Celtic mass
Encyclopedia
The Celtic Mass is the liturgy
of the Christian office of the Mass
as it was celebrated in the Celtic Christianity
of the Early Middle Ages
.
and the Stowe Missal
s, contain the Irish Ordinary of a daily Mass in its late Romanized form. Many of the variables are in the Bobbio book, and portions of some Masses are in the Carlsruhe and Piacenza fragments. A little, also, may be gleaned from the St. Gall fragments, the Bangor Antiphonary, and the order for the Communion of the Sick in the Books of Dimma
, Mulling
, and Deer
. The tract in Irish at the end of the Stowe Missal and its variant in the Leabhar Breac
add something more to our knowledge. The Stowe Missal gives us three somewhat differing forms, the original of the ninth century, in so far as it has not been erased, the correction by Moelcaich, and, as far as it goes, the Mass described in the Irish tract. From its size and contents it would seem to be a sort of Missale Itinerantium, with an Ordinary
that might serve for most any occasion, a general Common of Saints and two Masses for special intentions (for penitents and for the dead). The addition of the Order of Baptism, not, as in the Bobbio book or in the "Missale Gothicum" ad Missale Gallicanum, as part of the Easter Eve services, but as a separate thing, and the Visitation of the Sick, points to its being intended to be a convenient portable minimum for a priest. The pieces said by the people are in several cases only indicated by beginnings and endings. The Bobbio book, on the other hand, is a complete Missal
, also for a priest only, of larger size with Masses for the Holy Days through the year.
The original Stowe Mass approaches nearer to that of Bobbio than the revised form does. The result of Moelcaich's version is to produce something more than a Gelasian Canon inserted into a non-Roman Mass. It has become a mixed Mass, Gelasian, Roman, or Romano-Ambrosian for the most part, with much of a Hispano-Gallican type underlying it, and perhaps with some indigenous details. It may be taken to represent the latest type of Irish Mass of which we have any information. The title of the Bobbio daily Mass is Missa Romensis cottidiana, and the same title occurs before the Collect Deus qui culpa offenderis at the very end of the Missale Gothicum. This collect, which is in the Gregorian Sacramentary
, occurs in both the Bobbio and the Stowe, and in the latter has before it the title, Orationes et preces missae aecclesiae romane, so that it is evident that the Roman additions or substitutions were recognized as such.
From the Irish tracts it seems that the chalice
was prepared before the Introit
, a very usual practice in both East and West in early times. It is still the Eastern practice, and is retained to this day by the Dominicans at low mass and in the Mozarabic Rite
. Water was poured in first with the words "Peto (Leabhar Breac, Quaeso) te, Pater, deprecor te, Fili, obsecro te, Spiritus Sancte". The Leabhar Breac directs that a drop shall be poured at naming each person of the trinity. The wine was similarly poured on the water, with the words, "Reditit pater, indulget Filius, miseretur Spiritus Sanctus." The Introit is mentioned in the Irish tracts but not given in the ordinary or elsewhere in either missal. Probably it was sung from a psalter
.
(Hagios o Theos, k.t.l.), or the Greek of the Sanctus, as used elsewhere in the Mozarabic, one or other of which may have come at this point, as it did (according to St. Germanus of Paris) in the Gallican Rite. This in the last was followed by Kyrie eleison and Benedictus, the latter being called "Prophetia". There are collects styled "post Prophetiam" in the Bobbio Missal at the beginnings of several Masses. After the Gloria in the Bobbio there is a collect post Benedictionem (after the Benedicite). This was said in the Gallican, as part is still said in the Mozarabic, after the Epistle. The collects post Precem, according to Mabillon, mean the same, but that seems improbable, and this name may possibly refer to the prayers after the Bidding Prayer Litany, which has been known as "Prex".
A Hic augmentum, inserted by Moel Caich, probably means additional proper collects. It is mentioned in the Irish tract as tormach (increase, expansion) coming before the Lesson of the Apostle. Later, at the Offertory, one finds secunda pars augmenti hic super oblata. St. Columbanus uses the word, in the sense of "addition", with reference to petitions added to the psalms at the day hours, cum versiculorum augmento intervenientium.
or Apocalypse before the Epistle.
1 to 8 are in the original hand, part of 9 is inserted by Moel Caich, possibly over erasures, the rest is written by Moel Caich on added leaves. The psalm verses are only indicated by their beginnings and endings. Perhaps the prayer
s were said and the ceremonies with the chalice veil were performed by the priest while the congregation sang the psalms and Alleluia. Nothing of all this is in the Bobbio. Possibly, judging from the collect Post Benedictionem, which is the collect which follows the Benedictus es (Dan., iii) on Ember Saturdays in the Roman missal, either the Benedicite or this Benedictus came between the Epistle and Gospel, as in the Gallican of St. Germain's description.
