In the Roman Breviary, the feasts of the Apostles and Martyrs share a special proper Office which is used only in Eastertide, with different antiphons, responsories, chapters and versicles from those said during the rest of the year. This tradition is common to all Uses of the Roman Rite; many medieval breviaries (e.g. that of the Premonstratensians) develop it further, and extend at least some of these features to other categories of Saints. The Apostles, however, are the only ones whose Office also has proper hymns for Eastertide. This applies to the feasts of St Mark the Evangelist, whose First Vespers are celebrated this evening, of Ss Philip and James on May 1st, and the feast of St John at the Latin Gate on the 6th. It also applies to the feast of St Barnabas on June 11, but only in the extremely rare years when Easter falls on its latest possible date, April 25. (This has happened only 4 times since the Gregorian calendar was promulgated in 1582, and will happen only ten times in this millennium.)
Properly speaking, the Vespers hymn Tristes erant Apostoli, (which is repeated at Matins), and the Lauds hymn Claro paschali gaudio are both parts of the hymn Aurora lucis rutilat, which is sung at Lauds of the Sundays and ferias of the Easter season. This hymn is undoubtedly very ancient, and was often attributed to St Ambrose, but this attribution is now regarded as incorrect, and it is not used at all in the Ambrosian Office. In the Mozarabic Rite, which has a strong tendency toward the prolix in its use of hymns, all twelve stanzas are sung daily at Prime in Eastertide. Here we see it in the edition published in 1775.
Pope Urban VIII’s classicizing revision of both parts is one of the least successful aspects of that reform, and fully justifies the famous bon mot often said against it, “Accessit latinitas, recessit pietas – Latinity came in, and piety went out.” Fortunately, the mighty Tomás Luis de Victoria composed this splendid version in alternating chant and polyphony before the reformed versions became standard. (The version in the post-Conciliar Liturgy of the Hours is much closer to the original. See the Latin original and an English translation by John Mason Neale at this link: https://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/Hymni/AuroraLucis.html)
Another version, also in alternating chant and polyphony, by Victoria’s fellow Spaniard, priest and composer Francisco Guerrero (1528-99).
Looking upon our thoughts and offenses, we sacrifice to Thee, o Lord, no bloody victims, but with humble prayers we offer Thee the Body of the eternal Priest. Remember therefore, o Lord, what He underwent for us Who bore our sins, and do Thou put on us the stole of justice, that none may take his place at Thy supper without the wedding garment, and the banquet of the New Covenant may flourish with the joys of heaven. Far from it be the guile whereby the evil disciple was deceived. May all have true faith, certain hope, and pure charity, that our conscience may not be condemned by these spiritual sacraments, but rather, cleaned of all vices through the sweetness of Thy peace and charity, we may call out to Thee from this earth: Our Father... (The introduction to the Lord’s Prayer at the Mozarabic Mass of Holy Thursday.)
A fresco of the Last Supper painted ca. 1245-55 in a chapel of the cathedral of St Mary in La Seu d’Urgell, Catalonia, Spain. Image from Wikimedia Commons by Ángel M. Felicísimo, CC BY 2.0.
Ad Orationem Dominicam Cogitatiónes et delicta nostra cernentes, non cruentas tibi, Dómine, víctimas immolámus, et simplícibus votis tibi sempiterni Sacerdótis corpus offérimus. Memoráre ítaque, Dómine, quid pro nobis pertúlerit, qui peccáta nostra portávit. Indue ergo nos justitiae stola, ut in coena tua sine veste nuptiáli nullus accumbat, gaudiisque caeléstibus novi testamenti convivium flóreat. Procul absit dolus, quo deceptus est malus ille discípulus. Sit ómnibus fides vera, spes certa et cáritas pura, ut spiritálibus sacramentis non damnétur conscientia, sed per pacis caritatisque tuae dulcédinem ab ómnibus emundáti vitiis, ad te proclamémus e terris: Pater noster...
It is worthy and just that we should always give Thee thanks, Lord, holy Father, eternal and almighty God, through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who willed to suffer for the impious, and be unjustly condemned for the wicked; Who forgave the praying thief his crime, promising him Paradise by His most agreeable will, Whose death wiped away our crimes, and resurrection brought us justification. Therefore we entreat Thee, our God, that today Thou forgive us our sins, and on the morrow, refresh us with Thy sweetness. Having today accepted the confession of our sins, grant also tomorrow an increase of spiritual gifts. Today, cast away from our bodies whatever Thou hatest, and tomorrow, refresh us with the wounds of Thy cross. Today, fill our mouth with joy, and our tongue with rejoicing, such that now and forever we may praise Thee, proclaiming Thee as a most loving Savior, and so saying: Holy… (The Preface of Spy Wedneday in the Mozarabic Rite.)
Dignum et justum est nos tibi semper gratias agere, Domine, sancte Pater, eterne omnipotens Deus: per Jesum Christum, Filium tuum, Dominum nostrum. Qui pati pro impiis voluit, et pro sceleratis indebite condemnari. Qui latroni deprecanti omisit delictum, promittens ei voluntate gratissima paradisum. Cujus mors delicta nostra detersit, et resurrectio justificationem nobis exibuit. Ob hoc te, Deus noster, exposcimus, ut hodie dimittas nobis peccata nostra, et cras reficias nos dulcedine tua. Hodie nostrorum peccaminum confessione accepta, et cras donorum spiritualium tribue incrementa. Hodie quicquid odis a nostris corporibus abjice, et cras nos refice vulneribus crucis tuae. Hodie os nostrum reple gaudio, et lingua nostra exultatione, qualiter nunc et usque in seculum laudemus te, piissimum Salvatorem proclamantes, atque ita dicentes. Sanctus…
It is worthy and just that the things of heaven and of earth should praise Thee, o God, who by Thy Spirit teachest us to reject the things of earth, and follow those of heaven, to restrain the proud flesh with fasts, to cleanse the heart with continual lamentations, not to be raised up in prosperity, or cast down in adversity, to hope for the promise of truth, to await the consolation of the Spirit, to keep watch for the coming of the Paraclete. From this, as we prepare ourselves, o Lord, for the joys of Thy promises, we ask that the power of Thy grace and the blessing of the Holy Spirit descend upon us; that being renewed and purified by Him, we may praise and magnify Him who ruleth in the equality of the Godhead with Thee and the Father, and thus say: Holy, Holy, Holy... (The Mozarabic Preface for the Mass of the Vigil of Pentecost.)
Dignum et justum est, ut te Deum et caelestia et terréna collaudent: Qui nos Spíritu tuo doces terréna respúere, caelestia sectári, carnem coercére jejuniis insolentem, corda purgáre contínua lamentatióne, non attolli in prósperis, non déjici in adversis, veritátis speráre promissum, Spíritus praestolári solacium, Parácliti sustinére adventum. Ex hoc, Dómine, tuórum praemissórum nos gaudiis praeparantes, rogámus ut descendat super nos gratiae tuae virtus, et benedictio Sancti Spíritus; quo innováti atque mundáti, eum tecum et cum Patre aequáli deitáte regnantem, laudémus, magnificémus, atque ita dicámus: Sanctus...
