I
(p. 16)
According to the existing Roman Calendar, feasts are classed as follows:—
Duplicia primæ classis. Nativitas Domini, Epiphania, Annunciatio, Pascha cum tribus antecedentibus et duobus sequentibus diebus, Ascensio Domini, Pentecoste cum duobus sequentibus diebus, festum Corporis Christi, festum SS. Cordis Jesu, festum S. Joseph sponsi B.M.V., Nativitas Joannis Bapt., festum SS. App. Petri et Pauli, Assumptio B.M.V., festum Immaculatæ Conceptionis B.M.V., festum Omnium Sanctorum, Dedicatio propriæ ecclesiæ, Patronus vel titulus ecclesiæ.
Duplicia secundæ classis. Circumcisio Domini, festum SS. Nominis Jesu, festum SS. Trinitatis, festum Pretiosissimi Sanguinis D. N. J. Chr., Inventio Crucis, Purificatio, Visitatio, Nativitas B.M.V., Sollemnitas S. Rosarii, Dedicatio Michælis Arch., festum Patrocinii S. Joseph sponsi B.M.V., Natales Apostolorum et festa Evangelistarum, festum S. Stephani, Protomartyris, SS. Innocentium, S. Laurentii, S. Annæ matris B.M.V., S. Joachim patris B.M.V.
Duplicia majora. Transfiguratio Domini, Exaltatio S. Crucis, festa VII. dolorum B.M.V., Commemoratio B.M.V. de monte Carmelo, festa Ad Nives, S. Nominis, de Mercede, et Præsentatio, B.M.V., Apparitio S. Michælis Arch., festum SS. Angelorum Custodum, Decollatio S. Joannis Bapt., Cathedra Petri utraque, S. Petri ad vincula, Conversio S. Pauli Ap., Commemoratio S. Pauli Ap., festum S. Joannis ante Portam Latinam, S. Barnabæ Ap., S. Benedicti Abb., S. Dominici Conf., S. Francisci Assis. Conf., festum Patronorum non principalium.
II
(p. 24)
(A) A marked increase appears in the statute of Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury († 1089). He divides the festivals into three classes. In the first class he reckons five, the three chief festivals of the Christian year, the Assumption, and the feast of the local patron; in the second, Epiphany, Candlemas, St Gregory, the Annunciation, Low Sunday, St Alphege, the Ascension, St Augustine of Canterbury, the Octave of Pentecost, the Nativity of St John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, the Translation of the Relics of St Benedict, the Nativity of our Lady, St Michael, All Saints, St Andrew, and the Dedication of the Church; the festivals belonging to the third class were St Vincent, the Conversion of St Paul, SS. Philip and James, the Exaltation of the Cross (3rd May), St James (29th July), St Peter’s Chains, St Lawrence, the Octave of the Assumption, St Bartholomew, St Augustine of Hippo, the Beheading of St John the Baptist, the Invention of the Cross, St Matthew, SS. Simon and Jude, St Martin, and St Thomas.
Lanfranc issued this decree as archbishop, still it was only to hold good for the Benedictine monasteries and the Cathedral.[833]
(p. 25)
(B) The festivals of obligation for the archdiocese of Cologne were regulated according to the months by the provincial synod of 1308. January: the Circumcision, Epiphany, St Agnes, the Conversion of St Paul. February: Candlemas, St Peter’s Chair, St Matthias. March: the Annunciation. April: Easter and St George. May: SS. Philip and James, the Invention of the Cross. June: the Nativity of St John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul. July: St Mary Magdalen, St James, St Pantaleon. August: St Peter’s Chains, St Lawrence, the Assumption, St Bartholomew, the Beheading of St John the Baptist. September: the Nativity of our Lady, the Exaltation of the Cross, St Matthew, St Michael. October: St Gereon, the Eleven Thousand Virgins, St Severin, SS. Simon and Jude. November: All Saints, St Martin, St Cunibert, St Cecilia, St Catherine, St Andrew. December: St Nicholas, St Thomas, Christmas, St Stephen, St John the Evangelist, the Holy Innocents. In all, forty-two days.[834] The feasts of Easter and Pentecost extended over three days; the Ascension is omitted. In the city of Cologne were celebrated in addition: the Arrival of the relics of the Three Holy Kings on the 23rd July, the Dedication of the Cathedral, SS. Cosmas and Damian, the Dedication and Patronal feast of each parish church, and, finally, the feast of Corpus Christi was enjoined in addition.
