A
well understanding history can make us comprehend
more deeply the structure and the most significant elements of The Sacrament
of Holy Orders. By reading the history
deeply, we can realize that the current rites of ordination are not the fruit
of the creativity. Even Sacrosanctum Concilium 76 indicates that there was an
intention to revise this ordination rite. The Second Vatican Council has a
fundamental criterion for the reform of the liturgy which is "There must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and
certainly requires them, and care must be taken that any new forms adopted
should in some way grow organically from forms already existing " (SC 23). Thus, this organic
development obliges us to take account of the history of the rites of the ordination
referring to the history of the Roman liturgy.
In
summary, this writer attempted to formulate a novelty in each stage of history
in parentheses in each sub-chapters. Of
course, many things are not contained in this summary, but the authors think that the
underlying idea changes contained already represented.
·
Indications
in the New Testament
(The
characteristics of impositions of hands gesture)
The
New Testament speaks of the apostles who were chosen directly by Jesus. Jesus
himself instituted them as priests in the Last Supper and gave them the power
to forgive sins in the sacrament of Penance, but without any rite. Even the New Testament often speaks about the collaborators of the
apostles in the ministry and the heads of the different communities (in the
apostolic and sub-apostolic era), the information about “how they do it” (or
the manner of establishment) are very poor.
However, there are indications on ritual elements of this institution which is
the imposition of hands. However, the
problem does not end here. This gesture appears with various uses and meanings,
for example:
o it
used when Jesus heals the sick (Mr 6, 5; 8, 23.25; Luc 13, 13)
o the
disciples did some miraculous healings also with this gesture (Mat 8, 15; 9,
29; Luc 14, 4)
o it
used as a part of the Christian initiation (Act 9, 17; 19, 11; 28, 8) as a rite
of placing an order within the ecclesiastical ministry
Therefore,
the context determined the precise meaning of this gesture. When can summarize
then, there are some characteristics of this gesture:
o The
handover of an assignment: Some other passages of the New Testament linked the
gesture with the handover of an
assignment (Act 9, 17; 19, 11; 28, 8).
o The
gesture is realized after a choice in
harmony with the Holy Spirit and a
context of prayer: The seven men chosen to assist the widows (Acts 6, 3), are
established in their task in this way.
o Sometimes
also with fasting: Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands
on them and sent them off" (Acts 13:1-3).
o The
imposition of hands involves a spiritual gift given by God: You remember to rekindle the gift (χάρισµα) of
God that is in you through the laying on of hands" (2 Tm 1: 6).
o The gesture rooted from the Old Testament: The imposition of
hands for the conferral of a task in the Church was not a novelty that had
introduced Christians with this meaning is located in the Old Testament and the
rabbinic writings (like when Moses in the designate Joshua as his successor in
the guide of the people laid his hands on him).
·
The
Apostolic Tradition
The Apostolic
Tradition is not exactly a liturgical book, but rather a collection of
disciplinary norms. However, it gives us several liturgical information. The
original in Greek is not come down to us. The better text seems to be that of
the Latin translation of a manuscript of Verona. The various texts do not
provide any information about the author,
and in this regard, the debate among
scholars is very open, and some attribute
the works of Saint Hipolito Romano. This source becomes
a crucial source of the history of the
Ordination Rite since it gives us a big
picture about the difference between the ordination of bishop, priest, and deacon.
In
the second up to the fourth chapter, we can find essential elements that inform
us about the ordination of a bishop.
In the seventh chapter,
we can find the essential elements of the
ordination of a priest that differs with the ordination of a bishop.
At
last, we can find the elements of the
ordination of a deacon that differs with the ordination of the bishop and also a priest.
·
The
Sacramentary Veronese
(The
Source of The Ordination Prayer of Priest and Deacon and also introduced two
types of prayer in the Ordination Prayer which is: “short prayer” and “long
prayer”)
The
Sacramentary Veronese is not exactly a sacramentary journal, but a collection
of pamphlets of masses coming from the papal archives of the Lateran.
