Excerpts from
CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WORSHIP
[...] by Rev. Gerald Ellard, S.J., Ph.D. 1
From: HIGH MASS WITH ST. GREGORY, p.132
[...]
The biography of St. Gregory enshrines a tiny anecdote, which illustrates how closely gift and Return-Gift might chance to be linked together. A certain noble lady had smiled just as Gregory was about to communicate her. On being taken to task for this afterwards, she said: "I recognized the Fragment to be of the very oblation-loaf which I made myself with my own hands and offered you." (Bk. iv,10)
On the palm of the right hand of the communicant the Pontiff laid the Bread, and the archdeacon offered each in turn the Cup of fellowship in the Blood of Christ. 2 The Communion of the lower clerics followed upon that of the people. [...]
From: SACRIFICIAL-MINDEDNESS, pp.144/5
Read the Chapter 11 in full HERE [...]
Communion Ever Rarer.
But along with these repeated urgings to continue the sacrificial gifts, there were parallel enactments surrounding the reception of the Eucharist with conditions which made it extremely difficult for people living in the world. The two tendencies develop side by side. Communion comes to be regarded as a spiritual reward to be won at great cost on the three or four principal feasts, and the gift procession dwindles until it is no more a public, social affair, but an occasional sight, a relic come down from times long past.
Unleavened Bread Adds New Difficulty.
In the period 800-1000 the use of unleavened bread at the altar was spreading throughout the West. This was a further hindrance to the bringing of gifts, for now ordinary table bread would no longer serve for the offering. About the year 1200 money first began to be brought to the altar as a substitute for the old gifts of bread and wine. For a time this made the gift-procession easier, and in places helped to restore it for a while.
Yearly Communion Obligatory.
By this date the reverential awe surrounding the reception of Communion had brought it about that even the greatest saints, and whole religious orders in the first fervor of their foundation, communicated only three or four times a year. Many people living in the world put off Communion for years at a time. In the fact of these conditions, the Lateran Council in 1215 enjoined the annual Easter Communion under pain of excommunication (the penalty of excommunication has since been removed). The same Council spoke of priests "who celebrate Mass only three or four times a year." [...]
From: CANON OF THE MASS: SECOND PART (pp.186/7)
[...]
For the sake of comparison we here give the oldest Mass Canon extant, that of Rome about 225, when the Mass there was still in Greek. A discerning reader will find all the ideas, except the "Mementoes," expressed in our Canon.
Roman Canon of about 225
The deacons bring him [the bishop] the oblation 3 . . . he lays his hands upon it with all the priests 4 and gives thanks saying:
"The Lord be with you."
And all answer:
"And with thy spirit."
"Lift up your hearts."
"We have lifted them up to the Lord."
"Let us give thanks to the Lord."And he thus continues:
"We give thanks to Thee, O God, through Thy beloved Son Jesus Christ, whom in these last days Thou hast sent to us [to be] the Redeemer and Saviour and Messenger of Thy will; who is Thy inseparable Word, through whom Thou didst create all things, and who was acceptable to Thee; whom Thou didst send from heaven into the Virgin's womb, and who in her womb was made Man and was manifested [as] Thy Son of the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin; who fulfilling Thy will, and buying for Thee a holy people, stretched forth His hands, when He suffered, that by His passion He might deliver those who believed in Thee; who when He was delivered over to His passion of His own will, to destroy death, to break the bonds of the devil, to trample upon hell, to enlighten the just, to set a term and to manifest His Resurrection, taking bread, giving thanks to Thee, said:TAKE YE, THIS IS MY BODY, WHICH SHALL BE BROKEN FOR YOU.
And taking likewise the chalice, saying:
THIS IS MY BLOOD, WHICH IS SHED FOR YOU; WHEN YOU DO THIS, YE MAKE COMMEMORATION OF ME. 6
"Mindful therefore of His death and resurrection, we offer Thee this Bread and Chalice, giving thanks to Thee, because Thou hast held us worthy to stand before Thee and to minister to Thee. And we beg, that Thou wouldst send Thy Holy Spirit upon the Oblation of the holy Church, and gathering into one all who have received [It] in the fullness of the Holy Ghost unto the confirmation of the faith in truth. That we may praise and glorify Thee through Thy Son Jesus Christ, through whom is to Thee glory and honor, to the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit, in Thy holy Church both now and forever. Amen." (Hippolytus).
[From the Latin "Tridentine" Mass]
Spreading his hands over the Oblation, he says:
We therefore beseech Thee, O Lord, graciously to accept this oblation of our servitude, as also of Thy whole family and to dispose our days in. Thy peace, preserve us from eternal damnation, and rank us in the number of Thine elect. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Which oblation do Thou, 0 God vouchsafe in all respects to make blessed, approved, ratified, reasonable and acceptable: that it may be made for us the Body and Blood of Thy most beloved Son Jesus Christ, Our Lord.
Who the day before He suffered, took bread into His holy and venerable hands; and, with His eyes lifted up towards heaven, giving thanks to Thee, Almighty God, His Father, He blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying:
Take and eat ye all of this; for
THIS IS MY BODY
Kneeling, the priest adores, and then elevates the Sacred Host.
