GREGORIAN SACRAMENTARY

The history of this service book is a complex one. It is convenient to deal with its evolution by reference to three distinct books: (1) the primitive or pre-Hadrian Sacramentary, (2) the eighth-century group of service books commonly known as the Eighth-Century Gelasian or Frankish-Gelasian Sacramentaries, and (3) the Hadrianum and Supplement of Alcuin. To have a clear idea of the problems involved in the course of its history, the table of dates and events may be useful.

Dates/Events

590–604 Reign of Gregory I, traditionally regarded as the author of the primitive Gregorian Sacramentary.

c. 614 Dedication by Boniface IV of the Pantheon, in which he imitated Gregory's style in composing the collect.

625–638 Reign of Honorius I, date of an early primitive Gregorian Sacramentary (Gamber's Urgregorianum ).

715–731 Reign of Gregory II, under whom the Gregorian Sacramentary was reorganized.

747 Council of Cloveshoe in England decreeing the use of a Sacramentary lately received from Rome.

741–768 Reception by Pepin, King in the Frankish dominions, of liturgical books from Rome.

772–795 Reign of Pope Adrian I, who sent a copy of the Gregorian Sacramentary to Charlemagne. This is called by scholars the Hadrianum.

c. 730–804 Lifetime of Alcuin, traditionally held to have adapted the Hadrianum to the needs of the Frankish clergy by giving it a Supplement. This book is known as the Gregorian Sacramentary of Charles the Great.

10th–11th centuries A period during which the Hadrianum and Alcuin's Gregorian were fused, with numerous additions that eventually evolved into diverse types of mixed Sacramentaries.

The Primitive or Pre-Hadrian Sacramentary. The name of Gregory the Great has been linked with the composition of a Sacramentary ever since the mid-eighth century. A tradition to this effect is found at York at the time of Archbishop Egbert (732–766) and at Rome when John the Deacon wrote his life of St. Gregory in the years 873 to 875. It is unfortunate that no MS of this service book has survived. Two centuries elapsed between the death of Gregory and the earliest extant copy of a Gregorian Sacramentary. The Cambrai MS 164, written for Hildoard, bishop of that see in 811–812, is in all probability, according to N. Abercrombie, [Archiv für Liturgiewissenschaft 3 (1953) 99–103], a direct copy of the Sacramentary sent by Pope Adrian I to Charlemagne sometime between 784 and 791; hence its title the Hadrianum [H. Lietzmann, ed., Das Sacramentarium Gregorianum nach dem Aachener Urexemplar (Liturgiesgeschichtliche Quellen 3, Münster in Westfalen 1921)]. It has long been the goal of liturgical scholars to get behind this text and to find the primitive form of the Gregorian Sacramentary. This quest seemed to have met with some success in 1927, when Mohlberg edited the famous MS D. 47 of the Chapter Library of Padua. In his introduction, Mohlberg expressed his opinion that the "Gregorian archetype used by the compiler of MS D. 47 was probably the oldest attainable form of the primitive Gregorian text," and he added that he thought St. Gregory had composed his Sacramentary for the year 595. Not all scholars were convinced. In his Wage zum Urgregorianum [Texte und Arbeiten 46 (Beuron 1956)], K. Gamber rejected the thesis and claimed that the Paduan MS D. 47 was nothing more than a new type of the eighth-century group of Sacramentaries. In this he was in agreement with W. H. Frere, who looked upon D. 47 as "a somewhat eccentric member of the group representing the eighth Century Mixed Sacramentaries" [Studies in Early Roman Liturgy, I: The Calendar (Alcuin Club Collections 28, Oxford 1930) 59].

