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rites. As in the case of all liturgical terms the name is
less old than the thing. From the time of the first
preaching of the Christian Faith in the West, as every-
where, the Hol^ Eucharist was celebrated as Christ
had instituted it at the Last Supper, according to His
command, in memory of Him. But it was not till
long afterwards that the late Latin name Missa^ used
at first in a vaguer sense, became the technical and al-
most exclusive name for this service.
In the first period, while Greek was still the Chris- tian language at Rome, we find the usual Greek names used there, as in the East. The conunonest was E^apiarta, used both for the consecrated bread and wine and for the whole service. Clement of Rome (d. about 101) uses the verbal form still in its general sense of giving thanks", but also in connexion with the Liturgy (I Clem^ Ad Cor., xxxviii, 4: /card ndyra e^api0T€cy airf). The other chief witness for the earliest Roman Liturgy, Justin Martyr (d. c. 167), speaks of eucharist in both senses repeatedly (Apol.. I, av, 3, 5; Ixvi, §1; Ixvii, 5). After him the word is always used, and passes into Latin {euchanstia) as soon as there is a Latin Christian Literature [Tertul- lian (d. c. 220), "De praBScr.", xxxvi, in P. L., II, 50; St. Cyprian (d. 258), Ep., Uv, etc.]. It remains the normal name for the sacrament throughout Catholic theology, but is gradually superseded by Missa for the whole nte. Clement calls the service AeirovpyLa (I Cor., xl, 2, 5; xli, 1) and «-po<r0opd (ibid., 2, 4), with, however, a shade of different meaning ("rite", " obla- tion"). These and the other usual Greek names (xXdffa dfiTov in the Catacombs; KonnapLa^ oi^m^tt, 0-vyAcv(rit in Justin, " I Apol. "^ Ixvii, 3), with their not yet strictly technical connotation, are used during the first two centuries in the West as in the East. With the use of the Latin language in the third century came first translations of the Greek terms. While eucharisHa is very common, we find also its transla- tion gratiarum actio (Tertullian, "Adv. Marcionem", I, xxiii, in P. L., II, 274) ; benedictio (= ei>Xo7/o) oc- curs too (ibid.. Ill, xxii; "De idolol.", xxii); aacrificiumf generally with an attribute {divina sacri-
etc.). We find also Solemnia (Cypr^ "De lapsis",
xxv), "Dominica solemnia" (Tert., "De fuga", xiv).
Prex, OUatio, Coma Domini (Tert., "Ad uxor.", II, iv,
in P. L., I, 1294), SpirUtiale ac coehste sacramentum
(Cypr., Ep., Ixiii, 13), Dominicum (Cypr., "De opere
et eleem.'*, xv; Ep. bciii, 16), Officium (Tert., ^'De
<»at.", xiv), even Passio (Cypr., Ep. xlii), and
other expressions that are rather descriptions than
technical names.
All these were destined to be supplanted in the West by the classical name Missa. The first certain use of it is by St. Ambrose (d. 397). He writes to his sister Marcellina describing the troubles of the Arians in the vears 385 and 386, when the soldiers were sent to break up the service in his church: "The next day (it was a Sunday) after the lessons and the tract, having dismissed the catechumens, I explained the creed [mfmbolum trad^mm] to some of the competents [peo- ple about to be baptized] in the baptistery of the oasilica. There I was told suddenly that they had Bent soldiers to the Portiana basilica. . . . But I re- mained at my place and began to say Mass [missam facere coBpi]. While I offer [dum offero], I hear that a certain Castulus has b^n seized by the people " (Ep., I. XX, 4-5). It will be noticed that missa here means tne Eucharistic Service proper, the Liturgy of the Faithful only, and does not mclude that of the Cate- chimiens. Ambrose uses the word as one in cominon use and well known. There is another, still earlier, but very doubtfully authentic instance of the word in a letter of Pope Pius I (from c. 142 to o. 157) : " Eupre- pia has hanaed over possession of her house to the
I, 672). The authenticity of the letter, however,
is very doubtful. If Missa really occurred in the
second century in the sense it now has, it would be
surprising that it never occurs in the third. We may
consider St. Ambrose as the earliest certain authority
for it.
From the fourth century the term becomes more and more common. For a time it occurs nearly al- ways in the sense of dismissal. St. Augustine (d. 430) says: " After the sermon the dismissal of the catechu- mens takes place " (j>ost sermonem fit missa catechu- menorum—Serm., xlix, 8, in P. L., XXXVIII, 324). The Synod of Lerida in Spain (524) declares that peo- ple guilty of incest may be admitted to church "usque ad missam catechumenorum ", that is, till the cate- chumens are dismissed (Can., iv, Hefele-Leclercq, " Hist, des Conciles ", II, 1064) . The same expression occurs in the Synod of Valencia at about the same time (Can., i, ibid., 1067), in Hincmar of Reims (d. 882} ("Opusc. LV capitul.", xxiv, in P. L., CXXVI, 380), etc. Etheria (fourth century) calls the whole service, or the Liturgy of the Faithful, missa con- stantly ("Peregr. Silviai*, e. g., xxiv, 11, Benedicit fideles et fit missa, etc.). So also Innocent I (401- 17) in Ep., xvii, 5, P. L., XX, 535, Leo I (440-61), in Ep., be, 2, P. L., LIV, 627. Although from the be- ginning the word Missa usually means the Eucharistic Service or some part of it, we find it used occasionally for other ecclesiastical offices too. In St. Benedict's (d. 543) Rule fiani missce is used for the dismissal at the end of the canonical hours (chap., xvii, passim). In the Leonine Sacramentary (sixth cent. See Litur- gical BooKB),thewordin its present sense is supposed throughout. The title. " Item alia ", at the head of each Mass means "Item alia missa". The Gelasian book (sixth or seventh cent. Cf. ibid.) supplies the word: "Item alia missa", "Missa Chrismatis", "Orationes ad missa [sic] in natale Sanctorum ", and so on through- out. From that time it becomes the regular, practi- cally exclusive, name for the Holy Liturgy m the Roman and Gallican Rites.
The origin and first meaning of the word, once much discussed, is not really doubtful. We may dismiss at once such fanciful explanations as that missa is the Hebrew missah ("oblation" — so Reuchlin and Lu- ther), or the Greek fju^ff is (" initiation "), or the German Mess r" assembly", "market"). Nor is it the parti- ciple leminine of mitterCy with a noun understood (* oblatio missa ad Deum ", ^' congregatio missa ", i. e., aimissa — so Diez, " Etvmol. Worterbuch der roman. Sprachen", 212, and others). It is a substantive of a late form for missio. There are many parallels in medieval Latin, coUeda, ingressa, conjessa, accessa, ascensa — all for forms in -io. It does not mean an offering {mittere, in the sense of handing over to God), but the dismissal of the people^ as in the versicle : " Ite missa est " (Go, the dismissal is made). It may seem strange that this unessential detail should have given its name to the whole service. But there are many similar cases in liturgical language. Communion ^ confession^ hreviary are none of them names that ex- press the essential character of what they denote. In the case of the word missa we can trace the develop- ment of its meaning step by step. We have seen it used b^ St. Augustine, synods of the sixth century, and Hincmar of Reims for " dismissal ". Missa Cate- chumenorum means the dismissal of the catechumens. It appears that missa fit or missa est was the regular formula for sending people away at the end of a trial or legal process. Avitus of Vienne (d. 523) says: " In churches and palaces or law-courts the dismissal is proclaimed to be made [missa ^im pronuntiatur] when the people are dismissed from their attendance (Ep. i). SoalsoSt. Isidore of Seville: " At the time of the
