Memoriale Rituum (Parvum Caeremoniale, Parvum Rituale)

MEMORIALE RITUUM (Parvum caeremoniale, Parvum rituale). - A modern book of the Roman rite, composed for the use of the lesser parishes of Rome, containing the ceremonies of the blessing of candles on 2 February, of ashes at the beginning of Lent, of palms on Palm Sunday, and of the last three days of Holy Week, in such a way that they can be performed by a single priest with the assistance of a small number of acolytes, instead of according to the prescriptions of the Missal.

This booklet was composed by Benedict XIII from the time when he was archbishop of Benevento, given the difficulties of small parishes in performing the ecclesiastical functions with the prescribed solemnity. Elected pope, in 1725 he extended that booklet (decree of 4 December 1724) to the lesser parishes of the City. Then by decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites of 31 July 1821, Pius VII permitted its use in any parish church of the Catholic world. Sometimes, for convenience, the M. r. was added as an appendix to the Roman Ritual, e.g., in the Rome and Malines editions of 1870, but it came out on its own in 1862 at Regensburg and in 1885 at Tournai. Benedict XV ordered the typical edition of it with modifications and additions (Sacred Congregation of Rites, 14 January 1920: AAS, 12 [1920], p. 448); the last edition is that of 1950 (first edition after the typical).

in Br. 1932, p. 49; F. Oppenheim, De libris liturgicis, Turin 1940, p. 113.