Introduction to the Roman Rite
Non-Written Sources
• Architectural Spaces (e.g., baptistery,
eucharistic hall, martyrium, oratory,
auditorium)
• Adornment of Architectural Spaces (e.g.,
sculpture, fresco, mosaic, stained glass)
• Objects Employed in Worship (e.g., font,
altar, shrine, ambo, vesture)
• Reconstruction or Enactment of Historical
Worship (e.g., CDs, DVDs, videotapes)
Written Sources
• Texts employed in / for the liturgy
– Presidential Texts (libelli, sacramentary, ritual,
pontifical, etc.)
– Proclamation Texts ([marked] Bible, citation lists,
lectionaries, etc.)
– Musical Texts (graduale, kyriale, antiphonale,
hymnbook, tonary, etc.)
– Rubrical Texts (ordines, ceremonial, customary, etc.)
• Texts describing liturgical events (e.g., laws,
commentaries, diaries)
Criticism of Liturgical Texts
• Codicology
–
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–
–
–
MS “shelf mark”
Codex/scroll [e.g. R c1p p2c TP p3c | c4p p5c c6p p7c R]
Gatherings [e.g. IV R r1v r2v TP r3v | r4v r5v r6v r7v R]
Cover
Line pattern [e.g. page (4/5); vertical line patterns: from L edge
to first line = 4/9 of a unit  writing  from end of writing to
R edge = 1 unit; horizontal line patterns: from top to first line
of writing = 2/3 of a unit  writing  from last line of writing
to bottom = 1 unit]
– Ink
Köln, Dombibliothek, Codex 88.
[http://www.ceec.uni-koeln.de/]
Shelf Mark: "Codex 88 nunc / Codex 106 olim…”
Title: Sacramentary
Date: 3rd – 4th quarter of the 10th C. [Deshusses, end of 9th
or beginning of 10th C]
Place of Origin: Fulda, Trier
Language: Latin
Writing Surface: Vellum
Gatherings: [3], i10, ii6, iii8, iv8+2 (singles added at front
and after 3rd [25 and 29; 29 added 12/13c]), v-xxi8,
xxii6+3 (one singles after 4th and two singles at end;
central bifolium 173/174 and singles 178-179 may have
been added to codex for additional texts), [1]. Quire
signatures I, II, II (on iii, corr. ex III), III (on iv, corr. ex
IIII), V(vi).
• Line Pattern: Written space: 185 x 125 mm. 1721 lines. ¶ Long lines. Dry-point ruling prickings
visible on a few folia. text above top line
• Numbering: Numbered 1-179 by modern hand.
• Contents:
– Fol.1r - 2r Preaching on the eucharistic consecration
(12th C)
– Fol.2v Officium Sanctae Petronillae et Scholasticae
(11th C)
– Fol.3r - 8v Kalendarium (11th C) with particular
observances of Cologne from the 12th C
– Fol.9r - 10v Litanies
– Fol.11r - 15v Prayers
– Fol.15v - 24v Mass formularies
– Fol.25r - 104v Sacramentarium [Gregorianum]
Hadrianum
– Fol.105r - 156r Sacramentarium Hadrianum revised by
Benedict of Aniane with a supplement (the so-called
"Hucusque" of Alcuin). here attributed to Abbot
Grimoldus. The short preface "Haec studiose“.
Prefaces and Episcopal Blessings.
– Fol.156v - 177r Appendix with Alcuin’s Votive Masses
"Die dominica missa de sancta trinitate. Omnipotens
sempiterne deus qui dedisti... ")
– Fol.177v - 179v Prayers and Blessings (12th C)
• Incipit: Sermo s(an)c(t)i [i.f. Rasur, dann] utru(m)
sub figura...
• Explicit: ...Pat(er) nost(er). Oremus. Or(atio).