Two years ago, I wrote an article about the Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent, the last day before Passiontide begins, in which I noted that the custom of joining the last two weeks of Lent as a liturgical period distinct from the rest of the season is unique to the Roman Rite, and that “the specific … character of this period is older than its formal nomenclature.” Even though Passion Sunday is called “the Fifth Sunday of Lent” in the very oldest Roman liturgical books, there is a nevertheless a significant shift in the tenor of the liturgy that begins on that day, and it was this shift in tenor that led to the change of name before the end of the 9th century. Where the Scriptural lessons at Mass during the first four weeks focus very much on Lenten penance and preparation for baptism at the Easter vigil, those of the last two weeks are centered much more on the Lord’s Passion. The very first reading of Passiontide, Hebrews 9, 11-15, speaks of the blood of Christ that “cleanse(s our) conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” The Gradual that follows it is one of many texts that speak in the person of the Lord in the midst of His sufferings, “Deliver me, o Lord, from my enemies.”
In the Divine Office, the hymns of the Passion, Vexilla Regis at Vespers and Pange lingua in two parts, one at Matins and one at Lauds, are said until the Triduum, in which no hymns are used. In the first part of Lent, the Scriptural readings of Matins continue from the Pentateuch, which had begun on Septuagesima, and the responsories of that period are taken from the same books. On Passion Sunday, they switch to the prophet Jeremiah, whose tribulations are taken as a prefiguration of the Lord’s. The responsories of Passiontide, however, are mostly taken from the Psalms, and also speak in the person of the suffering Lord.
There is one very notable exception to this, the very first responsory in the series, which is based on Leviticus 23, 5-6.
R. Isti sunt dies, quos observáre debétis tempóribus suis: * Quartadécima die ad vésperum Pascha Dómini est: et in quintadécima solemnitátem celebrábitis altíssimo Dómino. V. Locútus est Dóminus ad Móysen, dicens: Lóquere filiis Israël, et dices ad eos. Quartadécima die…
R. These are the days which ye must observe in their seasons: * on the fourteenth day at evening is the Passover of the Lord, and on the fifteenth day ye shall celebrate a solemnity unto the Lord Most High. V. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them. On the fourteenth day…
Normally, the responsories of Sunday are repeated in order during the week, but this one is, for obvious reasons related to the text, said only on Passion Sunday itself.
As I have noted elsewhere, the Mass of the Easter vigil is NOT a first Mass of the solemnity of Easter, but rather a keeping watch for the Resurrection, which is marked by its incomplete character; it has no Introit, no Offertory, no Agnus Dei, the Creed is not said, and the Peace is not given. This is the rite of the “fourteenth day at evening”, the proper time for the Easter vigil, the beginning, but not the fulfillment, of “the Passover of the Lord.” It is on the fifteenth day, Easter Sunday, that the Resurrection is celebrated with the fullness of “a solemnity.”
This same division between Lent and Passiontide is also found in the Ambrosian Rite, and although it is in some respects less pronounced, it is nevertheless very real. The Ambrosian Rite never adopted the term “Passiontide”, and continued to call this Sunday “the Fifth Sunday of Lent.” In the Divine Office, the Lenten hymns Audi, benigne Conditor and Ex more docti mystico are sung at Lauds and Vespers respectively during the week. (The hymn of Matins is invariable.)
However, the very long Offertory chant on Sunday, which is also used in a shorter form on the following four days, contains the same text from Leviticus 23 as the Roman responsory cited above.
Offertorium Haec dicit Dóminus: Erit vobis sábbatum venerábile, et vocábitur sanctum; et offerétis ad vésperum holocaustómata vestra: quia in die illa propitiábitur vobis Salvátor vester.
V. I Locútus est Móyses filiis Israel, dicens: Quartodécimo die ad vésperum Pascha Dómini est, et in quintodécimo sollemnitátem celebrábitis altíssimo Deo: quia in die illa propitiábitur vobis Salvator vester.
V. II In die octávo ventúro súmite vobis ramos palmárum, et secundum legem, quam praecépi vobis, sollemnitátem celebrábitis altíssimo Deo: quia in die illa propitiábitur vobis Salvator vester.
Offertory Thus saith the Lord, “The Sabbath shall be venerable unto you, and will be called holy, and ye shall offer in the evening your holocausts: for on that day your Savior shall be merciful to you.”
V. I Moses spoke to the children of Israel, saying, “On the fourteenth day at evening is the Passover of the Lord, and on the fifteenth day ye shall celebrate a solemnity unto God Most High. For on that day your Savior shall be merciful to you.
V. II “On the eighth day to come, take ye up branches of palms, and according to the law which I have commanded you, ye shall celebrate a solemnity unto God Most High. For on that day your Savior shall be merciful to you.”
The words “the Sabbath shall be venerable unto you” refer to a very ancient custom which has been preserved in the Ambrosian Rite to this very day. As my colleague Nicola de’ Grandi has explained, the Saturdays of Lent are all dedicated to the rites by which the catechumens are prepared to receive Baptism at the Easter vigil. The last of these, the day before Palm Sunday, is called “in traditione symboli – at the handing-over of the Creed”, when the catechumens were taught the Creed which they would have to recite at the Easter vigil. The words of the second verse (paraphrased from select verses of the same chapter of Leviticus), refer of course to Palm Sunday, and are omitted during the week.
At the ferial Masses of the first four weeks of Lent, the Ambrosian Rite reads the Sermon on the Mount, chapters 5-7 of the Gospel of St Matthew, as instruction to the catechumens. On the ferias after the fifth Sunday, however, the focus of the Gospel readings shifts just as it does in the Roman Rite, and looks forward to the Passion.
Monday: Mark 8, 27-33: “And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the ancients and by the high priests, and the scribes, and be killed: and after three days rise again.”
Tuesday: John 6, 64-72: “Have not I chosen you twelve; and one of you is a devil? Now he meant Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for this same was about to betray him.”
Wednesday: Luc. 18, 31-34: “all things shall be accomplished which were written by the prophets concerning the Son of man. For he shall be delivered to the gentiles, and shall be mocked, and scourged, and spit upon: And … they will put him to death; and the third day he shall rise again.”
Thursday: John 7, 43-53: “There arose a dissension among the people because of Jesus. And some of them would have apprehended him: but no man laid hands on him.” (The Fridays of Lent are aliturgical in the Ambrosian Rite, and therefore have no Gospels.)
These readings belong to the very oldest layer of the Ambrosian tradition, before the extensive Romanization of the rite which took place in the Carolingian era. We may therefore fairly say that the Ambrosian “Passiontide” is just as ancient as the Roman one, despite the lack of a formal terminology marking it as such.
The same custom is also found in the Mozarabic Rite; on the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the Sacrificium (the equivalent of the Roman Offertory) is in part very similar to the Roman responsory cited above, and in part to the Ambrosian Offertory.
Sacrificium Isti sunt dies, quos debétis custodíre tempóribus suis: * Quartadécima die ad vésperum Pascha Dómini est: et in quintadécima solemnitátem celebrábitis altíssimo Deo vestro. V. Locútus est Móyses filiis Israel, dicens: In die octávo ventúro súmite vobis ramos palmárum, et exsultáte in conspectu Dómini, et secundum legem, quod (sic) vobis praecépi, sollemnitátem celebrábitis altíssimo altíssimo Deo vestro.
