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INVITATORIUM


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INVITATORIUM


ceived investiture at his hands. In the same year, however, an agreement was arrived at, and was rati- fied by the pope in 1106, and by the Parliament in London in 1107. According to this concordat the king renounced his claims to mvestiture, but the oath of fealty was still exacted. In the appointment of the higher dignitaries of the Church, however, the king still retained the greatest influence. The election took place in the royal palace, and, whenever a candi- date obnoxious to the king was proposed, he simply proposed another, who was then always elected. The chosen candidate thereupon swore the oath of fealty, which always preceded the consecration. The separa- tion of the ecclesiastical office from the bestowal of the temporalities was the sole object attained, an achieve- ment of no very great importance.

In France the question of investiture was not of such importance for the State as to give rise to any violent contention. The bishops had neither such power nor such extensive domains as in Germany, and but a cer- tain number of the bishops and abbots were invested by the king, while many others were appointed and invested by the nobles of the kingdom, the counts and the dukes (i. e. for the so-called mediate bishoprics). The bishoprics were often dealt with in a very arbi- trary manner, being frequently sold, presented as a gift, and bestowed upon kinsmen. After the reconcil- iation between the pope and king, in 1104, the right of appointment was tacitly renounced by the kings, and free election became the established rule. The king retained, however, the right of ratification, and ex- acted, usually after the consecration, the oath of fealty from the candidate before he entered on the use of the temporalities. After some minor conflicts, these con- ditions were extended to the mediate bishoprics. In some cases, e. g. in Gascony and Aquitaine, the bishop entered into immediate possession of the temporalities on the ratification of his election. It was in France, therefore, that the requirements of the Church were most completely fulfilled.

Meyer von Knonau, Jahrbiicher des deutschen Reichea unter Heinrich IVund Heinrich Y, I-VXI (Leipzig, 1890-1909); Rich- TER, Annalen des deutschen Reiches im Zeitalter der Ottonen und Salter, II (Halle, 1897-98) ; Hampe, Deutsche Kaisergeschichie in der Zeit der Salier und Staufer (Leipzig, 1909) ; Hefele-Knopp- LER. Conciliengeschichte, V (2nd ed., Freiburg, 1886): Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands im Miltelalter, III (3rd and 4th eds., Leipzig, 1906); Gfrorer, Papst Gregorius VII. I-VII (Schaffhausen, 1859-61); Martens. Gregor VII., I, II (Leipzig, 1894); -Schaper, Zur Beurteilung des Wormser KonkordiU.'!. in Abhnndlungen der Berliner .ikademie.phil.-hist. Klasse. I (100.5). l-9.i; Bernheim, Das Wormser Konkordai (Breslau, 1906); RuDORFF, Zur ErkUtrunq des Wormser Konkordats (Weimar, 1906); ScHARNAGL. DcT Begriff der Investitur (Stuttgart, 1908); ScHMiTZ, Der englische I nvestiturstreit (Innsbruck, 1884); LiE- bermann, Anselm von Canterbury und Hugo von Lyon in Hist. Aufsnlze dem Andenken an G. Waitzgewidmet (Hanover, 1886); Rule. Life and Times of St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury (London. 1882); Church, St. Anselm (London, 1888) : Imbart DE La Tour, Les elections cpiscopales dans Veglise de France du IX' au Xll'aircle (Paris, 1890).

Klemens Loffler.

Invitatorium. — The Invitatorium, as the word implies, is the invitation addressed to the faithful to come and take part in the Divine Office. The p.salm "Venite" has been used for this purpose from the earliest times. In the life of St. Porphyrins of Gaza we read that this saint, wishing the people to join in prayer, caused the "Venite exultemus Domino" to be sung, and the people replied "Alleluia" after each verse. In the Benedictine Office the "Venite exulte- mus Domino" is recited daily at the beginning of the nocturns in the night Office and is called the In- vitatorium. It is never omitted, but the antiphons that follow each verse are changed according to whether it is a ferial or a saint's Office that is being recited. These antiphons are repeated twice before the psalm and once after the "(iloria Patri". The Rule of St. Benedict calls this psalm the Invitatorium, while the Rule of the Master (Magister Anonymus, a Frankish author of the seventh century) calls it the


Responsorium horiationis. The Mozarabic Liturgy makes use of an expressive word; sonus, as if to signify the bell that calls to the church. The most ancient Roman Liturgy we know of did not contain an Invitatorium; for it is omitted in the primitive liturgy, which is represented in our days by that of the last three days of Holy Week. If we find it in the Office of the Dead, it is because it was introduced at a later period. The Council of Aachen (816) men- tions the invitatory psalm "Venite" and forbids its use in the Office of the Dead. This same canon, in speaking of the manner of reciting the Invitatorium, employs the very words of the Rule of St. Benedict, which shows clearly that the use of this psalm was closely connected with the monastic Office.

The Invitatorium was purposely said slowly, like the preceding psalm: " Domine quid multiplicati sunt ". This was to enable the monks who were com- ing to the vigil to arrive in time for the beginning of the Office. Indeed, it really seems that these two preliminary psalms (Ps. iii and xciv) were the prayers said privately by the monks while rising and coming to choir: "Ego dormivi et soporatus sum et exsurrexi." It is possible that in the course of time the custom was introduced of reciting them aloud in choir, while awaiting the arrival of those who were late, and thus, after a while, they were inserted in the Office itself. In effect, the psalm "Venite" would seem to be addressed to those who were to come to the vigil rather than to those who were already there. At Rome, on the feast of the Epiphany, there was no Invitatorium. The psalmody began, and still begins, with the psalms of the first nocturn and their anti- phons. " Hodie non cantamus Invitatorium sed abso- lute incipimus " (To-day we chant no Invitatory but begin without it) is an instruction in a rubric of the Vaticanantiphonary. The psalm " Venite" was recited with its own antiphon in its proper place, that is to say, the last of the psalms of the second nocturn. Later this psalm became the first psalm of the third nocturn, and the antiphon was repeated just as when it was used at the Invitatorium. Amalarius and Durandus of Mende try as usual to explain it mystically, but the most probable explanation is that the Invitatorium was suppressed because the psalm was recited later and they did not wish to recite it twice in the same Office.

The Benedictine Breviary, which had hymns for its third nocturn, had not the same reason for excluding it and so retained it on the feast of the Epiphany. We see, nevertheless, that, before the ninth century, the Roman Liturgy had not the Invitatorium, at least not as regularly as the Benedictine Liturgy. It is likely that it was first introduced out of imitation of the monastic practice, on those days alone on which the people assisted at the vigil, when the Invitatorium would thus be addressed to some one. The "Ordines Romani " inform us that, on great festivals, two noc- turnal offices were celebrated: one, without the In- vitatorium, was recited by the priests of the papal chapel in their chapel; the other with the Invitato- rium, at which the people assisted. Amalarius tells us that in his time only the Office for the vigil of Sun- day had the Invitatorium, the ferial Office had not, because the people did not assist at it. On the feast of the Commemoration of the Dead the Invitatorium was recited, because the faithful came that day to pray for the deceased, but this brings us to a much later date. Most likely the origin of the Invitatorium is to be found in the call by which the monks were awakened: "Venite adoremus Dominum", which soon became the anthem or the refrain of the psalm "Venite exultemus Domino" which this prayer naturally re- called. Amalarius calls our attention to a peculiar fact. On week-days the Invitatorium was recited with()\it the insertion of the antiphons: " Invitatorivun diebus festivis hebdomadibus sine modidatione Antiphone