Gallican rite
Encyclopedia
The Gallican Rite is a historical sub-grouping of the Roman Catholic liturgy
in western Europe
; it is not a single rite but actually a family of rite
s within the Western Rite which comprised the majority use of most of Christianity
in western Europe
for the greater part of the 1st millennium AD. The rite
s were first developed in the early centuries as the Syriac-Greek rites of Jerusalem and Antioch and were first translated into Latin
in various parts of the Roman
West. By the 5th century, it was well established in Gaul. Ireland too is known to have had a form of this Gallican Liturgy mixed with Celtic customs. The rites can be considered part of what is now the Western branch of the Catholic Church
. Today, a rite of this family is still in use in the Archdiocese of Lyon, France.
from the earliest times of which we have any information until about the middle or end of the eighth century. There is no information before the fifth century and very little then; and throughout the whole period there was, to judge by existing documents and descriptions, so much diversity that, though the general outlines of the rite were of the same pattern, the name must not be taken to imply more than a very moderate amount of homogeneity. The Rite of Iberia
(the Roman Hispania
, modern Spain and Portugal), fairly widely used from the fifth century to the end of the eleventh, and still lingering on as an archaeological survival in chapels at Toledo
and Salamanca
, was so nearly allied to the Gallican Rite that the term Hispano
-Gallican is often applied to the two. But the Iberian Mozarabic Rite
has, like the allied Celtic Rite
, enough of an independent history to require separate treatment, so that though it will be necessary to allude to both by way of illustration, this article will be devoted primarily to the rite once used in what is now France. Of the origin of the Gallican Rite there are three principal theories, between two of which the controversy is not yet settled. These may be termed (1) the Ephesine, (2) the Ambrosian, and (3) the Roman theories.
and Celtic Rite
. This theory, which was first put forward by William Palmer
in his Origines Liturgicae, which was once very popular among Anglican scholars. According to it the Gallican Rite was referred to an original brought to Lyon
from Ephesus
by St. Pothinus and St. Irenaeus
, who had received it through St. Polycarp from St. John the Divine. The idea originated partly in a statement in the eighth century tract in a manuscript
, which refers the Gallican Divine Office (Cursus Gallorum) to such an origin, and partly in a statement of Colmán of Lindisfarne
at the Synod of Whitby
(664) respecting the Johannine origin of the Quartodeciman Easter
.
puts forward in the place of the Ephesine. He holds that Milan, not Lyon, was the principal centre of Gallican development. He lays great stress on the incontestable importance of Milan and the Church of Milan in the late fourth century
, and conjectures that a liturgy of Oriental origin, introduced perhaps by the Cappadocia
n Auxentius, Bishop of Milan from 355 to 374, spread from that centre to Gaul, Hispania, and Britain. He points out that "the Gallican Liturgy in the features which distinguish it from the Roman, betrays all the characteristics of the Eastern liturgies," and that "some of its formularies are to be found word for word in the Greek texts which were in use in the Churches of the Syro-Byzantine Rite either in the fourth century or somewhat later", and infers from this that, "the Gallican Liturgy is an Oriental liturgy, introduced into the West towards the middle of the fourth century". He does not, however, note that in certain other important peculiarities the Gallican Liturgy agrees with the Roman where the latter differs from the Oriental. Controverting the third or Roman theory of origin, he lays some stress upon the fact that Pope St. Innocent I
(416) in his letter to Decentius of Gubbio spoke of usages which Duchesne recognizes as Gallican (e.g. the position of the Diptychs and the Pax
), as "foreign importations" and did not recognize in them the ancient usage of his own Church, and he thinks it hard to explain why the African Church should have accepted the Roman reforms, while St. Ambrose himself a Roman. refused them. He assumes that the Ambrosian Rite is not really Roman, but Gallican, much Romanized at a later period, and that the Giubbio variations of which St. Innocent complained were borrowed from Milan.
, which is of far more importance than either the Divine Office
, or the occasional services in determining origins.
Invariability of the Priest's Part
The Eastern Eucharistic offices of whatever rite are marked by the invariability of the priest's part. There are, it is true, alternative anaphora
s which are used either ad libitum
, as in the Syro-Jacobite Rite, or on certain days, as in Byzantine and East Syrian, but they are complete in themselves and do not contain passages appropriate to the day. The lection
s of course vary with the day in all rites, and varying antiphon
s, troparia, etc., are sung by the choir
; but the priest's part remains fixed.
In the Western rites, whether Hispano-Gallican, Ambrosian, or Roman, a very large proportion of the priest's part varies according to the day, and, as will be seen by the analysis of its Mass in this article, these variations are so numerous in the Gallican Rite that the fixed part even of the Prayer of the Consecration
is strangely little. Certain of the varying prayers of the Hispano-Gallican Rite have a tendency to fall into couples, a Bidding Prayer, or invitation to pray, sometimes of considerable length and often partaking of the nature of a homily
, addressed to the congregation, and a collect
embodying the suggestions of the Bidding Prayer, addressed to God. These Bidding Prayers have survived in the Roman Rite of today in the Good Friday
intercessory prayers, and they occur in a form borrowed later from the Gallican, in the ordination services, but in general the invitation to prayer is reduced to its lowest terms in the word Oremus.
The Institution
Another Western peculiarity is in the form of the recital of the Institution. The principal Eastern liturgies follow St. Paul's words in I Cor., xi, 23-25, and date the Institution by the betrayal, en te nykti, he paredidoto (in the night in which He was betrayed), and of the less important anaphoras, most either use the same expression or paraphrase it. The Western liturgies date from the Passion, Qui pridie quam pateretur, for which, though of course the fact is found there, there is no verbal Scriptural warrant. The Mozarabic of today uses the Pauline words, and no Gallican Recital of the Institution remains in full; but in both the prayer that follows is called (with alternative nomenclature in the Gallican) Post Pridie and the catchwords "Qui pridie" come at the end of the Post-Sanctus
in the Gallican Masses, so that it is clear that this form existed in both.
These variations from the Eastern usages are of an early date, and it is inferred from them, and from other considerations more historical than liturgical, that a liturgy with these peculiarities was the common property of Gaul, Hispania, and Italy. Whether, as is most likely, it originated in Rome and spread thence to the countries under direct Roman influence, or whether it originated elsewhere and was adopted by Rome, there is no means of knowing. The adoption must have happened when liturgies were in rather a fluid state. The Gallicans may have carried to an extreme the changes begun at Rome, and may have retained some archaic features (now often mistaken for Orientalisms) which had been later dropped by Rome. At some period in the fourth century—it has been conjectured that it was in the papacy of St. Damasus (366-84) -- reforms were made at Rome, the position of the Great Intercession and of the Pax were altered, the latter, perhaps because the form of the dismissal of the catechumens was disused, and the distinction between the missa catechumenorum and the missa fidelium was no longer needed, and therefore the want was felt of a position with some meaning to it for the sign of Christian unity, and the long and diffuse prayers were made into the short and crisp collects of the Roman type. It was then that the variable Post-Sanctus and Post-Pridie were altered into a fixed Canon of a type similar to the Roman Canon of today, though perhaps this Canon began with the clause which now reads, "Quam oblationem", but according to the pseudo-Ambrosian tract "De Sacramentis" once read "Fac nobis hanc oblationem". This may have been introduced by a short variable Post-Sanctus. This reform, possibly through the influence of St. Ambrose, was adopted at Milan, but not in Gaul and Hispania. At a still later period changes were again made at Rome. They have been principally attributed to St. Leo
(440-61), St. Gelasius (492-96), and St. Gregory (590-604), but the share these popes had in the reforms is not definitely known, though three varying sacramentaries
have been called by their respective names. These later reforms were not adopted at Milan, which retained the books of the first reform, which are now known as Ambrosian.
. Hence it was that the Hispanic Rite was much more regulated than the Gallican, and Toledo at times, though not very successfully, tried to give liturgical laws even to Gaul, though probably only to the Visigothic part of it. In the greater part of France there was liturgical anarchy. There was no capital to give laws to the whole country, and the rite developed there variously in various places, so that among the scanty fragments of the service-books that remain there is a marked absence of verbal uniformity, though the main outlines of the services are of the same type. Several councils attempted to regulate matters a little, but only for certain provinces. Among these were the Councils of Vannes (465), Agde (506), Vaison (529), Tours (567), Auxerre (578), and the two Councils of Mâcon (581, 623). But all along there went on a certain process of Romanizing due to the constant applications to the Holy See
for advice, and there is also another complication in the probable introduction during the seventh century, through the Columbanine
missionaries of elements of Irish
origin. The changes towards the Roman Rite happened rather gradually during the course of the late seventh and eighth century, and seem synchronous with the rise of the Maires du Palais, and their development into Kings of France. Nearly all the Gallican books of the later Merovingian period, which are all that are left, contain many Roman elements. In some cases there is reason to suppose that the Roman Canon was first introduced into an otherwise Gallican Mass, but the so-called Gelasian Sacramentary, the principal manuscript of which is attributed to the Abbey of St. Dennis and the early eighth century, is an avowedly Roman book, though containing Gallican additions and adaptations. And the same may be said of what is left of the undoubtedly Frank
ish book known as the "Missale Francorum" of the same date. Duchesne attributes a good deal of this eighth-century Romanizing tendency to St. Boniface, though he shows that it had begun before his day. The Roman Liturgy was adopted at Metz in the time of St. Chrodegang (742-66). the Roman chant was introduced about 760, and by a decree of Pepin, quoted in Charlemagne's "Admonitio Generalis
" in 789, the Gallican chant was abolished in its favour. Pope Adrian I between 784 and 791 sent to Charlemagne
at his own request a copy of what was considered to be the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, but which certainly represented the Roman use of the end of the eighth century. This book, which was far from complete, was edited and supplemented by the addition of a large amount of matter derived from the Gallican books and from the Roman book known as the Gelasian Sacramentary, which had been gradually supplanting the Gallican. It is probable that the editor was Charlemagne's principal liturgical advisor, the Englishman Alcuin
. Copies were distributed throughout Charlemagne's empire, and this "composite liturgy", as Duchesne says, "from its source in the Imperial chapel spread throughout all the churches of the Frankish Empire and at length, finding its way to Rome gradually supplanted there the ancient use". More than half a century later, when Charles the Bald
wished to see what the ancient Gallican Rite had been like, it was necessary to import Hispanic priests to celebrate it in his presence.
's "Memoire sur d'anciens Sacramentaires." -- These were discovered by Mone
in 1850 in a palimpsest
manuscript from the Abbey of Reichenau, in the library of Carlsruhe
. The manuscript, which is late seventh century, had belonged to John II, Bishop of Constance (760-81). It contains eleven Masses of purely Gallican type, one of which is in honour of St. Germanus of Auxerre, but the others do not specify any festival. One Mass, except the post Post-Pridie which is in prose, is entirely in hexameter
verse. Mone published them with a facsimile in his Lateinische und Griechische Menssen aus dem zweiten bis sechsten Jahrhundert (Frankfort 1850). They were reprinted in Migne
's Patrologia Latina
(Vol. CXXXVIII), and by Neale and Forbes in The Ancient Liturgy of the Gallican Church (Burntisland, 1855–67).
, which was in the Visigoth
ic Kingdom. Duchesne, judging by the inclusion of Masses for the feasts of St. Symphorian and St. Léger
(d. 680), attributes it to Autun
. The Masses are numbered, the MS. beginning with Christmas Eve
, which is numbered "III". Probably there were once two Advent
Masses, as in the "Missale Gallicanum". There are eighty-one numbered sections, of which the last is the first prayer of "Missa Romensif cottidiana", with which the MS. breaks off. The details of the Masses in this book are given in the section of the present article on the liturgical year. The Masses are all Gallican as to order, but many of the actual prayers are Roman. The "Missale Gothicum" has been printed by Tommasi (Codices Sacramentorum, Rome, 1680), Mabillon (De Liturgiâ Gallicanâ, Paris, 1685), Muratori (Liturgia Romana Vetus, Venice, 1748), Neale and Forbes (op. cit.), and Migne's "Patrologia Latina" (Vol. LXXII).
; The Maundy Thursday
, Good Friday
and Easter
Sunday ceremonies and the baptismal service, Masses for the Sundays after Easter up to the Rogation Mass, where the MS. breaks off. The Masses, as in the Gothicum, are Gallican in order with many Roman prayers. The Good Friday prayers are, with a few verbal variations, exactly those from the Roman Missal. The MS. has been printed by Tommasi, Mabillon, Muratori, and Neale and Forbes (op.cit.), and in Vol. LXXII of Migne's "Patrologia Latina".
(Paris, Bibl. Nat., 9427) is a seventh century manuscript discovered by Mabillon in the Abbey of Luxeuil, but because among its very few saints' days it contains the feast of St. Genevieve, Germain Morin
, it has been attributed to Paris. It contains the Prophetical Lessons, epistles and Gospels for the year from Christmas Eve onwards (for the details of which see the section of this article on the liturgical years). At the end are the lessons of a few special Masses, for the burial of a bishop, for the dedication
of a church, when a bishop preaches, "et plebs decimas reddat", when a deacon
is ordained, when a priest is blessed, "in profectione itineris", and "lectiones cotidianae". This lectionary is purely Gallican with no apparent Roman influence. The MS. has not been printed in its entirety, but Mabillon in "De Liturgiâ Gallicanâ gives the references to all the lessons and the beginnings and endings of the text.
), especially by the Stowe
and Bobbio Missals. The latter has been called Gallican and attributed to the Province of Besançon
, but it is now held to be Irish in a much Romanized form, though of Continental provenance, being quite probably from the originally Irish monastery of Bobbio, where Mabillon found it. A comparison with the Ambrosian books (see Ambrosian Liturgy and Rite) may also be of service, while most lacuna
e in our knowledge of the Gallican Rite may reasonably be conjecturally filled up from the Mozarabic books, which even in their present form are those of substantially the same rite. There are also liturgical allusions in certain early writers: St. Hilary of Poitiers, St. Sulpicius Severus (d. about 400), St. Caesarius of Arles
(d. about 542), and especially St. Gregory of Tours (d. 595), and some information may be gathered from the decrees of the Gallican councils mentioned above.
The above are all that exist as directly Gallican sources, but much information may also be gleaned from the books of the transition period, which, though substantially Roman, were much edited with Germanic tendencies and contained a large amount which was of a Gallican rather than a Roman type. The principal of these are as follows.
(Queen Christina MS. 316), and one at Zürich
(Rheinau 30, and one at St. Gall (MS. 348). The MSS. are of the early eighth century. The groundwork is Roman, with Gallican additions and modifications. Evidence for the Gallican rites of ordination and some other matters is derived from this book. The Vatican MS. was published by Tommasi and Muratori, and a complete edition from all three MSS. was edited by H. A. Wilson (Oxford, 1894).
to Charlemagne, after it had been rearranged and supplemented by Gelasian and Gallican editions in France. One MS. of it was published by Muratori. In this, as in many others, the editions form a supplement, but in some (e.g. the Angoulême Sacramentary, Bibl. Nat. Lat. 816) the Gelasian additions are interpolated throughout.
