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Cabrol F. Chapter VI-4. The Mass of the Faithful. 2. The Sacrifice.

THE MASS OF THE WESTERN RITES

By the Right Reverend Dom Fernand Cabrol

CHAPTER VI 

THE MASS IN SPAIN 

THE MASS OF THE FAITHFUL

2. THE SACRIFICE.--The prayer of the anaphora, or Eucharistic prayer  properly so called, begins after all this preparation.

"Illatio."--This rite in the Mozarabic liturgy bears the name of "Inlatio,"  or "Illatio;" and St. Isidore defines it in these terms: "Quinta infertur  illatio in sanctificatione oblationis in quam etiam Dei laudem, terrestrium  creatura, virtutum coelestium universitatis provocatur, et Osanna in  Ecclesiis cantatur." It is preceded by a dialogue which differs from that  in the Roman Mass. The Priest, bending forward with his hands joined, says:  "Introibo ad altare Dei;" the choir: "Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem  meam." The Priest, laying his hands on the chalice, says: "Aures ad  Dominum," the choir answering: "Habemus ad Dominum." The Priest then says:  "Sursum corda;" the choir: "Levemus ad Dominum." The Priest bending forward  with joined hands: "Deo ac Domino nostro Jesu Christo filio Dei qui est in  coelis dignas laudes dignasque gratias referamus." Here he raises his hands  towards Heaven (P.L., loc. cit., col. 115). The Mozarabic Illatio," like  the Roman Preface or the Gallican "Contestatio," always ends with the  "Sanctus," and in Spain, as in Gaul, but unlike Rome, the "Sanctus" is  followed by a prayer always called "Post Sanctus." For St. Isidore the  "Illatio" or fifth prayer, comprehends the "Sanctus," the "Post Sanctus,"  and also the Consecration. The sixth prayer is that of the "Post pridie,"  or "Confirmatio Sacramenti." This division seems just, for it marks clearly  the close union of all these parts, from the "Illatio" to the end of the  Consecration. Again it is better suited to the title "Immolatio" which is  that of the Gallican Prefaces, the word being a good synonym for  "Consecratio."

As to the word "Illatio," it is characteristic of the Mozarabic books. Some  have attempted to prove that it is a copyist's error for "Immolatio,"  which, as has been said, is the Gallican title of the Preface, which can be  explained naturally. But it is curious that if it be a copyist's error it  should be so universal, for the word is found in all the Mozarabic books.  The Preface is called "Illatio" everywhere; nor do I believe the word  "Immolatio" has ever been found there, except once in the "Liber Ordinum."  The question is curious, and perhaps deserves a separate study. "Illatio,"  or "Inlatio," like "Oblatio" (which is a synonym), is almost the exact  translation of the word "anaphero," to offer. In the post-classic tongue  the word "Inlatio" (from "inferre") means the action of carrying, like  "Invectio," and is specially applied to the dead (Ulpien); it also  signifies the paying of tribute. In philosophic language an "Illatio" is a  conclusion drawn from premisses, "ex duobus sumptis ratione sibimet nexis  conficitur illatio" (Capella). In Spain the word is used in the Councils in  the sense of gift, present, tribute (Third Council of Braga, can. 2; and  Seventh Council of Toledo).[3] Thus the term "Immolatio" of the Gallican  liturgies is something quite different, which may be a corruption, or, if  we like, a paleographic interpretation of the word "Illatio." This is the  opinion of Dom Cagin ("Les noms latins de la preface eucharistique," in  "Rassegna Gregoriana," 1906, PP. 322-358) and also that to which Lesley was  inclined (cf. P.L., Vol. LXXXV, col. 507). But so far this is only a  hypothesis founded on the similarity of the two words. It remains to be  explained why one is exclusively used in the Mozarabic MSS. and the other  almost exclusively in the Gallican.

