Sacramentary
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.
In late mediaeval times, these books began to be combined, for the use of priests saying Mass without the assistance of a choir and other ministers.
At the behest of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI greatly increased the amount of Sacred Scripture read at Mass and, to a lesser extent, the prayer formulas.
Of the textual groups of sacramentaries of the Roman Rite still extant, either complete or in part, the most important are the three known by the names Leonine, Gelasian, and Gregorian.
This manuscript was found in the library of the cathedral chapter of Verona, was published by Joseph Bianchini in 1735, and was by him attributed arbitrarily to Pope Leo I (440-61).
It begins in the middle of the sixth Mass for April, and ends with a blessing for the font "In ieiunio mensis decimi" (i. e. the winter Ember days).
For instance, one of the collects to be said by a bishop on the anniversary of his consecration could only be used by the pope of Rome: "Lord God ... who, although Thou dost not cease to enrich with many gifts Thy Church spread throughout the world, nevertheless dost look more favourably upon the see of Thy blessed Apostle Peter, as Thou hast desired that it should be most exalted, etc."
[1] The "Gelasian Sacramentary" contains everything needed by a priest in charge of a Roman titular or parish church.
The archetype, now lost, was likely written in the mid-7th century, possibly for the Church of St Peter in Chains in Rome.
It features modifications introduced by Gregory the Great (590–604) in the canon of the Mass (notably the insertion of the prayer Hanc igitur), but does not yet contain either the Agnus Dei made official by Pope Sergius I (r. 687–701) or the Masses for the Thursdays in Lent added by Pope Gregory II (r. 715–731).
Book I includes masses for feasts and Sundays from Christmas Eve to the octave of Pentecost (there were at the time no special masses for the season after Pentecost), together with ordinations, prayers for all the rites of the catechumenate, blessing of the font and oil at the Easter Vigil, dedication of churches, and reception of nuns.
The Gelasian Sacramentary was revised in the 8th century at the prompting of Pepin the Short, work that was likely undertaken at Flavigny Abbey and completed between 760 and 770.
The first part includes the Temporal and Sanctoral in one continuous series, following the usual Gregorian structure, with the canon of the mass given at Easter.
[3] Alongside the sacramentaries of the Gelasian type, all of them hybrids of Roman and Frankish practices, several older Gallican sacramentaries survive from the Merovingian period, all based on a mix of Gallican and some Irish traditions with little emphasis on Roman practices.
John the Deacon (eighth century) in his Life of Gregory expresses this tradition: "He collected the Sacramentary of Gelasius in one book, leaving out much, changing little, adding something."
[7] The Anglo-Saxon Benedictional of St. Æthelwold is the most famous of the relatively infrequent illuminated manuscript examples, which are mostly Early Medieval.