In like manner, after He had supped, taking also this excellent chalice (Ps. xxii,5) in His holy and venerable hands, giving Thee also thanks. He blessed, and gave it to His disciples, saying: Take and drink ye all of this; for
THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL TESTAMENT, THE MYSTERY OF FAITH (I Tim. iii,9); WHICH SHALL BE SHED FOR YOU, AND FOR MANY, TO THE REMISSION OF SINS. As often as ye do these things, ye shall do them in remembrance of Me.
After the priest elevates the Chalice, he says:
Wherefore, O Lord, we Thy servants, as also Thy Holy people, etc.
[...]
(An Irish? Frankish? Interpolation of the Canon).
From: ORDINARY OF THE MASS: THIRD PART, (pp.206/7)
[...]The Last Gospel
St. John's Summation.The sublime passage at the head of St. John's Gospel has been held in the highest esteem from the very dawn of Christianity. St Augustine tells us of a Platonist philosopher (De Civ. Dei, x,29) who considered it "fit to be written in letters of gold and set up to be read in the highest places." Christians used to read this passage to comfort the sick, to strengthen the dying: in short, there were all sorts of practices connected with it in the private devotional lives of the people. A local council at Seligenstadt, Germany, in 1022, complained of a superstitious desire of some to hear this Gospel every day (Mansi, xix,398). After priests had begun to recite this passage, as part of their thanksgiving as they left the altar, it was not long before popular devotion found a way to insist on its recital at the altar. The movement seems to have spread from Germany. The custom of reciting this Gospel passage at the end of Mass had become quite common, when it was finally sanctioned by the reformed Mass Book of 1570. 6
From: EMMANUEL, (pp.284/5)
[...]
Where once people thought it fit and proper to carry the Blessed Sacrament on their persons for safety on embarking on a sea voyage or to hoist It to the tips of their battle standards, and so plunge into fray) the newer attitude brought it about that the Eucharist was elevated at Mass, was enthroned upon the altar, was visited, was prayed to, in fine, was adored as God. Instead of the Eucharist being wrapped in scarfs and carried on a sea voyage, as formerly, the Eucharistic Lord was now borne in solemn state to bless the vessels by His Presence before sailing.
Still less was the Eucharist now allowed to be kept in little boxes in private dwellings, but instead the families gaily adorned the homes on Corpus Christi Day with whatever of homely finery they possessed, that so their homage might be evidenced as the King was borne through the streets. It can be seen at a glance what a turning point in the history of Christian piety was marked when the full implications of the worship of the Real Presence were realized. [...]
From: FROM LIFE TO LARGER LIFE, (pp.356/7)
[...]
Pagan Rites Christianized.
Tertullian, who wrote at the end second century, tells us of the custom of meeting annually at the, of the dead to celebrate the Christian Sacrifice. This was a Christianizing of an older, pagan banqueting practice, as was mentioned on page 103. In like manner, nearly all the other common usages attending Christian burial today are adaptations from the pagan customs of early Christian times. In Tertullian's day it was still reckoned an undesirable relic of paganism that flowers, and wreaths in particular, were strewn upon coffin and grave, but by St. Jerome's time this beautiful custom was accepted without question. Jerome writes to his friend Pammachius: "Husbands spread violets, roses, lilies and purple blossoms on the graves of their wives, and so assuage the sorrow of their hearts in these offices." (Epis.26 as Pam.)
The great historian of the early persecutions, Eusebius, speaks of the zealous care with which the bodies were cleansed, and anointed with sweet-smelling spices, and wrapped in white linen cloths. All of which reminds one forcibly of the Gospel story of the burial of Christ. Of St. Cecilia and other famous martyrs it is known they were interred in regal cloth-of-gold. St. Cyprian, in the middle of the third century, gently scolded his flock that at funerals they wore "black, garments of mourning, whereas the departed have already put on the shining raiment" (De Mort. Xx) of glory. 7 But the wearing of black persisted, and later on even conquered the Church, since it is now found in the sacred vestments and the hangings of altar and bier. St. Jerome contrasts the howling of the heathen funeral procession with the comforting psalms as sung by the Christians. The funeral processions, held as a rule in the evening, reminded St. John Chrysostom, of Constantinople, of an escort of honor, because of the torches carried, the waving of palm branches, the smoking censer, and oft-echoing cries of Alleluia.
FOOTNOTES
- "Christian Life and Worship", by Rev. Gerald Ellard, S.J., Ph.D., The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, Seventh Printing - 1947.
Fr. Ellard was Professor of Liturgy, St Louis University School of Divinity. He wrote the Author's Forword in 1933 at St Mary's College, St Mary's, Kansas.
- A clear example of Communion in the hand, and under both species.
- We see the offering of the gifts procession in the Novus Ordo Missae.
- Here we see an example of concelebration.
- Note: no "pro multis" nor "Mysterium Fidei" here!
- Pope Pius V's Bull Quo primum was dated 13 July, 1570.
- Today's "traditionalists" berate the current practice of white vestments at funerals, vainly thinking that they are the "guardians of tradition"!
Chapter 11, CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WORSHIP, by Fr. Gerald Ellard, S.J. Ph.D. by and
"A Defense of the Pauline Mass" by Fritz Albers, Ph.B., and
On the Validity of the Mass of Paul VI by Deacon Ed Faulk, and
"A Defense of the Pauline Mass" by John N. Lupia, Ph. D., and
The Mozarabic Rite vis a vis The Novus Ordo Missae
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