From Youtube: Ambrosian Rite Mass at Rome's Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

A little something I just wanted to introduce.

The video shows the chanting of the Gospel. Note the Ambrosian form of the thurible (no top cover), the manner of censing (clockwise), and the cappino worn by the priest around the neck (derived from the apparelled amice).

The Minor, Trivial Biblical Stuff, Part 11: Ancient Writers on the Cross

A Roman citizen of no obscure station, having ordered one of his slaves to be put to death, delivered him to his fellow-slaves to be led away, and in order that his punishment might be witnessed by all, directed them to drag him through the Forum and every other conspicuous part of the city as they whipped him, and that he should go ahead of the procession which the Romans were at that time conducting in honour of the god. The men ordered to lead the slave to his punishment, having stretched out both his arms and fastened them to a piece of wood which extended across his breast and shoulders as far as his wrists, followed him, tearing his naked body with whips.

-Dionysius of Halicarnassus (ca. 60 BC-after 7 BC), Roman Antiquities, VII, 69:1-2

I see crosses there, not just of one kind but made in many different ways: some have their victims with head down to the ground; some impale their private parts; others stretch out their arms on the gibbet (patibulum).

-Seneca the Younger (ca. 1 BC-AD 65), To Marcia on Consolation, 20.3

Such are his verbal offences against man; his offences in deed remain. Men weep, and bewail their lot, and curse Cadmus with many curses for introducing Tau (Τ) into the family of letters; they say it was his body that tyrants took for a model, his shape that they imitated, when they set up the erections on which men are crucified. Σταυρός (stauros) the vile engine is called, and it derives its vile name from him. Now, with all these crimes upon him, does he not deserve death, nay, many deaths? For my part I know none bad enough but that supplied by his own shape--that shape which he gave to the gibbet named σταυρός after him by men.

-Pseudo-Lucian (ca. 125-after 180), Trial in the Court of Vowels

The Minor, Trivial Biblical Stuff, Part 10: Joseph Caiaphas

Joseph Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest between AD 18-37, best known for his role during the trial of Jesus of Nazareth. Nothing is known about his early career, but we can assume that he was a member of a wealthy family, because he married a daughter of the high priest who is called Annas (or Ananus) son of Seth, high priest from AD 6-15 (John 18:13). Even when he was no longer in function, he was apparently extremely influential. According to Josephus, five of Ananus' sons became high priest (Antiquities 20.198); to this we may add Caiaphas, his son-in-law.

Ἔλεον εἰρήνης, Sacrificium Laudis

As you can see, I've slightly retitled my blog to Ἔλεον Εἰρήνης, Sacrificium Laudis. This is a slight reference to the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, where before the Anaphora proper begins there is the usual dialogue between the deacon (or priest) and the congregation common in all liturgies. One of the responses happen to be (in Greek) Ἔλεον εἰρήνης, θυσίαν αἰνέσεως. That is, "mercy of peace, sacrifice of praise."

The term 'sacrifice of praise' which is used in Psalm 49/50:14 and also in Hebrews 13:15 ("Through [Jesus] then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name"), has since from early on apparently been applied to the Eucharist. To quote the Catechism, paragraph 1359: "The Eucharist, the sacrament of our salvation accomplished by Christ on the cross, is also a sacrifice of praise in thanksgiving for the work of creation. In the Eucharistic sacrifice the whole of creation loved by God is presented to the Father through the death and the Resurrection of Christ. Through Christ the Church can offer the sacrifice of praise in thanksgiving for all that God has made good, beautiful, and just in creation and in humanity."

Aside from the Byzantine liturgy, we can see it referenced within the Roman Canon at the commemoration of the living - which is what I was also thinking of when trying to come up with a title for this blog:

Memento, Domine, famulorum, famularumque tuarum N. et N. et omnium circumstantium, quorum tibi fides cognita est, et nota devotio, pro quibus tibi offerimus: vel qui tibi offerunt hoc sacrificium laudis, pro se, suisque omnibus: pro redemptione animarum suarum, pro spe salutis et incolumitatis suae: tibique reddunt vota sua aeterno Deo, vivo et vero.

Remember, Lord, your servant men and women (Names) and all here present. You are aware of their faith and know their devotedness. We offer for them, or they offer, this sacrifice of praise for themselves and all who are theirs, for the redemption of their souls, for the hope of their health/salvation and safety; and they present their prayers to you, the eternal, living, and true God.

We go to Ἔλεον εἰρήνης. As we have noted, this phrase literally translates to "mercy of peace," which admittedly does not make much sense, to the point that some who use an English translation of the Divine Liturgy soften it into more comprehensible forms like "Offering of peace" or "mercy and peace". There have been various attempts to explain what the original wording could have been (there are have apparently quite a number of variants throughout history). For all intents and purposes, I chose to preserve the textus receptus version here. After all, εἰρήνης (pronounced as irinis in Byzantine Greek) is a good rhyme to laudis. ;)

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.

