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Fr Hunwicke's Mutual Enrichment: MISSA SICCA
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I provide a thread for a friend to raise some interesting questions.
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The mediæval Catholic custom of the Missa sicca or dry Mass (so called as there is no consecration, and therefore no host nor chalice, no offertory ritual, no Canon, and no communion) was in essence a praying through of the parts of a Mass said or sung aloud as a pious devotion, either after an actual celebration of the Mass using a different proper, or on board ship where a full Mass could not be celebrated for fear of spilling the chalice, or for a person desirous of hearing Mass, when the priest asked was unable to celebrate for some reasonable cause (such as having already said Mass, not being fasting, being in mortal sin, etc.). Neale notes that the Missa sicca was used in Belgium as late as 1780, and describes the Prayer Book Ante-Communion as a dry Mass. Since what the Ritualists didn't find in the BCP they copied from Belgium, it seems that the Ordinariate ought regard the Missa sicca as patrimony to be shared with the wider Church: for only the Carthusians still celebrate daily dry Masses (of Our Lady), and their witness is silent and hidden.
Some quotations from approved authors:
Durandus*, Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, IV, i, 23:
Potest quoque sacerdos unam missam cum sacrificio, et aliam siccam celebrare, missa sicca dicitur, quoniam si sacerdos non potest conficere: quia forte jam celebravit: vel ob aliam causam potest accepta stola epistola et Evangelium legere, et dicere orationem dominicam, et dare benedictionem, quinim[m]o si ex devotione, non ex superstitione velit totum officium missæ sine sacrificio dicere: accipiat omnes vestes sacerdotales, et missam suo ordine celebret, usque ad finem offerendæ, dimittens secreta, quæ ad sacrificium pertinent. Præfationem vero dicere potest: licere in eadem videantur Angeli invocari ad consecrationem corporis et sanguinis Christi. De canone vero nihil dicat: sed orationem Dominicam non præmittat, et quæ ibi sequuntur sub silentio dicenda non dicat: calicem vel hostiam non habeat: nec de his, quæ super calicem seu Eucharistiam dicuntur, vel fiunt, aliquid dicat, vel faciat. Potest etiam dicere: Pax Domini sit semper, &c. et exinde missæ officium suo ordine peragat. Melius est tamen alia omitted.
Alberto Castellani, Liber sacerdotalis nuperrime ex libris sanctae Romanae ecclesiae (Venice, 1523) [i.e. Sacerdotale Romanum] [quoting from: Burchard, Ordo Missae (1502)]
De Missa sicca nuncupata. Cap. 46.
Sunt et alii sacerdotes, qui in quadragesima, vel aliis diebus, in quibus duae Missae speciales habentur, videlicit una de festo, et alia Dominica, vel feria, celebrata altera carum, aliam pro devotione sua legunt, absque consecratione: quod fieri licet hoc ordine. Data benedictione post Missam celebratam, et evangelio sancti Joannis lecto, celebrants deponat casulam: et omnibus aliis paramentis retentis, stans in cornu epistolæ, versus ad altare detecto capite, legat absolute ex Missali introitum alterius Missæ, et Gloria in excelsis Deo, si illud in prima Missa non dixit, et secundæ Missæ conveniat: aliquin ipsum prætermittit. Idem observat de Credo in unum Deum. Subjungit absolute prætermittis, V. Dominus vobiscum, et Oremus, orationem, epistolam, Graduale, Alleluia, vel Tractum, Evangelium quod incipit Sequentia vel Initium sancti Evangelii, prætermisso V. Dominus vobiscum, Offertorium, Communionem. Et similiter omissis V. Dominus vobiscum, et Oremus, absolute subjungat postcomunionem, omnia intelligibili voce legens: et sic ibi absque alia cæremonia officium ipsum terminet. Tum dicat secrete, seu competenti voce Antiphonam, Trium puerorum &c. Deponat omnia paramenta, prout superius post Missam ordinariam dictum est.
De eadem Missa sicca in mari et fluminibus celebrari solita. Cap. 47.