(506), Orléans (541), Tours
(567), and Mâcon (581), and from the "Historia Francorum" of St. Gregory of Tours, as to the Gallican practice in the sixth century.
It is probable that there were many variations in different times and places, and that the influence of the Hieronymian Martyrology brought about many gradual assimilations to Rome. The year, as is usual, began with Advent
. The Council of Mâcon, which arranges for three days' fast
a week, during that season, mentions St. Martin's Day
as the key-day for Advent Sunday, so that, as a present in the Mozarabic and Ambrosian Rites, there were six Sundays of Advent (but only two Advent Masses survive in the Gallicanum.) The Gothicum and the Luxeuil Lectionary both begin with Christmas Eve. Then following Christmas Day; St. Stephen
; St. John
(according to Luxeuil); St. James and St. John (according to the Gothicum, which agrees with the Hieronymian Martyrology and with a Syriac Menology of 412, quoted by Duchesne. The Mozarabic has for 29 December "Sanctus Jacobus Frater Domini", but that is the other St. James
); Holy Innocents; Circumcision
; St. Genevieve (Luxeuil Lectionary only. Her day is 3 Jan.); Sunday after the Circumcision (Luxeuil); Vigil of Epiphany; Epiphany
; two Sundays after Epiphany (Luxeuil); "Festum Sanctae Mariae" (Luxeuil, called "Assumptio" in the Gothicum, 18 Jan.); St. Agnes
(Gothicum); after which follow in the Gothicum, out of their proper places, Sts. Cecily (22 Nov.); Clement
(23 Nov.); Saturnin
us (29 Nov.); Andrew
(30 Nov.); and Eulalia
(10 Dec.); the Conversion of St. Paul (Gothicum); St. Peter
's Chair (in both. This from its position after the Conversion of St. Paul in the Gothicum, ought to be St. Peter's Chair at Antioch, 22 Feb.; but it will not work out as such with the two Sundays between it and the Epiphany and three between it and Lent, as it appears in the Luxeuil Lectionary; so it must mean St. Peter's Chair at Rome, 18 Jan., which is known to have been the festival kept in Gaul; three Sundays after St. Peter's Chair (Luxeuil); Initium Quadragesimae; five Lenten Masses (Gothicum); Palm Sunday
(Luxeuil); "Symboli Traditio" (Gothicum); Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week
, called by the name still used in the Ambrosian Rite, Authentica Hebdomada (Luxeuil); Maundy Thursday; Good Friday; Easter Eve; Easter Day and the whole week; Low Sunday
, called in both Clausum Paschae; four more Sundays after Easter (Luxeuil); Invention of the Cross (Gothicum, 3 May); St. John the Evangelist (Gothicum, 6 May); three Rogation Days; Ascension; Sunday after Ascension (Luxeuil); Pentecost
; Sunday after Pentecost (Luxeuil); Sts. Ferreolus and Ferru (Gothicum, 16 June); Nativity of St. John the Baptist; Sts. Peter and Paul; Decollation of St. John the Baptist; Missa de Novo fructus (sic, Luxeuil); St. Sixtus (Gothicum, 6 Aug.); St. Lawrence
(Gothicum, 10 Aug.); St. Hippolytus (Gothicum 13 Aug.); Sts. Cornelius
and Cyprian (Gothicum, 16 Sept.); Sts. John and Paul
(Gothicum, 26 June); St. Symphorian (Gothicum, 22 Aug.); St. Maurice
and his companions (Gothicum, 22 Sept.); St. Leger (Gothicum, 2 Oct.); St. Martin
(Gothicum, 22 Nov.).
Both books also have Commons of Martyr
s and Confessor
s, the Luxeuil has Commons of bishops and deacons for a number of other Masses, and the Gothicum has six Sunday Masses. The Gallicanum has a Mass in honour of St. Germanus of Auxerre before the two Advent Masses. In both the Gothicum and Gallicanum a large space is given to the services of the two days before Easter, and in the latter the Expositio and Traditio Symboli are given at great length. The moveable feast
s depended, of course, on Easter. When the Roman Church altered the Easter cycle from the old computation on a basis of 84 years to the new cycle of 532 of Victorius Aquitaine in 457, the Gallican Church, unlike the Celts, did the same; but when, in 525, the Roman Church adopted the 19 years cycle of Dionysius Exiguus
, the Gallican Church continued to use the cycle of Victorius, until the end of the eighth or beginning of the ninth century. Lent began with the first Sunday, not with Ash Wednesday. There is a not very intelligible passage in the canons of the Council of Tours (567) to the effect that all through August there were "festivitates et missae sanctorum", but this is not borne out by the existing Sacramentaries of the Lectionary.
from the scanty allusions that exist. It seems probable that there was considerable diversity in various times and places, through councils, both in Gaul and Hispania, tried to bring about some uniformity. The principal authorities are the Councils of Agde
(506) and Tours (567), and allusions in the writings of St. Gregory of Tours and St. Caesarius of Arles. These and other details have been gathered together by Mabillon in his "De Liturgiâ Gallicanâ", and his essay on the Gallican Cursus is not yet superseded. The general arrangement and nomenclature were very similar to those of the Celtic Rite (q.v.). There were two principal services, Matins
(Ad Matutinam, Matutinum) and Vespers
(ad Duodecimam, ad Vesperas Lucernarium); and four Lesser Hours, Prime
, or Ad Secundum, Terce
, Sext
, and None
; and probably two night services, Complin, or ad initium noctis, and Nocturns
.
But the application of these names is sometimes obscure. It is not quite clear whether Nocturns and Lauds were not joined together as Matins; Caesarius speaks of Prima, while the Gallicanum speaks of Ad secundum; Caesarius distinguishes between Lucernarium and Ad Duodeciman, while Aurelian distinguishes between Ad Duodeciman and Complin; the Gothicum speaks of Vespera Paschae and Initium Noctis Paschae, and the Gallicanum has Ad Duodeciman Paschae. The distribution of the Psalter is not known. The Council of Tours orders six psalms at Sext and twelve Ad Duodecimam, with Alleluia (presumably as Antiphon) For Matins there is a curious arrangement which reminds one of that in the Rule of St. Columbanus (see CELTIC RITE, III). Normally in summer (apparently from Easter to July) "sex antiphonae binis psalmis" are ordered. This evidently means twelve psalms, two under each antiphon. In August there seem to have been no psalms, because there were festivals and Masses of saints. "Toto Augusto manicationes fiant, quia festivitates sunt et missae sanctorum". The meaning of manicationes and of the whole statement is obscure. In September there were fourteen psalms, two under each antiphon; in October twenty-four psalms, three to each antiphon; and from December to Easter thirty psalms, three to each antiphon. Caesarius orders six psalms at Prime with the hymn "Fulgentis auctor aetheris", two lessons, one from the old and one from the New Testament, and a capitellum"; six psalms at Terce, Sext, and None, with an antiphon, a hymn, a lesson, and a capitellum; at Lucernarium a "Psalmus Directaneus", whatever that may be (cf. the "Psalmus Directus" of the Ambrosian Rite), two antiphons, a hymn, and a capitellum; and ad Duodecimam, eighteen psalms, an antiphon, hymn, lesson, and capitellum. From this it seems as though Lucernarium and Ad Duodecimam made up Vespers. combining the twelfth hour of the Divine Office (that is, of the recitation of the Psalter with its accompaniments) with a service for what, without any intention of levity, one may call "lighting-up time". The Ambrosian and Mozarabic Vespers are constructed on this principle, and so is the Byzantine Hesperinos.
Caesarius mentions a blessing given by the bishop at the end of Lucernarium, "cumque expleto Lucernario benedictionem populo dedisset"; and the following is an order of the Council of Agde (canon 30):"Et quia convenit ordinem ecclesiae ab omnibus aequaliter custodiri studendum est ut ubique fit et post antiphonas collectiones per ordinem ab episcopis vel presbyteris dicantur et hymni matutini vel vesperenti diebus omnibus decantentur et in conclusione matutinarum vel vespertinarum missarum post hymnos, capitella de psalmis dicantur et plebs collecta oratione ad vesperam ab Episcopo cum benedictione dimittatur". The rules of Caesarius and Aurelian both speak of two nocturns with lessons, which include on the feasts of martyrs lessons from their passions. They order also Magnificat
to be sung at Lauds, and during the Paschal days; and on Sundays and greater festivals Gloria in Excelsis.
There is a short passage which throws a little light upon the Lyon use of the end of the fifth century in an account of the Council of Lyon
in 499, quoted by Mabillon. The council assembled by King Gundobad of Burgundy began on the feast of St. Just. The vigil was kept at his tomb. This began with a lesson from the Pentateuch ("a Moyse") in which occurred the words "Sed ego indurabo cor ejus", etc. (Ex., vii,3). Then psalms were sung and a lesson was read from the prophets, in which occurred the words "Vade, et dices populo huic: Audite audientes", etc. (Isaias, vi, 9), the more psalms and a lesson from the Gospels containing the words "Vae tibi, Corozain!" etc. (Matt. xi, 21; or Luke x, 13) and a lesson from the Epistles ("ex Apostolo") which contained the words "An divitias bonitatis ejus", etc. (Rom., ii, 4).
St. Agobard in the ninth century mentions that at Lyon there were no canticles except from the Psalms, no hymns written by poets, and no lessons except from Scripture. Mabillon says that though in his day Lyon agreed with Rome in many things, especially in the distribution of the Psalter, and admitted lessons from the Acts of the Saints, there were still no hymns except at Complin, and he mentions a similar rule as to hymns at Vienne. But canon 23 of the Council of Tours (767) allowed the use of the Ambrosian hymns. Though the Psalter of the second recension of St. Jerome
, now used in all the churches of the Roman Rite except the Vatican Basilica, is known as the "Gallican", while the older, a revision of the "Vetus Itala" used now in St. Peter's at Rome only, is known as the "Roman", it does not seem that the Gallican Psalter was used even in Gaul until a comparatively later date, though it spread thence over nearly all the West. At present the Mozarabic and Ambrosian Psalters are variants of the "Roman", with peculiarities of their own. Probably the decadence of the Gallican Divine Office was very gradual. In the eighth century tract in Cott. MS. Nero A. II. the "Cursus Gallorum" is distinguished from the "Cursus Romanorum", the "Cursus Scottorum" and the Ambrosian, all of which seem to have been going on then. The unknown writer, though his opinion is of no value on the origin of the "Cursus", may well have known about some of these of his own knowledge; but through the seventh century there are indications of a tendency to adopt the Roman or the Monastic "cursus" instead of the Gallican, or to mix them up, a tendency which was resisted at times by provincial councils.
, not only of Gaul but of the Celtic Rite
, with the Irish tracts on the Mass, with the books of the still existing Mozarabic Rite
, and with the descriptions of the Hispanic Mass given by St. Isidore
, one may arrive at a fairly clear general idea of the service, though there exists no Gallican Ordinary of the Mass and no Antiphoner. Louis Duchesne
, in his "Origines du Cult chrétien", has given a very full account constructed on this basis, though some will differ from him in his supplying certain details from Ambrosian books, and in his claiming the Bobbio Sacramentary as Ambrosian
rather than Celtic.
The Order of this Mass is as follows:--
It will be seen from the above analysis that the Gallican Mass contained a very small number of fixed elements, so that nearly the whole service was variable according to the day. The absence of an Ordinary
is, therefore, of less importance than it would be in, for instance, the Roman or the Ambrosian. The full list of variables, as shown from the Reichenau fragments, the Gothicum, and St. Germanus's description, is:--
(1) The Introit. (2) (Collectio) post Prophetiam. (3) Lectio Prophetica. (4) Lectio Apostolica. (5) Responsorium" before the Gospel. (6) Gospel. (7) Post Precem. (8) Sonum. (9) Laudes. (10) Praefatio Missae. (11) Collectio. (12) Ante Nomina. (13) Post Nomina. (14) Ad Pacem. (15) Contestatio or Immolatio. (16) Post Sanctus. (17) Post Pridie. (18) Confractorium? (19) Ante Orationem Dominicam. (20) Post Orationem Dominicam. (22) Trecanum? (23) Communio? (24) Post Communionem. (25) Collectio or Consummatio Missae. Of these nos. 2. 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25 belong to the priest's part, and are therefore found in the Sacramentaries; 1, 5, 8, 9, as well as 18, 22, and 23, if these last were variable, belong to the part of the choir, and would be found in the Antiphoners, if any such existed; and 3, 4, 6, are found in the Lectionary. No. 12 is only found among the Reichenau fragments, but it is found there in every Mass of which the MS. is not imperfect at that part of the service. Thus the fixed parts of the service would only be: (a) The three Canticles. (b) The Ajus and Sanctus, etc., at the Gospel. (c) The Prex. (d) The Dismissal. (e) The priest's prayers at the Offertory. (f) The Great Intercession. (g) The Pax formula. (h) The Sursum Corda dialogue. (i) The Sanctus. (j) The Recital of the Institution. (k) The Pater Noster, and possibly the Confractorium, Trecanum and Communio, with probably the priest's devotions at Communion. Most of these are very short and the only really important passage wanting is the one fixed passage in the Prayer of Consecration, the Recital of the Institution.
The Gallicanum has a much fuller form with the Traditio and Expositio Symboli, etc. It is:--
"Credis Patrem et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum unius esse virtutis? R. Credo.
Credis Patrem et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum ejusdem esse potestatis? R. Credo.
Credis Patrem et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum trinae veritatis una manente substantia Deum esse perfectum? R. Credo.
The Holy Week ceremonies which are mixed with the Baptismal service in the two books are not very characteristic. The couplets of invitatory and collect which occur in the Roman Good Friday service are given with verbal variations in the Gothicum; in both, however, there are other prayers of a similar type and prayers for some of the Hours of Good Friday and Easter Eve. The Blessing of the Paschal Candle consists of a Bidding Prayer and collect (in the Gothicum only), the "Exulter" and its Preface nearly exactly as in the Roman, a "Collectio post benedictionem cerei", and "Collectio post hymnum cerei." There is no ceremony of the New Fire in either.
services of the Gallican Rite do not occur in any of the avowedly Gallican books. They are found in the Gelasian Sacramentary
and the Missale Francorum. That is to say, a mixed form which does not agree with the more or less contemporary Roman form in the Leonine and Gregorian Sacramentaries, though it contains some Roman prayers, is found in these two books, and it may be reasonably be inferred that the differences are of Gallican origin. Moreover, extracts relating to ceremonial are given with them from the Statuta Ecclesia Antiqua, formerly attributed to the Fourth Council of Carthage, but now known to be a Gallican decree "promulgated in the province of Arles towards the end of the fifth century" (Duchesne).
