Works › The Book on the Sacrifice of the Mass
Volume 38 · pp. 162–165
Chapter XXIII. On the chant of Communion, on the postcommunion, on the greeting to the people, and on the conclusion of Mass
A marker with ≈ is an approximate page boundary, placed by measure of the text; the page photographs remain the authority. In the paired views, clicking a page marker brings that page into view.
CAPUT XXIII.
De cantu Communionis, de postcommunione, de salutatione ad populum ac conclusione Missae.
1. Hoc facto, cum laetitia et voce jubilo cantatur Communio, quae antiquitus antiphona dicebatur, hoc est, circularis sonus: quia sicut Introitus, ita et Communio iterabatur. Hic autem cantus est in signum laetitiae infra viscera suscepti Dei, et ideo cum laetitia cantabat illum cantum unus ad alium quasi nuntians qualiter Deus susceptus sit ab eo: et haec iteratio cantus significabatur. Psal. XLI, 5: In voce exsultationis et confessionis, sonus epulantis. Et hoc signatum est, Luc. XV, 25, ubi cum magnus pater occideret vitulum saginatum, fecit chorum et symphoniam in signum laetitiae: quia dulcedine divinae pinguedinis infusa sunt intima. Psal. LXII, 6: Sicut adipe et pinguedine repleatur anima mea, supple, refectione sacramenti, et labiis exsultationis laudabit os meum: in cantu semper post communionem. Eccli. XLIX, 2: In omni ore quasi mel indulcabitur ejus memoria, et ut musica in convivio vini. Modo autem iste cantus non iteratur, ne ex prolixitate taedium generetur: et ideo nunc Communio non antiphona consuevit nominari.
Quod autem quidam hic dicunt, quod Communio cantetur in memoriam et gaudium Dominicae resurrectionis, et quod iteratio ipsius significet gaudium quod unus Apostolorum vel discipulorum alii nuntiabat, sicut ad duos qui Dominum cognoverunt in fractione panis revertentes in Jerusalem, quia surrexit Dominus vere, et apparuit Simoni, et ipsi narraverunt ea quae gesta erant in via, et quomodo cognoverunt eum in fractione panis 1, hoc ego non puto esse verum: quia nec nomen hoc ostendit quo cantus iste communio vocatur: quia in gaudio et sensu infusae dulcedinis in communicando cantatur: et quia nulla in plerisque Missis in cantu isto de resurrectione mentio habetur. Verumtamen est, quod antiqui quidam monachi hoc tradiderunt, cujus aliam non puto causam esse, nisi quia melius aliquid tradere nescierunt. Hac igitur de causa, et sic cantanda est Communio.
Hoc autem gaudio ex parte spiritualiter communicantis populi audito, laetus et hilaris perfector sanctitatis ab altari se convertit ad populum salutans eum et dicens: Dominus vobiscum, et supplendum est, maneat in aeternum visceribus vestris infusus, sicut dicitur, Joan. XIV, 16: Alium Paraclitum dabit vobis, ut maneat vobiscum in aeternum. Joan. XVII, 23: Et ego in eis, et tu in me, ut sint consummati in unum. Et respondet populus laetanter: Et cum spiritu tuo, intendens quod in spiritu sacerdotis remaneat, quem pro omnibus accipit, sciens quod parum valet sacramentum corporaliter accipere, nisi remaneat in penetralibus cordis et in intima spiritus devotione. Joan. IV, 23 et 24: Veri adoratores adorabunt Patrem in spiritu et veritate. Nam et Pater tales quaerit, qui adorent eum. Spiritus est Deus: et eos qui adorant eum, in spiritu et veritate oportet adorare. I ad Corinth. XIV, 15: Orabo spiritu, orabo et mente: psallam spiritu, psallam et mente. Isa. XXVI, 9: Spiritu meo in praecordiis meis de mane vigilabo ad te. Spiritualis enim cibus in spiritu et non in corpore est conservandus.
CHAPTER XXIII.
On the chant of Communion, on the postcommunion, on the greeting to the people, and on the conclusion of Mass.
