Dom Gueranger: Explanation of the Prayers and Ceremonies of Holy Mass

[Stone]

SANCTUS.

The Trisagion is the hymn heard by Isaias when favoured with a vision of Heaven, and later by St. John also, as he relates in his Apocalypse (iv. 8). The Church could not well have placed this Song of Heaven at the beginning of the Mass, whilst we were just confessing ourselves sinners before God and the whole celestial court. What, then, is it the Angels say? Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth. They celebrate the Sanctity of God. And how do they celebrate It? In a manner the most complete; they use the superlative, saying thrice over that God is truly holy. We meet with the Song Trisagion in the Te Deum also: Tibi Cherubim et Seraphim incessabili voce proclamant: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth.

Wherefore is it that God is thus expressed by the triple affirmation of Holiness? Because Holiness is the chief Perfection of God: God is Holy by Essence.

In the Old Testament even, this Angelic Cry was already made known: the Prophet Isaias heard it; in the New Testament, John, the Beloved Disciple, names it in his Apocalypse. So then, God is indeed Holy, He delights in revealing this to us. But, to Holiness is added yet more still: Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth, Holy is the Lord, the God of Armies; this is like saying: Deus Sanctus et fortis, God, the Holy and the Strong. So here we have Two Things in God, Sanctity and Strength. This expression Deus Sabaoth or Deus exercituum, the God of Armies, is used, because nothing gives such an idea of Strength, as an army surmounting all obstacles, laughing at difficulties, and over-riding all that comes in its way: thus is the Strength of God vividly expressed. So then, God is Holy and Strong. This Angelic Song has received the name of the Trisagion, which is derived from Agios, Holy, and from tris, Three: God, the thrice holy.

In the Old Testament a notion of the Holy Trinity was hereby conveyed, as though it stood thus: Holy is God the Father, Holy is God the Son, Holy is God the Holy Ghost. But in order to catch a glimpse of this truth, it was needful to be learned in the understanding of the Scriptures; hence, hardly any but the Doctors of the Law could come at this knowledge; or, again, in Prayer, God would sometimes vouchsafe to reveal this Truth to privileged souls, in whom He deigned to enkindle his Light. Among the Jews, such favoured souls were always to be found.

After confessing the holiness and Strength of God, the Church adds: Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua. There is no way, more magnificent than this, of expressing the Glory of God; verily there is no nook or corner of Creation where shines not forth the Glory of God; everything is produced by His Power, and everything gives Him Glory. Holy Church transported on beholding this, cries out aloud: Hosanna in excelsis. We read in the Sacred Scriptures that this cry was uttered by the Jews, when Jesus was entering into Jerusalem, on Palm Sunday, and the people shouted Hosanna filio David; yes, Hosanna, which means Salvation, a salutation of deep respect. Holy Church blends both of these together, making one of the Sanctus and of this solemn salutation: Hosanna in excelsis, Hosanna in the highest. She could never have let slip such exquisite lore.

Just as at the commencement of Mass, she would have us unite with the Angels in chanting the Kyrie a very cry of distress, so now she bids us mingle our voices once again with their Angelic Choirs, but in a manner totally different to the former occasion; lo! now she has entered into the mysteries, - she is on the point of coming into complete possession thereof; - therefore is she seized with enthusiasm, and her one thought now is to sing to her God: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Hosanna in excelsis. Verily, the Jews did well to shout their Hosanna, as they went, wending in glad procession down the Mount of Olives, towards Jerusalem, entering by the Golden Gate; all was in harmony, and breathed triumph; but how far more fitting is it for us to sing it, at this portentous moment, when the Son of God is about to come down in the midst of us who truly know Him! Well did the Jews shout: Hosanna. Hold , still they knew Him not; yet a few days and they would cry against Him: Tolle, tolle, crucifige eum.

This Trisagion is to be found in every Church, of whatever Liturgy, and whatever Rite it may be. Formerly, the Sanctus was sung on the Preface tone; and then there was ample time to sing the whole before the Consecration, adding even the words: Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Later on, however, it was sung to more elaborate chants; hence arose the somewhat modern custom, of cutting this piece in two, because it was quite possible for the Consecration to take place before its singing was finished. So, the Choir now pauses at the Benedictus, taking up from there, after the Consecration.

Hence this phrase, first intended as a salutation to Him who was about to come, must now be taken in the sense of hailing Him who is come. The Priest, however, still recites these words: Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini, immediately after the Trisagion; and in so saying, he makes on himself the sacred sign of our Redemption, to show that these words apply to Our Lord Himself. Nevertheless this recitation of the Sanctus and the Benedictus by the Priest must not be considered as comparatively recent, as we said respecting the Introit. For, indeed, we find the Sanctus is recited by Priests of Oriental Rites; now, it is well known that Eastern Liturgies have retained their adopted rites from the highest antiquity, without suffering the slightest change therein.


