catechumenorum. So we find these two missae used for the two
halves of the Liturgy. Ivo of Chartres (d. 1116) has forgotten the
original meaning, and writes: "Those who heard the missa catechumenorum
evaded the missa sacramentorum" (Ep. ccxix, in P.L., CLXII, 224). The
two parts are then called by these two names; as the discipline of the
catechumenate is gradually forgotten, and there remains only one
connected service, it is called by the long familiar name missa,
without further qualification. We find, however, through the Middle
Ages the plural miss, missarum solemnia, as well as missae sacramentum
and such modified expressions also. Occasionally the word is
transferred to the feast-day. The feast of St. Martin, for instance, is
called Missa S. Martini. It is from this use that the German Mess,
Messtag, and so on are derived. The day and place of a local feast was
the occasion of a market (for all this see Rottmanner, op. cit., in
bibliography below). Kirmess (Flemish Kermis, Fr. kermesse) is
Kirch-mess, the anniversary of the dedication of a church, the occasion
of a fair. The Latin missa is modified in all Western languages (It.
messa, Sp. misa, Fr. messe, Germ. Messe, etc.). The English form before
the Conquest was maesse,then Middle Engl. messe, masse --" It nedith
not to speke of the masse ne the seruise that thei hadde that day"
("Merlin" in the Early Engl. Text Soc., II, 375) --"And whan our parish
masse was done" ("Sir Cauline", Child's Ballads, III, 175). It also
existed as a verb: "to mass" was to say mass; "massing-priest" was a
common term of abuse at the Reformation.
It should be noted that the
name Mass (missa) applies to the Eucharistic service in the Latin rites
only. Neither in Latin nor in Greek has it ever been applied to any
Eastern rite. For them the corresponding word is Liturgy (liturgia). It
is a mistake that leads to confusion, and a scientific inexactitude, to
speak of any Eastern Liturgy as a Mass.
B. The Origin of the Mass
The Western Mass, like all
Liturgies, begins, of course, with the Last Supper. What Christ then
did, repeated as he commanded in memory of Him, is the nucleus of the
Mass. As soon as the Faith was brought to the West the Holy Eucharist
was celebrated here, as in the East. At first the language used was
Greek. Out of that earliest Liturgy, the language being changed to
Latin, developed the two great parent rites of the West, the Roman and
the Gallican (see LITURGY). Of these two the Gallican Mass may be
traced without difficulty. It is so plainly Antiochene in its
structure, in the very text of many of ifs prayers, that we are safe in
accounting for it as a translated form of the Liturgy of
Jerusalem-Antioch, brought to the West at about the time when the more
or less fluid universal Liturgy of the first three centuries gave place
to different fixed rites (see LITURGY; GALLICAN RITE). The origin of
the Roman Mass, on the other hand, is a most difficult question, We
have here two fixed and certain data: the Liturgy in Greek described by
St. Justin Martyr (d. c. 165), which is that of the Church of Rome in
the second century, and, at the other end of the development, the
Liturgy of the first Roman Sacramentaries in Latin, in about the sixth
century. The two are very different. Justin's account represents a rite
of what we should now call an Eastern type, corresponding with
remarkable exactness to that of the Apostolic Constitutions (see
LITURGY). The Leonine and Gelasian Sacramentaries show us what is
practically our present Roman Mass. How did the service change from the
one to the other? It is one of the chief difficulties in the history of
liturgy. During the last few years, especially, all manner of solutions
and combinations have been proposed. We will first note some points
that arecertain, that may serve as landmarks in an investigation.
Justin Martyr, Clement of
Rome, Hippolytus (d. 235), and Novatian (c. 250) all agree in the
Liturgies they describe, though the evidence of the last two is scanty
(Probst, "Liturgie der drei ersten christl. Jahrhdte"; Drews,
"Untersuchungen über die sogen. clement. Liturgie"). Justin gives us
the fullest Liturgical description of any Father of the first three
centuries (Apol. I, lxv, lxvi, quoted and discussed in LITURGY). He
describes how the Holy Eucharist was celebrated at Rome in the middle
of the second century; his account is the necessary point of departure,
one end of a chain whose intermediate links are hidden. We have hardly
any knowledge at all of what developments the Roman Rite went through
during the third and fourth centuries. This is the mysterious time
where conjecture may, and does, run riot. By the fifth century we come
back to comparatively firm ground, after a radical change. At this time
we have the fragment in Pseudo-Ambrose, "De sacramentis" (about 400.
Cf. P.L., XVI, 443), and the letter of Pope Innocent I (401-17) to
Decentius of Eugubium (P.L., XX, 553). In these documents we see that
the Roman Liturgy is said in Latin and has already become in essence
the rite we still use. A few indications of the end of the fourth
century agree with this. A little later we come to the earliest
Sacramentaries (Leonine, fifth or sixth century; Gelasian, sixth or
seventh century) and from then the history of the Roman Mass is fairly
clear. The fifth and sixth centuries therefore show us the other end of
the chain. For the interval between the second and fifth centuries,
during which the great change took place, although we know so little
about Rome itself, we have valuable data from Africa. There is every
reason to believe that in liturgical matters the Church of Africa
followed Rome closely. We can supply much of what we wish to know about
Rome from the African Fathers of the third century, Tertullian (d. c.
220), St. Cyprian (d. 258), the Acts of St. Perpetua and St. Felicitas
(203), St. Augustine (d. 430) (see Cabrol, "Dictionnaire d'
archéologie", I, 591-657). The question of the change of language from
Greek to Latin is less important than if might seem. It came about
naturally when Greek ceased to be the usual language of the Roman
Christians. Pope Victor I (190-202), an African, seems to have been the
first to use Latin at Rome, Novatian writes Latin. By the second half
of the third century the usual liturgical language at Rome seems to
have been Latin (Kattenbusch, "Symbolik", II, 331), though fragments of
Greek remained for many centuries. Other writers think that Latin was
not finally adopted till the end of the fourth century (Probst, "Die
abendländ. Messe", 5; Rietschel, "Lehrbuch der Liturgik", I, 337). No
doubt, for a time both languages were used. The question is discussed
at length in C. P. Caspari, "Quellen zur Gesch. des Taufsymbols u. der
Glaubensregel" (Christiania, 1879), III, 267 sq. The Creed was
sometimes said in Greek, some psalms were sung in that language, the
lessons on Holy Saturday were read in Greek and Latin as late as the
eighth century (Ordo Rom., I, P.L., LXXVIII, 966-68, 955). There are
still such fragments of Greek ("Kyrie eleison", "Agios O Theos") in the
Roman Mass. But a change of language does not involve a change of rite.
Novatian's Latin allusions to the Eucharistic prayer agree very well
with those of Clement of Rome in Greek, and with the Greek forms in
Apost. Const., VIII (Drews, op. cit., 107-22). The Africans,
Tertullian, St. Cyprian, etc., who write Latin, describe a rite very
closely related to that of Justin and the Apostolic Constitutions
(Probst, op. cit., 183-206; 215-30). The Gallican Rite, as in Germanus
of Paris (Duchesne, "Origines du Culte", 180-217), shows how Eastern --
how "Greek" -- a Latin Liturgy can be. We must then conceive the change
of language in the third century as a detail that did not much affect
the development of the rite. No doubt the use of Latin was a factor in
the Roman tendency to shorten the prayers, leave out whatever seemed
redundant in formulas, and abridge the whole service. Latin is
naturally terse, compared with the rhetorical abundance of Greek. This
difference is one of the most obvious distinctions between the Roman
and the Eastern Rites.
