MASS
793
irfAM
f<% mfUiy centuries. Other writers think that Latin
was not finally adopted till the end of the fourth cen-
tury (Probst, Die abendl&nd. Messe, 5; Rietschel,
"Lehrbuch der Liturgik", I, 337). No doubt, for a
time both languages were used. The question is dis-
cussed at length in C. P. Caspari, *' Quellen zur Gesch.
des Tauf symbols u. der Glaubensreger' (Christiania,
1879), III, 267 so. The Creed was sometimes said in
Greek, somepsaims were sung in that language, the
lessons on Holy Saturday were read in Greek and
Latin as late as the eighth century (Ordo Rom., I, P.
L., LXXVIII, 966-68, 955). There are still such frag-
ments of Greek ("Kyrie eleison", "A«ios O Theos )
in the Roman Mass. But a change of lancua^e^ does
not involve a change of rite. Novatian's Latm allu-
sions to the Eucharistic prayer agree veiy well with
those of Clement of Rome in Greek, and with the
Greek forms in Apost. Const., VIII (Drews, op. cit.,
107-22). The Africans, Tertullian, St. Cyprian, etc.,
who write Latin, describe a rite very closely related to
that of Justin and the Apostolic Constitutions (Probst,
op. cit., 183-206; 215-30). The Galilean Rite, as m
Germanus of Paris (Duchesne, "Origines du Culte",
180-217), shows how Eastern— how Greek "—a
Latin Liturgy can be. We must then conceive the
change of language in the third century as a detail that
did not much affect the development of the rite. No
doubt the use of Latin was a factor in the Roman ten-
dency to shorten the prayers, leave out whatever
seemed redundant in formulas, and abridge the whole
service. Latin is naturally terse, compared with the
rhetorical abundance of Greek. This difference is one
of the most obvious distinctions between the Roman
and the Eastern Rites.
If we may suppose that during the first three cen- turies there was a conunon Liturgy throughout Chris- tendom, variable, no doubt, in details, but uniform in all its main points, which common Liturgy is repre- sented bjT tnat of the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions, we have in that the origin of the Roman Mass as of all other liturgies (see Liturqy). There are, indeed, special reasons for supposing that this type of liturgy was used at Rome. The chief authori- ties for it (Clement, Justin, Hippolytus, Novatian) are ajl Roman. Moreover, even the present Roman Rite, in spite of later modifications, retains certain elements that resemble those of the Apost. Const. Liturgy re- markably. For instance, at Rome there neither is nor has been a public Offertory prayer. The "Oremus" said just before the Offertory is the fragment of auite another thing, the old prayers of the faithful, of wnich we still have a specimen in the series of collects on Good Friday. The Offertory is made in silence while the choir sin@3 part of a psalm. Meanwhile the cele- brant says private Offertory prayers which in the old form of the Mass are the Secrets only. The older Secrets are true Offertory prayers. In the Byzantine Rite, on the other hand, the gifts are prepared before- hand, brought up with the singing of the Cherubikon, and offered at the altar by a public Synapte of deacon and people, and a prayer once sung aloud by the cele- brant (now only the Ekphonesis is sung aloud). The Roman custom of a silent offertory with private prayer is that of the Liturgy ef the Apostohc Con- stitutions. Here too the rubric says only: "The deacons bring the gifts to the bishop at the altar" (VIII, xii, 3) and "The Bishop, praying by himself [Ko^AiwT6r, "silently"] with the pnests . . . "(VIII, xii, 4). No doubt m this case, too, a psalm was sung meanwhile^ whidi would account for the unique in- stance of silent prayer. The Apostolic Constitutions order that at this point the deacons should wave fans over the oblation (a practical precaution to keep away insects, VTII, xii, 3); this, too, was done at Rome down to the fourteenth century fMart^ne, " De anti- quis eccl. ritibus ", Antwerp, 1 763, I^ 145) . The Roman Mass, like the Apostolic (Constitutions (VIII, xi, 12),
has a washing of hands just before the Offertory. It
once had a uss of peace before the Preface. Pope
InnocentI,in his letter to Deoentius of Eugubium (416),
remarks on this older custom of placing it ante ctynftda
mysieria (before the Eucharistic prayer — ^P. L., XX,
553). That is its place in the Apost. Const. (Vlil, xi,
9). After the Lord's Prayer, at Rome, during the
fraction, the celebrant sings: " Pax Domini sit semper
vobiscum . " It seems that this was the place to which
the kiss of peace was first moved (as in Innocent I's
letter). This greeting, unique in the Roman Rite, oc-
curs again only in the Ap<x5t. Const. (^ clp-^nj tov BeoO
ft/trii xdvTiaw it/jiQp), Here it comes twice: after the
Intercession (VIII, xiii, 1) and at the kiss of peace
(VIII, xi, 8). The two Roman prayers after the
Communion, the Postcommunion and the Oratio
super populum {ad poptdum in the Gelasian Sacra-
mentary) correspona to the two prayers, first a
thanksgiving, then a prayer over the people, m Apost.