Holy Week in the City of Rome: Palm Sunday

Dominica in Palmis (De Passione Domini)

Three of the earliest Roman liturgical books, the Gelasian Sacramentary (7th c.), and both the Paduan (7th c.) and the Hadrian (8th c.) editions of the Gregorian Sacramentary already call the Sunday before Easter Dominica in Palmis ("Sunday for Palms") or Die dominico ad Palmas. Even so, none of these documents explicitly mention any observances of palm rites, which were by the time already being performed in various parts of Christendom. The references to palms is absent in the propers, and in all the Roman Epistolari and Evangeliari of the period - in fact, the original title for the day probably did not mention palms at all, since the rite did not probably reach Rome until about the tenth century. In Rome, Palm Sunday was simply Passion Sunday, due to the fact that the Passion account from Matthew's Gospel (chapters 26-27) was read on this day. After the Gospel is read, the pope then usually gave a sermon on the first half of the account, postponing his explanation of the remainder to the following Wednesday.

The Minor, Trivial Biblical Stuff, Part 9: Pontius Pilate, Third Part and Appendix

The Jesus incident certainly was not the last event in Pilate's career.

The Minor, Trivial Biblical Stuff, Part 9: Pontius Pilate, Second Part

Later, on another occasion:

After this he raised another disturbance, by expending that sacred treasure which is called korbonas upon aqueducts, whereby he brought water from the distance of four hundred furlongs. At this the multitude had indignation; and when Pilate was come to Jerusalem, they came about his tribunal, and made a clamor at it.

Now when he was apprized aforehand of this disturbance, he mixed his own soldiers in their armor with the multitude, and ordered them to conceal themselves under the habits of private men, and not indeed to use their swords, but with their staves to beat those that made the clamor. He then gave the signal from his tribunal [to do as he had bidden them].

Now the Jews were so sadly beaten, that many of them perished by the stripes they received, and many of them perished as trodden to death by themselves; by which means the multitude was astonished at the calamity of those that were slain, and held their peace.

- Josephus, Wars of the Jews 2.175-177

But Pilate undertook to bring a current of water to Jerusalem, and did it with the sacred money, and derived the origin of the stream from the distance of two hundred furlongs. However, the Jews were not pleased with what had been done about this water; and many ten thousands of the people got together, and made a clamor against him, and insisted that he should leave off that design. Some of them also used reproaches, and abused the man, as crowds of such people usually do.

So he habited a great number of his soldiers in their habit, who carried daggers under their garments, and sent them to a place where they might surround them. So he bid the Jews himself go away; but they boldly casting reproaches upon him, he gave the soldiers that signal which had been beforehand agreed on; who laid upon them much greater blows than Pilate had commanded them, and equally punished those that were tumultuous, and those that were not; nor did they spare them in the least: and since the people were unarmed, and were caught by men prepared for what they were about, there were a great number of them slain by this means, and others of them ran away wounded. And thus an end was put to this sedition.

- Josephus, Antiquities 18.60-62

Korbanas: among the Jews the holy treasury. Pilate spent the holy treasury on an aqueduct and stirred up a riot. It brought in water from a distance of seventy-two kilometers. Bringing in his army, he killed many.

- The Souda, 'Korbanas'

The Minor, Trivial Biblical Stuff, Part 9: Pontius Pilate, First Part

A belated Happy Easter to one and all! Christ is Risen!
Sorry again for the (usual) silence here in this blog. To make some amends: we'll have a bit of look on the man whose name is known to most Christians all over the world in a daily basis solely because he has some involvement in the death of Jesus Christ.

Pontius Pilate (Pontius Pilatus; Greek Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, Pontios Pilatos) was the fifth prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, from AD 26-36. He is probably famous as the man who ordered the crucifixion of Jesus. We do not know much about him, save for the scraps that men of former ages have left down for us. Pilate's name has become famous only because of his association with Jesus Christ: "He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate." Indeed, we can say that if he did not have any involvement with Jesus' death at all, he would only be yet another of those minor footnotes in the history of the Roman Empire.

We need your prayers

As you probably have heard, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake has hit Japan. Thankfully no one in my family got injured, though we really need all your prayers now and in the days to come.

The Minor, Trivial Biblical Stuff, Part 8: The Birth of the Messiah, Part 2: Giving Birth

In my humble opinion, one of the miracles of Jesus' birth that many people often overlook nowadays is a rather 'mundane' one: the fact that both Jesus and Mary survived.

