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Gregorian Sacramentary

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In the Western Church of the Early and High Middle Ages , a sacramentary was a book used for liturgical services and the mass by a bishop or priest . Sacramentaries include only the words spoken or sung by him, unlike the missals of later centuries that include all the texts of the mass whether read by the bishop, priest, or others. Also, sacramentaries, unlike missals, include texts for services other than the mass such as ordinations, the consecration of a church or altar, exorcisms, and blessings, all of which were later included in Pontificals and Rituals instead.

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57-549: The Gregorian Sacramentary is a 10th-century illuminated Latin manuscript containing a sacramentary . Since the 16th century it has been in the Vatican Library , shelfmark Vat. Lat. 3806 . It is made up of 307 leaves written in Carolingian minuscule with uncials and incipits . It measures 34 cm by 27 cm. It was produced by an Italian copyist and illuminator, probably at Regensburg , since it includes

114-448: A bishop on the anniversary of his consecration could only be used by the pope of Rome: "Lord God ... who, although Thou dost not cease to enrich with many gifts Thy Church spread throughout the world, nevertheless dost look more favourably upon the see of Thy blessed Apostle Peter, as Thou hast desired that it should be most exalted, etc." The Preface for St John and St Paul remembers that they are buried within "the boundaries of this city";

171-430: A calendar with the usage of Fulda Abbey and mass formularies used in the diocese of Regensburg . Due to the archaic style of its first pages, it was once misattributed to saint Gregory , for example by Angelo Rocca in 1593. The canon tables are on a double page spread at the start (the recto of leaf 1 and the verso of leaf 2), decorated with arches with floral and geometric motifs reminiscent of peacocks (symbols of

228-707: A feature of other Western churches, such as in Anglicanism , where the Book of Common Prayer provides for the Ember days, in practice observed in different ways. The word ember originates from the Latin quatuor tempora (literally 'four times'). There are various views as to etymology. According to John Mason Neale in Essays of Liturgiology (1863), Chapter X: "The Latin name has remained in modern languages, though

285-649: A pontifical mass dedicated to pope Sylvester II (999-1003). Sacramentary In the late 20th century, the word sacramentary was used in the United States and some other English-speaking countries for the English translation of the Roman Missal , particularly those that, like earlier sacramentaries, omitted parts of the Mass not said by the priest. Other books used in the celebration of Mass included

342-399: A recent deliverance from enemies. This allusion he understands to refer to the raising of the siege of Rome by Vitiges and his Goths at Easter-time, 538. Another writer attributed the allusion to Alaric 's invasion in 402, and held that the compilation was made between 366 and 461. Another considered that the book was composed under Pope Felix III (483-492). Yet another suggests that the book

399-645: A return to having the readings in a separate book, known as the Lectionary . A separate Book of the Gospels , with texts extracted from the Lectionary, is recommended, but is not obligatory. The Roman Missal continues to include elaborate rubrics, as well as antiphons etc., which were not in sacramentaries. Of the textual groups of sacramentaries of the Roman Rite still extant, either complete or in part,

456-599: Is a Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday, the Ember Days fall on the following Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday (in the second week of September) whereas they fall a week later (in the third week of September) for the Roman Catholic Church. Some Lutheran church calendars continue the observation of Ember and Rogation days, though the practice has diminished over the past century. Quarter tense is normally determined by national Roman Catholic hierarchies and not by

513-561: Is a compilation of Roman Masses made in the sixth or seventh century for use in Gaul, so that the composers of Roman books who were at that time introducing the Roman Rite into Gaul might have a source from which to draw their material. He suggests Gregory of Tours (died 594) as possibly the compiler. The " Gelasian Sacramentary " contains everything needed by a priest in charge of a Roman titular or parish church. The archetype, now lost,

570-677: Is a meticulous re-working of material from the Old Gelasian Sacramentary and certain other sacramentaries of the Gregorian type usually called Type 2 Gregorian (known today only from a single extant manuscript, the Paduense Sacramentary , Padua, Bibl. Cap., cod. D.47). The Gellone Sacramentary is divided into two parts. The first part includes the Temporal and Sanctoral in one continuous series, following

627-517: Is a shorter mnemonic for when they fall. The ember days began on the Wednesday immediately following those days. This meant, for instance, that if September 14 were a Tuesday, the ember days would occur on September 15, 17, and 18. As a result, the ember days in September could fall after either the second or third Sunday in September. This was always the liturgical Third Week of September, since