In loco fluctuanti, ut in mari et fluminibus celebrare non licet alicui. Consuevit tamen in mari, pro populorum devotione absque consecratione Missa (quam siccam vocant) dici per sacerdotem hoc ordine. In loco navis ecclesiola nuncupato, parata est mensa, supra quam ponatur mappa munda, et non benedicta: et in medio partis posterioris ejusdem mensæ crux, ac hinc et inde in cornibus posterioribus ipsius mensæ duo candelabra cum duabus candelis ardentibus collocentur: ubi sacerdos Missam hujusmodi dicturus ante dictam mensam stans, accipiat superpelliceum, et desuper stolam ab humeris dependentem: quam transversat ante pectus per modum crucis: et cingulo eam firmet. Vel secundum alios, omnibus paramentis sacerdotalibus induatur ordine superius dato, omissa sola planeta, sive casula, qua non utitur. Sicque paratus stans ante mensam prædictam faciat confessionem cum his, qui intersunt dicens In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. (Amen.) Introibo &c. Prout hic supra in principio Missæ, usque ad orationem Oramus te Domine, per merita &c. exclusive: ascendat ad mensam prædictam: et omisso illius osculo, stans in cornu epistolæ legat Introitum Missæ, Kyrie eleison, Gloria in excelsis Deo si est dicendum. Dominus vobiscum non vertendo se ad populum. Oremus, et orationem ordinariam. Deinde si placet, et diei conveniat, faciat unam vel duas commemorationes: legat Epistolam, Graduale, Alleluia, si est dicendum, vel Tractum: portet librum ad cornu evangelii: dicat in medio mensæ Munda &c. Dominus sit in corde &c. deinde ante librum, Dominus vobiscum, Sequentia &c., signando librum et se in fronte, ore et pectore. Finito Evangelio osculetur textum: dicat Credo, si dies et officium requirat. Dominus vobiscum non vertendo se ad populum, Oremus, Offertorium, Præfationem, Sanctus &c., Oremus. Præceptis salutaribus moniti &c. Pater noster, Agnus Dei, et det osculum pacis, si alias officio illius diei quod legit conveniat: revertatur cum libro ad cornu epistolæ, dicat Communionem in eodem loco, Dominus vobiscum non vertendo se ad populum, Postcommunionem, et commemorationes, si prius fecit ibidem, Dominus vobiscum ut prius, Ite missa est, vel Benedicamus, prout convenit, aut Requiescant in pace si legit pro defunctis: quo dicto ibidem se vertat ad populum, et illi more solito benedicat, si non legit pro defunctis: pro quibus si legit benedictionem hujusmodi prætermittat. Tum dicat Dominus vobiscum, et signans seipsum in fronte, ore et pectore, continuet, Initium sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem. In principio &c., ut supra. Quo finito, vestes sacras, quas recepit, ibidem deponat. Omnia præmissa in hujusmodi Missa dicuntur voce intelligibili: ita quod ab omnibus illis, qui intersunt, audiantur.
De eadem missa coram infirmo, vel alia persona celebranda. Cap. 48.
Et si aliquem accidat, quod quis infirmus, vel alius velit missam audire, ubi non est sacerdos ad missam celebrandam dispositus, quia ipse eadem die celebravit, vel ex alia legitima causa, poterit sacerdos in ecclesia vel alio loco convenienti, ut præmittitur, missam hujusmodi siccam legere in omnibus et per omnia, prout superius de missa navali dictum est: et non debet in ea sacramentum ostendere: etiam si illud in Ecclesia ibidem in loco suo sacro habeat paratum propter periculum ostensionis. Ad laudem salvatoris nostri.
Paolo Maria Quarti, Rubricæ Missalis Romani… (Rome, 1674)
Pars I. Tit. XIV. De Ordin. Miss. &c., Dubium IV. De missa sicca, an licita sit, et qualiter ordinari debeat. [pages 109 to 110]
Respondeo, et dico primo. Missa sicca, si debito ordine recitetur (de quo infra) est secundum se licita. Probatur: tum quia nulla lege prohibetur; tum quia nihil mali continent; immo devotionem fovet erga verum sacrificium, et excitat fideles ad actus pios.
Respondeo, et dico primo: quoad ea, quæ recitari debent, inchoari debet missa sicca a confessione, ut moris est in missa proprie dicta, et reliqua omnia dici possunt cum Gloria, et Credo, juxta qualitatem missæ usque ad Offertorium inclusive, idest usque ad versiculum post Evangelium, vel Credo. Deinde aliis omissis, dicuntur orationes secretæ, et post eas Præfatio; post Præfationem dicitur immediate oratio Dominica, et Agnus Dei. Tandem dicto versiculo, qui dicitur Communio, Sacerdos dicit orationes post commun[ion]em: et data benedictione, Evangelium Sancti Joannis. Ita colligitur ex dicto libro sacerdotali, quem approbat Navar. supra miscel. 89 citans etiam Durandum in Rationali lib. 4 cap. 1 num, 23, et distincte explicat Burc[h]ardo in Argentina de ordine missæ cap. de Missa sicca.
