CANON
262
CANON
priest prays first for the Church, then for the pope and
diocesan ordinary by name. Antistes, from antisto
(TrpoijTi]fu), is one of the many older words for
"bishop". At the pope's name a slight inclination
is made. When the Roman See is vacant, the men-
tion of the pope is left out. In Rome the bishop's
name is left out; the pope is local bishop there. The
bishop must be canonically appointed and confirmed,
otherwise he is not mentioned. But he need not yet
be consecrated. It is always the ordinary of the dio-
cese, even in the ease of regulars who are exempt. A
diocesan bishop in saying Mass changes the form " et
Antistite nostra N." into "et me indigno servo tuo".
The pope naturally uses these words instead of " una
cum famulo tuo Papa nostra N.", and omits the clause
about the bishop. The mention of the pope always
occurs at this place. Otherwise in the Middle Ages
there was a great variety in the names. A very old
custom was to name the sovereign after the bishop
("et pro rege nostra N." or "Imperatore nostra N.").
Pope Celestine I (422-32) refers to it in a letter to
Theodosius II. Boniface I (418-22) writes to Em-
peror Honorius: "Behold in the very mysteries,
among the prayers which the bishop offers for your
Empire . . . (Drews, Entstehungsgesch., 7). So also
the "De Sacramentis" says: "Prayer is offered for
the people, for the king, for the others" (IV, iv).
Throughout the Middle Ages the sovereign was always
named. Pius V removed the clause from the Missal.
In the case of Catholic princes a privilege is given by
which they are put in. In Austria the clause "et pro
Imperatore nostra Francisco Josepho" is always
added by the celebrant, and in Hungary it becomes
of course "pro rege nostra". At one time the priest
went on to pray for himself at this place (Bona,
Rerum liturg., II. 11). Ebner quotes as the com-
monest form: "Mihi quoque indignissimo famulo tuo
propitius esse digneris, et ab omnibus me peccatorum
offensionibus emundare" (Miss. Rom., 401). We have
already noted this as being almost exactly a version
of the' Alexandrine form. The word "orthodoxi"
that follows is very tare in the West. It is a link
between our Canon and the Antiochene Anaphora.
Commemoratio pro vivis. — The celebrant does not now name anyone aloud at the "N. et N." After "tuarum" he joins his hands and prays silently for anyone he likes. This is the place where the diptyehs for the living were read. A diptych (SiVtuxos, from Sis and ttiWu, twice-folded) was a table folding in two like a book, on which names were written and then read out. Some authorities admit and some deny that the priest in his silent prayer may name people who are outside the Church. As this prayer is a private one (as shown by the folding of the hands) there is no law to forbid him from so doing. He goes on to mention the bystanders, who are thus always specially prayed for at Mass. " Pro quibus tibi offeri- mus, vel qui tibi offerunt" is a reduplication. The first half ("pro quibus tibi offerimus") is missing in all early sacramentaries, also in the Greek version (Swainson, 196). It occurs, however, in the parallel text of the Syrian Liturgy. Both parts refer to the same persons" for whom the priests and his assistants offer the Sacrifice and who themselves also join in the offering by their presence. "Sacrifice of praise" (Ps. xlix, 2:{), : ' For tin' forgiveness of their sins" and " For the hope of their safety and health", are three expres- sions connoting the threefold character of the Mass as praise, atonement, and petition.
Communicantes. This prayer is headed by the rubric " Intra Actionem". Wny is it put here? The "Communicantes" has a small addition on the five chief days of the year. Christmas, the Epiphany,
. er, Ascension Day, and Whitsunday, referring
to the feast. The beginning of the text with these
additions is placed among the prefaces, after the corresponding proper preface for each feast. Placed
there, the rubric that heads it is obvious. For each
feast there is the special preface and, moreover,
"Infra Actionem", that is, "Within the Canon", a
further change is made. From its place among the
prefaces as a natural heading to the "Communi-
cantes" this rubric has found its way into the Canon,
when people had begun to look upon it as the title ot
that prayer. The Gelasian Sacramentary has it,
when the "Communicantes" occurs with an addition
among the Propers (e. g. Wilson, S9), but it has not
yet found its way into the Ordinary lib.. 234). These
five additions to the "Communicantes", all of them
very beautiful and very ancient (they are all, with
slight variations, in the Gelasian book), are the only
ones left by Pius V, where at one tune many more
feasts had sometimes long references. "Communi-
cantes" means simply "in union with". The partici-
ples here have given rise to much discussion; no finite
verb follows, nor does any go before to which they can
suitably refer. It is simply a case of late Latin that
is not strictly grammatical. It must be understood
as standing for a finite verb, as if it were "Communi-
camus cum eis et memoriam veneramus eorum".
There are parallel examples in the Vulgate of a par-
ticiple standing for a finite verb (e. g. Rom., ix, 6 sqq.,
where the Greek has the same anomaly). In the lists
of saints that follows, Our Lady of course always holds
the first place. She is here named very solemnly with
her title of " Mother of God", as in the corresponding
Eastern Anaphoras. It is strange that St. John the
Baptist, who should come next, has been left out here.
He is named in both the Eastern liturgies at this place
(Brightman, 93 and 169), and finds his right place at
the head of our other list (in the "Nobis quoque").
After Our Lady follow twelve Apostles and twelve
martyrs. The Apostles are not arranged in quite the
same order as in any of the Gospels. St. Paul at the
head, with St. Peter, makes up the number for Judas.
St. Matthias is not named here, but in the "Nobis
quoque". The twelve martyrs are evidently ar-
ranged to balance the Apostles. First come five
popes, then a bishop (St. Cyprian), and a deacon (St.
Lawrence) , then five laymen. All these saints, except
St. Cyprian, are local Roman saints, as is natural in
what was originally the local Roman Lit urgy. It is
noticeable that St. Cyprian (d. 25S), who had a serious
misunderstanding with a Roman pope, is the only
foreigner honoured by the Roman Church by being
named among her own martyrs. The fact has been
quoted to show how completely his disagreement with
Pope Stephen was forgotten, and how Stephen's suc-
cessors remembered him only as one of the chief and
most glorious martyrs of the West. The cult of saints
was at first the cult of martyrs ; all those in both lists
in the Canon died for the Faith. Gregory III (731-
41) added to the Vatican basilica a chapel containing
a great number of relics and dedicated to All Saints.
He ordered the monks who served this chape] to add
to the "Communicantes" after the words "et omnium
Sanctorum tuorum" the further clause: "quorum
solemnitas bodie in conspectu tuo celebratur, Domine
Deus noster, in toto orbe terrarum". The text is
found in some medieval Missals. A certain number
of Missals also contained additions about special
Eatrons to be used on their feasts (Benedict XIV, Do S. Miss;e sacr., 162). All these clauses disappeared at Pius V's reform, except that in some French churches the names of St. Hilary and St. Martin are still added to the list (Duchesne, Origines. 172). This first complex of prayers forms the chief part of the great Intercession that occurs in all liturgies. We notice again the strange fact that at Home it is di- vided in two by the Consecration.
Ilanc igitur. — This prayer has already been con- sidered, the most remarkable of all in the Canon. Here it need only be added that the "Hane igitur" receives an addition (after the words "families tuac")
