Apontifical (Latin:pontificale) is a Christianliturgical book containing theliturgies that only a bishop may perform. Among the liturgies are those of theordinal for the ordination and consecration ofdeacons, priests, and bishops toHoly Orders. While theRoman Pontifical and closely relatedCeremonial of Bishops of theRoman Rite are the most common,[1]: 1089–1090 pontificals exist in otherliturgical traditions.
Pontificals inLatin Christianity first developed fromsacramentaries by the 8th century. Besides containing the texts of exclusivelyepiscopal liturgies such as thePontifical High Mass, liturgies that other clergymen could celebrate were also present. The contents varied throughout theMiddle Ages, but eventually a pontifical only contained those liturgies a bishop could perform.[1]: 1089–1090 [2]: 263 ThePontificale Egberti, a pontifical that once belonged to and was perhaps authored byEcgbert of York, is regarded as one of the most notable early pontificals and may be the oldest to survive.[3][4]
The ordination liturgies of theSarum Use pontifical was adapted byThomas Cranmer into his1550 ordinal for theChurch of England following theEnglish Reformation.[1]: 990 [5]: 355 Among the complaints lodged byAnglicans against the medieval Catholic pontificals was that thelaying on of hands during the conferral ofHoly Orders was "obscured by ceremonies."[6]
A pontifical was printed inRome in 1485 but the first authoritativeRoman Pontifical was not printed until 1596 underClement VIII.[1]: 1090 Revisions of theRoman Pontifical (Latin:Pontificale Romanum) continued over the next centuries, though was largely replaced by theCeremonial of Bishops (Latin:Caeremoniale Episcoporum) that had been developing alongside it, with the rubrics for the celebration of a Pontifical High Mass deleted from the pontifical and celebrated from the ceremonial.[7][8][3] Among the contents of both these texts during the 17th century was the inclusion of illustrations depicting the relevantpontifical vestments to be worn during the celebration of the liturgies.[9] The 1961Roman Pontifical modified theblessings for these vestments, adding thecope andhumeral veil to the list of articles that might be blessed.[10]
TheUnion of Utrecht, a communion ofOld Catholic denominations, adapted and translated theRoman Pontifical into German atBern in 1899. The pontifical was later translated intoDutch andPolish. This was just one of severalliturgical books of the Roman Rite translated by the Union of Utrecht in its early years.[11]: 109–110 An English translation of this pontifical, executed byArnold Mathew and including the Old Catholicmissal, was published in 1909.[12] In 1985, this pontifical was replaced by a new text that incorporated a rite for ordainingdeaconesses.[11]: 411
Within theMaronite Church–anEastern Catholic church–the termpontifical was applied to texts of a similar purpose as their Latin counterparts by the 18th century. During the 17th century, such a text was approved by the Maronite clergy and submitted for review in Rome, though went unpublished. The manuscript, labelled as a pontifical, was translated intoLatin in 1723 at theMaronite College.[13] In 2008, a revised Maronite pontifical byStephen Youssef Doueihi was published and approved for English-language use.[14]
In theEastern Orthodox Church andByzantine Rite Eastern Catholic churches, the equivalent of a pontifical is theArchieratikon (Greek: Ἀρχηιερατικόν;Slavonic: Чиновникъ,Chinovnik).[15] This book is often in a large format and contains only those portions ofVespers,Matins, and theDivine Liturgy which pertain to the bishop (hierarch). It also contains those rites (ordination, theconsecration of a church or altar, etc.) which are normally performed only by a bishop. TheEuchologion combines some features present in Latin missals,rituals, and pontificals into a single text.[1]: 471 [16][17]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)