medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Briggs is right on in identifying Gellone as a bishop's book. Moeller was
interested in collecting all versions of a given text, in this case
*pontifical* blessings, but for the sake of completeness, he would include
all occurences of a given text, so some nonpontifical occurences slipped in.
Generally speaking a liturgical oratio is a prayer addressed to God, and
a blessing is a prayer asking for his blessing on some one or thing. The
basic features are present in blessings that priests can give. Thus in the
*Rituale Romanum" (my copy 1947), the main part of the blessing of bees
begins "Oremus, Domine Deus..." (with rubric, "Oratio") and the operative
clause is "descendat tua sancta bene+dictio super has apes." Finally, the
rubric instructs the priest to sprinkle the hive with holy water. The crux
of the matter is usually marked with a cross, indicating that the officiant
describes a cross in the air towards whatever is being blessed.
A typical bishop's blessing - the kind collected in a pontifical
Benedictionale - is more complicated, being typically constructed of 3
clauses, followed by the key words "Quod ipse praestare dignetur..." (May
the same [god] deign to be present) [the initials Q.i.p.d. frequently
standing for the whole formula in collections of blessings] and concluding
"Benedictio dei + patris et + filii et spiritus + sancti, et pax eius sit
semper vobiscum."
Hope this helps. Richard Kay
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Briggs" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 6:15 PM
Subject: Re: [M-R] Benedictions v. Votive masses
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> ---- Cecilia Gaposchkin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> Well, this is exactly what I'm trying to figure out. Exactly what an
>> "oratio" is - here, an "Oratio pro iter agentibus" that follows a "miss
>> pro
>> fratibus in via dirigendis" (here, in a Missal from Vich, 11th century).
>
> Well, it's prayer - but whether that means an extra collect or some other
> prayer, I wouldn't know. What prayers are specified for the mass itself?
>
>> But, also, what the function of the oratio in, for instance, in the
>> Gellone
>> Sacramentary. There is a section for Benedictions and also one for
>> Masses.
>
> I would expect the Benedictions to be Episcopal Blessings, and the Masses
> to be Collect, Secret and Postcommunion in all cases. (The celebrant is
> assumed to be a bishop, which is why the benedictions are included.)
>
>> I got my start here with Moeller's Corpus Benedictionum Pontificalium.
>> But
>> am just a bit confused about what this covers and what it doesn't.
>
> I would expect that to be Episcopal Blessings *only*.
>
> John Briggs
>
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