The ceremonial therein contained agrees with that described in De Officiis Ecclesiasticis by St. Isidore of Seville. The forms of minor orders
, including subdeacon
, were very short, and consisted simply of the delivery of the instruments: keys to the porters, books of lectors, and exorcists, cruets to acolyte
s, chalice
, paten
, basin, ewer and towel to subdeacons, occur, Bidding Prayers and all, in the Roman Pontifical of today. In the ordination of deacons there is a form which is found in the Byzantine Rite, but has not been adopted in the Roman, the recognition by the people, after an address, with the cry of "Dignus est!". This is used for priests and bishops also (cf. Axios, in the Byzantine ordinations). The Bidding Prayer and collect which follow are both in the present Roman Pontifical, though separated by much additional matter. The ordination of priests was of the same type as that of deacons, with the addition of the anointing of the hands. The address, with a varied end, and the collect (but not the Bidding Prayer), and the anointing of the hands with its formula are in the modern Roman Pontifical, but with very large additions. The consecration of bishops began, after an election, with a presentation and recognition, neither of which is in the modern Pontifical. Then followed a long Bidding Prayer, also not adopted in the Roman Rite, and the Consecration Prayer Deus omnium honorum, part of which is embodied in the Preface in the Leonine and Gregorian Sacramentaries, and in the present Pontifical. During this prayer two bishops held the Book of the Gospels over the candidate, and all the bishops laid their hands on his head. Then followed the anointing of the hands, but apparently not of the head as in the modern rite, with a formula which is not in the Roman books.
and Missale Francorum. As Louis Duchesne
shows in his analysis of both rites (Origines du culte chrétien), that at a time when the Roman Rite of Consecration was exclusively funerary and contained little else but the deposition of the relics, as shown in the Ordines in the Saint Amand Manuscript (Bibliotheque Nationelle Latine 974), the Gallican Rite resembled more closely that of the modern Pontifical
, which may be presumed to have borrowed from it. The commentary of Remigius of Auxerre
(late ninth century), published by Edmond Martène
, and the Sacramentary of Angoulême (Bibl. Nat. Lat. 12048) are the other authorities from which Duchesne derives his details. The order of the Celtic Consecration given in the Leabhar Breac
is very similar (see Celtic Rite
). The order is:
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
in western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
; it is not a single rite but actually a family of rite
Rite
A rite is an established, ceremonious, usually religious act. Rites in this sense fall into three major categories:* rites of passage, generally changing an individual's social status, such as marriage, baptism, or graduation....
s within the Western Rite which comprised the majority use of most of Christianity
Western Christianity
Western Christianity is a term used to include the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church and groups historically derivative thereof, including the churches of the Anglican and Protestant traditions, which share common attributes that can be traced back to their medieval heritage...
in western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
for the greater part of the 1st millennium AD. The rite
Rite
A rite is an established, ceremonious, usually religious act. Rites in this sense fall into three major categories:* rites of passage, generally changing an individual's social status, such as marriage, baptism, or graduation....
s were first developed in the early centuries as the Syriac-Greek rites of Jerusalem and Antioch and were first translated into Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
in various parts of the Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
West. By the 5th century, it was well established in Gaul. Ireland too is known to have had a form of this Gallican Liturgy mixed with Celtic customs. The rites can be considered part of what is now the Western branch of the Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. Today, a rite of this family is still in use in the Archdiocese of Lyon, France.
History and origin
The name Gallican Rite is given to the rite which prevailed in GaulGaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
from the earliest times of which we have any information until about the middle or end of the eighth century. There is no information before the fifth century and very little then; and throughout the whole period there was, to judge by existing documents and descriptions, so much diversity that, though the general outlines of the rite were of the same pattern, the name must not be taken to imply more than a very moderate amount of homogeneity. The Rite of Iberia
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
(the Roman Hispania
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
, modern Spain and Portugal), fairly widely used from the fifth century to the end of the eleventh, and still lingering on as an archaeological survival in chapels at Toledo
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
and Salamanca
Salamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
, was so nearly allied to the Gallican Rite that the term Hispano
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
-Gallican is often applied to the two. But the Iberian Mozarabic Rite
Mozarabic Rite
The Mozarabic, Visigothic, or Hispanic Rite is a form of Catholic worship within the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, and in the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church . Its beginning dates to the 7th century, and is localized in the Iberian Peninsula...
has, like the allied Celtic Rite
Celtic Rite
The term "Celtic Rite" is applied to the various liturgical rites used in Celtic Christianity in Great Britain, Ireland and Brittany, sporadically in Galicia and also in the monasteries founded by the Irish missions of St. Columbanus in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy during the early...
, enough of an independent history to require separate treatment, so that though it will be necessary to allude to both by way of illustration, this article will be devoted primarily to the rite once used in what is now France. Of the origin of the Gallican Rite there are three principal theories, between two of which the controversy is not yet settled. These may be termed (1) the Ephesine, (2) the Ambrosian, and (3) the Roman theories.
Ephesine theory
The Ephesine theory has been already mentioned under Ambrosian riteAmbrosian Rite
Ambrosian Rite, also called the Milanese Rite, is a Catholic liturgical Western Rite. The rite is named after Saint Ambrose, a bishop of Milan in the fourth century...
and Celtic Rite
Celtic Rite
The term "Celtic Rite" is applied to the various liturgical rites used in Celtic Christianity in Great Britain, Ireland and Brittany, sporadically in Galicia and also in the monasteries founded by the Irish missions of St. Columbanus in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy during the early...
. This theory, which was first put forward by William Palmer
William Palmer (theologian)
Sir William Palmer was an Anglican theologian and liturgical scholar of the 19th century.The Rev., afterwards Sir, William Palmer, Bart., of Worcester College, University of Oxford, was author of the Origines Liturgicæ and Treatise on the Church of Christ...
in his Origines Liturgicae, which was once very popular among Anglican scholars. According to it the Gallican Rite was referred to an original brought to Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
from Ephesus
Ephesus
Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era...
by St. Pothinus and St. Irenaeus
Irenaeus
Saint Irenaeus , was Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, then a part of the Roman Empire . He was an early church father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology...
, who had received it through St. Polycarp from St. John the Divine. The idea originated partly in a statement in the eighth century tract in a manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
, which refers the Gallican Divine Office (Cursus Gallorum) to such an origin, and partly in a statement of Colmán of Lindisfarne
Colmán of Lindisfarne
Colmán of Lindisfarne also known as Saint Colmán was Bishop of Lindisfarne from 661 until 664. He succeeded Aidan and Finan. Colman resigned the Bishopric of Lindisfarne after the Synod of Whitby called by King Oswiu of Northumbria decided to calculate Easter using the method of the First...
at the Synod of Whitby
Synod of Whitby
The Synod of Whitby was a seventh century Northumbriansynod where King Oswiu of Northumbria ruled that his kingdom would calculate Easter and observe the monastic tonsure according to the customs of Rome, rather than the customs practised by Iona and its satellite institutions...
(664) respecting the Johannine origin of the Quartodeciman Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
.
Ambrosian theory
The second theory is that which DuchesneLouis Duchesne
Louis Marie Olivier Duchesne was a French priest, philologist, teacher and a critical historian of Christianity and Roman Catholic liturgy and institutions....
puts forward in the place of the Ephesine. He holds that Milan, not Lyon, was the principal centre of Gallican development. He lays great stress on the incontestable importance of Milan and the Church of Milan in the late fourth century
Christianity in the 4th century
Christianity in the 4th century was dominated by Constantine the Great, and the First Council of Nicea of 325, which was the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils and the attempt to reach an orthodox consensus and to establish a unified Christendom as the State church of...
, and conjectures that a liturgy of Oriental origin, introduced perhaps by the Cappadocia
Cappadocia
Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine...
n Auxentius, Bishop of Milan from 355 to 374, spread from that centre to Gaul, Hispania, and Britain. He points out that "the Gallican Liturgy in the features which distinguish it from the Roman, betrays all the characteristics of the Eastern liturgies," and that "some of its formularies are to be found word for word in the Greek texts which were in use in the Churches of the Syro-Byzantine Rite either in the fourth century or somewhat later", and infers from this that, "the Gallican Liturgy is an Oriental liturgy, introduced into the West towards the middle of the fourth century". He does not, however, note that in certain other important peculiarities the Gallican Liturgy agrees with the Roman where the latter differs from the Oriental. Controverting the third or Roman theory of origin, he lays some stress upon the fact that Pope St. Innocent I
Pope Innocent I
-Biography:He was, according to his biographer in the Liber Pontificalis, the son of a man called Innocens of Albano; but according to his contemporary Jerome, his father was Pope Anastasius I , whom he was called by the unanimous voice of the clergy and laity to succeed -Biography:He was,...
(416) in his letter to Decentius of Gubbio spoke of usages which Duchesne recognizes as Gallican (e.g. the position of the Diptychs and the Pax
Pax
Pax may refer to:* Pax , the Roman goddess of peace- Organizations :* PAX Association in Poland* Pax Forlag, a Norwegian publishing house* PAX Network, a U.S. television network now known as ION Television...
), as "foreign importations" and did not recognize in them the ancient usage of his own Church, and he thinks it hard to explain why the African Church should have accepted the Roman reforms, while St. Ambrose himself a Roman. refused them. He assumes that the Ambrosian Rite is not really Roman, but Gallican, much Romanized at a later period, and that the Giubbio variations of which St. Innocent complained were borrowed from Milan.
Roman theory
The third theory is perhaps rather complicated to state without danger of misrepresentation, and has not been so definitely stated as the other two by any one writer. It is held in part by Probst, Father Lucas, the Milanese liturgiologists, and many others whose opinion is of weight. In order to state it clearly it will be necessary to point out first certain details in which all the Latin or Western rites agree with one another in differing from the Eastern, and in this we speak only of the MassMass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
, which is of far more importance than either the Divine Office
Liturgy of the hours
The Liturgy of the Hours or Divine Office is the official set of daily prayers prescribed by the Catholic Church to be recited at the canonical hours by the clergy, religious orders, and laity. The Liturgy of the Hours consists primarily of psalms supplemented by hymns and readings...
, or the occasional services in determining origins.
Invariability of the Priest's Part
The Eastern Eucharistic offices of whatever rite are marked by the invariability of the priest's part. There are, it is true, alternative anaphora
Anaphora (liturgy)
The Anaphora is the most solemn part of the Divine liturgy, Mass, or other Christian Communion rite where the offerings of bread and wine are consecrated as the body and blood of Christ. This is the usual name for this part of the Liturgy in Eastern Christianity, but it is more often called the...
s which are used either ad libitum
Ad libitum
Ad libitum is Latin for "at one's pleasure"; it is often shortened to "ad lib" or "ad-lib"...
, as in the Syro-Jacobite Rite, or on certain days, as in Byzantine and East Syrian, but they are complete in themselves and do not contain passages appropriate to the day. The lection
Lection
A lection is a reading, in this context, from Scripture.The custom of reading the books of Moses in the synagogues on the Sabbath day was a very ancient one. The addition of lections from the prophetic books had been made afterwards and was in existence at the time of Jesus, as may be gathered...
s of course vary with the day in all rites, and varying antiphon
Antiphon
An antiphon in Christian music and ritual, is a "responsory" by a choir or congregation, usually in Gregorian chant, to a psalm or other text in a religious service or musical work....
s, troparia, etc., are sung by the choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
; but the priest's part remains fixed.
In the Western rites, whether Hispano-Gallican, Ambrosian, or Roman, a very large proportion of the priest's part varies according to the day, and, as will be seen by the analysis of its Mass in this article, these variations are so numerous in the Gallican Rite that the fixed part even of the Prayer of the Consecration
Consecration
Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service, usually religious. The word "consecration" literally means "to associate with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different groups...
is strangely little. Certain of the varying prayers of the Hispano-Gallican Rite have a tendency to fall into couples, a Bidding Prayer, or invitation to pray, sometimes of considerable length and often partaking of the nature of a homily
Homily
A homily is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture. In Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox Churches, a homily is usually given during Mass at the end of the Liturgy of the Word...
, addressed to the congregation, and a collect
Collect
In Christian liturgy, a collect is both a liturgical action and a short, general prayer. In the Middle Ages, the prayer was referred to in Latin as collectio, but in the more ancient sources, as oratio. In English, and in this usage, "collect" is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable...
embodying the suggestions of the Bidding Prayer, addressed to God. These Bidding Prayers have survived in the Roman Rite of today in the Good Friday
Good Friday
Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...
intercessory prayers, and they occur in a form borrowed later from the Gallican, in the ordination services, but in general the invitation to prayer is reduced to its lowest terms in the word Oremus.
The Institution
Another Western peculiarity is in the form of the recital of the Institution. The principal Eastern liturgies follow St. Paul's words in I Cor., xi, 23-25, and date the Institution by the betrayal, en te nykti, he paredidoto (in the night in which He was betrayed), and of the less important anaphoras, most either use the same expression or paraphrase it. The Western liturgies date from the Passion, Qui pridie quam pateretur, for which, though of course the fact is found there, there is no verbal Scriptural warrant. The Mozarabic of today uses the Pauline words, and no Gallican Recital of the Institution remains in full; but in both the prayer that follows is called (with alternative nomenclature in the Gallican) Post Pridie and the catchwords "Qui pridie" come at the end of the Post-Sanctus
Sanctus
The Sanctus is a hymn from Christian liturgy, forming part of the Order of Mass. In Western Christianity, the Sanctus is sung as the final words of the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer, the prayer of consecration of the bread and wine...
in the Gallican Masses, so that it is clear that this form existed in both.
These variations from the Eastern usages are of an early date, and it is inferred from them, and from other considerations more historical than liturgical, that a liturgy with these peculiarities was the common property of Gaul, Hispania, and Italy. Whether, as is most likely, it originated in Rome and spread thence to the countries under direct Roman influence, or whether it originated elsewhere and was adopted by Rome, there is no means of knowing. The adoption must have happened when liturgies were in rather a fluid state. The Gallicans may have carried to an extreme the changes begun at Rome, and may have retained some archaic features (now often mistaken for Orientalisms) which had been later dropped by Rome. At some period in the fourth century—it has been conjectured that it was in the papacy of St. Damasus (366-84) -- reforms were made at Rome, the position of the Great Intercession and of the Pax were altered, the latter, perhaps because the form of the dismissal of the catechumens was disused, and the distinction between the missa catechumenorum and the missa fidelium was no longer needed, and therefore the want was felt of a position with some meaning to it for the sign of Christian unity, and the long and diffuse prayers were made into the short and crisp collects of the Roman type. It was then that the variable Post-Sanctus and Post-Pridie were altered into a fixed Canon of a type similar to the Roman Canon of today, though perhaps this Canon began with the clause which now reads, "Quam oblationem", but according to the pseudo-Ambrosian tract "De Sacramentis" once read "Fac nobis hanc oblationem". This may have been introduced by a short variable Post-Sanctus. This reform, possibly through the influence of St. Ambrose, was adopted at Milan, but not in Gaul and Hispania. At a still later period changes were again made at Rome. They have been principally attributed to St. Leo
Pope Leo I
Pope Leo I was pope from September 29, 440 to his death.He was an Italian aristocrat, and is the first pope of the Catholic Church to have been called "the Great". He is perhaps best known for having met Attila the Hun in 452, persuading him to turn back from his invasion of Italy...
(440-61), St. Gelasius (492-96), and St. Gregory (590-604), but the share these popes had in the reforms is not definitely known, though three varying sacramentaries
Sacramentary
The Sacramentary is a book of the Middle Ages containing the words spoken by the priest celebrating a Mass and other liturgies of the Church. The books were usually in fact written for bishops or other higher clegy such as abbots, and many lavishly decorated illuminated manuscript sacramentaries...
have been called by their respective names. These later reforms were not adopted at Milan, which retained the books of the first reform, which are now known as Ambrosian.
