The history of Masses for the Dead up to 1570

All ages and cultures exhibit rituals, of various kinds, to do with all the aspects of death and mourning. The long developing tradition of Christian burial took over some features of Graeco-Roman practice, while rejecting or reshaping others. Ritual lam-entations of wailing women were replaced by psalms and cremation by burial, while the graveside rites held on specified days (which St. Ambrose forbade in Milan and of whose existence St. Augustine knew in Hippo) gained eschatological meaning, fore-shadowing the feast (refrigerium) to be held in the kingdom of God.

Aristides and Tertullian already spoke in the 2nd century of prayers and Masses for the Dead to be held on certain days after the funeral. It became general in all rites to have rituals on the third day and on the anniversary of the funeral. In addition, the Latin church held a Mass for the Dead on the seventh and thirtieth days, as did the Eastern church on the ninth and ninetieth days.

Documents of Christian burials in the first half of 4th century describe the rituals in some detail, especially where important persons were concerned. Examples are the descriptions by St. Gregory of Nazianus of the funeral of St. Basil the Great, by St.

Gregory of Nyssa of that of St. Macrina the Younger, and by St. Jerome of the deaths of Ss. Paula and Fabiola and the funeral of St. Paul the Hermit.¹ These early Christian

1 James McKinnon, Music in Early Christian Literature (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 1987), 73, 141 and 143.

writers occasionally mention the use of special prayers for the dead, but far more fre-quent are references to psalm-singing before and after the funeral. Particularly interest-ing within the first millennium is a 7th-century Visigoth document that contains prob-ably the earliest full description of a burial rite. It states in detail “what the clergy of any city have to do if their bishop falls victim to a fatal illness” (tolling bells, washing and dressing the body and placing it on the bier, while psalms and worship are recited and sung unceasingly up until the grave is sealed).² This liturgical custom may have extended at that time to the whole area, not just for bishops, but for lower clergy and laymen as well.

The presumably 7th-century Sacramentarium Leonianum and Gelasianum are the earliest two manuscripts to include groups of prayers and other items for the Mass for the Dead. Both follow the Roman rite, and contain passages for recital by the celebrant of various masses, but omit responses by the choir or congregation. Both include sev-eral formulae for the purpose: five under the title Leonianum super defunctos, while the fuller, better organized Gelasianum has seven:

1. Commendatio animae defunctis 2. Missa pro defuncto sacerdote

3. Missa in natal. sanctorum, vel agendum mortuorum 4. Missa pro defuncto nuper baptizato

5. Missa pro defunctis desiderantibus poenitentiam, et minime consequentur 6. Missa pro defunctis lucis

7. Item alia in die depositionis defuncti, VII et XXX dierum³

The other major document of early liturgical history is the Sacramentarium Gre-go ria num of the same period, which contains a rather different Roman rite than the pre vious two.

Initially, Masses for the Dead probably differed only slightly from other masses.

The 8th-century Amalarius, a pupil of Alcuin, states that a Requiem Mass has no Glo-ria, alleluia, Credo or kiss of peace, but his statements cannot represent general prac-tice, as sources show the movements composing it were not uniform in the Middle Ages, but varied by period, location and tradition. An example is the Mozarabic liturgy, which probably retained alleluias in the Mass for the Dead for as long as the liturgy remained in use.

2 Quoted by Herbert Thurston, “Burial, Christian”, in The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Gilmary Society, 1907–1914), III, 76.

3 Fernand Cabrol, “Gelasien (Le Sacramentaire)”, Dictionnaire d’Archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie (Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1924), VI, 761.

Of the rites of the Proper in the Tridentine Requiem, the source of the introit, grad-ual, and communion texts (Requiem aeternam and Lux aeterna) is the Bible,⁴ while the tract Absolve, Dominus comes from a medieval prayer, and the offertory Domine Jesu Christe from a prayer of recommendation of the soul. The sequence Dies irae is the lat-est addition to the Proper for the Mass for the Dead. The Ordinary rites in the Requiem Mass omit the Gloria and the Credo, but otherwise only depart from the customary in the last sentence of Agnus Dei (miserere nobis), which is replaced on both occasions by dona eis requiem, and in the final prayer dona nobis pacem, for which dona eis requiem sempiternam can be substituted.

Although these texts are the oldest rites in the Mass for the Dead, many other pieces are found in medieval sources. The introit Requiem aeternam appears not only with the psalm verse Te decet hymnus Deus, but with the versicles Miserere mei, Domine, Anima ejus, De profundis, and Et sicut in Adam in medieval codices. One early version of the antiphon runs Rogamus te, Domine Deus noster Ps. Et sicut in Adam. The re-sponsory Subvenite sancti Dei, which is now part of the funeral liturgy, was used earlier as an introit. The processional Respice Domine, in testamentum tuum can also be found in 15th- and 16th-century Requiems, either as an alternative, or as the regular introit to the second Mass of the Dead. Other processional texts used are Si enim credimus Ps. Et sicut in Adam, and Sicut portavimus imaginem Ps. Et sicut in Adam.