An Oratio Gregorii super evangelium is included, on an inserted slip in Moel Caich's hand. In the Gregorian Sacramentary on the second Saturday and third Sunday of Lent, but not in connection with the Gospel. The Creed is in the original hand, with the "Filioque" inserted between the lines, possibly by Moel Caich.
in the Stowe Missal is:
The Preface, unlike the Bobbio daily Preface, which, like that of the Roman Missal, goes straight from per Christum Dominum nostrum to per quem, inserts a long passage, reminding one, at the beginning and near the end, of the Trinity and Sunday Preface of the Roman Missal but otherwise being unique. At the end is a direction in Irish to the effect that here the "dignum of the addition" (dignum in tormaig), i.e. the Proper Preface, comes in, if it ends with per quem. There is then a similar direction if the "addition ends with Sanctus". The Sanctus, with a Post-Sanctus, resembles that in the Mozarabic missal for Christmas day and that for Christmas eve in the Missale Gothicum. There is also a Post-Sanctus in the first of the three masses given in the Stowe. It is followed by Qui pridie, as though the Gelasian Canon were not used in that case.
The follows a Canon dominicus papae Gilasi, the Gelasian Canon (as given in H.A. Wilson's edition) with certain variations, the most noticeable of which are:
Moel Caich adds an Irish direction, "it is here that the bread is broken". The original hand has Cogno[v]erunt Dominum in fractione panis. Panis quem frangimus corpus est D. N. J. C. Calix quem benedicimus sanguis est D. N. J. C. in remissionem peccatorum nostrorum, interspersed with six Alleluias. Then over an erasure, Moelcaich inserts Fiat Domine misericordia, etc. Cognoverunt Dominum Alleluia, and a prayer or confession of faith, Credimus, Domine, credimus in hac confractione. This responsory answers to the Ambrosian Confractorium and the Mozarabic Antiphona ad Confractionem panis. Fiat misericordia etc. is the actual Lenten Mozarabic antiphon. The prayer Credimus etc. has a slight likeness to the recitation of the Creed at this point in the Mozarabic. The tract directs an elaborate fraction, varying according to the day, and resembling that of the Mozarabic rite and the arrangement (before Consecration) in the Eastern office of the Prothesis and like these having mystical meanings. The common division is into five, for ordinary days; for saints and virgins, seven; for martyrs, eight; for "the oblation of Sunday as a figure of the nine households of heaven and nine grades of the church", nine; for the Apostles, eleven; on the circumcision and Maundy Thursday twelve; on Low Sunday (minchasc) and Ascension, thirteen; and on Easter, Christmas, and Whitsunday, the sum of all the preceding, sixty-five. Directions are given to arrange the particles in the form of a cross within a circle, and different parts are apportioned to different classes of people. The Leabhar Breac omits all this and only speaks (as does the Stowe tract earlier) of a fraction in two halves, a reuniting and a commixture, the last of which in the Stowe Canon comes after the Pater Noster. There is nothing about any fraction or commixture in the Bobbio, which, like the Gelasian, goes on from the Per quem haec omnia clause to the introduction of the pater noster. In the Ambrosian rite both the breaking of bread and mingling of wine occur at this point, instead of after the pater noster, as in the Roman. [In the St. Gall fragment there are three collects (found in the Gelasian, Leonine, and Gregorian books), and a Collectio ante orationem dominicam, which ends with the same introduction to the pater noster as in Stowe and Bobbio. These are all that come between the preface and the pater noster. The rest onward to the end of the communion is in Moel Caich's hand.
The pater noster is preceded by the introduction: Divino magisterio edocti (instead of the Roman praeceptis salutaribus moniti) et divina institutione formati audemus dicere. This is the same in the Bobbio and the St. Gall fragment. There is nothing to show that this and the embolism which follows were variable, as in the Gallican (cf. Missale Gothicum and others) and the present Mozarabic. The embolism in the Stowe is nearly exactly the Gelasian, except that it omits the name of Our Lady and has Patricio for Andrea. The Bobbio embolism includes the Virgin Mary but not St. Andrew nor St. Patrick. The pater noster in the Books of Deer, Dimma, and Mulling has a different introduction and embolism and in the communion of the sick in the Stowe there is yet another.
The Pax: Pax et caritas D. N. J. C. et communicatio sanctorum omnium sit semper nobiscum. Et cum spiritu tuo. This is in the St. Gall fragment, in the same place. Prayer, Pacem mandasti, pacem dedisti, etc.
