The Gallican Rite

This subject will be treated under the following six heads:

I. History and Origin;
II. Manuscripts and Other Sources;
III. The Liturgical Year;
IV. The Divine Office;
V. The Mass;
VI. The Occasional Services.

I. HISTORY AND ORIGIN

The name Gallican Rite is given to the rite which prevailed in Gaul from the earliest times of which we have any information until about the middle or end of the eighth century. there is no information before the fifth century and very little then; and throughout the whole period there was, to judge by existing documents and descriptions, so much diversity that, though the general outlines of the rite were of the same pattern, the name must not be taken to imply more than a very moderate amount of homogeneity. The Rite of Spain, fairly widely used from the fifth century to the end of the eleventh, and still lingering on as an archaeological survival in chapels at Toledo and Salamanca, was so nearly allied to the Gallican Rite that the term Hispano Gallican is often applied to the two. But the Spanish Mozarabic Rite has, like the allied Celtic, enough of an independent history to require separate treatment, so that though it will be necessary to allude to both by way of illustration, this article will be devoted primarily to the rite once used in what is now France. Of the origin of the Gallican Rite there are three principle theories, between two of which the controversy is not yet settled. These may be termed (1) the Ephesine, (2) the Ambrosian, and (3) the Roman theories.

(1) The first has been already mentioned under AMBROSIAN RITE and CELTIC RITE. This theory, which was first put forward by Sir W. Palmer in his "Origines Liturgicae", which was once very popular among Anglicans. According to it the Gallican Rite was referred to an original brought to Lyons from Ephesus by St. Pothinus and St. Irenæus , who had received it through St. Polycarp from St. John the Divine. The idea originated partly in a statement in the eighth century tract in Cott. manuscript Nero A. II in the British Museum, which refers the Gallican Divine Office ( Cursus Gallorum ) to such an origin, and partly in a statement of Coleman at the Synod of Whitby (664) respecting the Johannine origin of the Celtic Easter. The Cottonian tract is of little or no historical value; Coleman's notion was disproved at the time by St. Wilfred; and the Ephesine theory has now been given up by all serious liturgiologists. Mgr Duchesne, and his "Origines de culte chrétien", has finally disposed of the possibility of so complicated a rite as the Gallican having so early an origin as the second century.

(2) The second theory is that which Duchesne puts forward in the place of the Ephesine. He holds that Milan, not Lyons, was the principal centre of Gallican development. He lays great stress on the incontestable importance of Milan and the Church of Milan in the late fourth century, and conjectures that a liturgy of Oriental origin, introduced perhaps by the Cappadocian Auxentius, Bishop of Milan from 355 to 374, spread from that centre to Gaul, Spain, and Britain. He points out that "the Gallican Liturgy in the features which distinguish it from the Roman, betrays all the characteristics of the Eastern liturgies," and that "some of its formularies are to be found word for word in the Greek texts which were in use in the Churches of the Syro-Byzantine Rite either in the fourth century or somewhat later", and infers from this that, "the Gallican Liturgy is an Oriental liturgy, introduced into the West towards the middle of the fourth century". not, he does not, however, note that in certain other important peculiarities the Gallican Liturgy agrees with the Roman where the latter differs from the Oriental. Controverting the third or Roman theory of origin, he lays some stress upon the fact that Pope St. Innocent I (416) in his letter to Decentius of Gubbio spoke of usages which Mgr Duchesne recognizes as Gallican (e.g. the position of the Diptychs and the Pax ), as "foreign importations" and did not recognize in them the ancient usage of his own Church, and he thinks it hard to explain why the African Church should have accepted the Roman reforms, while St. Ambrose himself a Roman. refused them. He assumes that the Ambrosian Rite is not really Roman, but Gallican, much Romanized at a later period, and that the Giubbio variations of which St. Innocent complained were borrowed from Milan.