On this point the latter are less exclusive than the former. In the  "Missale Gothicum" as well as in the "Missale Gallicanum Immolatio"  alternates with "Contestatio" and "Praefatio Missae;" it is not found at  all in the "Missale Francorum," and only once in the Missal of Bobbio, and  then, as it would seem, by accident (cf. "Paleographie musicale," Vol. V,  PP. 100, 101, and 168). The word is absent, as well as "Contestatio," in  the letters of the pseudoGermain, and it may well be that this is a fresh  argument in favor of the recent date of these pretended letters (cf.  "Germain, Lettres de Saint," in DACL). The glossaries and "Thesauri,"  Ducange, Forcellini, Freund, and the "Thesaurus linguae latinae" of Leipzig  give but very insufficient information on this subject, under the word  "Contestatio."

Of the dialogue which precedes the "Illatio" we shall say nothing. It  contains what we may call the essential elements which may be found in all  liturgies, "Sursum corda," "Gratias agamus," etc., and those which serve as  the opening of all Prefaces: "Vere dignum et justum est," etc. To the  sobriety of the dialogue of the Roman Preface the Spanish liturgy, as  always, adds ornaments and complications which only serve to overload the  text.

We are obliged to say the same thing of the "Illatio" itself. The Mozarabic  books offer the richest and most varied collection of "Illationes;" hardly  a Mass but has its own; some of them comprise many columns of text, and if  they were sung, these must have lasted at least half an hour. We will  attempt presently to discover their authors. But we may say at once that  they form a dogmatic collection which is priceless for the study of  theological history in Spain during the Middle Ages, and a collection  which, it must be confessed, has as yet been but little studied. It  contains pages which do honor to the learning, the depth, and the culture  of Spanish theologians from the fifth-ninth centuries. We have treated the  question of the orthodoxy of this liturgy elsewhere (see "Liturgia," p.  816). Here and there we do doubtless find a few singular opinions, but  taken as a whole what riches of doctrine, what fervor of faith and piety i  Here are real theological theses, and long panegyrics for the Feasts of  Saints, especially for the Saints of Spain, like St. Vincent or St.  Eulalia. We will mention only the "Illationes" on the Samaritan, on the man  born blind, on fasting, on the Trinity, on the Descent into hell, on the  Patriarchs, etc. (The first of these are in the "Liber Sacramentorum,"  edited by Dom Ferotin, pp. 167, 178, 184, 224, and 290; that on the  Patriarchs in P.L., Vol. LXXXV, cols. 271 and 287. See also the "Illatio"  on the Trinity, col. 281.)

Naturally the same faults which we have already pointed out in all the  other parts of this liturgy are found here; they are those of the Latin  literature of Spain, especially from the sixth-tenth centuries--prolixity,  verbiage, the abuse of verbal conceits and plays on words--in fact, all  those faults which have been decorated with the name of Gongorism.

"The Sanctus."--The "Illatio" always ends by a transition to the "Sanctus."  This "Sanctus" of the Mozarabic Mass is not invariable, as it is in the  Roman liturgy and most others. In their love of variety the Mozarabic  authors often introduced changes. This is the ordinary form:

"Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth: pleni sunt celi et terra  gloria majestatis tue: Osanna filio David: Osanna in excelsis. Benedictus  qui venit in nomine Domini: Osanna in excelsis" (P.L., loc. cit., col.  116).

The singing of the Sanctus is assigned to the choir in the Mozarabic books.  Formerly both in Spain and in Gaul the "Sanctus" was sung by the people.  Thus we have in a "Post Sanctus" the words: "Psallitur" (hymnus iste) "ab  angelis, et hic solemniter decantatur a populis" ("Post Sanctus" of the  fifth Sunday in Lent, P.L., col. 376). Gregory of Tours says in his turn:  "Ubi expeditur contestatione omnis populus sanctus in Dei laudem pro  clamavit" ("De mir. S. Martini," I, II, c. xiv.). The Eastern liturgies  formerly had the same custom, as we see by the "Apostolic Constitutions,"  and by the texts of St. John Chrysostom and of St. Gregory of Nyssa, quoted  by Lesley (col. 349). The texts quoted prove that it was sung in Spain half  in Latin, half in Greek. The same usage obtained in Gaul.

