Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/795

 EYRIE

715

KTRIE

to defend the Roman Church from imitating Constan- tinople by the use of thi.s form, and is at pains to point out the difference between its use at Rome and in the East; " We neither saitl nor say Kyrie Eleison as it is said by the Greeks. Among the Greeks all say it to- gether, with us it is said by the clerks and answered by the people, and we say Cliriste Eleison as many times, which is not the case among the Greeks. Moreover in daily Masses some things usually said are left out by us; we say only Kyrie Eleison and Christe Eleison, that we may dwell longer on these words of prayer" (Ep. Lx in P. L., LXXVII, 956). The last words appear to mean that sometimes other prayers are left out that there may be more time for singing the Kyrie Eleison. We see also from this passage that in St. Gregory's time the special Roman use of the alternative form Christe Eleison (unknown in the Gallican and Eastern rites) existed. It seems inevitable to connect the Kyrie Eleison in the Roman Mass with an original litany. Its place corresponds exactly to where it oc- curs as part of a litany in the Syrian-Byzantine Liturgy ; it is still always sung at the beginning of litanies in the Roman Rite too, and St. Gregory refers to " some things usually said " in connexion with it. What can these things be but clauses of a litany, sung, as in the East, by a deacon? Moreover there are still certain cases in the Roman Rite, obviously of an archaic nature, where a litany occurs at the place of the Kyrie. Thus on Easter Eve the Mass begins with a litany of which the last clause (KjTie Eleison, repeated three times; Christe Eleison, repeated three times; KjTie Eleison, repeated three times) is sung as the celebrant says the first prayers of the Mass, and correspond in every way to our usual Kyrie. So also at ordinations the Litany is sung towards the beginning of the Mass. In this connexion it may be noted that down to the late Middle .^ges the Kyrie of the Mass was left out when it had just been sung in a Litany before Mass, as on Rogation days (e. g., Ordo Rom., XI, Ixiii). W^e may suppose, then, that at one time the Rom.an Mass began (after the Introit) with a htany of general peti- tions very much of the nature of the third part of our Litany of the Saints. This would correspond exactly to our great Synapte in the Syrian Rite. Only, from what has been said, we conclude that the answer of the people was in Latin — the " Miserere Domine" of Eth- eria, or "Te rogamus, audi nos", or some such form. About the fifth century the Greek Kj-rie Eleison was adopted by the West, and at Rome with the alterna- tive form Christe Eleison. This was then sung, not as in the East only by the people, but alternately by cantors and people. It displaced the older Latin exclamations at this place and eventually remained alone as the only remnant of the old litany.

The first Roman Ordo (sixth-seventh cent.) de- scribes a not yet fixed number of Kyries sung at what is still their place in the Mass: "The school [schola, choir] having finished the Antiphon [the Introit] be- gins Kyrie Eleison. But the leader of the school watches the Pontiff that he should give him a sign if he wants to change the nvmiber of the Utany " (" Ordo Rom. primus", ed. Atchley, London, 1905, p. 130). In the " Ordo of Saint Amand ", written in the eighth century and published Ijy Duchesne in his " Origines du culte" (p. 442), we have already our number of invocations: " When the school has finished the Anti- plion the Pontiff makes a sign that KjTie Eleison should be said. .\nd the school says it [dicit always covers singing in liturgical Latin; cf. the rubrics of the present Missal: "dicit cantando vel legendo" before the Pater Noster], and the Regionarii who stand below the ambo repeat it. When they have repeated it the third time the Pontiff signs agam that Christae [sic] Eleison be said. This having been said the third time he signs again that Kirie Eleison be said. And when they have completed it nine times he signs that they should stop." So we have, at least from the eighth

century, our present practice of singing immediately after the Introit three times Kyrie Eleison, three times Christe Eleison, three times Kyrie Eleison, mak- ing nine invocations altogether. Obviously the first group is addressed to God the Father, the second to God the Son, the third to God the Holy Ghost. The medieval commentators are fond of connecting the nine-fold invocation with the nine choirs of angels (Durandu.*!, " Rationale ", IV, xii). From a very early time the solemnity of the KjTie was marked by a long and ornate chant. In the Ea-stern rites, too, it is al- ways sung to long neums. It is still the most elaborate of all our plainsong melodies. In the Middle Ages the Kyrie was constantly farced with other words to fill up the long neums. The names of the various Kj-ries in the Vatican Gradual (for instance, Ki/rie Cuncti- potens genitor Deus of the tenth century, Kyrie magruE Deus potentice of the thirteenth century, etc.) are still traces of this. As an example of these in- numerable and often very long farcings, this com- paratively short one from the Sarum Missal may serve:

Kyrie, rex genitor ingenite, vera essentia, eley-

son. KjTie, luminis fons rerumque conditor, eleyson. Kyrie, qui nos tuce imaginis signasti specie,

eleyson. Christe, Dei forma humana particeps, eleyson. Christe, lux oriens per quem sunt omnia, eley- son. Christe, qui perfecta es sapientia, eleyson. KjTie, spiritus vivifice, vitte vis, eleyson. KjTie, utriusque vapor in quo cuncta, eleyson. KjTie, expurgator scelerum et largitor gratise; quaesumus propter nostras offensas noli nos relinquere, O consolator dolentis animae, eleyson (ed. Burntisland, 929). [Lord, lung and Father unliegotten. True Es- sence of the Godhead, have mercy on us. Lord, Fount of Ught and Creator of all tilings,

have mercy on us. Lord, Thou who hast signed us with the seal of

Thine image, have mercy on us. Christ, True God and True Man, have mercy

on us. Christ, Rising Sun, through whom are all things,

have mercy on us. Christ, Perfection of Wisdom, have mercy on us. Lord, vivifj-ing Spirit and power of life, have

mercy on us. Lord, Breath of the Father and the Son, in

Whom are all things, have mercy on us. Lord, Purger of sin and Almoner of grace, we beseech Thee abandon us not because of our Sins, O Consoler of the sorrowing soul, have mercy on us.] Notice the greater length of the last farcing to fit the neums of the last Kyrie, which are always longer. Sometimes the essential words are mixed up with the farcing in a very curious mixture of Latin and Greek: "Conditor Kyrie omnium ymas creaturarum eleyson" (lb., 932*). The reformed Missal of Pius V happily abolished these and all other farcings of the liturgical text.

In the Ro.man Rite. — In the Mass, the three groups of invocations are sung b^- the choir immedi- ately after the Introit. They form the beginning of the choir's part of the Ordinary. A number of plain- song Masses are provided in the Gradual, each char- acterized and named after the Kyrie that begins it. .\lthough each Mass is appointed for a certain occa- sion (e. g., for solemn feasts, doubles, Masses of the B. V. M., etc.) there is no law against usmg them with- out regard to this arrangement. Moreover, except on ferias, which keep their very simple chants, the va- rious parts (KjTie, Gloria, etc.) of different Masses may be combined (see rubric after the fourth Cieed in the