If we may suppose that
during the first three centuries there was a common Liturgy throughout
Christendom, variable, no doubt, in details, but uniform in all its
main points, which common Liturgy is represented by that of the eighth
book of the Apostolic Constitutions, we have in that the origin of the
Roman Mass as of all other liturgies (see LITURGY). There are, indeed,
special reasons for supposing that this type of liturgy was used at
Rome. The chief authorities for it (Clement, Justin, Hippolytus,
Novatian) are all Roman. Moreover, even the present Roman Rite, in
spite of later modifications, retains certain elements that resemble
those of the Apost. Const. Liturgy remarkably. For instance, at Rome
there neither is nor has been a public Offertory prayer. The "Oremus"
said just before the Offertory is the fragment of quite another thing,
the old prayers of the faithful, of which we still have a specimen in
the series of collects on Good Friday. The Offertory is made in silence
while the choir sings part of a psalm. Meanwhile the celebrant says
private Offertory prayers which in the old form of the Mass are the
Secrets only. The older Secrets are true Offertory prayers. In the
Byzantine Rite, on the other hand, the gifts are prepared beforehand,
brought up with the singing of the Cherubikon, and offered at the altar
by a public Synapte of deacon and people, and a prayer once sung aloud
by the celebrant (now only the Ekphonesis is sung aloud). The Roman
custom of a silent offertory with private prayer is that of the Liturgy
of the Apostolic Constitutions. Here too the rubric says only: "The
deacons bring the gifts to the bishop at the altar" (VIII, xii, 3) and
"The Bishop, praying by himself [kath heauton, "silently"] with the
priests . . ." (VIII, xii, 4). No doubt in this case, too, a psalm was
sung meanwhile, which would account for the unique instance of silent
prayer. The Apostolic Constitutions order that at this point the
deacons should wave fans over the oblation (a practical precaution to
keep away insects, VIII, xii, 3); this, too, was done at Rome down to
the fourteenth century (Martène, "De antiquis eccl. ritibus", Antwerp,
1763, I, 145). The Roman Mass, like the Apostolic Constitutions (VIII,
xi, 12), has a washing of hands just before the Offertory. It once had
a kiss of peace before the Preface. Pope Innocent I, in his letter to
Decentius of Eugubium (416), remarks on this older custom of placing it
ante confecta mysteria (before the Eucharistic prayer -- P.L., XX,
553). That is its place in the Apost. Const. (VIII, xi, 9). After the
Lord's Prayer, at Rome, during the fraction, the celebrant sings: "Pax
Domini sit semper vobiscum." It seems that this was the place to which
the kiss of peace was first moved (as in Innocent I's letter). This
greeting, unique in the Roman Rite, occurs again only in the Apostolic
Constitutions (he eirene tou theou meta panton hymon). Here it comes
twice: after the Intercession (VIII, xiii, 1) and at the kiss of peace
(VIII, xi, 8). The two Roman prayers after the Communion, the
Postcommunion and the Oratio super populum (ad populum in the Gelasian
Sacramentary) correspond to the two prayers, first a thanksgiving, then
a prayer over the people, in Apost. Const., VIII, xv, 1-5 and 7-9.
There is an interesting
deduction that may be made from the present Roman Preface. A number of
Prefaces introduce the reference to the angels (who sing the Sanctus)
by the form et ideo. In many cases it is not clear to what this ideo
refers. Like the igitur at the beginning of the Canon, it does not seem
justified by what precedes. May we conjecture that something has been
left out? The beginning of the Eucharistic prayer in the Apost. Const.,
VIII, xii, 6-27 (the part before the Sanctus, our Preface, it is to be
found in Brightman, "Liturgies, Eastern and Western", I, Oxford, 1896,
14-18), is much longer, and enumerates at length the benefits of
creation and various events of the Old Law. The angels are mentioned
twice, at the beginning as the first creatures and then again at the
end abruptly, without connection with what has preceded in order to
introduce the Sanctus. The shortness of the Roman Prefaces seems to
make it certain that they have been curtailed. All the other rites
begin the Eucharistic prayer (after the formula: "Let us give thanks")
with a long thanksgiving for the various benefits of God, which are
enumerated. We know, too, how much of the development of the Roman Mass
is due to a tendency to abridge the older prayers. If then we suppose
that the Roman Preface is such an abridgement of that in the Apost.
Const., with the details of the Creation and Old Testament history left
out, we can account for the ideo. The two references to the angels in
the older prayer have met and coalesced. The ideo refers to the omitted
list of benefits, of which the angels, too, have their share. The
parallel between the orders of angels in both liturgies is exact:
ROMAN MISSAL:
. . . . cum Angelis et
Archangelis, cum Thronis et Dominationibus, cumque omni militia
cælestis exercitus . . . . sine fine dicentes.
APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTIONS:
. . . . stratiai aggelon, archallelon, . . . . thronon, kyrioteton, . . . .stration aionion, . . . .legonta akatapaustos.
Another parallel is in the
old forms of the "Hanc igitur" prayer. Baumstark ("Liturgia romana",
102-07) has found two early Roman forms of this prayer in
Sacramentaries at Vauclair and Rouen, already published by Martène
("Voyage littéraire", Paris, 1724, 40) and Delisle (in Ebner,
"Iteritalicum", 417), in which it is much longer and has plainly the
nature of an Intercession, such as we find in the Eastern rites at the
end of the Anaphora. The form is: "Hanc igitur oblationem servitutis
nostræ sed et cunctæ familiæ tuæ, quæsumus Domine placatus accipias,
quam tibi devoto offerimus corde pro pace et caritate et unitate sanctæ
ecclesiæ, pro fide catholica . . . pro sacerdotibus et omni gradu
ecclesiæ, pro regibus . . ." (Therefore, O Lord, we beseech Thee, be
pleased to accept this offering of our service and of all Thy
household, which we offer Thee with devout heart for the peace,
charity, and unity of Holy Church, for the Catholic Faith . . . for the
priests and every order of the Church, for kings . . .) and so on,
enumerating a complete list of people for whom prayer is said.
Baumstark prints these clauses parallel with those of the Intercesison
in various Eastern rites; most of them may be found in that of the
Apost. Const. (VIII, xii, 40-50, and xiii, 3-9). This, then, supplies
another missing element in the Mass. Eventually the clauses enumerating
the petitions were suppressed, no doubt because they were thought to be
a useless reduplication of the prayers "Te igitur", "Communicantes",
and the two Mementos (Baumstark, op. cit., 107), and the introduction
of this Intercession (Hanc igitur . . . placatus accipias) was joined
to what seems to have once been part of a prayer for the dead (diesque
nostros in tua pace disponas, etc.).
We still have a faint echo
of the old Intercession in the clause about the newly-baptized
interpolated into the "Hanc igitur" at Easter and Whitsuntide. The
beginning of the prayer has a parallel in Apost. Const., VIII, xiii, 3
(the beginning of the deacon's Litany of Intercession). Drews thinks
that the form quoted by Baumstark, with its clauses all beginning pro,
was spoken by the deacon as a litany, like the clauses in Apost. Const.
beginning hyper (Untersuchungen über die sog. clem. Lit., 139). The
prayer containing the words of Institution in the Roman Mass (Qui
pridie . . in mei memoriam facietis) has just the constructions and
epithets of the corresponding text in Apost. Const., VIII, xii, 36-37.
All this and many more parallels between the Mass and the Apost. Const.
Liturgy may be studied in Drews (op. cit.). It is true that we can find
parallel passages with other liturgies too, notably with that of
Jerusalem (St. James). There are several forms that correspond to those
of the Egyptian Rite, such as the Roman "de tuis donis ac datis" in the
"Unde et memores" (St. Mark: ek ton son doron; Brightman, "Eastern
Liturgies", p. 133, 1. 30); "offerimus præclaræ maiestati tuæ de tuis
donis ac datis", is found exactly in the Coptic form ("before thine
holy glory we have set thine own gift of thine own", ibid., p. 178, 1.
15). But this does not mean merely that there are parallel passages
between any two rites. The similarities of the Apost. Const. are far
more obvious than those of any other. The Roman Mass, even apart from
the testimony of Justin Martyr, Clement, Hippolytus, Novatian, still
bears evidence of its development from a type of liturgy of which that
of the Apostolic Constitutions is the only perfect surviving specimen
(see LITURGY). There is reason to believe, moreover, that it has since
been influenced both from Jerusalem-Antioch and Alexandria, though many
of the forms common to it and these two may be survivals of that
original, universal fluid rite which have not been preserved in the
Apost. Const. It must always be remembered that no one maintains that
the Apost. Const. Liturgy is word for word the primitive universal
Liturgy. The thesis defended by Probst, Drews, Kattenbusch, Baumstark,
and others is that there was a comparatively vague and fluid rite of
which the Apost. Const. have preserved for us a specimen.