• Paleography
– Identification of type of writing [cf. B. Bischoff,
Paläographie des römischen Altertums unde des
abendländischen Mittelalters (Berlin, 1986)]
– Abbreviations and ligatures [cf. A. Cappell, Dizionario
di abbreviature latine ed italiane (Milan, 19616)]
– Number assigned to each textual unit
– Words separated; abbreviations and ligatures written
out
– Each letter is transcribed as recognized in the MS
– Identification of “hands”, corrections, glosses
– Capitalization and punctuation
– Folios indicated
– Hypothetical reconstructions
– Palimpsests
– Musical Notation
– Illumination
• Carolingian script
• Main hand in style of Fulda, others of Trier. One main
hand ff. 3r-15r, 26v-171v (except 29r-v), 175r-177r plus
10 additional hands
• 6- to 13-line decorated initials ff.25v - 26r, 30r, and63v
(interlace, gold and silver on purple field, framed by
columns, first lines also on field, hierarchy of square
capitals, uncials and rustic capitals);
• Some smaller gold and interlace initials ff.30v - 38r;
• Incidental initials red or gold;
• Tituli in red uncials for text of main hand, in rustic
capitals, uncials or minuscules for other hands;
• 15 lines in rustic capitals plus 5 in uncials f.25r, alternate
lines red and black.
• [f.25r] IN CHRISTI NOMINE. INCIPIT LIBER SA• CRAMENTORUM DE CIRCULO ANNI A SANCTO
GREGO• RIO PAPA ROMANO EDITUS. QUALITER MISSA
RO• MANA CELEBRATUR. HOC EST INPRIMIS
INTROITUM
• QUALIS FUERIT STATUTIS TEMPORIBUS SIVE
DIEBUS
• FESTIS SEU COTIDIANIS. DEINDE KYRIE. ITEM
DI• CITUR GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO. SI EPISCOPUS
AFFUERIT
• DIE DOMINICO, SIVE DIEBUS FESTIS.
QUAN• DO VERO LAETANIA AGITUR NEQUE
GLORIA IN EX• CELSIS DEO NEQUE ALLELUIA CANTATUR.
POSTMODUM SEQUITUR
• ORATIO. DEINDE LEGITUR APOSTOLUS.
ITEM GRADALEM SEU ALLELUIA.
• POSTMODUM LEGITUR EVANGELIUM.
DEINDE OF• FERTORIUM. ET DICITUR ORATIO SUPER
OBLATAM.
• QUA COMPLETA DICIT SACERDOS
EXCELSA
• VOCE
• PER OMNIA SECULA SECULORUM.
RESPONSUM. AMEN.
• DOMINUS VOBISCUM. RESPONSUM. ET
CUM SPIRITU TUO.
• SURSUM CORDA. RESPONSUM. HABEMUS
AD DOMINUM.
• GRATIAS AGAMUS DOMINO DEO NOSTRO.
• RESPONSUM. DIGNUM ET IUSTUM EST.
• [f. 25v] PRAEFATIO.
• Vere dignum et iustum est, aequum et
salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratias
agere, domine sancte pater omnipotens
aeterne deus, per christum dominum
nostrum. Per quem maistatem tuam landant
angeli, adorant dominationes, tremunt
potestates, caeli caelorumque virtutes ac
beata seraphin socia exultatione
concelebrant.
• [f. 26r] Cum quibus et nostras voces, ut
admitti iubeas deprecamur, supplici
confessione dicentes:
• Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus….
• [Gloss: Sacerdos osculet altare postea
crucifixum dicens Te igitur etc.]
