medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Very much of interest. Especially the latter "normalization" of all Proper
Prefaces to the "et ideo cum angelis" conclusion. Some, as you know, such as
the Trinity Preface (originally) had the "quem" conclusion ("whom the angels
. . . .").
Terrill
-----------------
Bill East wrote:
> 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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