The Commixture. Commixtio corporis et sanguinis D.N.J.C. sit nobis salus in vitam perpetuam. These words are not in the Bobbio or the St. Gall fragment but in the latter the commixture is ordered to be made here (mittit sacerdos sancta in calicem), and then the Pax to be given. In St. Germanus's description a form very like the Pax formula of the Stowe was said here by a priest, instead of a longer (and variable) benediction by a bishop. These were not in any way associated with the Pax, which in the Gallican, as now in the Mozarabic, came just before Sursum corda. The two ideas are mixed up here, as in the Roman and Ambrosian.
The Communion: Ecce Agnus Dei, ecce qui tollis [sic] peccata mundi. These words, not in the Bobbio or the St. Gall, are nearly the words said before the communion of the people in the Roman rite. In the St. Gall the rubric directs the Communion of the people after the Pax. Probably these words had the same association in the Stowe as at present. Then follows in the Stowe, Pacem meam do vobis, Pacem relinquo vobis [John, xiv, 27]. Pax multa diligentibus legem tuam Domine, Et non est in illis scandalum. Regem coeli cum pace, Plenum odorem vitae, Novum carmen cantate, Omnes sancti venite. Venite comedite panem meorum, Et bibite vinum quod miscui vobis. Dominus regit me [Ps. xxii, 1], with Alleluia after each clause. The St. Gall has only the quotation from John 14:27, before Psalm 22; but Venite comedite comes later. In the Bangor Antiphonary is a hymn of eleven four-lined stanzas, "Sancti venite, Christi corpus sumite", entitled "Ymnus quando comonicarent sacerdotes".) Then follow in the Stowe, the St. Gall, and in the Communion of the Sick in the Stowe, and in the Books of Deer, Dimma, and Mulling, a number of communion antiphons. The Bangor Antiphonary also gives a set. No two sets are alike, but some antiphons are common to nearly all. There is a resemblance to the Communion responsory, called Ad accedentes, of the Mozarabic rite, and similar forms are found in Eastern liturgies, sometimes with the same words. Possibly the Tricanum of St. Germanus was something of the same sort.
At the end of these in the Stowe is the colophon Moel Caich scripsit, with which Moel Caich's corrections and additions to the mass end.
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
of the Christian office of the Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
as it was celebrated in the Celtic Christianity
Celtic Christianity
Celtic Christianity or Insular Christianity refers broadly to certain features of Christianity that were common, or held to be common, across the Celtic-speaking world during the Early Middle Ages...
of the Early Middle Ages
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
.
Sources
Two books, the BobbioBobbio Orosius
The Bobbio Orosius is an early 7th century Insular manuscript of the Chronicon of Paulus Orosius. The manuscript has 48 folios and measures 210 by 150 mm. It is thought to have been produced at the scriptorium of Bobbio Abbey.It contains the earliest surviving carpet page in Insular art. The...
and the Stowe Missal
Stowe Missal
The Stowe Missal, which is strictly speaking a sacramentary rather than a missal, is an Irish illuminated manuscript written mainly in Latin with some Gaelic in about 750. In the mid-11th century it was annotated and some pages rewritten at Lorrha Monastery in County Tipperary, Ireland...
s, contain the Irish Ordinary of a daily Mass in its late Romanized form. Many of the variables are in the Bobbio book, and portions of some Masses are in the Carlsruhe and Piacenza fragments. A little, also, may be gleaned from the St. Gall fragments, the Bangor Antiphonary, and the order for the Communion of the Sick in the Books of Dimma
Book of Dimma
thumb|left|The 12th century case of the Book of Dimma.The Book of Dimma is an 8th-century Irish pocket Gospel Book originally from the Abbey of Roscrea, founded by St. Cronan in the County Tipperary, Ireland. In addition to the four Gospels, in between the Gospels of Luke and John, it has an...
, Mulling
Book of Mulling
The Book of Mulling or less commonly, Book of Moling , is an Irish pocket Gospel Book from the late 8th century. The text collection includes the four Gospels, a liturgical service which includes the "Apostles' Creed", and in the colophon, a supposed plan of St...
, and Deer
Book of Deer
The Book of Deer is a 10th-century Latin Gospel Book from Old Deer, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, with early 12th-century additions in Latin, Old Irish and Scottish Gaelic. It is most famous for containing the earliest surviving Gaelic literature from Scotland...
