EPISTOLA. — This is the passage from the Letters of the Apostles or from some other book of the Sacred Scripture that the priest reads at Mass before the Gospel. The use of readings in liturgical assemblies was inherited by the Church from the Synagogue; yet, whereas the Prophets and the Law were read there, in the Church the Letters of the Apostles, the Gospels, the letters of the bishops, and the Acts of the martyrs were added.
Of the many readings in use in the primitive Church, only a few examples remain today, since ordinarily there are only two in the present Mass: the E. and the Gospel. Thus, for example, the twelve prophecies of Holy Saturday and the six of the vigil of Pentecost are remnants of the readings that were given in the ancient nocturnal vigil, from which the Matins and the Mass of the catechumens subsequently developed. The five readings of the Saturday of the Ember Days are the result of the fusion of the vigil with the Mass of the catechumens, whereas on the Wednesday of the Ember Days there is only one reading before that of the E. In ancient times all these readings were delivered by the lector from the ambos that stood at the entrance to the presbytery, and were often declaimed with certain melodic cadences, of which a few rare remnants still survive. When the celebration of Mass began to take place daily and the need was felt to abbreviate the pontifical rite, short passages selected from the Letters of the Apostles or from other books of the Sacred Scripture, having some connection with the feast and with the mystery being celebrated, were gradually introduced.
To demonstrate, moreover, the intimate connection between the sacrificial liturgy and the liturgy of praise, the E. came to be inserted into the Hours of the Office, so that sometimes it is not merely part of the text read at the first nocturn, but, according to an ancient rule existing in Rome before St. Benedict, the E. is repeated in part in the chapters of the canonical Hours and in the lectio brevis of Prime. In general, the Sacred Scripture in the E. is cited in full and without alterations. Sometimes, however, certain verses are omitted, and Fratres is added at the beginning and In Christo Jesu Domino nostro at the end (Fourth Sunday after Pentecost); qui est benedictus in saecula saeculorum. Amos (Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost). To the Prophecies there is sometimes added: Atti Dominus omnipotens. Some adaptation to the situation in the text may be made for a better correspondence with the mystery being celebrated, as on Passion Saturday (Jer. 17:8).
BIBLI: S. Brünel, Entstehung der Perikopen der römischen Menschen. Veburen in Br. 1907; A. Rabis, Die altstatuumlichen Lehtonen der griechischen Kirche, ivi 1915; A. Baumstark, Nichtvermeidliche syrische Perikopenordnungen des 1. Jahrtausends. Mörner 1921; P. Basifol, Lexus sur la Messe, Parigi 1927; F. Cabrol, Le titre de la prière antique, Tours 1929; G. Destelo, La S. Messe nella liturgia romana, Torino 1935, pp. 450-83; G. Godr. Éditions, in DACL. V. 245-244. Filippo Oppenheim