Date and authenticity are the main subjects of debate today concerning the Gregorian Sacramentary. If scholars such as Mohlberg, Gamber, and Chavasse have taken the authenticity for granted and have suggested the years 595, 593, and 594 to 596 as the probable time of its composition, others have been far from convinced by the evidence they have produced. G. Baron d'Eckhart expressed doubts concerning the authenticity of the Gregorian Sacramentary as long ago as 1729, and the controversy flared up once more in 1890, when the traditional view was vigorously defended by G. Morin. More recently Capelle and H. Ashworth have examined the text of the Hadrianum for evidence of Gregory's authorship. From this examination it became evident that a certain number of prayers must be definitely assigned to St. Gregory, yet a good deal of caution is still needed in assessing the value of this evidence. The Sacramentary, as it stands, is not the work of one person, and therefore not of Gregory alone. There are grounds for the inference that the Sacramentary may well have been drawn up after his death (Ashworth, "The Liturgical Prayers" 107–161). No very precise answer can be given to the question of how soon after. It may well be that Boniface IV first began the process. Mohlberg and Gamber may well be right when they trace the archetype of Padua D. 47 to the pontificate of Honorius I (625–638). The Gregorian Sacramentary certainly received its definitive form under Gregory II (715–731), for this is evidently the book spoken of by the Council of Cloveshoe in 747 as having been "lately received from Rome," the companion volume of Gregory II's Antiphonale Missarum, or Cantatorium, i.e., the Gradual (See S. J. P. Van Dijk, 338).

Eighth-Century Gelasian Sacramentaries. Long before the Carolingian liturgical reform, that is before the Hadrianum reached Charlemagne at Aachen, numerous copies of a new type of service book were being made in monastic scriptoria. This book was a hybrid, for it mixed material drawn from the old Gelasian Sacramentary, the archetype of Reg. 316, and from a seventh-century Gregorian Sacramentary. E. Bishop christened it the Missal of King Pepin, under the impression that it was the service book enforced by Pepin and St. Boniface. It is more commonly known as the Eighth-Century Gelasian Sacramentaries or the Frankish-Gelasian Sacramentaries. Extant copies of this book differ widely in their content. The earlier MSS have drawn most of their material from the Old Gelasian; the later MSS have a more Gregorian character about them.

Concerning the date and origin of this hybrid service book, there is a good deal of disagreement. The earliestknown MS of the type is Paris, Bibl. Nat. Lat. 12048, the famous Sacramentarium Gellonense. Wilmart and P. de Puniet have dated it 770 to 780. Lowe was content with saying "end of the eighth century." More recently Chavasse and J. Deshusses placed it in the last decade of that century. Various guesses have been made concerning the place of its origin. Leroquais and Bourque pointed to the scriptorium of Flavigny. Lowe suggested Saint-Croix of Meaux. The latest opinion, that of Chavasse and Deshusses, ascribes it to Cambrai, on the grounds that Bishop Hildoard was one of the ardent supporters of the Carolingian reform. Thanks to Hildoard's zeal the Cambrai library possesses the only copy of Alcuin's Lectionary without the Supplement (Cambrai MS 553) and the earliest-known copy of Hadrian's Sacramentary (Cambrai MS 164). Indeed, if these authors are right, the earliest-known copy of the eighth-century service book (Gellonense ) should be added to the list. As to the date and origin of this type of service book, it is difficult to give a precise answer. As the work of modern scholars proceeds, it becomes evident that all extant copies of this type of service book depend on a lost archetype. It can be conjectured with some confidence that it existed before the reign of Pepin. It is significant that all extant liturgical fragments emanating from the Anglo-Saxon Church or Continental Anglo-Saxon centers point to a liturgical service book of a type represented either by the Old Gelasian Sacramentary or this eighth-century Gelasian Sacramentary. It was evidently known in northern Italy [Gamber, "Il sacramentario di Paolo Diacono. La redazione del Gelasiano s. VIII in Pavia," Rivista di storia della Chiesa in Italia 16 (1962) 412–438].

