TheUse of Sarum (orUse of Salisbury, also known as theSarum Rite) is theliturgical use of theLatin rites developed atSalisbury Cathedral and used from the lateeleventh century until theEnglish Reformation.^[1] It is largely identical to theRoman Rite, with about ten per cent of its material drawn from other sources.^[2] The cathedral's liturgy was widely respected during thelate Middle Ages, and churches throughout theBritish Isles and parts ofnorthwestern Europe adapted its customs for celebrations of theEucharist andcanonical hours. The Sarum Rite has a uniqueecumenical position in influencing and being authorized for liturgical use by theRoman Catholic Church,Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as theAnglican Communion.

In 1078,William the Conquerer appointedOsmund, aNorman nobleman, asbishop of Salisbury (the period name of the site whose ruins are now known asOld Sarum).^[3] Asbishop, Osmund initiated some revisions to the extant Celtic-Anglo-Saxon rite and the local adaptations of the Roman rite, drawing on both Norman andAnglo-Saxon traditions.

Nineteenth-century liturgists theorized that the liturgical practices ofRouen in northernFrance inspired the Sarumliturgical books. The Normans had deposed most of the Anglo-Saxon episcopate, replacing them with Norman bishops, of which Osmund was one. Given the similarities between the liturgy in Rouen and that of Sarum, it appears the Normans imported their French liturgical books as well.^[4]

The Use of Sarum refers not only to the text and rubrics of the Mass, but also the calendar of saints, feasts and fast days, the readings and other liturgical practices. For example, onMaundy Thursday individuals who had been excommunicated for serious sins and then confessed were publicly received back into communion in theReconciliation of the Penitents ceremony.^[5][6]

The revisions during Osmund's episcopate resulted in the compilation of a newmissal,breviary, and other liturgical manuals, which came to be used throughout southernEngland,Wales, and parts ofIreland.^[7]

Somedioceses issued their own missals, inspired by the Sarum rite, but with their own particular prayers and ceremonies. Some of these are so different that they have been identified as effectively distinct liturgies, such as those ofHereford,York,Bangor, andAberdeen. Other missals (such as those ofLincoln Cathedral orWestminster Abbey) were more evidently based on the Sarum rite and varied only in details.^[8]

Liturgical historians believe the Sarum rite had a distinct influence upon other usages of theRoman rite outside England, such as theNidaros rite inNorway and theBraga Rite inPortugal.^[9][10] Following thesiege of Lisbon in1147,Gilbert of Hastings became the first bishop of the restoredbishopric of Lisbon, and introduced the Sarum rite for the liturgy of the mass in his diocese, a use which continued until 1536, when theCardinal-Infante Afonso of Portugal introduced the Roman rite as a response against theAnglican Schism.^[11] It has even been speculated that through Portuguese missionaries the Sarum Use might have even been used in the Congo.^[12]

Masses according to the Use of Sarum were similar to theTridentine Mass, both being adaptations of the Roman Rite from different periods with an almost identicalRoman Canon,^{[13]: 202–204} but with even more parts, lavishness and busy rubrics:^[14] there are eightysequences for Sarum-use Masses but only five for Tridentine-use Masses.^[15]: 92 It had a high Mass and a low Mass.

The high Mass of Sundays and great feasts involved up to four sacred ministers:priest,deacon,subdeacon, andacolyte. It was customary for them to visit in procession all the altars of the church and cense them, ending at the greatrood screen (or whatever barrier between the laity and the altar), whereantiphons andcollects would be sung. At the screen would be read theBidding Prayers, prayers in the vernacular directing the people to pray for various intentions.^{[citation needed]}

There was considerable variation from diocese to diocese, or even church to church, in the details of the rubrics: the place where theEpistle was sung, for instance, varied enormously; from alectern at thealtar, from a lectern in thequire, to the feature described as the 'pulpitum', a word used ambiguously for the place of reading (a pulpit) or for therood screen. Some scholars thought that the readings were proclaimed from the top of the rood screen, which was most unlikely given the tiny access doors to the rood loft in most churches. This would not have permitted dignified access for a vested Gospel procession.^{[citation needed]}

The procession then vested for Mass. Sarum had a well-developed series of colours ofvestments for differentfeasts. There may have been tendencies to use a particular colour for a particular feast (red, for instance, was used on Sundays, as in theAmbrosian rite), but if a church were simply too poor to have several sets of vestments, they used what they had.^{[citation needed]}

Some of the prayers of the Mass are unique, such as the priest's preparation prayers for Holy Communion. Some ceremonies differ from theTridentine Mass, though they are not unknown in other forms of the western rites: the offering of the bread and wine was (as in the Dominican and other rites) made by one act. These distinctions have been evaluated as "of the most trifling character."^[16] The chalice was prepared between the readings of the Epistle and the Gospel. In addition, in common with the Ambrosian rite and many monastic rites, after the Elevation the celebrant stood with his arms outstretched in the form of a cross; the Particle was put into the chalice after theAgnus Dei. It is probable that communion under one kind was followed by a 'rinse' of unconsecrated wine. The first chapter ofSt John's Gospel was read while the priest made his way back to the sacristy.^[17] Two candles on the altar were customary, though others were placed around it and on the rood screen. The Sarum missal calls for a low bow as an act of reverence, rather than thegenuflection.^[18]