• TE IGITUR CLEMENTISSIME PATER
PER IESUM christum filium tuum
dominum nostrum
• Textual Alterations
– Involuntary = errors
• Due to sight (haplography, dittography)
• Due to dictation and hearing
– Homophony, e.g., preces/praeces,
– Alternation of sound, e.g., creatur/creator
– Environmental phonetic conditioning, e.g., salba/salva
• Due to ignorance (grammatical, syntactical, theological errors)
• Due to psychological factors
– Inversions: Iesus Christus/Christus Iesus
– Metatheses: praecipio/percipio
– Harmonizations)
– Voluntary = variants
• Literary (stylistic amplification or simplification)
• Hermeneutical (expansions, replacement of terms, alteration of meaning)
• Theological
• MS Genealogy
– For liturgical MSS:
• not reconstructing the lineage that leads to an archetype,
• reconstructing a segment of lineage that places the MS in a
family leading to a model
– After collecting similar MSS, one examines the textual
alterations (errors and variants) in each
• Conjunctive errors-variants shared among MSS make them
related
• Disjunctive errors-variants separate groups of MSS
– Lineage determined by conjunctive/disjunctive errors
and variants + dating of MSS through scripts and inks
– Lineage may be linear, divaricate, or branched
• Capital letters of the Latin alphabet indicate existing MSS
• Small letters of the Greek alphabet indicate hypothetical MSS
• Textual Criticism = Recomposition of a liturgical
text, with errors corrected, according to the final
redaction of the text itself
– Rule 1: leave the order of the texts as it is, unless there
are proofs to the contrary from codicology
– Rule 2: each text is respected for what it is and any
comparison with texts of more archaic MSS serves for
the correction of errors and not for the modification of
variants
– External Rules:
• Rule 3: The best-documented reading is the most original,
taking into account the identity and the connection among the
MSS
• Rule 4: The influence of parallel texts (euchological, biblical,
patristic) of the connected readings and of the theological
mentality must be taken into account
• Rule 5: Consideration must be given to the cursus
and the concinnitas (grammar, syntax, phraseology,
sentence division)
– Internal Rules:
• Rule 6: The more difficult rule has the greater
probability of being the original
• Rule 7: The shorter reading has the greater
probability of being the original
• Rule 8: The preferred reading ought to be in
harmony with the context
• Rule 9: The other variants should be explained by
the preferred reading
Reconstructing Roman Rite
Papal Eucharist on Easter Sunday
c. 700 CE
Written Sources
• Sacramentaries
– Verona collection of libelli missarum (Leonine / Verona
sacramentary) (Verona, Bibl. Capt. 85) c. 545-555 CE
– Old Gelasian Sacramentary (BAV, vat. Reg. 316 +
Paris, BN, lat. 7193) c. 8th C at Chelles
– Gregorian Sacramentary [Hadrianum] c. 784-791
• Lectionaries
– Capitularia lectionum (epistolary)
– Capitularia evangeliorum (evangeliary)
– Capitularia (Comes of Wurzburg)
• Chant collections
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–
–
–
–
–
Cantatorium of Monza (8th C)
Antiphonary of Rheinau (8th – 9th C)
Antiphonary of Mont-Blandin (8th – 9th C)
Antiphonary of Compiègne (9th C)
Antiphonary of Corbie (9th – 10th C)
Antiphonary of Senlis (9th C)
• Rubrical instructions
– Ordo Romanus Primus
Text: The Roman Canon
(GeV 1224)
•
•
•
•
•
Priest: The Lord [be] with you [pl].
People: And with your spirit.
Priest: Up with your hearts.
People: We have them to the Lord.
Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord our
God
• People: It is fitting and right.
• Priest: It is truly fitting and right, our duty and
our salvation, that we should always and
everywhere give you thanks, Lord, holy Father,
almighty eternal God, through Christ our Lord.
• [Variable body]
• Through whom angels praise your majesty,
dominions adore, powers fear, the heavens and
the heavenly hosts and the blessed seraphim,
joining together in exultant celebration. We pray
you, bid our voices also to be admitted with
theirs, beseeching you, confessing, and saying:
• People: Holy….
Te igitur
• We therefore pay and beseech you, most merciful
Father, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
to accept and bless these gifts, these offerings,
these holy and unblemished sacrifices; above all,
those which we offer to you for your holy
catholic Church; vouchsafe to grant it peace,
protection, unity, and guidance throughout the
world, together with your servant N. our pope,
and N. our bishop, and all orthodox upholders of
the catholic and apostolic faith.
Memento Domine
• Remember, Lord, your servants, men and
women, and all who stand around, whose
faith and devotion are known to you, for
whom we offer to you, or who offer to you
this sacrifice of praise for themselves and
for all their own, for the redemption of their
souls, for the hope of their salvation and
safety, and pay their vows to you, the living,
true, and eternal God.
Communicantes
• In fellowship with [festival embolism] and venerating
above all the memory of the glorious ever-Virgin Mary,
mother of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, and also of your
blessed apostles and martyrs Peter, Paul, Andrew, James,
John, Thomas, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and
Thaddaeus, Linus, Cletus, Clement, Xystus, Cornelius,
Cyprian, Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas
and Damian, and all your saints; by their merits and
prayers grant us to be defended in all things by the help of
your protection; through Christ our Lord.
Hanc igitur
• Therefore, Lord, we pray you graciously to
accept this offering made by us your
servants, and also by your whole family;
and to order our days in peace; and to
command that we are snatched from eternal
damnation and numbered among the flock
of your elect; through Christ our Lord.
