medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Preface (1)
A project which is taking up some of my time, and which may be of some
interest to list members, is the translation of the new edition of the
Roman Missal. I am one of a large team of translators, based all round
the world. Recently I was asked to review the new translations of the
Prefaces of the Mass.
The Preface is the first part of the Eucharistic Prayer, leading into
the Sanctus, which in turn is followed by the main part of the
Eucharistic Prayer. There are several alternative eucharistic prayers
in the current Missal, but throughout the Middle Ages there was only
one, the so called 'Canon of the Mass', beginning 'Te igitur.' The term
'canon' literally a reed or measuring-rod, implies something fixed and
unchanging. It is in fact a series of short prayers strung together,
each concluding 'Per Christum Dominum nostrum' (Through Christ our
Lord). In the modern Missal these endings have been made optional, and
are in practice almost always omitted, making the prayer a continuous
whole.
The series of prayers which make up the Canon is, as the term 'canon'
implies, fixed and unchanging; or at least changes only very slightly
at certain seasons. By contrast the Preface changes a good deal,
according to the season or theme of the celebration. The 1970 edition
of the Missal contains 81 prefaces; a few more have been introduced
since then, and more are proposed for the new edition. This plethora of
prefaces is a return to the practice of the early Church, or at least
early medieval Church, for in the later middle ages there was a severe
reduction in the number of prefaces. I quote from Anthony Ward and
Cuthbert Johnson, "The Prefaces of the Roman Missal":
"It is perhaps well to recall, however, that formerly the number of
prefaces for use in the Latin liturgy has been the subject of some
opposing tendencies. While the Veronese's libelli testify to an ample
reservoir of texts (267 survive there), in the Gelasianum Vetus (with
54 texts) and the Hadrianum (with a mere 14, of which 8 were for the
temporal cycle) there is a suggestion that as codification advanced the
inclination in Rome was towards a somewhat severe restriction.
"In Frankish lands, where the Gallican liturgy was being pushed out by
the introduction of the Roman, the demise of an ample choice of
prefaces seems to have been the object of particular regret. The result
was that for a period the tendency was towards remedying the perceived
defect with new importations. The Supplement to the Hadrianum
introduced 333 texts. Among the "Gallican" sacramentaries the Missal of
Bobbio has 73 prefaces, the Missale Gothicum . . . has 85 prefaces. The
so-called viiith century Gelasian sacramentaries . . . move towards a
figure of some 200 prefaces. In the tenth century we find the
Sacramentary of Fulda with no less than 320. In view of the sheer mass
of texts in production, it is not surprising that a reaction occurred.
Its instrument was Burkhard of Worms (964-1025), who with the help of
the forged decretals of Pelagius II (579-590) provided juridical
support for a severe reduction that settled on the number 9 as the
total (with the Common Preface in addition, since in effect it had no
distinctive content), though the strength of Marian piety saw to it
that the preface of the Blessed Virgin Mary which emerged about this
same time, was to round the figure up to 10, a position reaffirmed by
St Pius V."
Is this of interest to anybody? If so, I shall continue the series. If
not, please let me know as I've no wish to waste valuable cyber-space.
Bill
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