SacrificiumThese are the days which ye must keep in their seasons: * on the fourteenth day at evening is the Passover of the Lord, and on the fifteenth day ye shall celebrate a solemnity unto your God, the Most High. V. Moses spoke to the children of Israel, saying, “On the eighth day to come, take ye up branches of palms, exult in the sight of the Lord, and according to the law which I have commanded you, ye shall celebrate a solemnity unto unto your God, the Most High.”
Moses with the Tablets of the Law, ca. 1408-10, by the Florentine painter Lorenzo Monaco (1370-1425 ca.). Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.
This is followed by a prayer called a Missa, which explains the symbolism of this chant very beautifully.
“Deus, qui mýstico olim praesagio fámulo tuo Móysi, inter alias praeceptórum tuórum ceremonias, etiam horum diérum solemnia in monte Sinai propitius ostendisti, ut octávo die ventúro súmerent diversárum árborum fructus, ramos quoque palmárum, et exultárent in conspectu Dómini Dei sui cum hymnis: concéde nobis fámulis tuis, ut innocentiae et fídei veritáte sincéri, tuis semper coram altáribus assistámus, sicque tibi parsimoniam córporum offerámus, ut actuum plenitúdinem perfectis apud nos móribus retentémus. – O God, who of old, by a mystical prophecy, didst upon Mount Sinai mercifully show to Thy servant Moses, amid the other ceremonies of Thy precepts, also the solemnities of these days, that they (i.e. Israelites) might on the eighth day take up the fruit of various trees, and branches of palms, and rejoice in the sight of the Lord, their God, with hymns: grant to us Thy servants, that with purity in the truth of innocence and faith, we may also stand before Thine altars, and so offer to Thee our bodily fasting, that we may retain the fullness of these deeds with perfect conduct.”
Finally, we may note that according in older lectionaries of the Mozarabic Rite, the same passage that provides this chants is also the first reading of the Mass (Leviticus 23, 5-8; 23-28; 39-41), but this custom is no longer followed.
From very ancient times, the Church has read the Gospel of the Man Born Blind, John 9, 1-38, as a symbol of the rituals of baptism. Christ anointed the blind man’s eyes with mud made of His saliva, and then told him to wash in the pool of Siloam; this was naturally associated with the ritual by which the catechumens were anointed before the washing of their sins in the baptismal font. St Augustine makes this comparison in the Breviary sermon on this Gospel, from his Treatises on the Gospel of John:
He was anointed, and he did not yet see. (Christ) sent him to the Pool, which is called Siloam. It was the Evangelist’s duty to commend to us the name of this pool, and he said ‘which means Sent.’ … (The blind man) therefore washed his eyes in that pool, whose name means Sent; he was baptized in Christ. If therefore, (Christ) illuminated him, when in some way He baptized him in Himself, when He anointed him, He made him perhaps a catechumen.
The Healing of the Blind Man, represented on a Christian sarcophagus known as the Sarcophagus of the Two Brothers, ca. 335; Vatican Museums, Pio-Christian Collection.
In the Roman Rite, this Gospel is traditionally read on the Wednesday after the Fourth Sunday of Lent, the day on which the catechumens were once prepared for baptism by various rituals, such as the sign of the cross made upon their foreheads, the placing of blessed salt on their tongues, and various prayers said with the imposition of the clergy’s hands upon their heads. The whole of the Mass, one of the most beautiful of the Lenten season, refers to this baptismal preparation.
The Introit is taken from the first of the two prophetic readings, Ezechiel 36, 23-28: “When I shall be sanctified in you, I will gather you together out of all the lands, and I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will give you a new spirit.” The last part of this, “I will give you a new spirit”, refers to the conferral of Confirmation along with Baptism, according to the ancient custom. (This same Introit was later added the private Masses of the Vigil of Pentecost, a reminder of the true, baptismal character of the day.)
The first gradual, “Come, children, hearken to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Come ye to him and be enlightened…”, the second prophetic reading, Isaiah 1, 16-19, “Wash yourselves, be clean, … if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow”, and the second gradual, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord: the people whom he hath chosen for his inheritance”, all continue this baptismal theme.
The station church for this Mass is the basilica of St Paul Outside-the-Walls, where the tomb of the Apostle of the Gentiles rests under the main altar; this was chosen as the place to read this Gospel, of course, because Paul was blinded by the vision on the road to Damascus, and healed at the time of his baptism, by an imposition of hands. In ancient times, Rome was a city populated by every nation of the Empire; the neighborhood closest to the basilica of St Paul, now called “Trastevere” in Italian, “the region across the Tiber”, was the foreigners’ quarter in antiquity. From the very beginning, the Church had always been concerned to assert that Christ came to the Jewish people, to whom the promises of mankind’s redemption were made, but as the Saviour and Redeemer of all nations; St Paul’s tomb was therefore the ideal place to prepare the catechumens for baptism, in which He gathers His people from all nations, as the prophets foretold.
The Paschal candlestick of Saint Paul’s Outside-the-Walls, carved in the 13th century, and still used today. Image from Wikimedia Commons
The Church Fathers also understood the blind man more generally as a figure who represents the condition of Man before the coming of Christ. The same passage of the Breviary from St Augustine cited above says earlier on, “If therefore we consider the meaning of what was done, this blind man is the human race. For this blindness happened in the first man through sin, from which we all draw the origin not only of death, but also of iniquity.” Likewise, in Sermon 135 against the Arians, Augustine says, “… the whole world is blind. Therefore Christ came to illuminate, since the devil had blinded us. He who deceived the first man caused all men to be born blind.”
This broader interpretation is implied in the Roman Rite’s association of the story with the Sacrament of Baptism, which the Fathers often refer to as “illumination”. It is made more explicit, however, in the Ambrosian Rite, in which the Fourth Sunday of Lent is “the Sunday of the Man Born Blind.” The Ingressa of this Mass has the same text as the Introit of Septuagesima in the Roman Rite: “The groans of death have surrounded me, the pains of death have surrounded me, and in my tribulation I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice from His holy temple.” The groans and pains of death here represent the condition of the fallen human race, whose condition is that of the blind man, but the prayers of man longing for redemption are heard by God “from His holy temple”, referring to the very last words of the preceding chapter, “But Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.” The second half of this chapter, John 8, 31-59, is read on the previous Sunday, called the Sunday of Abraham; the Mozarabic liturgy reads this Gospel on the Second Sunday of Lent, with the opening words “At that time, when our Lord Jesus Christ went out from the temple, He saw a man that was blind from birth.”
The two readings before the Gospel (Exodus 34, 23 – 35, 1, and 1 Thessalonians 4, 1-11) have no obvious connection to it, but the Psalmellus and Cantus (Gradual and Tract) certainly do. The first is taken from Psalm 40, “I said: O Lord, be Thou merciful to me: heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee,” the second from Psalm 120, “I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come to me. My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” The Antiphon after the Gospel declares the mission of the Messiah in the words of the Prophet Isaiah (61, 1), words of which Christ declared Himself the fulfilment at the synagogue of Capharnaum (Luke 4, 14-22): “I was sent to heal the contrite of heart, to preach release to the captives, and restore light to the blind”.
These two ideas are then admirably summed up by the preface of this Mass.