The Synod of 1549 under Adolf III. gives the following list: All Sundays, Easter, Pentecost, Christmas—two days each, the third day in choro only—Circumcision, Epiphany, Ascension, the Holy Trinity, Corpus Christi, these being feasts of our Lord. The feasts of our Lady are: the Purification, the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Assumption, the Nativity, the Presentation, and the Conception. Saints’ days are as follows: all the Apostles, St John the Baptist, St Mary Magdalen, St Lawrence, St Michael, All Saints, St Martin, and the Dedication of the Church; there are also six other saints’ days which were optional for places where they were customary. The feast of the Patron Saint is passed over, and thus a decrease of fifteen festivals is brought about.[835]
(p. 26)
(C) The statute of Archbishop Baldwin of Treves, published in 1338, contains fewer festivals, i.e. Christmas, Easter with the three following days and Pentecost with two, Corpus Christi, Circumcision, and Epiphany. Our Lady’s feasts were: the Nativity, Annunciation, Purification, and Assumption; a few years later her Conception was added. Then came the festivals of the twelve apostles, St Michael (8th May), the Invention of the Cross, the Nativity of St John the Baptist, St Lawrence, St Martin, St Mary Magdalen, St Catherine, All Saints’, the Holy Innocents, the Dedication of the Church and the feast of the Patron Saint.
III
(p. 35)
The Festivals of Obligation as observed in Different Countries
Rome. Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, one day each; Circumcision, Epiphany, Candlemas, St Joseph (19th March), the Annunciation, Ascension, St Philip Neri (26th May), Corpus Christi, the Nativity of St John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, the Assumption, Nativity of Our Lady, All Saints, the Immac. Conc., St John the Evangelist (27th December). The civil law of the Italian Kingdom recognises the following days as legal holidays: the Epiphany, Ascension, Corpus Christi, SS. Peter and Paul, the feasts of Our Lady on the 15th August, 8th September, and 8th December, Christmas and the patron saint of the city and diocese.
France. In accordance with the concordat of Napoleon four feasts were celebrated: Christmas, Ascension, the Assumption, and All Saints. All other festivals when they fell on a week day were transferred to the following Sunday. Even in Belgium and in the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, in the part of Limburg belonging to Holland, and in the bailiwick of Meisenheim in the diocese of Treves, this scanty provision of feasts holds good.
Austria. The Cis- and-Transleithan countries observe the same holy days. Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, two days each; the Circumcision, Epiphany, Candlemas, the Annunciation, the Ascension, Corpus Christi, SS. Peter and Paul, the Assumption, All Saints, the Immaculate Conception. The feasts of the patron saints were transferred by Joseph II. to the following Sunday, but in each of the Crown-lands the local patron is commemorated on his proper day, i.e. in Austria above and below the Enns, the feast of St Leopold: in Upper Austria, St Florian: in Moravia, SS. Cyril and Methodius: in Galicia, St Stanislaus and St Michael: in Silesia, St Hedwig: in Bohemia, St Wenceslaus and St John Nepomuk: in Styria, Carinthia, Camiola, the provinces of the Litoral, Salzburg, Tyrol and Vorarlberg, St Joseph: in Sclavonia, St John the Baptist: in Hungary, St Stephen the Confessor: in Croatia, St Elias: in Transilvania, St Ladislaus: in Salzburg, St Rupert: in Dalmatia, St Jerome: in Goritz, St Hermagoras and St Fortunatus.
In the eight old provinces of Prussia, the festivals recognised by the state are: Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, two days each; the Circumcision, Epiphany, Candlemas, Ascension, Corpus Christi, SS. Peter and Paul, All Saints, the (Protestant) day of penitence and prayer, the Annunciation and the Immaculate Conception. In the archdiocese of Posen, the Nativity of Our Lady, and the Assumption as well as St Stanislaus are observed, and in Gnesen, St George as patron of the diocese. The new provinces have had also to adopt the Protestant day of penitence.
Hanover, the dioceses of Hildesheim and Osnabrück. Besides the days observed in Prussia, the Nativity of St John the Baptist, the Nativity and Assumption of Our Lady, St Michael, and the local patrons St Bernward and St Martin.
For the countries of the Northern Mission in the diocese of Osnabrück, the following are omitted from the list just given: Nativity of St John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, and all the feasts of Our Lady, thus leaving only Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, each with two days; the Circumcision, the Epiphany, the Ascension, Corpus Christi, All Saints. This applies to Bremen, Hamburg, Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein, both the Mecklenburgs and Denmark.
Bavaria. The following festivals are observed: Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, each for two days; the Circumcision, Epiphany, Candlemas, St Joseph, the Annunciation, the Ascension, Corpus Christi, the Nativity of St John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, the Assumption and Nativity of Our Lady, All Saints, the Immaculate Conception. Each diocese of Bavaria celebrates its own particular patron as well.
The Palatinate, diocese of Spires. Here the effects of the French dominion are still observable, and the only festivals of obligation observed are: the Circumcision, the Ascension, Corpus Christi, the Assumption, All Saints. Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost are kept each for two days.
The Kingdom of Saxony. The festivals of obligation are: the Circumcision, the Epiphany and Annunciation, the Ascension, Corpus Christi, SS. Peter and Paul, the Assumption, the Nativity of Our Lady, the Immaculate Conception, All Saints; Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, each for two days.
In the ecclesiastical province of the Upper Rhine there are different regulations in each diocese.
Würtemburg, diocese of Rottenburg. The Circumcision, the Epiphany, Candlemas, the Annunciation, Ascension, Corpus Christi, Nativity of St John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, the Assumption and Nativity of Our Lady, All Saints, the Immaculate Conception; Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, each for two days.
