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Wednesday, December 9, 2015

WHERE DO THESE PREFACES FOR DIVINE WORSHIP, THE MISSAL COME FROM--THEY AIN'T OF OR EF! AMBROSIAN RITE?

In Pope Francis' new Divine Worship, the Missal, there are only three Sunday preface options and in a very peculiar way, these three split the Most Holy Trinity, meaning that one is focused on the "Father", the second on the "Son" and the third on the "Holy Spirit." It seems strange to me to split the Most Holy Trinity like this (kind of heretical no?) and each is very, very brief.

Here they are (does anyone know where these are from?):

Preface I of the Lord's Day: God the Father:

It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord, holy Father, almighty, everlasting God, Creator of the light and source of life, who hast made us in thine image, and called us to new life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious Name; ever more praising thee, and saying: Holy, holy, holy...

 Preface II of the Lord's Day: God the Son:

It is very meet, right and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord, holy Father, almighty, everlasting God, through Jesus Christ our Lord; who on the first day of the week overcame death and the grave, and by his glorious Resurrection opened unto us the way of life everlasting.

Therefore with Angels and Archangels.... 

Preface III of the Lord's Day: God the Holy Spirit:

It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all paces, give thanks unto thee, O Lord, holy Father, almighty, everlasting God; who by water and the Holy Spirit hast made us a new people in Jesus Christ our Lord, to show forth they glory in all the world.

Therefore with Angels and Archangels....

These certainly get an A+ for brevity and divisiveness. There are no other prefaces for Sunday, only two for Lent, one for Christmas, one for Easter and others from the OF for Solemnities during the year. 

7 comments:

James said...

These prefaces have been lifted without alteration from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (1662):

http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Anglican_Service_Book/eucharist2.html

Frederick (Fritz) Bauerschmidt said...

Actually not. They are from the 1979 US BCP and were created for that book. The link provided above is to an Olde English adaptation of the 79 BCP. I agree that the division of the persons of the Trinity between the three prefaces is odd and would think that an adaptation of some of the prefaces for Ordinary Sundays from the modern Missal would have been preferable.

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Thanks Deacon! You have the best posts at PT BTW!

Rood Screen said...

I don't think this book should be called "divine worship". Divine worship means the sacred liturgy, for which a missal is one of several liturgical books. This book is the missal part of the books for use in divine worship, so it should be called "the missal" in common speech.

RSC+ said...

It's a bit baffling; many (if not most) Anglican parishes that use the English, Anglican, or American Missals will use the preface for Trinity Sunday as the default preface for Sunday, if you will:

"WHO, with thine only-begotten Son, and the Holy Ghost, art one God, one Lord, in Trinity of Persons and in Unity of Substance. For that which we believe of thy glory, O Father, the same we believe of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, without any difference of inequality. . ."

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

The Trinity preface in Divine Worship is what is required for ordinary Sundays in the EF Mass, the only Preface for these Sunday's, but in Latin of course. Perhaps the Anglican di ions of the Divine Persons Prefaces was based on the traditional Trinity Preface but to add variety in English?

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Anglican division of the Divine Persons