Index of Chant Incipits -- Index of Manuscripts -- General Index

"Songs of Sacrifice argues that liturgical music-both texts and melodies-played a central role in the cultural renewal of early Medieval Iberia. Between the seventh and eleventh centuries, Christian worship on the Iberian Peninsula was structured by rituals of great theological and musical richness, known as the Old Hispanic (or Mozarabic) rite. Much of this liturgy was produced during the seventh century, as part of a cultural and educational program led Isidore of Seville and other bishops. After the conversion of the Visigothic rulers from Arian to Nicene Christianity at the end of the sixth century, the bishops aimed to create a society unified in the Nicene faith, built on twin pillars of church and kingdom. They initiated a project of clerical education, facilitated through a distinctive culture of textual production. The chant repertory was carefully designed to promote these aims. The creators of the chant texts reworked scripture in ways designed to teach biblical exegesis, linking both to the theological works of Isidore and others, and to Visigothic anti-Jewish discourse. The notation reveals an intricate melodic grammar that is closely tied to textual syntax and sound. Through musical rhetoric, the melodies shaped the delivery of the texts to underline words and phrases images of particular liturgical or doctrinal import. The chants thus worked toward the formation of individual Christian souls and a communal, Nicene identity. The final chapters turn to questions about the intersection between orality and writing and the relationships of the Old Hispanic chant to other Western plainsong traditions"--

The liturgy, the public worship of the Catholic Church, was a crucial factor in forging the society of early medieval Rome. As the Roman Empire dissolved, a new world emerged as Christian bishops stepped into the power vacuum left by the dismantling of the Empire. Among these potentates, none was more important than the bishop of Rome, the pope. The documents, archaeology, and architecture that issued forth from papal Rome in the seventh and eighth centuries preserve a precious glimpse into novel societal patterns. The underexploited liturgical sources in particular enrich and complicate our historical understanding of this period. They show how liturgy was the ’social glue’ that held together the Christian society of early medieval Rome - and excluded those who did not belong to it. This study places the liturgy center stage, filling a gap in research on early medieval Rome and demonstrating the utility of investigating how the liturgy functioned in medieval Europe. It includes a detailed analysis of the papal Mass, the central act of liturgy and the most obvious example of the close interaction of liturgy, social relations and power. The first extant Mass liturgy, the First Roman Ordo, is also given a new presentation in Latin here with an English translation and commentary. Other grand liturgical events such as penitential processions are also examined, as well as more mundane acts of worship. Far from a pious business with limited influence, the liturgy established an exchange between humans and the divine that oriented Roman society to God and fostered the dominance of the clergy.

Arthur Westwell reveals the surprising vibrancy and creativity of early medieval book culture through the Ordines Romani manuscripts.

Since the Second Vatican Council, the liturgy has become the source of conflicting opinions. This situation has given rise to disputes that continue to divide those who practice their faith. But what has created this state of affairs? Author Denis Crouan shows how the decisions made by Vatican II that aimed at restoring the Roman rite were presented poorly, applied incorrectly, and often not applied at all. In many places the Mass has been turned into a permanent work-in-progress, in which the objectivity of the liturgy yields to the subjectivity of those who take part in it. Where does the current unwillingness to apply the liturgical rules come from? Why have the directives of the last council been ignored or circumvented? This book offers answers to the questions asked by Catholics who want to understand their liturgy better, so as to put an end to deviant practices that threaten Church unity.

"The liturgical chant that was sung in the churches of Southern Italy between the ninth and the thirteenth centuries reflects the multiculturalism of a territory in which Roman, Franks, Lombards, Byzantines, Normans, Jews, and Muslims were present at various titles and with different political roles. This book examines a specific genre, the prosulas that were composed to embellish and expand pre-existing liturgical chants of the liturgy of mass. Widespread in medieval Europe, prosulas were highly cultivated in southern Italy, especially by the nuns, monks, and clerics the city of Benevento. They shed light on the creativity of local cantors to provide new meanings to the liturgy in accordance with contemporary waves of religious spirituality and to experiment with a novel musical style in which a syllabic setting is paired with the free-flowing melody of the parent chant. In their representing an epistemological 'beyond' and because of their interconnectedness with the parent chant, they can be likened to modern hypertexts. The emphasis on universal saints of ancient lineage stressed the perceived links with the cradles of Christianity, Africa and the Levant, and the centre of the Papal power, Rome, while the high number of Christological prosulas in manuscripts used in nunneries might be tied to the devotion to Jesus as 'spiritual spouse' that was typical of female religiosity. Full edition of texts, melodies, and manuscript facsimiles in the companion website enrich the study of the stylistic features and the cultural components of this fascinating genre"--