Truly it is fitting and just, right and profitable to salvation, that we should render Thee thanks, o Lord, that abidest in the height of Heaven, and confess Thee with all our senses. For through Thee, the blindness of the world being wiped away, hath shined upon the feeble the true light; which, among the miracles of Thy many wondrous deeds, Thou didst command one blind from birth to see. In him the human race, stained by original darkness, was represented by the form of what would come thereafter. For that pool of Siloam, to which the blind man was sent, was marked as none other than the sacred font; where not only the lights of the body, but the whole man was saved. Through Christ our Lord.
In this video, the preface is sung in Latin according to the traditional melody, but with the text modified for the new rite.
In the Ambrosian Rite, on each Saturday of Lent the Gospel refers to a part of the ritual preparation of the catechumens for baptism. The Gospel of the Saturday preceding the blind man is Mark 6, 6-13, which ends with the words “And they (the Apostles) cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.” The following Saturday, the Gospel is Matthew 19, 13-15, which refers to the impositions of hands upon the catechumens, “Then were little children presented to Him, that He should impose hands upon them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said to them: Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come to me: for the kingdom of heaven is for such. And when He had imposed hands upon them, he departed from thence.” The seventh Ordo Romanus describes the ritual in detail as it was done in the sixth-century, including the preparation of infants for baptism, a practice to which the liturgical tradition of both the Roman and Ambrosian Rites bear witness.
The Mozarabic Liturgy, on the other hand, reads this Gospel on the Second Sunday of Lent, but eliminates the references to baptism and baptismal preparation almost completely; blindness and illumination are presented much more as symbols of sin and repentance. So for example, one of the prayers of the Mass reads:
Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, restorer of eternal light, grant to us Thy servants, that just as we were washed from original sin in the waters of baptism, which was signified by that pool which gave light to blind eyes, so also may Thou purify us from (our) sins in the second baptism of tears. And so may we merit to become heralds of Thy praise, as that blind man became one that announced Thy grace. And just as he was filled with faith to confess Thee as true God, so also may we be filled with the confession of good works.
Christ, who art the end of the Law unto justice to everyone that believeth (Rom. 10, 4), and the path of all good things; who didst become the corner-stone for them that came from the circumcision and the uncircumcision, as the mystery did once represent, when the stone placed beneath the head of Jacob was anointed (Gen. 28, 18); whom Abraham did also show in himself alone, when he foretold that some would come from the circumcision, and others from his faith (Rom. 4, 16-17 and Gen. 17, 4-5), so that he might make on people in himself from both nations; we beseech Thee, we pray Thee, that Thou may make doers of Thy precepts even them for whom Thou didst fulfill the precepts of the Law, to release them from it; that we whom Thou hast gained in Thy peace may obtain a peace that is pleasing to Thy majesty. R. Amen. Because Thou art our peace, and unbroken charity, thou livest and reignest with the Holy Spirit, one God, unto the ages of ages. R. Amen. (The prayer at the giving of the Peace in the Mozarabic Mass for the feast of the Circumcision.)
Christe, finis Legis ad justitiam omni credenti et bonorum omnium limes, qui ex circumcisione et praeputio venientibus lapis effectus es angularis, olim mysterio figurante, cum Jacob capiti unctus est suppositus lapis, quem et Abraham in se uno ostendit, cum alios ex circumcisione, alios ex fide sua venire portendit: quatenus ex utraque gente, unam in se faceret plebem: Te quaesumus, te oramus, ut pro quibus praecepta Legis implesti ut absolveres, praeceptorum tuorum efficias effectores; ut qui nos in pace tua acquisisti, pace potiamur Majestatis tuae placabili. R. Amen. Quia tu es vera pax nostra et caritas indisrupta vivis tecum et regnas cum Spiritu Sancto, unus Deus, in sæcula sæculórum. R.Amen.
On behalf of the publisher and writers of New Liturgical Movement, I wish all our readers a most happy New Year, as we pray for peace in the Church and in the world.
Despite the enormous geographic and cultural distances between them, the Byzantine and Mozarabic liturgies have several interesting points in common. One such point is that both traditions (more properly, monastic communities within both traditions) created a series of additional services in the Divine Office to supplement the minor Hours. In the Byzantine Rite, these are called “Inter-Hours”, while in the Mozarabic, they are named in such wise as to fill the day with a service at every hour: “Second Hour” between Prime and Terce, “Fourth and Fifth” (actually a single service in most manuscripts) between Terce and Sext, etc. A number of others are attested, but they are not uniformly present in the surviving medieval manuscripts: “before Compline”, “after Compline”, “Aurora” (dawn), also known as “ordo peculiaris”, etc.
Courtesy of a friend, three views of the Mozarabic chapel of the cathedral of Toledo, founded at the very beginning of the 16th century by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros to save the rite from extinction. We will be sharing more of his photos of the cathedral soon.
Likewise, both traditions have a vigil service called the Midnight Office. In the Byzantine church, this is extremely ancient, and still very much part of the daily round of services in monastic churches. In the Mozarabic Rite, on the other hand, it has long been obsolete, and is not included in the breviaries used since printing was invented, as indeed, the rite itself has been used very little for most of the last 600 years or so.
These additional Hours were also very often said within the cloister, rather than in the main church; an 11th century monastic book of Hours even makes a formal distinction between the services which it contains and those of “the cathedral order”, Matins, Lauds and Vespers. In the Mozarabic monastic tradition, the minor Hours have little or no variation for either seasons or feasts, apart from removing the Allelujas in Lent, (there is a great deal of sameness in monastic life), where the major Hours are highly variable in content, and have frequent structural changes. However, according to the old Catholic Encyclopedia, there is a manuscript of the 11th century at the monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos (the major center for the study of the rite and its chant in modern times) which gives lessons to be read at the Midnight Office, so in that regard, at least, it would have been more variable.
Recently, a scholar of the rite named Alan Liang created a github page with the full text of the Mozarabic Midnight office in both Latin and English, based on two of the manuscripts that attest it. He very kindly accepted my request to share some pictures of one of them with us, so I thought I would give an outline of the service itself as well. Unsurprisingly, there are no recordings of it on YouTube to incorporate in this presentation, but I did find a video of the unique Mozarabic way of saying the Lord’s Prayer in the liturgy.
The first illustration in the eleventh century ms. 609, now held at the University Library of Santiago de Compostella.
The current calendar page of the same (November and December), cropped.
Two points to give in summary first. The celebrant frequently says “Dominus sit semper vobiscum” before a new feature of the Hour begins, a custom which the Mozarabic Rite shares with the Ambrosian. (The latter simply says “Dominus vobiscum,” as in the Roman Rite.) This occurs ten times. The other is that the doxology begins “Gloria et honor Patri…”
In regard to the Latin text on the website, it should be noted that there is a lot of confusion between B and V (e.g., “sitibit” for “sitivit”), less commonly between T and D (“deliquid” for “deliquit.”) This reproduces the orthography of the manuscripts, which in turn reproduces the sound confusion typical of the Iberian peninsula in the Middle Ages. Like the Ambrosian Rite, the Mozarabic Rite never adopted St Jerome’s second revision of the text of the Psalter, so the Psalms are in an old Latin version.
The beginning of the Midnight Office.
1. The introduction, which repeats “Deus in adjutorium” four times. (The Mozarabic liturgy is at almost every point far more prolix than the Roman.)
