In every liturgy of all the five groups a passage similar to this
occurs, beginning with Sursum corda, followed by a Preface and
the recitation of the Sanctus or Angelic Hymn. The “canon”
or consecration prayer, which in all of them comes immediately
after, invariably contains our Lord’s words of institution, and
(except in the Nestorian liturgy) concludes with the Lord’s
Prayer and “embolism.” But there are certain differences of
arrangement, by which the groups of liturgies can be classified.
Thus it is distinctive of the liturgy of Jerusalem that the “great
intercession” for the quick and the dead follows the words of
institution and an Epiklesis (ἐπίκλησις τοῦ πνεύματος ἁγίου) or
petition for the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the gifts; in
the Alexandrian the “great intercession” has its place in the
Preface; in the East Syrian it comes between the words of
restitution and the Epiklesis; in the Ephesine it comes before
the Preface; while in the Roman it is divided into two, the
commemoration of the living being before, and that of the
dead after, the words of institution. Other distinctive
features of the Roman liturgy are (1) the position of the
“Pax” after the consecration, and not as in all the other
liturgies at a very early stage of the service, before the
Preface even; and (2) the absence of the Epiklesis common to
all the others.[1] The words of its “canonical prayer” are of
unknown antiquity; they are found in the extant manuscripts
of the Sacramentarium gelasianum, and were already old and of
forgotten authorship in the time of Gregory the Great, who, in
a letter to John, bishop of Syracuse (Registr. Epist. vii. 64),
speaks of it as “the prayer composed by a ‘scholastic’ ”
(precem quam scholasticus composuerat). The same letter is
interesting as containing Gregory’s defence, on the ground of
ancient use, of certain parts of the Roman ritual to which the
bishop of Syracuse had taken exception as merely borrowed from
Constantinople. Thus we learn that, while at Constantinople
the Kyrie eleison was said by all simultaneously, it was the
Roman custom for the clergy to repeat the words first and for
the people to respond, Christe eleison being also repeated an
equal number of times. Again, the Lord’s Prayer was said
immediately after the consecration aloud by all the people
among the Greeks, but at Rome by the priest alone.
The meagre liturgical details furnished by the Sacramentarium gregorianum are supplemented by the texts of the Ordo romanus, the first of which dates from about the year 730. The ritual they enjoin is that for a pontifical high mass in Rome itself; but the differences to be observed by a priest “quando in statione facit missas” are comparatively slight. Subjoined is a précis of Ordo Romanus I.
It is first of all explained that Rome has seven ecclesiastical regions, each with its proper deacons, subdeacons and acolytes. Each region has its own day of the week for high ecclesiastical functions, which are celebrated by each in rotation. [This accounts for the Statio ad S. Mariam Majorem, ad S. Crucem in Jerusalem, ad S. Petrum, &c., prefixed to most of the masses in the Gregorian Sacramentary, and still retained in the “Proprium de Tempore” of the Roman missal.] The regulations for the assembling and marshalling of the procession by which the pontiff is met and then escorted to the appointed station are minutely given, as well as for the adjustment of his vestments “ut bene sedeant,” when the sacristy has been reached. He does not leave the sacristy until the Introit has been begun by the choir in the church. Before the Gloria he takes his stand at the altar, and after the Kyrie Eleison has been sung (the number of times is left to his discretion) he begins the Gloria in excelsis, which is taken up by the choir. During the singing he faces eastward; at its close he turns round for a moment to say “Pax vobis,” and forthwith proceeds to the Oratio.[2] This finished, all seat themselves in order while the subdeacon ascends the ambo and reads [the epistle]. After he has done, the cantor with his book (cantatorio) ascends and gives out the response (Responsum) with the Alleluia and Tractus in addition if the season calls for either. The deacon then silently kisses the feet of the pontiff and receives his blessing in the words “Dominus sit in corde tuo et in labiis tuis.” Preceded by acolytes with lighted candles and subdeacons burning incense, he ascends the ambo, where he reads the Gospel. At the close, with the words “Pax tibi” and “Dominus vobiscum,” the pontiff,[3] after another Oratio, descends to the “sanatorium” accompanied by certain of the inferior clergy, and receives in order the