The earlier gradual text was Qui Lazarum resuscitasti, which today is a responsory for the second versicle of the nocturn of the First Matins for the Dead. The second text appearing in Beneventan sources, Convertere anima mea, soon disappeared from this place in the Roman liturgy.⁵ The 11th-century gradual Missa in agenda mortuorum from Saint-Yrieix has as an alternative the gradual Si ambulem in medio umbrae mor-tis, which became general in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.⁶ The Passau gradual features Animae eorum V) In memoria aeterna,⁷ whereas the text Si enim credimus is found in some early sources. The gradual Requiem aeternam crops up in many medi-eval codices, but not always with the same versicle as the one used in today’s Mass for the Dead. Many early sources replace In memoria aeterna with Anima ejus in bonis demorabitur. This versicle is already found in the 12th-century and appears later in

4 Introit: 4 Esdras 2:34–35, Psalms 64:2–3. Gradual: 4 Esdras 2:34–35, Psalms 111:7. Communion: 4 Esdras 2:34–35.

5 Dom Jacques Froger (éd.), Le Codex 123 de la Bibliothèque Angelica de Rome (XIe siècle). Graduel et tropaire de Bologne (Bern: Lang, 1969) = Paléographie Musicale [hereafter: PM], vol. 18, 149^v. Le Codex VI. 34 de la Bibliothèque Capitulaire de Bénévent (XIe–XIIe siècle). Gradual de Bénévent avec prosaire & tropaire (Solesmes: Desclée, 1992) = PM, vol. 15, 265^v.

6 Le Codex 903 de la Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris (XIe siècle). Graduel de Saint-Yrieix (Solesmes:

Desclée, 1992) = PM, vol. 13, 237, fol. 119^r.

7 Christian Väterlein (ed.), Graduale Pataviense, Wien 1511, Faksimile. Abteilung Mittelalter, vol. 24.

(Kassel, Basel and London: Bärenreiter, 1982), 174.

French and Spanish graduals. Other versicles found with the main part of the gradual are Convertere anima mea and Qui Lazarum resuscitasti.

The tract Absolve Domine was in many early sources, but De profundis (Psalms 129:1–4) appears as well. Another earlier variant is to use the text Convertere anima mea from Psalm 114. The 11th-century Saint-Yrieix gradual mentioned contains the tract Sicut cervus, but the gradual Si ambulem appears there as an alternative.

The offertory Domine Jesu Christe consisted originally of several verses, which were steadily dropped from later liturgical books, except for Hostias et preces. Other of-fertory texts were Domine convertere et eripe; Erue, Domine, animas eorum; Illumina oculos meos; Miserere mihi Domine; O pie Deus; Subvenite sancti Dei.

The biggest difference appears in the many texts for the communion, several of which persisted in the Office for the Dead or burial service. The antiphon Ego sum resurrectio was once part of the communion and later of Lauds in the Office for the Dead. Two other early communions are Credo quod Redemptor, the responsory after the first lesson in the first nocturn of Matins, and the last sentence beginning Chorus Angelorum from the antiphon In paradisum. Another early communion text is Omne quod dat, also a Vespers antiphon in the Office for the Dead. The next comes in the 12th-century Sankt-Gallen manuscript: Dona eis Domine requiem sempiternam et re-ple sre-plendore animas sanctorum, et ossa eorum pullulent in loco suo.⁸ Absolve Domine is one of several communions to appear in 11th–15th-century manuscripts of Masses for the Dead. The text is most frequent in Southern French, Austrian, German and ear-ly Lotharingian sources, but found also in geographicalear-ly remote places such as St.

Yrieix, Bologna, Aix-la-Chapelle, and Burgos. Also used as communions were Animas de corpore; Audivi vocem de caelo; Partem beatae resurrectionis; Pro quorum memo-ria; Sicut Pater suscitat mortuos; and Tuam, Deus, deposcimus.

The Spanish liturgical sources of the 14th–16th century show some typical traits in the composition of items in the Mass for the Dead. The commonest gradual is Requiem aeternam, found in the sources with two versicles (Animae eorum; In memoria aeterna) of equal popularity. However, another text (Si ambulem in medio umbrae mortis) also appears from time to time with this liturgical function. The region’s most varied picture appears with the text choices for the tract. De profundis, the commonest tract in the Mass for the Dead in Central Europe, is widespread in Spanish and Mozarabic sources as well and was linked with the burial service. The next alternative is Sicut cervus, also found quite frequently outside the Iberian peninsula in liturgical books from Northern Europe and from Salisbury, and acting as the exclusive tract for the pre-Tridentine polyphonic Spanish Requiem. The third item, used in regions influenced by Catalonia

8 Codex 339 de la Bibliothèque de Gall, éd. par André Mocquereau (Solesmes: Abbaye Saint-Pierre, 1992) = PM, vol. 1, 114. See also: Le Codex VI. 34 de la Bibliothèque Capitulaire de Bénévent (XIe–XIIe siècle). Gradual de Bénévent avec prosaire & tropaire (Solesmes: Lang, 1992) = PM, vol.

15, 266^v.

and Southern France, is Dicit Dominus ego sum V) Et omnis qui vivit. An offertory specialty is for both Hostias et preces and the second versicle Redemptor animarum omnium to be used in Andalusia and Toledo, even in the early 16th century.⁹ A notably unusual communion developed in medieval Spain and Southern France, from the texts Lux aeterna and Pro quorum memoria, known and used throughout Europe. The latter was augmented after a time and linked to the previous Lux aeterna communion as a single antiphon without a versicle.¹⁰ This special form remained in use in the area until 1570.

The variety and variability of the Proper for the Mass for the Dead began to de-crease in the second half of the 16th century, as the reformed liturgy of the Council of Trent became the sole Roman rite, compulsory in every church except those which had used another liturgy for at least 200 years. The 1570 Missal of Pope Pius V endorsed only five of the many that had been used in the first half of the first millennium. These have identical musical movements, differing only in the prayers and lessons.

2. Polyphonic Masses for the Dead