Quam oblationem
• Vouchsafe, we beseech you, O God, to
make this offering wholly blessed,
approved, ratified, reasonable, and
acceptable; that is may become to us the
body and blood of your dearly beloved Son
Jesus Christ our Lord;
Qui pridie
• Who, on the day before he suffered, took bread in his
holy and reverend hands, lifted up his eyes to heaven to
you, O God, his almighty Father, gave thanks to you,
blessed, broke, and gave it to his disciples, saying: “Take
and eat from this, all of you; for this is my body.”
Likewise after supper, taking also this glorious cup in his
holy and reverend hands, again he gave thanks to you,
blessed and gave it to his disciples, saying: “Take and
drink from it, all of you; for this is the cup of my blood,
of the new and eternal covenant, the mystery of faith,
which will be shed for you and for the many for
forgiveness of sins. As often as you do this, you will do
it for my remembrance.”
Unde et memores
• Therefore also, Lord, we your servants, and also
your holy people, having in remembrance the
blessed Passion of your Son Christ our Lord,
likewise his resurrection from the dead, and also
his glorious ascension into heaven, do offer to
your excellent majesty from your gifts and
bounty a pure victim, a holy victim, an unspotted
victim, the holy bread of eternal life and the cup
of everlasting salvation.
Supra quae
• Vouchsafe to look upon them with a
favorable and kindly countenance, and
accept them as you vouchsafed to accept the
gifts of your righteous servant Abel, and the
sacrifice of our patriarch Abraham, and that
which your high priest Melchizedek offered
to you, a holy sacrifice, an unblemished
victim.
Supplices te
• We humbly beseech you, almighty God, bid
these things be borne by the hands of your
angel to your altar on high, in the sight of
your divine majesty, that all of us who have
received the most holy body and blood of
your Son by partaking at this altar may be
filled with all heavenly blessing and grace;
through Christ our Lord.
Memento etiam
• Remember also, Lord, the names of those
who have gone before us with the sign of
faith, and sleep in the sleep of peace. We
beseech you to grant to them and to all who
rest in Christ a place of restoration, light,
and peace; through Christ our Lord.
Nobis quoque
• To us sinners your servants also, who trust in the
multitude of your mercies, vouchsafe to grant
some part and fellowship with your holy apostles
and martyrs, with John, Stephen, Matthias,
Barnabas, Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter,
Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia,
Anastasia, and all your saints into whose
company we ask that you will admit us, not
weighing our merit, but bounteously forgiving;
through Christ our Lord.
Per quem
• Through him, Lord, you ever create,
sanctify, quicken, bless, and bestow all
these good things upon us. Through him
and with him and in him all honor and glory
is yours, God the Father almighty, in the
unity of the Holy Spirit, through all the ages
of ages. Amen.
Other Presidential Texts for
Christmas
• ITEM DE UIGILIA DOMINI IN NOCTE
• THE SAME OF THE VIGIL OF THE LORD AT NIGHT
• Deus, qui hanc sacratissimam noctem ueri luminis fecisti
inlustratione clariscere, da, quaesumus, ut cuius lucis
mysterium in terra cognouimus, eius quoque gaudiis in
caelo perfruamur: per.
• God, who have made this most holy night radiant with
the illumination of the true lifht, grant, we ask, that the
mystery of whose light we acknowledge on earth, we
might indeed follow to his joys in heaven: through.
• Concede, quaesumus, omnipotens deus, ut
unigeniti tui noua per carnem nativitas
liberet, quos sub peccati iugo uetusta
seruitus tenet: per.
• Grant, we ask, almighty God, that the new
birth of your only-begotten through the flesh
might free those who ancient slavery holds
under the yoke of sin: through.
• SECRETA. Munera nostra, domine, quaesumus,
natiuitatis hodiernae mysteriis apta perueniant, ut
sicut homo genitus id est praefulsit et deus, sic
nobis haec terrena substantia conferat quod
diuinum est: per.
• SECRET. May our offerings, Lord, we pray,
become fit for the mysteries of today’s birth, so
that just as the one was born (that is shone forth)
as man and God, so this earthly substance might
confer what is divine upon us: through.
• Uere dignum et iustum est, aequum et
salutare: cuius diuinae natiuitatis potentiam
ingenitam uirtutis tuae genuit magnitudo.