Summary of origins
Hence it may be seen that, roughly speaking, the Western or Latin Liturgy went through three phases, which may be called for want of better names the Gallican, the Ambrosian, and the Roman stages. The holders of the theory no doubt recognize quite clearly that the line of demarcation between these stages is rather a vague one, and that the alterations were in many respects gradual. Of the three theories of origin of the Ephesine may be dismissed as practically disproved. To both of the other two the same objection may be urged, that they are largely founded on conjecture and on the critical examination of documents of a much later date than the periods to which the conjectures relate. But at present there is little else to go upon. It may be well to mention also a theory put forward by Mr. W.C. Bishop in the "Church Quarterly" for July, 1908, to the effect that the Gallican Liturgy was not introduced into Gaul from anywhere, but was the original liturgy of that country, apparently invented and developed there. He speaks of an original independence of Rome (of course liturgically only) followed by later borrowings. This does not seem to exclude the idea that Rome and the West may have had the germ of the Western Rite in common. Again the theory is conjectural and is only very slightly stated in the article.Later History of the Gallican Rite
The later history of the Gallican Rite until the time of its abolition as a separate rite is obscure. In Hispania there was a definite centre in Toledo, whose influence was felt over the whole peninsula, even after the coming of the MoorsMoors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
. Hence it was that the Hispanic Rite was much more regulated than the Gallican, and Toledo at times, though not very successfully, tried to give liturgical laws even to Gaul, though probably only to the Visigothic part of it. In the greater part of France there was liturgical anarchy. There was no capital to give laws to the whole country, and the rite developed there variously in various places, so that among the scanty fragments of the service-books that remain there is a marked absence of verbal uniformity, though the main outlines of the services are of the same type. Several councils attempted to regulate matters a little, but only for certain provinces. Among these were the Councils of Vannes (465), Agde (506), Vaison (529), Tours (567), Auxerre (578), and the two Councils of Mâcon (581, 623). But all along there went on a certain process of Romanizing due to the constant applications to the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
for advice, and there is also another complication in the probable introduction during the seventh century, through the Columbanine
Saint Columba
-Saints:* Columba , Irish Christian saint who evangelized Scotland* Columba the Virgin, also known as Saint Columba of Cornwall* Columba of Sens* Columba of Spain* Columba of Terryglass* Sancta Columba -Schools:...
missionaries of elements of Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
origin. The changes towards the Roman Rite happened rather gradually during the course of the late seventh and eighth century, and seem synchronous with the rise of the Maires du Palais, and their development into Kings of France. Nearly all the Gallican books of the later Merovingian period, which are all that are left, contain many Roman elements. In some cases there is reason to suppose that the Roman Canon was first introduced into an otherwise Gallican Mass, but the so-called Gelasian Sacramentary, the principal manuscript of which is attributed to the Abbey of St. Dennis and the early eighth century, is an avowedly Roman book, though containing Gallican additions and adaptations. And the same may be said of what is left of the undoubtedly Frank
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
ish book known as the "Missale Francorum" of the same date. Duchesne attributes a good deal of this eighth-century Romanizing tendency to St. Boniface, though he shows that it had begun before his day. The Roman Liturgy was adopted at Metz in the time of St. Chrodegang (742-66). the Roman chant was introduced about 760, and by a decree of Pepin, quoted in Charlemagne's "Admonitio Generalis
Admonitio Generalis
The Admonitio Generalis, as it is commonly known, was an important piece of Carolingian legislation, promulgated in 789 by the Emperor Charlemagne...
" in 789, the Gallican chant was abolished in its favour. Pope Adrian I between 784 and 791 sent to Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
at his own request a copy of what was considered to be the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, but which certainly represented the Roman use of the end of the eighth century. This book, which was far from complete, was edited and supplemented by the addition of a large amount of matter derived from the Gallican books and from the Roman book known as the Gelasian Sacramentary, which had been gradually supplanting the Gallican. It is probable that the editor was Charlemagne's principal liturgical advisor, the Englishman Alcuin
Alcuin
Alcuin of York or Ealhwine, nicknamed Albinus or Flaccus was an English scholar, ecclesiastic, poet and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Archbishop Ecgbert at York...
. Copies were distributed throughout Charlemagne's empire, and this "composite liturgy", as Duchesne says, "from its source in the Imperial chapel spread throughout all the churches of the Frankish Empire and at length, finding its way to Rome gradually supplanted there the ancient use". More than half a century later, when Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.-Struggle against his brothers:He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...
wished to see what the ancient Gallican Rite had been like, it was necessary to import Hispanic priests to celebrate it in his presence.
Other uses of the name Gallican
It should be noted that the name Gallican has also been applied to two other uses:- a French use introduced by the NormansNormansThe Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
into ApuliaApuliaApulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
and SicilySicilySicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
. This was only a variant of the Roman Rite. - the reformed BreviariesBreviaryA breviary is a liturgical book of the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church containing the public or canonical prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notations for everyday use, especially by bishops, priests, and deacons in the Divine Office...
of the French dioceses in the seventeenth to mid-nineteenth centuries. These have nothing to do with the ancient Gallican Rite.
Manuscripts and other sources
There are no manuscripts (MSS.) of the Gallican Rite earlier than the later part of the seventh century, thought the descriptions in the letters of St. Germanus of Paris (555-76) take one back another century. Following are the known manuscripts.Reichenau Fragments
The Reichenau Fragments (Carlsruhe, 253) are described (no. 8) in DelisleLéopold Victor Delisle
Léopold Victor Delisle , French bibliophile and historian, was born at Valognes .-Early life:He was taken on as a young man by the antiquarian and historian of architecture, Charles-Alexis-Adrien Duhérissier de Gerville, who engaged him to copy manuscripts in his collection, and taught him enough...
's "Memoire sur d'anciens Sacramentaires." -- These were discovered by Mone
Moné
Ramona DeSouza, more popularly known as Moné, is an American music recording artist and songwriter. She scored three hits on the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart: "We Can Make It" , "Movin'" and "Partay Feeling"...
in 1850 in a palimpsest
Palimpsest
A palimpsest is a manuscript page from a scroll or book from which the text has been scraped off and which can be used again. The word "palimpsest" comes through Latin palimpsēstus from Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος originally compounded from πάλιν and ψάω literally meaning “scraped...
manuscript from the Abbey of Reichenau, in the library of Carlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
. The manuscript, which is late seventh century, had belonged to John II, Bishop of Constance (760-81). It contains eleven Masses of purely Gallican type, one of which is in honour of St. Germanus of Auxerre, but the others do not specify any festival. One Mass, except the post Post-Pridie which is in prose, is entirely in hexameter
Hexameter
Hexameter is a metrical line of verse consisting of six feet. It was the standard epic metre in classical Greek and Latin literature, such as in the Iliad and Aeneid. Its use in other genres of composition include Horace's satires, and Ovid's Metamorphoses. According to Greek mythology, hexameter...
verse. Mone published them with a facsimile in his Lateinische und Griechische Menssen aus dem zweiten bis sechsten Jahrhundert (Frankfort 1850). They were reprinted in Migne
Migné
Migné is a commune in the Indre department in central France.-References:*...
's Patrologia Latina
Patrologia Latina
The Patrologia Latina is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1844 and 1855, with indices published between 1862 and 1865....
(Vol. CXXXVIII), and by Neale and Forbes in The Ancient Liturgy of the Gallican Church (Burntisland, 1855–67).
Peyron, Mai, and Bunsen Fragments
The Peyron, Mai, and Bunsen Fragments are disjointed palimpsest leaves. Those of Mai and Peyron were found in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, and those of Bunsen at St. Gall. Peyron's were printed in his "M.T. Ciceronis Orationum Fragmenta inedita" (Stuttgart, 1824), MAI's in his "Scriptorum Veterum Vaticana Collectio", and Bunsen's in his "Analecta Ante-Niceana". All these were reprinted by C. E. Hammond: Peyron's and Bunsen's in his "Ancient Liturgy of Antioch" (Oxford, 1879), and MAI's in his "Ancient Liturgies" (Oxford, 1878). The latest are also in Migne's "Patrologia Latina" with Mone's Riechenau fragments. the Peyron fragment contains part of what looks like a Lenten Contestatio (Preface) with other prayers of Gallican type. The Bunsen fragment contains part of a Mass for the Dead (Post-Sactus, Post Pridie) and several pairs of Bidding Prayers and Collects, the former having the title "Exhortatio" or "Exhortatio Matutina. The Mai fragments begin with part of a Bidding Prayer and contain a fragment of a Contestatio, with that title, and fragments of other prayers, two of which have the title "Post Nomina", and two others which seem to be prayers "Ad Pacem".Missale Gothicum
The Missale Gothicum (Vatican, Queen Christina MSS. 317), described by Delisle, No. 3, is a manuscript dating from the end of the seventh century and once belonging to the Petau Library. The name is due to a fifteenth century note at the beginning of the book, and hence it has been attributed by Tommasi and Mabillon to NarbonneNarbonne
Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...
, which was in the Visigoth
Visigoth
The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...
ic Kingdom. Duchesne, judging by the inclusion of Masses for the feasts of St. Symphorian and St. Léger
Leodegar
Saint Leodegar or Leger, Bishop of Autun , was the great opponent of Ebroin— the mayor of the Palace of Neustria— and the leader of the faction of Austrasian great nobles in the struggles for hegemony over the waning Merovingian dynasty...
(d. 680), attributes it to Autun
Autun
Autun is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in Burgundy in eastern France. It was founded during the early Roman Empire as Augustodunum. Autun marks the easternmost extent of the Umayyad campaign in Europe.-Early history:...
. The Masses are numbered, the MS. beginning with Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
, which is numbered "III". Probably there were once two Advent
Advent
Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi...
Masses, as in the "Missale Gallicanum". There are eighty-one numbered sections, of which the last is the first prayer of "Missa Romensif cottidiana", with which the MS. breaks off. The details of the Masses in this book are given in the section of the present article on the liturgical year. The Masses are all Gallican as to order, but many of the actual prayers are Roman. The "Missale Gothicum" has been printed by Tommasi (Codices Sacramentorum, Rome, 1680), Mabillon (De Liturgiâ Gallicanâ, Paris, 1685), Muratori (Liturgia Romana Vetus, Venice, 1748), Neale and Forbes (op. cit.), and Migne's "Patrologia Latina" (Vol. LXXII).
Missale Gallicanum Vetus
The Missale Gallicanum Vetus (Vatican. Palat. 493), described by Delisle, No. 5, is a manuscript dating from the end of the seventh, or the early part of the eighth. Only a fragment, it begins with a Mass for the feast of St. Germanus of Auxerre (9 Oct.), after which come prayers for the Blessing of Virgins and Widows, two Advent Masses, the Christmas Eve Mass, the Expositio and Traditio Symboli, and other ceremonies preparatory to BaptismBaptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
; The Maundy Thursday
Maundy Thursday
Maundy Thursday, also known as Holy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Great & Holy Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, is the Christian feast or holy day falling on the Thursday before Easter that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles as described in the Canonical gospels...
, Good Friday
Good Friday
Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...
and Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
Sunday ceremonies and the baptismal service, Masses for the Sundays after Easter up to the Rogation Mass, where the MS. breaks off. The Masses, as in the Gothicum, are Gallican in order with many Roman prayers. The Good Friday prayers are, with a few verbal variations, exactly those from the Roman Missal. The MS. has been printed by Tommasi, Mabillon, Muratori, and Neale and Forbes (op.cit.), and in Vol. LXXII of Migne's "Patrologia Latina".
Luxeuil Lectionary
The Luxeuil LectionaryLectionary
A Lectionary is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christian or Judaic worship on a given day or occasion.-History:...
(Paris, Bibl. Nat., 9427) is a seventh century manuscript discovered by Mabillon in the Abbey of Luxeuil, but because among its very few saints' days it contains the feast of St. Genevieve, Germain Morin
Germain Morin
Germain Morin was a Belgian Benedictine historical scholar and patrologist, of the Beuronese Congregation.-References:* Grosselin, Oliver A., O.S.B., "Dom Germain Morin," American Benedictine Review, 6:4 408-418...
, it has been attributed to Paris. It contains the Prophetical Lessons, epistles and Gospels for the year from Christmas Eve onwards (for the details of which see the section of this article on the liturgical years). At the end are the lessons of a few special Masses, for the burial of a bishop, for the dedication
Dedication
Dedication is the act of consecrating an altar, temple, church or other sacred building. It also refers to the inscription of books or other artifacts when these are specifically addressed or presented to a particular person. This practice, which once was used to gain the patronage and support of...
of a church, when a bishop preaches, "et plebs decimas reddat", when a deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
is ordained, when a priest is blessed, "in profectione itineris", and "lectiones cotidianae". This lectionary is purely Gallican with no apparent Roman influence. The MS. has not been printed in its entirety, but Mabillon in "De Liturgiâ Gallicanâ gives the references to all the lessons and the beginnings and endings of the text.
Letters of St. Germanus of Paris
The Letters of St. Germanus of Paris were printed by Martène (De Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus Bassano, 1788) from an MS. at Autun, and are given also in Vol. LXXII of Migne's "Patrologia Latina". There appears to be no reason to doubt that they are genuine. They contain mystical interpretations of the ceremonies of the Mass and of other services. Duchesne says of the descriptions, on which the interpretations are based, that "We may reconstruct from the letters a kind of Ordo Gallicanus". (See section of this article on the Mass.)Celtic books
Much side light is thrown on the Gallican Rite by the Celtic books (see Celtic RiteCeltic Rite
The term "Celtic Rite" is applied to the various liturgical rites used in Celtic Christianity in Great Britain, Ireland and Brittany, sporadically in Galicia and also in the monasteries founded by the Irish missions of St. Columbanus in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy during the early...
), especially by the Stowe
Stowe Missal
The Stowe Missal, which is strictly speaking a sacramentary rather than a missal, is an Irish illuminated manuscript written mainly in Latin with some Gaelic in about 750. In the mid-11th century it was annotated and some pages rewritten at Lorrha Monastery in County Tipperary, Ireland...
and Bobbio Missals. The latter has been called Gallican and attributed to the Province of Besançon
Besançon
Besançon , is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It had a population of about 237,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2008...
, but it is now held to be Irish in a much Romanized form, though of Continental provenance, being quite probably from the originally Irish monastery of Bobbio, where Mabillon found it. A comparison with the Ambrosian books (see Ambrosian Liturgy and Rite) may also be of service, while most lacuna
Lacuna (manuscripts)
A lacunaPlural lacunae. From Latin lacūna , diminutive form of lacus . is a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or a musical work...
e in our knowledge of the Gallican Rite may reasonably be conjecturally filled up from the Mozarabic books, which even in their present form are those of substantially the same rite. There are also liturgical allusions in certain early writers: St. Hilary of Poitiers, St. Sulpicius Severus (d. about 400), St. Caesarius of Arles
Saint Caesarius of Arles
Saint Caesarius of Arles , sometimes called "of Chalon" from his birthplace Chalon-sur-Saône but more usually known as Caesarius of Arles from the see that he occupied as bishop for forty years, was the foremost ecclesiastic of his generation in Gaul...