THE CANON OF THE MASS

The Preface being finished, the Sanctus is sounded, and the Priest then enters within the cloud. His voice will not be heard again, until the Great Prayer is concluded. This Prayer has received the name of Canon Missae, that is to say, Rule of the Mass, because it is this portion which essentially constitutes the Mass: it may be well termed the Mass by excellence. It finishes at the Pater, and then, as previously at the conclusion of the Offertory prayers, the termination will be signalised by the Priest himself, who will utter the concluding words in a loud voice: Per omnia saecula saeculorum; to which the Faithful will add their Amen, we approve of all that has been said and done by thee, because our intention was one and the same with thine, to bring down the Lord into our midst; and therefore are we participators in all thine acts.

So then, it is to be observed that the Priest says the whole of this Great Prayer, the Canon, in an under-tone, not excepting even the various Amen which conclude the separate Prayers of which the Canon is composed. Once only, does he raise his voice a little, and then only whilst uttering two or three words, whereby he declares himself to be a sinner, as well as those who are around him: Nobis quoque peccatoribus.

In the Seventeenth Century the Jansenist heretics tried to introduce the abuse of reciting the Canon of the Mass aloud. Deceived by their tricks, Cardinal de Bissy, one of the successors of Bossuet, countenanced the admission of R. in red type, into the Missal which he had composed for his Church, as the French Bishops of that day imagined they had a right to do. These R. in red would naturally convey the idea that the people were supposed to respond the Amen thus marked. Now they can only respond to Prayers that can be heard. Hence would necessarily follow, at last, the recitation of the Canon aloud, by the Priest, which was the very thing aimed at by these Jansenists. But happily public attention was quickly drawn to this dangerous innovation, loud complaints were raised against it, and Cardinal de Bissy himself withdrew the unfortunate step he had taken.

The various Prayers of which the Canon is composed are of the highest antiquity; nevertheless, they cannot be traced to the very first days of Holy Church; this is proved by the fact that the Divine Service was at first performed in the Greek tongue, a language in much more general use, at that epoch, than the Latin. It is probable, therefore, to suppose that the Prayers, such as we have them, were drawn up verging on the Second Century, or possibly as late as the first years of the Third. Every Church has its Canon; but if these differ a little as to form, the substance is always the very same, and the doctrine expressed in their various rites, agrees often identically with that expressed in our Latin Rite. We have in this fact, an admirable proof of the unity of belief, be the Rite what it may.

The initial letter of the first Prayer of the Canon is T, which is equivalent to the Hebrew Tau, and which, by its very shape, represents a Cross. No other sign could better be placed as a heading to this Great Prayer, in the course of which the Sacrifice of Calvary is renewed. Thus it was, that when those magnificent Sacramentaries were first of all written, ornamented with vignettes and rich designs of every kind, this Tau was lavishly treated in decoration, and at length came the happy idea of painting a figure of Christ on this Cross, supplied by the Text itself. By degrees the design got enlarged, until it ended in becoming a representation of the entire scene of the Crucifixion; still, large as it was, it continued to be merely an adjunct to the initial letter only of the Prayer Te igitur. But at length, a subject of so great importance, was deemed worthy of being treated quite independently of this, and the result was a separate picture. So that now, there is no complete Missal without an engraving of Christ on the Cross, placed on the leaf facing that on which the Canon begins. And this can be traced to the simple fact of this little vignette which ornamented the Ancient Sacramentaries.

As to the importance of the Tau itself, we hear mention of it even in the Old Testament; for Ezechiel says, speaking of the elect, that the blood of the Victim being taken, all those whom God had reserved to Himself should be marked therewith on the forehead with the sign of the Tau, and that the Lord had promised to spare all those thus marked (Ezechiel, ix. 46.). This is explained by the great fact that we are all saved by the Cross of Jesus Christ, which was made in the form of the Tau. In confirmation also the Bishop marks the Tau with Holy Oil, on the forehead of those whom he confirms. Our Lord’s Cross was in the shape of a Tau, thus: T. Above it a piece of wood was placed as a support to the Title affixed, and thus is completed the shape of the cross such as we now have it; for we learn, in St. John, that the cause of Our Lord’s death was placed above the cross: Scripsit autem et titulum Pilatus, et posuit super crucem (S. John, xix. 19).

Notice of what high importance is this one letter which commences the Great Prayer of the Canon.



To be continued...