The publisher dates the manuscript in the
first half of the VII century, and it
would be a collection of material belonging to the centuries V and VI. In
section 28, assigned to the month of September, three
forms relate to the sacred ordinations. This Sacramentary did not offer
rubrical indications, but only forms. Under the title,
Consecratio episcoporum,
are reported without title Three prayers, which
correspond to the collecta, the super oblata and post communionem of
Mass and the Hanc igitur, as well as two prayers of ordination.
The
three prayers ask what is proper to
the sacramental act, which using ministerial action God achieves the
effect of the sacrament; and also that God will accept the gifts that present for the Eucharistic celebration and
keep that in him the gifts that he
through ordination has granted. In the Hanc
igitur the petition aims at the
next episcopal ministry, but also in generic terms: asks that what the new
bishop has obtained with the divine gift of ordination is put in execution with
divine effectiveness. Not the human qualities of the Bishop to give the measure
of the effectiveness of his ministry, but the divine assistance. The following eulogistic forms of order concern the
deacons, under the title Benedictio super diaconos , comprise
two prayers of normal length, the second precedes by invitation to prayer and then the great formula of ordination;
all without Ritual indications. The great prayer Adesto, which is present in this
sacramentary is the basis of the current Prayer
of Ordination of Deacons of the Pontificale Romanum.
·
The
Ordo Romanus 40
(The
Ordination of Bishop of Rome, Pope)
The
Ordo Romanus is a very short Ordo in the collection of
the Ordines Romani curated by Michel Andrieu figure with numeral 40 A.
This Ordo contains the rite of the ordination of Bishop of Rome. In the VII
century was also incorporated to the Liber Diurnus of the Roman
Pontiffs.
The
rite of ordination takes place at the beginning of the Mass, before
the Gloria. It begins with the litany and follows
two prayers recited, respectively by the bishops of Albano and Porto (the
suffragan diocese of Rome). Then two deacons held The opened evangeliarium above the head of the Elected,
while the bishop of Ostia consecrates him. The gesture to keep the
Evangeliarium on the head of the elected was testified to Gaul, by Statuta Ecclesiae Antiqua, but in
this Ordo, the deacons supposed to maintain the book. The delivery of the pallium
and the exchange of peace with all the priests was
added. It should be noted that in
the Apostolic Tradition the sign of peace was given to all the faithful
present.
·
The
Gregorian Sacramentary
(A
notes of an Ordination in Rome 683-686)
The interest of this sacramentary lies in the fact that the Sacramentary was
in use in Rome in the years 683-686 for the ordination of the bishop, priest, and deacon. This Sacramentary contains
no indications rituals. As regards the episcopal ordination, the section 2,
under the title Benedictio episcoporum,
sets out both the formulas of the own prayers of the Mass, which do not
coincide with those of the Veronese Sacramentary, except the Hanc igitur.
·
The
Ancient Gelasian Sacramentary
(A
combination between Ordo Romano and Galican)
The sections 20-24, 95-96 and 99 of the ancient Gelasian
Sacramentary relates to the rites of
Ordinations. They derive from a ritual of Ordinations which had combined
material of Roman origin and origin galican
(the end of the VII century or the beginning of the VIII). The title and the
first part of the section 20 concern the election of priests and deacons, as
declared by the bishop to the people and derived its origin from gallicana, even if they are inspired by Roman
uses. Instead, in the same section, formulas
eucologiche, under the title to ordinandos presbyteros, are of
Roman origin, as demonstrated by the coincidence with the formulas of the
Veronese Sacramentary, indeed the invitation to prayer (n. 143), the prayer
short Exaudi nos, and the long Prayer of Ordination Domine,
Sancte Pater, under the title Consecratio, coincide, except
read variants, with those of Verona. The same happens with regard to the ordination of deacons
(Section 22), with the invitation to prayer (n. 150), the prayer short Domine
Deus (n. 151) and the long Prayer
of Ordination.
