medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Très bonne intiative. Merci d'y ajouter quelques orientations
bibliographiques ...
jean luc deuffic
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill East" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2004 3:03 PM
Subject: [M-R] Preface (1)
> 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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