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The Sanctus and the Pattern of the Early Anaphora: a note on the Roman Sanctus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2011

Arthur H. Couratin
Affiliation:
Principal of St. Stephen's House, Oxford

Extract

In his second article on the Pattern of the Early Anaphora Professor Ratcliff claims that the Eucharistic Prayer in the first ages of the Church ended with the singing of the Sanctus; and in a footnote on pages 130–1 he claims that ‘although the singing of the Sanctus by the people was a general usage in the fourth century, there is no reason to suppose that it was universal in the earlier centuries. “Amen” is the people's sole utterance according to Justin Martyr (Apol. 65, 67)’. But is there any positive evidence which would lead us to think that the Sanctus was sung, like the passage about Angels and Archangels which presumably preceded it, by the celebrant alone, and that the people merely sang ‘Amen’ at its conclusion? It is the purpose of this note to suggest that such evidence does exist, and that it supplies further evidence with regard to the text of the Sanctus in the Roman Eucharistic Prayer.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1951

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References

page 19 note 1 The Mass: a Study of the Roman Liturgy, London, and ed., 1926, 323.Google Scholar

page 19 note 2 Ibid., 320.

page 21 note 1 See Journal, i. 130 n.4.

page 21 note 2 Brightman, L.E.W., p. 19, lines 1–3.

page 22 note 1 Loc. cit.

page 22 note 2 Cf. Brightman, L.E.W., p. 24, line 24.

page 22 note 3 Shape of the Liturgy, London, n.d., 221.

page 22 note 4 See above, i. 129.