1. When this has been done, with gladness and jubilant voice the Communion is sung, which anciently was called an antiphon, that is, a circular sound, because, like the Introit, so also the Communion was repeated. But this chant is in sign of the gladness within the inward parts of God received, and therefore one person sang that chant to another with gladness, as if announcing how God had been received by him; and this repetition of the chant was signified. Psalm 41:5: In the voice of exultation and confession, the sound of one feasting. And this was signified, Luke 15:25, where when the great father killed the fatted calf, he made a choir and symphony in sign of gladness, because the inward parts were infused with the sweetness of divine fatness. Psalm 62:6: Let my soul be filled as with fat and richness, supply, by the refreshment of the sacrament, and my mouth will praise with lips of exultation, in the chant always after communion. Ecclesiasticus 49:2: In every mouth his memory will be made sweet like honey, and as music at a banquet of wine. But now this chant is not repeated, lest weariness be generated from length, and therefore now the Communion has not customarily been named antiphon.
But what some here say, that the Communion is sung in memory and joy of the Lord's resurrection, and that its repetition signifies the joy which one of the Apostles or disciples announced to another, as to the two who knew the Lord in the breaking of bread, returning to Jerusalem, that the Lord has risen truly and has appeared to Simon, and they themselves narrated the things that had been done on the way and how they knew him in the breaking of bread 1, this I do not think to be true, because neither does this name by which that chant is called communion show this, since it is sung in joy and sense of infused sweetness in communicating, and because in most Masses no mention is had in that chant of the resurrection. Nevertheless it is true that certain ancient monks handed this down; I think there is no other cause of this except that they did not know how to hand down anything better. For this reason therefore, and in this way, the Communion is to be sung.
But when this joy has been heard from the part of the spiritually communicating people, the joyful and cheerful perfecter of sanctity turns himself from the altar to the people, greeting them and saying: The Lord be with you; and it must be supplied, may he remain forever infused in your inward parts, as is said, John 14:16: He will give you another Paraclete, that he may remain with you forever. John 17:23: And I in them, and thou in me, that they may be consummated into one. And the people joyfully answer: And with thy spirit, intending that he whom the priest receives for all may remain in the spirit of the priest, knowing that it avails little to receive the sacrament bodily unless he remains in the inner chambers of the heart and in the inward devotion of the spirit. John 4:23 and 24: True adorers will adore the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father seeks such persons who adore him. God is Spirit, and those who adore him must adore in spirit and truth. 1 Corinthians 14:15: I shall pray with the spirit, I shall pray also with the mind; I shall sing with the spirit, I shall sing also with the mind. Isaiah 26:9: With my spirit in my inmost parts, from morning I shall keep watch toward thee. For spiritual food is to be kept in the spirit and not in the body.
2. Hoc completo, sacerdos laeto vultu et expansis manibus se ad altare convertit, et orationem quae postcommunio vocatur, perficit: quae ideo postcommunio vocatur, quia in ea perfectio communionis oratur. Perfectio autem est duplex. Una quidem gratiae quam perficit in anima. Alia autem figurae quam perficit Deus in beatitudine. Dat enim gratiam refectionis in anima in praesenti ad gratiam, sicut dicitur in Psalmo LXXVII, 29 et 30: Manducaverunt, et saturati sunt nimis, hoc est, affluenter, et desiderium eorum attulit eis, scilicet Dominus: non sunt fraudati a desiderio suo. Id autem quod signat in coelesti beatitudine, est quod sicut nunc percipitur in specie panis et vini, ita percipietur in patria perceptum in divinitatis dulcedine et veritate: et sicut hic sub medio se cooperiente et abscondente percipitur, ita sine medio aperte in coelo aliquando in beatitudine percipietur. Haec autem perceptio quae fit hic, facit perfectionem gratiae. Illa autem faciet gloriae perfectionem, ut sic verum sit quod dicit Psalmista, Psal. LXXXIII, 12: Gratiam et gloriam dabit Dominus. Hoc autem planum est videre in omnibus postcommunionibus per totum annum, si quis eas diligenter inspiciat: omnes enim illas ordinavit Gregorius ad orandum ea quae dicta sunt. Et hoc saepe expressit etiam in ipsa verborum significatione, sicut hic: "Perficiant, Domine, tua sacramenta quod continent, ut quod nunc specie gerimus, rerum veritate capiamus. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum, etc., in unitate Spiritus sancti Deus."
