POSSIDIUS
318
POSTCOMMUNION
published by A. M. Gratianus Borgo in "De scriptis
ab Ant. Posse^ino ad Aloysnium fratrem lit tens"
(Florence, 1645-46).
Theiner. Schwedm u. s. Stellung zum hi. Sluhl (Augsburg, 1S3S) ; PlERlASG, Possevini missio moscovUica (Paris. 18S2); Idem, I'n. nonce du pape en Moscovie (Paris. 1886) ; Idem. Bathory el Posscrin (Paris, 1887); La Russie el le S. Siege (Paris. 1897); Biaudet. La Suide et le S. Siige (Paris, 1907). See also iiiographies of Posse- vinus by d'Origxy (Paris, 1712); Ghezzi (Rome, 1759); Kart- TrxEX (Rome. 190S) ; Sommervogel. Bibliothique des ecrirains de la C. de J., VI. 1061-93; IX. 781. — For the relations of Posse- vinus with Bdthori and the Tsar Ivan, see histories of Poland.
U. Benigni.
Possidius, Saint, Bishop of Calama in Numidia,
author of a short life of St. Augustine and of an indiculus or list of St. Augustine's writings. The dates of his birth and death are unknown; he was alive and in exile in 437 according to Prosper, who, in his "Chronicle", records that Possidius and two other bishops were persecuted and expelled from their sees by the Vandal king, Genseric, who was an Arian. Possidius (Vita S. Augustini, xxxi), after describing the death of St. Augustine, speaks of his unbroken friendship vriih him for forty years. He also, speak- ing of himself in the third person, lets it be known that he was one of the clergy of St. Augustine's monas- tery (ibid.,xii). The date of his promotion to the epis- copate was, according to Tillemont, about .397. He followed St. Augustine's example and established a monastery at Calama. At a council, held at Carthage, Possidius challenged Crispinus, the Donatist Bishop of Calama, to a public discussion which the latter declined. Shortly afterwards one of Crispinus's clergj', bearing the same name as his bishop, attempted to assassinate Po.ssidius. Legal proceedings were instituted against Crispinus, the bishop, who refused to punish his pres- byter. He was proved to be a heretic and was heavily fined, but at the intercession of Possidius the fine was not exacted (Vita", xii; St. Augustine, "Ep.", cv, 4; "Contra Crescon.", HI, xlvi). In 407, Po.ssidius served, with St. Augustine and five other bishops, on a committee appointed to adjudicate upon some eccle- siastical matter, the particulars of which are not known. In 408 he nearly lost his life in a riot stirred up by the pagans at Calama (St. Augustine, "Epp.", xc, xci, xciii). In 409 he was one of four bishops deputed to go to Italy to obtain the protection of the emperor against the Donatists. He was one of the seven bishops chosen to represent the Catholic party at the "Collatio" of 411 (see Don.\tists: The "Collaiio" of 411). In 416 he assisted at the Council of Milevum, where fifty-nine Xumidian bishops ad- dressed a synodal letter to Innocent I, asking him to take action against Pelagianism. He joined with St. Augustine and three other bishops in a further letter to Innocent on the same subject, and was at the conference between St. Augustine and the Donatist Emeritus, ^^'hen the Vandals invaded Africa, he fled to Hippo and was present at the death of St. Augustine (430). His "Vita S. Augustini", composed before the capture of Carthage (439), is included in all editions of the works of St. Augustine, and also printed in Hurter's "Opusc. SS. Patr.". His indiculus will be found in the last volume of Migne's edition of the works of St. Augustine and in the tenth volume of the Benedictine edition.
Ceillieb, HisU des auteura eccUs.^ XII; Tillemont, Mimoires, XIII.