(3) The third theory is perhaps rather complicated to state without danger of misrepresentation, and has not been so definitely stated as the other two by any one writer. It is held in part by Probst, Father Lucas, the Milanese liturgiologists, and many others whose opinion is of weight. In order to state it clearly it will be necessary to point out first certain details in which all the Latin or Western rites agree with one another in differing from the Eastern, and in this we speak only of the Mass, which is of far more importance than either the Divine Office, or the occasional services in determining origins. The Eastern Eucharistic offices of whatever rite are marked by the invariability of the priest's part. There are, it is true, alternative anaphoras which are used either ad libitum , as in the Syro-Jacobite Rite, or on certain days, as in Byzantine and East Syrian, but they are complete in themselves and do not contain passages appropriate to the day. The lections of course vary with the day in all rites, and varying antiphons, troparia, etc., are sung by the choir; but the priest's part remains fixed. In the Western rites, whether Hispano-Gallican, Ambrosian, or Roman, a very large proportion of the priest's part varies according to the day, and, as will be seen by the analysis of its Mass in this article, these variations are so numerous in the Gallican Rite that the fixed part even of the Prayer of the Consecration is strangely little. Certain of the varying prayers of the Hispano-Gallican Rite have a tendency to fall into couples, a Bidding Prayer, or invitation to pray, sometimes of considerable length and often partaking of the nature of a homily, addressed to the congregation, and a collect embodying the suggestions of the Bidding Prayer, addressed to God. These Bidding Prayers have survived in the Roman Rite of today in the Good Friday intercessory prayers, and they occur in a form borrowed later from the Gallican, in the ordination services, but in general the invitation to prayer is reduced to its lowest terms in the word Oremus . Another Western peculiarity is in the form of the recital of the Institution. The principal Eastern liturgies follow St. Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 , and date the Institution by the betrayal, en te nykti, he paredidoto (in the night in which He was betrayed), and of the less important anaphoras, most either use the same expression or paraphrase it. The Western liturgies date from the Passion, Qui pridie quam pateretur , for which, though of course the fact is found there, there is no verbal Scriptural warrant. The Mozarabic of today uses the Pauline words, and no Gallican Recital of the Institution remains in full; but in both the prayer that follows is called (with alternative nomenclature in the Gallican) Post Pridie and the catchwords "Qui pridie" come at the end of the Post-Sanctus in the Gallican Masses, so that it is clear that this form existed in both. These variations from the Eastern usages are of an early date, and it is inferred from them, and from other considerations more historical than liturgical, that a liturgy with these peculiarities was the common property of Gaul, Spain, and Italy. Whether, as is most likely, it originated in Rome and spread thence to the countries under direct Roman influence, or whether it originated elsewhere and was adopted by Rome, there is no means of knowing. The adoption must have happened when liturgies were in rather a fluid state. The Gallicans may have carried to an extreme the changes begun at Rome, and may have retained some archaic features (now often mistaken for Orientalisms) which had been later dropped by Rome. At some period in the fourth century -- it has been conjectured that it was in the papacy of St. Damasus (366-84) -- reforms were made at Rome, the position of the Great Intercession and of the Pax were altered, the latter, perhaps because the form of the dismissal of the catechumens was disused, and the distinction between the missa catechumenorum and the missa fidelium was no longer needed, and therefore the want was felt of a position with some meaning to it for the sign of Christian unity, and the long and diffuse prayers were made into the short and crisp collects of the Roman type. It was then that the variable Post-Sanctus and Post-Pridie were altered into a fixed Canon of a type similar to the Roman Canon of today, though perhaps this Canon began with the clause which now reads, "Quam oblationem", but according to the pseudo-Ambrosian tract "De Sacramentis" once read "Fac nobis hanc oblationem". This may have been introduced by a short variable Post-Sanctus. This reform, possibly through the influence of St. Ambrose, was adopted at Milan, but not in Gaul and Spain. At a still later period changes were again made at Rome. They have been principally attributed to St. Leo (440-61), St. Gelasius (492-96), and St. Gregory (590-604), but the share these popes had in the reforms is not definitely known, though three varying sacramentaries have been called by their respective names. These later reforms were not adopted at Milan, which retained the books of the first reform, which are now known as Ambrosian.

