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Show f4444 iiBIlHi ANSWERS : 1. T4 4 . 'Boise, Ida., Nov. 16, 1S99. Lditor Intermountain Catholic. ' Noticing the courteous treatment which you extend in your columns" to seekers-after truth, I take the liberty ot a&king you tQ expiajn in your columns col-umns The Liturgy of the Eucharisitc Sacrifice. Sincerely , ' J. W. WELDON. Ans. One of the best articles on The Liturgy of the Eucharistic Sacrifice that has come under our notice was one written by Rov. j. Nilan of Pough-keepsie, Pough-keepsie, N. Y., which we take the pleasure pleas-ure of publishing for the benefit of the readers of The Intermountain Catholic: , 'In early times," says Father Nilan, 'the term Liturgy was used to signify the public office or service of the church as ordained by law and custom for the faithful. It was sometimes applied to the actual worship itself, as we find in Acts, xiii,2, which Erasmus translates Saerifieantibus ilies, and the Vulgate gives ministrantibuys illis, with more aptness. This will appear evident, as the word , is used in Phil, ii, 30, and 2 Cor. ix, 12, as designating ordinary acts of the administration of charity or good works. It was also applied to indicate in-dicate civil as well as sacred functions, but in a wider sense, and not so commonly.. With us the word has given place to the term mass, by which is understood the whole order or course -of prayer, reading of Scripture and the other religious re-ligious actions which accompany the celebration of the sacrifice of the Eu- I chanst altar. On this account we call 1 such books containing this order of ceremonial ce-remonial missals rather than liturgies or ntua's, for thtse latter embrace ceremonies cere-monies to be used on various other occasions', oc-casions', ..such as. in the administration of baptism, .extn-me. unctions, etc. The word meissa is of ancient use in the church,,, although its origin. is not very clearly 'defined. Baroniuos and others would have it derived from the Hebrew "Missah." an oblation. .-This, however, is opposed by Duranlies (De ritib. lib. 2, c. i. n. i.) Bellaurine and Bona, who shows that if it had been of the Hebrew it -would have been adopted by the Greeks, as they preserved pre-served some other expressions from that language. It is most likely that the word had the origin given to it by Card. Bona, who shows that its use arose from the dismissal of the congregation congre-gation at the end of divine service. Of its early use, however, th?re is no doubt. It is found in the writings of the Roman bishops of the second century, cen-tury, as in the letter of Pius to Justin, Bishop of Vienna, in the year 166, where he says: "Our Sister Exaperia, if you rightly remember, assigned the title of her house to the poor, where now dwelling, dwel-ling, we offer daily masses." Pope Cornelius, Cor-nelius, likewise, in a letter to a biahop of the same place, in 254 A. D.. says: ."It wa3 not permitted to the Christians, Iini account cf the very severe persecution, persecu-tion, to offer masses (missas agere) ' lublicly, in the more noted crypts." j BThe authenticity of these letters, as ! eii as tnat of others of an. earlier ite, is, indeed, denied by some learned . itics, but their genuineness is admit-d admit-d by the best authorities. In the days V St. Ambrose the word was in com-tn' com-tn' use. He writes to his sister, let. ': "I remained in my office and under-ok under-ok to offer masses (facere missas)." , rain, in his thirty-fourth sermon: "I vise you when; near a church, and j nen you can do so without serious in-; in-; nvenlence, to hear mass daily (quo-iHe)." (quo-iHe)." - An attempt to prove its apostolic ori-'l ori-'l was made by. the learned Visconti, , d hia chief argument consisted in the - ;-t that the word was found in the trgy of St. James. But strong doubts ; entertained as to the genuineness this liturgy. Many writings, such as spels -and evangelists and epistles, ich, more, liturgies.' composed by lers than. the apostles, were in the t three centuries i a srsed under their mes. Moreover; i this particular ,li-gy. ,li-gy. was originally written in Greek 8720 Chaldaic, as is fully proved by I erudite Leo Allatius. f.n the Greet ' i t we find only the word liturgy, and ' one pretends, that this liturgy was ant in Latin in the ages of the apos- Jts early use being admitted, we find, wever, that the.word was applied to Agnate other religious services than liturgies- ceremonies of the Eucha-! Eucha-! rist.. This will, appear more readily by de-termining- the etypiologic signification significa-tion of the term. - According to Gavantus. it simply means "the sending up of the prayern ! of the priests and the people to . God, ! through the ministration of an indi- ' vidual appointed for that office." Thus ! it meant missa est oratio, missa est j ablatio, or even sometimes, missa est j festivitas. This anouneement, in the ! I holy sacrifice, was made by the deacon j 1 at the end, as he turned towards the j people for this purDose. saviner: Tte mis sa est, depart, the oblation is offered or completed. In the mass of the catechumens cate-chumens this announcement was made at the -end of the gospel, for at thin point all who had not been baptised were dismised.