·
The
Ordines Romani 34 and 39
(The
ordination of Acolyte and Subdeacon)
The numbering 34 and 39 is according to the numbering of
Andrieu. The Ordo 34 is of Roman origin. It processed probably
toward the 750, or a few years later, even if the eldest manuscripts which
transmit it are the beginning of the IX century. Meanwhile, The Ordo 39
faithfully transmits the uses the Romans, without mixing them with Gallican elements, and becomes the work of a
Franco liturgist at the end of the VIII century.
Under the title in nomine
Domini ordo quomodo in sancta romana
ecclesia acholitus
ordinatur (in The Ordo 34),
it describes the ordination of acolyte and subdeacon, toward the end of the
Mass, before Communion. Follow the directions on the ordination of the deacon
and of the priest, which takes place within the Mass, after the singing of
the gradual. Before the celebrant gives
some indications on the mass until ordination: from the beginning the subdeacon, dressed
in a white tunic and holding the orarium, in front of the balustrade,
provided with a gate, which closes the
sanctuary or presbyterate. After the collects, the reading, and the gradual the
Bishop says the invitation to prayer according to the aforementioned formula of the Gregorian Sacramentary, and the choir
sings the litanies, while the bishop and the sub
deacon, behind him, remain prostrate before the altar. These ordines do
not mention the imposition of hands.
The
Ordo 39 has fewer indications
of the Ordo 34 about the
rites of the diaconate ordination but, in compensation, it adds other on time
and on what precedes and what follows the order. As regards to the times, the
ordination of deacons and priests took place on Saturday. The Ordo 39,
about the rites of the presbyteral
ordination, practically coincides with the Ordo 34 but adds some details on following the Mass
and after this.
·
Gelasian
Sacramentary of the VIII century
(some
elements of Gallican liturgy enter to the
Roman Rite, addition anointing hand of the new bishop)
The sacramentaries of roman origin for the
presbyteral liturgy who arrived to the territories francs in the first half of
the VIII century, i.e. the Gregorian Sacramentary of paduense type and the Sacramentary
ancient Gelasian, because they were better adapted to local use, were melted,
toward 760-770, in the Abbey of Flavigny, giving rise to a Gelasian Franco, now
lost, from which they had originated the so-called Gelasian of the VIII century157.
They were introduced several elements of
the liturgy Gallican which, as his time
we were welcomed in the Roman liturgy after the XI century.
There are some addition in this source, for
example: in the first place, a Allocutio ad populum because we
proceed to the election of the candidate with the consent of all, having
examined the conduct and the merits; after the consummatio presbytery and
the following benedictio, there is added the investiture with the
chasuble, associated with a prayer, and the anointing of the hands, it also
associated to a prayer. The Gellonense presents an important
variant that suppresses any reference to the anointing, maybe because it was practiced in Rome and the introduction of
the Roman liturgy willed by Charlemagne meant the abolition of anointing.
Another addition is constituted by the
anointing of the hands of the new bishop with chrism accompanied with a prayer.
·
The
Ordines Romani 35 and 36
(Determine
the origin of some of the rite, between
francs and Romans)
The Ordo 35 keep a copy in a manuscript copied
around the year 1000, but with the Ordo is certainly
before 950 and almost certainly back to
900; with good probability is the first quarter of the X century. This Ordo is a remake of the Ordo 34 with
numerous additions: some originated from the users of francs now welcomed in
Rome, but other, according to the same compiler, were not used by the Romans,
but their territories francs; it allows us to know the Roman Liturgy, because
the compiler has clarified what is written here are not Romans.