Baden, archdiocese of Freiburg. The five chief feasts of Our Lady are kept on the day itself; so too is the feast of St Joseph, and the other festivals are the same as in Würtemburg, with the exception of the 24th June.
Hesse-Nassau: the dioceses of Fulda and Limburg. Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, each for two days; the Circumcision, Epiphany, Candlemas, Annunciation, Ascension, Corpus Christi, SS. Peter and Paul, Assumption, All Saints; the Prussian day of penitence is observed in November, and in Limburg, the patron saint on his own day.
Hesse-Darmstadt: diocese of Mainz. The same regulations as in the Palatinate.
Alsace-Lorraine. The four French holy days. An edict of 10th October 1887 adds to these Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Whit Monday, as general holidays in the legal sense, and as holidays and days of rest in the sense of the Code de procédure civile.
In Holland, in the archdiocese of Utrecht, and in the diocese of Harlem, the following rank as full holy days on which no work is to be done: the day following the three chief feasts of the year, the Circumcision, Epiphany, Annunciation, and the Assumption. It is of obligation to hear mass only on Candlemas, the Nativity of Our Lady, and the Immaculate Conception. In the dioceses of Breda and Bois-le-Duc, these three festivals are days of full obligation.
For England, Pope Pius VI. appointed the following holy days on the 9th March 1777: Easter and Pentecost, each two days: Christmas, the Circumcision, Epiphany, the Ascension, Corpus Christi, the Annunciation, the Assumption, SS. Peter and Paul, All Saints, and the feast of the patron saint. At the present time are observed, Easter, Pentecost and Christmas, one day each, the Circumcision, Epiphany, Ascension, Corpus Christi, SS. Peter and Paul, the Assumption, and All Saints. St Andrew’s day is added for Scotland, and St Patrick’s day and the Annunciation for Ireland. The Immaculate Conception is a purely ecclesiastical festival.
Switzerland affords an interesting study owing to the great varieties existing within so small a space. The diocese of Basel-Soleure: Christmas, the Circumcision, Epiphany, Candlemas, Corpus Christi, the Assumption, All Saints, and the Immaculate Conception. In the canton of Lucerne, St Joseph’s day and the Annunciation are celebrated, the latter also in the canton of Zug. The three chief festivals are kept for day only. The diocese of Coire, comprising the cantons of Grisons, Schwyz, Uri, Unterwalden, Zurich, Glarus, and the principality of Liechtenstein: the three chief festivals, each two days, the Circumcision, Epiphany, Candlemas and St Joseph. The last two days do not rank as holy days in the canton of Zurich, nor does the Annunciation in the cantons of Zurich and Schwyz. The Ascension, Corpus Christi, the Nativity of St John the Baptist, and SS. Peter and Paul are not kept in either of these two cantons, but the Assumption and All Saints are kept everywhere. The Nativity of Our Lady is not kept in Zurich and Schwyz, but the Immaculate Conception is kept everywhere except in the canton of Zurich. The following patron saints are kept, St Fridolin (6th March) in the canton of Glarus, Nicholas von der Flu (21st March) in Unterwalden, St Martin with an octave in Schwyz and Uri, St Lucius (3rd Dec.) in Coire. St Gall, comprising the cantons of St Gall and Appenzell, keeps the Epiphany, Candlemas, Ascension, Corpus Christi, the Assumption, All Saints, and the Immaculate Conception; the three chief feasts, each for two days, and St Gall’s day (16th Oct.) as patron of the diocese. In the diocese of Geneva-Lausanne, consisting of the four French cantons: the Circumcision, the Epiphany (with the exception of the cantons of Geneva and Vaud), Candlemas, the Annunciation (with the exception of Vaud and Neuchâtel), the Ascension, Corpus Christi, Assumption, All Saints, and the Immaculate Conception (with the exception of Geneva, Vaud, and Neuchâtel). The three chief feasts are kept for one day each. This is also the case in the canton of Valais, diocese of Sion, but the following days are also kept in this canton: the Circumcision, Epiphany, Candlemas, Annunciation, Ascension, Corpus Christi, Nativity of St John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, Assumption and Nativity of Our Lady and her Immaculate Conception, and St Maurice as Patron Saint (22nd Sept.).
Russian Poland. The three chief feasts, each for two days, the Circumcision, Epiphany, Candlemas, St Joseph, Annunciation, Ascension, Corpus Christi, Nativity of St John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, Assumption, Nativity of Our Lady, All Saints, the Immaculate Conception, St Stanislaus as patron. This last named day is not observed in the schools and law-courts on account of its nationalistic character.
Spain. The Circumcision, Epiphany, Candlemas, St Joseph, Annunciation, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Corpus Christi, SS. Peter and Paul, Assumption, Nativity of Our Lady, All Saints, the Immaculate Conception, Christmas. The three chief festivals are kept for only one day each.
Portugal. The three chief festivals for one day each. The Circumcision, Epiphany, Candlemas, St Joseph, Annunciation, Ascension, Corpus Christi, the Sacred Heart, St Antony of Padua (13th June), SS. Peter and Paul, Assumption, All Saints, the Immaculate Conception. Before the last reduction, the Nativity of Our Lady, and from mid-day on Maundy Thursday to mid-day on Good Friday were also holy days of obligation. Lisbon keeps the feast of St Vincent (22nd January) as patron of the city.