Hence it may be seen that, roughly speaking, the Western or Latin Liturgy went through three phases, which may be called for want of better names the Gallican, the Ambrosian, and the Roman stages. The holders of the theory no doubt recognize quite clearly that the line of demarcation between these stages is rather a vague one, and that the alterations were in many respects gradual. Of the three theories of origin of the Ephesine may be dismissed as practically disproved. To both of the other two the same objection may be urged, that they are largely founded on conjecture and on the critical examination of documents of a much later date than the periods to which the conjectures relate. But at present there is little else to go upon. It may be well to mention also a theory put forward by Mr. W.C. Bishop in the "Church Quarterly" for July, 1908, to the effect that the Gallican Liturgy was not introduced into Gaul from anywhere, but was the original liturgy of that country, apparently invented and developed there. He speaks of an original independence of Rome (of course liturgically only) followed by later borrowings. This does not seem to exclude the idea that Rome and the West may have had the germ of the Western Rite in common. Again the theory is conjectural and is only very slightly stated in the article. The later history of the Gallican Rite until the time of its abolition as a separate rite is obscure. In Spain there was a definite centre in Toledo, whose influence was felt over the whole peninsula, even after the coming of the Moors. Hence it was that the Spanish Rite was much more regulated than the Gallican, and Toledo at times, though not very successfully, tried to give liturgical laws even to Gaul, though probably only to the Visigothic part of it. In the greater part of France there was liturgical anarchy. There was no capital to give laws to the whole country, and the rite developed there variously in various places, so that among the scanty fragments of the service-books that remain there is a marked absence of verbal uniformity, though the main outlines of the services are of the same type. Several councils attempted to regulate matters a little, but only for certain provinces. Among these were the Councils of Vannes (465), Agde (506), Vaison (529), Tours (567), Auxerre (578), and the two Councils of Mâcon (581, 623). But all along there went on a certain process of Romanizing due to the constant applications to the Holy See for advice, and there is also another complication in the probable introduction during the seventh century, through the Columbanine missionaries of elements of Irish origin. The changes towards the Roman Rite happened rather gradually during the course of the late seventh and eighth century, and seem synchronous with the rise of the Maires du Palais , and their development into Kings of France. Nearly all the Gallican books of the later Merovingian period, which are all that are left, contain many Roman elements. In some cases there is reason to suppose that the Roman Canon was first introduced into an otherwise Gallican Mass, but the so-called Gelasian Sacramentary, the principle manuscript of which is attributed to the Abbey of St. Dennis and the early eighth century, is an avowedly Roman book, though containing Gallican additions and adaptations. And the same may be said of what is left of the undoubtedly Frankish book known as the "Missale Francorum" of the same date. Mgr Duchesne attributes a good deal of this eighth-century Romanizing tendency to St. Boniface, though he shows that it had begun before his day. The Roman Liturgy was adopted at Metz in the time of St. Chrodegang (742-66). the Roman chant was introduced about 760, and by a decree of Pepin, quoted in Charlemagne's "Admonitio Generalis" in 789, the Gallican chant was abolished in its favour. Pope Adrian I between 784 and 791 sent to Charlemagne at his own request a copy of what was considered to be the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, but which certainly represented the Roman use of the end of the eighth century. This book, which was far from complete, was edited and supplemented by the addition of a large amount of matter derived from the Gallican books and from the Roman book known as the Gelasian Sacramentary, which had been gradually supplanting the Gallican. It is probable that the editor was Charlemagne's principal liturgical advisor, the Englishman Alcuin. Copies were distributed throughout Charlemagne's empire, and this "composite liturgy ", as Mgr Duchesne says, "from its source in the Imperial chapel spread throughout all the churches of the Frankish Empire and at length, finding its way to Rome gradually supplanted there the ancient use". More than half a century later, when Charles the Bald wished to see what the ancient Gallican Rite had been like, it was necessary to import Spanish priests to celebrate it in his presence.

It should be noted that the name Gallican has also been applied to two other uses: (1) a French use introduced by the Normans into Apulia and Sicily. This was only a variant of the Roman Rite . (2) the reformed Breviaries of the French dioceses in the seventeenth to mid-nineteenth centuries. These have nothing to do with the ancient Gallican Rite.

II. MANUSCRIPTS AND OTHER SOURCES

There are no manuscripts of the Gallican Rite earlier than the later part of the seventh century, thought the descriptions in the letters of St. Germanus of Paris (555-76) take one back another century. The manuscripts are:--

(1) The Reichenau Fragments (Carlsruhe, 253), described (no. 8) in Delisle's "Memoire sur d'anciens Sacramentaires." -- These were discovered by Mone in 1850 in a palimpsest manuscript from the Abbey of Rerichenau in the library of Carlsruhe. The manuscript, which is late seventh century, had belonged to John II, Bishop of Constance (760-81). It contains eleven Masses of purely Gallican type, one of which is in honour of St. Germanus of Auxerre , but the others do not specify any festival. One Mass, except the post Post-Pridie, which is in prose is entirely in hexameter verse. Mone published them with a facsimile in his "Lateinische und Griechische Menssen aus dem zweiten bis sechsten Jahrhundert" (Frankfort 1850). They were reprinted in Migne's "Patrologia Latina" (Vol. CXXXVIII), and by Neale and Forbes in "The Ancient Liturgy of the Gallican Church" (Burntisland, 1855-67).

