Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/485

 SANCTUS

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SANCTUS

Sanctus. But, apparently from the beginning of its Christian use (so already Clem. Rom.), one of the dramatic touches that continually adorn the liturgy was added here. We too desire to say with the angels: "Holy, holy, holy"; so when the celebrant comes to the quotation, the people (or choir) interrupt and themselves sing these words, continuing his sentence. The interruption is important since it is the chief cause of the separation of the original first part of the eucharistic prayer (the Preface) at Rome from the rest and the reason why this first part is still sung aloud although the continuation is said in a low voice. The only rite that has no Sanctus is that of the Ethiopic Church Order (Brightman, op. cit., 190).

II. The Sanctus in the Eastern Rites. — In the liturgies of St. James and St. Mark and the Byzantine Rite (Brightman, loc. cit.) the introductory sentence calls it the "hymn of victory" {rbv iirivlKiop vfivov). This has become its usual name in Greek. It should never be called the Trisagion, which is a different liturgical formula ("Holy God, Holy Strong One, Holy Immortal One have mercy on us") occurring in another part of the service. In "Apost. Const.", VIII, XII, 27, the form of the Epinikion is: "Holy, holy, holy the Lord of Hosts {a-a^atbe} . Full (are) the heaven and the earth of his glory. Blessed for ever. Amen." St. James has: "Holy, holy, holy. Lord (voc.) of hosts. Full (are) the heaven and the earth of thy Glory. Hosanna (he) in the highest. Blessed (is) he that comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna, (he) in the highest." In this the cry of the people on Palm Sunday (Matt., x.xi, 9, modified) is added (cf. the Jacobite form, Brightman, p. 86). Alexandria has only the text of Isaias (ib. 132; and Coptic, in Greek, 176; Abyssinian, p. 231). In the Greek Alexandrine form (St. Mark) the text occurs twice. First the celebrant ciuotcs it himself as said by the cherubim and Renii)hiin; then he continues aloud: "for all things always call thee holy {ayid^ei) and with all who call thee holy receive. Master and Lortl, our hallowing {aytaa-ij.6v) who with them sing, saying . . . " and the people repeat the Epinikion (Brightman, p. 132). The Nestorians have a con- siderably extended form of Is., vi, 3, and Matt., xxi, 9, in the third person (ib. 2S4). The Byzantine Rite has the form of St. James (ib. 323-324), so also the Armenians (p. 436). In all Eastern rites only the sentence that immediately introduces the Epinikion is said aloud, as an Ekphonesis.

III. The Sanctus in the West. — In Latin it is the "Tersanctus" or simply (he "Sanctus". "Hymnus angelicus" is ambiguous and .sliould be avoided, since this is the usual name for the Gloria in Excelsis. Germanus of Paris bears witness to it in the Gallican Rite (Ep. I; P. L., LXXII, 89 seq.; sec above). Its form was as at Rome. The Mozarabic Sanctus is almost the Roman one; but it has for the first Ho- sanna: "Osanna filio David" (more literally Matt., xxi, 9) and the additional exclamations "Agyos, agyos, agyos Kyrie o theos" (P. L., LXXXV, 548, cfr. 116). Milan has exactly our form. It may be noted that the Gallican and Mozarabic liturgies, fol- lowing the tradition of Antioch and Jerusalem (Brightman, op. cit., pp. 19, 51), continue the Ana- phora by taking up the idea of the Sanctus: "Vere sanctus, vere benedictus Dominus noster lesus Christus" (P. L., LXXXV, 548) and so coming almost at once to the words of Institution. This prayer, which varies in each Mass, is called "Post Sanctus", or "Vere Sanctus". Milan has one rem- nant of this on Holy Saturday (Duchesne, ib. 205). At Rome the Sanctus is described in "Ordo Rom.", I, as "hymmis angelicus, id est Sanctus" (P. L., LXXVIII, 945). It is sung by the regionary sub- deacons (ib.). So also "Ordo Rom.", II, which notes that Hosanna is sung twice (ib. 974). C. Atchley thinks that this marks the beginning of the addition of

