LECTIONARY.— (Lectionarium, or -ius: from *lectio*, reading). This was the name given to the book containing passages from Holy Scripture for liturgical use. It is a generic term capable of a more or less broad meaning depending on the intended use of the collection and the different periods of its history. In any case, the fixing of readings drawn from the Bible to be read at Mass is ancient. From the primitive form of a simple list of scriptural references (called *capita*—whence *capitulare*—or also *indiculi*), a gradual progression led to a complete collection of readings (lessons, epistles, Gospels) transcribed in full according to the order of the feasts (11th–12th centuries).
Originally, the *lectio divina* in liturgical assemblies was conducted directly from the sacred text without interruption (*lectio continua*), following the order of the canonical books (cf. A. M. Olivier, *Codices per ordinem ex integro legant. Regula monasteriorum*, c. 48, in *Archivos, Biblioteca y Museos*, Madrid, 55 [1949], pp. 513–22), “as time permits,” as St. Justin says (*Apol.*, I, ch. 67). Later, through a natural evolution, specific books or passages began to be designated for particular periods or feasts of the ecclesiastical year, such as Lent, Passiontide, Easter, Pentecost, Advent, Christmas, etc. The selection was motivated by the opportunity to read more appropriate texts for the occasion. This system is already found, both in the East and West, in the sermons of the Fathers of the 4th–5th centuries: St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Leo the Great, St. Peter Chrysologus, St. Maximus of Turin, and St. John Chrysostom. The constant repetition of homilies on the same scriptural passages implies that each time the same feast occurred, they had been read at Mass.
The citations themselves underwent an evolution. Initially, they were limited to vague references to the book and chapter; thus, in the oldest one, that of Capua (6th century), *In Natale Domini, ad Hebraeos principium epistolae*, i.e., *Multifariam... (Hebr. 1, 1)*; *In Sexagesima, ad Timotheum I sub titulo* 
VIII, i.e., *Lectio in Sexagesima*: *Et manifeste magnum est pietatis sacramentum... quae nunc est et futura* (1 Tim. 3:16–4:8). At other times, the reference was more complete, including the chapter, verses, and incipits. Thus, in the Epistolary of Schlettstadt (c. 8th century): *In Pascha, Act. 2:29–41: Viri fratres, liceat audenter dicere*. This is the most frequent method. But sometimes even greater precision is given, including the book title, incipits, and explicits, as in the Lectionary of Würzburg (8th century): *In Theophania, Lectio epistolae beati Pauli Apostoli ad Titum. Carissimi: apparuit, usq. spem vitae aeternae in Christo Jesu Domino nostro*.
In a third stage, the selected passages were copied out in full (as in the Lectionaries of Toledo and Luxeuil from the 7th century), whether epistles and Old Testament lessons (*epistolaria*) and Gospels (*evangelaria*) separately or both together in the same codex (lectionaries *properly so called*). It is in this “plenary” sense (the term is from Tomasi, clearly referring to the *missalia plenaria*) that Agobard (d. 840) seems to define the lectionary as “liber lectionum ex divinis libris congrua ratione collectus” (*De correctione Antiphonarii*, ch. 19; PL 104, 338). At this point, the evolution of the lectionary is complete. The peak of its development coincides with its decline. The multiplicity of books created to perform the sacred action (at least three, if not four, just for the Mass: the antiphonary, the lectionary [*evangeliary*], and the sacramentary or *liber sacramentorum*) weighed heavily on the structure of the liturgical institution, making the need for simplification more urgent. Thus arose the *missalia plenaria* (11th century), which marked the disappearance of all their components, including the lectionaries.
Depending on the nature of the readings it contained, the lectionary had different names: *capitulare* (or -ium), *lectionarium* (or -ius), *comes* or *liber comicus*, *comitis* (as it were, a priestly vade mecum, since initially it was not strictly a liturgical book but also served for private spiritual reading). These terms were used interchangeably for mixed collections (prophetic lessons, epistles). *Epistolarium* (or -ius) or *epistolium*, *apostolus*, and *apostolicus* (clearly alluding to the prevalence of Pauline letters) more precisely denote the collection of prophetic lessons from the Old Testament and the epistles, prepared by *lectores* and later by subdeacons; *evangeliarium* (or -ius), *breviarium* (or -ius) *evangeliorum*, etc., were collections of Gospel pericopes.