. The tract in Irish at the end of the Stowe Missal and its variant in the Leabhar Breac
Leabhar Breac
Leabhar Breac is an Irish language publisher based in Indreabhán in the County Galway Gaeltacht of Cois Fharraige.Specialising in fiction, and named after the 15th century manuscript Leabhar Breac, the publishing house was founded in 1995 by Darach Ó Scolaí and Caomhán Ó Scolaí...
add something more to our knowledge. The Stowe Missal gives us three somewhat differing forms, the original of the ninth century, in so far as it has not been erased, the correction by Moelcaich, and, as far as it goes, the Mass described in the Irish tract. From its size and contents it would seem to be a sort of Missale Itinerantium, with an Ordinary
Ordinary of the Mass
The ordinary, in Roman Catholic and other Western Christian liturgies, refers to the part of the Eucharist or of the canonical hours that is reasonably constant without regard to the date on which the service is performed...
that might serve for most any occasion, a general Common of Saints and two Masses for special intentions (for penitents and for the dead). The addition of the Order of Baptism, not, as in the Bobbio book or in the "Missale Gothicum" ad Missale Gallicanum, as part of the Easter Eve services, but as a separate thing, and the Visitation of the Sick, points to its being intended to be a convenient portable minimum for a priest. The pieces said by the people are in several cases only indicated by beginnings and endings. The Bobbio book, on the other hand, is a complete Missal
Missal
A missal is a liturgical book containing all instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the year.-History:Before the compilation of such books, several books were used when celebrating Mass...
, also for a priest only, of larger size with Masses for the Holy Days through the year.
The original Stowe Mass approaches nearer to that of Bobbio than the revised form does. The result of Moelcaich's version is to produce something more than a Gelasian Canon inserted into a non-Roman Mass. It has become a mixed Mass, Gelasian, Roman, or Romano-Ambrosian for the most part, with much of a Hispano-Gallican type underlying it, and perhaps with some indigenous details. It may be taken to represent the latest type of Irish Mass of which we have any information. The title of the Bobbio daily Mass is Missa Romensis cottidiana, and the same title occurs before the Collect Deus qui culpa offenderis at the very end of the Missale Gothicum. This collect, which is in the Gregorian Sacramentary
Sacramentary
The Sacramentary is a book of the Middle Ages containing the words spoken by the priest celebrating a Mass and other liturgies of the Church. The books were usually in fact written for bishops or other higher clegy such as abbots, and many lavishly decorated illuminated manuscript sacramentaries...
, occurs in both the Bobbio and the Stowe, and in the latter has before it the title, Orationes et preces missae aecclesiae romane, so that it is evident that the Roman additions or substitutions were recognized as such.
Liturgy
The Order of the daily Mass, founded on that in the Stowe Missal is as follows.- Praeparatio Sacerdotis. Confession of sins, beginning "Peccavimus, Domine, peccavimus". This and the LitanyLitanyA litany, in Christian worship and some forms of Jewish worship, is a form of prayer used in services and processions, and consisting of a number of petitions...
which follows are found also in the St. Gall fragments, but not in the Bobbio book. - Litany of the Saints. In the original hand there are only thirteen invocationInvocationAn invocation may take the form of:*Supplication or prayer.*A form of possession.*Command or conjuration.*Self-identification with certain spirits....
s (Our Lady, ten Apostles, St. Mark, and St. Luke). Moelcaich added thirty-one more, of which twenty-four are Irish. The manuscript is wrongly bound, so that these additions look as if they were associated with the dyptychs in the Canon. - Oratio. The "Oratio Augustini" ("Rogo te Deus Sabaoth") is found in various ninth- and tenth-century French books (see Warren's "Celtic Church"). The Oratio Ambrosi ("Ante conspectum divinae majestatis") is inserted by Moelcaich and found in several French books.
- Collect. "Ascendat oratio nostra". This occurs after the Creed and PaternosterPaternosterA paternoster or paternoster lift is a passenger elevator which consists of a chain of open compartments that move slowly in a loop up and down inside a building without stopping. Passengers can step on or off at any floor they like...
in the "Liber Hymnorum".
From the Irish tracts it seems that the chalice
Chalice (cup)
A chalice is a goblet or footed cup intended to hold a drink. In general religious terms, it is intended for drinking during a ceremony.-Christian:...
was prepared before the Introit
Introit
The Introit is part of the opening of the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. In its most complete version, it consists of an antiphon, psalm verse and Gloria Patri that is spoken or sung at the beginning of the celebration...
, a very usual practice in both East and West in early times. It is still the Eastern practice, and is retained to this day by the Dominicans at low mass and in the Mozarabic Rite
Mozarabic Rite
The Mozarabic, Visigothic, or Hispanic Rite is a form of Catholic worship within the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, and in the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church . Its beginning dates to the 7th century, and is localized in the Iberian Peninsula...
. Water was poured in first with the words "Peto (Leabhar Breac, Quaeso) te, Pater, deprecor te, Fili, obsecro te, Spiritus Sancte". The Leabhar Breac directs that a drop shall be poured at naming each person of the trinity. The wine was similarly poured on the water, with the words, "Reditit pater, indulget Filius, miseretur Spiritus Sanctus." The Introit is mentioned in the Irish tracts but not given in the ordinary or elsewhere in either missal. Probably it was sung from a psalter
Psalter
A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the later medieval emergence of the book of hours, psalters were the books most widely owned by wealthy lay persons and were...
