Communion of Saints

COMMUNION OF SAINTS. - It is the third of the great parts into which the Roman Missal and Breviary are divided, and it comprises a collection of liturgical formulas (Masses and Offices) for the feasts of those saints who lack, wholly or in part, formularies of their own.

Originally the feasts of the saints were quite rare: only from the 5th century onward is a rapid increase in feasts noticeable. It was therefore natural that those earliest feasts should have well-suited liturgical formularies. But the continuous increase in feasts no longer allowed an abundance of proper formularies. Moreover, some great primitive feast of a saint might also have a certain number of proper formulas, especially for the Mass, at the free choice of the celebrant. Thus, for example, in the Leonine Sacramentary. Now, with the passage of time, one of these Mass formulas became definitively the proper festal Mass, while the other Masses later served for saints of a similar type, or became of common use, completely or in part.

The first Communia to be formed were those for martyrs, for confessors and for virgins (martyrs and non-martyrs), with a great variety of formularies, especially of Masses. Equally very ancient is the use of a Commune for the annual celebration of the dedication of churches. In general, at least in the sacramentaries, every Commune has formularies for the vigil of the feast and for the feast itself. In Rome there also existed in ancient times a Commune for the Apostles, inasmuch as, apart from the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, there was no particular feast for the other Apostles. In France, where the Apostles were celebrated individually, the Roman vigil Mass of the Apostles became the vigil Mass for Sts. Simon and Jude (Oct. 27), and the festal Mass of all the Apostles became the festal Mass of Simon and Jude (Oct. 28). Moreover the Frankish Church made use of various Masses proper to the primitive Gelasian Sacramentary as common formularies: for example, the proper Mass of St. Benedict abbot, celebrated then on July 11, became the common Mass of abbots; the Mass Statut of St. Marcellus pope became the common Mass for confessor pontiffs (today secundo loco); the festal Mass of the martyrs Cornelius and Cyprian Iutret came to be a common Mass of martyr pontiffs (today primo loco). In general it may be stated that the authentic primitive Roman books were rather sparing in common formularies, whereas those of the Frankish Church, given the enormous development of the Sanctoral during the Merovingian and Carolingian era, attributed various ancient Gelasian Masses to new feasts, and created other new formularies for common use. The Roman epistolaries have relatively few proper saints, but a fairly developed C. S., while the ancient Roman evangeliaries, on the contrary, register many particular saints, but, as regards the common part, show themselves quite limited. It suffices to compare the lectionary of Würzburg, published by G. Morin (Revue bénédictine, 28 [1911]), and the four principal types of the Roman evangeliaries, in Th. Klauser (Das römische Capitulare evangeliorum, Münster 1935). As for the liturgical books in use for the office, one notices a great variety of formularies and a great difference in the number of the individual types. The ancient Roman sermonaries of the 8th century (for example, Agimundus, Egino, Alanus, St. Peter's in the Vatican) know only the primitive Communia of martyrs, confessors, virgins and the dedication. But afterward the Commune was largely enriched also in the sermonaries and homiliaries.

A certain uniformity was reached only in the second half of the Middle Ages, above all through the liturgical books of the Roman Curia, spread throughout the whole world through the work of the Friars Minor. The definitive arrangement, at least in substance, is due to St. Pius V, who prescribed for the whole Latin Church the Breviary (1568) and the Missal (1570) duly reformed by him. However, even in the following official editions of Clement VIII and of Urban VIII, some parts of the Commune were still revised and perfected, especially in the Breviary. The Commune Virginum and non Virginum reached its present form only under Urban VIII (1631). In the first decades of the past century there appears in the Breviaries, here and there, a Commune B. Mariae Virginis, certainly brought about by the increased number of the minor feasts of Our Lady. But in the Missal the said Commune was introduced only in the typical Vatican edition of 1920. Pius XII introduced a new Commune "unius vel plurium Summorum Pontificum", 9 Jan. 1942 (AAS, 34 [1942], pp. 105-11).

