Aquileian Rite

Last updated

The Aquileian Rite was a particular liturgical tradition of the Patriarchate of Aquileia and hence called the ritus patriarchinus. It was effectively replaced by the Roman Rite by the beginning of the seventeenth century, although elements of it survived in St. Mark's Basilica in Venice until 1807.

Contents

History

The See of Aquileia under Bishop Macedonius broke communion with Rome in the Schism of the Three Chapters in 553 and became a schismatical patriarchate, a situation which lasted until the Council of Pavia in 698. A number of allusions tell us that Aquileia and certain of its suffragan sees had a special rite (generally called the ritus patriarchinus, or "patriarchine rite"); but they do not give any clear indication as to what this rite was. [1]

There are many theories, especially as to the Aquileian Rite's relation to the rites of Milan, Ravenna, and the fragments in St. Ambrose of Milan's De sacramentis, IV, 4–6. Buchwald defends the view that the Eucharistic prayer in De sacramentis is actually Aquileian. Aquileia is supposed to have adopted it from Alexandria, Egypt, under whose influence she stood according to the synod of Aquileia of 381. The thesis adds that Rome then took her Canon from Aquileia around the fifth century. [2] If this be true, Aquileia would be the portal by which the Roman Canon came to Europe. Baumstark, meanwhile, ascribes De sacramentis to bishopric of Ravenna agreeing that it came originally from Alexandria, Egypt and that Aquileia used the same rite. He contends that the ritus patriarchinus is the Rite of the Exarchate of Ravenna. [3] From the time of the formation of separate rites in the fourth century, Aquileia would have certainly had its own use. This use was not the same as that of Rome, but was probably one more variant of the large "Gallican" group of Western Rites connected by (Eastern?) origin. It was probably really related to the old Milanese Rite and perhaps still more to that of Ravenna. [1]

Fourth Century

Rufinus of Aquileia's commentary on the Creed provides the baptismal creed of Aquileia which differs in some details from the Roman or Apostles' Creed. He also hints at some local liturgical practices such as making a small sign of the cross on one's forehead at the words "[I believe] in the resurrection of this flesh." [4] Related to this, De Rubeis, writing in the eighteenth century notes that during the Angelus there was a custom within the territory of the former Patriarchate of Aquileia to touch one's chest when pronouncing the words, "And the Word was made flesh" (Et Verbum caro factum est.) indicating that Jesus Christ assumed a human nature so that "this" flesh might share in His divinity. [5]

Chromatius of Aquileia has also left sermons and tractates which provide evidence of the Aquileian Rite.

Eighth Century

The earliest and most instructive document of the Aquileian Rite is a capitulare of the eighth century added by a Lombard hand to the "Codex Richdigeranus" of the sixth century. Germain Morin [6] and H. F. Haase, who edited the Codex, [7] show reason to suppose that this capitulare represents the use of Aquileia. [1]

The capitulare provides information about the Aquileian liturgical Calendar for the time it covers (Advent to June). Divergences from the Roman calendar include: [1]

Ebner has published a variant of the present Hanc igitur of the Roman Canon, in litany form, attributed to Paulinus of Aquileia (787-802). [8] Walafrid Strabo (later ninth century) mentions "hymns" composed by Paulinus of Aquileia and used by him "in private Masses at the offering of the sacrifice." [9] [1] De Rubeis in his De sacris foroiuliensium ritibus [10] printed part of the Aquileian scrutiny of catechumens, of the ninth century. This is practically that of the contemporary Roman Ordines; so the Roman Rite was already replacing the other one. In the later Middle Ages the ritus patriarchinus yielded steadily to the Roman Rite.

High Middle Ages

It seems that the Rite of Aquileia had even been used in Venice since in 1250 Peter IV, Bishop of Castello petitioned the Pope for permission to adopt the Roman Rite. In 1308 and again in 1418 attempts were made to restore the Aquileian Use at Venice. But in 1456 Pope Callistus III granted permission to the newly created Patriarch of Venice to follow Roman liturgical practice. [1]

Sixteenth Century

After the Council of Trent and Pope Pius V's Missal (1570) one after another of the cities which had kept the Aquileian Use conformed to Rome: Trieste in 1586, Udine in 1596. Como alone made an effort to keep the old local use. In 1565 and 1579 diocesan synods still insisted on this. But in 1597 Pope Clement VIII insisted on Roman Use here too. Only St Mark's Basilica, still the chapel of the Doge and not yet cathedral of Venice, kept certain local peculiarities of ritual which apparently descended from the ritus patriarchinus until the fall of the Republic in 1807. [11] [1]