The United States observe only six festivals which may fall on week-days; all the others are transferred to the Sunday. These are Christmas, the Circumcision, Ascension, Assumption, All Saints, and the Immaculate Conception. The three chief festivals are kept for one day only. Since the number of festivals varied originally in the different states, an attempt was made after uniformity, and the council of Baltimore in 1852 desired to retain only four festivals as in France. Rome, however, was not satisfied with this, and, in 1866, the six festivals mentioned above were adopted. The provincial synod of Cincinnati in 1861 agreed to adopt the Epiphany, Annunciation, and Corpus Christi as well.
Brazil. The three chief festivals, each for one day. The Circumcision, Epiphany, Candlemas, Annunciation, Ascension, Corpus Christi, Nativity of St John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, Assumption, Nativity of Our Lady, All Saints and the Immaculate Conception.
Russia. Easter, Pentecost, Christmas, the Circumcision, Epiphany, Ascension, Transfiguration, Candlemas, Annunciation, our Lady’s Presentation and Assumption, and the Exaltation of the Cross (14th Sept). All these are, of course, kept according to the Julian calendar. To these are added the following feasts peculiar to Russia: the three feasts of the Jordan so-called, i.e. the Blessing of the Water, and the thirteen so-called Gala-feasts, i.e. the commemoration of the reigning dynasty (see Kirchenlexikon, X., 2nd ed. 1399). The schismatics in Austria-Hungary keep their festivals according to the Julian calendar, so that where the population is mixed, each feast is as a rule kept twice.
IV
(p. 71)
For many centuries the liturgical vestments were exclusively white, like the ordinary dress of classic times. The writers of the Carolingian period in their desire to find parallels between the enactments of the Old and New Testaments, were the first to remember that different colours were used in the vestments of the Jewish high priest. In addition to the white under garment which he wore in common with the simple priests, he wore an upper garment of blue, and a particoloured shoulder-garment, the ephod, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen, interwoven with gold thread. The repeated references to these vestments gradually led to the adoption of coloured vestments for the mass.[836]
Their introduction was at first tentative. Neither Rupert of Deutz, Honorius of Autun, Beleth, nor Hugh of St Victor mention the liturgical colours in their writings, or, if they do, only with reference to the Old Testament; Sicard of Cremona, a contemporary of Innocent III., clearly alludes to them, although he only mentions two—white and red.[837]
Innocent III. was the first to speak of all the liturgical colours, and to regulate their use in the Roman Church, but always with reference to the regulations of the Old Testament. According to him, white was to be used on the feasts of Confessors, Virgins, and Angels, and on Christmas, Epiphany, Candlemas, Maundy Thursday, and the Ascension; it was used as a matter of course on all other days where it was not otherwise specified, since until then white had been the universal liturgical colour. Red vestments were to be worn on feasts of Apostles and Martyrs. On feasts of the Holy Cross a choice between white and red was allowed. Red was to be used on Pentecost in memory of the fiery tongues, and on the feast of SS. Peter and Paul. On the Conversion of St Paul and on the feast of St Peter’s Chair, white was to be used. White was the colour for the Nativity of St John the Baptist, red for his Beheading. On All Saints many used red vestments, but the Roman Church used white, because it is said in the Apocalypse that the saints stand before the Lamb in white garments, with palms in their hands.
Black vestments are to be worn on days of penitence and abstinence, and also on the Commemorations of the dead. They were also worn during Advent and Lent, except, of course, on festivals falling within those seasons. With regard to the Holy Innocents some decided in favour of black, some in favour of red, but the Roman pontiff decided for violet. For ferias and ordinary days the colour was green. One might, in addition, wear scarlet for red, violet for black, and yellow for green.
In Durandus († 1296) we find the same rule, in parts verbally identical with the above. The only point to notice in regard to what he says is that he says black vestments are to be worn on Rogation days, violet seems to have the preference over black for Advent and Lent, and the use of the former colour is represented as peculiar to the Roman Church.[838]
There is accordingly nothing strange in the circumstance that in the more ancient rituals, only vestes solleminores in general are prescribed for Maunday Thursday, without reference to colour. The Roman use,[839] from the beginning, was to use white on this day, and this superseded the customs observed elsewhere.[840]
V
(p. 79)
The Word Mass as a Name for the Sacrifice of the Altar
The term mass does not owe its position to theology, but became established in the course of centuries by popular usage. The most ancient writers of the church speak frequently, and with all the precision desirable of the holy sacrifice of the altar, but they speak of it by other names which fully indicate its essential character, such as oblatio and sacrificium, or even sacramenta and collecta. These two last names have a more general significance; collecta is the late Latin abbreviation for collectio, and means an assembly of men for some given purpose, in this case for divine service. Colligere appears in the same sense in the Latin translation of Irenæus and in Tertullian; the substantive is found in Jerome and other ancient authors; a survival of this primitive usage appears in the name collecta given to the first prayer of the Mass.[841] It owes its name of collecta to the fact that according to the most ancient ritual it formed the commencement of the Mass. In the service-books, collecta was merely a name which served to distinguish the prayers of the Mass from those which preceded or followed. According to the Roman rite, the Mass began with the prayer of the priest at the altar as soon as the invitatorium sung by the choir was finished, the psalm Judica me, the Confiteor, the Kyrie and Gloria being later additions. Thus the name collecta became attached to this opening prayer, and is so given to it in most mediæval and Roman missals, until the reform under Pius V., when it was replaced by the name oratio now in use. At the same time the name postcommunio replaced the older title ad complendum. Whenever we find in prayer-books and explanations of the Mass, that the prayer was called the Collect because the priest “collected” the petitions of the faithful, we can only regard such an interpretation as silly and unhistorical; the same could be said equally well of all, or, at any rate, of most of the prayers of the Mass.
