In theWestern Church of theEarly andHigh Middle Ages, asacramentary was a book used forliturgical services and themass by abishop orpriest. Sacramentaries include only the words spoken or sung by him, unlike themissals of later centuries that include all the texts of the mass whether read by the bishop, priest, or others. Also, sacramentaries, unlike missals, include texts for services other than the mass such as ordinations, the consecration of a church or altar, exorcisms, and blessings, all of which were later included inPontificals andRituals instead.[1]
In the late 20th century, the wordsacramentary was used in theUnited States and some other English-speaking countries for the English translation of theRoman Missal, particularly those that, like earlier sacramentaries, omitted parts of the Mass not said by the priest.
Other books used in the celebration of Mass included theGraduale (texts mainly from thePsalms, with musical notes added), theEvangeliarium orGospel Book, and the Epistolary with texts from other parts of theNew Testament, mainly the Epistles (letters) ofSaint Paul.
In late mediaeval times, these books began to be combined, for the use of priests saying Mass without the assistance of a choir and other ministers. This led to the appearance of theMissale plenum ("full or completeMissal") containing all the texts of the Mass (without the music of the choir parts).
Pope Pius V published in 1570 an official version of such a Missal, known as theRoman Missal.
At the behest of theSecond Vatican Council,Pope Paul VI greatly increased the amount ofSacred Scripture read at Mass and, to a lesser extent, the prayer formulas. This necessitated a return to having the readings in a separate book, known as theLectionary. A separateBook of the Gospels, with texts extracted from the Lectionary, is recommended, but is not obligatory. The Roman Missal continues to include elaborate rubrics, as well as antiphons etc., which were not in sacramentaries.
Of the textual groups of sacramentaries of theRoman Rite still extant, either complete or in part, the most important are the three known by the names Leonine, Gelasian, and Gregorian.
The "Leonine Sacramentary" is the oldest. Only one manuscript of it is known, written in the seventh century. This manuscript was found in the library of the cathedral chapter of Verona, was published by Joseph Bianchini in 1735, and was by him attributed arbitrarily toPope Leo I (440-61). On the strength of this attribution the book still bears the name Leonine. It represents a pure Roman use with noGallican elements. But it is not a book compiled for use at the altar. The confusion of its parts shows this. It is a fragment, containing no Canon nor Ordinary of the Mass, but a collection of Propers (Collects, Secrets, Prefaces, Postcommunions, and Orationes super populum), of various Masses with ordination forms, arranged according to the civil year. It begins in the middle of the sixth Mass for April, and ends with a blessing for the font "In ieiunio mensis decimi" (i. e. the winterEmber days). In each month groups of Masses are given, often very large groups, for each feast and occasion. Thus, for instance, in June we find twenty-eight Masses for St Peter and St Paul, one after another, each headed: "Item alia"; there are fourteen for St Lawrence, twenty-three for the anniversary of a bishop's consecration, and so on. Evidently the writer has compiled as many alternative Masses for each occasion as he could find. In many cases he shows carelessness. Many of his Massesin natali episcoporum have nothing at all to do with that anniversary, and are really Masses for Sundays afterPentecost; in the middle of a Mass of St Cornelius and St Cyprian he has put the preface of a Mass of St Euphemia, a Mass for the new civil year is inserted among those for martyrs; Masses for St Stephen's day (26 December) with evident allusions to Christmas are put in August, obviously through a confusion with the feast of the finding of his relics (3 August).[1]
That the collection is Roman is obvious. It is full of local allusions to Rome. For instance, one of the collects to be said by a bishop on the anniversary of his consecration could only be used by the pope of Rome: "Lord God ... who, although Thou dost not cease to enrich with many gifts Thy Church spread throughout the world, nevertheless dost look more favourably upon the see of Thy blessed Apostle Peter, as Thou hast desired that it should be most exalted, etc." The Preface for St John and St Paul remembers that they are buried within "the boundaries of this city"; the Masses of the Patrons of Rome, St Peter and St Paul, continually allude to the city.[1]
Louis Duchesne concluded that the Leonine book is a private collection of prayers copied without much intelligence from the official books at Rome about the year 538. He arrives at this date especially through an allusion in the Secret of a Mass placed in June (but really an Easter Mass), which refers to a recent deliverance from enemies. This allusion he understands to refer to the raising of the siege of Rome by Vitiges and his Goths at Easter-time, 538. Another writer attributed the allusion toAlaric's invasion in 402, and held that the compilation was made between 366 and 461. Another considered that the book was composed underPope Felix III (483-492). Yet another suggests that the book is a compilation of Roman Masses made in the sixth or seventh century for use in Gaul, so that the composers of Roman books who were at that time introducing the Roman Rite into Gaul might have a source from which to draw their material. He suggestsGregory of Tours (died 594) as possibly the compiler.[1]
The "Gelasian Sacramentary" contains everything needed by a priest in charge of a Romantitular or parish church. The archetype, now lost, was likely written in the mid-7th century, possibly for theChurch of St Peter in Chains in Rome. It features modifications introduced by Gregory the Great (590–604) in the canon of the Mass (notably the insertion of the prayerHanc igitur), but does not yet contain either the Agnus Dei made official byPope Sergius I (r. 687–701) or the Masses for the Thursdays in Lent added byPope Gregory II (r. 715–731).