But long before its final disappearance, the Aquileian Rite in these local forms was already so romanized that little of its original character was left. Francis Bonomio, Bishop of Vercelli, who went to Como in 1579 to persuade its clergy to adopt the Roman Breviary, says that the local rite was almost the same as that of Rome "except in the order of some Sundays, and the feast of the Holy Trinity, which is transferred to another time". So the Missale pro s. aquileyensis ecclesiae ritu, printed at Augsburg in 1494, breviaries and sacramentaries (rituals) printed for Aquileia, Venice and Como in the fifteenth century, although still bearing the name of the ritus patriarchinus (or ritus patriarchalis), are hardly more than local varieties of the Roman Rite. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aquileia</span> Comune in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy

Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 kilometres (6 mi) from the sea, on the river Natiso, the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times. Today, the city is small, but it was large and prominent in classical antiquity as one of the world's largest cities with a population of 100,000 in the 2nd century AD and is one of the main archaeological sites of northern Italy. In late antiquity the city was the first city in the Italian Peninsula to be sacked by Attila the Hun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ambrosian Rite</span> Liturgical rite of the Archdiocese of Milan

The Ambrosian Rite is a Latin liturgical rite of the Catholic Church. The rite is named after Saint Ambrose, a bishop of Milan in the fourth century. It is used by around five million Catholics in the greater part of the Archdiocese of Milan, in some parishes of the Diocese of Como, Bergamo, Novara, Lodi, and in the Diocese of Lugano, Canton of Ticino, Switzerland.

The Schism of the Three Chapters was a schism that affected Chalcedonian Christianity in Northern Italy lasting from 553 to 698 AD and in some areas to 715 AD, although the area out of communion with Rome contracted during that time. It was part of a larger Three-Chapter Controversy that affected the whole of Roman-Byzantine Christianity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mozarabic Rite</span> Liturgical rite of the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church in Spain and Portugal

The Mozarabic Rite, officially called the Hispanic Rite, and in the past also called the Visigothic Rite, is a liturgical rite of the Latin Church once used generally in the Iberian Peninsula (Hispania), in what is now Spain and Portugal. While the liturgy is often called 'Mozarabic' after the Christian communities that lived under Muslim rulers in Al-Andalus that preserved its use, the rite itself developed before and during the Visigothic period. After experiencing a period of decline during the Reconquista, when it was superseded by the Roman Rite in the Christian states of Iberia as part of a wider programme of liturgical standardization within the Catholic Church, efforts were taken in the 16th century to revive the rite and ensure its continued presence in the city of Toledo, where it is still celebrated today. It is also celebrated on a more widespread basis throughout Spain and, by special dispensation, in other countries, though only on special occasions.

In the history of Christianity and later of the Roman Catholic Church, there have been several Councils of Aquileia. The Roman city of Aquileia at the head of the Adriatic is the seat of an ancient episcopal see, seat of the Patriarch of Aquileia.

In the Western Church of the Early and High Middle Ages, a sacramentary was a book used for liturgical services and the mass by a bishop or priest. Sacramentaries include only the words spoken or sung by him, unlike the missals of later centuries that include all the texts of the mass whether read by the bishop, priest, or others. Also, sacramentaries, unlike missals, include texts for services other than the mass such as ordinations, the consecration of a church or altar, exorcisms, and blessings, all of which were later included in Pontificals and Rituals instead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gelasian Sacramentary</span>

The so-called Gelasian Sacramentary is a book of Christian liturgy, containing the priest's part in celebrating the Eucharist. It is the second oldest western liturgical book that has survived: only the Verona Sacramentary is older.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grado, Friuli Venezia Giulia</span> Comune in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy

Grado is a town and comune (municipality) of 8,064 residents in the Regional decentralization entity of Gorizia in the north-eastern Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located on an island and adjacent peninsula of the Adriatic Sea between Venice and Trieste. The territory of the municipality of Grado extends between the mouth of the Isonzo and the Adriatic Sea and the Grado Lagoon, and covers an area of about 90 square kilometers between Porto Buso and Fossalon. Characteristic of the lagoon is the presence of the casoni, which are simple houses with thatched roof used in the past by the fishermen of Grado, who remained in the lagoon for a long time, returning to the island of Grado only during the colder period of the year.

