Old Roman Chant

Ever heard the claim: "Pope Gregory the Great came up with Gregorian chant"?

For centuries, it has become common wisdom that the venerable pope was the source of what we now know of as Gregorian chant, and the assumption that it was the chant tradition of the Roman Church - apparently the sole one - was a given. Many - scholars and laymen alike - repeat this attribution, often without question. However, certain discoveries in the 19th century (which were not given proper attention until the 20th century!) has shook the foundations of centuries of pious retelling.

The Mass in Gaul, Part 3 (from The Mass of the Western Rites)

Christ in Majesty (c. AD 1100),
Chapelle des Moines, Berzé-la-Ville

The "Commixtion," or "Immixtion," has, like the "Fraction," a dogmatic bearing. The celebrant soaks one or several of the consecrated particles in the chalice, allowing one of them to fall into it. Under this form, with
the words accompanying it in many liturgies, the sole meaning of this rite is to show to the faithful, before Communion, that it is the very Body and Blood of Christ which they are about to receive; and that their separation under the different species of bread and wine is only apparent. Although at this epoch Communion under both kinds was almost universal, the doctrine that Christ was present, whole and entire, under both species, was none the less of equally universal acceptance. The rites of "Commixtion" or "Immixtion," which are attached to this part of the Mass, seem, in our opinion, to favor this interpretation (see "Immixtion" in DACL).

The Mass in Gaul, Part 2 (from The Mass of the Western Rites)

THE MASS OF THE FAITHFUL

The paten from Gourdon.

The "Prayer of the Faithful" is a prayer recited after the departure of the catechumens by the faithful alone; thus it forms part of the Mass of the Faithful. Sometimes it is called the Prayer of the Church, or the Common Prayer. In the West, especially at Rome, it was recited in the following way: the Pontiff invited the faithful to prayer; the Deacon gave the order to bend the knee; the Bishop pronounced the prayer, and the people responded "Amen." Ed. Bishop remarks acutely, in this connection, that this prayer bears the seal of the Roman Church, in which ecclesiastical authority always maintains its rights, the part of the faithful being reduced to a minimum; while in the East the initiative of Christian people is allowed a much wider scope. To such a degree is this the case that at Rome this prayer might more correctly be called the Prayer "for" the Faithful. We have a very well-preserved type of the prayer in the "Orationes solemnes" of Good Friday. But all other trace of it has disappeared from the Roman liturgy. Under an analogous form it existed in the Gallican liturgies in the sixth century, as is proved by a text of the Council of Lyon under Sigismond (516-523), which alludes to the "Oratio plebis quae post evangelium legitur" (Concilia aevi merovingici," p. 34).
But since then it has disappeared, as it has at Rome, and we find in the Gallican liturgy only diaconal litanies, imitated from those in the Byzantine liturgy.

The Mass in Gaul, Part 1 (from The Mass of the Western Rites)

THE MASS IN GAUL

The Mass of the Catechumens. -The Mass of the Faithful.

 In the volume on "Books of the Latin Liturgy" (Sands & Co., London), pp. 96-103, we have mentioned the different documents by the aid of which the Gallican Mass may be reconstituted and the origins of this liturgy established. On this subject we have also stated that for the description of the Gallican Mass no reliance can be placed on the pretended letters of St. Germain of Paris, though this has been done too often. These letters are not a document of the middle of the sixth century, but an anonymous treatise written a century later (ibid., p. 99). We must therefore, like Mabillon and, more recently, Dom Wilmart (DACL, "Germain, Lettres de St."), keep solely to the other documents which we possess on this subject, and to the texts of contemporary authors, the most valuable of which is that of Gregory of Tours. A very complete bibliography of all these documents will be found in the article ("Gallicanes Liturgies)" of Dom Leclercq, DACL.

From the Gallican Rites...

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia:
The Reichenau Fragments (Carlsruhe, 253) are 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 Reichenau, 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).

MISSA II

(collectio.) Deum fidelium saluatorem, conseruatoremque credentium. deum aeterne. inmortalitatis auctorem. fratres dilectissimi. unianimiter dominum depraecemur. ut nobis pietatis suae dono spiritali misericordiam indeficienter inperciat p. d.

(collectio ante nomina.) Deus qui pro magnitudinem tuam per uniuersa deffunderis et ubi tamen totus adsistis. discriteus omnium uoluntatis qualitatebus locis temporibus adque personis. uotorum omnium capax. propiciatus exaudi. dum ad cunctus adspices foues omnebus misereris. p. d.

(post nomina.) Recitata nomina dominus benedieat et accepta sit domino uti huius oblatio. nostrisque praecebus intercessio suffragetur. spiritibus quoque karorum nostrorum laetis sedibus conquiiscant. et primi resurrectionis gaudia consequantur. p. d. nm.

(ad pacem.) Exaudi nos deus salutares noster. et in consortio nos diuinorum sacrificiorum dignanter admitte. hac pacem tuam benignus largire. p. d.

(contestatio.) Dignum et iustum est equum et iustum est ut te sancte pater omnipotens aeterne deus. omnibus locis. omnibusque temporibus. per omnia momenta ueneremur. tibi supplices simus. tibi deferamus praecis, te totis stodiis et effectibus adoremus. deus qui ultra omnibus uirtutis. ultra omnis es potestatis. deux uniuersorum arbiter. judex secretorum. quem caeli et terra. quem angeli et archangeli. quem throni et dominationis. quem cherubin. et serafin. incessabili uoce proclamant dicentes. SS. SCS. SS.

(contestatio.) Dignum et iustum est. nos tibi gratias agere domine deus per Xpm Jhm filium tuum. qui cum deus esset aeternus. homo fieri pro nostra salute dignatus est. unice singulare. et multiplex saluatoris nostri mysterium. nam unus idemque et deus summus et homo perfectus, et pontifex maximus. et sacrificii sacratissimum. secundum diuinam potentiam creauit omnia. secundum humanam conditionem liberabit hominem. secundum uim sacrificii expiauit conmaculatus. secundum jus sacerdocii reconciliauit offensus. O unice redemptionis. mysterium singulare. in quo uetusta ilia uulnera. noua domino medicina sanauit. et primi hominis praeiudicia. salutares nostri praeuiligia resciderunt. ille concupiscientiae exagitatus stimolis. hic oboedientiae, confixus est clauis. ille ad arborem manus incontinenter extendit. iste ad crucem pacienter abtauit. ille uoluptate inlecitus gustus explebit. iste cruciatu indebite dolores afflictus est. ideo merito poena innocentiae facta est absolutio debetores jure. etenim obnoxii demittuntur debita quae pro eis ille qui nihil
habebat absoluit. quod singulare mystirium. non solum homines in terris. uerum etiam. angeli uenerantur in caelis. cui me[rito].

(post sanctus.) Uere sanctus. uere benedictus dominus noster Jhs Xps filius tuus. Qui pridie.

(post mysterium.) Domini ac dei nostri sempeterni gloriam depraecemur. orantis uti hoc sacrificium tua benedictione. benedicas et sancti spiritus tui rore perfundas. ut accipientibus uniuersis. legitima sit eucharestia per Jhm Xpm filium tuum deum ac dominum conseruatoremque nostrum, cui est aput te domine cum spiritum sanctum regnum sempiternum perpettia diuinitas in secula seculorum amen.