- This part of the ceremonies cere-monies was called' the Catechumen's mass, because they were allowed to join in the "prayers, readings and instructions in-structions . of the minister up. to this point. Even Pagans were generally admitted ad-mitted to be present, as we find a canon 84 in the fourth council of Carthage ordering or-dering "That the bishop shall not prohibit pro-hibit any one from entering the church and hear tli3 word of God, whether he be. Gentile, Jew or heretic, till the service serv-ice of the Catechumens was ended." A like decree wag made in a council of Valentia, in Spain (Can. 1). by which heretics and heathens, as well as Gate- ! chumens might be present at that part of the divine office which preceded the ! oblation. St. Chrysostern recommends j this custom" (Horn. 41), and Sozomen I narrates that the. great orator by this I means led many eminent men into the ' church. I But at this point in the sacred ceremonies cere-monies the deacon, turning to the people, peo-ple, cried out: "If there is present any cate?lfumen. let him go hence, excat- foras;".or, "if anyone is not to communicate, com-municate, let him go away, and make room for others.'" To this custom St. Augustine referred in his sermon, 237: "And now. after the sermon or instruction, instruc-tion, let there be the mass (dismissal) of the catechumens.; let the faithful remain." re-main." It is also likely that there was a dismissal of the faithful who were not to communicate, as we read of a messa commienciantium. From this probably arose the false ooinion condemned con-demned in the Council of Trent, and which maintained that no mas"s could be celebrated without the communion of the congregation: or, at least, of some of 'them. . In course of time the word came to bo applied not alon- to a portion of tho holy ceremonie-s, but to the entire action-from, beginning to end; and, hence, tco. . it 'enme to designate the holy sacrifice- itself, without distinguishing-between. It and the ceremonies .which precede and follow it; so that we even say the sac-rifice of the mass. This, however, happens with all things human, as words are only conventional forms and adaptable? to the variable condition of things which they represent. repre-sent. The word in its present signification signifi-cation Is iuite comprehensive and usage us-age has made it appropriate to its determined de-termined meaning. We must bear in mind, however, that the word missa was used even in, much later times to designate religious services serv-ices other than the holy sacrifice St Aurelian. in the rule of his monastery, built by King Childeric at Aries, with regard to the manner of chaunting, says: "At Christmas and the feast of the Epiphany, rise at the third hour, I and say one nocturn and, perform six masses (facite sex missas) frcm the Prophet Isaiah; again say the second nocturn, and let other six masses be said from Daniel. . . In the Epiphany perform these six masses . . . and again In the feasts of the. martyr say three or four masses;,". ",, Sometimee,. too, It Jwas used to signify sig-nify the divine office recited by tho ! r clergy, as in Cassian, lib. 2: "After the j night mass it is not right to sleep." He j is giving instructions to the monks as j to the way of reciting the office, and from his admonition as to sleep it might .appear that some "of them were not always, free from its iniluence during dur-ing the time of watching and praying. . In the. Middle Ages also the word fre- i quently meant certain festival days, j and was commonly used to denote any religious function whatever, as may be, found in the writings of the monks. I From the meaning given to the word j Missa by Gavantus, re ferreid to above, a valuable practical conclusion may he , drawn. He says that "it is the send- j ing up of the prayers both-of the peo- pie. and the priest to God," etc. From j this ..we,-. see that.