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684-512: Is known from the writings of Philastrius, bishop of Brescia (died ca 387) ( De haeres. 119). He also connects them with the great Christian festivals. As the Ember Days came to be associated with great feast days, they later lost their connection to agriculture and came to be regarded solely as days of penitence and prayer. It is only the Michaelmas Embertide, which falls around the autumn harvest, that retains any connection to

741-608: Is less easy to say." Neil and Willoughby in The Tutorial Prayer Book (1913) prefer the view that it derives from the Anglo-Saxon ymbren , a circuit or revolution (from ymb , around, and ryne , a course, running), clearly relating to the annual cycle of the year. The word occurs in such Anglo-Saxon compounds as ymbren-tid ("Embertide"), ymbren-wucan ("Ember weeks"), ymbren-fisstan ("Ember fasts"), ymbren-dagas ("Ember days"). The word imbren occurs in

798-611: Is sometimes called the Sacrementary of King Pepin . The family of manuscripts copied from it are generally called Frankish Gelasian or Eighth-Century Gelasian sacramentaries. The most faithful copy is considered to be the Sacramentary of Gellone , Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Latin 12048, copied around 780. About a dozen other manuscripts of the Frankish Gelasian type are extant. The Frankish Gelasian

855-698: Is unclear. By the time of at the penultimate Code of Canon Law (1917) , major orders could also be conferred on the Saturday preceding Passion Sunday , and on the Easter Vigil ; for grave reasons, on Sundays and holy days of obligation ; and, for minor orders , even without grave reason, on all Sundays and double feasts, which included most saints' feasts and thus the great majority of the calendar. Present Roman Catholic canon law (1983) prefers them to be conferred on Sundays and holy days of obligation, but allows them for pastoral reason on any day. In practice

912-757: The Graduale (texts mainly from the Psalms , with musical notes added), the Evangeliarium or Gospel Book , and the Epistolary with texts from other parts of the New Testament , mainly the Epistles (letters) of Saint Paul . In late mediaeval times, these books began to be combined, for the use of priests saying Mass without the assistance of a choir and other ministers. This led to the appearance of

969-603: The Irish calendar for the observation of Quarter Tense were: The rule that ordination of clergy should take place in the Ember weeks was set in documents traditionally associated with Pope Gelasius I (492–496), the pontificate of Archbishop Ecgbert of York, A.D. 732–766, and referred to as a canonical rule in a capitulary of Charlemagne. It was finally established as a law of the church in the pontificate of Pope Gregory VII , ca 1085. However, why Ember Saturdays are traditionally associated with ordinations (other than episcopal ones)

1026-549: The Missale plenum ("full or complete Missal ") containing all the texts of the Mass (without the music of the choir parts). Pope Pius V published in 1570 an official version of such a Missal, known as the Roman Missal . At the behest of the Second Vatican Council , Pope Paul VI greatly increased the amount of Sacred Scripture read at Mass and, to a lesser extent, the prayer formulas. This necessitated

1083-539: The Roman Catholic Church mandated fasting and abstinence on all Ember Days, and the faithful were encouraged (though not required) to receive the sacrament of penance whenever possible. On February 17, 1966, Pope Paul VI 's decree Paenitemini excluded the Ember Days as days of fast and abstinence for Roman Catholics. The revision of the liturgical calendar in 1969 laid down the following rules for Ember Days and Rogation days : "In order that

1140-594: The Roman rite in the eleventh century. Charles Borromeo introduced them into Milan in the sixteenth century. In the Eastern Orthodox Church , ember days have never been observed. The Ember Weeks , the weeks in which the Ember Days occur, are these weeks: The Ordo Romanus fixed the spring fast in the first week of March (then the first month), thus loosely associated with the first Sunday in Lent;

1197-568: The Canon of the Mass, what would today be called votive masses (e.g., for travellers, in time of trouble, for kings, and so on), masses for the dead, some blessings (of holy water, fruits, trees and so on), and various prayers for special occasions. The Gelasian Sacramentary was revised in the 8th century at the prompting of Pepin the Short , work that was likely undertaken at Flavigny Abbey and completed between 760 and 770. The sacramentary, now lost,

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1254-576: The First Sunday of September was the Sunday closest to September 1 (August 29 to September 4). As a simplification of the liturgical calendar, Pope John XXIII modified this so that the Third Sunday was the third Sunday actually within the calendar month. Thus if September 14 were a Sunday, September 24, 26 and 27 would be ember days, the latest dates possible. With September 14 as a Saturday,