The Ordo 36 seems written in the years around
the year 897, not properly for liturgical use, but with an informative purpose. The writer is meant to describe the Roman liturgy but was not Roman, and he seems to have worked in the monastery of St Gallen,
Switzerland from where comes the oldest manuscript, or close to it. The Ordo 36
substantially coincides with the Ordo 39 regarding the stational Masses of Wednesday and Friday of the embers
day, in what was the exhortation to the people because if someone he knew some
crime of any of the elected the arises in
that moment. Also, coincides in assigning
the ordination of deacons and priests at Mass in Stational Basilica di San
Pietro, but not refers to twelve readings, but to five. The ordained are under the lectern in the
presbytery, coating their vestments, which are
not specified. After the fifth reading that precedes the Gospel and the
Gradual, the archdeacon makes them climb to the altar where they remain
prostrate, together with the Pope, during the singing of the litanies, which
with the Ordo 39 did not mention but yes with the Ordo 34. After finishing
the singing of the litanies, the Pontiff lay hands on the head of each of the ordains
and reciting the Prayer of Ordination;
the imposition of hands is explicit. Then They are coated vestments diaconate.
·
The
Roman Pontifical-Germanico of the X century
(Give
something as a symbol of giving “the Power”)
This Pontifical is a collection of liturgical
documents in use in several places, realized in Mainz toward the 950, which
reflect a liturgy of mixed type Romano-Franco-Germanic. It spread rapidly and
was also accepted at Rome, thus becoming the basis of the pontifical masses of
successive centuries.
As regards the ordination of deacons, The delivery of the
Gospel is a novelty in comparison to the Ordines reviewed so far, and the idea of thus transmitting
a power gives a particular significance to this rite. The celebration continued
with the prayer of blessing Domine sanctae (XVI,
18), which was present in the old Gelasian; the new
deacons is then coated with the
dalmatic, kissing the bishop and priests and remain standing at the right hand
of the bishop.
In the ordination of a priest (XVI, 21-38),
Follows a rite that so far we had not found: the delivery of the paten with the
Oblate Sisters and of the Chalice with wine, saying at the same time the
formula: "Accipite potestatem offerre sacrificium Deo missamque
celebrate tam pro vivis quam pro defunctis in nomine Domini.
R/. Amen" (n. 36). The Bishop concludes the rite of ordination
with a blessing.
The rite of the ordination
of a bishop is located in
title LXIII. Since the anointing of hands appeared to be common to the Priests,
therefore with the anointing of the thumb the rite
wanted to emphasize the specificity of the anointing of the bishop, which is reserved certain rites and certain gestures.
The new rites are successive deliveries
of pastoral ministry and the ring, while
the Bishop says a formula. The pastoral staff is a sign of episcopal
governance, as can be seen from the formula
of delivery: "Accipe baculum pastoralis
officii et sis in corrigendis vitiis seviens pie, iudicium
sine ira tenens, in fovendis virtutibus
auditorum demulcens
animos, in tranquillitate severitatis censuram deserens
not".
The ring is a sign of honor and authorities but also of fidelity and spousal
responsibility toward the Church, as is apparent from the formula of delivery
that proposes the Pontificale: "Accipe anulum,
fidei signaculum
scilicet, quatenus sponsam of sanctam, videlicet ecclesiam, intemerata ornatus fide,
illibate custodias". At the end of their own rites of ordination the new bishop kisses the ordaining bishop and deacons
and then, guided by the archdeacon, goes by the bishops and priests and
exchange the kiss with them; then takes place at the head of the seats of the
bishops.
The gestural enrichment and the minutes of the rites is a
characteristic of the influence Franco-Germanic, partly explained for the
decreased knowledge of Latin: the increase of gestures should compensate for
the lower intelligence of forms.
·
The
Ordines Romani 35 A and B
(In
the singing of the litanies, there is an invocation in favor the ordained)
The Ordo 35 A is a copy of the Pontifical Roman
Germanic-had to arrive soon in Rome, probably carried by the prelates who
accompanied Otto I, when he was crowned emperor in Rome on 2 February 962. However, the reception in the Roman liturgy of
the novelty of the liturgical PRG was gradual. We have a testimony in the Ordo 35
TO, which relates to certain the papal liturgy of the ordination of a bishop and was probably composed two decades after
the middle of the X century. In the singing of the litanies, there is the novelty of the invocation in favor the
ordained, but it did not mention any anointing of the hands or the exchange of
the kiss.