"Post Sanctus and Consecration."--The title "Post Sanctus," both in Spain  and in Gaul, always designates a prayer which is a paraphrase of the  "Sanctus," and which usually begins with the words "Vere sanctus." It is a  transition from the "Sanctus" to the Consecration; and is also found,  though without a title, in the Greek and Eastern liturgies. In Spain it  varied daily (see, for example, P.L., col. 549).

"Vere sanctus" did not end formerly with a doxology, but went straight on  to "Qui pridie," by a short formula of this kind: "Vere sanctus, vere  benedictus Dominus noster Jesus Christus qui pridie," with the words of  Institution. The "Qui pridie" was the Roman formula, as also that of the  Gallican and all the Latin churches. The ancient Spanish liturgy followed  the same tradition. By a change wrought in the Mozarabic liturgy at a date  which cannot be fixed, one of the most audacious changes of which that rite  has preserved the trace, the sacred formula was broken into by the  introduction of the prayer "Adesto Jesu bone," and by replacing the "Qui  pridie," one of the most striking and characteristic features of the Roman  and other Latin liturgies, by the "In qua nocte," which is the version  followed by all the Greek and Eastern rites. What is perhaps even more  extraordinary, the reformers did not try to conceal the traces of this  change, but continued to call the prayer which follows the recital of the  Institution, "Oratio post pridie!" We give here the text of the "Adesto:"

"Adesto, adesto Jesu bone Pontifex in medio nostri: sicut fuisti in medio  discipulorum tuorum: sanctitfica hanc oblationem: ut sanctificata sumamus  per manus sancti angeli tui sancte domine ac redemtor eterne (here there is  a gap in the Missale Mixtum). Dominus noster Jesus Christus in qua nocte  tradebatur accepit panem: et gratias agens, benedixit ac fregit: deditque  discipulis suis dicens: Accipite et manducate. Hoc: est: corpus: meum:  quod: pro: vobis: tradetur. Hic elevatur corpus. Quotiescumque  manducaveritis: hoc facite in meam  commemorationem. Similiter et calicem  postquam cenavit dicens. Hic est: calix: novi: testamenti: in: meo:  sanguine: qui: pro: vobis: et: pro: multis: effundetur: in: remissionem:  peccatorum. Hic elevatur calix coopertus cum filiola (=palla).  Quotiescumque biberitis hoc facite in meam commemorationem. Et cum  perventum fuerit ubi dicit: In meam commemorationem, dicat presb. alta voce  omnibus diebus preter festivis: pari modo ubi dicit in claritatem de celis.  Ut qualibet vice respondeat chorus: Amen. Quotiescumque manducaveritis  panem hunc et calicem biberitis: mortem Domini annunciabitis donec veniet.  In claritatem de celis. Chorus. Amen" (P.L., loc. cit., cols. 116--117; cf.  also col. 550, another text).

In the later editions of the "Missale Mixtum" a note has been added to the  effect that the form of Consecration here given is only a memorial of the  past, but that at the present time the Roman form must be adhered to  (ibid., cols. 116, and 550, 551, note a).

Dom Ferotin gives two new texts of the words of Institution according to  the Liber Mozarabicus and the Liber Ordinum," which present many variants,  not only with each other but with the "Missale Mixtum." It can be seen that  Rome did not approve the version given in the "Missale Mixtum" of 1500, and  substituted for it the Roman formula. That extremely rare edition of Todole  preserved at the British Museum contains, fastened to the vellum, this  note: "Forma ista consecrationis ponitur ne antiquitas ignoretur; sed hodie  servetur Ecclesiae traditio;" and the Roman formula is then given. (This  note is reproduced in P.L., cols. 116 and 550. On all this cf. Dom Ferotin,  "Liber Mozarabicus," p. xxv.) In two MSS. quoted by Dom Ferotin the words  of Institution are preceded by the title "Missa secreta;" and he gives  another example in which the "Post Sanctus" is called "Post Missam  secretam," which clearly show that at that time this part of the Canon was  said in a low voice (ibid.).