(2) The Peyron, Mai, and Bunsen Fragments. Of these disjointed palimpsest leaves, those of Mai and Peyron were found in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, and those of Bunsen at St. Gall. Peyron's were printed in his "M.T. Ciceronis Orationum Fragmenta inedita" (Stuttgart, 1824), MAI's in his "Scriptorum Veterum Vaticana Collectio", and Bunsen's in his "Analecta Ante-Niceana". All these were reprinted by C. E. Hammond: Peyron's and Bunsen's in his "Ancient Liturgy of Antioch" (Oxford, 1879), and MAI's in his "Ancient Liturgies" (Oxford, 1878). The latest are also in Migne's "Patrologia Latina" with Mone's Riechenau fragments. the Peyron fragment contains part of what looks like a Lenten Contestatio (Preface) with other prayers of Gallican type. The Bunsen fragment contains part of a Mass for the Dead (Post-Sactus, Post Pridie) and several pairs of Bidding Prayers and Collects, the former having the title "Exhortatio" or "Exhortatio Matutina. The Mai fragments begin with part of a Bidding Prayer and contain a fragment of a Contestatio , with that title, and fragments of other prayers, two of which have the title "Post Nomina", and two others which seem to be prayers "Ad Pacem".

(3) The Missale Gothicum (Vatican, Queen Christina manuscripts 317). -- Described by Delisle, No. 3 A manuscript of the end of the seventh century, which once belonged to the Petau Library. The name is due to a fifteenth century note at the beginning of the book, and hence it has been attributed by Tommasi and Mabillon to Narbonne, which was in the Visigothic Kingdom. Mgr Duchesne, judging by the inclusion of Masses for the feasts of St. Symphorian and St. Léger (d. 680), attributes it to Autun. The Masses are numbered, the manuscript beginning with Christmas Eve, which is numbered "III". Probably there were once two Advent Masses, as in the "Missale Gallicanum". There are eighty-one numbered sections, of which the last is the first prayer of "Missa Romensif cottidiana", with which the manuscript breaks off. The details of the Masses in this book are given in the section of the present article on the liturgical year. The Masses are all Gallican as to order, but many of the actual prayers are Roman. The "Missale Gothicum" has been printed by Tommasi (Codices Sacramentorum, Rome, 1680), Mabillon (De Liturgiâ Gallicanâ, Paris, 1685), Muratori (Liturgia Romana Vetus, Venice, 1748), Neale and Forbes (op. cit.), and Migne's "Patrologia Latina" (Vol. LXXII).

(4) Missale Gallicanum Vetus (Vatican. Palat. 493). -- Described by Delisle, No. 5 The manuscript, which is of the end of the seventh, or the early part of the eighth, century is only a fragment. It begins with a Mass for the feast of St. Germanus of Auxerre (9 Oct.), after which come prayers for the Blessing of Virgins and Widows, two Advent Masses, the Christmas Eve Mass, the Expositio and Traditio Symboli , and other ceremonies preparatory to Baptism ; The Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday ceremonies and the baptismal service, Masses for the Sundays after Easter up to the Rogation Mass, where the manuscript breaks off. The Masses, as in the Gothicum , are Gallican in order with many Roman prayers. The Good Friday prayers are, with a few verbal variations, exactly those from the Roman Missal. The manuscript has been printed by Tommasi, Mabillon, Muratori, and Neale and Forbes (op.cit.), and in Vol. LXXII of Migne's "Patrologia Latina".

(5) The Lexeuil Lectinary (Paris, Bibl. Nat., 9427). -- This manuscript, which is of the seventh century was discovered by Mabillon in the Abbey of Luxeuill, but from its containing among its very few saints' days the feast of St. Genevieve, Dom Morin (Revue Bénédictine, 1893) attributes it to Paris. It contains the Prophetical Lessons, epistles and Gospels for the year from Christmas Eve onwards (for the details of which see the section of this article on the liturgical years). At the end are the lessons of a few special Masses, for the burial of a bishop, for the dedication of a church, when a bishop preaches, "et plebs decimas reddat", when a deacon is ordained, when a priest is blessed, "in profectione itineris", and "lectiones cotidianae". This lectionary is purely Gallican with no apparent Roman influence. The manuscript has not been printed in its entirety, but Mabillon in "De Liturgiâ Gallicanâ gives the references to all the lessons and the beginnings and endings of the text.

