(The following was first printed in the 10/98 Nordic Saga of the Barony of Northkeep, Kingdom of Ansteorra)
The Plain FAQS
by Berengaria Ravencroft (Berengaria@hotmail.com)
"A rough, unordered mass of things."
--- Ovid (43 BCE - 18) Metamorphoses, I, 7
I would like to apologize
for how this month's column comes out, but I haven't gotten any questions
from people, and so I was a bit out of pocket with what to do about
it. I asked and most of the research staff said that I ought to go
ahead and write about whatever I wanted to write about. After a bit
of thought, the part of my staff that suggested I just blow off this month's
column did mention that there was going to be a Latin service offered for
educational purposes in conjunction with a demo the Barony was doing this
weekend, and that since many people in the SCA come from a Protestant background,
some of the details might not be as clear. So I asked for more on
this, and soon found myself with a 50 page research synopsis on the meanings
of ritual in the Latin Mass, and how the modern mass is different from
the mass in the Middle Ages. What follows is an abridgment of that
thesis. I hope I've got the major points and left out any dogma that
might offend anyone. If anyone is offended, or thinks I might have
left stuff out, please write me and say so.
The modern Catholic service
is traditionally called the Mass, from the Latin term missa, or
the celebration of the Lord's Supper. This ritual recreation of the
Last Supper of Jesus Christ is also known as Holy Communion and the Eucharist,
and is a main focus of most kinds of Christian wordship. The Tridentine
Mass is the modern form of the Latin Mass as established by the Council
of Trent (1545-1563), and decreed by Pope Pius V, in 1570. It remained
the unalterable form of the service until the Second Vatican Council in
1963. The Council of Trent was one of the Roman Church's responses
to the Protestant Reformation, and was a symbol of the Counter-Reformation
within the Church.
The Mass consists of two
basic parts - the Mass of the Catachumens (or the part of the service
that traditionally anyone could attend) and the Mass of the Faithful (which,
again traditionally, only baptised Christians could attend). The
altar is faced away from the Congregation.
The Mass of the Catacumens
began with Introductory Prayers, followed by the Introit, or Entrance prayer
proper to the feast day, or the occasion. The Kyrie is asking all three
parts of the Trinity for mercy. The Gloria is a hymn of praise
and thanksgiving to the Trinity. The Collect is the gathering up
of the prayers for the Congregation into a single prayer (the holding up
of the hands is how the Prophets in the Old Testament were told to pray).
The Epistle is a meaningful item from the New Testament (read while "holding
on" to the teachings). The Gradual, or Intermediary Verses, are sung
in preparation to reading the Gospel. The Gospel, often read from
a different corner than the Epistle, is something from the actual words
of Jesus Christ, and is accompanied by a lot of crossing and bowing.
The Creed is the basic statement of what is believed as set down by the
Council of Nicea in 325.
At this point the Mass of
the Faithful begins with the Offertory marked by a Verse and the Offering
of the Bread, then the Wine (the water and the wine mixed refer to the
mixed Divine and Human natures of Jesus). The Priest then offers
himself as the representative of the faithful who are offering their sacrifices
(usually today, this is of money). He then invokes the Holy Spirit
and purifies himself by washing his hands and offering a Prayer, and then
leads in to the Canon of the Mass. It is in the Canon that the Priest
transforms the Bread and the Wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ
and is the center point to the whole ceremony (There's a lot more involved
here, including the Priest momentarily becoming the personification of
Jesus Christ). After the Canon is the Communion, beginning with the
Lords Prayer, followed by the breaking of the Bread, some more prayers
to prepare first the Priest and the Faithful for the Communion.
This Communion begins with the Confiteor, or confession and absolution
by the Priest. The Priest then gives the consecrated Bread to the
Faithful while blessing them (under normal circumstances in this form of
service, the Faithful only receive one form, not both, of the Corporal,
or the Body of Christ). This is followed by a Thanksgiving, some
closing prayers, and then the closing Gospel describing the Mystery of
Incarnation from the Gospel of John. And then, unless there is further
business, you can go home.
So, still with me?
The Medieval Church, as much as they were supposed to have been so hot
on liturgical uniformity, didn't have one single standard service.
They had a number of them that were similar, but were different in some
details from one another. Different areas had their own "Uses".
One of the more popular was the Use of Sarum (or Salisbury), which was
used in most of England south of York, and in a few places throughout the
Continent. Even so, individual churches might have differences in
usage as well. It was in part to deal with this lack of uniformity
that both the Council of Trent and the English Protestant Book of Common
Prayer came about.
Some suggested readings:
Bailey, Terence. The Processions of Sarum and the Western
Church. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1971.
The Traditional Latin Roman Catholic Mass. Trans.
Father Gommar A. De Pauw, J.C.D. New York: Catholic Traditionalist
Movement, 1977.
If you have any questions about things that interest you, please send
them to me, either directly, or by way of the Chronicler.