.
The collect
The Collect, in the Stowe and Bobbio Ordinaries is Deus qui de beato Petro, the collect for St. Peter's Day, "iii Kal Julias" in the Gelasian Sacramentary. In the Stowe a corrector, not Moelcaich, has prefixed "in solemnitatibus Petri et Christi" [sic]. Imnus angelicus, i.e. Gloria in excelsis. Begun in the original hand, continued by Moel Caich on an inserted slip. This comes after the conclusion of the Missa Romensis cottidiana in the Bobbio book and is preceded by a prayer "post Alos," which probably means the TrisagionTrisagion
The Trisagion , sometimes called by its opening line Agios O Theos or by the Latin Tersanctus, is a standard hymn of the Divine Liturgy in most of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Churches and Catholic Churches.In those Churches which use the Byzantine Rite, the Trisagion is chanted...
(Hagios o Theos, k.t.l.), or the Greek of the Sanctus, as used elsewhere in the Mozarabic, one or other of which may have come at this point, as it did (according to St. Germanus of Paris) in the Gallican Rite. This in the last was followed by Kyrie eleison and Benedictus, the latter being called "Prophetia". There are collects styled "post Prophetiam" in the Bobbio Missal at the beginnings of several Masses. After the Gloria in the Bobbio there is a collect post Benedictionem (after the Benedicite). This was said in the Gallican, as part is still said in the Mozarabic, after the Epistle. The collects post Precem, according to Mabillon, mean the same, but that seems improbable, and this name may possibly refer to the prayers after the Bidding Prayer Litany, which has been known as "Prex".
- Collect, "Deus qui diligentibus te", given as a Sunday collect in the Gelasian. It is written by Moel Caich over erased matter (probably the original continuation of "Gloria in excelsis"), and another hand has prefixed a direction for its use. "in cotidianis diebus", instead of that which follows.
- Collect "Deus qui culpa offenderis". In the original hand with inserted heading already mentioned, and "haec oratio prima Petri". It follows the St. Peter collect in the Bobbio Ordinary.
A Hic augmentum, inserted by Moel Caich, probably means additional proper collects. It is mentioned in the Irish tract as tormach (increase, expansion) coming before the Lesson of the Apostle. Later, at the Offertory, one finds secunda pars augmenti hic super oblata. St. Columbanus uses the word, in the sense of "addition", with reference to petitions added to the psalms at the day hours, cum versiculorum augmento intervenientium.
The epistle
The Epistle, in the Stowe daily Mass, is I Cor., xi, 26-52. On certain days the Bobbio had a lesson from the Old TestamentOld Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
or Apocalypse before the Epistle.
The Gradual
The Gradual - the tract calls it "salm digrad". If this includes everything between the epistle and gospel, the construction is;- Prayer Deus qui nos regendo conservas, added, not by Moel Caich. Found in the later Gelasian manuscripts.
- Prayer, Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui populum tuum. An Easter collect in the Bobbio Missal, given also by GerbertGerbertGerbert is a Germanic given name, from gar "spear" and berht "bright".People with Gerbert as given name:* Gerbert of Aurillac, who became Pope Silvester II* Gerbert de Montreuil, French poet of the thirteenth century...
as Ambrosian. - Psalm civ, vv. 4, 1-3, 4.
- Prayer Grata sint tibi Domine. The secreta of an Advent Mass in the Gelasian.
- Alleluia. Ps. cxvii, 14.
- Prayer Sacrificiis praesentibus, Domine. The "secreta of another Advent Mass in the Gelasian. #Deprecatio Sancti Martini pro populo. The title was added by Moel Caich.) This is a Bidding Prayer Litany or Prex resembling very closely the Great Synapte of the Greek Rite and the litany used on the first four Sundays of LentLentIn the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
instead of Gloria in excelsis in the Ambrosian. - Prayer Sacrificium tibi, Domine. The secreta of another Advent Mass in the Gelasian. Perhaps it is here an "Oratio post Precem" of the Gallican type.
- Prayer Ante oculos tuos, Domine. It occurs in the same place in the Mass published by M. Flaccus Illyricus (Martène, I, 182).
- Lethdirech sund. A half uncovering of the chalice and patenPatenA paten, or diskos, is a small plate, usually made of silver or gold, used to hold Eucharistic bread which is to be consecrated. It is generally used during the service itself, while the reserved hosts are stored in the Tabernacle in a ciborium....
here. This is referred to in the tract as indinochtad corrici leth inna oblae agus incailich (the uncovering as far as half the oblationOblationOblation, an offering , a term, particularly in ecclesiastical usage, for a solemn offering or presentation to God.-Bible usage:...
and chalice), and is associated there with the singing of the Gospel and Allóir. Earlier it is mentioned as following the Gradual. - Psalm cxl, 2, sung thrice.