The Gallican Rite is a historical form of Christian liturgy and other ritual practices in Western Christianity. It is not a single liturgical rite but rather several Latin liturgical rites that developed within the Latin Church, which comprised the majority use of most of Western Christianity for the greater part of the 1st millennium AD. The rites first developed in the early centuries as the Syriac-Greek rites of Jerusalem and Antioch and were first translated into Latin in various parts of the Western Roman Empire Praetorian prefecture of Gaul. By the 5th century, it was well established in the Roman civil diocese of Gaul, which had a few early centers of Christianity in the south. Ireland is also known to have had a form of this Gallican Liturgy mixed with Celtic customs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Rite</span> Most widespread liturgical rite in the Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Rite is the most common ritual family for performing the ecclesiastical services of the Latin Church, the largest of the sui iuris particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. The Roman Rite governs rites such as the Roman Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours as well as the manner in which sacraments and blessings are performed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patriarch of Grado</span> Catholic patriarchate in north-eastern Italy until 15th century

This is a list of the Patriarchs of Grado.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-Tridentine Mass</span> Forms of the Mass before 1570

The Pre-Tridentine Mass refers to the liturgical rites of Mass in the West before 1570, when, with his bull Quo primum, Pope Pius V made the Roman Missal, as revised by him, obligatory throughout the Latin Church, except for those places and congregations whose distinct rites could demonstrate an antiquity of two hundred years or more.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Latin liturgical rites</span> Category of Catholic rites of public worship

Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, is a large family of liturgical rites and uses of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church sui iuris of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once dominated. Its language is now known as Ecclesiastical Latin. The most used rite is the Roman Rite.

The Roman Canon is the oldest eucharistic prayer used in the Mass of the Roman Rite, and dates its arrangement to at least the 7th century; its core, however, is much older. Through the centuries, the Roman Canon has undergone minor alterations and modifications, but retains the same essential form it took in the seventh century under Pope Gregory I. Before 1970, it was the only eucharistic prayer used in the Roman Missal, but since then three other eucharistic prayers were newly composed for the Mass of Paul VI.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patriarchate of Aquileia</span> Catholic patriarchate in north-eastern Italy until 18th century

The Patriarchate of Aquileia was an episcopal see and ecclesiastical province in northeastern Italy, originally centered in the ancient city of Aquileia, situated near the northern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It emerged in the 4th century as a metropolitan province, with jurisdiction over the Italian region of Venetia et Histria. In the second half of the 6th century, metropolitan bishops of Aquileia started to use the patriarchal title. Their residence was moved to Grado in 568, after the Lombard conquest of Aquileia. In 606, an internal schism occurred, and since that time there were two rival lines of Aquileian patriarchs: one in New Aquileia (Grado) with jurisdiction over the Byzantine-controlled coastal regions, and the other in Old Aquileia. The first line (Grado) continued until 1451, while the second line continued until 1751. Patriarchs of the second line were also feudal lords of the Patriarchal State of Aquileia. A number of Aquileian church councils were held during the late antiquity and throughout the middle ages. Today, it is an titular archiepiscopal see.

<i>Ite, missa est</i> Concluding phrase of Roman Rite liturgy

Ite, missa est are the concluding Latin words addressed to the people in the Mass of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church, as well as in the Divine Service of the Lutheran Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paulinus II of Aquileia</span>

Saint Paulinus II was a priest, theologian, poet, and one of the most eminent scholars of the Carolingian Renaissance. From 787 to his death, he was the Patriarch of Aquileia. He participated in a number of synods which opposed Spanish Adoptionism and promoted both reforms and the adoption of the Filioque into the Nicene Creed. In addition, Paulinus arranged for the peaceful Christianisation of the Avars and the alpine Slavs in the territory of the Aquileian patriarchate. For this, he is also known as the apostle of the Slovenes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Latin Psalters</span> Translations of the Book of Psalms into Latin

There exist a number of translations of the Book of Psalms into the Latin language. They are a resource used in the Liturgy of the Hours and other forms of the canonical hours in the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francesco Barbaro (patriarch of Aquileia)</span> Venetian diplomat and Italian Catholic bishop

Francesco Barbaro was a Venetian aristocrat, ambassador and, from 1593 to his death, Patriarch of Aquileia.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Wikisource-logo.svg One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Fortescue, Adrian (1913). "Aquileian Rite". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 16. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  2. Weidenauer, Studien, I, 1906, pp. 21-56
  3. Liturgia romana e liturgia dell'esarcato, (Rome, 1904, pp. 168-73)
  4. Rufinus of Aquileia, Apologia contra Hieronymum I.5; also q.v. Rufinus of Aquileia, Commentarius in Symbolum Apostoloruym, 45.
  5. De Rubeis, Vetustis liturgicis aliisque sacris ritibus, qui vigebat olim in aliquibus Foroiuliensis Provinciae ecclesiae Venetii, 1754.
  6. Revue bénédictine, 1902, p. 2 sq.
  7. Breslau 1865
  8. For the importance of this see the author's work, The Mass (London, 1912, pp. 149-150).
  9. de eccl. rerum ex. et increm. 25
  10. (Venice, 1754, pp. 228 sqq.)
  11. M&A – Fe1 article

Sources