(6) The Letters of St. Germanus of Paris . -- These were printed by Martène (De Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus Bassano, 1788) from an manuscript at Autun, and are given also in Vol. LXXII of Migne's "Patrologia Latina". There appears to be no reason to doubt that they are genuine. They contain mystical interpretations of the ceremonies of the Mass and of other services. Mgr Duchesne says of the descriptions, on which the interpretations are based, that "We may reconstruct from the letters a kind of Ordo Gallicanus ". (See section of this article on the Mass.)

Much side light is thrown on the Gallican Rite by the Celtic books (see CELTIC RITE), especially by the Stowe and Bobbio Missals. The latter has been called Gallican and attributed to the Province of Besançon, but it is now held to be Irish in a much Romanized form, though of Continental provenance , being quite probably from the originally Irish monastery of Bobbio, where Mabillon found it. A comparison with the Ambrosian books (SEE AMBROSIAN LITURGY AND RITE) may also be of service, while most lacunae in our knowledge of the Gallican Rite may reasonably be conjecturally filled up from the Mozarabic books, which even in their present form are those of substantially the same rite. There are also liturgical allusions in certain early writers: St. Hilary of Poitiers , St. Sulpicius Severus (d. about 400), St. Caesarius of Arles (d. about 542), and especially St. Gregory of Tours (d. 595), and some information may be gathered from the decrees of the Gallican councils mentioned above.

The above are all that exist as directly Gallican sources, but much information may also be gleaned from the books of the transition period, which, though substantially Roman, were much edited with Germanic tendencies and contained a large amount which was of a Gallican rather than a Roman type. The principal of these are:

(1) The Gelasian Sacramentary , of which three manuscripts exist, one in the Vatican (Queen Christina manuscript 316), and one at Zurich (Rheinau 30, and one at St.Gall ( manuscript 348). The manuscripts are of the early eighth century. The groundwork is Roman, with Gallican additions and modifications. Evidence for the Gallican rites of ordination and some other matters is derived from this book. The Vatican manuscript was published by Tommasi and Muratori, and a complete edition from all three manuscripts was edited by H. A. Wilson (Oxford, 1894).

(2) The Missale Francorum (Vatican Q. Christina manuscript 257, Delisle No. 4). -- A fragment of a Sacramentary of a similar type to the Gelasian, though not identical with it. Printed by Tommasi, Mabillon, and Muratori.

(3) The Gregorian Sacramentary . -- Of this there are many manuscripts It represents the Sacramentary sent by Pope Adrian I to Charlemagne, after it had been rearranged and supplemented by Gelasian and Gallican editions in France. One manuscript of it was published by Muratori. In this, as in many others, the editions form a supplement, but in some (e.g. the Angoulême Sacramentary, Bibl. Nat. Lat. 816) the Gelasian additions are interpolated throughout.