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the Benedictus verses to the Sanctus, that originally these were an acclamation to the celebrating bishop and that they were only later directed towards the Holy Eucharist. In "Apost. Const.", VIII, XIII, 13 (Brightman, 24), these verses are sung at the Elevation just before Communion, then they were pushed back to become an appendix to the Sanctus, where they coincide more or less with the moment of consecra- tion. Mr. Atchley further thinks that the Benedictus in the Roman Rite is a Gallican addition of the eleventh century ("Ordo Romanus Primus", London, 1905, pp. 90-5). That the verses of Matthew, xxi, 9, were first used as a salutation to the bishop is quite probable (cf. Peregrinatio Silviiv, cd. Gamurrini, 59-60). It is less likely that they are a late Gallican addition at Rome. Their occurrence in the liturgy of Jerusalem-Antioch may well be one more example of the relation between that centre and Rome from the earhest ages (see Canon of the Mass).

We do not know at what moment the chant of the Sanctus was taken from the subdeacons and given to the schola canlorum. This is merely part of a general tendency to entrust music that was getting more ornate and difficult to trained singers. So the Grad- ual was once sung by a deacon. The "Ordo Rom. V" implies that the subdeacons no longer sing the Sanctus (P. L., LXXVIII, 988). In "Ordo XI", 20 (ib. 1033), it is sung by the " Basihcarii". St. Gregory of Tours (d. 593) says it is sung by the people (de mirac. S. Martini, II, 14; P. L., LXXI). The notice of the "Liber Pontificalis" that Pope Sixtus I (119-128) ordered the people to sing the Sanctus cannot be cor- rect. It seems that it was not sung always at every Mass. The Second Council of Vaison finds it neces- sary to command that it should not be omitted in Lent nor at requiems (Can. 3; Hefele-Lec^lcrcq, "Histoire des Conciles", II, 1114). There were also laws in the Middle Ages forbidding the celebrant to continue the Canon before the choir had finished singing it (Martene, "De antiq. eccl. ritibus", I, 4, §7). The ringing of a bell at the Sanctus is a de- velopment from the Elevation bell; this began in the Middle Ages. Ivo of Chartres (d. 1116) mentions it (Ep. 142) and Durandus (Rationale, IV, 41, §53). It was rung to call people to church that they might see the Elevation. The Sanctus bell is an earlier warning that the Canon is about to begin. The rubrics of the Missal still say nothing about the bell at the Sanctus. It was (and in places still is) usual to ring the great church bell, at least at high Mass. The hand-bell was only a warning to the ringers in the tower (Gavanti-Merati, "Thesaurus S. Rituum", II, 7, Venice, 1762, p. 156).

The text of the Roman Sanctus is first Isa., vi, 3, with 'pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua" instead of "plena est omnis terra gloria eius". In this way (as at Antioch and Alexandria) it is made into a prayer by the use of the second person. In all liturgies the Hebrew word for "hosts" (."TiNZiJ <rapau6) is kept, as in the Septuagint (Vulgate, "exercituum"). The "Lord of hosts" is a very old Semitic title, in the polytheistic religions apparently for the moon-god, the hosts being the stars (as in Gen., II, 1; Ps. xxxii, 6). To the Jews these hosts were the angels (cf. Lc, II, 13). Then follows the acclamation of Palm Sun- day in Matthew, xxi, 9. It is based on Ps. cxvii, 25-26; but the source of the liturgical text is, of course, the text in the Gospel. Hosanna is in the Greek text and Vulgate, left as a practically untranslatable ex- clamation of triumph. It means Utcrally "Oh help" (ND "r~u'~), but in Matthew, xxi, 9, it is already a triumphant interjection (Hke Alleluia). In "Didache", X, 6, it occurs as a liturgical formula (" Hosanna to the God of David"). In the medieval local rites the Sanctus was often "farced" (interpolated with tropes), like the Kyrie and other texts, to fill up the long musical neums. Specimens of such farcings, including