Gregory himself thought that the Canon had been composed by "a certain scholasticus",[1] and Pope Benedict XIV discussed whether he meant some person so named or merely "a certain learned man".
Then follows the kiss of peace, and "he who presides over the brethren" is given bread and a cup of wine and water, having received which he gives thanks to God, celebrates the Eucharist, and all the people answer "Amen."
[8] The canons of Hippolytus of Rome (in the beginning of the 3rd century, if they are genuine)[9] allude to a Eucharistic celebration that follows the order of St. Justin, and they add the universal introduction to the Preface, "Sursum corda", etc.
"[13] These words evidently allude to the form "thy high priest Melchizedek" (summus sacerdos tuus Melchisedech) in the Roman Canon.
Again vouchsafe to remember those who stand with us and pray with us ["et omnium circumstantium", ib., 92]; Remembering … especially our all-holy, unspotted, most glorious lady, Mother of God and ever Virgin, Mary, St. John the illustrious prophet, forerunner and baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Andrew … [the names of the Apostles follow] … and of all thy Saints for ever … that we may receive thy help ["ut in omnibus protectionis tuæ muniamur auxilio", Greek St. James, ib.
Thus Optatus of Mileve says that Mass is offered "pro ecclesiâ, quæ una est et toto orbe terrarum diffusa" (Adv.
The treatise "De Sacramentis" gives the words on Institution for the Chalice as "Hic est sanguis meus", just as does the Syrian Liturgy.
The prayer for the celebrant, of which the form was "Mihi quoque indignissimo famulo tuo propitius esse digneris, et ab omnibus me peccatorum offensionibus emundare" (Ebner, Miss.
Rom., 401), is an exact translation of the corresponding Alexandrine text: "Remember me also, O Lord, thy humble and unworthy servant, and forgive my sins" (Brightman, 130).
quotes the Roman Canon as saying "quod est figura corporis et sanguinis domini nostri Iesu Christi", and the Egyptian Prayer Book of Serapion of Thmuis uses exactly the same expression, "the figure of the body and blood" (Texte u.
In the Gelasian Sacramentary they occur ("ut nobis corpus et sanguis fiat dilectissimi filii tui Domini Dei nostri Iesu Christi", ed.
The modern Mass refers to the oblation as "thy gifts and favours" (de tuis donis ac datis); so does St. Mark (ib., 133).
Although, then, it is impossible to establish any sort of mutual dependence, it is evident that the Roman Canon contains likenesses to the two Eastern rites too exact to be accidental; in its forms it most resembles the Antiochene Anaphora, but in its arrangement it follows, or guides, Alexandria.
[19] The Greek translation of the Roman Canon called the "Liturgy of St. Peter", edited by William de Linden, Bishop of Ghent, in 1589 from a Rossano manuscript[20] contains some variations that point in this direction.
It begins with the "Unde et memores" and the Epiclesis; then come the "Te igitur", prayer for the pope, "Memento Domine famulorum famularumque tuarum", and eventually "Nobis quoque peccatoribus", in short, the whole Intercession after the Consecration.
But in the Roman form too is found such a reference in the words about hell (ab æterna damnatione) and heaven (in electorum tuorum grege).
The second half, beginning at the words "diesque nostros", would have originally been the end of the Commemoration of the Dead and would form a reduplication of the "Nobis quoque peccatoribus", where the same idea occurs ("partem aliquam et societatem donare digneris cum tuis sanctis Apostolis er Martyribus" being an echo of "in electorum tuorum iubeas grege numerari").
Drews then proposes to supply the first words of the "Quam oblationem" that we have put in the first place of his reconstructed Canon (see above), by the first half of the "Hanc igitur", so that (leaving out the igitur) the Canon would once have begun: "Hanc oblationem servitutis nostræ, sed et cunctæ familiæ tuæ, quæsumus Domine, ut placatus accipias ut in omnibus benedictam, adscriptam, ratam, rationabilemque facere digneris, ut nobis corpus et sanguis fiat dilectissimi filii tui Domini nostri Iesu Christi" (Drews, 30), and so on, according to the order suggested above.
Joannes Diaconus, the biographer of St. Gregory I, tells us that he re-arranged a few parts of the Canon ("pauca convertens", Vita Greg., II, xvii).
The reason for believing that Innocent I still knew only the old arrangement is that in his letter to Decentius of Eugubium (Patrologia Latina, XX, 553-554) he implies that the Intercession comes after the Consecration.
If the diptychs are read after the way has been opened by the holy mysteries, the Roman Canon must follow the same order as the Church of Antioch, and at any rate place the "Commemoratio vivorum" after the Consecration.
In any case it may be urged that whatever reasons there are for ascribing it to an early date, they show equally conclusively that, in spite of its claim to describe "the form of the Roman Church" (III, 1), it is Milanese.
We learn from Joannes Diaconus that St. Gregory "collected the Sacramentary of Gelasius in one book, leaving out much, changing little adding something for the exposition of the Gospels" (II, xvii).
From the time of Gregory the most important event in the history of the Roman Canon is not any sort of change in it, but the rapid way in which it spread all over the West, displacing the Gallican Liturgy.
It contains the same Canon (except that there are a few more saints' names in the "Communicantes") and has the continuation "diesque nostros in tuâ pace disponas", etc., joined to the "Hanc igitur", just as in the present Roman Missal.
[27] A comparison of seven manuscripts from the seventh to ninth centuries shows only quite minor textual variations to the Roman Canon:[28] apart from orthography and word order, these include the use or not of the honorific sancti, explicitly stating the object God or Jesus Christ or not, using catholic or apostolic or both, and other indications of borrowing.
By the 10th century the Missal, containing whole Masses and including Epistles and Gospels, takes the place of the separate books ("Sacramentarium" for the celebrant, "Lectionarium" for the deacon and subdeacon, and "Antiphonarium Missæ" for the choir).
It was the time of farced Kyries and Glorias, of dramatic and even theatrical ritual, of endlessly varying and lengthy prefaces, into which interminable accounts of stories from Bible history and lives of saints were introduced.
He also replaced "Haec quotiescumque feceritis, in mei memoriam facietis" ("As often as you do these things, ye shall do them in remembrance of me") with "Hoc facite in meam commemorationem" ("Do this in memory of me").
The 1970 Roman Missal also made optional the recitation of the full lists of saints mentioned by name and the conclusion ("through Christ our Lord.