3. Peracta autem postcommunione, sacerdos iterum quasi licentians populum, se ad populum convertit, iterum dicens: Dominus vobiscum, optans ut recedentes a templo non recedant a Domino, sed satagant ut Dominus semper cum eis in omnibus agendis maneat, et numquam ab eis recedat, quod et facit si nos cum ipso mentis devotione maneamus. I Regum, X, 7: Quando ergo evenerint signa haec omnia tibi, fac quaecumque invenerit manus tua: quia Dominus tecum est. Et, II Regum, VII, 3: Omne quod est in corde tuo, vade, fac, quia Dominus tecum est. Populus autem, hoc est, chorus pro se et pro populo iterum respondet: Et cum spiritu tuo: quia non nisi spiritus intenditur in sacramento, et perfector sanctitatis spiritualia semper et non corporalia etiam post Missam semper operatur in populo: et ideo orandum est semper ut cum spiritu suo Dominus maneat et operetur. Ad Galat. V, 16: Spiritu ambulate, et desideria carnis non perficietis. Ad Roman. VIII, 2: Lex enim spiritus vitae in Christo Jesu liberavit me a lege peccati et mortis, etc. II ad Corinth. III, 6: Littera occidit, spiritus autem vivificat. Et sic mutua salutatione communionem indicantes, Missa perfecta est.
2. When this has been completed, the priest with joyful countenance and hands extended turns himself to the altar, and completes the prayer which is called postcommunion; and it is called postcommunion for this reason, that in it the perfection of communion is prayed for. But perfection is twofold. One is of grace, which it perfects in the soul. Another is of figure, which God perfects in blessedness. For he gives the grace of refreshment in the soul in the present for grace, as is said in Psalm 77:29 and 30: They ate and were filled exceedingly, that is, abundantly, and he brought their desire to them, namely the Lord; they were not defrauded of their desire. But that which it signifies in heavenly blessedness is that just as now he is perceived in the species of bread and wine, so in the homeland the thing perceived will be perceived in the sweetness and truth of deity; and just as here he is perceived under a medium covering and hiding itself, so sometime in heaven he will be perceived openly, without a medium, in blessedness. But this perception which occurs here makes the perfection of grace. But that one will make the perfection of glory, so that what the Psalmist says may be true, Psalm 83:12: The Lord will give grace and glory. But this is plain to see in all the postcommunions throughout the whole year, if someone examines them diligently; for Gregory ordered all of them for praying for the things which have been said. And he often expressed this even in the very signification of the words, as here: "May thy sacraments, O Lord, perfect what they contain, so that what we now bear in species, we may grasp in the truth of things. Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, etc., in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God."
3. But when the postcommunion has been completed, the priest, as if dismissing the people, turns himself again to the people, again saying: The Lord be with you, wishing that those withdrawing from the temple may not withdraw from the Lord, but may take care that the Lord always remain with them in all things to be done and never withdraw from them, which he also does if we remain with him by devotion of mind. 1 Kings 10:7: Therefore when all these signs happen to thee, do whatever thy hand finds, because the Lord is with thee. And 2 Kings 7:3: Whatever is in thy heart, go, do, because the Lord is with thee. But the people, that is, the choir for itself and for the people, again answers: And with thy spirit, because nothing except the spirit is intended in the sacrament, and the perfecter of sanctity always works spiritual and not bodily things in the people, even after Mass; and therefore one must always pray that the Lord remain and work with his spirit. Galatians 5:16: Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. Romans 8:2: For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and death, etc. 2 Corinthians 3:6: The letter kills, but the spirit gives life. And thus, indicating communion by mutual greeting, the Mass is perfected.