2. Psalms 41, 132 and 133.
3. A prayer: in the Mozarabic liturgy “Amen” is said both before and after the conclusion, “Through Thy mercy, O our God, who art blessed, and dost live, and govern all things, for ever and ever.”
4. A chant called “Lauda”, similar to the short responsory of the Roman Minor Hours, which occurs at several places in the Mozarabic Office.
It was the custom of the earliest Christians to obtain transcripts of the trials of their martyrs whenever they could. These were kept in the archives of local churches not merely for the sake of record keeping, but so that they could be read during the liturgy, a tradition which is attested in the writings of several of the Fathers. The Roman custom of reading the lives of the Saints in the Divine Office derives from this, and in the Ambrosian Mass, it is still to this day permitted to substitute the life of a Saint for the Old Testament reading on his feast day.
The following video was taken in 2014 in the basilica of St Ambrose in Milan, on the feast of the Martyrs Ss Protasius and Gervasius; after the Gloria and Collect, the passion of the two martyrs is read.
Because of this custom, there survive indisputably authentic records of the trials of a number of early martyrs (e.g. Ss Perpetua and Felicity, Ss Fructuosus and Companions, and St Cyprian); however, we have none from the city of Rome. A professor of mine had a theory as to why this is so: he believed that the archives of the church of Rome had been destroyed during the persecution of Diocletian (303-6), and this would explain why we are dependent on documents from later writers (sometimes much later) for information about the martyrdoms of so many prominent Roman Saints, such as Agnes or Pope Clement I.
And thus, the earliest major source for the life of St Lawrence, whose feast we keep today, is St Ambrose, who was born in Trier, where his father was serving as pretorian prefect of Gaul, some eighty years after the great martyr’s death in 257. Ambrose’s family, however, was originally Roman, and when his father died while he was still quite young, his mother took him back to Rome, where he studied law and rhetoric. Many of his writings evince familiarity with the customs and traditions of the Eternal City (for example, he is the first witness to an early recension of the Roman Canon), and so we may take him as a reliable witness to those which concern St Lawrence.
A partial view of the frescoed ceiling of the chapel of St Sixtus within the basilica of St Lawrence in Milan, by the German painter Johann Christoph Storer (1611-71). Behind St Lawrence, holding a knife. is the martyr St Aquilinus, who is buried in a chapel on the opposite side of the same basilica, and next to him, St Sixtus, in whose honor the chapel was built in the late 5th or early 6th century. (Image from Wikimedia Commons by Sailko, CC BY 3.0.)
One of the fourteen hymns considered indisputably his work was written in honor of St Lawrence; it is sung in the Ambrosian Office at Lauds and both Vespers. Unfortunately, it seems that none of the great English translators such as Fr Caswall or John Mason Neale put their hands to it, and so we must be content with my poor prose version.
Apostolorum supparem, Laurentium archidiaconum, Pari corona martyrum Romana sacravit fides.
The faith of Rome sanctified the archdeacon Lawrence, nearly equal to the Apostles, with an equal martyrs’ crown.
Xystum sequens hic martyrem, Responsa vatis retulit: Mœrere, fili, desine: Sequere me post triduum.
He, following the martyr Sixtus, received these words as those of a prophet: “Cease mourning, my son, after three days thou wilt follow me.”
Nec territus pœnæ metu, Hæres futurus sanguinis, Spectavit obtutu pio Quod ipse mox persolveret.
And not frightened by the fear of suffering, soon to be heir of (Sixtus’) blood, he dutifully be- held that which he himself would soon undergo.
Jam tunc in illo martyre Egit triumphum martyris; Successor æquus syngrapham Vocis tenens et sanguinis.
Already then in that martyr he led a martyr’s triumph, holding as his successor the promise of his words and blood.
Post triduum iussus tamen Census sacratos prodere, Spondet pie, nec abnuit Addens dolum victoriæ.
At last, after three days, ordered to hand over the sacred treasures, he dutifully promised and did not refuse, adding guile to victory.
Spectaculum pulcherrimum! Egena cogit agmina, Inopesque monstrans prædicat: Hi sunt opes Ecclesiæ.
A most beautiful sight! He gathers the needy crowds, and showing the poor, he proclaims, “These are the riches of the Church.”
Lucro piorum perpetes Inopes profecto sunt opes; Avarus illusus dolet, Flammas et ultrices parat.
The poor are the everlasting riches gained by the pious; the greedy man deceived, grieves, and prepares the avenging flames.
The executioner is burned and flees, and yields to his own flames; “Turn me over”, the martyr cries out, “and eat what is cooked, if you like.”
Gloria tibi, Domine, gloria Unigenito, una cum sancto Spiritu in sempiterna sæcula. Amen.
Glory to Thee, o Lord, glory to the Only-begotten Son, together with the Holy Spirit unto everlasting ages. Amen.
The Ambrosian preface for St Lawrence beautifully compares his faith to gold refined in the fire.
VD: Qui hodierna die Levitæ tui Laurentii fidem áuream igne ardentissimo comprobasti; ut esset tibi hostia viva, hostia sancta, in odorem suavitatis accensa. O gloriosi certaminis virtus! O inconcussa mentis constantia! Stridunt membra viventis super craticulam imposita, et prunis sævientibus anhelantis; ut et tibi hostia fieret, et ad martyrii triumphum intrepidus perveniret. Per Christum…
Truly it is worthy… who on this day didst make proof of the golden faith of Thy Levite Lawrence with a most ardent fire, that he might be a living and holy victim, burnt unto the odor of sweetness. Oh, the might of his glorious contest! Oh, the unshaken constancy of his mind! His members, laid on the grill, groan, as he still lives and breathes while the fires rage; that he might both become a sacrifice unto Thee, and fearlessly arrive at the triumph of martyrdom. Through Christ…
The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, by Titian, 1567, in the Spanish Royal Monastery of the Escorial.
The Spanish poet Prudentius (348 – 405/13 ca.) was a contemporary of Ambrose, and had a similar secular career: training in rhetoric and law, and service as a provincial governor. In later life, he withdrew from public service and became an ascetic, but was never a cleric. One of his most famous works is a collection of fourteen poems “On the crowns (of the martyrs)”, including several Romans, Lawrence among them.
A number of passages from this work are included in the Mozarabic Divine Office, which is often astonishingly prolix. For example, on the feast of the great martyr St Vincent of Saragossa, the hymn at Lauds has 292 lines (73 stanzas) excerpted from the 576 which Prudentius dedicates to him. For St Lawrence, however, a judicious selection of verses was made (and largely rewritten) to create a hymn of classically Roman restraint, with only five stanzas, including the doxology. (I have taken this English version from the website of Mr Matthew Carver, who kindly licenses all his translations as Creative Commons. CC BY-NC 3.0 US)
En Martyris Laurentii Armata pugnavit fides, Nam morte mortem diruit, Ac semet impendit sibi.
BEHOLD, of Lawrence, martyr famed, What faith, well-armed, hath led the host! By death o’er death the crown he claimed And gave himself to th’ uttermost.
Fore hoc sacerdos dixerat Jam Sixtus affixus cruci, Laurentium flentem videns Crucis sub ipso stipite.