III. THE LITURGICAL YEAR

The Luxeuil Lectionary, the Gothicum and Gallicum Missals , and the Gallican adaptations of the Hieronymian Martyrology are the chief authorities on this point, and to these may be added some information to be gathered from the regulations of the Councils of Agde (506), Orléans (541), Tour (567), and Mâcon (581), and from the "Historia Francorum" of St. Gregory of Tours, as to the Gallican practice in the sixth century. It is probable that there were many variations in different times and places, and that the influence of the Hieronymian Martyrology brought about many gradual assimilations to Rome. The year, as is usual, began with Advent. The Council of Mâcon, which arranges for three days' fast a week, during that season, mentions St. Martin's Day as the key-day for Advent Sunday, so that, as a present in the Mozarabic and Ambrosian Rites, there were six Sundays of Advent (but only two Advent Masses survive in the Gallicanum.) The Gothicum and the Luxeuil Lectionary both begin with Christmas Eve. Then following Christmas Day ; St. Stephen ; St. John (according to Luxeuil ); St. James and St. John (according to the Gothicum, which agrees with the Hieronymian Martyrology and with a Syriac Menology of 412, quoted by Duchesne. The Mozarabic has for 29 December "Sanctus Jacobus Frater Domini", but that is the other St. James); Holy Innocents ; Circumcision; St. Genevieve (Luxeuil Lectionary only. Her day is 3 Jan.); Sunday after the Circumcision (Luxeuil); Vigil of Epiphany ; Epiphany ; two Sundays after Epiphany (Luxeuil); "Festum Sanctae Mariae" (Luxeuil, called "Assumptio" in the Gothicum, 18 Jan.); St. Agnes (Gothicum); after which follow in the Gothicum, out of their proper places, Sts. Cecily (22 Nov.); Clement (23 Nov.); Saturninus (29 Nov.); Andrew (30 Nov.); and Eulalia (10 Dec.); the Conversion of St. Paul (Gothicum); St. Peter's Chair (in both. This from its position after the Conversion of St. Paul in the Gothicum, ought to be St. Peter's Chair at Antioch, 22 Feb.; but it will not work out as such with the two Sundays between it and the Epiphany and three between it and Lent, as it appears in the Luxeuil Lectionary ; so it must mean St. Peter's Chair at Rome, 18 Jan., which is known to have been the festival kept in Gaul; three Sundays after St. Peter's Chair (Luxeuil); Initium Quadragesimae ; five Lenten Masses (Gothicum); Palm Sunday (Luxeuil); "Symboli Traditio" (Gothicum); Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week, called by the name still used in the Ambrosian Rite, Authentica Hebdomada (Luxeuil); Maundy Thursday ; Good Friday ; Easter Eve ; Easter Day and the whole week; Low Sunday, called in both Clausum Paschae ; four more Sundays after Easter (Luxeuil); Invention of the Cross (Gothicum, 3 May); St. John the Evangelist (Gothicum, 6 May); three Rogation Days ; Ascension ; Sunday after Ascension (Luxeuil); Pentecost; Sunday after Pentecost (Luxeuil); Sts. Ferreolus and Ferru (Gothicum, 16 June); Nativity of St. John the Baptist ; Sts. Peter and Paul; Decollation of St. John the Baptist ; Missa de Novo fructus (sic, Luxeuil ); St. Sixtus (Gothicum, 6 Aug.); St. Lawrence (Gothicum, 10 Aug.); St. Hippolytus (Gothicum 13 Aug.); Sts. Cornelius and Cyprian (Gothicum, 16 Sept.); Sts. John and Paul (Gothicum, 26 June); St. Symphorian (Gothicum, 22 Aug.); St. Maurice and his companions (Gothicum, 22 Sept.); St. Leger (Gothicum, 2 Oct.); St. Martin (Gothicum, 22 Nov.). Both books also have Commons of Martyrs and Confessors, the Luxeuil has Commons of bishops and deacons for a number of other Masses, and the Gothicum has six Sunday Masses. The Gallicanum has a Mass in honour of St. Germanus of Auxerre before the two Advent Masses. In both the Gothicum and Gallicanum a large space is given to the services of the two days before Easter, and in the latter the Expositio and Traditio Symboli are given at great length. The moveable feasts depended, of course, on Easter. When the Roman Church altered the Easter cycle from the old computation on a basis of 84 years to the new cycle of 532 of Victorius Aquitaine in 457, the Gallican Church, unlike the Celts, did the same; but when, in 525, the Roman Church adopted the 19 years cycle of Dionysius Exiguus , the Gallican Church continued to use the cycle of Victorius, until the end of the eighth or beginning of the ninth century. Lent began with the first Sunday, not with Ash Wednesday. There is a not very intelligible passage in the canons of the Council of Tours (567) to the effect that all through August there were "festivitates et missae sanctorum", but this is not borne out by the existing Sacramentaries of the Lectionary.