- contrary to a falsi! ; opinion. ente-rtaineid by many outside,, of j the church, the people assembled for I the public worship of God have an ac- : tive participation In the devotional exercises ex-ercises and are not mere witnesses or lookers-on. The priest is, indeed, the direct and sufficient agent in the. offering offer-ing of the great mystery as a sacrifice, but the more actively do the people cooperate co-operate in the sacred accessories to its completion, and the more effectually do they form one, body with him the more fully will its ends be obtained and the more abundant will fall upon them its divine blessings. From the passage in the Acts, quoted above, xiii 2, it is evident that the Apostles adopted some form of ceremonial cere-monial in the first days of their public ministry after the Pentecost. Again, it is stated that they were engaged at Jerusalem "in the communication of 1 good works and in -the breaking of ' bread," a passage corroborative of the j IiuuLiu&uuii. Luai iiicic w a& 411.. mit 1 -ligious ministrations a form or formulary formu-lary by which order and reverence were maintained in the performance of these sacred functions. .And when the "disciples "dis-ciples knew the Lord in the breaking of bread," it is not. unreasonable to assume as-sume that the ceremony must have partaken somewhat of a ritualistic or ritualistic form. In the' immediate post-Apostolic days that there were stated rites and formal prayers accompanying the celebration of the divine mysteries cannot be j doubted. This is evident from the writings writ-ings of Justin and others. When Gregory Greg-ory the Great says (Lib. 7, Epist. 6), "that the Apostles in the beginning of the Church consecrated only at, or by, the Lord's power," he must have meant that this sacred and time-honored form of invocation, always immediately attended upon the mysterious formula of consecration. It is but very easy to see that, with the growth of numbers in the church, in order to preserve piety pi-ety and public veneration for the outward out-ward action cf religion, there should also spring up the necessity of divers rites and a more or less unvaried order of prayer with solemn accompaniments, accompani-ments, and that 'this necessity should find expression in a decorous ritualism. It is not absolutely certain, however, although very probable, that there were, definite liturgical laws laid down in writing before the fifth' century. There were prayers and formalities observed, ob-served, but thesa were committed to memory, or learned by custom, up to a later period when, theee latf"s became publicly established and no' one was allowed to deviate from them; especially especial-ly in the Eucharistic. celebration. In various nations, indeed, and even in different dioceses, there was a wide i divergence in ritual allowed or toler- 1 ated, and we find, the amplest proof of this still existing in the various nations and cities of the. east. . i The prayers and readings from Ca-I Ca-I nonical Scripture, the instructions and divisions of the ceremonial, as we now have it, gradually assumed its present form aeording to the taste or inclination inclina-tion bf the different pontiffs who modelled mod-elled it continuously one after the other down to the Middle Ages1 and even to a. not very remote date. The. present form and adaptation of the Missal is a product of human- wisdom and taste, and partakes of -as much perfection in its character and parts as the. wisdom of its several composers brought to bear up it. . Whether Peter or James offered the first sacrifice of the new law after our divine Lord Himself, is as much disputed dis-puted as whether it was offered in the temple or in the house of Mary, or in Antioch, as some .would have it. It is very unlikely that either of these, or similar unimportant questions, shall ever be decided. It is, however, a point which may excite the laudable ambi- I tion of liturgical students. ' It is generally gen-erally admitted ; that none', of the apostles sacrificed before the. day of Penticost, although some maintain that immediately after; the resurrection, but not during the tridurem of our Lord's nntAmhmont. the holv sacrifice was offered. On these questions, there can I never be declared by any person a dogmatic definition they will always remain subject to dissentient opinion, based upon the strength or' probability of the arguments from human testimony, testi-mony, on which they- are founded. - Equally, it not. more important than the foregoing points, are those that follow fol-low concerning the language and dress used by the apostles and their immediate immedi-ate successors, in the performance of the one great central religious- act of the Christian religion. First, it may be readily admitted that in the European part of the Roman empire,- the Latin was exclusively adopted, with the exception ex-ception of those regions where - the Greek language was'-, predominant. Nor is it easy to define what portions of the empire were Greek and . what' Latin; fior should it be Hastily stated where, even among the Latin peoples, was the Greek lansuaee less trenerally used than the former.