The very tenor of this prayer shows that it interrupts the sequence of the  "Vere sanctus," and repeats the formula "Dominus noster Jesus Christus." It  is quite evidently an interpolation, a fact which has been emphasized by  the greater number of modern liturgiologists since Le Brun, Binius, Lesley,  Dom Ferotin, Dom Cagin, etc. But no protestations seem to have been raised  in the Middle Ages; at least I do not think that any signs of them have  been traced up till now. Without seeking for any other explanation, it must  simply be stated that at a certain moment, assuredly later than St. Isidore  and probably before the tenth century--probably also at Toledo--a Bishop  thought well to borrow, from the liturgy of Constantinople, which had  already lent so much to Spain, the actual form of Consecration, and this he  then substituted for the ancient form which was that of Rome and of all  Latin churches (P.L., loc. cit., col 549).

The actual formula, "Hoc est corpus meum," is borrowed from I Cor. xi. 24;  while the "quod pro vobis" is the translation of the Vulgate. The Roman  formula, "Hoc est enim corpus meum," conforms to that in the liturgy of St.  Mark; and it seems also to have been that of the Gallican churches, at  least, according to the letters of the pseudo Germain. The formula for the  Consecration of the wine is borrowed from I Cor. xi. 24, and from St. Luke  xxii. 20, and St. Matthew xxvi. 28. The words "Hic est calix novi  Testamenti in meo sanguine" are those of an ancient Latin version different  from the Vulgate; they are quoted under the same form by Sedulius Scotus  and by Gregory II (see the quotation, P.L., loc. cit., col. 551). The Roman  formula, "Hic est enim calix sanguinis mei," etc., was also that of the  Gallican churches. The Spanish liturgiologists of that day were not afraid  to paraphrase the words of Institution in their own way. (On all this see  Lesley's note, col. 551 seq.)

It is stated in the rubrics of the recital of the Institution that there  was a double elevation. The custom of the elevation is universal, but it  was not practiced everywhere in the same way. That here mentioned is  conformable with the usage established in France in the eleventh century,  which thence spread, with certain variants, to Rome and to other churches.  The Mozarabic rubric shows that the chalice was covered at the elevation;  that is, covered with the "palla," or veil, sometimes called the  "Offertorium," because it had been used to collect the offerings of the  faithful at the Oblation. This was formerly the Roman custom when the  elevation took place at the end of the Canon after the "Per ipsum" (cf. the  first "Ordo Romanus" of Mabillon, note 16, and the "Ordo" published by  Hittorp).

Another rubric which prescribes the words "In meam commemorationem" and "In  claritatem de celis" to be said aloud would give the impression that the  actual words of the Institution were to be said in a low voice. But Lesley  thinks with apparent reason that this rubric is recent, and that the  Spanish, like the French, said these words aloud. As to the words "In  claritatem de celis," they are another peculiarity of the Mozarabic rite.  On Holy Thursday the Epistle was read from I Cor. xi. 20-34. After the  words "mortem Domini annunciabitis donec veniat" they added this variant:  "in claritatem de celis" taken from the liturgy, but which does not exist  in the Vulgate, or in the Greek, or in any other version with which we are  acquainted (see P.L., col. 409, for the text of the Epistle, and col. 552  for the rubric).