The term sacramentum or sacramenta served also not unfrequently as a name for the Mass,[842] and so gave rise to the name sacramentarium, generally given to the missal in ancient times. In addition to these names, oblatio and sacrificio were especially employed as having the advantage of adequately expressing the essential character of the rite. The former was the particular favourite of Tertullian, the founder of Latin ecclesiastical terminology, and afterwards of St Cyprian, but it may be said to belong to all writers and to all periods.[843] St Augustine, who had already propounded a formal theory of the sacrifice of the Mass, shows a preference for sacrificium.[844]
When we turn to the word missa, we must not treat it as a participle, even in the Ite missa est, for there is nothing with which the feminine participle can agree, and so it must be a substantive. In order to explain the meaning of this substantive, and to show how it acquired its position as the technical term for the most sacred act of the Church’s worship, requires an excursus dealing with the matter from the point of view of etymology, patrology, and liturology. As regards the etymology of the word, attempts have been made from time to time to derive missa from the Hebrew, (מסּה Deut., xvi. 10), in the belief the name must be as old as the thing it signifies, an attempt abandoned as absurd at the present day.[845] A better idea was that of the mediæval liturgists who explained the word as equivalent to transmissio in the sense of the offering up and presentation of the oblation before God. But fortunately there is one man, thoroughly conversant at first hand with primitive usages and terminology, who has left us an explanation of the word and of the origin of its application to the sacrifice of the altar. Bishop Avitus, of Vienne († 518), flourished at the period between the ages of antiquity and the mediæval period, and is, therefore, a reliable witness in this matter. He was asked by his sovereign, King Gundobad of Burgundy, what was the meaning of the word missa, and replied that missam facere was the same as dimittere, and was used by the Romans at both audiences in the royal palace and sittings of the law courts to intimate to the assembly that the audience or session was at an end and that they were free to depart; it was used in the same way in the churches. Avitus[846] himself uses missa simply for divine service.
It is clear that the explanation given by Avitus is correct. For since the conclusion of every session and assembly must be officially announced with words such as, “The session is at an end,” so in church, where a still greater number of men meet together, it is necessary to make known to them the conclusion of divine service. Such was the custom of the ancient Romans at their sacrifices and religious ceremonies, and the Christians naturally did the same. Tertullian speaks already of a dimissio plebis,[847] and we find the same thing in the Greek liturgies, although the formulæ vary in some respects from that in use among the Latins.[848]
It was not, however, the Mass which was first called by this name, but the other services of the ancient Church—the Psalmody, or, in other words, the Canonical Hours. From the striking account given by the so-called Silvia,[849] we can see how important these services were and what a prominent position they occupied in the worship of the Church. “Every day, in the early morning, the doors of the church were opened, and all the monks and nuns, as well as many of the laity, assembled, and until sunrise, sing hymns and psalms, in alternate choirs, along with the antiphons and prayers. About sunrise they begin to say the ‘matutinas ymnos.’ The bishop arrives with the clergy and sings the prayer within the chancel. Then he comes forth and blesses the people one by one. Et sic fit missa,” i.e. so the service ends, which comprised Nocturns, Lauds, and Prime, as they would now be called. The same ceremonies were observed at the Little Hours which followed later. Vespers were performed with more ceremony; at the conclusion the deacon directed the faithful to bow their heads in order to receive the bishop’s blessing. Again the pilgrim ends her description with the words, “Et sic fit missa.”
