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 CANON

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CANON

used for various objects, such as the Canon of Holy Scripture, canons of Councils, the official list of saints' names (whence "canonization"), and the canon or list of clerks who serve a certain church, from which they themselves are called canons (canonici). Litur- gically it occurs in three senses: (1) The navwn in the Byzantine Rite is the arrangement of the nine odes according to the order in which they are to be sung (Nilles, Kalendarium Manuale, 2nd ed., Innsbruck, 1896, I, LVIII). (2) Like the word Mass it has oc- casionally been used as a general name for the canon- ical Hours, or Divine Office (St. Benedict's Rule, cap. xvii; Cassian, II, 13). (3) Chiefly, and now univer- sally in the West, it is the name for the Eucharistic prayer in the Holy Liturgy. In this sense it occurs in the letters of St. Gregory I (Epp., Lib. VII, lxiv, Lib. XI, lix); the Gelasian Sacramentary puts the heading " Incipit Canon Actionis" before the Sursum Corda (ed. Wilson, 234), the word occurs several times in the first Roman Ordo ("quando inchoat ca- nonem", "finito vero canone", ed. Atchley, 138, etc.); since the seventh century it has been the usual name for this part of the Mass. One can only conjecture the original reason for its use. Walafrid Strabo says: "This action is called the Canon because it is the law- ful and regular confection of the Sacrament" (De reb. eccl., xxii); Benedict XIV says: "Canon is the same word as rule, the Church uses this name to mean that the Canon of the Mass is the firm rule according to which the Sacrifice of the New Testament is to be celebrated" (De SS. Missee Sacr., Lib. II, xii). It has been suggested that our present Canon was a com- promise between the older Greek Anaphoras and variable Latin Eucharistic prayers formerly used in Rome, and that it was ordered in the fourth century, possibly by Pope Damasus (366-84). The name Canon would then mean a fixed standard to which all must henceforth conform, as opposed to the different and changeable prayers used before (E. Burbridge in Atchley, "Ordo Rom. Primus", 96). In any case it is noticeable that whereas the lessons, collects and Preface of the Mass constantly vary, the Canon is almost unchangeable in every Mass. Another name for the Canon is Actio. Agere, like the Greek Spav, is often used as meaning to sacrifice. Leo I, in writing to Dioscurus of Alexandria, uses the expression "in qua [sc. basilica] agitur", meaning "in which Mass is said". Other names are Legitimum, Prex, Agenda, Regula, Secretum Missw.

The rubrics of our present Missal leave no doubt as to the limits of the Canon in modern times. It begins at the "Te Igitur" and ends with the Amen before the Embolism of the Pater Noster (omnis honor et gloria, per omnia srecula saeculorum, Amen). The Missal has the title "Canon Missse" printed after the Sanctus, and the Rubrics say: " After the Preface the Canon of the Mass begins secretly" (Rubr. Gen., XII, 6). The ninth title of the "Rhus eel. Missam" is headed: "Of the *':tnon from the Consecration to the Lord's Prayer". The next title is: "Of the Lord's Prayer and the rest to the Communion." Neither of these limits, however, was always so fixed. The whole Canon is essentially one long prayer, the Eucharistic prayer that the Eastern rites call the Anaphora. And tlic Preface is part of this prayer. Introduced in Rome as everywhere by the little dialogue "Sursum corda" and so on, it begins with the words "Vere dignum ct justum est". Interrupted for a moment by the people, who take up the angels' words: "Sanc- tus, sanctus, sanctus", etc., the priest goes on with the same prayer, obviously joining the next part to the beginning by the word ig'itur. It is not then surpris- ing that we find in the oldest sacramentary that con- tains a Canon, the Gelasian, the heading "Incipit Canon Actionis" placed before the Sursum Corda; so that the preface was then still looked upon as part of the Canon. However, by the seventh century or so

the Canon was considered as beginning with the secret prayers after the Sanctus (Ord. Rom. I: "When they have finished the Sanctus the pontiff rises alone and enters into the Canon", ed. Atchley, 13S). The point at which it may be considered as ending was equally uncertain at one time. There has never been any sort of point or indication in the text of the Mis- sal to close the period begun by the heading " Canon Missse", so that from looking at the text we should conclude that the Canon goes on to the end of the Mass. Even as late as Benedict XIV there were "those who think that the Lord's Prayer makes up part of the Canon" (De SS. Miss Sacr.. ed. cit.. 22Si. On the other hand the "Ordo Rom. I" (ed. cit. infra, p. 138), implies that it ends before the Pater Noster. The two views are reconciled by the distinction be- tween the "Canon Consecrationis" and the "Canon Communionis" that occurs constantly in the Middle Ages (Gihr, Das heilige Messopfer. .540). The "Canon Communionis" then would begin with the Pater Noster and go on to the end of the people's Commu- nion. The Post-Communion to the Blessing, or now to the end of the last Gospel, forms the last division of the Mass, the thanksgiving and dismissal. It must then be added that in modern times by Canon we mean only the "Canon Consecrationis". The Canon, together with the rest of the "Ordo Missa?", is now printed in the middle of the Missal, between the propers for Holy Saturday and Easter Day. Till about the ninth century it stood towards the end of the sacramentary, among the "Missis quotidians " and after the Proper Masses (so in the Gelasian book). Thence it moved to the very beginning. From the eleventh century it was constantly placed in the mid- dle, where it is now, and since the use of complete Missals "according to the use of the Roman Curia" (from the thirteenth century) that has been its place invariably. It is the part of the book that is used far more than any other, so it is obviously convenient that it should occur where a book lies open best — in the middle. No doubt a symbolic reason, the con- nexion between the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the mysteries of Holy Week, helped to make this place seem the most suitable one. The same reason of practical use that gave it this place led to the common custom of printing the Canon on vellum, even when the rest of the Missal was on paper — vellum stands wear much better than paper.

II. History of the Caxox. — Since the seventh century our Canon has remained unchanged. It is to St. Gregory I (590-604), the great organizer of all the Roman Liturgy, that tradition ascribes its final revision and arrangement. His reign then makes the best division in its history.

Before St. Gregory I (to 590). — St. Gregory certainly found the Canon fiiat has been already discussed, ar- ranged in the same order, and in possession for centu- ries. When was it put together? It is certainly not the work of one man. nor was it all composed at one time. Gregory himself thought that the Canon had been composed by "a certain Scholasticus (.Epp.. jib. VII, no. lxiv, or lib. IX, no. xii). and Benedict XIV discusses whether he meant some person so named or merely "a certain learned man" (De SS. Missa- sacr., 157). But our Canon represents rat her the last stage of a development that had been going on gradually ever since the firs) days when the Roman Christians

met together to obey Christ's command and celebrate the Eucharist in memory of Him. Here a distinction must be made between the prayers of the Canon itself and the order in which they are now found. The prayers, or at least some of them, can he traced back to a very early date from occasional references in letters of Fathers." From tins it does not follow that they always stood in the same order as now. Their ar- rangement in our present Missal presents certain dif- ficulties and has long been a much-disputed point.