At present the C. S. presents itself somewhat differently in the Missal and in the Breviary, inasmuch as in the Missal there is lacking a Commune Apostolorum, given that the common parts for the Apostles are printed in full in the individual feasts. The same holds for the Commune Evangelistarum. Moreover, the votive Mass found in the Missal, in honor of all the Apostles, gathers precisely the common elements of the individual festal Masses for the Apostles. Furthermore, the Missal presents, in each Commune, one or more complete Masses, while in the Breviary there are also some Communia which, in reality, are nothing other than "variations", to be used in complete Communia preceding or following. With this premise, a table of the existing Communia is given here, according to the order of the Breviary, which is more complete, noting in the margin whether a Commune is rather only a variation of others.

Present structure of the C. S.

1. In vigilia Apostolorum. Var. in the ferial Office.
2. Comm. Apostolorum extra Temp. Pasch.
3. Comm. Evangelistarum extra Temp. Pasch. Var. of no. 2.
4. Comm. Apost. et Evang. Temp. Pasch. Var. of nos. 2 or 3.
5. Comm. unius vel plur. Summ. Pontificum. Var. of nos. 6, 7, 9 as the case may be.
6. Comm. unius Martyris extra Temp. Pasch.
7. Comm. plurimorum Martyrum extra Temp. Pasch.
8. Comm. un. vel plur. Martyrum Temp. Pasch. Var. of nos. 6 or 7.
9. Comm. Confessoris Pontificis.
10. Comm. Doctorum. Var. of nos. 9 or 11.
11. Comm. Confessoris non Pontificis.
12. Comm. Abbatum. Var. of no. 11.
13. Comm. Virginum.
14. Comm. non Virginum.
15. Comm. Dedicationis Ecclesiae.
16. Comm. Festorum B. Mariae Virginis.

As can be seen, in the Breviary, out of 16 Communia, only nine are complete; in the Missal, on the other hand, there exist 13 Communia, all complete. Noteworthy is the proper paschal type in use for martyrs, among whom the Apostles are included and the Evangelists. The martyrs, in fact, were the first to have public worship in the Church; their feasts, if they fell within the Easter season, participated fully in the joyful character of that liturgical season; therefore they also had their own proper Easter liturgical formularies; the other saints, who entered worship later, were honored, for the Easter season, only with a generous use of the alleluia in the ordinary liturgical formularies. This preeminence of the martyrs is revealed also in the psalmody. It is well known that in ancient times the fundamental law for psalmody was continuous recitation; only on the great feasts was a selection made, but always following the numerical progression of the psalms. Now, even a rapid comparison of the night and vesperal psalmody of the Communia and of the most ancient feasts of the martyrs reveals its direct derivation from the primitive psalmodic stock for the martyrs. The Commune for virgins, given their particular character of holiness, also has a psalmody sui generis; however, it should be noted that the most illustrious martyrs (Agatha, Agnes) have a psalmody very close to the primitive psalmody of the martyrs, and that the first confessor with public worship, St. Martin, still preserves the complete psalmody of a martyr. The psalmody of the virgins was used also for other holy women and, with variations, especially in the readings, also for the Most Holy Virgin (only Ps. 47 of the Commune of virgins was replaced with Ps. 86, which sings of the holy Jerusalem, image of the Most Holy Virgin). An independent development was taken by the psalmody for the Apostles and for the dedication. As for the Apostles, it is curious to reread the abstruse comments of medieval liturgists who naturally observed the difference in the psalmody for the Apostles and for the other saints. They also noted, however, that the night office of the Apostles contains, in progressive order, various psalms of the (ancient) ferial cycle; therefore these liturgists deduced this symbolism: the Apostles encompass within themselves, by their universal mission, all times; therefore their psalmody has taken its elements from all days (v. the relevant information in B. Gavanti-G. M. Merati, Thesaurus sacr. rituum, II, Rome 1736, p. 156).

The C. S. is, in a certain sense, an expedient, and therefore cannot satisfy in everything. The continuous increase of the feasts of saints, of such different types and such diverse spirituality, makes the deficiency of the C. S. felt even more, since it, by its very nature, remains generic, colorless, and poorly suited to saints of very pronounced distinction. To find a remedy for this state of affairs will be difficult; a return to entirely proper formularies for each saint, as some desire, seems impossible, at least for the universal Church; for the various proper formularies, diocesan and religious, more appropriate texts are easily granted. A very widespread desire and a true movement exists for the creation of a proper Commune for priest saints, who now pass, without the slightest acknowledgment of their state, as non-pontifical confessors.

Giuseppe Löw