The practice of reading the Gospel directly from the text of Holy Scripture (the medieval *bibliotheca*) rather than from a collection of mixed pericopes was more persistent than for the other two types of readings, as attested by the numerous surviving codices. Even the *Ordo Romanus I* from the end of the 7th century states (n. 28): “Lectio legenda est prout continetur in capitulari” (PL 78, 950–51), while the epistle was to be read from a lectionary designated by the same *Ordo* (n. 3: ibid., 938) under the traditional name of *apostolus*. The practice, moreover, must have varied according to different churches, the availability of appropriate books, and other circumstances. Even today, well-provisioned and well-organized churches use, for the singing of the lessons at Solemn Mass, the epistolary and the evangeliary or a lectionary containing both.
**Principal Lectionaries — I. For the Epistles.** — The first systematic attempts at scriptural collections for liturgical use appear in Gaul in the 5th century. At Rome, the first mention of a lectionary is found in the inventory of the church of Cornutum (a small parish in the countryside of Tivoli) from 471. But it is doubtful whether this refers to a local lectionary or a derivative of the Roman Church. In any case, nothing remains of it but the notice; everything else is pure conjecture. The most important document prior to the 7th century is the Lectionary of Capua, composed, it seems, by Victor, bishop of that city (d. 573), contained in the famous *codex Fuldensis* of the New Testament. The liturgical pericopes are marked in the text with a conventional sign; then the list is repeated in the margin for the individual epistles. As for Rome, particular value attaches to the account provided by John the Deacon, who asserts that the lectionary itself would have been the basis for the reform of the Gelasian Sacramentary carried out by St. Gregory (*Vita S. Gregorii*, 11, 17: PL 75, 94). Other important lectionaries include the Epistolary of Corbie (9th century) in the Library of St. Petersburg, dependent on the mixed Lectionary of Murbach (8th century), and the Epistolary of Schlettstadt (8th century), a typical representative of the Gallican rite, which also contains prophetic lessons.
**2. For the Gospels.** — One of the oldest *indiculi* is that of the Evangeliary of St. Cuthbert, also called the *Book of Lindisfarne*, because it was transcribed in that city from a copy of the Church of Naples, brought to England after the mid-7th century (edited by G. Morin, in *Anecdota Maredsolana*, I, Maredsous 1893, pp. 426–35). The list of pericopes contains very few saints’ feasts, a clear indication that the codex preserves an arrangement prior to St. Gregory the Great. Perhaps it is a Gelasian *capitulare* with later additions made in Naples. The same *capitulare* reappears in the Gospel of St. Burchard (7th century), which shows certain Roman additions. Another interesting pericopes index is found in the Evangeliary of St. Genevieve of Paris, from the 9th century, now in the British Museum (Harley 2797).
**3. For the Epistles and Gospels.** — The Roman lectionary system has three notable representatives: the Comes of Würzburg "the oldest" (published by the Roman Church), the Morin, which reflects the state of the liturgy in Rome at the end of the 6th century, the Comes of Alcuin (7th–8th century), and the Comes of the Abbey of Murbach (8th century). For Spain, the oldest document is the Liber comicus of Toledo (7th century). Gaul has two important lectionaries: the Lectionary of Luxeuil (7th–8th century), recently edited by P. Salmon (Rome 1944), and the Missale Gothicum, contemporary with the former (facsimile edition with critical introduction by C. Mohlberg, Augsburg 1929). The arrangement of readings in the ancient Ambrosian liturgy is given by the Sacramentarium Bergomense of the 10th–11th century (edited by Cagin, Solems 1900).
They hold particular value in the history of the liturgy. First, because through the system of readings they show the development and gradual evolution of the liturgical year; second, because from the choice of lessons one can precisely know the primitive concept of a given feast or mystery, a concept sometimes altered or transformed over the centuries. Finally, the lectionaries are important for the history of sacred books, because at times they are the principal or sole source of a variant reading.
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