- Hic elivatur lintiamen calicis. Dr. Legg (Ecclesiological Essays, p. 133) mentions that this lifting of the veil was the practice in England just before the Reformation and in the Dioceses of CoutancesCoutancesCoutances is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.-History:Capital of the Unelli, a Gaulish tribe, the town took the name of Constantia in 298 during the reign of Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus...
and St.-Pol-de-Leon much later. - Prayer Veni Domine sanctificator. Nearly the {"Veni sanctificator" of the present Roman Offertory.
1 to 8 are in the original hand, part of 9 is inserted by Moel Caich, possibly over erasures, the rest is written by Moel Caich on added leaves. The psalm verses are only indicated by their beginnings and endings. Perhaps the prayer
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
s were said and the ceremonies with the chalice veil were performed by the priest while the congregation sang the psalms and Alleluia. Nothing of all this is in the Bobbio. Possibly, judging from the collect Post Benedictionem, which is the collect which follows the Benedictus es (Dan., iii) on Ember Saturdays in the Roman missal, either the Benedicite or this Benedictus came between the Epistle and Gospel, as in the Gallican of St. Germain's description.
The Gospel and Creed
Gospel reading. In the Stowe Mass, this is St. John vi, 51-57. This begins in Moel Caich's hand on an inserted sheet and ends in the original hand. The tracts say that the Gospel was followed by the "Alloir", which Dr. Stokes translates "Alleluia", but Macgregor takes to mean "blessing" and compares with the Per evangelica dicta, etc., of the Roman rite.An Oratio Gregorii super evangelium is included, on an inserted slip in Moel Caich's hand. In the Gregorian Sacramentary on the second Saturday and third Sunday of Lent, but not in connection with the Gospel. The Creed is in the original hand, with the "Filioque" inserted between the lines, possibly by Moel Caich.
Offertory
The order of the offertoryOffertory
The Offertory is the portion of a Eucharistic service when bread and wine are brought to the altar. The offertory exists in many liturgical Christian denominations, though the Eucharistic theology varies among celebrations conducted by these denominations....
in the Stowe Missal is:
- Landirech sund (a full uncovering here). In Moel Caich's hand.
- Ostende nobis, Domine, misericordiam, etc. thrice.
- Oblata, Domine, munera sanctifica, nosque a peccatorum nostrorum maculis emunda. This is in the Bobbio Missal (where it is called "post nomina") and in the Gelasian and Gregorian. It is the secreta of the third mass of Christmas Day in the present Roman missal. According to the tract, the chalice was elevated while this was sung, after the full uncovering. The Leabhar Breac says that it was elevated quando cantitur Imola Deo sacrificum laudis.
- Prayer Hostias quaesumus, Domine. This occurs in one set of "Orationes et preces divinae" in the Leonine Sacramentary. It is written here by Moel Caich over an erasure which begins with "G", probably, as Warner conjectures, the prayer "Grata sit tibi", which follows "Oblata, Domine" in the Bobbio Missal. In Moelcaich's correction this in an amplified form occurs later.
- Prayer Has oblationes et sincera labamina. In Moel Caich's hand. This prayer, which includes an intercession pro animabus carorum nostrorum N. et cararum nostrarum quorum nomina recitamus, is evidently a relic of the former reading of the dyptychs at this point, as in the Hispano-Gallican liturgies. It and the next prayer in its Stowe form, as Warren points out, resemble Gallican or Mozarabic "Orationes post nomina".
- Secunda pars augmenti hic super oblata. Probably refers to additional proper prayers, analogous to the Roman secreta (see 7, supra).
- Prayer Grata sit tibi haec oblatio. An expanded form of the prayer which followed Oblata in the original writing. A long passage referring to the diptychs is inserted. Most of this prayer is on the first page of an inserted quire of four leaves in Moel Caich's hand. In the Bobbio, only Oblata and Grata sit tibi are given at the Offertory, one being called Post nomina, the other Ad Pacem. Perhaps the Pax came here in the seventh century, as in the Gallican and Mozarabic.
- The "Sursum Corda", not preceded by "Dominus vobiscum".
The Preface, unlike the Bobbio daily Preface, which, like that of the Roman Missal, goes straight from per Christum Dominum nostrum to per quem, inserts a long passage, reminding one, at the beginning and near the end, of the Trinity and Sunday Preface of the Roman Missal but otherwise being unique. At the end is a direction in Irish to the effect that here the "dignum of the addition" (dignum in tormaig), i.e. the Proper Preface, comes in, if it ends with per quem. There is then a similar direction if the "addition ends with Sanctus". The Sanctus, with a Post-Sanctus, resembles that in the Mozarabic missal for Christmas day and that for Christmas eve in the Missale Gothicum. There is also a Post-Sanctus in the first of the three masses given in the Stowe. It is followed by Qui pridie, as though the Gelasian Canon were not used in that case.