But between this original
Roman Rite (which we can study only in the Apost. Const.) and the Mass
as it emerges in the first sacramentaries (sixth to seventh century)
there is a great change. Much of this change is accounted for by the
Roman tendency to shorten. The Apost, Const. has five lessons; Rome has
generally only two or three. At Rome the prayers of the faithful after
the expulsion of the catechumens and the Intercession at the end of the
Canon have gone. Both no doubt were considered superfluous since there
is a series of petitions of the same nature in the Canon. But both have
left traces. We still say Oremus before the Offertory, where the
prayers of the faithful once stood, and still have these prayers on
Good Friday in the collects. And the "Hanc Igitur" is a fragment of the
Intercession. The first great change that separates Rome from all the
Eastern rites is the influence of the ecclesiastical year. The Eastern
liturgies remain always the same except for the lessons, Prokeimenon
(Gradual-verse), and one or two other slight modifications. On the
other hand the Roman Mass is profoundly affected throughout by the
season or feast on which it is said. Probst's theory was that this
change was made by Pope Damasus (366-84; "Liturgie des vierten Jahrh.",
pp. 448-72). This idea is now abandoned (Funk in "Tübinger
Quartalschrift", 1894, pp. 683 sq.). Indeed, we have the authority of
Pope Vigilius (540-55) for the fact that in the sixth century the order
of the Mass was still hardly affected by the calendar ("Ep. ad
Eutherium" in P.L., LXIX, 18). The influence of the ecclesiastical year
must have been gradual. The lessons were of course always varied, and a
growing tendency to refer to the feast or season in the prayers,
Preface, and even in the Canon, brought about the present state of
things, already in full force in the Leonine Sacramentary. That Damasus
was one of the popes who modified the old rite seems, however, certain.
St. Gregory I (590-604) says he introduced the use of the Hebrew
Alleluia from Jerusalem ("Ep. ad Ioh. Syracus." in P.L., LXXVII, 956).
It was under Damasus that the Vulgate became the official Roman version
of the Bible used in the Liturgy; a constant tradition ascribes to
Damasus's friend St. Jerome (d. 420) the arrangement of the Roman
Lectionary. Mgr Duchesne thinks that the Canon was arranged by this
pope (Origines du Culte, 168-9). A curious error of a Roman theologian
of Damasus's time, who identified Melchisedech with the Holy Ghost,
incidentally shows us one prayer of our Mass as existing then, namely
the "Supra quæ" with its allusion to "summus sacerdos tuus
Melchisedech" ("Quæst. V. et N. Test." in P.L., XXXV, 2329).
C. The Mass from the Fifth to the Seventh Century
By about the fifth century
we begin to see more clearly. Two documents of this time give us fairly
large fraaments of the Roman Mass. Innocent I (401-17), in his letter
to Decentius of Eugubium (about 416; P.L., XX, 553), alludes to many
features of the Mass. We notice that these important changes have
already been made: the kiss of peace has been moved from the beginning
of the Mass of the Faithful to after the Consecration, the
Commemoration of the Living and Dead is made in the Canon, and there
are no longer prayers of the faithful before the Offertory (see CANON
OF THE MASS). Rietschel (Lehrbuch der Liturgik, I, 340-1) thinks that
the Invocation of the Holy Ghost has already disappeared from the Mass.
Innocent does not mention it, but we have evidence of it at a later
date under Gelasius I (492-6: see CANON OF THE MASS, s.v. Supplices te
rogamus, and EPIKLESIS). Rietschel (loc. cit.) also thinks that there
was a dogmatic reason for these changes, to emphasize the sacrificial
idea. We notice especially that in Innocent's time the prayer of
lntercession follows the Consecration (see CANON OF THE MASS). The
author of the treatise "De Sacramentis" (wrongly attributed to St.
Ambrose, in P.L., XVI, 418 sq.) says that he will explain the Roman
Use, and proceeds to quote a great part of the Canon (the text is given
in CANON OF THE MASS, II). From this document we can reconstruct the
following scheme: The Mass of the Catechumens is still distinct from
that of the faithful, at least in theory. The people sing "Introibo ad
altare Dei" as the celebrant and his ministers approach the alter (the
Introit). Then follow lessons from Scripture, chants (Graduals), and a
sermon (the Catechumens Mass). The people still make the Offertory of
bread and wine. The Preface and Sanctus follow (laus Deo defertur),
then the prayer of Intercession (oratione petitur pro populo, pro
regibus, pro ceteris) and the Consecration by the words of Institution
(ut conficitur ven. sacramentum . . . utitur sermonibus Christi). From
this point (Fac nobis hanc oblationem ascriptam, ratam, rationabilem .
. .) the text of the Canon is quoted. Then come the Anamnesis (Ergo
memores . . .), joined to it the prayer of oblation (offerimus tibi
hanc immaculatam hostiam . . .), i.e. practically our "Supra quæ"
prayer, and the Communion with the form: "Corpus Christi, R. Amen",
during which Ps. xxii is sung. At the end the Lord's Prayer is said.
In the "De Sacramentis"
then, the Intercession comes before the Consecration, whereas in
Innocent's letter it came after. This transposition should be noted as
one of the most important features in the development of the Mass. The
"Liber Pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, Paris, 1886-92) contains a number
of statements about changes in and additions to the Mass made by
various popes, as for instance that Leo I (440-61) added the words
"sanctum sacrificium, immaculatam hostiam" to the prayer "Supra quæ",
that Sergius I (687-701) introduced the Agnus Dei, and so on. These
must be received with caution; the whole book still needs critical
examination. In the case of the Agnus Dei the statement is made
doubtful by the fact that it is found in the Gregorian Sacramentary
(whose date, however, is again doubtful). A constant tradition ascribes
some great influence on the Mass to Gelasius I(492-6). Gennadius (De
vir. illustr. xciv) says he composed a sacramentary; the Liber
Pontificalis speaks of his liturgical work, and there must be some
basis for the way in which his name is attached to the famous Gelasian
Sacramentay. What exactly Gelasius did is less easy to determine.
We come now to the end of a
period at the reign of St. Gregory I (590-604). Gregory knew the Mass
practically as we still have it. There have been additions and changes
since his time, but none to compare with the complete recasting of the
Canon that took place before him. At least as far as the Canon is
concerned, Gregory may be considered as having put the last touches to
it. His biographer, John the Deacon, says that he "collected the
Sacramentary of Gelasius in one book, leaving out much, changing
little, adding something for the exposition of the Gospels" (Vita S.
Greg., II, xvii). He moved the Our Father from the end of the Mass to
before the Communion, as he says in his letter to John of Syracuse: "We
say the Lord's Prayer immediately after the Canon [max post precem] . .
. It seems to me very unsuitable that we should say the Canon [prex]
which an unknown scholar composed [quam scholasticus composuerat] over
the oblation and that we should not say the prayer handed down by our
Redeemer himself over His body and blood" (P.L., LXXVII, 956). He is
also credited with the addition: "diesque nostros etc." to the "Hanc
igitur" (ibid.; see CANON OF THE MASS). Benedict XIV says that "no pope
has added to, or changed the Canon since St. Gregory" (De SS. Missæ
sacrificio, p. 162). There has been an important change since, the
partial amalgamation of the old Roman Rite with Gallican features; but
this hardly affects the Canon. We may say safely that a modern Latin
Catholic who could be carried back to Rome in the early seventh century
would -- while missing some features to which he is accustomed -- find
himself on the whole quite at home with the service he saw there.