F. J. Bacchus.
Postcommunion. — The Communion act finishes the essential Eucharistic service. Justin MartjT (I .\pol., Ixv-lxvi) adds nothing after describing the Communion. However, it was natural that the people should not be dismissed without a final prayer of thanksgiving and of petition, so eveni- rite ends its liturgy with a short prayer or two and a blessing before the dismissal. The earliest complete liturgy extant, that of the ".Vpostoiic Constitutions", V'lll, contains
two such prayers, — a thanksgiving (XV, ii-vi), and a
blessing (XV, vii-ix). A significant resemblance be-
tween the Roman Rite and that of the "Apostolic
Constitutions" is that at Rome, too, there were for-
merly at everj' Mass two prayers of the same nature.
In the "Leonine Sacramentary " they have no title;
but their character is obvious. As examples, those for
the summer ember days may serve (ed. Feltoe, p. 51,
"In jejunio"), the first Gratias tibi referimus, the sec-
ond Oculis luce miserationis inlende. The Gelasian
Sacramentary calls the first ■poslcommunio, the .second
adpopulutn. In both sacramentaries these two prayers
form part of the normal Mass said tliroughout the
year, though not every Mass has both; the prayers "ad
populum" in the later book are comparatively rare.
They also begin to change their character. The for-
merly constant terms lucre, protege etc. are rarer:
many are ordinary collects with no pronounced idea of
prayers for blessing and protection. In the "Grego-
rian Sacramentary" the second prayer, now called
Super popiduni, occurs almost only from Septuagesima
to Easter; the first, Ad complcndum, continues
throughout the year, but both have lost much of their
original character. The Ad comphndum prayer (Post-
communion) has become a collect formed on the model
of the collect at the beginning of Mass, though gener-
ally it keeps some allusion to the Communion just
received. That is still the state of these prayers after
the Communion. The second, Oraiio super populum,
is said only in ferial Masses in Lent. This restriction
apparently results from the shortening of the Mass
(which explains many omissions and abbreviat ions) and
the tendency of Lent to keep longer forms. The Mass
was shortened for practical purposes except (in many
cases) during Lent, which keeps the long preces in the
Office omit ted at other times, sometimes more than two
lessonsat Mass, and so on. Themedieval commentators
(.\malarius, ' ' De diWnis officiis",III, xx\-ii ; Durandus,
"Rationale", VI, xx\-iii; Honorius of Autun, "Gemma
anima'", Hx) explain this mystically; Honorius thinks
the prayer to be a substitute for the Eastern blessed
bread (drrtSwpoi'). The Oratio super populum is now
always the prayer at vespers on the same day. It has
been suggested that its use at Mass in Lent may be a
remnant of a custom, now kept only on Holy Saturday,
of singing vespers at the end of Mass (Gihr, op. cit ., 71 1) .
There remains the first prayer,called^4(/fomp/e/i</!(?>( in
the "Gregorian Sacramentary". Its name was uncer-
tain tlirough the Middle Ages. Durandus (op. cit., IV,
Ivii) calls it merely Oraiio nomssima, using the name
Poslcommunio for the Communion antiphon. The
first "Roman Ordo" calls the prayer Oratio ad com-
plendum (xxi) ; Rupert of Deutz calls it Ad complen-
dum (De divinis officiis, II, xix). But others give it
the name it had already in the Gelasian book, Post-
communio (Sicardus, "Mitrale", III, viii); so also
many medieval missals (e. g., the Sarum). This is now
its official name in the Roman Rite. The Postcom-
munion has lost much of its original character as a
thanksgiving-prayer and has absorbed the idea of the
old Oraiio ad populum. It is now always a petition,
though the note of thank.sgiving is often included (e. g.
in the Mass Staluit, for a confessor pontiff). It has
been affected by the Collect on which it is modelled,
though there is generally an allusion to the Com-
munion.
Every Postcommunion (and secret) corresponds to a collect. These are the three fundamental prayers of any given Proper Mass. The Postcommunion is said or chanted exactly like the Collect. First comes that of the Mass celebrated; then, if other Masses are commemorated, their Po.st communions follow in the same order and with the same final conclusion as the collects. After the Communion, when the celebrant has arranged the chalice, he goes to the epistle side and reads the Communion antiphon. He then comes to the middle and says or sings Dominua Vobiscum
