Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The Gelasian Sacramentary

et iustum est aequum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere Domine sancte Pater omnipotens aeterne Deus....

Here is the late 7th century Gelasian Sacramentary, published in its modern edition in 1894, as sent by Jeffrey Ostrowski and digitized by Google. The Roman Canon is on page 234.

Just looking through it, one is touched by how close a connection we have to history in the Roman Rite. Humbling, isn't it? How dare we litter this pious masterpiece with our own pop music and pop theology, and how dare we think that we can do better by making up our own words and importing our own sensibility to the liturgy?

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