This brings us back to the
most difficult question: Why and when was the Roman Liturgy changed
from what we see in Justin Martyr to that of Gregory I? The change is
radical, especially as regards the most important element of the Mass,
the Canon. The modifications in the earlier part, the smaller number of
lessons, the omission of the prayers for and expulsion of the
catechumens, of the prayers of the faithful before the Offertory and so
on, may be accounted for easily as a result of the characteristic Roman
tendency to shorten the service and leave out what had become
superfluous. The influence of the calendar has already been noticed.
But there remains the great question of the arrangement of the Canon.
That the order of the prayers that make up the Canon is a cardinal
difficulty is admitted by every one. The old attempts to justify their
present order by symbolic or mystic reasons have now been given up. The
Roman Canon as it stands is recognized as a problem of great
difficulty. It differs fundamentally from the Anaphora of any Eastern
rite and from the Gallican Canon. Whereas in the Antiochene family of
liturgies (including that of Gaul) the great Intercession follows the
Consecration, which comes at once after the Sanctus, and in the
Alexandrine class the Intercession is said during what we should call
the Preface before the Sanctus, in the Roman Rite the Intercession is
scattered throughout the Canon, partly before and partly after the
Consecration. We may add to this the other difficulty, the omission at
Rome of any kind of clear Invocation of the Holy Ghost (Epiklesis).
Paul Drews has tried to solve this question. His theory is that the
Roman Mass, starting from the primitive vaguer rite (practically that
of the Apostolic Constitutions), at first followed the development of
Jerusalem-Antioch, and was for a time very similar to the Liturgy of
St. James. Then it was recast to bring if nearer to Alexandria. This
change was made probably by Gelasius I under the influence of his
guest, John Talaia of Alexandria. The theory is explained at length in
the article CANON OF THE MASS. Here we need only add that if has
received in the main the support of F.X. Funk (who at first opposed it;
see "Histor. Jahrbuch der Görresgesellschaft", 1903, pp. 62, 283; but
see also his "Kirchengesch. Abhandlungen", III, Paderborn, 1907, pp.
85-134, in which he will not admit that he has altogether changed his
mind), A. Baumstark ("Liturgia romana e Liturgla dell' Esarcato", Rome,
1904), and G. Rauschen ("Eucharistie und Bussakrament", Freiburg, 1908,
p. 86). But other theories have been suggested. Baumstark does not
follow Drews in the details. He conceives (op. cit.) the originalCanon
as consisting of a Preface in which God is thanked for the benefits of
creation; the Sanctus interrupts the prayers, which then continue (Vere
Sanctus) with a prayer (now disappeared) thanking God for Redemption
and so coming to the Institution (Pridie autem quam pateretur . . .).
Then follow the Anamnesis (Unde et memores), the "Supra quæ", the "Te
igitur", joined to an Epiklesis after the words "hæc sancta sacrificia
illibata". Then the Intercession (In primis quæ tibi offerimus . . .),
"Memento vivorum", "Communicantes", "Memento defunctorum" (Nos quoque
peccatores . . . intra sanctorum tuorum consortium non æstimator meriti
sed veniæ quæsumus largitor admitte, per Christum Dominum nostrum).
This order then (according
to Baumstark) was dislocated by the insertion of new elements, the
"Hanc Igitur", "Quam oblationem", "Supra quæ" and "Supplices", the list
of saints in the "Nobis quoque", all of which prayers were in some sort
reduplications of what was already contained in the Canon. They
represent a mixed influence of Antioch and Alexandrla, which last
reached Rome through Aquilea and Ravenna, where there was once a rite
of the Alexandrine type. St. Leo I began to make these changes; Gregory
I finished the process and finally recast the Canon in the form if
still has. It will be seen that Baumstark's theory agrees with that of
Drews in the main issue -- that at Rome originally the whole
Intercession followed the Canon. Dom Cagin (Paléographie musicale, V,
80 sq.) and Dom Cabrol (Origines liturgiques, 354 sq.) propose an
entirely different theory. So far it has been admitted on all sides
that the Roman andGallican rites belong to different classes; the
Gallican Rite approaches that of Antioch very closely, the origin of
the Roman one being the great problem. Cagin's idea is that all that
must be reversed, the Gallican Rite has no connection at all with
Antioch or any Eastern Liturgy; it is in its origin the same rite as
the Roman. Rome changed this earlier form about the sixth or seventh
century. Before that the order at Rome was: Secrets, Preface, Sanctus,
"Te igitur"; then "Hanc igitur", "Quam oblationem", "Qui pridie" (these
three prayers correspond to the Gallican Post-Sanctus). Then followed a
group like the Gallican Post Pridie, namely "Unde et memores",
"Offerimus praeclaræ", "Supra guæ", "Supplices", "Per eundem Christum
etc.", "Per quem hæc omnia", and the Fraction. Then came the Lord's
Prayer with its embolism, of which the "Nobis quoque" was a part. The
two Mementos were originally before the Preface. Dom Cagin has
certainly pointed out a number of points in which Rome and Gaul (that
is all the Western rites) stand together as opposed to the East. Such
points are the changes caused by the calendar, the introduction of the
Institution by the words "Qui pridie", whereas all Eastern Liturgies
have the form "In the night in which he was betrayed". Moreover the
place of the kiss of peace (in Gaul before the Preface) cannot be
quoted as a difference between Rome and Gaul, since, as we have seen it
stood originally in that place at Rome too. The Gallican diptychs come
before the Preface; but no one knows for certain where they were said
originally at Rome. Cagin puts them in the same place in the earlier
Roman Mass. His theory may be studied further in Dom Cabrol's "Origines
liturgiques", where if is very clearly set out (pp. 353-64). Mgr
Duchesne has attacked it vigorously and not without effect in the
"Revue d'histoire et de litérature ecclésiastiques" (1900), pp. 31 sq.
Mr. Edmund Bishop criticizes the German theories (Drews, Baumstark
etc.), and implies in general terms that the whole question of the
grouping of liturgies will have to be reconsidered on a new basis, that
of the form of the words of Institution (Appendix to Dom R. Connolly's
"Liturgical Homilies of Narsai" in "Cambridge Texts and Studies", VIII,
I, 1909). If is to be regretted that he has not told us plainly what
position he means to defend, and that he is here again content with
merely negative criticism. The other great question, that of the
disappearance of the Roman Epiklesis, cannot be examined here (see
CANON OF THE MASS and EPIKLESIS). We will only add to what has been
said in those articles that the view is growing that there was an
Invocation of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, an Epiklesis of
the Logos, before there was one of the Holy Ghost. The Anaphora of
Serapion (fourth century in Egypt) contains such an Epiklesis of the
Logos only (in Funk, "Didascalia", II, Paderborn, 1905, pp. 174-6). Mr.
Bishop (in the above-named Appendix) thinks that the Invocation of the
Holy Ghost did not arise till later (Cyril of Jerusalem, about 350,
being the first witness for it), that Rome never had it, that her only
Epiklesis was the "Quam oblationem" before the words of Institution.
Against this we must set what seems to be the convincing evidence of
Gelasius I's letter (quoted in CANON OF THE MASS, s. v. Supplices te
rogamus).
We have then as the
conclusion of this paragraph that at Rome the Eucharistic prayer was
fundamentally changed and recast at some uncertain period between the
fourth and the sixth and seventh centuries. During the same time the
prayers of the faithful before the Offertory disappeared, the kiss of
peace was transferred to after the Consecration, and the Epiklesis was
omitted or mutilated into our "Supplices" prayer. Of the various
theories suggested to account for this it seems reasonable to say with
Rauschen: "Although the question is by no means decided, nevertheless
there is so much in favour of Drews's theory that for the present it
must be considered the right one. We must then admit that between the
years 400 and 500 a great transformation was made in the Roman Canon"
(Euch. u. Bussakr., 86).