oblations of the rulers (oblationes principum), the archdeacon who follows taking their “amulas” of wine and pouring them into a larger vessel; similar offerings are received from the other ranks and classes present, including the women. This concluded, the pontiff and archdeacon wash their hands, the offerings being meanwhile arranged by the subdeacons on the altar, and water, supplied by the leader of the choir (archiparaphonista), being mingled with the wine. During this ceremony the schola have been engaged in singing the Offertorium; when all is ready the pontiff signs to them to stop, and enters upon the Preface, the subdeacons giving the responses. At the Angelic Hymn (Sanctus) all kneel and continue kneeling, except the pontiff, who rises alone and begins the Canon. At the words “per quem haec omnia” the archdeacon lifts the cup with the oblates, and at “Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum” he gives the peace to the clergy in their order, and to the laity. The pontiff then breaks off a particle from the consecrated bread and lays it upon the altar; the rest he places on the paten held by the deacon. It is then distributed while Agnus Dei is sung. The pontiff in communicating puts the particle into the cup, saying, “Fiat commixtio et consecration corporis et sanguinis Domini nostri Jesu Christi accipientibus nobis in vitam aeternam.” Those present communicate in their order under this species also. As the pontiff descends into the senatorium to give the communion, the schola begins the communion Antiphon, and continues singing the Psalm until, all the people having communicated, they receive the sign to begin the Gloria, after which, the verse having been again repeated, they stop. The celebrant, then, facing eastward, offers the Oratio ad complendum, which being finished the archdeacon says to the people, “Ite, missa est,” they responding with “Deo gratias.”
To complete our idea of the Roman communion office as it was prior to the end of the 8th century we must now turn to the Gregorian Antiphonarius sive gradualis liber ordinatus per circulum anni, which as its name implies contains those variable portions of the mass which were intended to be sung by the schola or choir. It gives for each day for which a proper mass is provided: (1) the Antiphona (Antiphona ad Introitum) and Psalmus; (2) the Responsorium and Versus, with its Alleluia and Versus; (3) the Offertorium and Versus; (4) the Communio and Psalmus. Some explanation of each of these terms is necessary. (1) The word Antiphon (ἀντίφωνον, O.Eng. Antefn, Eng. Anthem) in its ecclesiastical use has reference to the very ancient practice of relieving the voices of the singers by dividing the work between alternate choirs. In one of its most usual meanings it has the special signification of a sentence (usually scriptural) constantly sung by one choir between the verses of a psalm or hymn sung by another. According to the Roman liturgiologists it was Pope Celestine who enjoined that the Psalms of David should be sung (in rotation, one presumes) antiphonally before mass; in process of time the antiphon came to be sung at the beginning and end only, and the psalm itself was reduced to a single verse. In the days of Gregory the Great the introit appears to have been sung precisely as at present—that is to say, after the antiphon proper, the Psalmus with its Gloria, then the antiphon again. (2) The Responsorium, introduced between the epistle and gospel, was probably at first an entire psalm or canticle, originally given out by the cantor from the steps from which the epistle had been read (hence the later name Graduale), the response being taken up by the whole choir. (3) The Offertorium and Communio correspond to the “hymn from the book of Psalms” mentioned by early authorities (see, for example, Augustine, Retr. ii. 11; Ap. Const. viii. 13) as sung before the oblation, and also while that which had been offered was being distributed to the people. A very intimate connexion between these four parts of the choral service can generally be observed; thus, taking the first Sunday in the ecclesiastical year, we find both in the Antiphonary and in the modern Missal that the antiphon is Ps. xxv. 1-3, the psalmus Ps. xxv. 4, the responsorium (graduale) and versus Ps. xxv. 3 and xxv. 4, the offertorium and versus Ps. xxv. 1-3 and xxv. 5. The communio is Ps. lxxxv. 12, one of the verses of the responsorium being Ps. lxxxv. 7. In the selection of the introits there are also traces of a certain rotation of the psalms in the Psalter having been observed.
The first pages of the modern Roman missal are occupied with the Calendar and a variety of explanations relating to the