IV. THE DIVINE OFFICE

There is curiously little information on this point, and it is not possible to reconstruct the Gallican Divine Office from the scanty allusions that exist. It seems probable that there was considerable diversity in various times and places, through councils, both in France and Spain, tried to bring about some uniformity. The principle authorities are the Councils of Agde (506) and Tours (567), and allusions in the writings of St. Gregory of Tours and St. Caesarius of Arles. These and other details have been gathered together by Mabillon in his "De Liturgiâ Gallicanâ", and his essay on the Gallican Cursus is not yet superseded. The general arrangement and nomenclature were very similar to those of the Celtic Rite. There were two principal services, Matins ( Ad Matutinam, Matutinum ) and Vespers ( ad Duodecimam, ad Vesperas Lucernarium ); and four Lesser Hours, Prime, or Ad Secundum, Terce, Sext, and None ; and probably two night services, Complin, or ad initium noctis , and Nocturns. But the application of these names is sometimes obscure. It is not quite clear whether Nocturns and Lauds were not joined together as Matins ; Caesarius speaks of Prima , while the Gallicanum speaks of Ad secundum ; Caesarius distinguishes between Lucernarium and Ad Duodeciman , while Aurelian distinguishes between Ad Duodeciman and Complin ; the Gothicum speaks of Vespera Paschae and Initium Noctis Paschae , and the Gallicanum has Ad Duodeciman Paschae . The distribution of the Psalter is not known. The Council of Tours orders six psalms at Sext and twelve Ad Duodecimam , with Alleluia (presumably as Antiphon) For Matins there is a curious arrangement which reminds one of that in the Rule of St. Columbanus (see CELTIC RITE, III). Normally in summer (apparently from Easter to July) "sex antiphonae binis psalmis" are ordered. This evidently means twelve psalms, two under each antiphon. In August there seem to have been no psalms, because there were festivals and Masses of saints. "Toto Augusto manicationes fiant, quia festivitates sunt et missae sanctorum". The meaning of manicationes and of the whole statement is obscure. In September there were fourteen psalms, two under each antiphon; in October twenty-four psalms, three to each antiphon; and from December to Easter thirty psalms, three to each antiphon. Caesarius orders six psalms at Prime with the hymn "Fulgentis auctor aetheris", two lessons, one from the old and one from the New Testament, and a capitellum "; six psalms at Terce, Sext, and None, with an antiphon, a hymn, a lesson, and a capitellum; at Lucernarium a "Psalmus Directaneus", whatever that may be (cf. the "Psalmus Directus" of the Ambrosian Rite ), two antiphons, a hymn, and a capitellum; and ad Duodecimam , eighteen psalms, an antiphon, hymn, lesson, and capitellum. From this it seems as though Lucernarium and Ad Duodecimam made up Vespers. combining the twelfth hour of the Divine Office (that is, of the recitation of the Psalter with its accompaniments) with a service for what, without any intention of levity, one may call "lighting-up time ". The Ambrosian and Mozarabic Vespers are constructed on this principle, and so is the Byzantine Hesperinos .

Caesarius mentions a blessing given by the bishop at the end of Lucernarium , "cumque expleto Lucernario benedictionem populo dedisset"; and the following is an order of the Council of Agde (canon 30):"Et quia convenit ordinem ecclesiae ab omnibus aequaliter custodiri studendum est ut ubique fit et post antiphonas collectiones per ordinem ab episcopis vel presbyteris dicantur et hymni matutini vel vesperenti diebus omnibus decantentur et in conclusione matutinarum vel vespertinarum missarum post hymnos, capitella de psalmis dicantur et plebs collecta oratione ad vesperam ab Episcopo cum benedictione dimittatur". The rules of Caesarius and Aurelian both speak of two nocturns with lessons, which include on the feasts of martyrs lessons from their passions. They order also Magnificat to be sung at Lauds, and during the Paschal days; and on Sundays and greater festivals Gloria in Excelsis . There is a short passage which throws a little light upon the Lyons use of the end of the fifth century in an account of the Council of Lyons in 499, quoted by Mabillon. The council assembled by King Gundobad of Burgundy began on the feast of St. Just. The vigil was kept at his tomb. This began with a lesson from the Pentateuch ("a Moyse") in which occurred the words "Sed ego indurabo cor ejus", etc. ( Exodus 7:3 ). Then psalms were sung and a lesson was read from the prophets, in which occurred the words "Vade, et dices populo huic: Audite audientes", etc. ( Isaiah 6:9 ), the more psalms and a lesson from the Gospels containing the words "Vae tibi, Corozain!" etc. ( Matthew 11:21 ; or Luke 10:13 ) and a lesson from the Epistles ("ex Apostolo") which contained the words "An divitias bonitatis ejus", etc. ( Romans 2:4 ). St. Agobard in the ninth century mentions that at Lyons there were no canticles except from the Psalms, no hymns written by poets, and no lessons except from Scripture. Mabillon says that though in his day Lyons agreed with Rome in many things, especially in the distribution of the Psalter, and admitted lessons from the Acts of the Saints, there were still no hymns except at Complin, and he mentions a similar rule as to hymns at Vienne. But canon 23 of the Council of Tours (767) allowed the use of the Ambrosian hymns . Though the Psalter of the second recension of St. Jerome, now used in all the churches of the Roman Rite except the Vatican Basilica, is known as the "Gallican", while the older, a revision of the "Vetus Itala" used now in St. Peter's at Rome only, is known as the "Roman", it does not seem that the Gallican Psalter was used even in Gaul until a comparatively later date, though it spread thence over nearly all the West. At present the Mozarabic and Ambrosian Psalters are variants of the "Roman", with peculiarities of their own. Probably the decadence of the Gallican Divine Office was very gradual. In the eighth century tract in Cott. manuscript Nero A. II. the "Cursus Gallorum" is distinguished from the "Cursus Romanorum", the "Cursus Scottorum" and the Ambrosian, all of which seem to have been going on then. The unknown writer, though his opinion is of no value on the origin of the "Cursus", may well have known about some of these of his own knowledge ; but through the seventh century there are indications of a tendency to adopt the Roman or the Monastic "cursus" instead of the Gallican, or to mix them up, a tendency which was resisted at times by provincial councils.