D. From the Seventh Century to Modern Times
After Gregory the Great
(590-604) it is comparatively easy to follow the history of the Mass in
the Roman Rite. We have now as documents first the three well-known
sacramentaries. The oldest, called Leonine, exists in a seventh-century
manuscript. Its composition is ascribed variously to the fifth, sixth,
or seventh century (see LITURGICAL BOOKS). It is a fragment, wanting
the Canon, but, as far as it goes, represents the Mass we know (without
the later Gallican additions). Many of its collects, secrets,
post-communions, and prefaces are still in use. The Gelasian book was
written in the sixth, seventh, or eighth century (ibid.); it is partly
Gallicanized and was composed in the Frankish Kingdom. Here we have our
Canon word for word. The third sacramentary, called Gregorian, is
apparently the book sent by Pope Adrian I to Charlemagne probably
between 781 and 791 (ibid.). It contains additional Masses since
Gregory's time and a set of supplements gradually incorporated into the
original book, giving Frankish (i.e. older Roman and Gallican)
additions. Dom Suitbert Bäumer ("Ueber das sogen. Sacram. Gelasianum"
in the "Histor. Jahrbuch", 1893, pp. 241-301) and Mr. Edmund Bishop
("The Earliest Roman Massbook" in "Dublin Review", 1894, pp. 245-78)
explain the development of the Roman Rite from the ninth to the
eleventh century in this way: The (pure) Roman Sacramentary sent by
Adrian to Charlemagne was ordered by the king to be used alone
throughout the Frankish Kingdom. But the people were attached to their
old use, which was partly Roman (Gelasian) and partly Gallican. So when
the Gregorian book was copied they (notably Alcuin d. 804) added to it
these Frankish supplements. Gradually the supplements became
incorporated into the original book. So composed it came back to Rome
(through the influence of the Carlovingian emperors) and became the
"use of the Roman Church". The "Missale Romanum Lateranense" of the
eleventh century (ed. Azevedo, Rome, 1752) shows this fused rite
complete as the only one in use at Rome. The Roman Mass has thus gone
through this last change since Gregory the Great, a partial fusion with
Gallican elements. According to Bäumer and Bishop the Gallican
influence is noticeable chiefly in the variations for the course of the
year. Their view is that Gregory had given the Mass more uniformity
(since the time of the Leonine book), had brought it rather to the
model of the unchanging Eastern liturgies. Its present variety for
different days and seasons came back again with the mixed books later.
Gallican influence is also seen in many dramatic and symbolic
ceremonies foreign to the stern pure Roman Rite (see Bishop, "The
Genius of the Roman Rite"). Such ceremonies are the blessing of
candles, ashes, palms, much of the Holy Week ritual, etc.
The Roman Ordines, of which
twelve were published by Mabillon in his "Museum Italicum" (others
since by De Rossi and Duchesne), are valuable sources that supplement
the sacramentaries. They are descriptions of ceremonial without the
prayers (like the "Cærimoniale Episcoporum"), and extend from the
eighth to the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries. The first (eighth
century) and second (based on the first, with Frankish additions) are
the most important (see LITURGICAL2kBOOKS). From these and the
sacramentaries we can reconstruct the Mass at Rome in the eighth or
ninth century. There were as yet no preparatory prayers said before the
altar. The pope, attended by a great retinue of deacons, subdeacons,
acolytes, and singers, entered while the Introit psalm was sung. After
a prostration the Kyrie eleison was sung, as now with nine invocations
(see KYRIE ELEISON); any other litany had disappeared. The Gloria
followed on feasts (see GLORIA IN EXCELSIS). The pope sang the prayer
of the day (see COLLECT), two or three lessons followed (see LESSONS IN
THE LITURGY), Interspersed with psalms (see GRADUAL). The prayers of
the faithful had gone, leaving only the one word Oremus as a fragment.
The people brought up the bread and wine while the Offertory psalm was
sung; the gifts were arranged on the altar by the deacons. The Secret
was said (at that time the only Offertory prayer) after the pope had
washed his hands. The Preface, Sanctus, and all the Canon followed as
now. A reference to the fruits of the earth led to the words "per quem
hæc omnia" etc. Then came the Lord's Prayer, the Fraction with a
complicated ceremony, the kiss of peace, the Agnus Dei (since Pope
Sergius, 687-701), the Communion under both kinds, during which the
Communion psalm was sung (see COMMUNION-ANTIPHON), the Post-Communion
prayer, the dismissal (see ITE MISSA EST), and the procession back to
the sacristy (for a more detailed account see C. Atchley, "Ordo Romanus
Primus", London, 1905; Duchesne, "Origines du Culte chrétien", vi).
It has been explained how
this (mixed) Roman Rite gradually drove out the Gallican Use (see
LITURGY). By about the tenth or eleventh century the Roman Mass was
practically the only one in use in the West. Then a few additions (none
of them very important) were made to the Mass at different times. The
Nicene Creed is an importation from Constantinople. It is said that in
1014 Emperor Henry II (1002-24) persuaded Pope Benedict VIII (1012-24)
to add it after the Gospel (Berno of Reichenau, "De quibusdam rebus ad
Missæ offic,pertin.", ii), It had already been adopted in Spain, Gaul,
and Germany. All the present ritual and the prayers said by the
celebrant at the Offertory were introduced from France about the
thirteenth century ("Ordo Rom. XIV", liii, is the first witness; P. L.,
LXXVIII, 1163-4); before that the secrets were the only Offertory
prayers ("Micrologus", xi, in P.L., CLI, 984). There was considerable
variety as to these prayers throughout the Middle Ages until the
revised Missal of Pius V (1570). The incensing of persons and things is
again due to Gallican influence; It was not adopted at Rome till the
eleventh or twelfth century (Micrologus, ix). Before that time incense
was burned only during processions (the entrance and Gospel procession;
see C. Atchley, "Ordo Rom. Primus", 17-18). The three prayers said by
the celebrant before his communion are private devotions introduced
gradually into the official text. Durandus (thirteenth century,
"Rationale," IV, liii) mentions the first (for peace); the Sarum Rite
had instead another prayer addressed to God the Father ("Deus Pater
fons et origo totius bonitatis," ed. Burntisland, 625). Micrologus
mentions only the second (D. I. Chr. qui ex voluntate Patris), but says
that many other private prayers were said at this place (xviii). Here
too there was great diversity through the Middle Ages till Pius V's
Missal. The latest additions to the Mass are its present beginning and
end. The psalm "Iudica me", the Confession, and the other prayers said
at the foot of the altar, are all part of the celebrant's preparation,
once said (with many other psalms and prayers) in the sacristy, as the
"Præparatio ad Missam" in the Missal now is. There was great diversity
as to this preparation till Pius V established our modern rule of
saying so much only before the altar. In the same way all that follows
the "Ite missa est" is an afterthought, part of the thanksgiving, not
formally admitted till Pius V.
We have thus accounted for
all the elements of the Mass. The next stage of its development is the
growth of numerous local varieties of the Roman Mass in the Middle
Ages. These medieval rites (Paris, Rouen, Trier, Sarum, and so on all
over Western Europe) are simply exuberant local modifications of the
old Roman rite. The same applies to the particular uses of various
religious orders (Carthusians, Dominicans, Carmelites etc.). None of
these deserves to be called even a derived rite; their changes are only
ornate additions and amplifications; though certain special points,
such as the Dominican preparation of the offering before the Mass
begins, represent more Gallican influence. The Milanese and Mozarabic
liturgies stand on quite a different footing; they are the descendants
of a really different rite -- the original Gallican -- though they too
have been considerably Romanized (see LITURGY).
Meanwhile the Mass was
developing in other ways also. During the first centuries it had been a
common custom for a number of priests to concelebrate; standing around
their bishop, they joined in his prayers and consecrated the oblation
with him. This is still common in the Eastern rites. In the West it had
become rare by the thirteenth century. St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274)
discusses the question, "Whether several priests can consecrate one and
the same host" (Summa Theol., III, Q. lxxxii, a. 2). He answers of
course that they can, but quotes as an example only the case of
ordination. In this case only has the practice been preserved. At the
ordination of priests and bishops all the ordained concelebrate with
the ordainer. In other cases concelebration was in the early Middle
Ages replaced by separate private celebrations. No doubt the custom of
offering each Mass for a special intention helped to bring about this
change. The separate celebrations then involved the building of many
altars in one church and the reduction of the ritual to the simplest
possible form. The deacon and subdeacon were in this case dispensed
with; the celebrant took their part as well as his own. One server took
the part of the choir and of all the other ministers, everything was
said instead of being sung, the incense and kiss of peace were omitted.