1311-697: The Masses for Various Needs, and should be one which is more particularly appropriate to the purpose of the supplications." They may appear in some calendars as "days of prayer for peace". They were made optional by churches of the Anglican Communion in 1976. In the Episcopal Church , the September Ember Days are still (optionally) observed on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after Holy Cross Day, so that if September 14

1368-613: The Masses of the Patrons of Rome, St Peter and St Paul, continually allude to the city. Louis Duchesne concluded that the Leonine book is a private collection of prayers copied without much intelligence from the official books at Rome about the year 538. He arrives at this date especially through an allusion in the Secret of a Mass placed in June (but really an Easter Mass), which refers to

1425-611: The Rogation Days and Ember Days may be adapted to the different regions and different needs of the faithful, the Conferences of Bishops should arrange the time and manner in which they are held. Consequently, concerning their duration, whether they are to last one or more days, or be repeated in the course of the year, norms are to be established by the competent authority, taking into consideration local needs. The Mass for each day of these celebrations should be chosen from among

1482-486: The Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of the weeks following St Lucy's Day (13 December), the first Sunday in Lent , Pentecost (Whitsun), and Holy Cross Day (14 September), though some areas follow a different pattern. Ordination ceremonies are often held on Ember Saturdays or the following Sunday. The observance of fasting and abstinence in the Catholic Church eliminated the Ember days in 1966. They remain

1539-424: The acts of the "Council of Ænham" (1009): jejunia quatuor tempora quae imbren vocant , "the fasts of the four seasons which are called "imbren'". The term Ember days refers to three days set apart for fasting, abstinence, and prayer during each of the four seasons of the year. The purpose of their introduction was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist

1596-497: The addition of his own feast as well as other feasts that had not been celebrated before the seventh century. The book sent by Pope Adrian to Charlemagne has gone through inevitable development over the centuries since Gregory finished it. It represents the Roman Rite of the time when it was sent - the eighth century. In the Frankish kingdom, copies were made for churches and additions of other Masses and prayers were added according to

1653-399: The anniversary of a bishop's consecration, and so on. Evidently the writer has compiled as many alternative Masses for each occasion as he could find. In many cases he shows carelessness. Many of his Masses in natali episcoporum have nothing at all to do with that anniversary, and are really Masses for Sundays after Pentecost ; in the middle of a Mass of St Cornelius and St Cyprian he has put

1710-420: The book still bears the name Leonine. It represents a pure Roman use with no Gallican elements. But it is not a book compiled for use at the altar. The confusion of its parts shows this. It is a fragment, containing no Canon nor Ordinary of the Mass, but a collection of Propers (Collects, Secrets, Prefaces, Postcommunions, and Orationes super populum), of various Masses with ordination forms, arranged according to

1767-482: The book to Charlemagne, said that it was composed "by our holy predecessor, the divinely speaking Pope Gregory". The fact that the essential foundation of this sacramentary goes back to St Gregory, indeed to long before his time, is certain. We do not doubt that he made such changes as those that are acclaimed to him by his biographer, and that these changes stand in this book. But his work has not remained untouched, additions have been made to it since his time. For example,

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1824-442: The civil year. It begins in the middle of the sixth Mass for April, and ends with a blessing for the font "In ieiunio mensis decimi" (i. e. the winter Ember days ). In each month groups of Masses are given, often very large groups, for each feast and occasion. Thus, for instance, in June we find twenty-eight Masses for St Peter and St Paul, one after another, each headed: "Item alia"; there are fourteen for St Lawrence, twenty-three for

1881-651: The contrary is sometimes affirmed, Quatuor Tempora , the Four Times. In French and Italian the term is the same; in Spanish and Portuguese they are simply Temporas . The German converts them into Quatember , and thence, by the easy corruption of dropping the first syllable, a corruption which also takes place in some other words, we get the English Ember. Thus, there is no occasion to seek after an etymology in embers; or with Nelson, to extravagate still further to

1938-481: The ember days would occur on September 18, 20 and 21, the earliest possible dates. Other regulations prevailed in different countries, until the inconveniences arising from the want of uniformity led to the rule now observed being laid down under Pope Urban II as the law of the church, at the Council of Piacenza and the Council of Clermont , 1095. Prior to the reforms instituted after the Second Vatican Council ,