The Minor, Trivial Biblical Stuff, Part 8: The Birth of the Messiah, Part 1: Katalyma, Pandocheia, House and Cave

(Admittedly, part of this would be a rehash of something I wrote a while ago)

And it came to pass, that in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that the whole world should be enrolled. This enrolling was first made by Cyrinus, the governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem: because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary his espoused wife, who was with child.

And it came to pass, that when they were there, her days were accomplished, that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

-Luke 2:1-7 (Douay-Rheims Challoner)

I'm sure many of our readers know of the manifold inspirational stories, poems, songs and sermons that have been made through the ages on the innkeeper who either gave Mary and Joseph room or shooed them away. This rude man has been pretty much a mainstay of our Christmas pageants and Nativity scene and is usually made as a prime example of the cruel world that would not accept its Creator. However, did Luke really refer to an 'inn' (in the sense we often understand the word) in Luke 2:7?

December 12 - Our Lady of Guadalupe

And on Tuesday, while it was still night, Juan Diego left his house to come to Tlatilolco to get the priest. And when he finally reached the little hill which ended the mountain range (tepetzintli Tepeyacac), at its foot, where the road comes out, on the side that the sun sets on, where he always passed before, he said: "If I go ahead on the road, I don’t want this Lady to see me, because for sure, just like before, she’ll stop me so I can take the sign to the church governor for her, as she ordered me to; because first our tribulation must leave us; first I must quickly call the [Franciscan] priest (teopixqui motolinia); my uncle is anxiously waiting for him."

He immediately turned toward the hill, climbed up across it where there is a pass, and emerged on the eastern side, so that he could go quickly to Mexico so that the Queen of Heaven would not detain him. He thinks that where he made the turn, the one who is looking everywhere perfectly won’t be able to see him.

He saw how she was coming down from up on the hill, and that from there she had been looking at him, from where she saw him before. She came to meet him beside the hill, she came to block his way; she said to him: "Where are you going, my youngest-and-dearest son? Where are you headed for?"

And he, perhaps he grieved a little, or perhaps he became ashamed? Or perhaps he became afraid of the situation, be became fearful? He prostrated himself before her, he greeted her, he said to her: "My little Maiden, my smallest Daughter, my Virgin, I hope you are happy; how are you this morning? Does your beloved little body feel well, my Lady, my Girl?
"Although it grieves me, I will cause your face and your heart anguish: I must tell you, my little Girl, that one of your servants, my uncle, is very ill. A terrible sickness has taken hold of him; he will surely die from it soon. And now I shall go quickly to your little house in Mexico, to call one of our priests, the beloved ones of Our Lord, so that he will go to hear his confession and prepare him, because we really were born for that we who came to wait for the painful effort of our death.
"But, if I am going to carry it out, I will return here after that to go carry your breath, your word, Lady, my little Young one. I beg you to forgive me, be patient with me a little longer, because I am not deceiving you with this, my youngest Daughter, my little Girl. Tomorrow without fail I will come as fast as possible."

As soon as she heard the explanations of Juan Diego, the Merciful Perfect Virgin answered him: "Listen, put it into your heart, my youngest-and-dearest son, that the thing that frightened you, the thing that afflicted you is nothing. Do not let it disturb you. Do not fear this sickness nor any other sickness, nor any sharp and hurtful thing.
"Am I not here, I, who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not the source of your joy? Are you not int he hollow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Do you need something more? Let nothing else worry you, disturb you. Do not let your uncle's illness pressure you with grief, because he will not die of it now. You may be certain that he is already well." And at that very moment his uncle became well, as they later found out.

- Nican Mopohua

Dignum Et Justum Est

The Inlatio for the feast of St. James the Great followed by the Sanctus, sung by Ensemble Organum from from Chant Mozarabe: Cathédrale de Tolède (XVe siècle). (Video by yours truly)

The Mozarabic Inlatio, or Illatio, corresponds to the Roman Preface; as Dom Fernand Cabrol says of them (in his The Mass of the Western Rites): "hardly a Mass but has its own; some of them comprise many columns of text, and if they were sung, these must have lasted at least half an hour. We will attempt presently to discover their authors. But we may say at once that they form a dogmatic collection which is priceless for the study of theological history in Spain during the Middle Ages, and a collection which, it must be confessed, has as yet been but little studied. It contains pages which do honor to the learning, the depth, and the culture of Spanish theologians from the fifth-ninth centuries." Here is an excerpt from the Catholic Encyclopedia's article on the Mozarabic Rite:

"The Illatio or Inlatio. This is called Praefatio in the Roman and Contestatio or Immolatio in the Gallican. With the Post-Sanctus it forms St. Isidore's fifth prayer. There are proper Illationes to every Mass. The form is similar to the Roman Preface, but generally longer and more diffuse, as in the Gallican. It is preceded by a longer dialogue than the usual one [...] The Illatio ends in all manner of ways, but always leading by way of the angels to the Sanctus."