Quem semper filium et ante tempora
aeterna generatum, quia tibi pleno atque
perfecto aeternae patris nomen non defuit,
praedicamus. Uerum etiam honore
maiestate atque uirtute aequalem tibi cum
sancto spiritu confitemur, dum trino
uocabulo unicam credimus maiestatem.
Quem laudant angeli.
• Truly it is right and just, proper and
salutary…: the unbegotten power of whose
divine birth the greatness of your power
begot. We proclaim him as always Son,
begotten before the eternal times, though
the name of eternal father was not lacking
in its fullness and perfection for you. We
also confess him to be true equal to you
with the Holy Spirit by honor of majesty and
power, while with triune language we
believe in a single majesty. Whom the
angels praise….
• POST COMMUNIONEM. Laeti, domine,
frequentamus salutis humanae principia, quia trina
celebratio beatae conpetit mysterium trinitatis: per
dominum nostrum.
• AFTER COMMUNION. Having rejoiced, Lord,
let us attend the beginnings of human salvation, so
that the thrice-blessed celebrated might seek out
the mystery of the trinity: through our Lord.
Music Texts for Christmas
• ANT. Dominus dixit ad me Filius meus es
tu ego hodie genui te. PSALM. Quare
fremuerunt gentes. [AD REPET.
Adstiterunt]
• ANTIPHON. The Lord said to me: You are
my Son; today I have begotten you.
PSALM. Why do the nations rage? [AT
THE REPETITION. They have stood.]
• RESP. GRAD. Tecum principium in die
virtutis tuae in splendoribus sanctorum ex
utero ante luciferum genui te. V. Dixit
Dominus Domino meo sede ad dextris meis
donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum
tuorum.
• GRADUAL RESPONSE. With you is
principality on the day of your power in the
splendors of the holy ones from the womb
before the morning star I begot you. V. The
Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right until I
place your enemies as a footstool for your feet.
• ALL. Dominus dixit ad me Filius meus es
tu ego hodie genui te.
• ALLELUIA. The Lord said to me: You are
my Son; today I have begotten you.
• OFF. Laetentur caeli et exultet terra ante faciem
Domini quoniam venit. V. I. Cantate Domino
canticum novum cantate Domino omnis terra.
Ante. V. II. Cantate Domino benedicite nomini
ejus bene nuntiate de die in diem salutare ejus.
• OFFERTORY. Let the heavens rejoice and the
earth exult before the face of the Lord because
he is coming. 1st VERSE. Sing to the Lord a
new son; sing to the Lord all the earth. Before.
2nd VERSE. Sing to the Lord; bless his name.
Announce well his salvation from day unto day.
• COM. In splendoribus sanctorum.
PSALM. Dixi Dominus Domino meo. AD
REPET. Tecum principium.
• COMMUNION. In the splendors of the
holy ones. PSALM. I have said: the Lord to
my Lord. AT THE REPETITION: With you
[is] pincipality.
Rubrics: Ordo Romanus Primus
• The offertory finished, the bishops are standing behind
the pope, the senior in the middle, then in order; and the
archdeacon on the right of the bishops, the second
deacon on the left, and the others in order arranged in a
line. And the district subdeacons go behind the altar
when the offertory is finished, and look at the pope, so
that, when he says For ever and ever or The Lord be with
you or Lift up your hearts or Let us give thanks, they may
be ready to answer, standing upright until they begin to
say the angelic hymn, that is Holy, holy, holy.
• And when they have finished, the pope alone rises
for the canon, but the bishops, priests, deacons,
and subdeacons remain bowed. And when he has
said To us sinners also, the subdeacons rise; when
he has said Through whom all these things, O
Lord, the archdeacon rises alone; when he has said
Through him and with him (the archdeacon) lifts
up the chalice by the handles with the offertoryveil and holds it, raising it towards the pope. The
pope touches the side of the chalice with the
offerings, saying Through him and with him up to
For all the ages of ages, and puts the offerings in
their place, and the archdeacon puts the chalice
near them.
• We have left something out about the paten:
when (the pope) begins the canon, an
acolyte comes to his side with a linen cloth
tied around his neck and holds the paten
before his breast on the right side until the
middle of the canon. Then the subdeacon in
attendance receives it outside his chasuble
and comes before the altar, and waits for a
district subdeacon to receive it….
Old St. Peter’s
319-326