We must notice that the Psalmody took place daily in this way, while the Mass, especially in the East, was not celebrated daily; in Lent, for example, it was celebrated on Saturdays and Sundays only. At each hour there took place a dismissal, missa, and thus it was brought about that this word came to be used as a name for each of the canonical hours. The name was far-fetched and unsuitable, but popular usage does not form its nomenclature upon scientific principles, but from what most strikes the popular fancy. Thus the pilgrim, who expresses herself in popular language, speaks of missa vigiliarum, for Mattins, and missa lucernaris for Vespers. The word missa in itself means dismissal and nothing more. Once, in her naïve manner, she explains what sort of dismissal she means; it is dismissal out of the church (“missa de ecclesia,” c. 37, § 3, line 20). Which of the various dismissals out of the church is intended in a given case is shown by an additional phrase, as in the cases given above, when it is not clear from the context. Of course it may mean the dismissal which took place at the Mass, but not the sacrifice of the Mass itself. How far missa is from being in the pilgrim’s diary the technical term for Mass—which is all we are concerned with here—is sufficiently clear from the circumstance that wherever she lets slip the word missa for Mass, she at once hastens to add that the missa of which she speaks is the oblatio.[850] When she wishes to express herself with precision, she always calls the Mass oblatio, and in a few cases sacramentum (singular or plural). Of course missa, as a general term, may have been used as a name for the Mass, since there are one or more dismissals therein; had it not been so, missa could never have become the name par excellence for the Mass.
The same terminology is found at a somewhat later date in Cassian, to whom we are especially indebted for our intimate knowledge of monastic observances. An important part of these observances were the daily hours of prayer, the canonical hours, and we naturally expect to find the technical terms for them in Cassian’s writings. And so, indeed, we find the names formed with the help of the word missa, as in Silvia’s diary; Mattins and Lauds are called missa nocturna or missa vigiliarum,[851] while the Mass, on the other hand, is called oblatio or sacrificium.
From these passages it appears that missa in its strict sense means “dismissal,” and is a general term capable of receiving a particular significance by the addition of vigiliarum, etc. The same thing appears in Pope Innocent I. (Epist. 17, c. 12; Migne, xx. 535), where he speaks of the priests belonging to the party of Bonosus, and asks if they have celebrated Mass, which he calls sacramenta conficere, if they have given Holy Communion (si populis tribuit), and if they have performed the customary dismissals (si missas complevit). Apart from the fact that in the same passage two different terms cannot well stand for the same thing, the use of the plural shows that it is not the Mass which is meant but the other missæ, the hours, the performance of which concerned both the bishop and the priests. There is no doubt as to which term Leo I. used for the Mass, for oblatio and sacrificium occur several times in his writings. When in one passage we find the word missa as well, this can only mean the dismissal, the conclusion of divine service.[852] Thus even in the fifth century missa by itself always meant merely dismissal, never Mass; for Mass, the terms sacrificium and oblatio were employed.
This was the correct use of the terms in question during that period. But since, as we have said, the ceremonial dismissals (missæ) at the end of divine service gave rise to the name, and since dismissals of this kind occurred in the Mass,[853] once at the end and once after the sermon at the dismissal of the Catechumens, it is not remarkable that missa came into use as a name for the Mass, and came to be regarded as its special name in proportion as the canonical hours became less services for the laity than of obligation for clergy and religious. There was however an intermediate period before missa became solely and exclusively the popular name for the Mass. This transitional state of affairs extended over the whole of the sixth century, and appears in the writings of St Benedict and St Gregory the Great, who both employ missa without distinction as a name for the Mass and for the canonical hours.[854] The same thing appears in Gregory of Tours and in other writers. The last appearance of missa as a name for both kinds of divine service without distinction appears to be a passage in the life of St Ludgerus by Altfrid.[855]
The terminology employed by the official organs of the Church is naturally of weight in this matter. When the authorities of the Church made use of a term so little expressive of the nature of the thing as missa, which had already taken the popular fancy, it was inevitable that it should become the only recognised name for the Mass; and this is just what happened. On glancing through the canons of the ancient Councils of the West, we find all the terms with which we are already familiar—oblatio by the Council of Arles in 314 (Canons 5 and 19), and sacrificium by the Councils of Carthage (that of 390, Canon 8; that of 397, Canon 14), etc. We also find the term missæ applied to the particular parts of the Psalmody,[856] and to the other services composed of Psalmody and Mass together.[857] As a term clearly and unmistakably applied to the Mass by itself, missa appears for the first time in the fourth Synod of Arles in 524 (Canon 4), and then in sundry other Gallic synods of the sixth century.
On the other hand it must be stated once for all that missa in the sense of Mass is not to be found in the fourth century. The one solitary instance which for a long time seemed to countenance such a view is in a letter of St Ambrose,[858] in which he tells his sister of the attempts made by the Arians on Palm Sunday 385 to gain possession of the principal church of Milan. Ambrose was performing divine service, the homily was concluded, and he was just on the point of dismissing the catechumens, when the alarming news arrived that the Arians has seized a basilica situated outside the walls; he did not allow himself to be upset by the news, but remained where he was, dismissed the catechumens, and commenced the Mass, during which he received further information concerning the tumult. The question turns upon the words, “Ego tamen mansi in munere, missam facere cœpi. Dum offero,” etc. Hitherto missa has here been always taken in the sense of Mass, but it has really the sense of dismissal. For on Palm Sunday in Milan, the so-called traditio symboli to the more advanced class of catechumens was performed with much ceremony, something like a first Communion with us; on this day a twofold dismissal of the catechumens was necessary, the first of the lower class of catechumens, because they must not yet learn the creed which was now to be recited by the more advanced, and then followed the dismissal of the more advanced catechumens, the competentes, because these, as being still unbaptised, could not yet assist at the Mass.