The follows a Canon dominicus papae Gilasi, the Gelasian Canon (as given in H.A. Wilson's edition) with certain variations, the most noticeable of which are:
- Te igitur adds, after papa nostro, episcopo sedis apostolicae, and after fidei cultoribus" et abbate nostro n. episcopl. Sedis apostolicae is added also in the Bobbio.
- A direction follows, Hic recitantur nomina vivorum.
- Memente etiam domine, contains a long list of intercessions for various classes of persons. This is also found in Carlsruhe Fragment B, but not in the Bobbio.
- "Communicantes". Variants for Christmas, Circumcision (called Kalendis), Stellae (that is Epiphany - compare Welsh, Dydd Gwyl Ystwyll; Cornish, Degl Stul; and in stilla domini in the St Cuthbert Gospels. The actual variant here is natalis calicis (Maundy ThursdayMaundy ThursdayMaundy Thursday, also known as Holy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Great & Holy Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, is the Christian feast or holy day falling on the Thursday before Easter that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles as described in the Canonical gospels...
), the end of one and the beginning of the other have been dropped out in copying, Easter, Clausula pasca (Low Sunday), Ascension, and Pentecost. The inserted quire ends with the second of these, and the others are on a whole palimpsest page and part of another. The original hand, now partly erased, begins with part of the first clause of the Canon, tuum dominum nostrum supplices te rogamus, and contained all but the first line of the Te igitur and Memento clauses, without the long intercessory passage, the nomina vivorum direction, or the variants. - The original hand begins, Et memoriam venerantes, continuing as in the present Roman Canon without variation until the next clause. The Bobbio Canon includes saints Hilary, Martin, Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory, Jerome, and Benedict.
- Hanc igitur oblationem contains an interpolation referring to a church quam famulus tuus. . .aedificavit, and praying that the founder may be converted from idols. There are many variables of the Hanc igitur in the Gelasian. In the daily Mass the Bobbio inserts quam tibi offerimus in honorem nominis tui Deus after cunctae familiae tuae, but otherwise is the ordinary Gelasian and Gregorian.
- In Quam oblationem and Qui pridie there are only a few variations; egit for agens, acepit (calicem) for accipiens (as also in the Bobbio book), and calix sancti sanguinis mei (sancti is erased in the Bobbio), until the end, when Moel Caich has added the Ambrosian phrase passionem meam predicabitis, resurrectionem meam adnuntiabitis, adventum meum sperabitis, donec iterum veniam ad vos de coelis. Similar endings occur also in the Liturgies of St. Mark and St. James and in several Syrian liturgies. The tracts direct the priest to bow thrice at accipit Jesus panem and after offering the chalice to God to chant Miserere mei Deus (Leabhar Breac) and the people to kneel in silence during this, the "perilous prayer". Then the priest takes three steps backwards and forwards.
- Unde et memores has a few evident mistakes and is Gelasian in adding sumus after memores.
- Supplices te rogamus adds et petimus and omits caelesti.
- Memento etiam Domine et eorum nomina qui nos praecessereunt com signo fidei et dormiunt in somno pacis. This clause, omitted in the Gelasian, agrees with the Bobbio. In the latter the words commemoratio defunctorum follow. In the Stowe there is an intercessory interpolation with a long list of names of Old Testament saints, apostles and others, many of whom are Irish. The list concludes with the phrase, used also in the Mozarabic, et omnium pausantium. Moel Caich's addition to the Praeparatio LitanyLitanyA litany, in Christian worship and some forms of Jewish worship, is a form of prayer used in services and processions, and consisting of a number of petitions...
is wrongly inserted before these names. - Nobis quoque differs from the Gelasian in the order of the names of the female saints, agreeing with the Bobbio, except that it does not add Eugenia.
- After Per quem haec omnia Moel Caich has added ter canitur and an Irish direction to elevate the principal host over the chalice and to dip half of it therein. Then follows in the original hand Fiat Domine misericordia tua etc. (Ps. xxxii, 22), to which ter cantitur probably refers.