Notably, there are no prayers or rubrics in the extant texts that show how lay communion was performed.^[19]: 101

Even after theChurch of England was establishedseparate from the Roman Catholic Church, theCanterbury Convocation declared in 1543 that the SarumBreviary would be used for thecanonical hours.^[20][21] UnderEdward VI of England, the use provided the foundational material for theBook of Common Prayer and remains influential in English liturgies.^[22]Mary I restored the Use of Sarum in 1553, but it fell out of use underElizabeth I. New priests arriving from Douai were trained in the new Tridentine Use (of theMissale Romanum), so the Use of Sarum, and its fasting requirements, waned by the end of the century.^{[19]: 145et seq.}

Sarum Use remains a permitted use for Roman Catholics, asPope Pius V permitted the continuation of uses more than two hundred years old under theapostolic constitutionQuo primum.^[19] In practice, a brief resurgence of interest in the 19th century did not lead to a revival.^[23]

SomeWestern Rite Orthodox congregations have adopted the use due to its antiquity and similarities with theByzantine Rite.^[24] This includes Western Rite members of theRussian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, as well as theOld CalendaristAutonomous Orthodox Metropolia of North and South America and the British Isles.

In spite of interest in the Sarum Use, its publication in Latin sources from the sixteenth century and earlier has inhibited its modern adoption. Several academic projects are gradually improving its accessibility. From 2009 to 2013,Bangor University produced a series of films and other resources as part ofThe Experience of Worship research project.^[25][26] In 2006,McMaster University launched an ongoing project to create an edition and English translation of the complete Sarum Use with its originalplainsong, resulting in the publication of more than 10,000 musical works, and expected to be completed in 2022.^[27]

The Rite of Sarum has influence even amongWestern Christian churches that do not use its text, obscuring understanding of the original:

The modern fame of the Use of Sarum is to a great extent an accidental product of the political and religious preoccupations of 19th-century English ecclesiastics and ecclesiologists. The Use certainly deserves attention and respect as an outstanding intellectual achievement, but it is far from unique, and the fascination that it has exerted still threatens to limit rather than increase our understanding of the medieval English Church.^[1]

Many of the ornaments and ceremonial practices associated with the Sarum rite—though not the full liturgy itself—were revived in the Anglican Communion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as part of the Anglo-CatholicOxford Movement in the Church of England. Some Anglo-Catholics wanted to find a traditional formal liturgy that was characteristically "English" rather than "Roman." They took advantage of the 'Ornaments Rubric' of 1559, which directed that English churches were to use "...such Ornaments of the Church, and of the Ministers thereof, at all Times of their Ministration, shall be retained, and be in use, as were in this Church of England, by the Authority of Parliament, in the Second Year of the Reign of Edward VI of England," i.e. January 1548 - January 1549, before the First Prayer Book came into effect in June of the latter year (which authorized the use of traditional vestments and was quite explicit that the priest shall wear an alb, vestment (chasuble) or cope and that the deacons shall be vested in albs and tunicles (dalmatics). However, there was a tendency to read backVictorian centralizing tendencies into mediaeval texts, and so a rather rubrical spirit was applied to liturgical discoveries.

Chief among the proponents of Sarum customs was the Anglican priestPercy Dearmer, who put these into practice (according to his own interpretation) at his parish of St Mary the Virgin,Primrose Hill, inLondon. He explained them at length inThe Parson's Handbook, which ran through several editions.^[28] This style of worship has been retained in some present-day Anglican churches and monastic institutions, where it is known as "English Use" (Dearmer's term) or "Prayer Book Catholicism".

Several prayers from the Use of Sarum were incorporated by theRoman Catholic Church into a liturgy specifically established forformer Anglicans converting to Roman Catholicism, now in communion withthe Vatican. One example being theCollect for Purity, which can be found inDivine Worship: The Missal (themissal in use in thePersonal Ordinariates for former Anglicans converted to the Roman Catholic Church).

• Edith Wharton refers to the "Sarum Rule" in Book I of her 1905 novelThe House of Mirth.

• The Use of Sarum, commonly known as the Sarum Rite: ongoing edition and English translation of the complete Sarum Use
• The book of Psalms sung inSarum Use plainsong by Sarah James.

Re-creations

• The Experience of Worship: films and resources for the general public on worship in late medieval England produced in 2009–13
• Sarum Use Vespers - Candlemas Eve: Feb 1, 2020 at St Patrick's Church, Philadelphia : A service of Vespers demonstrating perhaps what a service might look like if the Sarum Use had remained in practice, put together in Philadelphia by the Durandus Institute
• Vespers, Compline and Salve according to the Sarum use : a recreation of the two last offices of the day, Vespers and Compline, followed, as was custom, by the "Salve Regina", performed by Oxford-based early music ensemble, Antiquum Documentum in the MedievalChurch of University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford for the feast of St. Cecilia 2023
• Sarum Procession and High Mass : the Procession and High Mass according to the Use of Sarum that took place in the Chapel ofMerton College, Oxford in 1997

• Roman Rite
• Anglican sacraments
• Anglo-Catholicism
• Book of Common Prayer
• Diocese of Salisbury

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