"Oratio Post pridie" and "Epiclesis."--The prayer Post pridie, which  follows the Consecration, corresponds with that called "Post secreta," or  "Post mysterium" in the Gallican books. St. Isidore speaks of it in these  terms: "Ex hinc sexta oratio succedit, confirmatio sacramenti, ut oblatio  quae Domino offertur, per Spiritum Sanctum sanctificata Christi corporis et  sanguinis confirmetur" ("De offic.," I, I, c. xv.; cf. Etherius and Beatus,  who emphasize the terms "Confirmatio sacramenti"). It should be noted that  the Missal of Bobbio has no prayer "Post secreta," which is also missing  occasionally in the "Missale Gallicanum" as well as in the "Missale  Gothicum." But on the other hand it is always found in the "Missale  Mixtum," and as it varies daily, and is sometimes very long, we have here,  as in the "Illatio," one of those prayers in which the exuberance of the  Spanish Fathers has had free course. Both the place and the function of  this prayer Confirmatio Sacramenti "are more propitious than those of the  "Illatio" for dogmatic developments. It will be found of great use in the  study of the doctrine of the Spanish church upon the Eucharist, notably  upon Transubstantiation and the questions connected with it. In reality the  prayer answers to the "Epiclesis" of the Eastern liturgies, and, as we have  remarked elsewhere, the expressions here used must often be interpreted  "cum grano salis." We can note only a few of such examples here, as in  cols. 117 and 250, note 7; 519, note a (cf. also article "Liturgie," in  "Dict. de theol.," coL 812, and "Epiclese" in DACL).

Sometimes, but far more rarely, the "Epiclesis" is found in the "Post  sanctus." (There are some examples of this in Dom Ferotin's "Liber  Mozarabicus;" in the same Sacramentary the "Post pridie" is called "Post  missam secretam" on the vigil of Easter, a point worthy of remark.) On the  other hand, and speaking generally, the "Post pridie" often contains the  proof that the Consecration or Transubstantiation is accomplished by the  words of Institution. To this interpretation the elevation also bears  witness, but it is difficult to fix the date of this rite with the  Mozarabites. We may quote, as especially explicit, the following "Post  pridie: Hec pia, hec salutaris hostia, Deus Pater, qua tibi reconciliatus  est mundus. Hoc est corpus illud, quod pependit in cruce. Hic etiam  sanguis, qui sacro propluxit ex latere, etc." ("Liber Moz.," col. 313)  

The prayer "Te prestante," which for the rest has no particular title,  seems rather the conclusion of the "Post pridie" than a separate prayer. As  we shall see, it resembles our "Per quem haec omnia bona creas." This is  the text:

"Te prestante sancte Domine: quia tu haec omnia nobis indignis servis tuis:  valde bona creas: sanctificas, vivificas benedicis ac prestas nobis: ut sit   (sint) benedicta a te Deo nostro in secula seculorum. Amen."

The Priest then takes the consecrated Host on the paten, holds it over the  uncovered chalice, and says, or sings: "Dominus sit semper vobiscum. Et cum  spiritu tuo. Fidem quam corde credimus ore autem dicamus," and he elevates  the consecrated Host to show It to the people. In some places there was  sung at this point an anthem: "Ad confractionem panis" (P.L., loc. cit.,  col. 117; cf. also p. 554 for the explanation of this prayer). Here, as in  the Ambrosian Missal, the "Haec omnia" seems to refer to the consecrated  elements of bread and wine, created by God, sanctified by prayer, vivified  by Consecration, blessed by the Holy Ghost (Epiclesis), and finally given  to the faithful in the Eucharist. This at least is the interpretation given  to these words by Lesley, who will not admit that of Benedict XIV and other  liturgiologists, who say that "Haec omnia" means the fresh fruits which  were blessed at this moment. It is an old quarrel amongst liturgiologists,  and one which seems as yet unresolved (Benedict XIV, "De missae  sacrificio," I, II, c. xviii.). Lesley admits that in certain  Sacramentaries these words may indeed apply to a blessing of this kind, but  only in a special case. In his opinion the words are too precise, the  gestures too solemn to be applied to anything but the elements consecrated  in the Eucharist (col. 553, note c).

It is a general custom that the Elevation should take place at this moment.  Before the eleventh century it was the principal Elevation. We may also  notice that in the Roman Missal the prayer is addressed to God the Father,  and that it closes with a magnificent doxology which has disappeared in the  Mozarabic Mass.