Moel Caich adds an Irish direction, "it is here that the bread is broken". The original hand has Cogno[v]erunt Dominum in fractione panis. Panis quem frangimus corpus est D. N. J. C. Calix quem benedicimus sanguis est D. N. J. C. in remissionem peccatorum nostrorum, interspersed with six Alleluias. Then over an erasure, Moelcaich inserts Fiat Domine misericordia, etc. Cognoverunt Dominum Alleluia, and a prayer or confession of faith, Credimus, Domine, credimus in hac confractione. This responsory answers to the Ambrosian Confractorium and the Mozarabic Antiphona ad Confractionem panis. Fiat misericordia etc. is the actual Lenten Mozarabic antiphon. The prayer Credimus etc. has a slight likeness to the recitation of the Creed at this point in the Mozarabic. The tract directs an elaborate fraction, varying according to the day, and resembling that of the Mozarabic rite and the arrangement (before Consecration) in the Eastern office of the Prothesis and like these having mystical meanings. The common division is into five, for ordinary days; for saints and virgins, seven; for martyrs, eight; for "the oblation of Sunday as a figure of the nine households of heaven and nine grades of the church", nine; for the Apostles, eleven; on the circumcision and Maundy Thursday twelve; on Low Sunday (minchasc) and Ascension, thirteen; and on Easter, Christmas, and Whitsunday, the sum of all the preceding, sixty-five. Directions are given to arrange the particles in the form of a cross within a circle, and different parts are apportioned to different classes of people. The Leabhar Breac omits all this and only speaks (as does the Stowe tract earlier) of a fraction in two halves, a reuniting and a commixture, the last of which in the Stowe Canon comes after the Pater Noster. There is nothing about any fraction or commixture in the Bobbio, which, like the Gelasian, goes on from the Per quem haec omnia clause to the introduction of the pater noster. In the Ambrosian rite both the breaking of bread and mingling of wine occur at this point, instead of after the pater noster, as in the Roman. [In the St. Gall fragment there are three collects (found in the Gelasian, Leonine, and Gregorian books), and a Collectio ante orationem dominicam, which ends with the same introduction to the pater noster as in Stowe and Bobbio. These are all that come between the preface and the pater noster. The rest onward to the end of the communion is in Moel Caich's hand.
The pater noster is preceded by the introduction: Divino magisterio edocti (instead of the Roman praeceptis salutaribus moniti) et divina institutione formati audemus dicere. This is the same in the Bobbio and the St. Gall fragment. There is nothing to show that this and the embolism which follows were variable, as in the Gallican (cf. Missale Gothicum and others) and the present Mozarabic. The embolism in the Stowe is nearly exactly the Gelasian, except that it omits the name of Our Lady and has Patricio for Andrea. The Bobbio embolism includes the Virgin Mary but not St. Andrew nor St. Patrick. The pater noster in the Books of Deer, Dimma, and Mulling has a different introduction and embolism and in the communion of the sick in the Stowe there is yet another.
The Pax: Pax et caritas D. N. J. C. et communicatio sanctorum omnium sit semper nobiscum. Et cum spiritu tuo. This is in the St. Gall fragment, in the same place. Prayer, Pacem mandasti, pacem dedisti, etc.
The Commixture. Commixtio corporis et sanguinis D.N.J.C. sit nobis salus in vitam perpetuam. These words are not in the Bobbio or the St. Gall fragment but in the latter the commixture is ordered to be made here (mittit sacerdos sancta in calicem), and then the Pax to be given. In St. Germanus's description a form very like the Pax formula of the Stowe was said here by a priest, instead of a longer (and variable) benediction by a bishop. These were not in any way associated with the Pax, which in the Gallican, as now in the Mozarabic, came just before Sursum corda. The two ideas are mixed up here, as in the Roman and Ambrosian.
The Communion: Ecce Agnus Dei, ecce qui tollis [sic] peccata mundi. These words, not in the Bobbio or the St. Gall, are nearly the words said before the communion of the people in the Roman rite. In the St. Gall the rubric directs the Communion of the people after the Pax. Probably these words had the same association in the Stowe as at present. Then follows in the Stowe, Pacem meam do vobis, Pacem relinquo vobis [John, xiv, 27]. Pax multa diligentibus legem tuam Domine, Et non est in illis scandalum. Regem coeli cum pace, Plenum odorem vitae, Novum carmen cantate, Omnes sancti venite. Venite comedite panem meorum, Et bibite vinum quod miscui vobis. Dominus regit me [Ps. xxii, 1], with Alleluia after each clause. The St. Gall has only the quotation from John 14:27, before Psalm 22; but Venite comedite comes later. In the Bangor Antiphonary is a hymn of eleven four-lined stanzas, "Sancti venite, Christi corpus sumite", entitled "Ymnus quando comonicarent sacerdotes".) Then follow in the Stowe, the St. Gall, and in the Communion of the Sick in the Stowe, and in the Books of Deer, Dimma, and Mulling, a number of communion antiphons. The Bangor Antiphonary also gives a set. No two sets are alike, but some antiphons are common to nearly all. There is a resemblance to the Communion responsory, called Ad accedentes, of the Mozarabic rite, and similar forms are found in Eastern liturgies, sometimes with the same words. Possibly the Tricanum of St. Germanus was something of the same sort.
At the end of these in the Stowe is the colophon Moel Caich scripsit, with which Moel Caich's corrections and additions to the mass end.