- Even in Rome,-about the time of the apostles, Greek Was used widely among. the learned. One thing is 'certain. We' know the. Roman Pontiffs, who, by gradual additions, ad-ditions, brought the. ceremonial of the holy sacrifice to its present form. Sylvester Syl-vester introduced the Kyrie Eleison; Teleropborn added the Angelic hymn: the Gloria in Exeelins, and ordered it to be sang on the night of the Nativity; Symmachus ordained that it should be chanted on Sundays .and on the feasts of martyrs; Damaroy added. the Gloria Patri, to end some of the psalms; and Pope1 Alexander ' decreed that the epistle, should , .be read. . That1 the epistle was read at a much earlier date appears from an-ancient liturgy ascrib-1 ed to St. Peter, in which it was incorporated. incor-porated. Before, the time of Pope Anastasius the. epistles of St. Paul only were used for this purpose; afterwards it was found proper to adopt the writings writ-ings of the other apostles, and evert portions of . the Old Testament, Alexander Alex-ander decreed .that the gospel should be read, jil though it is' certain that from a more remote period, some portions por-tions of these important records of our Lord's life were recited before the cele- aration of the sarrprl mvstorlno .TViia . could not have been the case until the . later days of the apostles, as these . evangelical narratives had not then . been written. The origin of this custom of reading in the Church is evidently derived from the ceremonial of the . synagogue carried into the new religion by the converted Jews; as reading the scripture and exhortatory interpretation interpreta-tion of the Mosaic law, were invariable accompaniments of their solemnities. There is an unsettled question concerning con-cerning the use of the creed called after the apostles, whether or no it was used as part, of the sacred rite during the first three centuries. The creed called the-Xicene, is really that formulated formu-lated in the first council of Constantinople, Constan-tinople, assembled to condemn the error of Macedonius. ..The addition of the word Filioque, so frequent of discussion between the Greeks and Latins, was complained of by Pope Leo III. in 795 to some French legates, as an innovation innova-tion that had crept into the churches of God. Until the time of Pope Benedict Bene-dict VIII. in 1014, some writers maintain main-tain that it was not chanted in the Roman churches. : Even as late as 1566. Pius V., by special decree ordained that the gospel of St. John should be as it is still, read at the closing of the ceremony, although it was probably in general use before his time. St. Malachy found many things to be corrected in the celebration of th-holy th-holy mysteries among the Irish, who had a peculiar and ancient liturgy of j their own. as we read in the life of that Saint written byhis friend St. Bernard. There was a mass called "Missa Hebernica." in which were found many i ceremonies of pagan origin which St. i Patrick thought harmless and converted I into Christian usage, or else considered ' useful in harmonizing their national j prejudices with the light of the gospel. Much has been written on the ques tion as to the form of garments used at the celebration of the divine mysteries mys-teries in the first century. But nothing certain has been reached. Walfridins Strabo. Radulphus Turgrensis and the learned Visconti maintain that the apostles used none but their ordinary clothing in offering the holy sacrifice. Nicholas Alemannus not only denies to i the appostles the use of special garments, gar-ments, but even to their immediate successors in the apostclate. Others, however, think otherwise. As to the language used in, the Liturgy Litur-gy in the first ages of the. Church, John Eck attempted to prove that up to the time of Pope Adrian Agro-Chaldaic was exclusively adopted. This opinion has no foundation whatever. The opin- i ion of Cardinal Bona, borne out very fully by the researches of Martene, holds that the Apostles' and their successors suc-cessors used in the celebration of ths holy sacrifice whatever language they found in common use in the different nations visited by them. In Jerusalem they used the Syro-Chaldaic; in Antioch, Anti-och, Alexandria and Greece, they adopted adopt-ed the Greek; in Rome and the west generally, Latin; and so, wherever they went. This Apostolic custom has remained ever since in the east, so that all tho Oriental churches have preserved in their liturgies the various languages in which th'jy first rec3 ed the faith. This is evidenced even in Rome today, where the diversa rites of the east are freely used with the approbation ap-probation of the Pope. It i3 very easy to uncM'stand whittle whi-ttle Latin- became the- language of the Church in the west of Europe, There was simply no other lansuage known to literature or learning. The uncultivated unculti-vated dialects cf Germany and Gaul and Britain, had no settled form in those days, whilst Latin was the language lan-guage of learning, science, art. jurisprudence juris-prudence