1995-634: The eschatological significance of all liturgical vigils in the city of Rome." At first, the Church in Rome had fasts in June, September, and December. The Liber Pontificalis ascribes to Pope Callixtus I (217–222) a law regulating the fast, although Leo the Great (440–461) considers it an Apostolic institution. When the fourth season was added cannot be ascertained, but Pope Gelasius I (492–496) speaks of all four. The earliest mention of four seasonal fasts

2052-542: The fasts preparatory to the three great festivals of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, a fourth needed to be added "for the sake of symmetry" as the Encyclopædia Britannica 1911 has it. From Rome the Ember days gradually spread unevenly through the whole of Western Christendom. In Gaul they do not seem to have been generally recognized much before the 8th century. Their observance in Britain, however,

2109-586: The first part, down to this note, as being the book sent by Hadrian. However, its attribution to Pope Gregory I (590-604) shows us that Gregory did much to reform the liturgy. A constant tradition ascribes such a work to him, as to Gelasius. John the Deacon (eighth century) in his Life of Gregory expresses this tradition: "He collected the Sacramentary of Gelasius in one book, leaving out much, changing little, adding something." Pope Adrian himself, in sending

2166-399: The foundation of the Roman Missal . A non-comprehensive list of significant sacramentaries from the 7th to the 13th centuries. In addition: The benedictional is a related type of book containing a collection of benedictions or blessings in use in the Roman Catholic Church , essentially collected from those in sacramentaries. The Anglo-Saxon Benedictional of St. Æthelwold is

2223-478: The most famous of the relatively infrequent illuminated manuscript examples, which are mostly Early Medieval. Ember days Ember days ( quarter tense in Ireland) are quarterly periods of prayer and fasting in the liturgical calendar of Western Christian churches. The term is from Old English : ymbren , possibly derived from Latin : quatuor tempora . These fasts traditionally take place on

2280-417: The most important are the three known by the names Leonine, Gelasian, and Gregorian. The "Leonine Sacramentary" is the oldest. Only one manuscript of it is known, written in the seventh century. This manuscript was found in the library of the cathedral chapter of Verona, was published by Joseph Bianchini in 1735, and was by him attributed arbitrarily to Pope Leo I (440-61). On the strength of this attribution

2337-484: The needy. Possibly originating in the agricultural feasts of ancient Rome, they came to be observed by Christians for the sanctification of the different seasons of the year. James G. Sabak argues that the Embertide vigils were "...not based on imitating agrarian models of pre-Christian Roman practices, but rather on an eschatological rendering of the year punctuated by the solstices and equinoxes, and thus underscores

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2394-595: The noun ymbren , a recurrence, as if all holy seasons did not equally recur. Ember-week in Wales is Welsh : "Wythnos y cydgorian" , meaning "the Week of the Processions". In mediæval Germany they were called Weihfasten , Wiegfastan , Wiegefasten , or the like, on the general principle of their sanctity.... We meet with the term Frohnfasten , frohne being the then word for travail. Why they were named foldfasten it

2451-696: The octave of Pentecost (there were at the time no special masses for the season after Pentecost), together with ordinations, prayers for all the rites of the catechumenate, blessing of the font and oil at the Easter Vigil, dedication of churches, and reception of nuns. Book II includes the Proper of Saints throughout the year, the Common of Saints , and the Advent Masses. Book III includes a great number of masses marked simply "For Sunday" (i.e., any Sunday),

2508-549: The original purpose. The Christian observance of the seasonal Ember days had its origin as an ecclesiastical ordinance in Rome and spread from there to the rest of the Western Church. They were known as the jejunium vernum, aestivum, autumnale and hiernale , so that to quote Pope Leo's words (A.D. 440–461) the law of abstinence might apply to every season of the year. In Leo's time, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday were already days of special observance. In order to tie them to

2565-471: The preface of a Mass of St Euphemia, a Mass for the new civil year is inserted among those for martyrs; Masses for St Stephen's day (26 December) with evident allusions to Christmas are put in August, obviously through a confusion with the feast of the finding of his relics (3 August). That the collection is Roman is obvious. It is full of local allusions to Rome. For instance, one of the collects to be said by