(d. about 542), and especially St. Gregory of Tours (d. 595), and some information may be gathered from the decrees of the Gallican councils mentioned above.
The above are all that exist as directly Gallican sources, but much information may also be gleaned from the books of the transition period, which, though substantially Roman, were much edited with Germanic tendencies and contained a large amount which was of a Gallican rather than a Roman type. The principal of these are as follows.
Gelasian Sacramentary
Of the Gelasian Sacramentary there are three extant MSS., one in the VaticanVatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
(Queen Christina MS. 316), and one at Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
(Rheinau 30, and one at St. Gall (MS. 348). The MSS. are of the early eighth century. The groundwork is Roman, with Gallican additions and modifications. Evidence for the Gallican rites of ordination and some other matters is derived from this book. The Vatican MS. was published by Tommasi and Muratori, and a complete edition from all three MSS. was edited by H. A. Wilson (Oxford, 1894).
Missale Francorum
The Missale Francorum (Vatican Q. Christina MS. 257, Delisle No. 4) is a fragment of a Sacramentary of a similar type to the Gelasian, though not identical with it. Printed by Tommasi, Mabillon, and Muratori.Gregorian Sacramentary
There are many MSS. of the Gregorian Sacramentary. It represents the Sacramentary sent by Pope Adrian IPope Adrian I
Pope Adrian was pope from February 1, 772 to December 25, 795. He was the son of Theodore, a Roman nobleman.Shortly after Adrian's accession the territory ruled by the papacy was invaded by Desiderius, king of the Lombards, and Adrian was compelled to seek the assistance of the Frankish king...
to Charlemagne, after it had been rearranged and supplemented by Gelasian and Gallican editions in France. One MS. of it was published by Muratori. In this, as in many others, the editions form a supplement, but in some (e.g. the Angoulême Sacramentary, Bibl. Nat. Lat. 816) the Gelasian additions are interpolated throughout.
The Liturgical Year
The Luxeuil Lectionary, the Gothicum and Gallicum Missals, and the Gallican adaptations of the Hieronymian Martyrology are the chief authorities on this point, and to these may be added some information to be gathered from the regulations of the Councils of AgdeCouncil of Agde
In the history of Roman Catholicism in France, the Council of Agde was held 10 September 506 at Agatha or Agde in Languedoc, under the presidency of Caesarius of Arles. It was attended by thirty-five bishops, and its forty-seven genuine canons deal "with ecclesiastical discipline"...
(506), Orléans (541), Tours
Council of Tours
In the medieval Roman Catholic church there were several Councils of Tours, that city being an old seat of Christianity, and considered fairly centrally located in France. Athenius, Bishop of Rennes, took part in the First Council of Tours in AD 461...
(567), and Mâcon (581), and from the "Historia Francorum" of St. Gregory of Tours, as to the Gallican practice in the sixth century.
It is probable that there were many variations in different times and places, and that the influence of the Hieronymian Martyrology brought about many gradual assimilations to Rome. The year, as is usual, began with Advent
Advent
Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi...
. The Council of Mâcon, which arranges for three days' fast
Fasting
Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. An absolute fast is normally defined as abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually a single day , or several days. Other fasts may be only partially restrictive,...
a week, during that season, mentions St. Martin's Day
St. Martin's Day
St. Martin's Day, also known as the Feast of St. Martin, Martinstag or Martinmas, the Feast of St Martin of Tours or Martin le Miséricordieux, is a time for feasting celebrations. This is the time when autumn wheat seeding is completed. Historically, hiring fairs were held where farm laborers...
as the key-day for Advent Sunday, so that, as a present in the Mozarabic and Ambrosian Rites, there were six Sundays of Advent (but only two Advent Masses survive in the Gallicanum.) The Gothicum and the Luxeuil Lectionary both begin with Christmas Eve. Then following Christmas Day; St. Stephen
Saint Stephen
Saint Stephen The Protomartyr , the protomartyr of Christianity, is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches....
; St. John
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
(according to Luxeuil); St. James and St. John (according to the Gothicum, which agrees with the Hieronymian Martyrology and with a Syriac Menology of 412, quoted by Duchesne. The Mozarabic has for 29 December "Sanctus Jacobus Frater Domini", but that is the other St. James
James the Just
James , first Bishop of Jerusalem, who died in 62 AD, was an important figure in Early Christianity...
); Holy Innocents; Circumcision
Circumcision of Christ
The Feast of the Circumcision of Christ is a Christian celebration of the circumcision of Jesus in accordance with Jewish tradition, eight days after his birth, the occasion on which the child was formally given his name.The circumcision of Jesus has traditionally been seen, as explained in the...
; St. Genevieve (Luxeuil Lectionary only. Her day is 3 Jan.); Sunday after the Circumcision (Luxeuil); Vigil of Epiphany; Epiphany
Epiphany (Christian)
Epiphany, or Theophany, meaning "vision of God",...
; two Sundays after Epiphany (Luxeuil); "Festum Sanctae Mariae" (Luxeuil, called "Assumptio" in the Gothicum, 18 Jan.); St. Agnes
Saint Agnes
Agnes of Rome is a virgin–martyr, venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, and Lutheranism. She is one of seven women, excluding the Blessed Virgin, commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass...
(Gothicum); after which follow in the Gothicum, out of their proper places, Sts. Cecily (22 Nov.); Clement
Pope Clement I
Starting in the 3rd and 4th century, tradition has identified him as the Clement that Paul mentioned in Philippians as a fellow laborer in Christ.While in the mid-19th century it was customary to identify him as a freedman of Titus Flavius Clemens, who was consul with his cousin, the Emperor...
(23 Nov.); Saturnin
Saturnin
Saint Saturnin of Toulouse , with a feast day entered for November 29, was one of the "Apostles to the Gauls" sent out during the consulate of Decius and Gratus to Christianize Gaul after the persecutions under Emperor Decius had all but dissolved the small Christian communities...
us (29 Nov.); Andrew
Saint Andrew
Saint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him...
(30 Nov.); and Eulalia
Saint Eulalia of Mérida
Eulalia of Mérida, according to her hagiography, was a Roman Christian teen martyred in Emerita, the capital of Lusitania during the persecution of Christians in the reign of emperor Diocletian and his co-emperor Maximian. Others place her death at the time of Trajan Decius...
(10 Dec.); the Conversion of St. Paul (Gothicum); St. Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
's Chair (in both. This from its position after the Conversion of St. Paul in the Gothicum, ought to be St. Peter's Chair at Antioch, 22 Feb.; but it will not work out as such with the two Sundays between it and the Epiphany and three between it and Lent, as it appears in the Luxeuil Lectionary; so it must mean St. Peter's Chair at Rome, 18 Jan., which is known to have been the festival kept in Gaul; three Sundays after St. Peter's Chair (Luxeuil); Initium Quadragesimae; five Lenten Masses (Gothicum); Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four Canonical Gospels. ....
(Luxeuil); "Symboli Traditio" (Gothicum); Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week
Holy Week
Holy Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter...
, called by the name still used in the Ambrosian Rite, Authentica Hebdomada (Luxeuil); Maundy Thursday; Good Friday; Easter Eve; Easter Day and the whole week; Low Sunday
Octave of Easter
The term Octave of Easter may refer either to the eight day period from Easter Sunday until the Sunday following Easter, inclusive; or it may refer only to that Sunday after Easter, the Octave Day of Easter . That Sunday is also known historically as St...
, called in both Clausum Paschae; four more Sundays after Easter (Luxeuil); Invention of the Cross (Gothicum, 3 May); St. John the Evangelist (Gothicum, 6 May); three Rogation Days; Ascension; Sunday after Ascension (Luxeuil); Pentecost
Pentecost
Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
; Sunday after Pentecost (Luxeuil); Sts. Ferreolus and Ferru (Gothicum, 16 June); Nativity of St. John the Baptist; Sts. Peter and Paul; Decollation of St. John the Baptist; Missa de Novo fructus (sic, Luxeuil); St. Sixtus (Gothicum, 6 Aug.); St. Lawrence
Saint Lawrence
Lawrence of Rome was one of the seven deacons of ancient Rome who were martyred during the persecution of Valerian in 258.- Holy Chalice :...
(Gothicum, 10 Aug.); St. Hippolytus (Gothicum 13 Aug.); Sts. Cornelius
Pope Cornelius
Pope Saint Cornelius was pope from his election on 6 or 13 March 251 to his martyrdom in June 253.- Christian persecution :Emperor Decius, who ruled from 249 to 251 AD, persecuted Christians in the Roman Empire rather sporadically and locally, but starting January in the year 250, he ordered all...
and Cyprian (Gothicum, 16 Sept.); Sts. John and Paul
John and Paul
For the musical partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, see Lennon/McCartneyJohn and Paul are saints in the Roman Catholic Church. They were martyred at Rome on 26 June. They should not be confused with the famous apostles of the same name...
(Gothicum, 26 June); St. Symphorian (Gothicum, 22 Aug.); St. Maurice
Saint Maurice
Saint Maurice was the leader of the legendary Roman Theban Legion in the 3rd century, and one of the favorite and most widely venerated saints of that group. He was the patron saint of several professions, locales, and kingdoms...
and his companions (Gothicum, 22 Sept.); St. Leger (Gothicum, 2 Oct.); St. Martin
Martin of Tours
Martin of Tours was a Bishop of Tours whose shrine became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Around his name much legendary material accrued, and he has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints...
(Gothicum, 22 Nov.).
Both books also have Commons of Martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
s and Confessor
Confessor
-Confessor of the Faith:Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith, but not to the point of death. The term is still used in this way in the East. In Latin Christianity it has come to signify any saint, as well as those who have been declared...
s, the Luxeuil has Commons of bishops and deacons for a number of other Masses, and the Gothicum has six Sunday Masses. The Gallicanum has a Mass in honour of St. Germanus of Auxerre before the two Advent Masses. In both the Gothicum and Gallicanum a large space is given to the services of the two days before Easter, and in the latter the Expositio and Traditio Symboli are given at great length. The moveable feast
Moveable feast
In Christianity, a moveable feast or movable feast is a holy day – a feast day or a fast day – whose date is not fixed to a particular day of the calendar year but moves in response to the date of Easter, the date of which varies according to a complex formula...
s depended, of course, on Easter. When the Roman Church altered the Easter cycle from the old computation on a basis of 84 years to the new cycle of 532 of Victorius Aquitaine in 457, the Gallican Church, unlike the Celts, did the same; but when, in 525, the Roman Church adopted the 19 years cycle of Dionysius Exiguus
Dionysius Exiguus
Dionysius Exiguus was a 6th-century monk born in Scythia Minor, modern Dobruja shared by Romania and Bulgaria. He was a member of the Scythian monks community concentrated in Tomis, the major city of Scythia Minor...
, the Gallican Church continued to use the cycle of Victorius, until the end of the eighth or beginning of the ninth century. Lent began with the first Sunday, not with Ash Wednesday. There is a not very intelligible passage in the canons of the Council of Tours (567) to the effect that all through August there were "festivitates et missae sanctorum", but this is not borne out by the existing Sacramentaries of the Lectionary.
The Divine Office
There is curiously little information on this point, and it is not possible to reconstruct the Gallican Divine OfficeLiturgy of the hours
The Liturgy of the Hours or Divine Office is the official set of daily prayers prescribed by the Catholic Church to be recited at the canonical hours by the clergy, religious orders, and laity. The Liturgy of the Hours consists primarily of psalms supplemented by hymns and readings...
from the scanty allusions that exist. It seems probable that there was considerable diversity in various times and places, through councils, both in Gaul and Hispania, tried to bring about some uniformity. The principal authorities are the Councils of Agde
Council of Agde
In the history of Roman Catholicism in France, the Council of Agde was held 10 September 506 at Agatha or Agde in Languedoc, under the presidency of Caesarius of Arles. It was attended by thirty-five bishops, and its forty-seven genuine canons deal "with ecclesiastical discipline"...
(506) and Tours (567), and allusions in the writings of St. Gregory of Tours and St. Caesarius of Arles. These and other details have been gathered together by Mabillon in his "De Liturgiâ Gallicanâ", and his essay on the Gallican Cursus is not yet superseded. The general arrangement and nomenclature were very similar to those of the Celtic Rite (q.v.). There were two principal services, Matins
Matins
Matins is the early morning or night prayer service in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and Eastern Orthodox liturgies of the canonical hours. The term is also used in some Protestant denominations to describe morning services.The name "Matins" originally referred to the morning office also...
(Ad Matutinam, Matutinum) and Vespers
Vespers
Vespers is the evening prayer service in the Western Catholic, Eastern Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran liturgies of the canonical hours...
(ad Duodecimam, ad Vesperas Lucernarium); and four Lesser Hours, Prime
Prime (liturgy)
Prime, or the First Hour, is a fixed time of prayer of the traditional Divine Office , said at the first hour of daylight , between the morning Hour of Lauds and the 9 a.m. Hour of Terce. It is part of the Christian liturgies of Eastern Christianity, but in the Latin Rite it was suppressed by the...
, or Ad Secundum, Terce
Terce
Terce, or Third Hour, is a fixed time of prayer of the Divine Office of almost all the Christian liturgies. It consists mainly of psalms and is said at 9 a.m. Its name comes from Latin and refers to the third hour of the day after dawn....
, Sext
Sext
Sext, or Sixth Hour, is a fixed time of prayer of the Divine Office of almost all the traditional Christian liturgies. It consists mainly of psalms and is said at noon...
, and None
None (liturgy)
None , or the Ninth Hour, is a fixed time of prayer of the Divine Office of almost all the traditional Christian liturgies. It consists mainly of psalms and is said around 3 p.m...
; and probably two night services, Complin, or ad initium noctis, and Nocturns
Nocturns
Nocturns are divisions of Matins, the night office of the Christian Liturgy of the Hours. A nocturn consists of psalms with antiphons followed by three lessons, which are taken either from scripture or from the writings of the Church Fathers. The office of Matins is composed of one to three nocturns...
.