Twas as his bishop Sixtus said As fastened to the cross he hung, When seeing Lawrence weep with dread Beneath his cross whereat he clung:
Desiste discessu meo Fletum dolenter fundere, Praecedo frater, tu quoque Post hoc sequeris triduum.
“Forbear at my departure now To shed thy tears so grievously; Though, brother, I go first, yet thou Shalt three days hence my foll’wer be.”
Extrema vox Episcopi Praenuntiatrix gloriae, Nihil fefellit: nam dies Praedicta palmam praestitit
What lastly did the bishop say Prophetic voice of glorious heav’n In naught deceived, for on the day That he foretold, the palm was giv’n.
Gloria Patri ingenito, Gloria unigenito Una cum sancto Spiritu In sempiterna saecula. Amen..
To th’ unbegotten Father praise, And to the sole begotten Son And Holy Ghost for endless days, One God, for evermore be done.
The outlandish prolixity of the Mozarabic liturgy is frequently displayed in the Mass as well. Its ancient preface for the feast of St Lawrence is over 400 words long, and retells the story not only of Lawrence himself, but also of St Sixtus II, the Pope whom he served as deacon, and of St Hippolytus, the soldier and guard whom he converted, and who was also martyred for the Faith. Here is an excerpt, which is based on the same passage of St Ambrose’s De Officiis (39) that provides the text for several parts of the Roman Office of St Lawrence. (This preface is written in a highly elaborate rhetorical style which does not lend itself easily to literal translation.)
The preface (“illatio” in Mozarabic terminology) of the Mass of St Lawrence in a Mozarabic Missal printed in 1804, starting in the upper part of the 2nd column.
Quique Apostolorum choro donatus, filium generosae mentis Laurentium exspectabat: quia sine eo proprii sanguinis victimam offerre nolebat, cui cuncta mysteriorum ministeria transigenda commiserat. Qui cum de sua remansione patri querulus exstitisset, ab eodem flere prohibitus, quod post tres dies sequeretur audivit: nec debere de sua desertione causari praemonuit, quoniam ei gloriosior diabolo seuiente inrisoque tyranno triumphus maneret. Martyrum tuorum, Christe, infatigabilis fortitudo!
And (Sixtus), having been given as a gift to the choir of the Apostles (i.e. in heaven), awaited his generous-minded son Lawrence, because he did not want to offer the sacrifice of his own blood without him to whom he had entrusted the celebration of all services in the (holy) mysteries. And when the latter complained to his father about remaining behind, he was forbidden by him to weep, since he heard that after three days he would follow; and (Sixtus) foretold that he ought not to complain of his being left, since a more glorious triumph awaited him over the raging devil and the tyrant whom he would mock. Oh, the tireless fortitude of Thy martyrs, o Christ!
The words “to whom he entrusted the celebration of all services in the holy mysteries” refers to the custom by which the administration of the chalice was especially entrusted to deacons. In his account of their martyrdom in the De Officiis, St Ambrose has Lawrence say to Sixtus, “ ‘Whither, holy priest, dost thou hasten without thy deacon? … Dost thou deny a share in thy blood to one to whom thou didst entrust the consecration of the Lord’s blood, and a share in the celebration of the sacraments?’ To this Sixtus replied, ‘I do not leave or abandon thee, son, but greater contests await thee. We, as elder men, receive the way of an easier combat; a more glorious triumph against the tyrant awaiteth thee as a younger man. Soon shalt thou come after, cease weeping; after three days shalt thou follow me, as levite followeth priest.”
St Sixtus Bids St Lawrence Farewell, 1465 ca., by the German (Südtiroler) painter Michael Pacher (1435-98). Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.
It is worthy and just that the things of heaven and of earth should praise Thee, o God, who by Thy Spirit teachest us to reject the things of earth, and follow those of heaven, to restrain the proud flesh with fasts, to cleanse the heart with continual lamentations, not to be raised up in prosperity, or cast down in adversity, to hope for the promise of truth, to await the consolation of the Spirit, to keep watch for the coming of the Paraclete. From this, as we prepare ourselves, o Lord, for the joys of Thy promises, we ask that the power of Thy grace and the blessing of the Holy Spirit descend upon us; that being renewed and purified by Him, we may praise and magnify Him who ruleth in the equality of the Godhead with Thee and the Father, and thus say: Holy, Holy, Holy... (The Mozarabic Preface for the Mass of the Vigil of Pentecost.)
Dignum et justum est, ut te Deum et caelestia et terréna collaudent: Qui nos Spíritu tuo doces terréna respúere, caelestia sectári, carnem coercére jejuniis insolentem, corda purgáre contínua lamentatióne, non attolli in prósperis, non déjici in adversis, veritátis speráre promissum, Spíritus praestolári solacium, Parácliti sustinére adventum. Ex hoc, Dómine, tuórum praemissórum nos gaudiis praeparantes, rogámus ut descendat super nos gratiae tuae virtus, et benedictio Sancti Spíritus; quo innováti atque mundáti, eum tecum et cum Patre aequáli deitáte regnantem, laudémus, magnificémus, atque ita dicámus: Sanctus...
It is worthy and just that we should always give Thee thanks, Lord, holy Father, eternal and almighty God, through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who willed to suffer for the impious, and be unjustly condemned for the wicked; Who forgave the praying thief his crime, promising him Paradise by His most agreeable will, Whose death wiped away our crimes, and resurrection brought us justification. Therefore we entreat Thee, our God, that today Thou forgive us our sins, and on the morrow, refresh us with Thy sweetness. Having today accepted the confession of our sins, grant also tomorrow an increase of spiritual gifts. Today, cast away from our bodies whatever Thou hatest, and tomorrow, refresh us with the wounds of Thy cross. Today, fill our mouth with joy, and our tongue with rejoicing, such that now and forever we may praise Thee, proclaiming Thee as a most loving Savior, and so saying: Holy… (The Preface of Spy Wedneday in the Mozarabic Rite.)
Dignum et justum est nos tibi semper gratias agere, Domine, sancte Pater, eterne omnipotens Deus: per Jesum Christum, Filium tuum, Dominum nostrum. Qui pati pro impiis voluit, et pro sceleratis indebite condemnari. Qui latroni deprecanti omisit delictum, promittens ei voluntate gratissima paradisum. Cujus mors delicta nostra detersit, et resurrectio justificationem nobis exibuit. Ob hoc te, Deus noster, exposcimus, ut hodie dimittas nobis peccata nostra, et cras reficias nos dulcedine tua. Hodie nostrorum peccaminum confessione accepta, et cras donorum spiritualium tribue incrementa. Hodie quicquid odis a nostris corporibus abjice, et cras nos refice vulneribus crucis tuae. Hodie os nostrum reple gaudio, et lingua nostra exultatione, qualiter nunc et usque in seculum laudemus te, piissimum Salvatorem proclamantes, atque ita dicentes. Sanctus…
Two years ago, I wrote an article about the Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent, the last day before Passiontide begins, in which I noted that the custom of joining the last two weeks of Lent as a liturgical period distinct from the rest of the season is unique to the Roman Rite, and that “the specific … character of this period is older than its formal nomenclature.” Even though Passion Sunday is called “the Fifth Sunday of Lent” in the very oldest Roman liturgical books, there is a nevertheless a significant shift in the tenor of the liturgy that begins on that day, and it was this shift in tenor that led to the change of name before the end of the 9th century. Where the Scriptural lessons at Mass during the first four weeks focus very much on Lenten penance and preparation for baptism at the Easter vigil, those of the last two weeks are centered much more on the Lord’s Passion. The very first reading of Passiontide, Hebrews 9, 11-15, speaks of the blood of Christ that “cleanse(s our) conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” The Gradual that follows it is one of many texts that speak in the person of the Lord in the midst of His sufferings, “Deliver me, o Lord, from my enemies.”