The Ordo 35 B is
inserted in the code Alexandrinus 173, copied not far
from Rome around the year 1000 and preserved in the Alexandrina Library in
Rome. The Code constitutes a small pontificale
composed of extracts of the PRG because it could serve to a suffragan bishop of
the Pope. However, since the suffragans of the pope had to be ordained bishops
by the same pope.
·
The
Roman Pontifical of the XII century
(The
addition was in the imposition of Mitra on head of the new bishop at the end of
the mass)
Another novelty about
deliveries about PRG is present in review
long and consists in the imposition of Mitra
on the head of the new bishop at the end
of the mass. The different copies of the PRG
that, in various circumstances, came to Rome and a hundred dioceses which more
directly were suffragans of Rome, gave rise to numerous copies with multiple
adjustments, both to Roman traditions still persistent - despite the religious
degradation of the X century and the first decades of the XI - both to local
uses, both the spirit Romano that not willingly accepted the exuberance of the
PRG and preferred the sobriety, the clarity and the measure. Despite such a variety of books, with regard to the
rites of the ordination of bishops, priests and deacons, there is a remarkable
consistency on a diagram common celebration, even in details, for which is not
equivocal talk of Roman Pontifical of the XII century, although it is never
existed a prototype from which depend All the different monoscriptal, however it
distinguish well two reviews: a shorter, mainly represented by three codes, and
another longer, represents from Papal Apamea, above all the headings are more
developed and precise. The Barberini code 631, of the brief review,
enables us to know the reception in Rome of the PRG in the last quarter of the
11th century.
The Mithras became the liturgical
headgear of Bishop. At the end of their rites of ordination the new bishop
exchanges the kiss with the sacred ministers, as in the PRG, but it does not
say that takes place at the head of the seats of the bishops.
·
The
Roman Pontifical of the Curia Romana of the XIII century
(New
priest anointed with Oil of Catechumens, instead,
new Bishop anointed with oil of chrism)
On PR XII, the rites of the ordination of deacons, priests, and bishops remained almost unchanged.
About priestly ordination, after
ordination, the bishop, as in PR XII, rearrange the stole the new priest and covered
it with the chasuble, saying the complete formula of the PRG (X, 24).
Introduces the blessing Deus sanctificationum
omnium auctor with the hymn Veni
creator spiritus, they say all kneel,
followed by the Kyrie, the Pater noster and some capitula (X, 25). About the anointing of Hands, the reviews long
mixed and indicate that it is done with
the oil of catechumens (X, 27), probably better to stress the difference on the Bishop, whose hands are anointed with the oil of chrism.
·
The
Pontifical of Guglielmo Durand
(the
Prayer of Ordination stops immediately
before the epiclesis to lay hands on each ordained)
Guglielmo
Durand, French, born in 1230 ca., after having held important positions in the Roman Curia was ordained Bishop of Mende
in 1286. Starting from 1292 he began work on the adaptation of the Pontifical
of the Roman Curia for the use of the diocesan bishops and managed to publish
it to a date between 1293 and 1295244. It soon was welcomed in Rome
and then to the Papal Curia of Avignon, even if the PR XIII continued to be used.
The Pontificale is divided
into three books. The chapter De ordinatione
deacons are the XII of the first
book and are part of a series of chapters
on the order of the clerics, by minor orders up to the episcopate. The
ordination of deacons and priests is inserted in general orders, by minor
orders up to the priesthood, which was
celebrated on Saturday, often a Saturday
of embers day. Another novelty concerns the central
moment of ordination because the Prayer of Ordination stops immediately before
the epiclesis to lay hands on each ordained by saying: "Accipe Spiritum
Sanctum to Robur et to resistendum
diabolo et temptationibus eius" (I, XII, 10). Then the Bishop
continues with the epiclesis of the Prayer
of Ordination: Emitte in eos etc. In
this way dims the unity of prayer of
Ordination, especially because the new formula to say about every ordination is
generic and not specifically relates to the diaconate. A novelty with respect to front Pontifical. The new priest, while sings a
Responsorial, "ante altar coram episcopo stantes
profitentur fidem quam predicaturi sunt,
dicentes: I Believe in unum Deum, etc."