The Hadrianum and Alcuin's Supplement. The common opinion of liturgical scholars is that the aim and purpose of the Carolingian renaissance and reform was one of unification. Charlemagne's policy was to unify his empire, and one of the chief means of doing so, it is said, was adoption of Roman liturgical books that were to be made obligatory throughout his realm. It is commonly supposed that he accordingly sought from Pope Adrian I a copy of a Sacramentary, which Adrian described as immixtus (pure) and as being in accord with the tradition of the Roman See. This Sacramentary reached Aachen some time between 772 and 795, and in the judgment of Abercrombie the Cambrai MS 164 is an exact copy of it ["Alcuin and the Text of the Gregorianum: Notes on Cambrai Manuscript No. 164," Archiv für Liturgiewissenschaft 3 (1953) 99–103]. This interpretation of the motives behind the Carolingian liturgical reform has been questioned by recent writers. Van Dijk (p. 336) has argued convincingly that Carolingians were eager to establish a western empire that would rival Byzantium, and therefore they adopted and propagated papal liturgical books with impressive ceremonial. Be this as it may, the Hadrianum was found insufficient for the aims of Charlemagne. Alcuin was commissioned to bring it up to date. This he did by adopting a good deal of material found in the eighth-century type of service book and forming it into a supplement. Nor did he hesitate to use material from Gallican and Mozarabic sources. Between the material of the Hadrianum and his Supplement, he placed a preface beginning with the word Hucusque, in which he stated that the first part of the Sacramentary was that of St. Gregory the Great and the Supplement was his own to be used at each priest's discretion. This Supplement contained the following items: (1) additional matter for the rites of Baptism, Ordinations, and the Paschal vigil and vigil of Pentecost; (2) Masses for the Sundays after Epiphany, Easter, and Pentecost; (3) a full extract from the Pontifical contained within the pages of the eighth-century service book; (4) the full series of prefaces contained therein; and (5) a series of episcopal blessings, very close to those still found in the eighth-century Sacramentaries of Angoulême and Godelgaudus, but with an edited and corrected text.

This use of the eighth-century service book and the fact that such books were still being produced in the Carolingian monasteries well into the nineth and tenth centuries demands an explanation. It is no longer sufficient to repeat what has been so confidently stated without very precise evidence for too long: that the Hadrianum was immediately copied on its arrival at Aachen, given a Supplement by Alcuin, and subsequently imposed by royal decree. C. Hohler has observed well that what evidence there is points to no such interpretation. What the evidence does suggest is that Mass had to be celebrated according to the Ordo Romanus, and that all Gregory's prayers had to be used [Journal of Ecclesiastical History 7 (1957) 233–234]. In this he is supported by Deshusses, who has deduced that the service book imposed by royal decree, probably at the Council of Frankfurt in 794, was in effect the eighth-century service book. All early extant copies of this book date from the last decade of the eighth century. Alcuin's Supplement was not written until toward the end of his life (d. 804). Nor does it seem to have been known at Cambrai in 811 and 812, for the copy of the Hadrianum made at that date for Bishop Hildoard was not modeled on the text of Alcuin's edition with its Supplement, but on the older and faulty text of the book received from Adrian. H. A. Wilson based his edition of Alcuin's Gregorian Sacramentary on two ninth-century Vatican MSS: Reginensis 337 and Ottobonianus 313 (HBS 1915). It was only during the reign of Louis the Pious (814–841) that Alcuin's edition of the Gregorian Sacramentary began its career. Nor did it keep for long the form given it by Alcuin. During the course of its reproduction, the copyists found it more convenient to omit the preface Hucusque or to push it further and further toward the end of the book. Others simply inserted portions of the Supplement into their logical places during the course of the liturgical year. The result was the fusion of the original material from the Hadrianum and that of Alcuin's Supplement, and it is this form that, after being supplemented during the ninth and tenth centuries, found its way back to Rome and was subsequently adopted there.

Bibliography: Critical Edition. Le sacramentaire grégorien: Ses principales formes d'après les plus anciens manuscrits, ed. j. deshusses, v. 1 (Fribourg 1971), v. 2 (Fribourg 1979), v. 3. Commentaries. e. bourque, Études sur les sacramentaires romains, pt. 1, Les Textes primitifs (Rome 1948); pt. 2, Les Textes remaniés, v. 1, Le Gélasien du VIII ^e siècle (Quebec 1952), v. 2, Le Sacramentaire d'Hadrien: Le Supplément d'Alcuin et les Grégoriens mixtes (Rome 1958). b. capelle, "La Main de S. Grégoire dans le sacramentaire Grégorien," Revue Bénédictine 49 (1937) 13–28. h. ashworth, "The Liturgical Prayers of St. Gregory the Great," Traditio 15 (1959) 107–161. Concerning St. Gregory and the Chant see s. j. p. van dijk, "Gregory the Great Founder of the Urban Schola Cantorum," Ephemerides liturgicae 77 (1963) 336–356. b. moreton, The Eighth-Century Gelasian Sacramentary (London 1976). For overview and further bibliographies, see: c. vogel, Medieval Liturgy: An Introduction to Sources (Washington, DC 1986); and e. palazzo, A History of Liturgical Books: From the Beginning to the Thirteenth Century (Collegeville, Minn. 1998).

[h. ashworth]