In the Divine Office, the hymns of the Passion, Vexilla Regis at Vespers and Pange lingua in two parts, one at Matins and one at Lauds, are said until the Triduum, in which no hymns are used. In the first part of Lent, the Scriptural readings of Matins continue from the Pentateuch, which had begun on Septuagesima, and the responsories of that period are taken from the same books. On Passion Sunday, they switch to the prophet Jeremiah, whose tribulations are taken as a prefiguration of the Lord’s. The responsories of Passiontide, however, are mostly taken from the Psalms, and also speak in the person of the suffering Lord.
There is one very notable exception to this, the very first responsory in the series, which is based on Leviticus 23, 5-6.
R. Isti sunt dies, quos observáre debétis tempóribus suis: * Quartadécima die ad vésperum Pascha Dómini est: et in quintadécima solemnitátem celebrábitis altíssimo Dómino. V. Locútus est Dóminus ad Móysen, dicens: Lóquere filiis Israël, et dices ad eos. Quartadécima die…
R. These are the days which ye must observe in their seasons: * on the fourteenth day at evening is the Passover of the Lord, and on the fifteenth day ye shall celebrate a solemnity unto the Lord Most High. V. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them. On the fourteenth day…
Normally, the responsories of Sunday are repeated in order during the week, but this one is, for obvious reasons related to the text, said only on Passion Sunday itself.
As I have noted elsewhere, the Mass of the Easter vigil is NOT a first Mass of the solemnity of Easter, but rather a keeping watch for the Resurrection, which is marked by its incomplete character; it has no Introit, no Offertory, no Agnus Dei, the Creed is not said, and the Peace is not given. This is the rite of the “fourteenth day at evening”, the proper time for the Easter vigil, the beginning, but not the fulfillment, of “the Passover of the Lord.” It is on the fifteenth day, Easter Sunday, that the Resurrection is celebrated with the fullness of “a solemnity.”
This same division between Lent and Passiontide is also found in the Ambrosian Rite, and although it is in some respects less pronounced, it is nevertheless very real. The Ambrosian Rite never adopted the term “Passiontide”, and continued to call this past Sunday “the Fifth Sunday of Lent.” In the Divine Office, the Lenten hymns Audi, benigne Conditor and Ex more docti mystico are sung at Lauds and Vespers respectively during the week. (The hymn of Matins is invariable.)
However, the very long Offertory chant on Sunday, which is also used in a shorter form on the following four days, contains the same text from Leviticus 23 as the Roman responsory cited above.
Offertorium Haec dicit Dóminus: Erit vobis sábbatum venerábile, et vocábitur sanctum; et offerétis ad vésperum holocaustómata vestra: quia in die illa propitiábitur vobis Salvátor vester.
V. I Locútus est Móyses filiis Israel, dicens: Quartodécimo die ad vésperum Pascha Dómini est, et in quintodécimo sollemnitátem celebrábitis altíssimo Deo: quia in die illa propitiábitur vobis Salvator vester.
V. II In die octávo ventúro súmite vobis ramos palmárum, et secundum legem, quam praecépi vobis, sollemnitátem celebrábitis altíssimo Deo: quia in die illa propitiábitur vobis Salvator vester.
Offertory Thus saith the Lord, “The Sabbath shall be venerable unto you, and will be called holy, and ye shall offer in the evening your holocausts: for on that day your Savior shall be merciful to you.”
V. I Moses spoke to the children of Israel, saying, “On the fourteenth day at evening is the Passover of the Lord, and on the fifteenth day ye shall celebrate a solemnity unto God Most High. For on that day your Savior shall be merciful to you.
V. II “On the eighth day to come, take ye up branches of palms, and according to the law which I have commanded you, ye shall celebrate a solemnity unto God Most High. For on that day your Savior shall be merciful to you.”
The words “the Sabbath shall be venerable unto you” refer to a very ancient custom which has been preserved in the Ambrosian Rite to this very day. As my colleague Nicola de’ Grandi has explained, the Saturdays of Lent are all dedicated to the rites by which the catechumens are prepared to receive Baptism at the Easter vigil. The last of these, the day before Palm Sunday, is called “in traditione symboli – at the handing-over of the Creed”, when the catechumens were taught the Creed which they would have to recite at the Easter vigil. The words of the second verse refer of course to Palm Sunday, and are omitted during the week.
At the ferial Masses of the first four weeks of Lent, the Ambrosian Rite reads the Sermon on the Mount, chapters 5-7 of the Gospel of St Matthew, as instruction to the catechumens. On the ferias after the fifth Sunday, however, the focus of the Gospel readings shifts just as it does in the Roman Rite, and looks forward to the Passion.
Monday, Marc. 8, 27-33: “And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the ancients and by the high priests, and the scribes, and be killed: and after three days rise again.”
Tuesday, John 6, 64-72: “Have not I chosen you twelve; and one of you is a devil? Now he meant Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for this same was about to betray him.”
Wednesday, Luc. 18, 31-34: “all things shall be accomplished which were written by the prophets concerning the Son of man. For he shall be delivered to the gentiles, and shall be mocked, and scourged, and spit upon: And … they will put him to death; and the third day he shall rise again.”
Thursday, John 7, 43-53: “There arose a dissension among the people because of Jesus. And some of them would have apprehended him: but no man laid hands on him.” (The Fridays of Lent are aliturgical in the Ambrosian Rite, and therefore have no Gospels.)
These readings belong to the very oldest layer of the Ambrosian tradition, before the extensive Romanization of the rite which took place in the Carolingian era. We may therefore fairly say that the Ambrosian “Passiontide” is just as ancient as the Roman one, despite the lack of a formal terminology marking it as such.
The same custom is also found in the Mozarabic Rite; on the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the Sacrificium (the equivalent of the Roman Offertory) is in part very similar to the Roman responsory cited above, and in part to the Ambrosian Offertory.
Sacrificium Isti sunt dies, quos debétis custodíre tempóribus suis: * Quartadécima die ad vésperum Pascha Dómini est: et in quintadécima solemnitátem celebrábitis altíssimo Deo vestro. V. Locútus est Móyses filiis Israel, dicens: In die octávo ventúro súmite vobis ramos palmárum, et exsultáte in conspectu Dómini, et secundum legem, quod (sic) vobis praecépi, sollemnitátem celebrábitis altíssimo altíssimo Deo vestro.
SacrificiumThese are the days which ye must keep in their seasons: * on the fourteenth day at evening is the Passover of the Lord, and on the fifteenth day ye shall celebrate a solemnity unto your God, the Most High. V. Moses spoke to the children of Israel, saying, “On the eighth day to come, take ye up branches of palms, exult in the sight of the Lord, and according to the law which I have commanded you, ye shall celebrate a solemnity unto unto your God, the Most High.”
