Acustomary is a Christianliturgical book containing the adaptation of aritual family andrite for a particular context, typically to localecclesiastical customs and specificchurch buildings. A customary is generally synonymous to and sometimes constituent of aconsuetudinary (Latin:consuetudinarius orconsuetudinarium) that contains the totality of theconsuetudines—ceremonial forms and regulations—used in the services and community practices of a particularmonastery,religious order, orcathedrals. The distinctive qualities of medievalliturgical uses are often described within customaries.[1] In modern contexts, a customary may also be referred to as acustom book.[2]
Customaries are generallyliturgical books containing theliturgical and regulatory customs of a particular place or group. Typically subordinate to and in accordance with a givenritual family's primary texts for celebrating a givenritual–such as editions of theBook of Common Prayer withinAnglicanism–they adapt these texts according to the spatial constraints of particularchurch buildings,cathedrals, orreligious communities.[3][1] Customaries were often anonymously written and general in coverage.[4] While some liturgical historians, such asWalter Frere, would distinguish theconsuetudinary from thecustomary, later scholarship has described these texts as concurrent in content but successive in time;[5]: 373 others have identified both as proximate[6]: 61 and even synonymous with the medievalordinal.[7][4] Compared to texts like theCeremoniale Romanum and theCeremoniale Episcoporum that were meant to standardize cathedral andcollegiate church worship according to theRoman Rite, customaries were dependent on the buildings hosting the liturgies. TheSarum Use customary was of particular note in providing for celebrations outside the cathedral.[6]: 198
Customaries simultaneously developed to contain the community customs and daily organization of a religious order, and often individual customaries would contain material both liturgical and regulatory.[8][9] While individualmonasteries were generally autonomous or semiautonomous during the EuropeanMedieval period, individual customaries would trend towards conformity with of the largest contemporaneous monastic communities, such as that atMonte Cassino.[10] They were part of a variety of interrelated other books that directed all aspects of a liturgical celebration[5]: 205 [6]: 60–61 and, in the context of religious orders, were supplemental to monastic rules.[4]
Medieval customaries have received recent academic appreciation, particularly from historians of monasticism, who appreciate the detail available in descriptions of the ceremonies and their interactions with local infrastructure. Since the first half of the 20th century, the study of customaries has evolved into its own discipline. Among the notable publications that led to this renewed interest in customaries areConsuetudines monasticae, produced by Bruno Albers from 1905 to 1912, andCorpus Consuetudinum Monasticarum, a continuing series first published in 1963 with Kassius Hallinger as editor that is considered the best source onBenedictine customaries.[7][11]: 8–9 In some cases, architectural historians have leveraged the detail within historic customaries to reconstruct the appearance of abbey churches at different points in the past.[10] Monastic customaries, such as those compiled by monks observing the ceremonies of the highly influentialCluny Abbey, have been interpreted as documenting reforms and the boundaries of a given abbey's influence.[10] Despite continued research, the territorial relationships between customaries–especially among those from the Benedictines andAugustinian canons–remain poorly understood.[11]: 14–15
Asbishops had increasing responsibilities, they were increasingly absent from their cathedrals. This necessitated the creation of books of rules for use by the clergy left in charge of cathedrals' practices. The consuetudinary contained these regulations. It also contains the general ceremony and assigned roles for rituals in accordance with rules of precedence and local customs.[12]: 16 In monastic communities, the consuetudinary could also introduce new rules and practices; among the earliest requirements for mental prayer was contained in a 12th-centuryCarthusian consuetudinary.[13]
In cases like the Sarum Use atSalisbury Cathedral, the most important portions of the consuetudinary were condensed into what Frere distinguished as thecustomary.[14] In the case of Salisbury, the consuetudinary is dated to roughly 1210–though with a range of 1173 to 1220[5]: 368 –whenRichard Poore was the cathedral'sdean and formed the most comprehensive code of customs of the Sarum Use. The Sarum ordinal was a similar book for use by thechoir and contained greater detail on certain liturgical actions only addressed more generally by the consuetudinary.[15] The Sarum consuetudinary made reference to the ordinal and relied on it for complete celebration of a given ritual.[16] Survivingmanuscripts of the Sarum ordinal and customary dating from before 1279 and originating from outside cathedral feature appended notes that suggest the practices of Salisbury Cathedral had changed from Poore's time as dean.[17]
Gradually, the texts needed for the celebration of theMass–sacramentary,gradual,Gospel book, andepistle book–were condensed into themissal and the texts ofcanonical hours–psalter,antiphonal, and others–were condensed into thebreviary. This abrogated the need for the ordinal, and in the Sarum Use it was partially integrated into the consuetudinary.[12]: 16–17 Customaries themselves fell into disuse during the 16th century with the increasing standardization of worship inCatholic Church through its imposition of theTridentine Mass and the 1588 establishment of theCongregation of Rites and theChurch of England through itsuniform adoption of theBook of Common Prayer.[17][8]
Customaries were revived in response to the variety of worship patterns that developed within Anglicanism during the 19th century. Editions of theBook of Common Prayer, such as1662 prayer book in the Church of England, offered few explicit ceremonial directions. As such, communities such asChichester Cathedral assembled and published customaries for not only internal usage but reference by other church communities.[18] Customaries also continue in Catholic monastic use, where monasteries such as those of the BenedictineSwiss-American andAmerican-Cassinese Congregations are required by congregationalconstitutions to create their own customaries.[19][20]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Consuetudinary".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 18.