So we have the well-known rite of low Mass (missa privata). This then
reacted on high Mass (missa solemnis), so that at high Mass too the
celebrant himself recites everything, even though it be also sung by
the deacon, subdeacon, or choir.
The custom of the intention
of the Mass further led to Mass being said every day by each priest.
But this has by no means been uniformly carried out. On the one hand,
we hear of an abuse of the same priest saying Mass several times in the
day, which medieval councils constantly forbid. Again, many most pious
priests did not celebrate daily. Bossuet (d. 1704), for instance, said
Mass only on Sundays, Feasts, every day in Lent, and at other times
when a special ferial Mass is provided in the Missal. There is still no
obligation for a priest to celebrate daily, though the custom is now
very common. The Council of Trent desired that priests should celebrate
at least on Sundays and solemn feasts (Sess. XXIII, cap. xiv).
Celebration with no assistants at all (missa solitaria) has continually
been forbidden, as by the Synod of Mainz in 813. Another abuse was the
missa bifaciata or trifaciata, in which the celebrant said the first
part, from the Introit to the Preface, several times over and then
joined to all one Canon, in order to satisfy several intentions. This
too was forbidden by medieval councils (Durandus, "Rationale", IV, i,
22). The missa sicca (dry Mass) was a common form of devotion used for
funerals or marriages in the afternoon, when a real Mass could not be
said. It consisted of all the Mass except the Offertory, Consecration
and Communion (Durandus, ibid., 23). The missa nautica and missa
venatoria, said at sea in rough weather and for hunters in a hurry,
were kinds of dry Masses. In some monasteries each priest was obliged
to say a dry Mass after the real (conventual) Mass. Cardinal Bona
(Rerum liturg. libr. duo, I, xv) argues against the practice of saying
dry Masses. Since the reform of Pius V it has gradually disappeared.
The Mass of the Presanctified (missa præsanctificatorum, leitourgia ton
proegiasmenon) is a very old custom described by the Quinisext Council
(Second Trullan Synod, 692). It is a Service (not really a Mass at all)
of Communion from an oblation consecrated at a previous Mass and
reserved. It is used in the Byzantine Church on the week-days of Lent
(except Saturdays); in the Roman Rite only on Good Friday.
Finally came uniformity in
the old Roman Rite and the abolition of nearly all the medieval
variants. The Council of Trent considered the question and formed a
commission to prepare a uniform Missal. Eventually the Missal was
published by Pius V by the Bull "Quo primum" (still printed in it) of
14 July 1570. That is really the last stage of the history of the Roman
Mass. It is Pius V's Missal that is used throughout the Latin Church,
except in a few cases where he allowed a modified use that had a
prescription of at least two centuries. This exception saved the
variants used by some religious orders and a few local rites as well as
the Milanese and Mozarabic liturgies. Clement VIII (1604), Urban VIII
(1634), and Leo XIII (1884) revised the book slightly in the rubrics
and the texts of Scripture (see LITURGICAL BOOKS). Pius X has revised
the chant (1908.) But these revisions leave it still the Missal of Pius
V. There has been since the early Middle Ages unceasing change in the
sense of additions of masses for new feasts, the Missal now has a
number of supplements that still grow (LITURGICAL BOOKS), but
liturgically these additions represent no real change. The new Masses
are all built up exactly on the lines of the older ones.
We turn now to the present
Roman Mass, without comparison the most important and widespread, as it
is in many ways the most archaic service of the Holy Eucharist in
Christendom.
E. The Present Roman Mass
It is not the object of
this paragraph to give instruction as to how the Roman Mass is
celebrated. The very complicated rules of all kinds, the minute rubrics
that must be obeyed by the celebrant and his ministers, all the details
of coincidence and commemoration -- these things, studied at length by
students before they are ordained, must be sought in a book of
ceremonial (Le Vavasseur, quoted in the bibliography, is perhaps now
the best). Moreover, articles on all the chief parts of theMass,
describing how they are carried out, and others on vestments, music,
and the other ornaments of the service, will be found in THE CATHOLIC
ENCYCLOPEDIA. It will be sufficient here to give a general outline of
the arrangement. The ritual of the Mass is affected by (1) the person
who celebrates, (2) the day or the special occasion on which it is
said, (3) the kind of Mass (high or low) celebrated. But in all cases
the general scheme is the same. The normal ideal may be taken as high
Mass sung by a priest on an ordinary Sunday or feast that has no
exceptional feature.
Normally, Mass must be
celebrated in a consecrated or blessed Church (private oratories or
even rooms are allowed for special reasons: see Le Vavasseur, I, 200-4)
and at a consecrated altar (or at least on a consecrated altar-stone),
and may be celebrated on any day in the year except Good Friday
(restrictions are made against private celebrations on Holy Saturday
and in the case of private oratories for certain great feasts) at any
time between dawn and midday. A priest may say only one Mass each day,
except that on Christmas Day he may say three, and the first may (or
rather, should) then be said immediately after midnight. In some
countries (Spain and Portugal) a priest may also celebrate three times
on All Souls' Day (2 November). Bishops may give leave to a priest to
celebrate twice on Sundays and feasts of obligation, if otherwise the
people could not fulfil their duty of hearing Mass. In cathedral and
collegiate churches, as well as in those of religious orders who are
bound to say the Canonical Hours every day publicly, there is a daily
Mass corresponding to the Office and forming with it the complete cycle
of the public worship of God. This official public Mass is called the
conventual Mass; if possible it should be a high Mass, but, even if it
be not, it always has some of the features of high Mass. The time for
this conventual Mass on feasts and Sundays is after Terce has been said
in choir. On Simples and feriæ the time is after Sext; on feriæ of
Advent, Lent, on Vigils and Ember days after None. Votive Masses and
the Requiem on All Souls' Day are said also after None; but ordinary
requiems are said after Prime. The celebrant of Mass must be in the
state of grace, fasting from midnight, free of irregularity and
censure, and must observe all the rubrics and laws concerning the
matter (azyme bread and pure wine), vestments, vessels, and ceremony.
The scheme of high Mass is
this: the procession comes to the altar, consisting of thurifer,
acolytes, master of ceremonies, subdeacon, deacon, and celebrant, all
vested as the rubrics direct (see VESTMENTS). First, the preparatory
prayers are said at the foot of the altar; the altar is incensed, the
celebrant reads at the south (Epistle) side the Introit and Kyrie.
Meanwhile the choir sing the Introit and Kyrie. On days on which the
"Te Deum" is said in the office, the celebrant intones the "Gloria in
excelsis", which is continued by thechoir. Meanwhile he, the deacon,
and subdeacon recite it, after which they may sit down till the choir
has finished. After the greeting "Dominus vobiscum, and its answer "Et
cum spiritu tuo", the celebrant chants the collect of the day, and
after it as many more collects as are required either to commemorate
other feasts or occasions, or are to be said by order of the bishop, or
(on lesser days) are chosen by himself at his discretion from the
collection in the Missal, according to the rubrics. The subdeacon
chants the Epistle and the choir sings the Gradual. Both are read by
the celebrant at the altar, according to the present law that he is
also to recite whatever is sung by any one else. He blesses the
incense, says the "Munda Cor meum" prayer, and reads the Gospel at the
north (Gospel) side. Meanwhile the deacon prepares to sing the Gospel.
