Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/405

 MISSAL

355

MISSAL

it may also happen that only a reference is given, indicating that the larger portion of each Mass (some- times everything except the collect) is to be sought in the Common of Saints {Commune Sanctorum), printed at the conclusion of the Proprium Sanctorum (Proper of Saints). This is supplemented by a certain number of votive Masses, among the rest Masses for the dead, and a collection of sets of collects, secrets, and post-communions for special occasions. Here also are inserted certain benedictions and other mis- cellaneous matter, while appendixes of varying bulk supply a number of Masses conceded for use in certain

present day, reproducing in substance the manuscript forms of the latter part of the Middle Ages, has re- sulted from the amalgamation of a number of separate service books. In the early centuries, owing to the lack of competent scribes, the scarcity of writing materials, and various other causes, economy had greatly to be studied in the production of books. The book used by the priest at the altar for the prayers of the Mass usually contained no more than it be- longed to him to say. It was known commonly as a " Sacramentary " (Sacramentarium), because all its contents centred round the great act of the consecra-

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localities or in certain religious orders, and arranged according to the oriler of the calendar. To the whole book is prefixed an elal)orate calendar and a sys- tematized collection of ruljrics for the guidance of priests in high and low Mass, as also prayers for the private use of the celebrant in making his preparation and thanksgiving. It may be mentioned here once for all that the collection of rubrics now printed under the respective headings " Rubricce generales Mis.salis", " Ritus celebrandi Missam ", and " De Defectibus circa Mis.sam occurrentibus" are founded upon a tractate entitled "Ordo Missae" by ,John Burchard. master of ceremonies to Innocent VIII and Alexander VI, at the close of the fifteenth century. They are conse- quently absent from the first printed edition of the "Missale Romanum " (1474). Origin of the Missal. — The printed Missal of the

tion of the sacrifice. On the other hand those portions of the service which, like the Introit and the Gradual, the Offertory and the Communion, were rendered by the choir, were inscribed in a separate book, the " Anti- phonarium Missa;" or "Graduale" (q. v.). So again the passages to be read to the people by the deacons or lectors in the amho (pulpit) — the Epistle and Gospel, with lessons from the Old Testament on particular occasions — were collected in the " Epistolarium " or "Apostolus", the" Evangeliarium",and other lectiona- ries(q. v.). Besides this an "Ordo" or " Directorium" (q. V.) was required to determine the proper service. Only by a slow process of development were the con- tents of the sacramentary, the gradual, the various lec- tionaries, and the " Ordo ' ' amalgamated so that all that was needed for the celebration of Mass was to be found within the covers'^ one volume. The first