(I, XIII, 24); the profession of faith appears to be closely linked to the ministry of preaching.
·
The
Pontifical Book of Piccolomini and Burckard
(a
tool for the celebrations of the Bishop in a diocese by the Roman liturgy)
Innocent VIII, shortly after the beginning of his
pontificate (1484-1492), commissioned Agostino Patrizi Piccolomini, the
President of the Office of Papal Ceremonies, to prepare an edition of the
Pontificale as a tool for the celebrations of the Bishop In his diocese by the Roman liturgy. The Patricians executed
the task together with Jean Burckard, Alsace, he also papal Master of Ceremonies, and the Liber Pontificalis was published in print in 1485270.
They took as a basis the PRD, and as
regards the De ordinatione
deacons, the De ordinatione presbyteri and De consecratione electi
in Episcopum follows him closely
with few significant changes.
In De ordinatione
deacons, it should be noted that
during the long prayer of Ordination, the
bishop, after having imposed the hand on the head of each ordination by saying:
"Accipe Spiritum Sanctum ", continues to maintain the hand extended
until the end of the prayer. In the delivery of the stole the Bishop says the
formula Accipe stolam etc. not on all together, but when the
delivery to each (206-208).
In De ordinatione presbyteri there
is also to be pointed out that, during the recitation of the long Prayer of
Ordination, the bishop keeps the hands extended on ordinands - "extensis
manibus ante pectus" -; after the anointing of the hands, the ordained
not keep nations until the end of the Mass, but are washed their hands during
the offertory (n. 249), and for what concerns the concelebration, and in rites
after Communion, the new priests do not say the Credo in unum Deum,
but the Credo in Deum (n. 257).
In De consecratione
electi in Episcopum, it omit the examination of the elected in sitting
on the Saturday evening, because the consideration
of its suitability and the legitimate
election has already been done by the Apostolic See (n. 274); for the same
reason, at the beginning of Celebration.
·
The
Roman Pontifical of 1595-1596
(the
oath of the ordained bishop to the Apostolic See)
In the work of edition of the liturgical
books Romans following the Council of Trent, the Pontificale Romanum was
published in 1595 (this is the edition date), even if the Constitution Ex
Quo in Ecclesia Dei with which Clement VIII approves and promulgates
the book bears the date of 10 February 1596272, making it obligatory
for the whole Latin Church273.
As regards the diaconal orders and priestly, rites
coincide with those of the Liber Pontificalis of Piccolomini
Burckard and. Almost the same happens with the
rite of episcopal ordination, but it should be noted that at the beginning of
the celebration, after the reading of the mandatum apostolicum,
where it entrusts to the ordained bishop the reception of the oath of fidelity
to the Apostolic See that the elected where pay, the oath is loaned at this
time according to the formula that the Pontificale returns.
Throughout the centuries the Pontificale Romanum postridentino has known different editions, but
about the rites of the ordination of
deacons, priests and the bishop, remained practically identical, up to the last
edition typica, that of 1962,
before the reform desired by Vatican II.
·
The
clarification of Pius XII on the essential element of the Ordination
(imposition
of hands on each ordination)
A decisive moment of clarification on the fundamental element
of the rite of ordination was the publication by Pius XII of the Apostolic
Constitution Sacramentum Ordinis, 30 November 1947. In the rites of
the ordination, The three holy orders the essential part is constituted by the
imposition of hands on each ordination and by the Prayer of Ordination whose essential
part is the epiclesis of the Holy Spirit.
After that, The Prayer of Ordination is
said. The Preface for this occasion is similar with the preface of the Mass under the profile of the lecture
structure. As reported above, the Apostolic Constitution of Paul VI Pontifical Romans recognitio invokes these doctrinal clarifications of the
Apostolic Constitution sacramentum
ordinis of Pius XII, and both
the constitutions recall the praenotanda
generalia.
No comments:
Post a Comment