He goes in procession with the subdeacon, thurifer, and acolytes to a
place on the north of the choir, and there chants it, the subdeacon
holding the book, unless an ambo be used. If there is a sermon, if
should be preached immediately after the Gospel. This is the
traditional place for the homily, after the lessons (Justin Martyr, "I
Apolog.", lxvii, 4). On Sundays and certain feasts the Creed is sung
next, just as was the Gloria. At this point, before or after the Creed
(which is a later introduction, as we have seen), ends in theory the
Mass of the Catechumens. The celebrant at the middle of the altar
chants "Dominus vobiscum and "Oremus" -- the last remnant of the old
prayers of the faithful. Then follows the Offertory. The bread is
offered to God with the prayer "Suscipe sancte Pater"; the deacon pours
wine into the chalice and the subdeacon water. The chalice is offered
by the celebrant in the same way as the bread (Offerimus tibi Domine),
after which the gifts, the altar, the celebrant, ministers, and people
are all incensed. Meanwhile the choir sings the Offertory. The
celebrant washes his hands saying the "Lavabo". After another offertory
prayer (Suscipe sancta Trinitas), and an address to the people (Orate
fratres) with its answer, which is not sung (it is a late addition),
the celebrant says the secrets, corresponding to the collects. The last
secret ends with an Ekphonesis (Per omnia sæcula sæculorum). This is
only a warning of what is coming. When prayers began to be said
silently, it still remained necessary to mark their ending, that people
might know what is going on. So the last clauses were said or sung
aloud. This so-called Ekphonesis is much developed in the Eastern
rites. In the Roman Mass there are three cases of it -- always the
words: "Per omnia sæcula sæculorum", to which the choir answers "Amen".
After the Ekphonesis of the Secret comes the dialogue, "Sursum Cords",
etc., used with slight variations in all rites, and so the beginning of
the Eucharistic prayer which we call the Preface, no longer counted as
part of the Canon. The choir sings and the celebrant says the Sanctus.
Then follows the Canon, beginning "Te Igitur" and ending with an
ekphonesis before the Lord's Prayer. All its parts are described in the
article CANON OF THE MASS. The Lord's Prayer follows, introduced by a
little clause (Præceptis salutaribus moniti) and followed by an
embolism (see LIBERA NOS), said silently and ending with the third
ekphonesis. The Fraction follows with the versicle "Pax domini sit
semper vobiscum", meant to introduce the kiss of peace. The choir sings
the Agnus Dei, which is said by the celebrant together with the first
Communion prayer, before he gives the kiss to the deacon. He then says
the two other Communion prayers, and receives Communion under both
kinds. The Communion of the people (now rare at high Mass) follows.
Meanwhile the choir sings the Communion (see COMMUNION-ANTIPHON). The
chalice is purified and the post-Communions are sung, corresponding to
the collects and secrets. Like the collects, they are introduced by the
greeting "Dominus vobiscum and its answer, and said at the south side.
After another greeting by the celebrant the deacon sings the dismissal
(see ITE MISSA EST). There still follow, however, three later
additions, a blessing by the celebrant, a short prayer that God may be
pleased with the sacrifice (Placeat tibi) and the Last Gospel, normally
the beginning of St. John (see GOSPEL IN THE LITURGY). The procession
goes back to the sacristy.
This high Mass is the norm;
it is only in the complete rite with deacon and subdeacon that the
ceremonies can be understood. Thus, the rubrics of the Ordinary of the
Mass always suppose that the Mass is high. Low Mass, said by a priest
alone with one server, is a shortened and simplified form of the same
thing. Its ritual can be explained only by a reference to high Mass.
For instance, the celebrant goes over to the north side of the altar to
read the Gospel, because that is the side to which the deacon goes in
procession at high Mass; he turns round always by the right, because at
high Mass he should not turn his back to the deacon and so on. A sung
Mass (missa Cantata) is a modern compromise. It is really a low Mass,
since the essence of high Mass is not the music but the deacon and
subdeacon. Only in churches which have no ordained person except one
priest, and in which high Mass is thus impossible, is it allowed to
celebrate the Mass (on Sundays and feasts) with most of the adornment
borrowed from high Mass, with singing and (generally) with incense. The
Sacred Congregation of Rites has on several occasions (9 June, 1884; 7
December, 1888) forbidden the use of incense at a Missa Cantata;
nevertheless, exceptions have been made for several dioceses, and the
custom of using it is generally tolerated (Le Vavasseur, op. cit., I,
514-5). In this case, too, the celebrant takes the part of deacon and
subdeacon; there is no kiss of peace.
The ritual of the Mass is
further affected by the dignity of the celebrant, whether bishop or
only priest. There is something to be said for taking the pontifical
Mass as the standard, and explaining that of the simple priest as a
modified form, just as low Mass is a modified form of high Mass. On the
other hand historically the case is not parallel throughout; some of
the more elaborate pontifical ceremony is an after-thought, an
adornment added later. Here it need only be said that the main
difference of the pontifical Mass (apart from some special vestments)
is that the bishop remains at his throne (except for the preparatory
prayers at the altar steps and the incensing of the altar) till the
Offertory; so in this case the change from the Mass of the Catechumens
to that of the Faithful is still clearly marked. He also does not put
on the maniple till after the preparatory prayers, again an archaic
touch that marks them as being outside the original service. At low
Mass the bishop's rank is marked only by a few unimportant details and
by the later assumption of the maniple. Certain prelates, not bishops,
use some pontifical ceremonies at Mass. The pope again has certain
special ceremonies in his Mass, of which some represent remnants of
older customs, Of these we note especially that he makes his Communion
seated on thethrone and drinks the consecrated wine through a little
tube called fistula.
Durandus (Rationale, IV, i)
and all the symbolic authors distinguish various parts of the Mass
according to mystic principles. Thus it has four parts corresponding to
the four kinds of prayer named in I Tim., ii, 1. It is an Obsecratio
from the Introit to the Offertory, an Oratio from the Offertory to the
Pater Noster, a Postulatio to the Communion, a Gratiarum actio from
then to the end (Durandus, ibid.; see MASS, SACRIFICE OF THE: Vol. X).
The Canon especially has been divided according to all manner of
systems, some very ingenious. But the distinctions that are really
important to the student of liturgy are, first the historic division
between the Mass of the Catechumens and Mass of the Faithful, already
explained, and then the great practical distinction between the
changeable and unchangeable parts. The Mass consists of an unchanged
framework into which atcertain fixed points the variable prayers,
lessons, and chants are fitted. The two elements are the Common and the
Proper of the day (which, however, may again be taken from a common
Mass provided for a number of similar occasions, as are the Commons of
various classes of saints). The Common is the Ordinary of the Mass
(Ordinarium Missae), now printed and inserted in the Missal between
Holy Saturday and Easter Day. Every Mass is fitted into that scheme; to
follow Mass one must first find that. In it occur rubrics directing
that something is to be said or sung, which is not printed at this
place. The first rubric of this kind occurs after the incensing at the
beginning: "Then the Celebrant signing himself with the sign of the
Cross begins the Introit." But no Introit follows. He must know what
Mass he is to say and find the Introit, and all the other proper parts,
under their heading among the large collection of masses that fill the
book. These proper or variable parts are first the four chants of the
choir, the Introit, Gradual (or tract, Alleluia, and perhaps after it a
Sequence), Offertory, and Communion; then the lessons (Epistle, Gospel,
sometimes Old Testament lessons too), then the prayers said by the
celebrant (Collect, Secret, post-communion; often several of each to
commemorate other feasts or days). By fitting these into their places
in the Ordinary the whole Mass is put together. There are, however, two
other elements that occupy an intermediate place between the Ordinary
and the Proper. These are the Preface and a part of the Canon. We have
now only eleven prefaces, ten special ones and a common preface. They
do not then change sufficiently to be printed over and over again among
the proper Masses, so all are inserted in the Ordinary; from them
naturally the right one must be chosen according to the rubrics. In the
same way, five great feasts have a special clause in the Communicantes
prayer in the Canon, two (Easter and Whitsunday) have a special "Hanc
Igitur" prayer, one day (Maundy Thursday) affects the "Qui pridie"
form. These exceptions are printed after the corresponding prefaces;
but Maundy Thursday, as it occurs only once, is to be found in the
Proper of the day (see CANON OF THE MASS).
