The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1899-11-25


, clergy, as in Cassian, lib. 2: after thu
: night mass it is not right to sleep. Hi
is giving Instructions to the monks a.
to the way of reciting the office, anC
from his admonition as to sleep l
! might appear that some of them were
not always free from its influence dur
ing the time of watching and praying
In the Middle Ages also the word fire
quently meant certain festival days
and was commonly used to denote any
religious function whatever, as may b
found in the writings of the monks.
From the meaning given to the wore
Missa by Gavantus, referred to above
a valuable practical conclusion may be
drawn. He says that ''it is the send
ing UP of the prayers both of the peo-
pie and the priest to Cod etc. From
this we see that, contrary to falls
opinion. entertained by many outside OF
the church, the people assembled for
the publiG worship of God have an &C
tive participation in the devotional Elk
ercises and are not mere witnesses or
loOlers-on. The priest is, indeed the
direct and sufficient agent in the offer
ing of the great mystery as a sacrifice,
but the more actively do the people Co
operate in the sacred accessories to it's
completion, and the more effectually
do they form one body with him the
more fully will it's ends be obtained and
! the more abundant will fall upon them
it's divine blessings.
From the passage in the Acts, quoted
above, xiii 2, it is evident that the
| Apostles adopted some form of cere-
monial in the first days of their public
ministry after the Pentecost. Again,
it is stated that they We're engaged at
| Jerusalem lin the communication of
good works and in the breaking of
bread" a passage cOrrObOratiye Of the
conclusion that there was in their re-
ligious ministrations a form or formu-
larry by which order and reverence were
maintained in the performance of these
sacred functions. And when. the dis
ciples knew the Lord in the breaking
of bread" it is not unreasonable to as
sumo that the ceremony must have
partaken somewhat of a ritualistic or
ritualistc form.
In the immediate post-Apostolic days
that there were stated rites and formal
prayers accompanying the celebration
of the divine mysteries cannot be
doubted This is evident from the writ
ings of Justin and others. When Greg
DRY the Great says Glib. I, Epist. 63),
that the Apostles in the beginning of
the Church consecrated only at, or by, |
the Lords power" he must have meant !
that this sacred and time-honored |
form of invocation always Immediately |
attended upon the mysterious formula |
of conservation. 1t is but very easy to |
see that, with the growth of numbers |
in the church, in order to preserve pt-
ETY. and public veneration for the out
ward action of religion, there should |
also spring up the necessity of divers
rites and a more or less UNMARRIED order
of prayer with solemn accompani-
ments, and that this necessity should
find expression in a decorOus r1tualism-
~tr,Hr I,,,-
although very probable, that there
were definite liturgical laws laid down
in writing before the fifth century
There were prayers and fOrmalities OBJ
served but these were committed to
memory. or learned by custom, up to
a later period when these laws became
publicly established and no one was
allowed to deviate from them, especial
ly in the Eucharistic celebration In
various nations. indeed, and even in
different dioceses. there was wide
divergence in ritual allowed or toler- l
ated and we find the ampleSt proof OF
this still existing in the various nations
and cities of the east.
The prayers and readings from Ca {
nonical Scripture, the instructions and
divisions of the ceremonial, as we now {
have it, gradually assumed its present 5
form according to the taste or inclina- |
ton of the different pontiffs who mod d
sIled it continuously one after the other c
Town TO the Middle Ages and even to !
, not very remote date. The present
'orm and adaptation of the Missal is a r
product of human wisdom and taste, S
md partakes of as much perfection in h
is character and parts as the wisdom
# its several composers brought to 9
,ear up it. /
Whether Peter or James offered the t
rst sacrifice of the new law after our '
Irvine Lord Himself, is as much dis
uted as whether it was offered in the i
emple or in the house of Mary, or in f
,ntioch, as some would have 1t. 1t is h
cry unlikely that either of these, or c
imilar unimportant questions, shall b
yer be decided. 1t is, however, a point f
hitch may excite the laudable ambi- n
ion of liturgical students. 1t is gen. t
rally admitted that none of the o
postles sacrificed before the day of e
enticost, although some maintain that g
Immediately after the resurrection, but 4
OF during the tridurem of our Lords +
the holy sacrifice was t
fered. On these questions, there can p
ever be declared by any person a Il
ogmatic definition-they will always q
main subject to dissentient opinion, +
ased upon the strength or probability o.
the arguments from human testi- p
Y.
Equally, it not more important than u
le foregoing points, are those that fol- 7
w concerning the language and dress w
SEQ by the apostles and their immedi- u
e successors, ian the performance of VI
e one great central religious act of a.
e Christian religion. First. it may be u
adily admitted that in the European 8
lrt of the Roman empire, the Latin ~
as exclusively adopted. with the ex- ~
Of WI ha
reek language predominant Nor u
it easy to define what portions of the as
apire were Greek and what Latin; ~
r should it be hastily stated where, 49,
en- among the Latin peoples, was the ~ ~
eek language less generally used than ~
e former Even in Rome about the y,
ne of the apostles, Greek was used nc
dely among the learned. tb
One thing is certain. We know the 90
,man Pontiffs. who, by gradual adj ri,
lions, brought the. ceremonial of the
ly sacrifice to its present form. Syl- ar
ster introduced the Kyrie Eleison; tn
leropborn added the Angelic hymn; th
2 Gloria in EXcelifls, and ordered it co
be sang on the night of the Nativity; La
mmachus ordained that it should be tn
anted on Sundays and on the feasts tia
martyrs Damaroy added. the Gloria di,
tri, to end some of the psalms; and up
pc Alexander decreed that the olC
stle should be read. That the 20
site was read at a much earlier date to
pears from an ancient liturgy ascribA Wi
to st. Peter, in which it was incor- pc
rated. Before the time of Pope fol
astasius the epistles of st. Paul only ca
re used for this purpose; afterwards gu
was found proper to adopt the writ WI
IS of the other apostles, and even La
'tions OF the Old Testament. Alex ere
Ter decreed that the gospel should FIR