2622-488: The resurrection of Christ) and half-palms. The first page is typical of Ottonian or Carolingian art. The incipit to In nomine Domini (folio 11, verso) is ornamented with a gold and silver volute initial on a green and blue background. The following leaves beginning with Per omnia saecula and the monograms for Vere dignum and Te igitur are in gold uncial text on a purple background, surrounded by gold and silver geometric borders. The book concludes (leaf 307, recto) with

2679-646: The sacramentary, a book now often called the Old Gelasian Sacramentary , Vatican Reg. lat. 316, was made in the 7th or early 8th century for use in the abbey of St Denis at Paris. It includes five interpolated sections that introduce liturgical practices of Gaul from the time the manuscript was copied, but the interpolations are easily distinguished from the Roman sections of the text. The Old Gelasian Sacramentary consists of three books. Book I includes masses for feasts and Sundays from Christmas Eve to

2736-517: The sacraments and prayers, but Gelasius did not compile the later sacramentary that bears his name. Alongside the sacramentaries of the Gelasian type, all of them hybrids of Roman and Frankish practices, several older Gallican sacramentaries survive from the Merovingian period, all based on a mix of Gallican and some Irish traditions with little emphasis on Roman practices. We know most about

2793-399: The specific church's requests. These additions were taken partly from the Gelasian book, partly from Gallican sources. Though at first the additions were carefully distinguished from the original book, they were eventually incorporated in it. Between the ninth and eleventh centuries the book, including the additions, returned to Rome, took the place of the original pure Roman Rite, and so became

2850-664: The summer fast in the second week of June, after Whitsunday ; the autumnal fast in the third week of September following the Exaltation of the Cross , September 14; and the winter fast in the complete week next before Christmas Eve, following St. Lucy's Day (Dec. 13). These dates are given in the following Latin mnemonic : Dat crux Lucia cineres charismata dia quod sit in angaria quarta sequens feria. Or in an old English rhyme: Fasting days and Emberings be Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood, and Lucie. "Lenty, Penty, Crucy, Lucy"

2907-601: The third of these books, the so-called "Gregorian Sacramentary", which is in three parts: Charlemagne, anxious to introduce the Roman Rite into his kingdom, wrote to Pope Hadrian I between the years 781 and 791 asking him to send him the service-book of the Roman Church. The book sent by the pope is the nucleus of the Gregorian Sacramentary. It was then copied a great number of times, so that there are many versions of it, all containing additions made by

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2964-605: The universal calendar of the church. The Saturdays of Quarter Tense were considered especially appropriate for priestly ordination. The days of Quarter Tense were, until the Second Vatican Council , times of obligatory fasting and abstinence . However, in Ireland, the obligation of abstinence (the complete avoidance of meat) on the Saturdays of Quarter Tense outside Lent was removed by the Vatican in 1912. The old dates in

3021-400: The use of Saturdays, though not necessarily Ember Saturdays, still prevails. Subsequently, Pentecost Vigil and the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul (and Saturdays around it) have come much in use as ordination days. According to folklore, the weather conditions of each of the three days of an Embertide foretell the weather conditions for the following three months. In the folk meteorology of

3078-550: The usual Gregorian structure, with the canon of the mass given at Easter. The second part includes the episcopal blessings and other episcopal material, prayers for monastic use, the ordo of baptism, and a summary of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum . The attribution to Pope Gelasius (r. 492–496) likely derives from the Liber Pontificalis , which states that Gelasius wrote various prefaces to

3135-405: The various scribes. The original book sent by Hadrian to Charlemagne is easily distinguished from the different editions because the first to supplement Hadrian's book from other sources was a conscientious person who carefully noted where his additions begin, adding a note: "So far the preceding book of Sacraments is certainly that edited by the holy Pope Gregory." In the earlier versions we may take

3192-537: Was embraced earlier than in Gaul or Spain, and Christian sources connect the Ember Days observance with Augustine of Canterbury , AD. 597, said to be acting under the direct authority of Pope Gregory the Great. The precise dates appears to have varied considerably however, and in some cases, quite significantly, the Ember Weeks lost their connection with the Christian festivals altogether. Spain adopted them with

3249-450: Was likely written in the mid-7th century, possibly for the Church of St Peter in Chains in Rome. It features modifications introduced by Gregory the Great (590–604) in the canon of the Mass (notably the insertion of the prayer Hanc igitur ), but does not yet contain either the Agnus Dei made official by Pope Sergius I (r. 687–701) or the Masses for the Thursdays in Lent added by Pope Gregory II (r. 715–731). The oldest extant copy of

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