The oldest extant copy of the sacramentary, a book now often called theOld Gelasian Sacramentary, Vatican Reg. lat. 316, was made in the 7th or early 8th century for use in the abbey of St Denis at Paris. It includes five interpolated sections that introduce liturgical practices of Gaul from the time the manuscript was copied, but the interpolations are easily distinguished from the Roman sections of the text.
The Old Gelasian Sacramentary consists of three books. Book I includes masses for feasts and Sundays from Christmas Eve to the octave of Pentecost (there were at the time no special masses for the season after Pentecost), together with ordinations, prayers for all the rites of the catechumenate, blessing of the font and oil at the Easter Vigil, dedication of churches, and reception of nuns. Book II includes theProper of Saints throughout the year, theCommon of Saints, and the Advent Masses. Book III includes a great number of masses marked simply "For Sunday" (i.e., any Sunday), the Canon of the Mass, what would today be called votive masses (e.g., for travellers, in time of trouble, for kings, and so on), masses for the dead, some blessings (of holy water, fruits, trees and so on), and various prayers for special occasions.
The Gelasian Sacramentary was revised in the 8th century at the prompting ofPepin the Short, work that was likely undertaken atFlavigny Abbey and completed between 760 and 770. The sacramentary, now lost, is sometimes called theSacrementary of King Pepin. The family of manuscripts copied from it are generally calledFrankish Gelasian orEighth-Century Gelasian sacramentaries. The most faithful copy is considered to be theSacramentary of Gellone, Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Latin 12048, copied around 780. About a dozen other manuscripts of the Frankish Gelasian type are extant.
The Frankish Gelasian is a meticulous re-working of material from the Old Gelasian Sacramentary and certain other sacramentaries of the Gregorian type usually calledType 2 Gregorian (known today only from a single extant manuscript, thePaduense Sacramentary, Padua, Bibl. Cap., cod. D.47). The Gellone Sacramentary is divided into two parts. The first part includes the Temporal and Sanctoral in one continuous series, following the usual Gregorian structure, with the canon of the mass given at Easter. The second part includes the episcopal blessings and other episcopal material, prayers for monastic use, the ordo of baptism, and a summary of theMartyrologium Hieronymianum.
The attribution to Pope Gelasius (r. 492–496) likely derives from theLiber Pontificalis, which states that Gelasius wrote various prefaces to the sacraments and prayers, but Gelasius did not compile the later sacramentary that bears his name.[3]
Alongside the sacramentaries of the Gelasian type, all of them hybrids of Roman and Frankish practices, several older Gallican sacramentaries survive from the Merovingian period, all based on a mix of Gallican and some Irish traditions with little emphasis on Roman practices.
We know most about the third of these books, the so-called "Gregorian Sacramentary", which is in three parts:
Charlemagne, anxious to introduce the Roman Rite into his kingdom, wrote toPope Hadrian I between the years 781 and 791 asking him to send him the service-book of the Roman Church.[4] The book sent by the pope is the nucleus of the Gregorian Sacramentary. It was then copied a great number of times, so that there are many versions of it, all containing additions made by the various scribes. The original book sent by Hadrian to Charlemagne is easily distinguished from the different editions because the first to supplement Hadrian's book from other sources was a conscientious person who carefully noted where his additions begin, adding a note: "So far the preceding book of Sacraments is certainly that edited by the holy Pope Gregory." In the earlier versions we may take the first part, down to this note, as being the book sent by Hadrian.
However, its attribution toPope Gregory I (590-604) shows us that Gregory did much to reform the liturgy. A constant tradition ascribes such a work to him, as to Gelasius. John the Deacon (eighth century) in hisLife of Gregory expresses this tradition: "He collected the Sacramentary of Gelasius in one book, leaving out much, changing little, adding something." Pope Adrian himself, in sending the book to Charlemagne, said that it was composed "by our holy predecessor, the divinely speaking Pope Gregory". The fact that the essential foundation of this sacramentary goes back to St Gregory, indeed to long before his time, is certain. We do not doubt that he made such changes as those that are acclaimed to him by his biographer, and that these changes stand in this book. But his work has not remained untouched, additions have been made to it since his time. For example, the addition of his own feast as well as other feasts that had not been celebrated before the seventh century. The book sent by Pope Adrian to Charlemagne has gone through inevitable development over the centuries since Gregory finished it. It represents the Roman Rite of the time when it was sent - the eighth century. In the Frankish kingdom, copies were made for churches and additions of other Masses and prayers were added according to the specific church's requests. These additions were taken partly from the Gelasian book, partly from Gallican sources. Though at first the additions were carefully distinguished from the original book, they were eventually incorporated in it. Between the ninth and eleventh centuries the book, including the additions, returned to Rome, took the place of the original pure Roman Rite, and so became the foundation of theRoman Missal.[1]
A non-comprehensive list of significant sacramentaries from the 7th to the 13th centuries.
In addition:
Thebenedictional is a related type of book containing a collection ofbenedictions orblessings in use in theRoman Catholic Church, essentially collected from those in sacramentaries.[7]
TheAnglo-SaxonBenedictional of St. Æthelwold is the most famous of the relatively infrequentilluminated manuscript examples, which are mostly Early Medieval.
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