It is these parts of the
Mass that vary, and, because of them, we speak of the Mass of such a
day or of such a feast. To be able to find the Mass for any given day
requires knowledge of a complicated set of rules. These rules are given
in the rubrics at the beginning of the Missal. In outline the system is
this. First a Mass is provided for every day in the year, according to
the seasons of the Church. Ordinary week days (feriæ) have the Mass of
the preceding Sunday with certain regular changes; but feriæ of Lent,
rogation and ember days, and vigils have special Masses. All this makes
up the first part of the Missal called Proprium de tempore. The year is
then overladen, as it were, by a great quantity of feasts of saints or
of special events determined by the day of the month (these make up the
Proprium Sanctorum). Nearly every day in the year is now a feast of
some kind; often there are several on one day. There is then constantly
coincidence (concurrentia) of several possible Masses on one day. There
are cases in which two or more conventual Masses are said, one for each
of the coinciding offices. Thus, on feriæ that have a special office,
if a feast occurs as well, the Mass of the feast is said after Terce,
that of the feria after None. If a feast falls on the Eve of Ascension
Day there are three Conventual Masses -- of the feast after Terce, of
the Vigil after Sext, of Rogation day after None. But, in churches that
have no official conventual Mass and in the case of the priest who says
Mass for his own devotion, one only of the coinciding Masses is said,
the others being (usually) commemorated by saying their collects,
secrets, and post-Communions after those of the Mass chosen. To know
which Mass to choose one must know their various degrees of dignity.
All days or feasts are arranged in this scale: feria, simple,
semidouble double, greater double, double of the second class, double
of the first class. The greater feast then is the one kept: by
transferring feasts to the next free day, it is arranged that two
feasts of the same rank do not coincide. Certain important days are
privileged, so that a higher feast cannot displace them. Thus nothing
can displace the first Sundays of Advent and Lent, Passion and Palm
Sundays. These are the so-called first-class Sundays. In the same way
nothing can displace Ash Wednesday or any day of Holy Week. Other days
(for instance the so-called second-class Sundays, that is the others in
Advent and Lent, and Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima) can
only be replaced by doubles of the first class. Ordinary Sundays count
as semidoubles, but have precedence over other semidoubles. The days of
an octave are semidoubles; the octave day is a double. The octaves of
Epiphany, Easter, and Pentecost (the original three greatest feasts of
all) are closed against any other feast. The displaced feast is
commemorated, except in the case of a great inferiority: the rules for
this are given among the "Rubricæ generales" of the Missal (VII: de
Commemorationibus). On semidoubles and days below that in rank other
collects are always added to that of the day to make up an uneven
number. Certain ones are prescribed regularly in the Missal, the
celebrant may add others at his discretion. The bishop of the diocese
may also order collects for special reasons (the so-called Orationes
imperat ). As a general rule the Mass must correspond to the Office of
the day, including its commemorations. But the Missal contains a
collection of Votive Masses, that may be said on days not above a
semidouble in rank. The bishop or pope may order a Votive Mass for a
public cause to be said on any day but the very highest. All these
rules are explained in detail by Le Vavasseur (op. cit., I, 216-31) as
well as in the rubrics of the Missal (Rubr. gen., IV). There are two
other Masses which, inasmuch as they do not correspond to the office,
may be considered a kind of Votive Mass: the Nuptial Mass (missa pro
sponso et sponsa), said at weddings, and the Requiem Mass, said for the
faithful departed, which have a number of special characteristics (see
NUPTIAL MASS and REQUIEM MASS). The calendar (Ordo) published yearly in
each diocese or province gives the office and Mass for every day.
(Concerning Mass stipends, see MASS, SACRIFICE OF THE: Vol. X.)
That the Mass, around which
such complicated rules have grown, is the central feature of the
Catholic religion hardly needs to be said, During the Reformation and
always the Mass has been the test. The word of the Reformers: "It is
the Mass that matters", was true. The Cornish insurgents in 1549 rose
against the new religion, and expressed their whole cause in their
demand to have the Prayer-book Communion Service taken away and the old
Mass restored. The long persecution of Catholics in England took the
practical form of laws chiefly against saying Mass; for centuries the
occupant of the English throne was obliged to manifest his
Protestantism, not by a general denial of the whole system of Catholic
dogma but by a formal repudiation of the doctrine of Transubstantiation
and of the Mass. As union with Rome is the bond between Catholics, so
is our common share in this, the most venerable rite in Christendom,
the witness and safeguard of that bond. It is by his share in the Mass
in Communion that the Catholic proclaims his union with the great
Church. As excommunication means the loss of that right in those who
are expelled so the Mass and Communion are the visible bond between
people, priest, and bishop, who are all one body who share the one
Bread.
Publication information
Written by Adrian Fortescue. Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter. Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ
The Catholic Encyclopedia,
Volume IX. Published 1910. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil
Obstat, October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M.
Farley, Archbishop of New York
Bibliography
I. HISTORY OF THE MASS:
DUCHESNE, Origines du Culte chrétien (2nd ed., Paris, 1898); GIHR, Das
heilige Messopfer (6th ed., Freiburg, 1897); RIETSCHEL, Lehrbuch der
Liturgik, I (Berlin, 1900); PROBST, Liturgie der drei ersten
christlichen Jahrhunderte (Tübingen, 1870); IDEM, Litergie des vierten
Jahrhunderts u. deren Reform (Münster, 1893); IDEM, Die ältesten
römischen Sacramentarien u. Ordines (Münster, 1892); CABROL, Les
Origines liturgiques (Paris, 1906); IDEM, Le Livre de la prière antique
(Paris, 1900); BISHOP, The Genius of the Roman Rite in STALEY, Essays
on Ceremonial (London, 1904), 283-307; SEMERIA, La Messa (Rome, 1907);
RAUSCHEN, Eucharistie u. Bussakrament (Freiburg, 1908); DREWS, Zur
Entstehungsgesch. des Kanons (Tübingen, 1902); IDEM, Untersuchungen
über die sogen. clementinische Liturgie (Tübingen, 1906); BAUMSTARK,
Liturgia Romana e liturgia dell' Esarcato (Rome, 1904); ALSTON AND
TOURTON, Origines Eucharistic (London, 1908); WARREN, Liturgy of the
Ante-Nicene Church (London, 1907); ROTTMANNER, Ueber neuere und ältere
Deutungen des Wortes Missa in Tübinger Quartalschr. (1889), pp. 532
sqq.; DURANDUS (Bishop of Mende, d. 1296), Rationale divinorum
officiorum Libri VIII, is the classical example of the medieval
commentary; see others in CANON OF THE MASS. BENEDICT XIV (1740-58), De
SS. Sacrificio Miss , best edition by SCHNEIDER (Mainz, 1879), is also
a standard work of its kind.
II. TEXTS: CABROL AND
LECLERCQ, Monumenta ecclesiae liturgica, I, 1 (Paris, 1900-2);
RAUSCHEN, Florilegium Patristicum: VII, Monumenta eucharistica et
liturgica vetustissima (Bonn, 1909); FELTOE, Sacramentarium Leonianum
(Cambridge, 1896); WILS0N, The Gelasian Sacramentary (Oxford, 1894);
Gregorian Sacramentary and the Roman Ordines in P.L., LXXVIII; ATCHLEY,
Ordo Romanus Primus (London, 1905); DANIEL, Codex Liturgicus Ecclesiae
universae I (Leipzig, 1847); MASKELL, The Ancient Liturgy of the Church
of England (London, 1846); DICKENSON, Missale Sarum (Burntisland,
1861-83).
III. PRESENT USE: Besides
the Rubrics in the Missal, consult DE HERDT, Sacr Liturgic Praxis (3
vols., 9th ed., Louvain, 1894); LE VAVASSEUR, Manuel de Liturgie (2
vols., 10th ed., Paris, 1910); MANY, Pr lectiones de Missa (Paris,
1903). See further bibliography in CABROL, Introduction aux études
liturgiques (Paris, 1907), in CANON OF THE MASS and other articles on
the separate parts of the Mass.
