Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/853

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BtASS


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MASS


pope sang the prayer of the day (see Collect), two or three lessons followed (see Lessons in the Liturgt), interspersed with psalms (see Gradual). The prayers of the faithfxil had gone, leaving only the one word Oremus as a fragment. The people Drought up the bread and wine while the Offertory psalm was sung; the gifts were arranged on the altar by the deacons. The Secret was said (at that time the only Olfertory prayer) after the pope had washed his hands. The Preface, Sanctus, and all the Canon followed as now. A reference to the fruits of the earth led to the words "per quem haec onmia" etc. Then came the Lord's Prayer, the Fraction with a complicated ceremony, the kiss of peace, the Agnus Dei (since Pope Sei^ius, 687-701), the Communion under both kinds, during which tiie Conmiunion psalm was sung (see Com- munion- Antiphon), the rost-Communion prayer, the dismissal (see Ite Missa Est), and the procession back to the sacristy (for a more detailed account see C. Atchley, "Ordo Romanus Primus", London, 1905; Duchesne, **Origines du Culte chr^tien", vi).

It has been explained how this (mixed) Roman Rite gradually drove out the Galilean Use (see Liturgy). By about the tenth or eleventh century the Roman M!ass was practically the only one in use in the West. Then a few additions (none of them very important) were made to the Mass at different times. The Nioene Creed is an importation from Constantinople. It is said that in 1014 Emperor Henry II (1002-24) per- suaded Pope Benedict VIII (1012-24) to add it after the Gospel (Bemo of Reichenau, " De quibusdam re- bus ad Missse offic. pertiL . ", ii). It had already been adopted in Spain, Gaul, and Germany. All the present ritual and the prayers said by the celebrant at the Offertory were introduced from France about the thirteenth century (" Ordo Rom. XIV ", liii, is the first witness; P. L., LXXVIII, 1163-4); before that the secrets were the only Offertory prayers (" Micrologus ", xi, in P. L., CLI, 984) . There was considerable variety as to these prayers throughout the Middle Ages until the revised Missal pf Pius V (1570). The incensing of persons and things is again due to Galilean influence; It was not adopted at Rome till the eleventh or twelfth century (Micrologus^ ix). Before that time incense was burned only dunng processions (the entrance and Gospel procession; see C. Atchley, "Ordo Rom. Pri- mus", 17-18). The three prayers said by the cele- brant before his communion are private devotions introducfd gradually into the official text. Durandus (thirteenth century, "Rationale," IV, liii) mentions the first (for peace); the Sarum Rite had instead an- other prayer addressed to God the Father (" Deus Pater fons et origo totius bonitatis, " ed. Burntisland, 625). Micrologus mentions only the second (D. I. Chr. qui ex voluntate Patris), but says that many other private prayers were said at this place (xviii) . Here too there was great diversity through the Middle Ages till Pius V 's Missal. The latest additions to the Mass are its pres- ent be^nning and end. The psalm " ludica me ", the Confession, and the other prayers said at the foot of the altar, are all part of the celebrant's preparation, once said (with many other psalms ancl prayers) in the sacristy, as the Prseparatio ad Missam " m the Missal now is. There was great diversity as to this prepara- tion till Pius V established our modern rule of saying 80 much only before the altar. In the same way all that follows the " Ite missa est " is an afterthought.

g&rt of the thanksgiving, not formally admitted till iusV.

We have thus accounted for all the elements of the Mass. The next stage of its development is the growth of numerous local varieties of the Roman Mass m the Middle Ages. These medieval rites (Paris, Rouen, Trier, Sarum, and so on all over Western Europe) are simply exuberant local modifications of the old Roman rite. The same applies to the partic- ular uses of various religious orders (Carthusians, Do-


minicans, Carmelites etc.) . None of these deserves to be called even a derived rite; their changes are only ornate additions and amplifications; though certain special points, such as the Dominican preparation of tne offerings oefore the Mass begins, represent more Galilean influence. The Milanese and Mozarabic lit- urgies stand on quite a different footing; they are the descendants of a really different rite — the original Gal- ilean — ^though they too have been considerably Ro- manized (see Liturgy).

Meanwhile the Mass was developing in other ways also. During the first centuries it had been a common custom for a number of priests to concdebrate; standing around their bishop, they joined in his prayers and consecrated the oblation with him. This is still common in the Eastern rites. In the West it had become rare by the thirteenth century. St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) discusses the question, "Whether several priests can consecrate one and the same host " (Sunmia Theol., Ill, O. Ixxxii, a. 2). He answers of course that they can, out quotes as an example only the case of ordination. In this case only nas the practice been preserved. At the ordination of priests and bishops all the ordained concelebrate with the ordainer. In other cases concelebration was in the early Middle Ages replaced by separate private cele- brations. No doubt the custom of offering each Mass for a special intention helped to bring about this change. The separate celebrations then involved the building of many altars in one church and the reduc^ tion of the ritual to the simplest possible form. The deacon and subdeacon were m this case dispensed with; the celebrant took their part as well as his own. One server took the part of the choir and of all the other ministers, everything was said instead of being sung, the incense and kiss of peace were omitted. So we have the well-known rite of low Mass {missa privata). This then reacted on high Mass (missa solemnis), so that at high Mass too the celebrant himself recites everything, even though it be also sung by the deacon, subdeacon, or choir.

The custom of the intention of the Mass further led to Mass being said every day by each priest. But this has by no means been uniformly carried out. On the one hand, we hear of an abuse of the same priest saying Mass several times in the day, which medieval councils constantly forbid. Again, many most pious priests did not celebrate daily. Bossuet (d. 1704), for instance, said Mass only on Sundays, Feasts, every day in Lent, and at other times when a special ferial Mass is provided in the Missal. There is still no obli- ^tion for a priest to celebrate daily, though the custom IS now very common. The Council of Trent desir^ that priests should celebrate at least on Sundays and solemn feasts (Sess. XXIII, cap. xiv). Celebration with no assistants at all {missa solilaria) has continu- ally been forbidden, as by the Synod of Mainz in 813. Another abuse was the missa bifaciata or trifaciata^ in which the celebrant said the first part, from the Introit to the Preface, several times over and then joined to all one Canon, in order to satisfy several intentions. This too was forbidden by medieval councils (Durandus, "Rationale", IV, i, 22). The missa sicca (dry Mass) was a common form of devotion used for funerals or marriages in the afternoon, when a real Mass could not be said. It consisted of all the Mass except the Offer- tory, Consecration and Communion (Durandus, ibid., 23). The missa nautica and missa venatoria, said at sea in rough weather and for hunters in a hurry, were kinds of dry Masses. In some monasteries each priest was obliged to say a dry Mass after the real (conven- tual) Mass. Cardinal Bona (Rerum liturg. libr. duo, I, xv) argues against the practice of saying dry Masses. Since the reform of Pius V it has gradually disappeared. The Mass of the Presanctified {missa prassanctificato- rumj \ciTovpyla rQy mportyiaffftdytap) is a very old custom described by the Quinisext Council (Second Trullan