But the application of these names is sometimes obscure. It is not quite clear whether Nocturns and Lauds were not joined together as Matins; Caesarius speaks of Prima, while the Gallicanum speaks of Ad secundum; Caesarius distinguishes between Lucernarium and Ad Duodeciman, while Aurelian distinguishes between Ad Duodeciman and Complin; the Gothicum speaks of Vespera Paschae and Initium Noctis Paschae, and the Gallicanum has Ad Duodeciman Paschae. The distribution of the Psalter is not known. The Council of Tours orders six psalms at Sext and twelve Ad Duodecimam, with Alleluia (presumably as Antiphon) For Matins there is a curious arrangement which reminds one of that in the Rule of St. Columbanus (see CELTIC RITE, III). Normally in summer (apparently from Easter to July) "sex antiphonae binis psalmis" are ordered. This evidently means twelve psalms, two under each antiphon. In August there seem to have been no psalms, because there were festivals and Masses of saints. "Toto Augusto manicationes fiant, quia festivitates sunt et missae sanctorum". The meaning of manicationes and of the whole statement is obscure. In September there were fourteen psalms, two under each antiphon; in October twenty-four psalms, three to each antiphon; and from December to Easter thirty psalms, three to each antiphon. Caesarius orders six psalms at Prime with the hymn "Fulgentis auctor aetheris", two lessons, one from the old and one from the New Testament, and a capitellum"; six psalms at Terce, Sext, and None, with an antiphon, a hymn, a lesson, and a capitellum; at Lucernarium a "Psalmus Directaneus", whatever that may be (cf. the "Psalmus Directus" of the Ambrosian Rite), two antiphons, a hymn, and a capitellum; and ad Duodecimam, eighteen psalms, an antiphon, hymn, lesson, and capitellum. From this it seems as though Lucernarium and Ad Duodecimam made up Vespers. combining the twelfth hour of the Divine Office (that is, of the recitation of the Psalter with its accompaniments) with a service for what, without any intention of levity, one may call "lighting-up time". The Ambrosian and Mozarabic Vespers are constructed on this principle, and so is the Byzantine Hesperinos.
Caesarius mentions a blessing given by the bishop at the end of Lucernarium, "cumque expleto Lucernario benedictionem populo dedisset"; and the following is an order of the Council of Agde (canon 30):"Et quia convenit ordinem ecclesiae ab omnibus aequaliter custodiri studendum est ut ubique fit et post antiphonas collectiones per ordinem ab episcopis vel presbyteris dicantur et hymni matutini vel vesperenti diebus omnibus decantentur et in conclusione matutinarum vel vespertinarum missarum post hymnos, capitella de psalmis dicantur et plebs collecta oratione ad vesperam ab Episcopo cum benedictione dimittatur". The rules of Caesarius and Aurelian both speak of two nocturns with lessons, which include on the feasts of martyrs lessons from their passions. They order also Magnificat
Magnificat
The Magnificat — also known as the Song of Mary or the Canticle of Mary — is a canticle frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services. It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn...
to be sung at Lauds, and during the Paschal days; and on Sundays and greater festivals Gloria in Excelsis.
There is a short passage which throws a little light upon the Lyon use of the end of the fifth century in an account of the Council of Lyon
Council of Lyon
The Council of Lyon refers to either the 13th or 14th ecumenical councils of the Roman Catholic Church, both held in Lyon, France during the 13th century:*First Council of Lyon...
in 499, quoted by Mabillon. The council assembled by King Gundobad of Burgundy began on the feast of St. Just. The vigil was kept at his tomb. This began with a lesson from the Pentateuch ("a Moyse") in which occurred the words "Sed ego indurabo cor ejus", etc. (Ex., vii,3). Then psalms were sung and a lesson was read from the prophets, in which occurred the words "Vade, et dices populo huic: Audite audientes", etc. (Isaias, vi, 9), the more psalms and a lesson from the Gospels containing the words "Vae tibi, Corozain!" etc. (Matt. xi, 21; or Luke x, 13) and a lesson from the Epistles ("ex Apostolo") which contained the words "An divitias bonitatis ejus", etc. (Rom., ii, 4).
St. Agobard in the ninth century mentions that at Lyon there were no canticles except from the Psalms, no hymns written by poets, and no lessons except from Scripture. Mabillon says that though in his day Lyon agreed with Rome in many things, especially in the distribution of the Psalter, and admitted lessons from the Acts of the Saints, there were still no hymns except at Complin, and he mentions a similar rule as to hymns at Vienne. But canon 23 of the Council of Tours (767) allowed the use of the Ambrosian hymns. Though the Psalter of the second recension of St. Jerome
Saint Jerome
Saint Jerome is a Christian church father, best known for translating the Bible into Latin.Saint Jerome may also refer to:*Jerome of Pavia , Bishop of Pavia...
, now used in all the churches of the Roman Rite except the Vatican Basilica, is known as the "Gallican", while the older, a revision of the "Vetus Itala" used now in St. Peter's at Rome only, is known as the "Roman", it does not seem that the Gallican Psalter was used even in Gaul until a comparatively later date, though it spread thence over nearly all the West. At present the Mozarabic and Ambrosian Psalters are variants of the "Roman", with peculiarities of their own. Probably the decadence of the Gallican Divine Office was very gradual. In the eighth century tract in Cott. MS. Nero A. II. the "Cursus Gallorum" is distinguished from the "Cursus Romanorum", the "Cursus Scottorum" and the Ambrosian, all of which seem to have been going on then. The unknown writer, though his opinion is of no value on the origin of the "Cursus", may well have known about some of these of his own knowledge; but through the seventh century there are indications of a tendency to adopt the Roman or the Monastic "cursus" instead of the Gallican, or to mix them up, a tendency which was resisted at times by provincial councils.
The Mass
The chief authorities for the Gallican Mass are the letters of St. Germanus of Paris (555-576); and by a comparison of these with the extant SacramentariesSacramentary
The Sacramentary is a book of the Middle Ages containing the words spoken by the priest celebrating a Mass and other liturgies of the Church. The books were usually in fact written for bishops or other higher clegy such as abbots, and many lavishly decorated illuminated manuscript sacramentaries...
, not only of Gaul but of the Celtic Rite
Celtic Rite
The term "Celtic Rite" is applied to the various liturgical rites used in Celtic Christianity in Great Britain, Ireland and Brittany, sporadically in Galicia and also in the monasteries founded by the Irish missions of St. Columbanus in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy during the early...
, with the Irish tracts on the Mass, with the books of the still existing Mozarabic Rite
Mozarabic Rite
The Mozarabic, Visigothic, or Hispanic Rite is a form of Catholic worship within the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, and in the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church . Its beginning dates to the 7th century, and is localized in the Iberian Peninsula...
, and with the descriptions of the Hispanic Mass given by St. Isidore
Isidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
, one may arrive at a fairly clear general idea of the service, though there exists no Gallican Ordinary of the Mass and no Antiphoner. Louis Duchesne
Louis Duchesne
Louis Marie Olivier Duchesne was a French priest, philologist, teacher and a critical historian of Christianity and Roman Catholic liturgy and institutions....
, in his "Origines du Cult chrétien", has given a very full account constructed on this basis, though some will differ from him in his supplying certain details from Ambrosian books, and in his claiming the Bobbio Sacramentary as Ambrosian
Ambrosian Rite
Ambrosian Rite, also called the Milanese Rite, is a Catholic liturgical Western Rite. The rite is named after Saint Ambrose, a bishop of Milan in the fourth century...
rather than Celtic.
The Order of this Mass is as follows:--
- The Entrance.-- Here an AntiphonAntiphonAn antiphon in Christian music and ritual, is a "responsory" by a choir or congregation, usually in Gregorian chant, to a psalm or other text in a religious service or musical work....
a (IntroitIntroitThe Introit is part of the opening of the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. In its most complete version, it consists of an antiphon, psalm verse and Gloria Patri that is spoken or sung at the beginning of the celebration...
) was sung. Nothing is said of any Praeparatio Sacerdotis, but there is one given in the Celtic Stowe Missal; and the Irish tracts describe a preliminary preparation of the Chalice, as does also the Mozarabic Missal. As no Antiphoner exists, we have no specimen of a Gallican Officium or Introit. Duchesne gives a Mozarabic one, which has something of the form of a Roman Responsary. The Antiphona was followed by a proclamation of silence by the deacon, and the salutation Dominus sit semper vobiscum by the priest. This is still the Mozarabic form of Dominus vobiscum. - The CanticleCanticleA canticle is a hymn taken from the Bible. The term is often expanded to include ancient non-biblical hymns such as the Te Deum and certain psalms used liturgically.-Roman Catholic Church:From the Old Testament, the Roman Breviary takes seven canticles for use at Lauds, as follows:*...
s.-- These, according to St. Germanus, were:- The Ajus (agios) which may be the Greek TrisagionTrisagionThe Trisagion , sometimes called by its opening line Agios O Theos or by the Latin Tersanctus, is a standard hymn of the Divine Liturgy in most of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Churches and Catholic Churches.In those Churches which use the Byzantine Rite, the Trisagion is chanted...
(hagios Theos, k.t.l.) or the Greek of the SanctusSanctusThe Sanctus is a hymn from Christian liturgy, forming part of the Order of Mass. In Western Christianity, the Sanctus is sung as the final words of the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer, the prayer of consecration of the bread and wine...
, probably the latter which is still used elsewhere in the Mozarabic, and seems to be referred to in the Ajus, ajus, ajus of the life of St. Géry of Cambrai and the Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus of the Council of Vaison (529). In the Bobbio there is a prayer Post Ajus. - The Kyrie EleisonKyrieKyrie, a transliteration of Greek κύριε , vocative case of κύριος , meaning "Lord", is the common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, which is also called the Kýrie, eléison ....
, sung by three boys. This has disappeared from the Mozarabic. It is mentioned by the Council of VaisonCouncil of VaisonThe Council of Vaison may refer to several pre-Schism church councils held at Vaison in Gaul .* A council held circa 350.* A council held in 442.* The Third Council of Vaison held in 529....
(529). - The Canticle of Zacharias (Benedictus). this is called Prophetia and there are collects post Prophetiam in the Riechenau fragments, the Gothicum and the Bobbio. The Mozarabic and Celtic books have Gloria in Excelsis here, but in the former the Benedictus is used instead on the Sunday before the Nativity of St. John the BaptistJohn the BaptistJohn the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
, called Dominica pro adventu S. Johannis. A different Canticle, Sanctus Deus Angelorum was used, according to St. Germanus, in LentLentIn the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
.
- The Ajus (agios) which may be the Greek Trisagion
- The Lessons—These were the Lectio Prophetica from the Old TestamentOld TestamentThe Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
, and the Lectio Apostolica or EpistleEpistleAn epistle is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part of the scribal-school writing curriculum. The letters in the New Testament from Apostles to Christians...
. In Paschal time the Apocalypse took the place of the Lectio Prophetica, and a lesson from the Acts of the Apostles that of the Epistle. In Lent the Histories of the Old Testament were read instead of the Prophetical Lesson, and on Saint's Days the Acts of the Saints. This agrees with the present Mozarabic, except in the Acts of the Saints, and with the Luxeuil Lectionary, and the Bobbio. The Acts of the Saints were used as Mass Lessons in the Ambrosian Rite as late as the twelfth century. According to St. Germanus the second lesson followed immediately on the first, but in the Mozarabic the Benedicite and a Psallendo (Responsary) come between them. In the Gallican the Benedicite and the Responsorium followed the Epistle. The Bobbio has a fixed collect, Post Benedictionem, which is that which follows Benedictus es (Dan., iii) on Ember Saturdays in the Roman Missal. - The GospelGospelA gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
-- This was preceded by a procession to the amboPulpitPulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...
. A clerk again sang the Ajus, and seven lighted candles were carried. The clerks cried out Gloria tibi, Domine. SanctusSanctusThe Sanctus is a hymn from Christian liturgy, forming part of the Order of Mass. In Western Christianity, the Sanctus is sung as the final words of the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer, the prayer of consecration of the bread and wine...
was sung as they returned. Nothing is said about AlleluiaAlleluiaThe word "Alleluia" or "Hallelujah" , which at its most literal means "Praise Yah", is used in different ways in Christian liturgies....
preceding the Gospel, nor is there any in the Mozarabic RiteMozarabic RiteThe Mozarabic, Visigothic, or Hispanic Rite is a form of Catholic worship within the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, and in the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church . Its beginning dates to the 7th century, and is localized in the Iberian Peninsula...
. The Celtic Rite as shown in the Stowe Missal, included an Alleluia at that point, as do most other rites. - Here, according to St. Germanus, followed the HomilyHomilyA homily is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture. In Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox Churches, a homily is usually given during Mass at the end of the Liturgy of the Word...
. - The PrexPrexPrex is a portable 32-bit embedded real-time microkernel operating system. The kernel is compact, under 25k bytes, and provides memory management, inter-process communication and multithreading in the kernel, and leaves more application-specific features like a file system to be implemented...
-- The passage of St. Germanus is "Preces vero psallere levitas pro populo ab origine libri Moysaici ducit exordium, ut audita Apostoli praedicatione levitae pro populo deprecentur et sacerdotes prostrati ante Dominum pro peccatis populi intercedant". Duschene makes this refer to a Bidding Litany to follow the Homily, but judging from the analogy of the Stowe Mass, which places a litany between the Epistle and Gospel, and of the Mozarabic, which on Sundays in Lent has a very similar litany between the Prophetical Lesson and the Epistle, said by the priest who "prosternat se ad pedem altaris", it might be possible to understand "audita Apostoli praedicatione" to mean "after the Epistle". The Roman Good FridayGood FridayGood Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...
prayers, however, which are similar in import to this litany, follow the Gospel; and so does the Great Synapte of Clementine, the Byzantine, and other Eastern rites which have petitions of the same type, and one of which is probably the original source of the Prex. The Council of LyonCouncil of LyonThe Council of Lyon refers to either the 13th or 14th ecumenical councils of the Roman Catholic Church, both held in Lyon, France during the 13th century:*First Council of Lyon...
(517) also mentions "orationem plebis quae post evangelia legeretur". No Gallican text of this litany exists, but it was probably much of the same type as that of the Stowe, which is called "Deprecatio Sancti Martini, and that which takes the place of the "Gloria in ExcelsisGloria in Excelsis Deo"Gloria in excelsis Deo" is the title and beginning of a hymn known also as the Greater Doxology and the Angelic Hymn. The name is often abbreviated to Gloria in Excelsis or simply Gloria.It is an example of the psalmi idiotici "Gloria in excelsis Deo" (Latin for "Glory to God in the highest")...
" in Lent in the Ambrosian. The Prex is followed by a prayer called Post Precem. - The Dismissal of the CatechumenCatechumenIn ecclesiology, a catechumen , “‘down’” + ἠχή , “‘sound’”) is one receiving instruction from a catechist in the principles of the Christian religion with a view to baptism...
s.-- This is mentioned by St. Germanus as an ancient rite of which the form was still observed. He says in almost the same words which James of Edessa, speaking of the Syrian Rite, used a century later, that the deacon proclaims "juxta antiquum Ecclesiae ritum". No mention is made by St. Germanus of penitents, but the Council of LyonCouncil of LyonThe Council of Lyon refers to either the 13th or 14th ecumenical councils of the Roman Catholic Church, both held in Lyon, France during the 13th century:*First Council of Lyon...
just mentioned gave them permission to remain until after the Prex. In the Stowe Mass, as in the Roman, there is no allusion to catechumens or penitents. - The Great Entrance and OffertoryOffertoryThe Offertory is the portion of a Eucharistic service when bread and wine are brought to the altar. The offertory exists in many liturgical Christian denominations, though the Eucharistic theology varies among celebrations conducted by these denominations....