Duo autem hic advertenda sunt: primum est, non esse dicendas orationes post communionem, in quibus fit mentio de sacrificio oblato, vel de sacramento percepto, e.g. Refecti cibo potuque cælesti &c., ne signification sit falsa, ut bene advertit Navar. miscel. 90 in fine; sed omittenda esse illa verba, vel commutandas esse orationes cum aliis proportionatis ex Missali, juxta missæ qualitatem: et idem dicimus de orationibus secretis, in quibus fit mentio de sacrificio offerendo.
Dico tertio, quoad apparatum, primo erigitur Altare cum suis ornamentis, non tamen nest necessaria Ara lapidea, vel consecrata: possunt etiam adhiberi lumina, Missale, et alia similia, quoad vestes sacerdotales, potest Sacerdos altero e duobus modis uti, nempe vel recitare hanc missam cum superpellicio, et stola tantum, vel saltem absque casula, quod est magis conforme lib. sacerdotali supra cit., vel potest etiam hanc missam recitare indutus omnibus paramentis sacerdotalibus, ut ex Durando refert Navar. super Miscel. 88, nam eisdem utuntur sacerdotes in aliis functionibus sacris. Plura vide apud cit. DD.
Based upon the words of Durandus, Castellani, Burchard et al., it seems that the devotion known as the Missa sicca would run as follows:
[Prayers at the Foot of the Altar] - Introit - Kyrie - Gloria - Dominus vobiscum (not turning to the people, acc. to the Sacerdotale Romanum) & Oremus - Collect - Epistle - double Alleluia - Dñs & Sequentia sancti Evangelii… - Gospel - Dñs & Oremus - Offertorium - Secret (omitting the opening phrase, as pertaining to the Sacrifice, and modifying the grammar to suit, as Paolo Maria Quarti suggested) - Sursum corda &c. - Preface - Sanctus - Per ipsum (omitting the rest of the Canon as pertaining to the Sacrifice, retaining this doxology as the Use of Lyons does on Good Friday, as it makes grammatical sense following the Benedictus) - Oremus & Præceptis - Pater noster - Libera nos - Pax Dñi - Agnus Dei - Communio - Dñs & Oremus - Postcommunion (adjusting its wording if necessary, according to whether or not one has already communicated; or replace it with the Collect if such modification would be too difficult) - Dñs & Ite - Blessing - [Last Gospel]
It will be seen that all the parts of the Mass sung aloud, together with the Secret, doxology of the Canon, and the Embolism after the Lord's Prayer, are prayed through.
How interesting that Castellani states that the Missa sicca should be recited aloud. Was the Missa sicca always celebrated like Low Mass, or could it be celebrated in a more solemn form, with singing? Lassus' Missa Jäger, aka Missa venatorum or Missa octavi toni comes to mind.
It is reported that a Missa sicca was solemnly celebrated (with priest, deacon and subdeacon) for a nobleman's funeral in the afternoon, at Turin one day in 1587; which implies that the service was sung throughout.
Another source gives what is alleged to be the source of the Missa sicca - the use of parts of the Mass at the Communion of a sick person unable to attend church or Mass, and whose Communion would be dry, that is, under the species of bread alone, which points to the practice having arisen in the first millennium, before Communion under both kinds had become restricted to the celebrant of the Mass alone:
Ejus ordinem ita describit Prudentius Trecensis episcopus, qui ante annos octingentos sanctitate florebat, in suo ms. Pontificali post missam pro infirmo qui proximus est morti inscribtam:
“Si autem infirmus ita in lecto detentus est, ut ad ecclesiam vel ad missam ire non possit, sacerdos accipiat librum sacramentorum, stolam ad collum habens, summa cum devotione veniat ad infirmum, salutans eum verbis divinis. In primis dicat collectam ad diem pertinentem et epistolam. Postea legat evangelium. Deinde dicat Dominus vobiscum, Sursum corda, Gratias agamus Domino. Sequitur præfatio usque Sanctus. Inde dicat: Oremus, Præceptis salutaribus cum oratione Dominica, usque Per omnia sæcula sæculorum. Postea communicet eum. Sequitur oratio post communionem.”
This implies the use of the Embolism or Libera nos, it may be noted.
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was for nearly three decades at Lancing College; where he taught Latin and Greek language and literature, was Head of Theology, and Assistant Chaplain. He has served three curacies, been a Parish Priest, and Senior Research Fellow at Pusey House in Oxford. He is now incardinated into the Personal Ordinariate of our Lady of Walsingham. The opinions expressed on this Blog are not asserted as being those of the Magisterium of the Church, but as the writer's opinions as a private individual. Nevertheless, the writer strives, hopes, and prays that the views he expresses are conformable with and supportive of the Magisterium. Nothing on this site is to be taken as representing the views of the Ordinariate of our Lady of Walsingham, of its Ordinary, or of any part of it.
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