Quo perfecto, diaconus, vel alius vice diaconi, clamat in festis diebus: Ite, missa est. Vel, in profestis: Benedicamus Domino. Vel, in Missis defunctorum: Requiescant in pace. Quod autem dicit: Ite, hoc est, ad propria redite, et de virtute in virtutem proficite. Psal. LXXXIII, 8: Ibunt de virtute in virtutem, videbitur Deus deorum in Sion. Sicut enim dicit Augustinus, duo sunt quae nos in duobus motibus moveri compellunt. Unum est charitas veritatis, quae abjecta vel deposita sollicitudine curae rei familiaris facit nos recedere a proprio ad templum et ad Deum ire. Isa. II, 3: Ibunt populi multi, et dicent: Venite, et ascendamus ad montem Domini et ad domum Dei Jacob: et docebit nos vias suas, et ambulabimus in semitis ejus. Et ibidem, v. 5: Domus Jacob, venite, et ambulemus in lumine Domini. Aliud est necessitas charitatis, quae nos redire et ad propria et ad curam rei familiaris compellit. In hac enim necessitate ordo charitatis, in quo nos primo et postea proximum suum secundum gradum suae conjunctionis per effectum operis, et exhibitionem necessariorum diligere oportet: et ideo ut illa paremus quae necessitati tali exhibeamus, oportet sollicitare et laborare. Luc. X, 40: Martha autem satagebat circa frequens ministerium. Ibidem, v. 41: Martha, Martha, sollicita es, et turbaris erga plurima. Istud ire ad Deum et redire ad propria significatur, Genes. XXII, 5, ubi servis suis dixit Abraham patriarcha: Exspectate hic cum asino, ego et puer illuc usque properantes, postquam adoraverimus, revertemur ad vos. Servi enim domus et curae familiaris et necessitatis hujus vitae signant ministros, qui sunt sollicitudines et cogitationes et labores, qualiter acquirantur hujus vitae miserae adminicula: asinus autem asininum sensum signat hujus animalis corporis. Haec enim familia relinquenda est quando itur ad templum, ad Missam, et ad Deum. Post adorationem autem et sacrificium quod cum puero, hoc est, cum puro spiritu faciendum est, permittitur ad familiam reversio: quia ad propria redire oportet propter vitae hujus multiplicem necessitatem. Hac ergo de causa dicit diaconus: Ite.
When this has been perfected, the deacon, or another in place of the deacon, cries on feast days: Go, the Mass has been sent. Or, on non-feast days: Let us bless the Lord. Or, in Masses of the dead: May they rest in peace. But when he says, Go, this means: return to your own things, and advance from virtue into virtue. Psalm 83:8: They will go from virtue into virtue; the God of gods will be seen in Sion. For, as Augustine says, there are two things which compel us to be moved in two motions. One is the charity of truth, which, with concern for the care of family affairs cast away or laid down, makes us withdraw from our own things and go to the temple and to God. Isaiah 2:3: Many peoples will go and will say: Come, and let us ascend to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths. And in the same place, verse 5: House of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. The other is the necessity of charity, which compels us to return both to our own things and to the care of family affairs. For in this necessity there is the order of charity, in which we ought to love first ourselves and afterward our neighbor according to the degree of his connection, through the effect of work and the furnishing of necessities; and therefore, so that we may prepare those things which we furnish to such necessity, we must be solicitous and labor. Luke 10:40: But Martha was busy about much service. In the same place, verse 41: Martha, Martha, thou art solicitous and art troubled about many things. This going to God and returning to one's own things is signified, Genesis 22:5, where Abraham the patriarch said to his servants: Wait here with the ass; I and the boy will hasten to that place, and after we have adored, we shall return to you. For the servants of the house and of family care and of the necessity of this life signify ministers, which are concerns and thoughts and labors, by which the supports of this miserable life are acquired; but the ass signifies the asinine sense of this animal body. For this household must be left behind when one goes to the temple, to Mass, and to God. But after adoration and the sacrifice which must be made with the boy, that is, with a pure spirit, return to the household is permitted, because one must return to one's own things on account of the manifold necessity of this life. Therefore for this reason the deacon says: Go.
Quod autem addit: Missa est, intendit quod hostia oblata est, jam consumptis sacramentalibus speciebus, jam ad dexteram Patris missa sit, ut ibi nos Patri in se offerat, et ibi nos incorporatos sibi societ et locum paret, sicut dicitur, Joan. XIV, 2: Vado parare vobis locum. Et hoc facit diaconus, ut omnes se sciant in sacra communione missos et commissos esse Domino, et omnes studeant in Domino permanere, quasi dicentes illud Apostoli, ad Philip. III, 20 et 21: Nostra conversatio in coelis est: unde etiam salvatorem exspectamus Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, qui reformabit corpus humilitatis nostrae configuratum corpori claritatis suae. Et sic vadit quilibet ad propria.