.-- It seems appropriate to give the Byzantine name to this ceremony, for, according to St. Germanus's description, it resembled the Great Entrance of that rite rather than anything which is now found in either the Roman or the Mozarabic of today, or in the Celtic Rite; and the Procession of the Vecchioni at Milan is altogether a different matter. First came the closing of the doors. This took place immediately after the Dismissal of the Catechumens in the Liturgy of St. James, and is put at the same point in the description of James of Edessa. In the Byzantine Rite of today it comes after the Great Entrance. In the Roman Rite there is no sign of it. St. Germanus gives it a mystical meaning about the gates of the soul, but James of Edessa gives the real origin, the guarding of the mysteries against the heathen. Then the already prepared Elements were brought in, the bread in a vessel shaped like a tower, the mixed wine and water in a chalice. St. Germanus speaks of them as Corpus Domini and Sanguis Christi (cf. The wording of the Byzantine hymn known as the Cherubicon). While this was done the choir sang what St. Germanus called the Sonus. The Mozarabic Missal calls the Responsory that comes at this point the Lauda, and the name Sonus is given to very similar Responsories sung at Vespers and Lauds. While the elements were being offered the choir sang the Laudes, which included Alleluia. This is the Mozarabic Sacraficium, the Roman Offertorium. St. Isidore gives the latter name to it. The tract in the Irish "Leabhar Breac" speaks of elevating the chalice "quando canitur Imola Deo sacrificium laudis", but the Stowe, being a priest's book, is silent about any antiphon here, though the prayers said by the priest are given. In the Stowe Missal the Offertory, which is a good deal Romanized, is preceded by the CreedCreedA creed is a statement of belief—usually a statement of faith that describes the beliefs shared by a religious community—and is often recited as part of a religious service. When the statement of faith is longer and polemical, as well as didactic, it is not called a creed but a Confession of faith...
. In the Ambrosian, as in the Byzantine, the Creed follows the Offertory. In the Gallican of St. Germanus there was as yet no Creed. By the time of James of Edessa it had got into the Syrian Liturgy, but the Roman did not adopt it until much later. St. Germanus mentions three veils, the "palla linostima" [linostema is defined by St. Isidore (Orig., 19,22) as a material woven of flax and wool] "corporalis palla" of pure linen, "super quam oblatio ponitur", and a veil of silk adorned with gold and gems with which the oblation was covered. Probably the "linostima" covered the chalice, like the modern pall. - The prayer that follows is not mentioned by St. Germanus, but is given in the Gallican books. It is preceded by a Bidding Prayer. The titles of the two are Praefatio Missae and Collectio (the usual expression being "Collectio sequitur"). They vary with the day and are found in the Gothicum, Gallicanum, Bobbio, and some of the Reichenau fragments. St. Isidore mentions them as the first two of the prayers of the Mass. In the Mozarabic the Bidding Prayer is called Missa, and is followed by "Agyos, agyos, agyos, Domine Deus Rex aeterne tibi laudes et gratias", sung by the choir, and an invariable invitation to prayer. The variable prayer which follows is called Alia Oratio. The "Missa" is almost always a Bidding Prayer addressed to the people, while the "Alia Oratio" is nearly always addressed to God, but sometimes both are Bidding Prayers and sometimes both are prayers to God.
- The Diptychs—St. Germanus says "Nomina defunctorum ideo hor illa recitantur qua pallium tollitur". The Gallican books and the Bobbio have variable prayers Post Nomina, and the Reichenau fragments have also prayers Ante Nomina, which are sometimes Bidding Prayers as are sometimes the prayers Post Nomina in the Gothicum. The form of the Intercession is given in the Stowe, but moved to its Roman positions in the Gelasian Canon. The Mozarabic retains the old position and has a prayer Post Nomina, which St. Isidore calls the third prayer. The position of the Great Intercession at this point exactly is peculiar to the Hispano-Gallican Rite, but it comes very near to the Alexandrian position, which is in the middle of the Preface, where a rather awkward break is made for it. The West Syrian and Byzantine Liturgies place the Great Intercession after the Epiklesis, the East Syrian before the Epiklesis, and the Roman and Ambrosian divide it in two, placing the Intercession for the Living before, and that for the Dead after the Consecration, with Commemorations of Saints with each.
- The PaxHoly kissThe kiss of peace is a traditional Christian greeting dating to early Christianity.The practice still remains a part of the worship in traditional churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Orthodox churches, Oriental Orthodox churches and some liturgical...
-- St. Germanus mentions that the Kiss of Peace came next, as it does now in the Mozarabic. St. Isidore associates it with the fourth prayer, which in the Gallican and Mozarabic books is called Ad Pacem. The Roman Rite, which has completely obliterated all distinction between the Missa Catachumenorum and the Missa Fidelium, associates this sign of unity, not with the beginning of the latter, but with the Communion, and this position is as old as the letter of St. Innocent I (416) to Decentius of Giubbio. The Ambrosian now follows the Roman, as did the Celtic Rite when the Stowe Missal was written, but the Bobbio retained the collect Ad Pacem in its original place, though it was probably not used with the Gelasian canon. - The AnaphoraAnaphora (liturgy)The Anaphora is the most solemn part of the Divine liturgy, Mass, or other Christian Communion rite where the offerings of bread and wine are consecrated as the body and blood of Christ. This is the usual name for this part of the Liturgy in Eastern Christianity, but it is more often called the...
-- St. Germanus merely mentions the Sursum Corda, and says nothing about what follows it. The dialogue was probably in the usual form, though the curious variation in the Mozarabic Rite makes that somewhat uncertain. Then follows the Contestatio or Immolatio, called by the Mozarabic Books Illatio, which is in the Roman Rite the Praefatio. St. Isidore calls it the fifth prayer and uses the word Illatio for it. The Gallican books, the Bobbio, and the Mozarabic Missal give a variable one for every Mass, and the Gallican books often give two. The general form is the same as the Roman, perhaps more diffuse in its expressions. Usually the words Per quem alone at the end of the proper section indicate the conclusion. The Mozarabic Illations end in varying ways, always of course leading up to the Sanctus. - The SanctusSanctusThe Sanctus is a hymn from Christian liturgy, forming part of the Order of Mass. In Western Christianity, the Sanctus is sung as the final words of the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer, the prayer of consecration of the bread and wine...
.-- The Gallican wording is not found, but there is no reason to suspect any variations unless the Mozarabic "gloria majestatis tuae" was also Gallican. - The Post-Sanctus.-- This takes up the idea of the Sanctus and amplifies it, leading on to the Recital of the Institution. It generally, but not always, begins with "Vere Sanctus, vere Benedictus". There is a variable Post-Sanctus for every Mass. In the Gallican books this passage ends with some expression, generally simply "per Christum Dominum nostrum", which serves as the antecedent to "Qui pridie"; but, owing to the interpolated prayer" Adesto, adesto Jesu", etc., the Recital of the Institution begins with a fresh sentence with no relative. All Liturgies except the Roman have some form of Post-Sanctus. Even the Ambrosian has one for Easter Eve, and the Celtic Stowe Missal seems to use one with or without the Roman Canon. The Bobbio, completely Romanized from the Preface onwards, does not include one among its variables. In one Mass in the Gothicum (Easter Eve) the Post-Sanctus (so called by Neale and Forbes) contains a quite definite Epiklesis, but the prayer which follows is called ad fractionem panis, so it may be really a Post-Pridie.
- The Recital of the Institution.-- "Qui pridie quam pro nostra omnium salute pateretur" is all that exists of the Gallican form, as catchwords, so to speak. This, except that "et" comes there before "omnium", is the Ambrosian. The Stowe and the Bobbio have the Roman "Qui pridie quam pateretur", etc., but the corrector of the Stowe has added the Ambrosian ending "passionem meam praedicabitis", etc. The Mozarabic, though Post-Pridie is the name of the prayer which follows, has (after an invocatory prayer to our Lord) "D.N.J. C. in qua nocte tradebatur", etc., following St. Paul's words in I Cor., xi, in which it agrees with the principal Eastern Liturgies. This is probably a late alteration.
- The Post-Pridie, called also Post Mysterium and Post Secreta, these two being the more usual Gallican names, while Post-Pridie is the universal Mozarabic name. This is a variable prayer, usually addressed to Christ or to the Father, but occasionally in the Mozarabic in the form of a Bidding Prayer. The petitions often include something of an oblation, like the Unde et memores, and often a more or less definite Epiklesis. Of the eleven Masses in the Reichenau fragment four contain a definite Epiklesis in this prayer, one has a Post-Pridie with no Epiklesis, one is unfinished, but has no Epiklesis as far as it goes, and in the rest this prayer is wanting. In the Gothicum there is generally no Epiklesis, but nine of the Masses there have one of some sort, in some cases vague. In the Mozarabic this prayer is usually only the oblation, though rarely there is an Epiklesis. It is followed there by a fixed prayer resembling the clause Per quem haec omnia in the Roman Canon.
- The Fraction.-- Of this St. Germanus says only that it takes place, and an antiphon is sung during it. The only rite which now retains this antiphon always is the Ambrosian, where it is called Confractorium. The Mozarabic has substituted for it the recitation of the Creed, "praeter in locis in quibus erit antiphona propria ad confractionem panis", which is chiefly during Lent, and in votive Masses. In the Stowe there is a long responsory, apparently not variable. No Gallican Confratorium remains. The fraction is not described, but in the Celtic Rite (q.v.) there was a very complicated fraction, and in the Mozarabic the Sacred Host is divided into nine particles, seven of which are arranged in the form of a cross. The Council of Tours (567) directs that the particles shall be arranged "non in imaginario ordine sed sub crucis titulo", so that it is probable that the Gallican fraction was similarly elaborate. The Stowe Gaelic tract speaks of two fractions, the first into two halves with a re-uniting and a commixture, the second into a number of particles varying with the rank of the day. The "Leabhar Breac" tract only mentions the first. Dom L. Gougaud (Les rites de la Consecration et de la Fraction dans la Liturgie Celtique", in "Report of the 19th Eucharistic Congress" (p. 359) conjectures that the first was the Host of the celebrant, the second that for the communicants.
- The Pater NosterPater NosterPater Noster is probably the best-known prayer in Christianity.Pater Noster or Paternoster may also refer to:* Paternoster, a passenger elevator which consists of a chain of open compartments that move slowly in a loop up and down inside a building* Paternoster, Western Cape, South Africa* Pierres...
.-- This was preceded by a variable introduction after the plan of Praeceptis salutaribus moniti and was followed by a variable Embolism. These are entitled in the Gallican books Ante Orationem Dominicam and Post Orationem Dominicam. In the Mozarabic the introduction Ad orationem Dominicam is variable, the Embolism is not. - The Commixture.-- Of the manner of this in the Gallican Rite there is no information, nor is there any record of the words used. In the Mozarabic the particle Regnum is dipped in the chalice with the words "Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, radix David, Alleluia. Qui sedes super Cherubim, radix David, Alleluia", and the particle is dropped into the chalice, the priest saying "Sancta sanctis; et conjunctio corporis D.N.J.C. sit sumentibus et potantibus nobis ad veniam et defunctis fidelibus praestetur ad requiem."
- The BenedictionBenedictionA benediction is a short invocation for divine help, blessing and guidance, usually at the end of worship service.-Judaism:...
.-- This when pronounced by a bishop was a variable formula, sometimes of considerable length. St. Germanus gives a form which was said by priests "Pax, fides et caritas et communicatio corporis et sanguinis Domini sit semper vobiscum." There is a very similar form in the Stowe Missal and in the Ambrosian, but in both these it is connected with the Pax which comes at this point, as in the Roman Rite. In the Mozarabic, the deacon proclaims "Humilitate vos benedictioni". This is alluded to by St. Caesarius of Arles and is very like tas kephalas hemon to kyrio klinomen in the Byzantine Rite. Then follows a long variable Benediction of four clauses, pronounced by the priest, the people responding "Amen" to each clause. The Gallican Benedictions were of the same type. The practice of a Benediction before Communion continued in France long after the extinction of the Gallican Rite and survives to this day at Lyon. It was also the practice of the Anglo-Saxon Church. Dom Cabrol ("Benediction Episcopale" in "Report of the 19th Eucharistic Congress") considers that the Anglo-Saxon Benedictions were not survivals of Gallican (Celtic) usage, but were derived from the ancient practice of Rome itself, and that the rite was a general one of which traces are found nearly everywhere. - The CommunionEucharistThe Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
.-- St. Germanus gives no details of this, but mentions the singing of the Trecanum. His description of this was not very clear. "Sic enim prima in secunda, secunda in tertia, et rursum tertia in secunda rotatur in prima." But he takes the threefold chant as an emblem of the Trinity. The Mozarabic on most days has a fixed anthem, Ps. xxxiii, 8 (9) (Gustate, et videte) 1 (2) (Benedicam Dominum) and 22 (23) (Redimet Dominus), and the Gloria with three Alleluias after each verse. This is called Ad Accedentes. In Lent and Easter-tide there are variants. The rather obvious Gustate et videte is given also in the Stowe Missal and Bangor Antiphoner, and is mentioned by St. Cyril of Jerusalem. It occurs in certain Eastern Liturgies. In the Mozarabic it is followed by the Communio "Refecti Christi corpore et sangunie, te laudamus, Domine, Alleluia" (thrice), with a variant in Lent. This is found also in the Celtic books. Probably it was used by the Gallican also. In the Mozarabic the priest's Communion, with his private devotions, goes on during these anthems. Caesarius of Arles and the Council of Auxerre (about 578), quoted by Duchesne, allude to the fact that men received the Host in the bare hand, but that women covered the hand with a linen cloth called dominicalis, which each brought with her. - The Post-Communion-- This, as given in the Gallican books, is a variable Praefatio, or Bidding Prayer, followed by a collectCollectIn Christian liturgy, a collect is both a liturgical action and a short, general prayer. In the Middle Ages, the prayer was referred to in Latin as collectio, but in the more ancient sources, as oratio. In English, and in this usage, "collect" is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable...
. The former is entitled Post Communionem, the latter Collectio. The Mozarabic has only a collect which is variable, but with a smaller selection than the other prayers. - The Dismissal formula of the Gallican Mass is not extant. It may have been like the Stowe "Missa acta est in pace", or one form of Mozarabic "Missa acta est in nomine D.N.J.C., proficiamus cum pace."
