CANON
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CANON
used for various objects, such as the Canon of Holy
Scripture, canons of Councils, the official list of saints'
names (whence "canonization"), and the canon or
list of clerks who serve a certain church, from which
they themselves are called canons (canonici). Litur-
gically it occurs in three senses: (1) The navwn in the
Byzantine Rite is the arrangement of the nine odes
according to the order in which they are to be sung
(Nilles, Kalendarium Manuale, 2nd ed., Innsbruck,
1896, I, LVIII). (2) Like the word Mass it has oc-
casionally been used as a general name for the canon-
ical Hours, or Divine Office (St. Benedict's Rule, cap.
xvii; Cassian, II, 13). (3) Chiefly, and now univer-
sally in the West, it is the name for the Eucharistic
prayer in the Holy Liturgy. In this sense it occurs
in the letters of St. Gregory I (Epp., Lib. VII, lxiv,
Lib. XI, lix); the Gelasian Sacramentary puts the
heading " Incipit Canon Actionis" before the Sursum
Corda (ed. Wilson, 234), the word occurs several
times in the first Roman Ordo ("quando inchoat ca-
nonem", "finito vero canone", ed. Atchley, 138, etc.);
since the seventh century it has been the usual name
for this part of the Mass. One can only conjecture the
original reason for its use. Walafrid Strabo says:
"This action is called the Canon because it is the law-
ful and regular confection of the Sacrament" (De
reb. eccl., xxii); Benedict XIV says: "Canon is the
same word as rule, the Church uses this name to mean
that the Canon of the Mass is the firm rule according
to which the Sacrifice of the New Testament is to be
celebrated" (De SS. Missee Sacr., Lib. II, xii). It has
been suggested that our present Canon was a com-
promise between the older Greek Anaphoras and
variable Latin Eucharistic prayers formerly used in
Rome, and that it was ordered in the fourth century,
possibly by Pope Damasus (366-84). The name
Canon would then mean a fixed standard to which all
must henceforth conform, as opposed to the different
and changeable prayers used before (E. Burbridge in
Atchley, "Ordo Rom. Primus", 96). In any case it
is noticeable that whereas the lessons, collects and
Preface of the Mass constantly vary, the Canon is
almost unchangeable in every Mass. Another name
for the Canon is Actio. Agere, like the Greek Spav, is
often used as meaning to sacrifice. Leo I, in writing
to Dioscurus of Alexandria, uses the expression "in
qua [sc. basilica] agitur", meaning "in which Mass is
said". Other names are Legitimum, Prex, Agenda,
Regula, Secretum Missw.
The rubrics of our present Missal leave no doubt as to the limits of the Canon in modern times. It begins at the "Te Igitur" and ends with the Amen before the Embolism of the Pater Noster (omnis honor et gloria, per omnia srecula saeculorum, Amen). The Missal has the title "Canon Missse" printed after the Sanctus, and the Rubrics say: " After the Preface the Canon of the Mass begins secretly" (Rubr. Gen., XII, 6). The ninth title of the "Rhus eel. Missam" is headed: "Of the *':tnon from the Consecration to the Lord's Prayer". The next title is: "Of the Lord's Prayer and the rest to the Communion." Neither of these limits, however, was always so fixed. The whole Canon is essentially one long prayer, the Eucharistic prayer that the Eastern rites call the Anaphora. And tlic Preface is part of this prayer. Introduced in Rome as everywhere by the little dialogue "Sursum corda" and so on, it begins with the words "Vere dignum ct justum est". Interrupted for a moment by the people, who take up the angels' words: "Sanc- tus, sanctus, sanctus", etc., the priest goes on with the same prayer, obviously joining the next part to the beginning by the word ig'itur. It is not then surpris- ing that we find in the oldest sacramentary that con- tains a Canon, the Gelasian, the heading "Incipit Canon Actionis" placed before the Sursum Corda; so that the preface was then still looked upon as part of the Canon. However, by the seventh century or so
the Canon was considered as beginning with the secret
prayers after the Sanctus (Ord. Rom. I: "When
they have finished the Sanctus the pontiff rises alone
and enters into the Canon", ed. Atchley, 13S). The
point at which it may be considered as ending was
equally uncertain at one time. There has never been
any sort of point or indication in the text of the Mis-
sal to close the period begun by the heading " Canon
Missse", so that from looking at the text we should
conclude that the Canon goes on to the end of the
Mass. Even as late as Benedict XIV there were
"those who think that the Lord's Prayer makes up
part of the Canon" (De SS. Miss Sacr.. ed. cit.. 22Si.
On the other hand the "Ordo Rom. I" (ed. cit. infra,
p. 138), implies that it ends before the Pater Noster.
The two views are reconciled by the distinction be-
tween the "Canon Consecrationis" and the "Canon
Communionis" that occurs constantly in the Middle
Ages (Gihr, Das heilige Messopfer. .540). The "Canon
Communionis" then would begin with the Pater
Noster and go on to the end of the people's Commu-
nion. The Post-Communion to the Blessing, or now
to the end of the last Gospel, forms the last division of
the Mass, the thanksgiving and dismissal. It must
then be added that in modern times by Canon we
mean only the "Canon Consecrationis". The Canon,
together with the rest of the "Ordo Missa?", is now
printed in the middle of the Missal, between the
propers for Holy Saturday and Easter Day. Till
about the ninth century it stood towards the end of the
sacramentary, among the "Missis quotidians " and
after the Proper Masses (so in the Gelasian book).
Thence it moved to the very beginning. From the
eleventh century it was constantly placed in the mid-
dle, where it is now, and since the use of complete
Missals "according to the use of the Roman Curia"
(from the thirteenth century) that has been its place
invariably. It is the part of the book that is used far
more than any other, so it is obviously convenient
that it should occur where a book lies open best — in
the middle. No doubt a symbolic reason, the con-
nexion between the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the
mysteries of Holy Week, helped to make this place
seem the most suitable one. The same reason of
practical use that gave it this place led to the common
custom of printing the Canon on vellum, even when
the rest of the Missal was on paper — vellum stands
wear much better than paper.
II. History of the Caxox. — Since the seventh century our Canon has remained unchanged. It is to St. Gregory I (590-604), the great organizer of all the Roman Liturgy, that tradition ascribes its final revision and arrangement. His reign then makes the best division in its history.
Before St. Gregory I (to 590). — St. Gregory certainly found the Canon fiiat has been already discussed, ar- ranged in the same order, and in possession for centu- ries. When was it put together? It is certainly not the work of one man. nor was it all composed at one time. Gregory himself thought that the Canon had been composed by "a certain Scholasticus (.Epp.. jib. VII, no. lxiv, or lib. IX, no. xii). and Benedict XIV discusses whether he meant some person so named or merely "a certain learned man" (De SS. Missa- sacr., 157). But our Canon represents rat her the last stage of a development that had been going on gradually ever since the firs) days when the Roman Christians
met together to obey Christ's command and celebrate the Eucharist in memory of Him. Here a distinction must be made between the prayers of the Canon itself and the order in which they are now found. The prayers, or at least some of them, can he traced back to a very early date from occasional references in letters of Fathers." From tins it does not follow that they always stood in the same order as now. Their ar- rangement in our present Missal presents certain dif- ficulties and has long been a much-disputed point.