V. THE MASS

The chief authorities for the Gallican Mass are the letters of St. Germanus of Paris (555-576); and by a comparison of these with the extant Sacramentaries, not only of Gaul but of the Celtic Rite, with the Irish tracts on the Mass, with the books of the still existing Mozarabic Rite, and with the descriptions of the Spanish Mass given by St. Isidore, one may arrive at a fairly clear general idea of the service, though there exists no Gallican Ordinary of the Mass and no Antiphoner. Mgr. Duchesne, in his "Origines du Cult chrétien", has given a very full account constructed on this basis, though some will differ from him in his supplying certain details from Ambrosian books, and in his claiming the Bobbio Sacramentary as Ambrosian rather than Celtic.

The Order of this Mass is as follows:--

(1) The Entrance.-- Here an Antiphona ( Introit ) was sung. Nothing is said of any Praeparatio Sacerdotis , but there is one given in the Celtic Stowe Missal (see CELTIC RITE); and the Irish tracts describe a preliminary preparation of the Chalice, as does also the Mozarabic Missal. As no Antiphoner exists, we have no specimen of a Gallican Officium or Introit. Duchesne gives a Mozarabic one, which has something of the form of a Roman Responsary. The Antiphona was followed by a proclamation of silence by the deacon, and the salutation Dominus sit semper vobiscum by the priest. This is still the Mozarabic form of Dominus vobiscum .

(2) The Canticles.-- These, according to St. Germanus, were (i) The Ajus ( agios ) which may be the Greek Trisagion ( hagios Theos, k.t.l. ) or the Greek of the Sanctus , probably the latter which is still used elsewhere in the Mozarabic, and seems to be referred to in the Ajus, ajus, ajus of the life of St. Géry of Cambrai and the Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus of the Council of Vaison (529). In the Bobbio there is a prayer Post Ajus . (ii) The Kyrie Eleison , sung by three boys. This has disappeared from the Mozarabic. It is mentioned by the Council of Vaison (529). (iii) The Canticle of Zacharias ( Benedictus ). this is called Prophetia and there are collects post Prophetiam in the Riechenau fragments, the Gothicum and the Bobbio. The Mozarabic and Celtic books have Gloria in Excelsis here, but in the former the "Benedictus" is used instead on the Sunday before the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, called Dominica pro adventu S. Johannis. A different Canticle, Sanctus Deus Angelorum was used, according to St. Germanus, in Lent.

(3) The Lessons-- These were the Lectio Prophetica from the Old Testament, and the Lectio Apostolica or Epistle. In Paschal time the Apocalypse took the place of the Lectio Prophetica, and a lesson from the Acts of the Apostles that of the Epistle. In Lent the Histories of the Old Testament were read instead of the Prophetical Lesson, and on Saint's Days the Acts of the Saints. This agrees with the present Mozarabic, except in the Acts of the Saints, and with the Luxeuil Lectionary, and the Bobbio. The Acts of the Saints were used as Mass Lessons in the Ambrosian Rite as late as the twelfth century. According to St. Germanus the second lesson followed immediately on the first, but in the Mozarabic the Benedicite and a Psallendo (Responsary) come between them. In the Gallican the Benedicite and the Responsorium followed the Epistle. The Bobbio has a fixed collect, Post Benedictionem , which is that which follows Benedictus es (Dan., iii) on Ember Saturdays in the Roman Missal.

(4) The Gospel-- This was preceded by a procession in tribunal analogii , i.e. to the ambo. The word Analogion is still the Byzantine term for the desk from which the Gospel is read. A clerk again sang the Ajus , and seven lighted candles were carried. The clerks cried out Gloria tibi, Domine. Sanctus was sung as they returned. Nothing is said about Alleluia preceding the Gospel, nor is there any in the Mozarabic. The Celtic Rite as shown in the Stowe Missal, included an Alleluia at that point, as do most other rites.

(5) Here, according to St. Germanus, followed the Homily