It will be seen from the above analysis that the Gallican Mass contained a very small number of fixed elements, so that nearly the whole service was variable according to the day. The absence of an Ordinary
Ordinary of the Mass
The ordinary, in Roman Catholic and other Western Christian liturgies, refers to the part of the Eucharist or of the canonical hours that is reasonably constant without regard to the date on which the service is performed...
is, therefore, of less importance than it would be in, for instance, the Roman or the Ambrosian. The full list of variables, as shown from the Reichenau fragments, the Gothicum, and St. Germanus's description, is:--
(1) The Introit. (2) (Collectio) post Prophetiam. (3) Lectio Prophetica. (4) Lectio Apostolica. (5) Responsorium" before the Gospel. (6) Gospel. (7) Post Precem. (8) Sonum. (9) Laudes. (10) Praefatio Missae. (11) Collectio. (12) Ante Nomina. (13) Post Nomina. (14) Ad Pacem. (15) Contestatio or Immolatio. (16) Post Sanctus. (17) Post Pridie. (18) Confractorium? (19) Ante Orationem Dominicam. (20) Post Orationem Dominicam. (22) Trecanum? (23) Communio? (24) Post Communionem. (25) Collectio or Consummatio Missae. Of these nos. 2. 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25 belong to the priest's part, and are therefore found in the Sacramentaries; 1, 5, 8, 9, as well as 18, 22, and 23, if these last were variable, belong to the part of the choir, and would be found in the Antiphoners, if any such existed; and 3, 4, 6, are found in the Lectionary. No. 12 is only found among the Reichenau fragments, but it is found there in every Mass of which the MS. is not imperfect at that part of the service. Thus the fixed parts of the service would only be: (a) The three Canticles. (b) The Ajus and Sanctus, etc., at the Gospel. (c) The Prex. (d) The Dismissal. (e) The priest's prayers at the Offertory. (f) The Great Intercession. (g) The Pax formula. (h) The Sursum Corda dialogue. (i) The Sanctus. (j) The Recital of the Institution. (k) The Pater Noster, and possibly the Confractorium, Trecanum and Communio, with probably the priest's devotions at Communion. Most of these are very short and the only really important passage wanting is the one fixed passage in the Prayer of Consecration, the Recital of the Institution.
The Baptismal Service
The authorities for the Gallican Baptismal Service are the Gothicum and Gallicanum, both of which are incomplete, and a few details in the second Letter of St. Germanus of Paris. The forms given in the Stowe and the Bobbio are to much Romanized to illustrate the Gallican Rite very much. The form given in the Gothicum is the least complete. It consists of:--- "Ad Christianum faciendum." A Bidding Prayer and collect, with the form of signing on eyes, ears, and nostrils.
- The Blessing of the fontBaptismal fontA baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...
. A Bidding Prayer, a collect, a Contestio (Preface), the infusion of chrismChrismChrism , also called "Myrrh" , Holy anointing oil, or "Consecrated Oil", is a consecrated oil used in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Rite Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, in the Assyrian Church of the East, and in Old-Catholic churches, as well as Anglican churches in the administration...
in the form of a cross with a triple insufflation, and an exorcismExorcismExorcism is the religious practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed...
, which here is in an unusual place. - The Baptismal formula "Baptizo te in nomine ... in remissionem peccatorum, ut habeas vitam aeternam".
- The Chrismation. The formula "Perungo te chrisma sanctitatis" seems to have been mixed up with a form for the bestowal of the white garment, for it goes on "tunicam immortalitatis, quam D.N.J.C. traditam a Patre primus accepit ut eam integram et inlibatam preferas ante tribunal Christi et vivas insaecula saeculorum ". Probably the omission is "... in Nomine", etc., in the one formula; and "Accipe vestem candidam", or possibly "Accipe" alone, in the other. Mgr. Duchesne's suggestion of "a special symbolism, according to which the chrism would be considered as a garment" does not commend itself, for want of a verb to govern "tunicam". Still there is another formula for the white garment farther on.
- The Feet Washing. The form here is similar to that in the Gallicanum, the Bobbio, and the Stowe: "Ego te lavo pedes. Sicut D.N.J.C. fecit discipulis suis, tu facias hospitibus et peregrenis ut habeas vitam aeternam". This ceremony is only found in Gaul, Hispania, and Ireland. At the Council of Elvira in 305 an order was made that it should be performed by clerks and not by priests. This limitation, of which the wording is quite clear, has been unaccountably interpreted to mean that it was then forbidden altogether.
- The Vesting with the white garment. This has a form similar to the Roman and Celtic, but not quite the same.
- Two final Bidding Prayers with no collect.
The Gallicanum has a much fuller form with the Traditio and Expositio Symboli, etc. It is:--
- "Ad faciendum Catechumenum." A long and curious exorcism beginning "Adgredior te, immundissime, damnate spiritus". This is only a fragment, and probably the unction and salt came here, as in the Hispanic Rite.
- "Expositio vel Traditio Symboli." An address, the CreedCreedA creed is a statement of belief—usually a statement of faith that describes the beliefs shared by a religious community—and is often recited as part of a religious service. When the statement of faith is longer and polemical, as well as didactic, it is not called a creed but a Confession of faith...
, a long exposition of it, and a collect. The Creed varies verbally from the Roman form. There is a second "Expositio" later on. - "Expositio Evangeliorum in aurium apertione ad electos." An address followed by a few words of each of the Gospels and an exposition of the emblems of the Evangelists. This is found in the Gelasian Sacramentary.
- "Praemissiones ad Scrutamen." A Bidding Prayer and a collect.
- "Praefatio Orationis Dominicae". The tradition and exposition of the Lord's Prayer.
- "Missa in symboli traditione." This is imperfect but agrees nearly, as far as they both go, with a Mass of the same title in the Gothicum.
- "Expositio Symboli." This, though as on the same lines as the earlier one, differs in wording. It is very incomplete and has probably got into this place by mistake.
- "Opus ad Baptizando (sic)." This is preceded by various services for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Eve, including the Blessing of the Candle. It begins with a "Praefatio antequam exorcidietur" and a collect. Then follow the exorcism and the blessing of thee font, and the infusion of the chrism, this time in the form of three crosses.
- The Interrogation. This includes the renunciation of SatanSatanSatan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
and a confession of faithFaithFaith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief that is not based on proof. In religion, faith is a belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. Generally speaking, it is offered as a means by which the truth of the proposition,...
. The latter has a peculiar form, evidently directed against Arianism:--
"Credis Patrem et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum unius esse virtutis? R. Credo.
Credis Patrem et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum ejusdem esse potestatis? R. Credo.
Credis Patrem et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum trinae veritatis una manente substantia Deum esse perfectum? R. Credo.
- The Baptismal formula: "Baptizo te credentem in Nomine, etc., ut habeas vitam in saecula saeculorum."
- The Chrismation. The formula is the same as the modern Roman.
- The Feet-washing. The words are slightly different from those in the Gothicum, Bobbio, and Stowe, but to the same effect.
- The "Post Baptismum". A single prayer (without a Bidding Prayer) beginning "Deus ad quem scubias veteris hominis in fonte depositas". It will be seen that there is no giving of the white robe in the Gallicum, and that the signing of the hand, found in the Celtic Rite (q.v.), is absent from both it and the Gothicum.
The Holy Week ceremonies which are mixed with the Baptismal service in the two books are not very characteristic. The couplets of invitatory and collect which occur in the Roman Good Friday service are given with verbal variations in the Gothicum; in both, however, there are other prayers of a similar type and prayers for some of the Hours of Good Friday and Easter Eve. The Blessing of the Paschal Candle consists of a Bidding Prayer and collect (in the Gothicum only), the "Exulter" and its Preface nearly exactly as in the Roman, a "Collectio post benedictionem cerei", and "Collectio post hymnum cerei." There is no ceremony of the New Fire in either.
Ordination Service
The OrdinationOrdination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
services of the Gallican Rite do not occur in any of the avowedly Gallican books. They are found in the Gelasian Sacramentary
Gelasian Sacramentary
The so-called "Gelasian Sacramentary" is a book of Christian liturgy. A sacramentary contains the priest's texts for celebrating the Eucharist throughout the year...
and the Missale Francorum. That is to say, a mixed form which does not agree with the more or less contemporary Roman form in the Leonine and Gregorian Sacramentaries, though it contains some Roman prayers, is found in these two books, and it may be reasonably be inferred that the differences are of Gallican origin. Moreover, extracts relating to ceremonial are given with them from the Statuta Ecclesia Antiqua, formerly attributed to the Fourth Council of Carthage, but now known to be a Gallican decree "promulgated in the province of Arles towards the end of the fifth century" (Duchesne).
The ceremonial therein contained agrees with that described in De Officiis Ecclesiasticis by St. Isidore of Seville. The forms of minor orders
Minor orders
The minor orders are the lowest ranks in the Christian clergy. The most recognized minor orders are porter, lector, exorcist, and acolyte. In the Latin rite Catholic Church, the minor orders were in most cases replaced by "instituted" ministries of lector and acolyte, though communities that use...
, including subdeacon
Subdeacon
-Subdeacons in the Orthodox Church:A subdeacon or hypodeacon is the highest of the minor orders of clergy in the Orthodox Church. This order is higher than the reader and lower than the deacon.-Canonical Discipline:...
, were very short, and consisted simply of the delivery of the instruments: keys to the porters, books of lectors, and exorcists, cruets to acolyte
Acolyte
In many Christian denominations, an acolyte is anyone who performs ceremonial duties such as lighting altar candles. In other Christian Churches, the term is more specifically used for one who wishes to attain clergyhood.-Etymology:...
s, chalice
Chalice (cup)
A chalice is a goblet or footed cup intended to hold a drink. In general religious terms, it is intended for drinking during a ceremony.-Christian:...
, paten
Paten
A paten, or diskos, is a small plate, usually made of silver or gold, used to hold Eucharistic bread which is to be consecrated. It is generally used during the service itself, while the reserved hosts are stored in the Tabernacle in a ciborium....
, basin, ewer and towel to subdeacons, occur, Bidding Prayers and all, in the Roman Pontifical of today. In the ordination of deacons there is a form which is found in the Byzantine Rite, but has not been adopted in the Roman, the recognition by the people, after an address, with the cry of "Dignus est!". This is used for priests and bishops also (cf. Axios, in the Byzantine ordinations). The Bidding Prayer and collect which follow are both in the present Roman Pontifical, though separated by much additional matter. The ordination of priests was of the same type as that of deacons, with the addition of the anointing of the hands. The address, with a varied end, and the collect (but not the Bidding Prayer), and the anointing of the hands with its formula are in the modern Roman Pontifical, but with very large additions. The consecration of bishops began, after an election, with a presentation and recognition, neither of which is in the modern Pontifical. Then followed a long Bidding Prayer, also not adopted in the Roman Rite, and the Consecration Prayer Deus omnium honorum, part of which is embodied in the Preface in the Leonine and Gregorian Sacramentaries, and in the present Pontifical. During this prayer two bishops held the Book of the Gospels over the candidate, and all the bishops laid their hands on his head. Then followed the anointing of the hands, but apparently not of the head as in the modern rite, with a formula which is not in the Roman books.
The Consecration of a church
The Consecration of a church does not occur in the recognized Gallican books and from prayers in the Gelasian SacramentaryGelasian Sacramentary
The so-called "Gelasian Sacramentary" is a book of Christian liturgy. A sacramentary contains the priest's texts for celebrating the Eucharist throughout the year...
and Missale Francorum. As Louis Duchesne
Louis Duchesne
Louis Marie Olivier Duchesne was a French priest, philologist, teacher and a critical historian of Christianity and Roman Catholic liturgy and institutions....
shows in his analysis of both rites (Origines du culte chrétien), that at a time when the Roman Rite of Consecration was exclusively funerary and contained little else but the deposition of the relics, as shown in the Ordines in the Saint Amand Manuscript (Bibliotheque Nationelle Latine 974), the Gallican Rite resembled more closely that of the modern Pontifical
Pontifical
Pontifical may refer to the Roman Pontifical, a Roman Catholic liturgical book used by a bishop.When used as an adjective, Pontifical may be used to describe things related to the office of a bishop, such as the following:*Solemn Pontifical Mass...
, which may be presumed to have borrowed from it. The commentary of Remigius of Auxerre
Remigius of Auxerre
Remigius of Auxerre was a Benedictine monk during the Carolingian period, a teacher of Latin grammar, and a prolific author of commentaries on classical Greek and Latin texts...
(late ninth century), published by Edmond Martène
Edmond Martène
Edmond Martène was a French Benedictine historian and liturgist....
, and the Sacramentary of Angoulême (Bibl. Nat. Lat. 12048) are the other authorities from which Duchesne derives his details. The order of the Celtic Consecration given in the Leabhar Breac
Leabhar Breac
Leabhar Breac is an Irish language publisher based in Indreabhán in the County Galway Gaeltacht of Cois Fharraige.Specialising in fiction, and named after the 15th century manuscript Leabhar Breac, the publishing house was founded in 1995 by Darach Ó Scolaí and Caomhán Ó Scolaí...
is very similar (see Celtic Rite
Celtic Rite
The term "Celtic Rite" is applied to the various liturgical rites used in Celtic Christianity in Great Britain, Ireland and Brittany, sporadically in Galicia and also in the monasteries founded by the Irish missions of St. Columbanus in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy during the early...
). The order is:
- The Entrance of the bishop, with "Tollite portas, principes, vestras", etc., which exhibits the outline of the present rite.
- The AlphabetsAlphabet (disambiguation)An alphabet is a complete standardized set of letters — basic written symbols — each of which roughly represents a phoneme of a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it may have been in the past.-Alphabets:* Latin alphabet* English alphabet...
, as at present. - The ExorcismExorcismExorcism is the religious practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed...
, Blessing and mixing of water, salt, ashes, and wine. - The LustrationLustrationLustration is the government process regulating the participation of former communists, especially informants of the communist secret police, in the successor political appointee positions or in civil service positions in the period after the fall of the various European Communist states in 1989 –...
of the Altar and the inside of the Church. - The Consecration Prayers. These are the prayers "Deus, qui loca nomini tuo", and "Deus sanctificationum, omnipotens dominator", which occur at the same point at present. The latter prayer in the Gallican Rite is worked into a PrefacePrefaceA preface is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a foreword and precedes an author's preface...
(in the Roman sense of the word). - The AnointingAnointingTo anoint is to pour or smear with perfumed oil, milk, water, melted butter or other substances, a process employed ritually by many religions. People and things are anointed to symbolize the introduction of a sacramental or divine influence, a holy emanation, spirit, power or God...
of the Altar with chrismChrismChrism , also called "Myrrh" , Holy anointing oil, or "Consecrated Oil", is a consecrated oil used in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Rite Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, in the Assyrian Church of the East, and in Old-Catholic churches, as well as Anglican churches in the administration...
, with the five crosses as at present. The Celtic Rite had seven. - The anointing of the Church with chrism. Nothing is said about crosses on the walls.
- The Consecration of the Altar with the burning of a cross of incenseIncenseIncense is composed of aromatic biotic materials, which release fragrant smoke when burned. The term "incense" refers to the substance itself, rather than to the odor that it produces. It is used in religious ceremonies, ritual purification, aromatherapy, meditation, for creating a mood, and for...
thereon, and a Bidding Prayer and collect. - The Blessing of linen, vessels, etc.
- The Translation of the Relics which have been kept in a separate place and a night watch kept over them. This service, which is clearly the modern elaborate consecration in germ, has also many points in common with the Akolouthia eis Egkainia Naou in the Byzantine EuchologionEuchologionThe Euchologion is one of the chief liturgical books of the Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches, containing the portions of the services which are said by the bishop, priest, or deacon...
, which is still simpler. The three are evidently three stages of the same service.
External links
- The ancient Liturgies of the Gallican Church (1855), by J. M. Neale and G. H Forbes
- The Mass in Gaul, from Dom Fernand Cabrol's The Mass of the Western Rites
- The Divine Liturgy of Saint Germanus of Paris by Father Francis DesMarais; in use by the Orthodox Church of France