THE MASS OF THE WESTERN RITES

PREFACE

Theologians, historians, and liturgiologists are to-day in agreement in

recognizing that the Mass is the most important function of all Christian

worship; and that the greater part of the other rites are in close relation

with the Eucharist.

This affirmation rests upon the most serious study of Christianity, in

antiquity as well as in the Middle Ages; and the various works regarding

the Mass, which have been multiplied in recent years, have merely confirmed

this truth. More and more have the faithful, in their turn, become

convinced of it; while even those who are without the Faith are beginning

to interest themselves in the Mass, and to endeavor to know more of its

history and to understand its meaning.

These facts explain the number of books which have recently appeared on

this subject. A glance at the Bibliography printed at the end of this

Preface will suffice to give an idea of their extent, and may serve as a

guide to those who wish to study the question more deeply. This

consideration might have dissuaded us from adding to all these works (some

of which are excellent) another book on the Mass. But we may first remark

that the "Bibliotheque catholique des sciences religieuses"[1] had, from

the beginning, comprehended in its plan a volume on the Latin Mass as one of

the elements of its synthesis.

Further, it may be noticed that the larger number of the books whose titles

we quote are chiefly, and sometimes entirely, occupied with the Roman Mass,

while our own plan comprises a study of the Latin, or Mass of the Western

Rites; that is, of the Mass as celebrated in Africa, Gaul, Spain, Great

Britain, and Northern Italy and in the other Latin countries in the Middle

Ages, as well as in Rome.

Now this comparison of the different Latin rites is most suggestive. Better

than all other considerations it reveals first the relationship of these

rites, and the fundamental unity of all the liturgies under their different

forms. Then, as we shall see, it throws light on the rites of the Roman

Mass which, consequently on the suppression of some of their number, can

only be understood by comparison with more complete rites. It must be added

that the Mass is so rich in material that each may study it from his own

point of view, and while receiving much benefit from the latest works on

the same subject, may present his own under a new aspect. Thus, following

Mgr. Duchesne's book, Mgr Batiffol thought it worth while to give us his

"Lecons sur la Messe;" and assuredly no one will consider that these

"Lessons" are a repetition of the work of his illustrious predecessor, or

of any of the other books already published upon this subject.

To those who may recognize in our own study views already exposed by one or

other of the authors quoted, we may remark that many articles in our

"Dictionnaire d'archeologie chretienne et de liturgie" (anamnese, anaphore,

canon, etc.) had taken chronological precedence of the greater part of

these books, so that in drawing inspiration from them we have but made use

of the "jus postliminii."

This, then, is the line we shall follow in this new study of the Mass; and,

while conforming with chronology, it seems to us at the same time to be the

most logical. We shall first examine the Mass in the first three centuries,

during which a certain liturgical unity reigned, and while the different

Christian provinces of the West had not each created its own special

liturgy. We shall then explain (Ch. II) how and why, from the fourth to the

seventh century, those liturgical characteristics which distinguish the

various Latin families became definite. According to these principles we

shall attempt to establish the classification of these liturgical families

and their genealogy.

In the following chapters we shall rapidly sketch the general

characteristics of the Mass in Africa, Gaul, Spain, Milan, and Great

Britain. It goes without saying that the Roman liturgy having become our

own, as well as that of the West (with rare exceptions), and also that of

the East, the Far East, and the New World--in short, of most Christian

countries--it demands detailed study, as well as a close following of its

historical development from the fifth to the twentieth century.

We have, according to the usual method, placed in an Excursus certain

questions which would have delayed the progress of the work, since they can

be