Against this interpretation it has been urged[859] that missa must mean Mass, because, the act of dismissal being so short, Ambrose could scarcely have said, “Missam facere cœpi,” had he meant only the dismissal of the catechumens. How long an act must continue in order that its beginning, middle, and ending may be observable depends upon circumstances, but the dismissal of the competentes was sometimes far from brief. The Apostolic Constitutions, for instance, give a formula for this act, and the prayers used cover three printed pages (Constit. Apost., 8, 5, § 6 to 6, § 4). At the dismissal of the candidates for baptism, three prayers were recited (ib. 8, 7, § 2, to c. 7, § 1), one by the deacon, one by the catechumens, and one by the bishop, who then gave his blessing. Then followed an address by the bishop, of which we have two examples, in the 215th and 216th of the sermons of St Augustine. The act lasted long enough to have a beginning, middle, and ending.
From what has been said, we conclude, missa appears in the fourth century as a technical name for the various parts of divine service, especially for the canonical hours. During the sixth and seventh centuries it became a technical term for the Mass, and gradually usurped the place of other names for the Mass. These, however, survived in isolated instances until the ninth century, but disappeared entirely in the Middle Ages.
VI
(p. 142)
On the Date for Christmas in Hippolytus
Considering the uncertainty as to the day of our Lord’s birth shown by Clement of Alexandria, and the reserve which Irenæus and Tertullian maintain on the same point, it is surprising to find the most precise data given for its determination by a writer very little posterior to those just mentioned. In the commentary of Hippolytus on Dan. iv. 23 (in Bratke’s ed., 19), we read in the text discovered in 1885; “The first Advent of our Lord in the flesh, when He was born in Bethlehem, happened on the eighth day before the calends of January, on a Wednesday, in the forty-second year of Augustus, in the year 5500, reckoning from Adam. He suffered in His thirty-third year, on the eighth day before the calends of April (25th March), on a Friday, in the eighteenth year of Tiberius, when Rufus and Rubellius were consuls.”[860]
Not merely the astonishing minuteness of the data, but also the circumstance that this passage is to be found in a shorter form in a fragment, long well known to scholars, preserved in the Chigi Library in Rome, coupled with the fact that ancient ecclesiastical writers quote from it the year of world alone,[861] must give rise to doubts concerning the longer form of the passage in itself, as well as concerning the separate data of which it is composed.
If we turn our attention first to these separate data, we find the names of the consuls wrongly given; their names are Fufius and Rubellius, not Rufus and Rubellius. Mistakes in the names of consuls are certainly not rare in Eastern writers, but in the case of a man like Hippolytus, who lived in Rome, such a mistake is very astonishing, since he could easily have found out the right names. Next, according to the authentic Hippolytus, our Lord’s life lasted only thirty-one years, and not thirty-three; this appears from the passage in the so-called Liber Generationis representing in a Latin translation part of the “Chronicle” which, according to the inscription on his statue, Hippolytus had composed.[862] Again, the eighteenth year of Tiberius is also wrong. The forty-second year of Augustus and the two week-days may be correct (see Comm. Dan., 4, 9; in Bratke 8), for the latter appear also in the same connection in the inscription on the statue. Wednesday found acceptance as the day of Christ’s birth owing to the Messias being called in Malachy iv. 2, “the Sun of Justice,” from which it was inferred that He must have been born on the same day of the week as that on which the visible sun had been created (Gen. i. 19).
But, moreover, the days of the week have been interpolated into the text, since they do not fit in with the sequence of thought but rather disturb it. The aim of Hippolytus was here to calm the Christians agitated by the persecution of Severus; many went so far as to think that the last day was close at hand, and Hippolytus opposed himself to this alarm by declaring God had created the world in six days, with God a thousand years are as one day (Ps. lxxxix. 4), and thus the world would last six thousand years. Until the birth of Christ only five thousand five hundred years had passed, and so the end of the world was not to be expected yet. In such a train of thought, what place is there for days of the week and consulates? The late origin of the passage is also betrayed by the parallel grouping of the data given, for elaborate attempts of this kind were popular in the Middle Ages, but not in primitive times. Accordingly only the year 5500 of the world, and perhaps also the forty-second year of Augustus, belong to the original form of the passage in Hippolytus, all the rest having being added by a later hand.[863]
VII
(p. 158)
Christmas in England during the Commonwealth
Christmas was abolished in England in the seventeenth century during the reign of the Puritans, and its prohibition was strictly enforced. In 1644, after the overthrow of the monarchy, when the Puritans came into power, an Act of Parliament forbade all observance of Christmas, for it was held that Christmas was not originally a Christian festival at all, but was of heathen origin. Parliament directed that the 25th December, “which had hitherto been commonly called Christmas Day,” was to be kept as a fast. This law remained in force for sixteen years, and during this period the enactment was repeated and made still more stringent. No church dare be opened, no service of any kind held; the law expressly enacted that on Christmas Day everyone was to go on as usual with his work, and every merchant who shut his shop on this day was brought before the judge and punished. Markets were held on this day which had hitherto been held on other days, merely to make it impossible to keep the day as a festival. Plum-pudding and mince pies were branded as heathenish inventions. The soldiers were charged to break into houses in order to see that no one had food in his home such as used to be eaten at Christmas and when anything of this kind was discovered, the soldiers were to seize it and the people were punished into the bargain. There were naturally some who refused to abstain from the celebration of Christmas in obedience to these directions of the Parliament; many ministers performed service in their churches and several of them were taken before the judge and punished. In different places disturbances broke out, especially owing to the orders of Parliament that markets were to be held on Christmas Day while they were forbidden on other days of the week. In Canterbury, for instance, there was a general riot; the whole town was divided into two parties—those who observed Christmas and their opponents, and the festival of peace ended in a general row; many houses of the town were totally destroyed and some set on fire. Charles II. made it his aim to revoke as quickly as possible the laws passed during the Commonwealth, and so before long Christmas was once more observed as before. The Nonconformists, however, long held by their determination not to celebrate Christmas, and they kept a sharp look-out that at least their ministers should eat no Christmas pudding or mince pies; they called Yuletide Fooltide. In Scotland, Christmas is still regarded as something heathenish; the Presbyterians will have nothing whatever to do with its celebration, and throughout the country no special notice is of it as a religious feast. [This, of course, only refers to the Protestants of Scotland. Trans.]