From very ancient times, the Church has read the Gospel of the Man Born Blind, John 9, 1-38, as a symbol of the rituals of baptism. Christ anointed the blind man’s eyes with mud made of His saliva, and then told him to wash in the pool of Siloam; this was naturally associated with the ritual by which the catechumens were anointed before the washing of their sins in the baptismal font. St Augustine makes this comparison in the Breviary sermon on this Gospel, from his Treatises on the Gospel of John:
He was anointed, and he did not yet see. (Christ) sent him to the Pool, which is called Siloam. It was the Evangelist’s duty to commend to us the name of this pool, and he said ‘which means Sent.’ … (The blind man) therefore washed his eyes in that pool, whose name means Sent; he was baptized in Christ. If therefore, (Christ) illuminated him, when in some way He baptized him in Himself, when He anointed him, He made him perhaps a catechumen.
The Healing of the Blind Man, represented on a Christian sarcophagus known as the Sarcophagus of the Two Brothers, ca. 335; Vatican Museums, Pio-Christian Collection.
In the Roman Rite, this Gospel is traditionally read on the Wednesday after the Fourth Sunday of Lent, the day on which the catechumens were once prepared for baptism by various rituals, such as the sign of the cross made upon their foreheads, the placing of blessed salt on their tongues, and various prayers said with the imposition of the clergy’s hands upon their heads. The whole of the Mass, one of the most beautiful of the Lenten season, refers to this baptismal preparation.
The Introit is taken from the first of the two prophetic readings, Ezechiel 36, 23-28: “When I shall be sanctified in you, I will gather you together out of all the lands, and I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will give you a new spirit.” The last part of this, “I will give you a new spirit”, refers to the conferral of Confirmation along with Baptism, according to the ancient custom. (This same Introit was later added the private Masses of the Vigil of Pentecost, a reminder of the true, baptismal character of the day.)
The first gradual, “Come, children, hearken to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Come ye to him and be enlightened…”, the second prophetic reading, Isaiah 1, 16-19, “Wash yourselves, be clean, … if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow”, and the second gradual, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord: the people whom he hath chosen for his inheritance”, all continue this baptismal theme.
The station church for this Mass is the basilica of St Paul Outside-the-Walls, where the tomb of the Apostle of the Gentiles rests under the main altar; this was chosen as the place to read this Gospel, of course, because Paul was blinded by the vision on the road to Damascus, and healed at the time of his baptism, by an imposition of hands. In ancient times, Rome was a city populated by every nation of the Empire; the neighborhood closest to the basilica of St Paul, now called “Trastevere” in Italian, “the region across the Tiber”, was the foreigners’ quarter in antiquity. From the very beginning, the Church had always been concerned to assert that Christ came to the Jewish people, to whom the promises of mankind’s redemption were made, but as the Saviour and Redeemer of all nations; St Paul’s tomb was therefore the ideal place to prepare the catechumens for baptism, in which He gathers His people from all nations, as the prophets foretold.
The Paschal candlestick of Saint Paul’s Outside-the-Walls, carved in the 13th century, and still used today. Image from Wikimedia Commons
The Church Fathers also understood the blind man more generally as a figure who represents the condition of Man before the coming of Christ. The same passage of the Breviary from St Augustine cited above says earlier on, “If therefore we consider the meaning of what was done, this blind man is the human race. For this blindness happened in the first man through sin, from which we all draw the origin not only of death, but also of iniquity.” Likewise, in Sermon 135 against the Arians, Augustine says, “… the whole world is blind. Therefore Christ came to illuminate, since the devil had blinded us. He who deceived the first man caused all men to be born blind.”
This broader interpretation is implied in the Roman Rite’s association of the story with the Sacrament of Baptism, which the Fathers often refer to as “illumination”. It is made more explicit, however, in the Ambrosian Rite, in which the Fourth Sunday of Lent is “the Sunday of the Man Born Blind.” The Ingressa of this Mass has the same text as the Introit of Septuagesima in the Roman Rite: “The groans of death have surrounded me, the pains of death have surrounded me, and in my tribulation I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice from His holy temple.” The groans and pains of death here represent the condition of the fallen human race, whose condition is that of the blind man, but the prayers of man longing for redemption are heard by God “from His holy temple”, referring to the very last words of the preceding chapter, “But Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.” The second half of this chapter, John 8, 31-59, is read on the previous Sunday, called the Sunday of Abraham; the Mozarabic liturgy reads this Gospel on the Second Sunday of Lent, with the opening words “At that time, when our Lord Jesus Christ went out from the temple, He saw a man that was blind from birth.”
The two readings before the Gospel (Exodus 34, 23 – 35, 1, and 1 Thessalonians 4, 1-11) have no obvious connection to it, but the Psalmellus and Cantus (Gradual and Tract) certainly do. The first is taken from Psalm 40, “I said: O Lord, be Thou merciful to me: heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee,” the second from Psalm 120, “I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come to me. My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” The Antiphon after the Gospel declares the mission of the Messiah in the words of the Prophet Isaiah (61, 1), words of which Christ declared Himself the fulfilment at the synagogue of Capharnaum (Luke 4, 14-22): “I was sent to heal the contrite of heart, to preach release to the captives, and restore light to the blind”.
These two ideas are then admirably summed up by the preface of this Mass.
Truly it is fitting and just, right and profitable to salvation, that we should render Thee thanks, o Lord, that abidest in the height of Heaven, and confess Thee with all our senses. For through Thee, the blindness of the world being wiped away, hath shined upon the feeble the true light; which, among the miracles of Thy many wondrous deeds, Thou didst command one blind from birth to see. In him the human race, stained by original darkness, was represented by the form of what would come thereafter. For that pool of Siloam, to which the blind man was sent, was marked as none other than the sacred font; where not only the lights of the body, but the whole man was saved. Through Christ our Lord.
In this video, the preface is sung in Latin according to the traditional melody, but with the text modified for the new rite.
In the Ambrosian Rite, on each Saturday of Lent the Gospel refers to a part of the ritual preparation of the catechumens for baptism. The Gospel of the Saturday preceding the blind man is Mark 6, 6-13, which ends with the words “And they (the Apostles) cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.” The following Saturday, the Gospel is Matthew 19, 13-15, which refers to the impositions of hands upon the catechumens, “Then were little children presented to Him, that He should impose hands upon them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said to them: Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come to me: for the kingdom of heaven is for such. And when He had imposed hands upon them, he departed from thence.” The seventh Ordo Romanus describes the ritual in detail as it was done in the sixth-century, including the preparation of infants for baptism, a practice to which the liturgical tradition of both the Roman and Ambrosian Rites bear witness.
The Mozarabic Liturgy, on the other hand, reads this Gospel on the Second Sunday of Lent, but eliminates the references to baptism and baptismal preparation almost completely; blindness and illumination are presented much more as symbols of sin and repentance. So for example, one of the prayers of the Mass reads:
Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, restorer of eternal light, grant to us Thy servants, that just as we were washed from original sin in the waters of baptism, which was signified by that pool which gave light to blind eyes, so also may Thou purify us from (our) sins in the second baptism of tears. And so may we merit to become heralds of Thy praise, as that blind man became one that announced Thy grace. And just as he was filled with faith to confess Thee as true God, so also may we be filled with the confession of good works.
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