English Monastic Life

by Francis Aidan Gasquet

8. THE HIGH MASS

The daily “Magna Missa”—the Conventual, or High Mass—began at ten o’clock. The first signal was given by the ringing of a small bell some short time before the hour; and forthwith, on the first sound, the juniors and novices laid aside the tasks upon which they were engaged. All books were at once replaced on the shelves of the aumbry in the cloister, and then the monks waited in their places till the second signal. On this being given, talking at once ceased, and the religious made their way to the church. Meanwhile, on hearing the first signal, the hebdomadarian, or priest, who had to sing the Conventual Mass, and the other sacred ministers, after having again washed their hands “to be ready to fulfil their functions at the sacred altar with fitting purity” of body and mind, made their way to the sacristy to vest for the service.

The community having entered the choir and taken their places, the senior members nearest the altar, the prior, who was up to this time waiting outside the door of the church, gave the sign for the tolling of the bell to cease. As he did so, he himself entered the choir and took up his position in the stall nearest to the presbytery steps and opposite to that of the abbot when he was present. If Tierce had not already been said at the time of the morning Mass, after the usual silent Pater and Ave, the superior made a signal for that Hour “by rapping with his hand upon the wood of his stall.” Whilst the community were engaged in the recitation of the Office, the ministers were completing their preparation in the sacristy, and when it was over, if the day were a Sunday, the priest came into the choir for the solemn blessing of the holy water. He was preceded by the thurifer bearing the processional cross between two candle-bearers, and was accompanied by the deacon and sub-deacon in albs. Two vases of water had been prepared on the first step of the presbytery by the church servers, and thither the procession went for the weekly blessing of the holy water. The cross-bearer mounted the steps and then turning somewhat to the north, stood with his face towards the priest; the deacon assisted upon the right hand of the celebrant and the sub-deacon on his left. The solemn blessings of the salt and water were then chanted by the priest, the whole community answering and taking part in the service. When the exorcism and blessing of the salt was finished, the sub-deacon, coming forward, took a little of it on a smaller dish and handed it to the priest to mix with the water. The rest of the blessed salt was then taken by one of the church servants to the refectorian, whose duty it was to see that a small portion was every Sunday placed in every salt-cellar in the refectory.

After the blessing of the holy water came the Asperges. The priest, having given the book of the blessings to one of the servers, received the aspersorium, or sprinkler, and dipping it into the vat of water, went to the altar, and after having sprinkled the front of it thrice, passed round it, doing the same at the back. Meanwhile the vat-bearer with the holy water awaited his return and then accompanied him as he gave the Asperges to all the religious in the choir. At the abbot’s stall the priest paused, bowed, and presented the sprinkler, so that the superior might touch it and sign himself with the newly-blessed water. When the abbot had finished the sign of the cross, the priest passed down the ranks of the brethren, sprinkling them with the water, first on one side and then on the other. If a bishop were present in the choir, he was treated with the same special reverence shown to the abbot, and to him the blessed water was to be taken first. When all the brethren had received the Asperges, the priest accompanied by his ministers went to the choir gates and sprinkled those of the faithful who were in the body of the church.

After this two priests, accompanied by two of the brethren, proceeded to take the holy water round the house. One pair went through the public rooms and offices of the monastery sprinkling them and saying appropriate prayers in each. The other mounted to the dormitory and did the same for each bed and cubicle, and returning through the infirmary, gave to each of the sick brethren the same privilege of receiving the holy water, which their brethren in the church had had.

Whilst this was being done by the two priests and their associates, the community, under the direction of the precentor, passed out of the choir into the cloister for the Sunday procession. First walked the bearer of the holy water which had just been blessed. He was followed by the cross-bearer walking between two acolytes carrying lighted candles. Then came the sub-deacon by himself with the book of the Holy Gospels, and behind him the priest who was to celebrate the Mass accompanied by his deacon. These were succeeded by the community, two and two, with the abbot by himself at the close of the double line. Ordinarily the procession passed once round the cloister, the monks singing the Responsories appointed for the special Sunday. On greater feasts there was more solemnity, for then the community were all vested in copes, which had been brought into the choir by the church servers and distributed to the monks after the Asperges. On these occasions, as also on the Sundays, the Hour of Tierce followed, instead of being said before the blessing of the holy water. On the Wednesdays and Fridays of Lent also, and on the Rogation days, there were processions; but these were penitential exercises, and on such occasions the community walked barefooted round the cloister.

If the day was one of the solemn feasts, upon which the abbot celebrated in pontificals, he was vested by the sacred ministers before the altar in the sacristy, whilst Tierce was being sung in the choir. At the conclusion of the Hour he entered with due solemnity, being met at the door of the choir by the prior and others, and he took his seat upon a throne erected before his stall in the upper part of the choir until the procession was formed. The abbot only celebrated at the High Altar on these great feasts; and never except with full pontifical ceremonies, if he had the right to use pontificalia at all.

In most monasteries several times a year—four or more, according to custom and circumstances—there were exceptionally solemn processions with relics and banners. On these occasions every care was taken to make the religious pageants worthy of the best traditions of the monastery. Such processions would be preceded by the vergers of the church with their maces of office; and the community, all vested in copes, walked in couples with some four feet between them and between the next couple. Every here and there a single individual walked in the middle carrying an appropriate banner; and at intervals the great shrines, which were the special pride of the house, or the chief notable relics, were borne by the requisite number of religious clad in sacred vestments. At the close of the procession came the abbot in full pontificalia, assisted by his sacred ministers. Finally, following the church servers, walked the janitor of the church, or “door-keeper,” “who,” according to one Custumal, “was to raise his rod well above his head, to warn the people who pressed on after the procession, to stand farther away.”

These were the ceremonies preliminary to the High Mass on Sundays and on the greater festivals. Ordinarily speaking, the conventual High Mass would begin either directly after Tierce, or if that Hour had been already recited at the time of the early Mass, immediately the community had entered the choir, and the cessation of the bell-ringing had given notice that the prior was in his place. The two juniors appointed by the cantor had meanwhile taken the graduals and psalters from the presses in the choir, and had distributed them to the seniors, juniors, and novices according to their needs. The cantor of the week, also, had by this time put on his cope, had chosen a book, and had taken his stand at the lectern to be ready to lead the singing. The High Mass then commenced and went on as usual till after the Blessing. At the Offertory the prior or some of the seniors brought the oblations to the altar and gave them to the celebrant. On Sundays, after the Blessing, the hebdomadarian priest gave the usual benediction to the weekly reader, who had come forward from his place in choir to the steps of the presbytery to receive it. The Gospel of St. John was said after the priests and the ministers had reached the sacristy and were standing before the altar there, whilst the community were leaving the choir for the next conventual duty, or were unvesting, if they had that day worn copes or albs.

If the abbot celebrated, the ceremonial was somewhat more elaborate. The prior made the oblation at the Offertory, and assisted the abbot to wash his hands after the incensing of the altar, and before the Post-Communion at the end of the Mass. If the abbot had been taking part in the procession, at the end of it, when the religious returned to the choir for Tierce, the abbot retired to the sacristy, accompanied by the ministers, where he took off his cope and put on the dalmatics and chasuble for the Holy Sacrifice, waiting in the sacristy till the signal was given for beginning the Mass.