and of civilization in general. It was different in the East. There the Roman conqueror?! found a more ancient an-cient civilization, than their own, and assuming various forms In a diversity of cultivated and fixed forms' of speech. The wisdom of the Romans prevented them from interfering with the social customs or national habits cf those civilized though conquered peoples, whose several languages thus continued, contin-ued, in general ise down to the days of the 1 Apostles, who unhesitatingly adopted them in their religious exercises. exer-cises. , Not so, however, did the first missionaries mission-aries find a like condition of things in the various countries of Europe. Hence these were forced to adopt in the public services of the Church the only one language fit for the purpose. . Although the circumstances, have changed essentially essen-tially since then, and n?w and polished, dialects have been permanently biiilt up into elegant and stable forms, the older language has preserved its first position 'of supremacy, so difficult is It to change anything that has grown so widely and deeply into the habits cf people. The Jewish Cabiilists. indeed, f ounrt . mystery and doctrinal significance signifi-cance in the very letters of their language; lan-guage; but-those outside of the Church. who imagine "that -Catholics regard Latin, or Greek, or Hebrew, more sacred" sa-cred" ' in themselves than English, French or. Irish, misinterpret the motives mo-tives of retaining the Litany in Latin.- - v As to the days on which the Holy I Sacrifice was offered in the early asres, 1 there is a diversity of opinion. Mabil- I ' cer mass daily in the seventh centurv. He could find no law on this subje- t i pnor to 5.i. when a Council of Ticim J ' j decreed fhat not only on Sundays and chief feasts, but also- when possible. mass should be offered This om'ni.in i Is held also by Martene, who quotes t from St. Justin Martyr to show that only on Sunday was the tfoly Sacrifice offered in the first ages of the Church. St. Epiphanius, however, seems to imply im-ply that it was offered, on three day: each week, and in the time of St. Au- i gustine the custom was di'Terent in several places. In his letter (:,1) to Jan-uarius Jan-uarius he says: "In some places no day passes without offering: elsewhere only on Saturday and Sunday; again, others only on Sunday." Later it became usual to have several ! masses each day. and Pope Le- III. TS5, had the custom of offering nine masses on. the same day. Pope Alexander, Alexan-der, who died in 1022, ordered that only one should be offered by the same priest on the same lay. St. Augustine, in the above quoted epistle, says that !t was customary to offer fasting in th- morning, but not in the evening; nor doe? he condemn the custom. In the Middle Ages, for which snmi are sighing, as for the golden era. we find that in regard to the mass thero were abuses which could not be tolerated toler-ated In the nineteenth century. There were missal -bifaciatae, trifaciatae, etc.. that is. the consecration, was repeated severil times with the reading of the canon once. It is narrated that in the year 1191 a certain hermit, divinely moved. was accustomed to celebrate four masses by one canon. Gavantus I uncharitably ascribes the custom to thf j avarice of the Monks, to whom the , custom of receiving stipends for mass owes its origin. These abuses - were condemned in several Councils, notably in one held in Paris in 1212. r- A similar abuse existed also In those days by celebrating several masses successively and communicating, oniy at the last. This was condemned" jn the fifth canon of the twelfth Council cf Toulouse. There was also a' custom which found place only in Spain, of offering simultaneously several mass-n at the same altar, and many altars were built with three sides for this purpose. pur-pose. As to the material of hich chalices were formed, it may be said that originally orig-inally wood, marble, various metals- ! were-permitted. St. Boniface. Arch- I bishop cf Mayence. in 752. when askel I whether it were allowed to use wooders chalices, replied: "Formerly golden priests and wooden chalices, now wooden wood-en priests and golden chalices." The learned Arcadius maintains with much erudition that the ADOstles, according ac-cording to the different customs of peoples, and times, and places, sometimes some-times used leavened and sometimes unleavened bread. This is also the opinion of Cardinal Rona and Merati. In a later work the same Cardinal asserts as-serts that up to the end of the ninth or the beginning of the tenth century the use of both fermented and unfermente.t bread was common, in the Vv'esnern Church. But as all liturgy is simnly f ' 1 I human authority, wholly dependent on I I human wisdom or prudence to attain I j its end in the service of the Church. I |