Const., VIII, XV, 1-5 ancl 7-9.
There is an interesting deduction that may be made from the present Roman Preface. A number of Pref- aces introduce the reference to the angels (who sing the Sanctus) by the form et ideo. In many cases it is not clear to what this idea refers. Like the igitur at the beginning of the Canon, it does not seem justified by what precedes. May we conjecture that some- thing has been left out? The beginning of the Euchar- istic prayer in the Apost. Const., VIII, xii, 6-27 (the part oefore the Sanctus, our Preface, it is to be found m Brightman, "Liturgies, Eastern and Western", I, Oxford, 1896, 14-18), is much longer, and enumerates at length the benefits of creation and various events of the Old Law. The angels are mentioned twice, at the beginning as the first creatures and then again at the end abruptly, without connexion with what has preceded, in oraerto introduce the Sanctus. The shortness of the Roman Prefaces seems to make it certain that they have been curtailed. All the other rites begin the Eucliaristic prayer (after the formula: "Let us give thanks") with a long thanksgiving for the various benefits of God. which are enumerated. We know, too^ how much o( the development of the Roman Mass is due to a tendency to abridge the older prayers. If then we suppose that the Roman Preface IS such an abridgement of that in the Apost. Const., with the details of the Creation and Old Testament history left out, we can account for the ideo. The two references to the angels in the older prayer have met and coalesced. The ideo refers to the omitted list of benefits, of which the angels, too, have their share. The parallel between the orders of angels in both liturgies is exact: —
Roman Missal Apost. Ck>NST.
cum Angelis arftartaX ayy/A«»v,
et Archangelist cum Thronis apxayy^Awr, $p6vm¥,
et Dominationibua, cumque icvpior^TMv,
omni militia ciBlestis exer- <rrpariMv
ciiuS aJMvitty^ ,
sine fine dioentes. Myovra oicarairavoTMv.
Another parallel is in the old forms of the " Hano igitur" prayer. Baumstark ("Liturgia romana", 102-07) has found two early Roman forms of this prayer in Sacramentaries at Vauclair and Rouen, already published by Mart^ne (" Voyage litt^raire ", Paris, 1724,40) and Delisle(inEbner, "Iteritalicum", 417), in which it is much longer and has plainly the nature of an Intercession, such as we find in the East- em rites at the end of the Anaphora. The form is: "Hanc igitur oblationem servitutis nostrse sed et cunctee familise tuae, qusesumus Domine placatus accipias, quam tibi devoto offerimus corde pro pace et caritate et imitate sanctse ecclesis, pro fide catholica . . . pro sacerdotibus et omni gradu ecclesise, pro regibus . . . " (Therefore, Ol^rd, we beseech Thee, be pleased to accept this offering of our service and of all Thy household, which we offer Thee with devout