VIII
(p. 173)
Excursus on the Three Holy Kings
Epiphany is a feast of our Lord and not the feast of the Three Holy Kings, although it is popularly called so, and, in the liturgy for the day, they are referred to. In a small number of dioceses, and only at a late date, they have been the object of a cultus, but in the calendars and menologies of the principal Churches they find no place; ancient ecclesiastical literature and tradition has also nothing to relate of them. Only in the twelfth century did they emerge from oblivion when the imperial chancellor, Rainald von Dassel, afterwards Archbishop of Cologne, translated their reputed relics to Cologne, 23rd July 1164, having received them as a gift from Frederick Barbarossa after the destruction of Milan. Until this time they had rested in the little Church of St Eustorgius at Milan, to which they are said to have been brought from Constantinople. The life of St Eustorgius, Bishop of Milan, 315-331, relates how this happened:—there lived in Constantinople a pious man called Eustorgius, a Greek by birth, and a favourite and adviser of the emperor. (The name of the emperor is passed over in silence by the author.) He sent Eustorgius as ambassador—the purpose of the embassy is not disclosed—to the province of Liguria, of which the capital is called Milan—which, however, is a mistake. Eustorgius won the affections of the Milanese to such a degree that they desired to have him as their bishop; after long resistance he consented, and went to the emperor in order to obtain his approval. The emperor rejoiced over the love which his ambassador had inspired, as Gratian had rejoiced over the appointment of St Ambrose, ratified the election, and forthwith remitted all taxes to the Milanese (!). Eustorgius was unwilling to return empty-handed and begged for some relics from the emperor with which to enrich his bishopric. The emperor allowed him to take whatever he liked, and he chose the relics of the Three Holy Kings, which had been sent from the East by Helena. A church was now built in Milan in which the relics were laid, where they attracted a great concourse of pilgrims and devotees.
The author regrets that he is not in a position to give us further information concerning the doings of Bishop Eustorgius, but he merely tells us that he died on the 18th October and was succeeded by Dionysius. This is incorrect for Protasius came first. The author of this document must have lived in Milan, for he gives some correct dates in the ecclesiastical history of Milan; nevertheless, gross blunders against historical truth and other indications show that we are dealing with a thoroughgoing fabrication of the eleventh century based upon events in the life of St Ambrose. The names Gaspar, Melchior, Baltassar make their first appearance here. A still more naïve account is given in a sermon belonging to the end of the twelfth century, Eustorgius being made a contemporary of the Emperor Comnenus; this is printed in Floss.
Contemporaries who had the opportunity of seeing the relics, state that the remains were embalmed and incorrupt; to judge from the face and hair, one of the bodies was that of a boy of about fifteen years; they were in an excellent state of preservation considering their age. The story of their translation to Milan is obviously a romance and the search for their bodies by Helena is formed upon the recognised model according to which Helena steps in to effect what cannot be otherwise explained. And so there is no doubt that we are face to face with a remarkably successful fabrication, such as were, unfortunately, by no means rare in the Middle Ages. In Cologne, the Three Holy Kings—all three of them—were at once set down as martyrs, although it is difficult to see how they would have suffered, granting them to have been kings. The Carmelite John of Hildesheim composed a popular Vita Trium Regum, composed in a simple style, which was widely read. See Usener, ii. 7-10, and the instructive treatise of H. J. Floss, “Dreikönigenbuch,” Cologne, 1864. The Vita Eustorgii is only to be found in Mombritius, Sanctuarium, i. 166.
IX
(p. 182)
The Greek Ecclesiastical Year
The Greek ecclesiastical year begins not with Advent but with Easter, or rather with the season preparatory to Easter, i.e. according to our phraseology, with Septuagesima Sunday.[864]