This particular Inlatio (from the Omnium Offerentium) curiously has a reference to a medieval tradition, recorded in the Golden Legend, that St. James cured a paralytic on his way to execution, which caused one of the executioners, a scribe named Josiah, to convert at the spot and be martyred along with him: 'per Jesum Christum Filium tuum, Dominum nostrum: in cujus nomine electus Jacobus, cum ad passionem traheretur, paraliticum ad se clamentem curavit, atque hoc miraculo cor illudentis sibi ita compulsit, ut cum sacramentis instinctum fidei faceret ad gloriam pervenire martyrii' ("through Jesus Christ your Son, our Lord, in whose name the elect James, when he was being dragged to his passion, cured a paralytic who called out to him, and by this miracle so softened the heart of him who mocked him, as to cause him now imbued with the sacraments of faith to arrive at the glory of martyrdom.")

A Random Nit to Pick: Novus 'Ordo Missae' or 'Novus Ordo' Missae?

Just a short one for today, folks.
As many readers may know, the Mass of Pope Paul VI (aka the Ordinary Form/Forma Ordinaria, et al.) is known in some circles as the 'Novus Ordo Mass'. A stroll through the awl-mightee internetz reveals that this bilingual term is actually quite well-known and used. Some folks even use the term in a pejorative manner, even drawing connections between it and Novus Ordo Seclorum of the US' Great Seal, and from there, the Freemasons or the Illuminati or Jewish bankers or whatnot (take your pick) or even Hitler and his Neuordnung - as good conspiracy theories often tend to do.

There is, however, something wrong about the usage of this term that I find hard NOT to nitpick. Many of the people who use the phrase parse it incorrectly. The original Latin term from which 'Novus Ordo Mass' comes from is novus Ordo Missae. Pope Paul VI himself used the phrase once in a speech for the Consistory for the creation of twenty new Cardinals in May of 1976:

Peculiari autem modo id eo gravius censendum est, quod illuc divisio inducitur, ubi congregavit nos in unum Christi amor, scilicet in Liturgiam atque in Eucharisticum Sacrificium, cum denegetur obsequium normis de re liturgica statutis. At vero, nomine ipsius Traditionis Nos ab omnibus filiis Nostris atque ab omnibus catholicis communitatibus postulamus, ut cum dignitate pietatisque fervore renovatae Liturgiae ritus celebrentur. Usus novi Ordinis Missae minime quidem sacerdotum vel christifidelium arbitrio permittitur. Instructione autem edita die quarto decimo mensis Iunii anno millesimo nongentesimo septuagesimo primo provisum est, ut Missae celebratio antiquo ritu sineretur, facultate data ab Ordinario, tantummodo sacerdotibus aetate provectis vel infirmis, qui Divinum Sacrificium sine populo offerrent. Novus Ordo promulgatus est, ut in locum veteris substitueretur post maturam deliberationem, atque ad exsequendas normas quae a Concilio Vaticano II impertitae sunt. Haud dissimili ratione, Decessor Noster S. Pius V post Concilium Tridentinum Missale auctoritate sua recognitum adhiberi iusserat.

That being said, because of Pope Paul's use of wording here in the Latin, many thus have the misconception that 'Novus Ordo' is somehow the actual title of the OF Mass, sometimes even ascribing spookily vague and threatening qualities to it. Newsflash; It isn't. Folks often parse novus Ordo Missae as Novus Ordo / Missae (which gives us 'Novus Ordo Mass', but the correct way to do it is novus / Ordo Missae, the "new Order of Mass". As everyone may know, the form of the Ordinary (i.e. the regular, unvarying parts) of the Mass, be it the 1570 or the 1970 Missal, has no official title: it is simply called the Ordo Missae, "Order of Mass". Names like 'Tridentine' or 'Pian' or 'Extra/Ordinary Form' or 'Pauline' or 'Latin Mass' are simply unofficial titles. In context Novus Ordo is thus not meant to be a title in the sense of the 'Mass of the New Order': it's just a (rather bland if you ask me) designator - the 'new Ordo Missae'.
Hence, I'm not too fond of calling the 'Ordinary Form' Novus Ordo Mass: it's a misuse of the Latin and gives off the wrong connotations in the wrong hands, in my humble opinion (seriously, 'New Order' (of the Ages?) Mass??). I'd rather people have it called in full English as "the new Mass Order" or suchlike. Or why not use Latin - novus Ordo Missae? ;)