In profestis autem diebus dicit: Benedicamus Domino, et est gratiarum actio pro perfecto Missarum mysterio. Ac si dicat illud Deuteronomii, XXXII, 3 et 4: Date magnificentiam Deo nostro, hoc est, magnificas gratias: quia Dei perfecta sunt opera.
Ad utramque autem istarum diaconi acclamationem chorus pro populo respondet: Deo gratias, supple, referimus: quia de tanto percepto sacramento ab omnibus gratiae sunt agendae, ne dicatur nobis illud Lucae, XVII, 18: Non est inventus qui rediret, et daret gloriam Deo.
In Missa autem defunctorum, quia illis in omnibus et cito subveniendum est, dicit: Requiescant in pace, docens quod omnia quae in Missa defunctorum acta sunt, ad pacem defunctorum ordinata sunt. Psal. IV, 9: In pace in idipsum dormiam, et requiescam. Et respondetur: Amen, hoc est, fiat ut totum dirigatur ad remedium defunctorum. II Machab. XII, 46: Sancta et salubris est cogitatio pro defunctis exorare, ut a peccatis solvantur. Sic ergo omnes ad propria revertuntur.
In quibusdam autem Missis, sicut in illa quae est de scrutinio in feria quarta post mediam quadragesimam, post Evangelium clamat diaconus: Catechumeni exeant: hoc ideo fit, quia catechumenus instruitur, et ideo ad illam partem Missae quam de instructione esse diximus, admittitur: quia vero catechumenus nondum est baptizatus, et ideo non est Christianus, ideo ad illam partem Missae quae de communicatione fidelium est, non admittitur, sed exire praecipitur.
Hoc igitur est quod de Missarum peractione breviter et grosse videbatur esse dicendum, alia subtilia melioribus relinquendo.
But when he adds: The Mass has been sent, he intends that the host has been offered, and now, with the sacramental species consumed, has been sent to the right hand of the Father, so that there it may offer us to the Father in itself, and there associate us, incorporated into itself, to itself and prepare a place, as is said, John 14:2: I go to prepare a place for you. And the deacon does this so that all may know themselves to have been sent and committed to the Lord in sacred communion, and all may strive to remain in the Lord, as if saying that word of the Apostle, Philippians 3:20 and 21: Our conversation is in heaven, from which also we await the savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will reform the body of our humility conformed to the body of his brightness. And thus each one goes to his own things.
But on non-feast days he says: Let us bless the Lord, and it is an action of thanks for the perfected mystery of Masses. As if he were saying that word of Deuteronomy 32:3 and 4: Give magnificence to our God, that is, magnificent thanks, because God's works are perfect.
But to each of these acclamations of the deacon the choir answers for the people: To God thanks, supply, we refer them, because thanks must be given by all for so great a sacrament received, lest that saying of Luke 17:18 be said to us: No one has been found who would return and give glory to God.
But in the Mass of the dead, because they must be helped in all things and quickly, he says: May they rest in peace, teaching that all things which are done in the Mass of the dead are ordered to the peace of the dead. Psalm 4:9: In peace into the selfsame I shall sleep and rest. And there is answered: Amen, that is, let it be done, so that the whole may be directed to the remedy of the dead. 2 Maccabees 12:46: It is a holy and salutary thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins. Thus therefore all return to their own things.
But in certain Masses, as in that which is of scrutiny on the fourth weekday after mid-Lent, after the Gospel the deacon cries: Let the catechumens go out. This is done for this reason, because the catechumen is instructed, and therefore he is admitted to that part of the Mass which we have said to belong to instruction; but because the catechumen has not yet been baptized, and therefore is not a Christian, therefore he is not admitted to that part of the Mass which belongs to the communication of the faithful, but is commanded to go out.
This, therefore, is what seemed to need to be said briefly and in gross concerning the performance of Masses, leaving other subtle things to better persons.
Notes
- Compare Luke 24:13 and following. (Cf. Luc. XXIV, 13 et seq.) ↩
If a page does not appear, its photograph has not been uploaded yet.