Liturgical books

Breviary.

The liturgical books are those that contain the prayers and ceremonies determined by the Catholic Church for the administration of the Sacraments, the celebration of Mass and the exercise of other sacred functions. At first, the Christian communities did not have liturgical books. The period of formation of liturgical books begins in the first centuries. The most important liturgical book in antiquity was the Sacramentary, since under this name was understood a kind of incomplete Missal that brought together the common prayers or prayers for the preparation of the Eucharist and that were compiled and fixed by the High Priests.

The 'Veronense' or 'leonian' it is a collection of liturgical texts from various sources (for example, there are about thirty formularies for the mass of Saint Peter and Saint Paul). Since most of the formulas come from the times of Pope Leo I the Great, it has taken that name. It is incomplete because it does not offer texts for the celebrations of Lent, Easter or the canon.

The Gelasian sacramentary, improperly attributed to Pope Gelasius I, is preserved in the Vatican Library. It is known that it was made in a monastery near Paris around the year 750. It contains proposals for masses for the whole year and for some other celebrations such as priestly and diaconal ordinations, penance, baptism, etc. The base is the Roman liturgy but influenced by Gallican prayers and prayers.

The Gregorian sacramentary comes to us through compilations that were made at the end of the viii century. However, it is a collection of sacramentaries that were already used in the time of Gregory the Great. His texts are the model of the liturgical forms after the Second Vatican Council due to their sobriety and simplicity.

Lectionary

The lectionary is the book used in liturgical celebrations to proclaim texts from Sacred Scripture. In the early days of Christianity, at the beginning of the celebrations, the books of the prophets and the Pentateuch were read, but not systematically or according to an order given by any authority. Surely the method of the synagogues was followed where each person who happened to read continued the text from where they had left off the previous time. Already in the Apology of Justin Martyr and in the Constitutiones apostólicas (from the iii century) it is indicated that after reading some text of the Old Testament they proceeded to read some epistle or the facts expressly indicating that the gospel was read only by the priest or deacon.

The books used in this period were complete transcriptions of the sacred texts with indications in the margin for the day or period in which they were to be used. For this reason, lists or enumerations of the texts were also prepared to more easily find the corresponding reading for each day. These lists were called “Capitularia Evangeliorum” or “Capitularia lectionum”.

During the iv century and after the still incipient formation of the liturgical calendar, a systematization of the texts began to be elaborated according to the periods and parties. The text of the pilgrim Egeria (around the year 384) contains an expression of admiration because in the liturgical celebrations of Jerusalem readings are made adapted to the day and the area.

From the collections of homilies by Ambrose of Milan and Augustine of Hippo, it has been possible to reconstruct the lectionary in use at that time. For the pontificate of Leo the Great, the lectionary was completely fixed.

In the vi century, lectionaries were born properly when books were made for liturgical use with the reading texts for each day. The texts of the Old and New Testaments were included in them, but the gospel was placed separately in books called "Gospels."

Around the xi century, lectionaries began to disappear as books containing the entire mass, including the readings, were published.

After the liturgical reform requested by the Second Vatican Council and taking into account the greater emphasis that is given to the reading of the texts, the lectionaries and gospel books began to be printed again so that they could be used in processions at the beginning of the Holy Mass.

Other texts

Holy Week

For the celebration of the holy days.

Antiphony

With the introits, gradual, ofertoire, etc. Whose main author is Saint Gregory.

Missal

At first it was Sacrament and that it was then completed with the other books listed, so far into the ixth century and remain in this form, unique to the smaller churches. Currently, the Missal is no longer plenarybecause it contains the prayers of the Mass, but not the readings. These are collected in the Lectionary.

Blessing

Gather the blessings of the Church and are largely attributed to Saint Gregory the Great

Pontifical Roman and Ritual

They embrace respectively the prayers and practices of bishops or pastors in the administration of the sacraments and blessings.

Liber oratorium u Officiarium

Primitive Book of Prayer.

Breviary

Book of the ecclesiastical prayer for the Liturgy of Hours, so called for having determined briefly from the xvi century

Martyrology

It contains the list of canonized saints with a brief account of each one and which in a simple way comes from the early centuries of the Church and which, reduced to a regular codex, dates from St.

In Spain, during the first centuries of the Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula, liturgical books were used according to the Mozarabic rite, which was nothing more than the continuation of the Visigothic, established by San Isidoro in the IV Council of Toledo (year 633). and descendant of apostolic traditions. In the last third of the eleventh century it was abolished.